Chapter Thirty One

The satin sheet slid sensuously down over her skin. It brushed across her breasts, hardening her nipples and causing Rosa to lick her lips. She wanted it to be Axel's fingers brushing across her nipples, not the sheet. He moved the sheet a little faster, tugging it lower over her abdomen revealing an area of her body that she was particularly self-conscious about.
Every fibre of her being screamed at her to stop him. To not let him see her flawed form. She didn't want him looking at her rounded tummy. Rosa didn't feel it was worthy of his gaze, but almost as though he sensed her reluctance and fear he paused. His eyes travelled over her body. They started by holding her gaze and travelling down. His eyes lingered on her round, full breasts with their pink nipples fully erect and begging to be caressed.
But it was when his eyes moved down to her tummy that Rosa really began to feel uncomfortable, her hands itched to grab the sheet and pull it back over herself. She could handle him looking at her breasts but her stomach was a sensitive area. Thoughts flooded her mind sending her into panic mode.
What if he didn't like what he saw? What if he found her repulsive? Would he ever want to touch her again? Would he ever want to make love to her? The thoughts ran in circles in her head.
"What are you thinking?" he asked, his hands still holding the sheet but not moving any further than he already had.
Rosa shook her head as tears threatened to choke her voice, she didn't want to draw attention to her flaws. She already knew that he had seen them, but maybe if she spoke about them he would really find them disgusting... Find her disgusting.
"Rosa. Tell me what you are thinking." His voice had taken on an edge of authority. His eyes had darkened and she knew that if she disobeyed him, if she insisted on locking him out of her head, that he would punish her. He would get the words out of her somehow. Rosa had always been a locked box, closed up tight, but axel had the key and that frightened her more than any threats he might have.
She sighed one long shaking breath as a lone tear trailed down her cheek, she opened her mouth and closed it again.
"Rosa...." That one word, the way his voice caressed it, told her everything she needed to know, she had to tell him. It was better if she did it on her terms.
"I'm afraid you'll find me repulsive. That you will look at me and see all of my flaws. I'm afraid of you realizing that I'm not good enough for you. That I'm not your type..." She trailed off.
Tears streaked silently down her cheeks. Axel's face was a mixture of horror and surprise, he released the sheet and moved around the bed towards me, she turned her face away and scrubbed at her cheeks with the palm of her hands. She was weak, the last thing she wanted was for him to see her as such a mess. And yet lately all she seemed to do was cry.
"Rosa," His voice was gentle as he tilted her face back to him. "How could you think such things? If I did not find you attractive I would not have shared with you what I have. I would not crave your body nor would I want to spend my time touching your skin. If I found you repulsive I wouldn't have proposed that you give yourself to me wholly and completely for one month. It wouldn't make sense."
"But I'm afraid that you'll change your mind... That you'll wake up one day and realize what a terrible mistake you have made and that really I'm not attractive at all."
"I don't want to hear you talking like that. I have seen you naked. I knew even before you were naked that I wanted you. Your body puts thoughts in my head... Such wicked thoughts. For you to suggest otherwise is an insult to me. I know what I want, I know my own mind, and what I want is you." He growled out the last words and pushed her back on the bed, his body hovering over her, pinning her beneath him.