He Defended Her, He Said I Deserved It novel · Chapter 17 of 32
Chapter 17: Third Floor
"Yes," Ike said.
Just that.
His voice was so low I felt it in my hands more than I heard it.
I took his hand off my side and held it.
I went up the last flight of stairs backward, so I could keep looking at him.
He followed me one step at a time.
He was so big the stairwell got dark behind him.
At the top I fumbled the key. I laughed at myself.
He didn't help. He waited until I got it.
Inside, the lamp he'd carried up was on. I'd left it on for coming home.
The curtain he'd hung over the back window was drawn.
Above the sink, taped to the cabinet, were three drawings of his hands.
He saw them.
He stopped in the middle of my kitchen the size of a phone booth and looked at them for a long moment.
"Those are mine," he said.
"Those are yours."
"You drew my hands."
"Three nights in a row. Before the roof."
He looked back at me, and something in his face came all the way open.
I took the daisy from behind my ear and set it on the counter.
Then I took his flannel in both fists and walked backward toward my bed.
His hands came off my chest.
Just for a second.
Long enough for me to pull the flannel up and over his shoulders.
He let me.
He stood there in the dark of my little kitchen and let me look at him.
Bare arms.
A plain white undershirt.
The hair on his chest dark against the cotton.
I reached for his belt.
I worked it open while he watched my hands.
"You're shaking," he said.
"I'm not cold."
"Didn't say you were."
I pulled the belt loose and let it drop.
The buckle hit the floor and I didn't care.
I opened the button of his jeans.
I heard him breathe in through his nose, sharp and held.
He didn't move to help me.
I pushed the jeans down his hips and he stepped out of them.
I left him in the undershirt and his boxer briefs.
Then I put both hands on his chest, over the thin cotton, and felt his heart going so hard it moved my palms.
"Your turn," I said.
"Ike."
"My turn to tell you what I want."
He looked down at me.
His eyes were so dark in the low light I couldn't find the brown in them.
"Then tell me."
"Take your shirt off."
He pulled the undershirt over his head and dropped it on top of the jeans.
I looked at him.
Big shoulders.
A soft belly over hard muscle, the way a man gets from lifting things, not from a gym.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of He Defended Her, He Said I Deserved It are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
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