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swallowed hard, letting go of the arm he’d gripped. He nodded, watching as she scurried away. Then he turned to Josiah Beckett.
    “If you want to be the best possible advocate for your client, you both need to come clean, and right now.”

Chapter 5
    Tirzah stepped out of the shower, wrapping her hair in a towel and trying to come to terms with what her therapist had told her. No matter how many times she replayed the conversation in her head, she couldn’t convince herself her attraction to the green-eyed advocate was not a failing. Some self-destructive impulse that made her seek out men with the power to destroy her.
    “You need to explore fantasy and sexual arousal in a non-threatening environment.” Her therapist had suggested she watch some sexually explicit holo-vids and allow herself to fantasize about whoever happened to come to mind. Tirzah knew already who would come to mind, for he hadn’t really left it all afternoon. She cupped her almost-dry breasts in her hands, tugging at the nipples as the last droplets of water absorbed into her skin. Tightness settled into her abdomen, low, below even the lowest of her scars. An ache, a whisper of want. Groaning low in her throat, she slid one hand down her body to tease between feminine folds of heat.
    Could she even do this? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d masturbated. It had been well over a year, maybe two. As embarrassment flushed her cheeks, she flung her hands away from her body. She hadn’t always been unnerved by her sexuality. Before Walter, things had been simple—she’d meet a man to whom she was attracted, they’d date, maybe sleep together a few times. She’d always been attracted to powerful men. Walter was the only man who had ever turned his power against her, and what had initially attracted her to him had become repulsive.
    She went to her bedroom, turning on the holo player as she stretched out on her bed and surfed the titles available. She hardly ever used the player; when she did, it was mostly to watch comedies. Certainly never for pornography.
    C’mon, Tirzah, doctor’s orders. She finally settled on a vid that promised “sensual, couple-friendly lovemaking.”
    The holo-vid was arousing, as sensual as promised. The male actor kissed and caressed the female while she stretched and moaned. It wasn’t hard to imagine a pair of rough, masculine hands teasing at her body. Tirzah’s eyes drifted closed and she imagined the elegant, dark-skinned Zeke’s hands cupping her breast, kneading it while he suckled the nipple and teased it with his tongue. She could almost feel the tight rows of his braids under her fingers, the smoothness of his hard shoulders. A sharp shard of pleasure knifed through her, drawing a stuttering gasp to her lips.
    Her fingers followed that shard low, drawing through wet heat to circle her clitoris.
    Her response to her own touch encouraged her, and she rolled and stretched, imagining the weight of another body pressing her into the mattress, the length of his fingers parting her, entering her. Her body warmed to her own touch, and she thrust her hips against her palm, circling and rubbing in time to her caresses. As she drew near an edge, afraid to tip over, she slowed the circling, trying to hold back.
    In her mind, she saw him clearly, his green eyes passion-dark. His full lips closed over her breast, and his hand beckoned within her body. A growl ripped from fantasy-Zeke’s throat as he bared his teeth—and bit. A sound skittered from her, amazed and awed. In that moment, she clutched and pinched her nipple with one hand, while finally forcing her body’s surrender with a soft pinch around her clit.
    White-hot and shaking, her body lunged for the prize she’d attempted to deny it, the fantasy pushing her headlong into a riptide of lust. Her body arched in response; the motion of her hips finally stilled as she shuddered around her hand. Unable to stop the tears that flowed from her eyes, she