Chapter 14

INDIE

~I’m still alive!~ was Indie’s first thought as her heart slowed down and her breathing evened out. Seth stirred and she clamped her legs tighter around his waist.

“Don’t you dare move,” she said softly, enjoying his weight pushing her into the mattress and his manhood still buried deep inside her.

He hissed softly as she slid her hands up his back to fold them around his neck. Her eyes flew open when she felt the stickiness of blood. “Did I hurt you?”

“Nothing that I can’t deal with if I ever decide to come down from this cloud I’m on,” he mumbled into her neck.

Indie sat up as much as she could to see where the blood was coming from, but she fell back with a moan when the change in position caused a frisson of sensation in her tender regions.

She felt him twitch inside of her as he released a small groan, his hands tightening on her hips. “I have another place that is currently in more pain than my back.”

Indie gasped as he withdrew and then slowly entered her again.

“I’m sorry”—~gasp~—“I hurt you…” She ended with a moan as he cupped her buttocks, once again changing the angle of their joining.

Her eyes fluttered closed as he continued, his movements slow and lingering, drawing out every sensation that her body could give him.

She could get very used to the perfect way he stretched her as he filled her heat, his weight a comfort that she had never felt.

Their lovemaking was slower than the first time, more tender and without urgency.

He pulled her so tightly against him that she could feel his heart beating in rhythm with her own.

Her hand cupped his head as he moved his mouth to her breast and sucked her gently, his tongue loving her hardened nipple, soothing the roughness he had treated it with earlier.

“Seth,” she breathed, reaching above her head to grab hold of the pillows as she felt the tension build up again.

He twined his fingers with hers as he leaned down to kiss her, his mouth capturing her every gasp that escaped her lips.

Her nails bit into his skin as he lifted his knee to beneath her thigh, opening her legs wider and allowing him to push deeper.

He groaned her name and then sucked her bottom lip as he arched his hips and she felt him reach her deepest point.

“Oh hell, Indigo,” he said against her mouth, his hips rocking deeper, and she could feel the tension in the muscles of his stomach as he tried to maintain the same pace. “I can’t…”

“Then don’t…” His eyes were as green as the clearest emeralds she had ever worked with.

He cried out as she clenched around him, and he closed his eyes tightly as he stopped moving.

“Indigo!” Indie closed her own eyes as he withdrew halfway and plunged deep and hard back into her, his spasming body carrying her over the edge of the most earth-shattering orgasm she’d ever had.

SETH

He was surprised he had air left in his lungs to breathe, because it felt as though he’d poured every ounce of his being into Indie.

Slowly, he unclenched his fingers and released her hands.

With a gentle movement, he slid his hands down her smooth skin to her hips, where he maneuvered them so he was on his back, pulling Indie against him, with their legs still intertwined.

“Your back,” Indie protested softly, her eyes already falling shut.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, kissing her on her temple. Her head fell to his shoulder, and it was the most natural thing for him to stroke her hair until he felt her fall asleep.

But as her breathing evened out, he found himself drifting off as well.

What felt like an eternity later, he woke up with a sharp hiss as something stung his back. It was quickly followed by a featherlight kiss. “I’m sorry…”

“I’m not.” He didn’t regret the time with her, especially not if he had scars to remind him.

Seth glanced over his shoulder and found Indie sitting beside him on the bed, gently applying a balm to the scratches she’d inflicted earlier. “Why are you dressed?”

She quickly packed up her first aid kit as he turned to look at her. “I have to go to work, though I really wish I could spend the day with you.”

He felt the smile from deep inside and couldn’t have hidden it if he tried. “Can you stay a few more minutes?”

“Definitely,” she agreed as she snuggled up to him.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked, tracing her intricate braid with his finger, trying to find the starting point.

“Half an hour, maybe.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. Why?” She turned to look at him curiously.

“Your braids always look like they take forever to make.”

She laughed gaily. “They don’t. It's just two French braids that I knot and pin in different styles. Nothing hectic.”

“Sure,” he drawled softly. And then something occurred to him. “Where’s Zing?”

Her laugh caused his stomach to tighten and wish that she didn’t have to go to work.

