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"I woke up in a psychiatric hospital My e and had done so very stupid and selfish, and that the doctors had to put s well I know I eine what I put h, but she didn’t seem to want to face what I had done either Monancy out of the way, like this was her biggest concern Our relationship is not easy She disapproves of ain intoto reassureme her deepest secrets, in a hot bath, naked inI didn’t have any complaints Well, maybe a few but I wouldn’t voice the ater over her arht about how much I didn’t approve of her hter after a suicide attempt?

"When it was all over my parents sent me to a nice place in the New Mexico desert It took tiot better and eventually learned how to deal with ed to ress I suppose I discovered ain in her story, al her news and if I was shocked or horrified by her now She worried far too ht over the jaggedthe otherwise perfect skin with its translucent sheen, the blue of her veins showing fro into that skin made me very sad for what she had borne

I had a sudden epiphany--Brynne had done her attehan prison about to be--

She entwined her fingers with ht up to herhout my body and tried to hold onto the wonderfulness of the sensation while it lasted because her gesture made me far too emotional to speak

"I never knew that my dad went to Senator Oakley and basically blackmailed him He was livid that he’d nearly lostMy dad wanted to press charges but realized I was in no shape to withstand a trial and probably never would be And the added bonus ofhim to leave it alone, and allow me to heal in peace, convinced hio But Daddy still wanted retribution of soo far, far away from his political career, so he forced his son to enlist in the Arest probleed for my acceptance at the University of London when the tio off to college We decided on London mostly because it was so far away froe and Aunt Marie lived here already so I wouldn’t be con country without at least some family"

"So the senator has known exactly where you were all these years?" The situation sucked, was ined, and the risks to Brynne could be enormous

"I never knew that part until last week," she whispered, "I thought I got in on ht bother you, but your graduate study was earned on your merits as exemplary in your field I’ve seen you at work, and I know you’re brilliant at what you do," I teased with my tone and kissed the side of her jaw, "My adorable anorak, Professor Bennett"

"Anorak?" she laughed "What kind of crazy Brit slang word is that?"

"Yeah, I think you Yanks call theeeks That’s you An artsy anorak that I adore" I turned her head to mine andour ridiculous chat in the car thatstudent Which would be her, the professor, and ainsther a little "But really, Senator Oakley owed you a hell of a lot h it doesn’t make me happy to know that he is very aware of exactly where you are in the world and what you’re doing every day"

"I know And it scares me a little Daddy said that Eric Montrose died in a weird bar fight when Lance was home on leave from the Army He--he was one of theain after that night Not even Lance Oakley"

The sound of her voice bothered one through at the hands of those degenerates I was really happy one of them was dead That part didn’t botherto do with that video and Senator Oakley’s vetting

I set the water to drain and helped her out of the tub "I won’t let anything happen to you and you don’t have to be scared I got it covered" I s to speak to your dad to I can on Senator Oakley" I dried her aret really used to doing this "You just let me worry about the senator I’ll send soet back in the way of inforirl unless they coavekiss onher up on the sink counter and having her again

Brynne’s skin had a natural golden glow, but right noas pinked from the hot water, and so beautiful it was hard to look and stay neutral Don’t think about it I ignored the urge and worked at drying her luscious curves which had definitely lost some of their curviness but still lovely and all racefully for me as if not at all affected by our nakedness in such proxied to do it Well, I had an idea of how She was a model who posed in the nude and she was used to it Don’t think about that either

I couldn’t re driven by my ck in the way I was driven with her Maybe when I was just starting out, but nothing with this level of intensity had ever consuht up there with food, and shelter these days