H e started touching me.

It got worse .

Those words twisted in my head, mixed with all the other things she'd told me, and I wanted to find the son of a bitch, twist him into a shape resembling a pretzel, then snap him into broken, bloody pieces .

Next to me, Michelle slept on, her face pressed against my chest. She'd cried so hard, it was like it was going to rip her into pieces. I was glad when the tears had finally faded away – not because they'd bothered me. Okay, they had, but not that way. It had hurt just because she'd been hurting. I hadn't known how to fix it. I didn't know what to do now .

The only thing that came to mind was that I needed to find that miserable bastard Parker and hurt him .

It helped that the fuck was in Chicago .

It didn't help that Chicago wasn't really that far away .

I needed to stop thinking about this, or I'd be tempted to book myself a ticket and hunt that bastard down .

He did six months in jail. It wasn't for...rape, she'd whispered the last word, like it hurt to even say it .

Six months. What he'd done left scars she still felt, and she couldn't even say the words without flinching, and he'd done a whopping six months. Bastard .

I must have made a noise because Michelle grumbled under her breath and wiggled around in the bed. Holding my breath, I waited, hoping I hadn't woken her up .

She needed the rest after that nightmare – and the storm that followed .

Once I knew she wasn't waking up, I slid out of the bed. The glass she'd used was still sitting on the table, so I picked it up and carried it out with me .

In the kitchen, I refilled it, slowly and methodically draining it as I stared at nothing. I didn't know how to handle...inaction. I couldn't just leave right now, buy a ticket, and go kill that son of a bitch .

I wanted to. She'd even given me his name, and I could find him. I could find him, I could hurt him. I could make him wish he'd never so much as looked at her .

Brooding, I put the glass down and covered my face with my hands .

"Jake?"

The sound of her voice, soft and sleepy, had me dropping them. "Michelle. I woke you up ."

"No...not really." She shrugged, stepping into the kitchen with the sheet wrapped around her shoulders. "I woke up when you weren't there. So maybe you not being there woke me up ."

She smiled at me and her cheeks dimpled. It was enough to knock the breath out of me, that smile on her face .

"What's wrong?" she asked, her expression sobering .

"I want to touch you." Flexing my hands, I looked down at them, then back at her. "And for the first time, I'm not sure how I should even do it ."

"I'm still me," she said softly. "I'm still the same me I was a couple of hours ago ."

"I'm not sure if I'm the same me." Pushing off the counter, I moved toward her .

Her eyes dropped down, and she glanced at the windows at my back. "You're...um...you're naked. And I don't have curtains," she said, catching her lower lip between her teeth .

"If anybody is that damn curious, then let them get an eyeful." I was amused over her discomfort over my own modesty, but I wasn't about to let hers be violated, since I could tell it would bother her. Once I was close, I reached up and covered the hand holding her sheet in place. "Dance with me ."

"There's no music," she whispered .

"Does there need to be?" Sweeping her into my arms, we started to move. I kept her hand trapped between us, sliding my free arm around her waist and pulling her snug against me. Her heart pounded against my hand – I could feel it. It raced so fast, and I knew it didn't have anything to do with us dancing. We barely moved as we swayed back and forth across the floor, slowly working our way closer into the bedroom .

The sheet rubbed against my legs, and my cock already ached. Once we were inside the privacy of her room, I freed the sheet and tugged her back up against me so that nothing separated us. Skin to skin, her breasts pressed snug to my chest, my cock cuddling up against her .

Dipping down, I caught her around the waist and lifted her .

She gasped, her head dipping down, then falling back as I thrust up into her. She twined her legs around my hips as we merged. But I didn't do anything more – except dance. We moved. And Michelle's pussy clenched around me, tight little shivers that milked me and drove me insane .

Perfect...it was perfect .

She whimpered as I spun us around, the sheet falling down to tangle around us before hitting the floor .

"On the bed," she whispered, kissing me .

"Not yet." I fisted a hand in her hair, tangling it and yanking her head back so I could drag my teeth down her neck .

She gasped, and it was like I felt the clenching go through her body from her mouth, straight down to where she wrapped around me so damn tight .

"Please, Jake," she moaned, shoving her hands into my hair and kissing me. "I want you ."

"You've got me." Oh, fuck, did she have me. It was dangerous to even think that, but my brain and other parts had already gone down that road .

Another slow circuit around the room, and I thought I'd lose it before I'd make it to the bed. Lose it, or fall on top of her and lose control .

No.

I didn't want to do that. Not tonight .

There was a divan near the windows – complete with curtains – and I stopped there, laying down with her sprawled over me. "You want me," I said, catching her hips. "Then take me ."

Michelle pushed up, her hands braced on my shoulders. The position changed our angles and a sharp moan escaped her, while I ended up clenching my teeth to keep from reacting .

She smiled, a little nervous at first, then more easily as she began to move, rolling her hips in a slow, lazy movement that had her clitoris rubbing against me .

I worked a hand between us and stroked upward, opening her folds and she whimpered, working her hips against my touch. She made another rough noise in her throat – each one making me a little crazier .

Tightening my hands on her hips, I arched up, and she groaned. "Again," she said roughly. "Do that again ."

So I did, arching up to meet each lazy forward thrust until they weren't so lazy anymore. Grabbing her behind the neck, I pulled her down. Her mouth opened on a moan as I kissed her, pressing a stinging line down her chest until I could close my mouth around her nipple, first the left, then the right .

Palming her breasts, I plumped them together, dipping my tongue into the valley .

She shivered and arched closer. "Jake," she whispered .

Sweat bloomed on our skin until we slid against each other, her hair around us a curtain. The dim light glinted in her eyes, her smile so sexy and sweet, it drove me mindless .

"Please!"

That broken sound was the one I'd been waiting for, and I moved faster, lost to everything but her, each sound she made, each milking clasp of her body. And then, the first shudders of her climax .

I pulled out and twisted .

She moaned. "Don't...Jake, don't stop ."

"I'm not, baby, I promise." Pulling her to the edge of the divan, I draped her knees over the edge and thrust back inside. She jolted in surprise as I caught her behind the knees and pushed them high. She felt impossibly tight, impossibly hot .

Pumping harder, faster, I bent over her, using one hand to work her clitoris while staring into her face .

She panted, her hair a tangle across her face, eyes wide. The second climax hit hard and fast and I stopped trying to hold my own back .

I stopped trying to hold back completely...and it wasn't just physical .