“Faith was dog-sitting for me while I was at work, but she and Zing formed a tighter bond than we did, so Zing decided to live with her.”

“Oh, the disloyalty!”

“Tell me about it!” She giggled so adorably. She lay back down, and he pulled her closer to him, careful not to mess up her hair.

In the comfortable silence, Clay Walker was softly singing from the TV, “~I don’t care if I’m not your first love, but I’d love to be your last…~”

“How long were you with the fucker who turned you inside out?” He hadn’t meant to sound so angry, but he hoped he never met her ex.

His mind flashed to a moment when she had become uncertain during their lovemaking, and he remembered how scared she had been, and ~that~ had made him very angry.

No woman was supposed to be afraid of being loved.

She took a deep breath. “Three years.”

Seth locked his fingers with hers and wrapped his arms tighter around her. “Do you still talk to him?”

“Oh, hell no!” She pulled away from him slightly to look at him, her eyes a light honey color as her cheeks flared red.

“I met him the semester before I graduated. He was a new lecturer in one of the classes I took for extra credit. A mystery. And it flattered me that he would take an interest in me.

“We flirted for a bit and started dating seriously after I graduated.

“He would compliment my dress but add that I needed to have the hem longer because I didn’t have the legs to pull it off. His gifts were always makeovers and makeup tutorials.

“He would make dates with me and show up three hours later, if he showed up at all.

“And if I said something about it, he would say that I was clingy or whiny and that I needed to grow up.”

“Why did you stay?” he asked, needing to understand.

She shrugged. “He was my first relationship, the first guy who seemed to be genuinely interested. And besides, what did I know about what a healthy relationship looked like?”

Her self-deprecating smile tore at his heart.

“My dad hardly spoke to us unless it was about photography or art, and he was gone more often than he was with us.

“I treasured the times when he would look at me and tell me he loved me.

“I realized as I learned more about his condition that he knew it was what I needed to hear, but I was never sure if he genuinely loved us.

“And I didn’t know I needed to expect anything different from the people in my life.”

“You have a scar…” Seth placed his hand on her right hip. “Is it because of him?”

She was quiet for a moment, then Seth heard her sniff. He pulled her tighter to him, swallowing the anger that boiled inside of him when she nodded.

“He found out I was pregnant and went crazy. He hit me and I fell. Then he kicked me in my stomach.

“Grace found me just in time and rushed me to the hospital. They had to remove the baby.”

“I’m so sorry, Indigo.” He felt his heart crack. It was so unfair that this beautiful soul had had to endure such pain. With gentle strokes, he wiped the tears that had fallen on her cheeks.

“With every strike, he would scream that he had enough fucking kids and he didn’t need another.

“It was while I was in the hospital that Grace found out that one of the nurses was his wife.

“And that besides having three kids with her, he had twins from a student who he was seeing at the same time that he was dating me.”

“Oh shit, Indie!” Seth closed his eyes at the pain still evident in her voice.

“You’ve got that scary look in your eyes again.” Indie shivered as she cupped his jaw.

“He’s just the kind of guy I’d arrest for spilling coffee.”

“Would you?”

“Every time.” She laid her head on his shoulder again. “That’s why you were so wary of me being married.”

She nodded. “You slammed me into the wall and I was mesmerized, but then you came into my store with this little girl that looked exactly like you.

“And I was shocked that you would flirt with me while buying a gift for her mom.”

He chuckled softly. “And here I thought you were freezing me out because you didn’t like me.”

“I need to go.” She didn’t make a move to get up, he noticed.

“I’ll have the pie for breakfast, so I’m taking it with me.”

“Okay.” She looked at him. “You seriously didn’t eat the pie last night…”

He leaned down and kissed her softly. “How could I spoil my appetite with pie when I had you waiting for me?”

“You mentioned something along those lines in the night,” she said. Oh shit!” She pushed away from him and quickly scooted off the bed. “I’m going to be late!”

“I need to get dressed then—”

She shook her head as she pulled on her shoes. “Just latch the door when you leave. I’ll text you later for your address and what I need to bring for dinner tomorrow night.”

Her scent of vanilla and mint lingered in the room after she left, and he realized that it had infused his skin as he slowly got dressed and left her apartment with the pie in his hand.