Page 69 of Hurt Me Not
“Am I going to get punished for that?” I asked, my body buzzing to life.
She stood and slowly walked around the table, but instead of stopping behind me, she grabbed my hand and led me to the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Safe word. Remind me of it.”
I swallowed thickly and shifted my thighs together.
“Bonfire,” I breathed. “You know, the night you took me home.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I was pushed against the window. I gasped as my face hit the coldness of the glass.
Her hand was on my neck, pinning me in place, her lips at my ear.
“Let me ask you,” she whispered. “If I had something to confess, does my whore think she’s worthy of it?”
The words turned me on as one of her hands ran up my thigh and the other slipped into my shirt, spreading across my stomach.
At the same time, they hurt because they hit a deeper part of me.
No,I wanted to say.I’d never been worthy. Not of her love or anyone else’s. That was what I was so afraid of—that my life would never be like the love stories I loved to read.
Tears pricked my eyes. If I had known provoking her would have made me a sobbing mess, I wouldn’t have gone for it.
“Answer me,” she growled, barely concealing her anger.
She left my stomach to move up to my breast, her fingers coming to trace circles around my nipples. They reacted immediately.
“No,” I gasped as the tears started falling. “I’m not worthy of love… I never have been.”
The last part came as a whisper. The room changed. The erotically charged tension changed to something darker.
She froze and pulled her hands away, moving back from me.
“Bonfire.”
But I wasn’t the one who used the safe word.
Emerson did.
I turned, but by the time I was facing her, her front was to the door, and I couldn’t make out the expression on her face.
“You’ve always been worthy of love, Pearl. It’s the stupid fucked-up universe that could never give it to you.”
She didn’t even turn as she said it.She’s trying to shut me out.
“Your love?” I asked, taking a shaky step forward.
I watched as her body tensed up and her hands balled up into fists.
Say it. Answer me,my mind pleaded. There was no stopping the tears now. I pushed down a sob that built up in my chest.
The longer she stayed there, not saying anything, the more my heart broke.
“Please,” I whispered. It was barely audible, but I was sure she heard it because she just started walking to the door.
“We’re leaving. Get your stuff.”
She left the room without another word while I stayed there for a few moments, trying to collect myself.
