Wyatt tossed his clothing aside and crawled over her to reach the other side of the bed. Sitting with his back to the headboard, he reached down and pulled her into his arms, uncaring that he was naked and she was fully clothed. He only wanted to comfort her. To hold her.
She snuggled into him just like Ginger did, curling up small and fitting into him without hesitation. His arms closed around her, caging her in, holding her tight. His chin dropped down on top of her head and he just let her cry.
The storm lasted longer than he anticipated but he was patient, dropping kisses into the center of her thick, silky hair and nuzzling the nape of her neck.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, her voice muffled by his chest.
“Sometimes cryin’ is necessary, sugar, everyone does it. You need it, you cry. I’m right here and I’m not goin’ anywhere,” he reassured her.
“I don’t cry in front of people.”
“Fortunately, Pepper, I’m not people. I’m your man. You cry in front of your man. You tell him what’s wrong and he fixes it. That’s how it works. And if it doesn’t need fixin’ or I can’ do anythin’ about it right at that moment, I just listen.”
She lifted her head to look at him. “Is that what you’re doing right now? Listening?”
“I’m lovin’ you, babe. Lovin’ the hell out of you. And when you’re all tired out I’m goin’ to lay you down and love on you some more.” He pushed back her hair. “You need that. And then I’m runnin’ a hot bath and brushin’ your hair for you and puttin’ you to bed.”
She smiled against his bare chest. He felt her lips move over his skin. “You have a plan.”
“I do.”
Wyatt pulled her shirt over her head and made short work of her bra. Her full breasts spilled out, temptation itself, and his cock grew, pressing deep against her bottom. Wyatt rolled her off of him, laying her out on the bed, his hands at her jeans. He stripped the clothes from her and threw one thigh over her, shifted and then straddled her.
Pepper held her breath. Wyatt didn’t say anything to her. Didn’t give her any explanation or cue as to what he wanted her to do. When she raised one hand toward his chest, he caught her hand and put it firmly on the bed beside her. She could barely breathe with the way he looked at her. She’d never seen that particular expression on his face before. Soft. Gentle. Tender even. More than that.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss into her throat. Butterflies took off in her stomach. His tongue was there, she could feel it just for a moment and then he kissed his way to the valley between her breasts. He pressed his lips there. Lingered. Stroked with his tongue, kissed either side of her breasts and then under them. Gently. Reverently. As if he worshipped her body. His mouth moved lower, his tongue and lips finding her rib cage and then moving to her belly button. He swirled his tongue and kissed her repeatedly.
He shifted to move back, picking up her leg by her ankle, so he could kiss behind her knee and then the soles of each foot. Very gently he pushed her knees up and wedged himself between her thighs. His mouth found the inside of her thighs and he kissed her gently, his tongue tasting her skin.
Pepper went completely still. He was doing exactly what he said he would. He was showing her love. It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing in the world. His face, carved so sensually, his eyes glowing with a soft look, his dark wavy hair and sexy mouth, muscles rippling. It was too much and yet not enough.
Already she could feel her body spilling out a welcome. She went slick and hot, yet at the same time, she wanted this slow, leisurely love he was showing her. His mouth was on her, driving her up, and then it was all Wyatt. His cock glided in and out of her while his hands framed her face and he whispered softly to her in French.
“Je t’aime, bébé, et je vais vous aimer éternellement.”
She couldn’t breathe as he moved in and out of her with exquisite tenderness. He kissed her over and over, pouring fire down her throat. Pouring love. She nearly choked on it, the lump in her throat so enormous.
No one had ever treated her with such gentleness, or said words of love to her. She wrapped her arms around him, lifting her hips to meet his, trying to show him that she felt the same way.
“Wyatt,” she breathed his name. It was all she could do. She was too filled with him. Too overcome by him. Wyatt. Just his name, but then, to her, that was everything. Her world now. This man and the family they were choosing to make together.
She showed him she loved him the only way she knew how, when they were finished and he’d kissed her eyes to take away the last of the tears and then kissed her mouth a million times.