“I want to see how you look.” His voice is stern. My chest tightens at the thought of revealing my scars to him. I feel naked and exposed even though I’m fully clothed.

“You won’t like it.”

I know I’m killing all the sexual vibes here, but he has to understand he can’t see me naked.

“That’s for me to decide,” he says. My eyes stay glued to his face as he slowly lifts my damp tank top over my head. He breaks our stare-down as his eyes venture down south and tears trail down my face like a stream. My heart leapfrogs in my chest and the acid that burns my throat threatens to make it’s debut on his floor.

Does he want to see how broken I am?

He stares at my scars, not uttering a word as he traces his fingers over my pale pink scars that have faded over the years, but I still know by heart. The scars are like a history book of wounds that will never heal—physically and emotionally.

“I don’t understand why you’re trying to hide this from me. You’re beautiful, Gia. Everything about you is, from the way you say random facts to the way you like to have the last word. The scars on your body don’t take away from your beauty. If a person doesn’t like your scars then fuck them. Means they’re a piece of shit anyway.”

Then he bends down and presses his warm lips against my pale scars like his kiss is rewriting history. His kisses send a message to my scars that I’m the most beautiful woman in the world, despite my imperfect body.

It’s okay to have battle scars, and he accepts every inch of me. I wipe the tears with the back of my hand. He scoops me up by my butt. I wrap my legs around his waist and he rains kisses on my face as if he’s kissing my soul.

His mouth breaks from mine and he chuckles. “I should punish you for being a liar.”

“What did I lie about?” I rub my nose against his, giving him Eskimo kisses. My wet bra presses against his firm chest.

“You put up this front that you can’t stand me, but deep down you want me. You want me to fuck your little cunt until you’re begging for me to stop.”

“You’re so crass.”

“Just admit you want me. It isn’t that hard.”

He lays me on his king-size bed. My body clings to the black cotton sheets as he unbuttons my shorts and slides them down along with my panties, tossing them to the floor, leaving me in my bra and rainbow knee-high socks.