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“Yeah, like hot psychologists with their fingers inches away from my cunt,” I mutter.
“Do you want me to pretend I didn’t hear that, or do you want to talk about your new fascination with me touching you?” Owen asks as he applies the glue. He glances up at me, and I frown at him. “Tell me, Nora… Did you hyperfixate on anyone else like this?”
“No,” I admit quietly. “It feels like a punishment to be given to you as a therapist when hypersexuality is written all over my file.”
“I requested you, first of all,” he says. “You were going to be with a sixty-year-old grandma.”
“You are more fun to look at,” I say, and he laughs. “I was going to say you can tell me to go fuck myself, but you just did… so…”
“If you want to do it yourself, or seek something consensual, it’s your body, Nora. If you want to run through a new man every night, do it. As long as you are not doing it as a form of self-harm, I will always encourage you to find ways to cope.”
Owen places a bandage on my thigh, and I sit up. He doesn’t move, so I push my luck. “I’ve never taken care of myself before, Owen. How would I even know what to do?”
“You are going to get me in trouble,” he says so seriously that when his eyes drop to my lips, I fuck up.
I press my lips to his for just long enough that when I snap out of my slutty daze, I spiral fast and hard.
“Oh fuck. I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I don’t know why I did that.”
“Nora…” he starts to say, but it’s too late. I stand and move away from him, and the room spins.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I did that. Why did I do that? I shouldn’t have… But I did… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I say as my emotions are quickly turning hysterical.
He takes one step toward me, and I flinch hard. “No, please. I’m sorry,” I yell when I turn away from him, and he stops me with his hands on my waist. “I’m sorry…”
“Nora, breathe,” he says softly. “No talking. Just breathe with me.”
I try, but I can’t focus. I close my eyes and force myself to listen to him. I take a deep breath, but it’s shaky as I slowly breathe out. “Good girl. Just breathe,” he says gently.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I don’t know why…”
“It’s my fault, Nora. I know better than to let myself be close to someone like that. I should have been more self-aware of my own feelings.”
“You mean…”
“I mean that in order for this to work and you not to attach to me, there need to be boundaries,” he says. “For me.”
“Like?”
“Like… I can’t allow my emotions to mix with yours when you are struggling with hypersexuality. All that will lead to is me taking advantage of you, and that’s not fair.”
“You don’t have to pretend you have some forbidden attraction to me, Owen. I get it,” I say with a heavy sigh. “Maybe it’s best that I am with that old lady because all I’m going to do is be a fucking whore and…”
Owen surprises me when he suddenly pushes me back against the wall and kisses me. It’s so damn passionate that I instantly melt. He cups my face and pulls his lips away from mine. He doesn’t pull back right away and just rests his forehead against mine as I try to wrap my brain around this day.
“Ah… I shouldn’t have done that,” Owen mutters, but I think he’s talking to himself.
“But you did,” I say, pulling back so he will look at me. “I’m sorry I tempted you.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m the one who crossed a line when…”
I get tired of hearing him blame himself fast, so I let my towel drop to the floor.
“Oh, dear God,” he groans and steps back to sit on my bed. His eyes scan my body as I step closer, and I can see him fighting with his morals, but losing as I get closer. When I stop between his thighs, his hands slide up the back of my thighs to grab my ass. I smile down at him when he pulls me against him before placing a gentle kiss between my breasts. “I’m not rejecting you.”
“If you have to say that, you are,” I say.
“No. God, no,” he says. “Believe me, I want you far more than I should… But Nora… I can’t let you use me to hurt yourself. I can’t let myself go there with you until I know you are thinking as Nora, not as the traumatized shell Gabriel tried to turn you into.”
