Page 39 of Twisted Road

“I want my car back.”

He laughed. “You’re so damn stubborn. I’m talking fireworks and going into outer space and you come back with you want your car. It’s a piece-of-shit car held together by rubber bands, and it isn’t safe. Are we finished with the subject of sex?”

He couldn’t resist massaging her breasts and then tugging and rolling her nipples. She had great nipples. Perfect. He immediately wanted to pull her breast into his mouth and spend time discovering everything that set her off. She was sensitive to his touch. To his mouth, particularly to his cock.

He wanted her to get used to his body. He wanted her to like looking at him. He wanted her to love his cock. His touch. Everything he did to her. He didn’t mind her being shy. He didn’t mind if she didn’t actually initiate sex, because he could read her like a book, and he’d always know when it was on her mind.

He caught her hand and brought it between their bodies, circling his cock with her palm, his fingers closing around hers to make a fist. “That’s yours, Lyric. It belongs to you. You have a little bit of homework. I want you to spend as much time as possible getting acquainted. That means you touch me. You put your mouth and tongue on me. You find out every single way that gets me hard and makes me want to come down your throat.”

She didn’t pull her hand away, but then he had been certain she wouldn’t. She was curious, but more than that, she liked pleasing him. She liked him giving her instructions when she felt clueless. It was easier for her to follow his lead.

“Is our relationship going to be about sex?”

That was a Lyric question if he’d ever heard one. He didn’t know how to have a relationship or how to have a woman in his life permanently. He did know she brought him to life. He didn’t think he was entirely a monster when he was with her. He was willing to build his life around her, but he’d have to figure out how.

Lyric had no idea how to have a relationship either. And he’d been a first-class dick in front of her. She was certain he would only want sex from her and that sooner or later he’d tire of her. He couldn’t change that perception with words. She’d come to trust him once she allowed their friendship. He knew he would have an uphill battle earning even more of her trust.

He had promised himself he would be as honest with her as possible. “Sex is a big part of our relationship. You know what I’m like. After having you, I’ll be honest, I’m going to need sex with you more than once a day. I’ll get some cream to help with the soreness. But no, a real relationship, which is what we’re going to have, is far more than sex. We’re going to be living together. Since neither of us has ever been in a relationship, I imagine we’re going to have to go slow, talk things out often and find our way. If we both work at it, we’ll be all right.”

Her hand slid down the length of his cock. Just that small gesture of acquiescence. At the same time, he didn’t want her to think they would only relate through sex. He wanted her to know he cared about her. Constantly being in a state of arousal wasn’t going to help his cause.

Lyric was confused and afraid. She didn’t want to lose him, but she didn’t believe he could want her. She really didn’t believe he could love her. Keys knew it was necessary to give her the things that would eventually give her confidence in the two of them. He realized that if he let her, she would use their sexual relationship to try to keep her heart intact. And he wanted her heart. He was determined to have it.

Very, very gently, he removed her hand from his cock and brought it back to her thigh, pressing her palm into her muscle. “You can rest for a little while, and then we can take a look at the greenhouse. You said you were interested in plants. It was a state-of-the-art greenhouse at one time and can be restored. I just never bothered with it before because there didn’t seem to be a reason.”

She looked at him over her shoulder. Her green eyes were darker than normal, still a little dazed, unsure. He dropped another kiss on top of her head and tightened his arms around her. She felt fragile to him. He was certain he would always think of her that way, just because she had scared the holy hell out of him with her head injury.

“Tell me about the man you kept alive. You brought him here, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” He couldn’t help the clipped, abrupt way he spoke, trying to warn her off. That man had been thoroughly interrogated. He had quite a bit of information on why Lyric and Keys had been targeted, none of it good. “Why are we talking about him?”

“I don’t know, Keys. Maybe because you’ve suddenly decided I need to stay with you. Maybe this is about you being you after all.”

He frowned. The thing about Lyric that he always needed to keep uppermost in his mind was that she was quick. Her mind worked fast, running through possibilities and discarding answers that didn’t quite fit. She would go quiet and thoughtful when they were discussing an important subject, and then she would say the most thought-provoking things and he knew she saw right through him. That was the Lyric he could never lose sight of. That was the Lyric who intrigued and fascinated him.

He replayed her tone. Tone with Lyric was a dead giveaway when it came to what she was thinking. Her tone said volumes. She was tired. Scared. He got that. There was an underlying sadness he could hear clearly.

She didn’t stiffen up or try to get away. If anything, she relaxed into him, her head back, her eyes closed. Almost as if she had given up.

“What is me being me?”

“You’ve said it a hundred times, and I know you mean it. You don’t let anyone in, but you let me in. We don’t wear masks with each other, and there’s freedom in that. I did my best to protect that relationship because, for me, you’re my only. I accepted the fact that there wasn’t going to be another person, not just man but person, I could ever be as real with. I honestly believe you feel the same way. Or I did.”

Something inside him went very quiet. The revelation was there if he could just figure out what exactly she was thinking. “You don’t think I protected our relationship?”

“I think you believe you’re protecting me.”

She rubbed her temples as if she had a headache, and immediately his body had a visceral reaction. As far as he was concerned, she could never have a headache again. He’d nearly lost her, and it wasn’t ever going to happen again. She’d made the mistake of showing him he couldn’t exist without her. She was going to have to live with the consequences. That meant he wasn’t going to let her put herself in danger of any kind. She could walk around with a helmet on her head for the rest of her life.

“Um, Keys, you’re going to break all my ribs. What’s wrong?”

He was holding her too tight at just the thought of her getting hurt again. So what did it mean when she said she believed he protected her? She didn’t think that was the same as protecting their relationship.

“You are one fucked-up woman,” he said and slid out from behind her so he could stand. “Protecting you and our relationship is the same.”

He caught up a towel and began to dry himself off, narrowing his gaze at her. It should have intimidated her, but she was Lyric and seemed immune when he was on the verge of losing his temper.

“It isn’t, Keys, although I can tell you think it is.”