CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Even though he could see that some of the slivers had been ripped out by the lace fabric, Liberty was so courageous that she scarcely made a sound when he took the cups of her bra away.

Aric tossed the ripped underwear aside and recalled the pink buds on Liberty's breasts, which he had suckled just hours before.

He was distracted from his duties when he overheard her question, "Is it bad?"

No," he murmured, shifting his focus from her breasts to the rest of her bruised chest. But some of these are buried quite a ways.

He opened a cabinet and took out a set of tweezers, some bandages, and some cotton balls.

He raised an eyebrow at her and inquired, "Are you ready?"

She smiled hesitantly, "Not really," but added, "If you don't take them out, I'm going to have to, and I'm not sure that would go well."

Aric nodded his agreement and started using the tweezers.

Despite every groan of anguish and hiss of misery, he dug out every last piece of wood.

After removing debris from the incision, Ar