Page 22 of Raggedy Dan
“You don’t have to hide from me.”
Dan’s throat worked.“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking.”She rose on her toes and brushed her lips across the worst of the scarring, keeping the touch soft, deliberate, with no hesitation.“I see you, Dan.All of you.”
For a heartbeat he was statue-still.Then his hands came up, cupping her face like she was made of glass, and he kissed her like a man who’d forgotten he was allowed to want things.It was deep, hungry, and a little desperate.
When they broke apart, both were breathing hard.His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide.
“Lock the door behind me,” he said roughly.
Riley smiled slowly, wickedly.“Or?”
“Or I won’t be standing guard outside it.”
She reached past him, turned the deadbolt with a decisive click, and flicked off the light.
“I’d rather you stay in here, Raggedy Dan.Let me show you what these hands can really do.”
***
Dan
The room was dark except for the pale silver of moonlight slipping through the blinds.Dan didn’t need light to feel her.Every inch of her was pressed against him, warm and sure and brave.Fucking fearless woman.
First time was fast, urgent, almost frantic.Clothes hit the floor in a hurry.The only pause was when she’d touched his bare dick to feed it into her pussy, and he held back.
She said, “I have long-term birth control.I’m tested for the shop annually.I’m okay with it if you are.”He liked that she’d left it up to him, and he showed her exactly how okay he was with it by surging inside.Her hands mapped every scar like she was memorizing them, her mouth following close behind.
He tried to be careful, apparently too careful, because she wrapped her legs around his hips and whispered, “Harder.I won’t break.”
So he gave her what she asked for and buried himself deep.Released the restraints and let the years of holding back pound through him until that raging denial shattered against her skin.She came first, her breathing turning sharp, shoulders shuddering, with her nails digging into his sides.He followed seconds later, face buried in her neck, taking in the scent of her like it was oxygen after being too long underwater.
They lay there panting, sweat cooling, hearts hammering in tandem.His muscles burned in the best way.
She traced lazy circles on his chest.“Round one was a solid B-plus.Room for improvement.”
He huffed a laugh against her hair.“Critical.”
Second go at it was slower.He took his time to learn the spots that made her gasp, the rhythm that made her arch.She was riding him, hands braced on his chest, hair falling like fire around them.When she leaned down to kiss the worst of the burns on his face, something cracked open in his chest, feelings he’d kept locked away since the blast.Dan couldn’t bear to face them yet, he just couldn’t.
To create a tiny bit of space he flipped her, pinned her wrists gently above her head, and moved slowly enough to feel every tremor, every hitch in her breath.When she came again, it was quieter, deeper, and even in the dim lighting he knew her eyes stayed locked on him the whole time.He followed her over the edge, whispering her name like a prayer.He couldn’t remember when sex had been so sensual, so complete.It was like he hadn’t known how it could be.Riley was a revelation.
They collapsed together, tangled, breathing each other’s air.
Third round wasn’t about urgency or finesse.It was just need—raw, honest, stripped down.Face-to-face, legs entwined, hands everywhere.She whispered filthy things in his ear until he groaned, then soothed him with soft kisses along his scars.When they finally shattered together, it felt less like sex and more like surrender.
After, they lay in a sweaty, sated heap.Moonlight painted silver stripes across his ruined face.
She didn’t look away.
He liked that.
***
Riley
Riley curled against his side, head on his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart.Her fingers drifted over raised lines on his shoulder, the ones that disappeared under ink.
