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As if it hadn’t done enough daain, needing to make sure that he had read it correctly Yeah, shit, there was nowhat she had said He desperately wanted to run froht upstairs, rip her panties off, and fuck her on the top of her well-organized desk Instead, with a none-too-steady hand, he texted back My house tonight, eight His hand hovered over the SEND button before deciding on a little payback He added tords before hitting SEND--No panties

The rest of the rateful that he had been the first to speak and had finished the iteenda before Ava’s text As it was, he was so scattered that both Gage and Doht concerned Wanting to avoid the questions that he kneould be coathered his stuff and left early for his next appointment At moments like this he hated the fact that theworeen string bikini when Ava arrived at her house after work She handed Ava a black bikini that looked si else--likeher toward a bathroom off the hallway "No, of course not If I did, I wouldn’t let you wear it Mac doesn’t want to see you dressed like hisbody; you need to show it off"

Ava kneas futile to argue Instead she took the swied She looked at herself in the h it looked okay, she’d never felt so exposed in her whole life Was anyone ever really comfortable in a swih! "Do you have a shirt or soh the door

"No," Suzy yelled back "Coo And don’t put your clothes back on over that suit!"

Ava gaped at the door, wondering how the other wo exactly that Gru up and walked out the door She ca in the living roo what looked like a handful of Suzy’s butt

Ava had started to edge backward, trying tospotted, when Gray’s eyes landed on her He shtly and saying,"behave yourself,your partner in cri her eyes as she saw Ava clutching her discarded clothing to her chest She noticed that Gray still kept a possessive ar to want to be in constant contact with some part of her They were the sexiest couple that Ava had ever seen

"Ready, chica?" Suzy asked, before leaning up to kiss her husband "We’ll be back in a few hours, babe You’ve got Mac coht?"

Gray looked froain "Mmm-hmm Mac see just to discuss an upgrade Neither he nor I could discern why it was suddenly so earth-shakingly iave hination Kissing the top of her head, he said, "Be safe, baby"

When Gray walked off into another roo from her hand and threw it into a nearby ar out onto a beach There are many people with swimsuits on It doesn’t matter who you are or what size you wear, just own it Confidence is sexy" With those words, Suzy pulled her out onto the deck and then down the steps that led to the beach

Ava felt naked with strangers around but tried to take Suzy’s words to heart Was it as sih she had been told she was attractive, a part of her had always felt uglysince that night She thought if she exposed too s to happen to her She had lived with the fear for years that she had soiven his she said? All the books said no That there was never anything you could do to justify those acts of violence, but deep down inside, the doubts festered

Being exposed like this now, for strangers to see, was al clothes lately but alith some kind of escape plan in mind But here and now, there was no car near, there was nothing to hide behind If she freaked out and ran, everyone would seeSuzy would see

Ava had no idea that she had stopped walking until Suzy put hand on each of her aran to explain before letting the words trail off Why? Why couldn’t she stop being afraid?

"Hey," Suzy said quietly, "listen to ht now Trustto force you to see this through But I will promise you this: I’ll be with you every step of the way I won’t leave your side We don’t have to parasail today We can just hang out No one is going to bother you; I’ll make sure of that"

Ava studied her new friend for abut sincerity in her eyes If there had been one ounce of pity, Ava would have collapsed, but soth fueled her own She really looked at her surroundings for the first ti other women on the beach dressed just as she was She didn’t stick out here No one was looking at her; she was just another face in the crowd Releasing the breath she hadn’t been aware of holding, she gave a nod of agreement and a tentative smile of reassurance "I--okay Can we just watch other people do the parasailing before I co a little victory dance, Suzy threw an ar all honest and stuff, I almost pissedbaby steps Most iht? Big points for that! Hey, by the as Mac’s reaction to your sext today?"

Ava felt her face go up in fla before saying, "He said to be at his house at eightwith no panties"

"No, he didn’t!" Suzy all but shouted "I bet you don’t ht before he jumps your bones! Thatelse all day You go, girl"