Chương 9: Chapter 9

“How many years were you in the field?” he asked.

“Ten.”

My throat was so tight I could barely speak. He gripped my hips, his thumbs digging into my groin and in another circumstance the pressure might have been painful. But under these circumstances, with every nerve already alive and pleading for more contact, I felt only a deep yearning for more.

“Thank you for your service,” he murmured against my skin, and the apprehension washed out of me.

He didn’t think my scars were ugly. I didn’t need to be self-conscious about them. In that moment, I understood that I didn’t need to be self-conscious about anything when I was with Jake. What he’d been saying, what he’d been trying to say, finally struck me and wiped away the last of my fears.

He loved me. 4