Chapter 11

Grace couldn't find the energy to move a single muscle. She was marginally aware that she was spread open on the bed, knees wide, one nipple exposed. Khai's hand was still inside her panties, his fingers in her pussy.

She let her eyes slide closed while she processed all these sensations. Until now, she'd had no idea what the hell people meant when they spoke of orgasms. Now, she got it. It was probably a good thing she'd never had one before she'd been abducted. The edging she'd been forced to endure at the hands of the vilest humans on earth would have been harder to cope with if she'd been aware of what she'd been missing.

Khai eased his hand out of her jeans, and then he surprised her when she heard him sucking.

She jerked her eyes open and turned her head to watch him sucking her arousal off his fingers.

"Mmm. You taste so fucking good, love."

Her cheeks heated, though she doubted he would be able to tell since they were surely already bright red.

When he was done licking his fingers clean, he leaned over to kiss her nipple reverently. He pulled the lace cup from the other one and kissed it, too, before righting her bra and easing her shirt down over her breasts.

Khai smiled at her. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced."

She giggled as she pulled her legs together. "Yeah, uh, me, too."

"Good." He kissed her lips. "Anytime you need that from me, you ask, and I'll give it to you. Anytime you want to do it for yourself, do it. Touch yourself. Learn your body. Find out what you like by playing with your pussy and your nipples. I'll order you a few types of vibrators you can try, too. I never want you to feel like you can't orgasm whenever you want."

She fought against tears as she reached for his cheek, slid her hand around his neck, and drew him down for a kiss. A real one. The kind where she boldly licked along the seam of his lips before tangling with his tongue.

When he pulled back, his gaze was serious. "Can I see the tattoo, Grace?" he asked softly.

She bit her lip and nodded. She wouldn't hide it from him, but she did want it gone immediately. She lifted her hips and pushed her jeans down and off her body before she leaned back, bent one knee, and let it fall open.

Khai slid his hand up her inner thigh, held her leg steady, and leaned over to look closer. "Does it hurt, love?"

She shook her head. "It did at first. I didn't even know what they'd done to me. It was so painful that I thought they were removing my leg for a while. Eventually, it occurred to me that they had put a tattoo on me. It was so humiliating. They blindfolded me, and several men held my body down on a table while the artist slowly tortured me with a needle so close to my…" Her voice trailed off.

"I'm so sorry, love. I can't imagine how scared you were. I'll talk to Jagger and get an appointment to have it removed as soon as possible."

"Thank you." She slid her hand around his neck and squeezed. "Thank you," she repeated. "For so many things."

He lifted his head and leaned over her. "Anything you need from me is yours, love. Always. Just ask. If it's in my power, I'll make it happen."

"Can you wipe my memory so I won't continue to have nightmares in which a dozen men hold me down, pin my legs open, and use vile words to describe my sex?"

He drew in a slow breath. "No, love," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. But I can spend every day replacing the bad memories with new ones. Hopefully, one day, you'll dream of just me sucking your pussy until you scream out your orgasm. Hopefully, you'll stop having nightmares of unrequited orgasms and replace them with fulfillment. Maybe you'll even come in your sleep instead of being left hanging. If not, and you wake up horny, I'll help you reach your peak so you can go back to sleep."

His smile lit up the universe.

He was her everything. Was that even realistic? She'd known him a month. She'd hidden nearly everything about herself from him all that time. She worried all of this was an illusion. Maybe she was still in Master J's basement or even her Master's house. Maybe none of this had happened, and it was all wishful thinking on her part. That would explain why she felt like she was floating over the scene, watching.

"Grace… Look at me, love."

She jerked her attention to him, not realizing she'd been focused on nothing over his shoulder.

"Your mind wandered. You went to a dark place. When you do that, I'm going to bring you back. Look into my eyes."

She did as he instructed.

"I'm right here. I'm real. I'm yours. You're going to survive this."

She gave him a small smile. She hoped to God he was right. It was going to be a long road. What did surviving mean anyway? She was alive. Was that surviving? She didn't think so. She was mostly numb and checked out. That wasn't living. That was existing.

Being with Khai forever would be living, but could she really have that? He probably didn't fully grasp how long it would take her to heal and how hard it would be. He couldn't know. She didn't even know.

Khai slid off the side of the bed, grabbed her jeans, and handed them to her. "Why don't you use the bathroom, freshen up, and put your jeans back on? Are you okay to go downstairs, love?"

She swallowed and looked around. "I don't know. It's so loud and overwhelming."

