“I disagree,” she insists with finality.
I know if someone tried to stop me, I wouldn’t listen. Not even now, knowing firsthand what comes with it. So I don’t argue. I drop it, knowing I’ll just have to get to Garrett before she does.
***
I wake with a start, my heart hammering in my chest and sweat beaded across my forehead. I must have fallen asleep on Rocky’s couch. The first murkiness of daylight casts the room in a dull gray illumination.
Beside me, Rocky stirs, her eyes fluttering open sluggishly. When her gaze finds me, she sits up quickly. “Are you okay?” Her hand settles on my arm and I look down at it. So small, soft and warm against mine.
Without a word, I pull her to me. My lips glide over her neck before I whisper, “I want you.” My fingers tangle into her dark silky hair as I guide her closer, dragging my open mouth along her collarbone.
“I need you, Rocky,” I utter. And I do. It’s almost painful the way I need her to feel normal. “I need you to take it away.”
I expel a long breath against her neck, causing a shiver to rock her body.
“Tell me this is okay,” I murmur huskily. “Tell me you want this.” My hand skims down her body, hooking around the back of her thigh, and I tug her onto my lap. “Say yes.”
But she doesn’t say yes with words. Instead, she pushes herself closer, grinding into my already hard cock. Her teeth nip along the side of my neck in a series of searing bites that have me moaning and thrusting my hips against her.
She sighs in pleasure, her warm breath rousing another groan from me. I push her back onto the couch, following her until I’m hovering over the top of her. I want to rid us both of the clothes separating our bodies and dive into her.
“I want to fuck you,” I rasp. I push her legs apart, flexing my hips into her. “To take you to that place between pleasure and pain until you’re demanding more.” I hook my finger into the V of her shirt, yanking it down to expose more cleavage. I lick between her breasts, causing her chest to arch into my mouth.
“Do you want that, Rocky? Do you want me to make you feel good again? Do you want more? Do you want me inside of you?”
I may be pushing her too far, too quickly, but I’ll never know if I don’t ask.
“Do you have the same desire pulsing through your veins for me that I do for you?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “I want you. I want to try.”
I drop my forehead to hers and I breathe her in. I can feel her heart racing. I lower my mouth to her neck, pressing my lips against her pulse. I know this is difficult for her, and the fact she’s willing to try, for me, is humbling.
“Stand up,” she commands. She’s taking the lead again and I obey her immediately.
She moves in front of me, pushing my shirt up and over my head. I duck down, helping her remove it. She tosses it over her shoulder as her eyes rake down my chest. The heat in her gaze has my cock throbbing in my jeans.
Rocky goes for my zipper next, freeing me. I want to touch her, to run my fingers over her smooth skin, but I hold back, waiting. She slides my pants down my legs slowly. When they catch around my shoes, unable to go any further, she places her hand against my stomach, shoving me back onto the couch. I fall back heavily, watching her with hooded eyes as she removes one shoe followed by a sock, then the other.
My pants go next and she stands, folding them over her arm. The knife drops from one pocket with a flat thud. The picture Morrison gave me before he killed himself falls out of the other pocket, floating to the ground. The picture of the four men that raped and murdered Olivia and tried to kill me.
My gut clenches as Rocky bends down, picking both up. Her eyes move over the photo. Her brows crease in confusion. She makes a small noise in her throat and turns it around, showing it to me.
“Why do you have a picture of the cowboy that attacked me?”