Thirty Six

Guilt nibbled even harder at Tasha as she heard the despondency in his voice. She also found that she didn’t like that he’d called her .

He abandoned you, remember, a voice inside her snapped. Yes, he had. But he had also apologized to her, had also been gentle with her, and had never once lost his patience with her no matter what she said or did. Even when she’d physically hurt him that first night, he’d never hurt her, never tried to intimidate her, and never tried to suppress her with his dominant vibes. More importantly, he hadn’t left her no matter what she’d done. “It wasn’t that I wanted to hurt you.”

“Oh, really?” His voice dripped with skepticism.

“Okay, maybe I wanted you to hurt a little. But I needed to know you weren’t going to abandon me again.”

“Ah, I see; well I’m so glad I passed your little test,” he said bitterly. At this point, his head was starting to pound so hard that the sound of his own voice hurt. “What you’re