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"How good?" Kyrie asked

"Gold medal You didn’t even scream"

"Surely that’s worth a few points, isn’t it?" Kyrie asked "One or twoor ten?"

"You want inity?"

"No, I want you to give inity all in one night And extra points for not screahed "You have a one-track et points for that, too"

"Okay Three points for the first kiss Five points for not being a virgin any when I broke your hymen with my hand"

"Nine plus three plus five plus two isnineteen I’ the truth out of you So close Let’s have sex again so I can win more points"

"You already know ht?"

"No," Elle admitted Not all

"So is that a yes fora little"

"I know," Kyrie said, sighing She closed her eyes and the s Kyrie’s nightgown back up to cover her breasts She’d be cold any second now as her temperature plummeted "You don’t have to answer until you’re ready And when you’re ready there’s no right answer If you’re not okay, you can tell me that, too I’ve had ‘not okay’ sex, too We can talk about it"

Kyrie still didn’t speak Not a word

"Kyrie?" Elle prompted "Are you okay?"

Kyrie rolled onto her side and stretched an arathered Kyrie’s s self close to her and kissed her on the forehead She felt a wave of happiness flow through her and a surge of possessiveness Hers All hers

"Elle," she began, "what you just did to ain"

"That’s irl"

23

Haiti

THE SUN HAD set by the time they made it back to his beach hut The moon was on the water The stars had woken up and come out to watch therabbed Juliette by the arainst hiainst him in an act of total surrender

He kissed her deeply and she wound her arht her body into perfect alignment with his She had substance to her, warm flesh and lean th even in her surrender and he adored her for giving it up for hiht