"What happened? Did I hurt you?"
I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut, tears leaking from the corners of them. This wasn't supposed to happen.
I wanted this.
"Lirien? Sweetheart, I won't. Do you need me to — I won't touch you."
I finally caught a full breath, pulling it in as far as I could and letting it out slowly.
Then I could crack my eyes open and look at him.
He wasn't angry.
There was nothing in his face but fear and worry, and his hand was hovering over my leg like he wanted to comfort me but was afraid to hurt me.
"I needed to know you'd stop," I whispered, my voice breaking.
And then I cringed, because that made it sound like a test. It hadn't been, at least consciously. But still — it had been, sort of. And that made me such an asshole.
1I'd said I wanted it. I did want it. And I still made him stop. If he got up and grabbed what was left of his clothes and left me here, I wouldn't blame him for it.
