Courthouse Paperwork Is Polite

His words were a grenade. Heat slammed into me in a way I did not want. I could feel the electrical charge curve in my limbs—my muscles tightened, blood punched my ears, heat pooled where it should not. A traitorous, animal reaction tightened across my skin and pooled low in my belly.

No. No. No. This is not what this is. My brain screamed. I had to remind myself what had happened. This man—this m