He set his hands on the bed alongside her hips and leaned in close. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Not ever. You have free choice. I bet you're hungry, though. I can bring something up here for you to eat if you'd like. Or maybe you'd prefer one or more of the other women to do it so you can talk to them?"

She chewed on her lip and thought about the possibilities. "You were down there a long time. What were you doing?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Learning everything there is to know about your case so I can help."

She frowned. "That sounds dangerous."

"Not as dangerous as those assholes continuing to abduct women and sell them into slavery." He lifted a brow. "Which reminds me. If you had a map, do you think you could show Jagger exactly where that police officer who kidnapped you lived?"

"Probably." She sat up straighter. She hadn't thought of that before. She'd love it if someone managed to remove that guy from the equation. "But what if he's not alone? What if other officers are also abducting women?"

"We'll let the FBI handle that, love. For now, what I know is that if you can pinpoint the address, Jagger and his people can find out who lives there and do some digging into the cop."

She nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll come downstairs."

When he stood back to give her space, she slid off the side of the bed. She wasn't used to standing in front of Khai without pants on, but he'd just had his fingers in her pussy and his mouth on her nipple. Plus, he'd gotten up close and personal with her tattoo. Hopefully, in the near future, they would actually get totally naked together, and maybe after that, she wouldn't feel so self-conscious.

It was weird. Why would it even bother her to be naked in front of him? She'd spent so much time exposed and naked in front of strangers that it was a wonder she could conjure up any modesty at all at this point.

He cupped her face and smiled. "You look shy and modest, love."

She shrugged as she dipped her face into his touch. "Thank you," she whispered. She prayed that when she dreamed of someone touching her tonight, it would be him, and she would be permitted to come.

She squeezed his hand in hers before she turned toward the bathroom. "You'll wait for me?"

"Of course, love. I won't move."

Grace stepped into the bathroom, shut the door, set her jeans on the counter, and stared at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were bright red, and she couldn't keep from grinning. She shuddered as she thought back on how good it had felt to finally orgasm.

One thing was for sure; she wanted to do that again. And again. She wasn't sure she could do it alone, but she definitely wanted Khai to make it happen. Somehow, she felt like a different person. Like she knew a secret now. How would she feel after they had sex?

After using the toilet and washing her hands, she put her jeans back on. Her panties were wet from her orgasm, but she didn't want to change them. She wanted the reminder rubbing against her. She could smell her musk before she put her jeans on. It was heady and naughty. Could Khai smell it, too?

Her hair was in a long braid, but after her nap and the way she'd writhed on the bed, it was disheveled, so she tugged the band off the end and unraveled it.

"You okay, Grace?" Khai asked from close to the door.

She turned and opened it. "Yes. Sorry. My hair's a wreck, and everyone is going to know what we were doing." Her hands were shaking.

Khai stepped in, finger-combed through her hair, and shook it out. "I'll bring our boxes and bags in soon. I should have done that already. We don't even have a brush."

She watched him fiddle with her hair, smiling. He enjoyed running his fingers through it. He did it often at night when he was wrapped around her. It calmed her. In fact, she turned so she was facing him, wrapped her arms around him, and leaned her forehead against his chest. "I love it when you stroke my hair."

"That's convenient because I love stroking it." He kissed the top of her head as he continued to tame it down with his fingers. "Would you like me to re-braid it? Or do you want to leave it down for now?"

She tipped her head back and smiled at him. "You can braid hair?"

"Sure. It can't be that hard. Over under over under. Something like that." He grinned.

She giggled, feeling lighter. "It's okay for now, but now that you've revealed that hidden talent, I'll let you braid it tomorrow."

He lifted her chin, took her lips, and kissed her. "Anytime." After taking a step back, he took her hand and led her into the bedroom.

She glanced down at his leg when he stumbled slightly. "Does your leg always hurt?"

He shrugged. "Not all the time. I mostly notice it when I haven't moved for a while, after sitting or standing too long or when I just get out of bed. It's getting better with time."

She grabbed his biceps and rose up to kiss him. "Let me put my shoes back on," she said as she released him to grab them. She sat on the edge of the bed, tied her tennis shoes, and then stood and straightened her shirt. "Do I look like I had sex?"

He chuckled. "Possibly, but I don't think there's a single person in this house who hasn't had sex today, love. No one will judge you."

"Even that boss lady with the FBI?" she joked.

"Okay, maybe not her. I'm not sure about her," he teased.

Grace took a fortifying breath and declared, "I'm ready."