Page 75 of Double the Redemption

“And he thought that if he could make more like you, he’d be sitting on a gold mine.”

She nodded, eyes red as tears slipped down her cheeks. “I had a bad feeling because he kept watching me. Like he was trying to calculate how much he could charge for me. I really thought that was going to be it for me, that he was going to whore me out to his buddies and anyone else to make as much money as he could. But then one day he sent me to the doctor he employed, and I knew it wasn’t going to be good. Especially when he started insisting on running genetic testing.”

“You knew what he was going to try?”

“I figured it out within minutes. I fought, screamed, all of it for weeks. But in the end they just strapped me down, knocked me out, extracted my eggs, and then sent me back to my quarters. It was terrifying because I knew what was going to happen when they started giving me daily injections. I tried to escape, tried to get away, but he had me heavily guarded after the first attempt. Nothing worked. I was closely monitored and repeatedly sent back to the doctor, even if I dragged my feet or fought. It didn’t matter. Finally, one day, they just knocked me out, but I came out of the sedation too early.”

“Baby …” The horror of what was coming was sharp.

“I woke up as they were inserting the eggs. Three of them, because that was the higher chance, and if I had all three, even better. I was strapped down tight so I couldn’t move or fight. I threw up all over myself, choking on it, but they didn’t care. They’d clean me up afterward. They knocked me back out, and when I woke up, I knew I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t live with what they were trying to do.”

“No, baby, no …” Pain choked him.

“But what I didn’t know was that they knew what I might try to do, so they kept me sedated the entire time until they knew the procedure was successful. I lost two of the eggs, but one stuck. And when I reached for the bottle of pills, Diego was there to tell me I was pregnant. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t hurt this innocent baby, but I also knew I couldn’t stay. But if I left, if I did escape, I didn’t know where I would go or what I would do, so I stayed, I obeyed, and I gave birth to Asher and promised him I’d get him out.”

“And you did. You fucking did, baby girl.” He hugged her tight, rocking her. “Fuck, you’re so fucking brave, Naomi.”

She held him tight. “I’m terrified that they’re going to get a hold of him, Ink,” she whispered. “And everything that happened the other night only made that fear worse. I know that you won’t let it happen, and I’m tired of being scared all the time. Of thinking that they’re going to be right around the corner. I want to live my life. I want to be with someone who actually wants me and doesn’t see a way to use me.”

She turned in his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. “I came to see you tonight because I want you, Ink. I can’t promise forever because I don’t know what it will mean in a few months, but this morning, there’s no denying how much I want you. You make everything else fade away, including all the words and voices in my head and the memories I’m trying to push down. All of it is gone with you.”

He moved his hand up her back to lightly cup the back of her neck and laid his forehead against hers. Conflicted, he didn’t know what to say to her. He wanted her so fucking much, and there was no way she couldn’t feel him between her legs. Couldn’t feel how much he needed her. But he wasn’t such a prick that he would take advantage of her emotional state.

“I don’t want you to think I’m like them, Naomi. I want you so fucking bad, but you’ve just shared something with me, and I don’t want to take advantage of you. Ever.”

The tension left her almost instantly. “It’s because you say things like that that I know you mean it,” she whispered. “It’s why I trust you, Ink.”

This morning, he’d have been elated by that. Now, it broke something in him. She might trust him, but could he trust himself to give her what she needed, to be what she craved from him? Or was he going to disappoint her? Hurt her like those other fuckers had?

29

NAOMI

It surprised her how much freer she felt. Lighter. Telling him, seeing the horror, and feeling him hold her so carefully eased some of the pain in her chest. Soothing the deep wounds she carried.

She thought she was making a mistake coming here, but now, she wasn’t so sure. It may have been the best choice.

Even if nothing came of it tonight, that was okay. When she told Ink, he didn’t look at her with disgust. She could start to replace terrible memories with good ones.

And she’d finally get to see that hot body of his.

That may be shallow, but it was honest.

He inched his forehead away from hers and looked at her, his gaze searching.

“I need you to be sure this is what you want, Naomi. No, listen,” he ordered when she opened her mouth to tell him this was exactly what she wanted. She snapped her mouth shut. “I need you to be certain, baby. Once I take you to bed, I’m not going to let you out again. I know enough about myself. With any woman in my past, I didn’t want them the way I want you. I couldn’t wait to kick them out. You, you’re not going anywhere. I’ll be in your bed every night or you’ll be in mine.”

“It’ll be a crowded bed with Asher with us,” she joked.

“I’ll come up with a solution so that Asher has his own bed.”

“He’s never slept away from me.” Anxiety built at the thought of Asher being away from her.

“Then we’ll slowly work up to that, but make no mistake, Naomi, I’ll have you in every other place I can. Shower, floor, couch, counter, table. I don’t care. And I’ll rope in some of the girls, including the twins, to watch him so I can have my time alone with you. Because with you, there is no one and done. There is you and only you. I don’t share, I don’t walk away, and I’ll give you every drop of pleasure I can. That’s what I want to give you.”

Heat flushed through her. Was he expecting her to argue? That was so hot. She’d read of men doing things like this in some of the romance novels she’d been allowed, but she’d never known it to be anything other than controlling or toxic.

The way Ink did it, it didn’t feel like that. It felt natural. Normal. Exciting.