Page 69 of Close Your Eyes

He looks up at me, climbing into the tub first. “I know you do. Come,” he says, and it’s not a command. More of a plea. Like he wants to know everything going on in my life, and I know I need to tell him all the things.

But I don’t know how he’ll react. I don’t want him to think I’ve used him to take my virginity. I also don’t know what he’ll do to Bane.

If there’s even anything we can do at all.

Bane’s powerful, and I’m scared by running from our wedding that I’ve just sentenced everyone I care about to death.

I get into the tub, leaning my back along Ledger’s front. I sit between his legs, and he takes a sponge off a nearby shelf and soaks it into the water. He traces it across my shoulders, and I close my eyes.

“Talk to me,” Ledger says low near my ear. “Let me help you.”

I lean against his rock-solid chest, and close my eyes. A single tear trickles down my cheek, and I know Ledger can’t see my face, but still he wraps his arms around me as if he can. Like he knows how I’m feeling without me even telling him.

And maybe he does.

Maybe he’s known all along.

“I never wanted to marry Bane.”

Ledger doesn’t say a word, just keeps running the loofah over my chest and stomach.

I shake my head. “I’ve gotten myself into a terrible mess, and I don’t see any way out of it,” I tell him, my lower lip shaking with fear.

“Start at the beginning,” he says.

“My mother hauled ass when I was young, and my father was all I had. He stepped up where most men would have just crumbled instead. He tried to raise me best he could, but he was always so broke. We were always so poor. He started gambling and before I knew it, he had worked up quite the debt.”

“To Bane?” Ledger asks, obviously seeing where this story is going.

I nod. “Yes,” I whisper. “To Bane.”

Ledger blows out an audible breath. “So, you’re marrying Bane to pay off your father’s debt?”

I nod again. “Yeah.”

“I can pay it off,” he says, and I want to turn around and kiss this man.

I do.

I place my hand on his arm. “I know Bane won’t go for that. I humiliated him today. He told me he no longer cares about the debt.”

Ledger kisses the back of my neck. “I know. It was worth a try.”

I want to tell him how much I love him for trying. “Today, I realized I couldn’t do it. Father Carmichael helped us. My father’s hiding at the church. And as I was leaving, I overheard Bane speaking to somebody in his office.” I spin around to look Ledger in the eyes. “He plans on selling me to pay off his own debt. He said he’d get top dollar for a virgin.”

Ledger’s eyes grow wild. “Fucking asshole. I’ll never let him get away with that.”

I kiss his lips. “Maybe you could offer to buy me,” I say, knowing it would never work.

“I’d do it in a heartbeat if I thought Bane would ever go for it.”

I shake my head, tears racing down my cheeks. “I just don’t know what to do.”

Ledger wraps his arms around me. “We’ll think of something. You know Bane will be searching for your father, and you. It won’t take long before he finds you both.”

I straddle Ledger’s lap. “I know.” I kiss his soft lips once more. “Ledger, I’m scared.”

He wraps me into his arms, his body growing hard beneath me. “I won’t let anyone hurt your father, or you.”