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She stiffened, began to struggle Panic gave her weakened body strength, her heart pu rate Yet, no e those meaty arms

Easy Easy now Are you okay?

Ah tender He was the one holding her, she realized

Instantly the fight abandoned her, and she sagged against hi her head in the hol ow of his neck

If he was standing, that meant he had recovered She was so relieved she could have sobbed She’d spent several days trapped beside his bed, drifting in and out of consciousness His stupid friend had carted her in and out, in and out Just when A, about to awaken, Defeat would move her When the bastard would final y take her back, Amun would be worse than before

Each and every tiood Now she was free

Now they were touching

Nighted to croak past the sudden luht she re that she wouldn’t al ow herself to touch hierous Andseemed real just then But when one of his arms moved away from her, she had to cut off a whimper

To her surprise, he didn’t abandon her He htening and holding her again A few seconds later, the temperature of the water warripping the he

She could have protested Instead, she raised her arms and al owed him to whisk the material over her head This moment was so steeped in fantasy, so…necessary, she wanted only to fol ow it to its end "I saw the vision you showed ht that was a good thing He unfastened her jeans and pushed them to her ankles, then picked her up and kicked the deni her in her bra and panties

"I sahat came after" Another croak

With one hand snaked around her waist, propping her up, he used his other hand to pal her skin But you were so happy at the beginning

So inti a topic Yet, despite who and what he was, she had never feltHe didn’t try to arouse her as he cleaned her, careful of her cuts and bruises; he merely performed a basic task

"Yes," she said

Tel ried shampoo into her hair The scent of sandalwood bonded with the rising stealed on her tongue If she spoke the herself back to the past, back to that dark, dark day that had forever changed the course of her life--and his She would lose the tranquility of this moment

Tranquility she desperately needed

"No," she final y said "Not now Later Please"