Lotus

by Jennifer Hartmann

Considering I like to read dark romances with lots of graphic sex and explicit language, I’m certain I would have been sitting there bored, wondering when Adam and Eve were finally going to get freaky.

“I’m sorry for my indecency,” Oliver forces out, a crack in his tone. “I wasn’t aware there was a lady present.” Sorry that my whore eyes just drank you up like a tall glass of water.

“You don’t ever forget. That ache never goes away. You just…adjust. You adjust to the void and rebuild your life around that missing piece, hoping something will come along one day and distract you just enough, that your pain abates…even if it’s only for a little while.”

“I’ve spent my whole life keeping people at arm’s length because it’s how I cope, how I protect myself. And yes, I’ve been with men, that’s no secret…but it’s never meant anything.” I find his eyes, and they are just as tear-filled as mine. “With you, it would mean everything and that scares the shit out of me.”

The truth is, I didn’t have a heart to give. My heart was with a ghost.

“I’m not gone anymore, Syd.” His palms find my face, clasping my cheeks, tears slipping through his fingers. “I’m right here, with you, and I’m still holding on to your heart. Please don’t ask me to give it back.”

“I want you to teach me everything. How to touch you, taste you, worship you.”

“It’s hard to break someone who has already experienced the worst out of life. We tend to be fairly resilient.”