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Then the kiss changed His hips slowly distanced the The handsbruising and relentless, his tongue now soothed hers, as if apologizing for his earlier roughness He brushed each of her swollen lips in turn, then left hersoft kisses on her cheeks, eyelids, and forehead
A sob broke fro in her eyes cascaded down her cheeks Derek kissed them away
“Give ainst her mouth
Soer shattered Self-preservation had her pushing Derek away and frantically pulling on her discarded shorts Her hands shook so violently, it took her a full et the her the entire ti instinctively that his expression would force her to accept so impossible
Snatching her purse off the counter, she turned and rushed to leave
“Ginger, wait”
“Don’t come anywhere near me, Derek I don’t want to see you any around, then slammed the door
Chapter Sixteen
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Ginger cut siant duck and pasted it to the coffee table’s surface, sers It reminded her of the disastrous Halloween she attempted to dress up five-year-old Willa in aof a pillowcase and flip-flops The final touch had been an orange funnel she’d taped over her sister’s mouth in lieu of a beak They’d been forced to return ho into people and trees, unable to see over the kitchen utensil
She turned the page in her Good Housekeeping e of a faathered around a Christmas tree, complete with a wealth of wrapped presents at its base Her smile disappeared They’d never been able to afford a Christht Willa one year Carefully, she cut around the tree, before applying paste to the back and slapping it upside down on the table, partially obscuring the picture of Dolly
As she browsed further through the glossy pages, Ginger caught herself wondering what kind of home life Derek experienced as a child, then quickly sipped her scalding coffee to dispel the thought She would never find out and it didn’t matter His childhood could have rivaled hers in shittiness and it wouldn’t change a thing
She ripped a page fro out a cherry pie recipe Maybe this project’s thes they’d never had Disgusted with her attitude, Ginger let the scissors drop on the floor and heaved the azine across the room
Ironic is azine in the first place, she thought, looking around at her pathetic atteht have been a vast improvement from Nashville, but to her it screamed low-class God, she’d never escape the reminders of where and what she’d come from Maybe she wasn’t meant to
Ginger wrapped her ar her head fall forward The second her eyes closed, Derek’s plea swah her mind
Give irl
Was she only i the plaintiveness in his tone? She hadn’t slept since their conversation, the ine, even for a second, what he’ddizzy and panicked He didn’t know, couldn’t knohat he asked of her
By forcing her to acknowledge that his interest went beyond sexual attraction, he’d effectively blasted a hole in the side of her already-sinking ship She didn’t know her own identity without the illusion of sex Had always used her looks to her advantage But he wanted more He wanted her
Who am I, really?
Yesterday, she would have winked and told anyone who asked, “I’er , her focus had been solely on Willa, and she wouldn’t change her actions for anything in the world But soirl she’dto be?
Derek seemed to think more existed underneath the surface How could he be so sure? If she gave hi would it take him to realize his error?