Secrets Shared by Raven McAllan Read Free Book Online Page A

Although he couldn’t condone the way Jeff had gotten her to the house, nor the way Jeff had involved Kath or him, David accepted it had all been done with the best intentions.
    Jess scissored her legs and tried to kick out. As one foot was perilously close to his balls, David caught both legs between his knees.
    “Stop it, you’ll injure yourself, Jessica. I’m not letting you go, so calm down, settle down and talk to me.”
    “No.” She glared at him.
    If looks could kill, he’d have his friends choosing the hymns and ordering the flowers.
    “Well, up to you, hon. I’m happy to stay like this. I like it.” So did his dick, which was imprinting his zipper on its length once more. Jess grunted, but to his relief she stopped struggling. His arm was across her breasts, and he’d swear her nipples were hard against his skin. Jess took a deep breath and he felt the warmth of it stir the shirt she rested against. Then she shook.
    “Ah, Jess, come on, love, don’t cry. We’ll sort it. Shhh.” Was he saying the right things? David didn’t have a lot of experience soothing a weeping woman unless it was with a scene or its aftermath. He continued stroking her hair and making soft, calming noises as she sobbed. It was heart wrenching. He’d never seen someone lose it like that before and he wasn’t sure whether to be pleased she felt she could or aghast she felt she needed to.
    It was several minutes before the sobs slowed. Finally, Jess hiccupped, and her trembles ceased. Slowly she lifted her head, and David helped her sit up. With a wry grin, she ran her hands through her hair and sniffed. He took a linen hankie out of his pocket and handed it to her.
    “Blow.”
    Jess gave a watery smile and did as he asked. “You sound like my nursery class teacher. At the first sniff from anyone, she’d grab a tissue, shove it in their face and demand they blow.”
    “As long as I don’t look like her, we’ll be fine.”
    She did giggle at that. “Nope. She was five foot nothing and skin and bone, and with a mustache to rival anyone I’ve ever seen. By God she wielded a mean double ruler. I still can’t hear that sort of clack without shuddering.”
    He didn’t think that was the reason she was so anti-everything, but he had to ask.
    “So is that why you clam up and freeze when I say I want to spank you? It’s chalk and cheese you know.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Of course I know, I’m not stupid. No, that’s something different altogether.”
    He nodded, striving for casual. “So what then?”
    “I have bad memories,” she said, just as he assumed she wasn’t going to answer. “And I don’t want the nightmares to start again. It took me a long while to get over them, and I’m not going down that road again.”
    Shit.
    “Do Jeff and Kath know?”
    Jess shook her head. “Not as far as I know, but I suspect that they have an idea that something happened to make me feel the way I do. So, no one does except me and the asshat who created them. Hell, it was my own fucking fault for being naïve and trusting. What a simpleton I was. Never again. No one is ever going to have that sort of power over me. I’m my own person now, and no one, but no one’s going to change that.”
    No wonder he’d sensed something very wrong. David itched to find out who had done what to her, and make him—he assumed it was a him—pay. Even without details, David realized it had to be bad. If she couldn’t stand to be blindfolded, held tight or, he guessed, be bound in any way, he’d gotten a job and a half ahead of him. Something in her called to him. He wanted her, and it was a long while since he’d felt such an immediate and urgent pull to anyone. Whether it would happen, he had no idea. Whether she’d be able to submit to him, he had his doubts. Nevertheless, he had to try and see where the attraction led.
    “Jess, that you are your own person has never been in doubt, I promise. But you’re sat in my lap and my cock is