I can’t stop looking at my body, my scars, my hands.
I used to see so much ugliness in myself, but now all I see is beauty. Just like he calls me.
And his unconditional love has shown me I’m so much more than just the monster my father made me out to be.
And with a smile on my face, I touch my own skin and all the scars on my fingers and hands with love. All the love I’ve missed all these years when I denied myself just because of what one person taught me.
My father’s opinion of me doesn’t define me.
I do.
* * *
Beast
When I wakeup and miss her scent, I immediately sit up and look around. The sun is shining brightly, which means I’ve slept through the night. But she’s nowhere in the room, and my heart rate instantly shoots up.
My woman is gone.
I jump out of bed and throw everything aside as I march out the door, not giving a shit about anything in my way.
I have to find her. What if she got taken?
Rage fuels my steps as adrenaline takes hold, but I come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the living room when I see her bent over to reach for something in the back of a cupboard in the kitchen.
“What are you doing?”
BONK!
“Ow,” she murmurs, rubbing her head after she hit it against the cupboard. “Geez, you scared me.”
“Sorry,” I say. “I thought you were …”
“Gone?” She raises a brow at me, then gives me this quirky smile she’s rarely sported, and I have to admit it makes me feel like grabbing her and throwing her over my shoulder. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
I smirk. “I meant by Lex’s goons.”
She makes a face. “Ah, so that’s why you ran out of bed in panic.”
“I was not panicking,” I retort, frowning.
“Is that why you came storming out of the room?” she muses, placing a bag of rice on the counter. “And here I was thinking I was quiet enough so you could sleep.”
“I didn’t hear any sound,” I say, stepping close enough until I can wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in like a fish being reeled in on a hook. “I smelled your absence.”
“You sniffed for me?” She giggles.
I lean in and grab a fistful of her hair, bringing it to my nostrils and groaning with delight. “You know what your scent does to me.”
She giggles some more when my grip on her waist tightens, and my cock begins to grow in my pants from her response. God, I fucking love this woman of mine.
“So what were you doing in here?” I ask.
“Trying to find some food, but this is all that’s left,” she says, pointing at an old bag of rice.
“We’ll figure something out,” I say, planting a kiss on her cheek.
The last time we had this conversation, it didn’t end well.