“I’m Cajun, babe. Of course I’m crazy.” He looked down at her face. “Are you okay now? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
She moistened her lips. “I’ll be a little sore, but in a nice way. Thank you, Wyatt. For understanding and trying to help me. No one’s ever done anything like this for me.”
He didn’t like a certain note in her voice. A hesitation. A kind of embarrassment. “What we did together is a good thing, Pepper,” he said, trying to understand what was going through her head.
She took a deep breath and let it out, shaking her head and then subsiding against his chest, her head tucked down so her hair fell around her face.
“No, honey. You’re not hidin’ from me. From us. We talk things out. That’s how we’re goin’ to make this work. I know you’re not used to a partner, but that’s what we’re formin’ here. A partnership. You tell me when somethin’s not right. Or when you’re upset. I’ll do the same. We have to be honest with one another.”
Pepper kept her head down, her mind racing. Wyatt made her want the life he was tempting her with so much she couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know how truly bad it would get with other men wanting her when her guard came down, or the women despising her for being around their men. But she wanted him to be her man. The moment he’d used those words, a thrill had gone through her.
“Put your eyes on mine, sugar. Right now.”
She even loved the way he could go from an easygoing Cajun charm to a commanding arrogance that sent shivers of need through her body. She had never wanted to please a man before, but she wanted to please him. She wanted to belong to him. She wanted his body and his mind and his protection. Most of all, she wanted him to love her. She had never considered being loved by anyone until she met him. But to confess that to him…
She shook her head before she could stop herself, a metallic taste of defeat in her mouth.
Wyatt caught her chin in a firm grip and lifted it, forcing her head up. “Say it.” His voice was rough, but his eyes were gentle. Tender even.
“I don’t want you to want me for sex.” She blurted it out in a little rush. “I don’t understand how all of my training failed. I didn’t realize how truly flawed I really am. The one thing I’m supposed to be good at, controlling a man through sex, just went straight out the window. You were in control, not me. And still, I don’t want you to stay with me because of…” She broke off and waved one hand down their naked bodies.
“Because the sex was better than either of us ever imagined or thought possible?” he finished for her. He bent his head to hers and brushed a gentle kiss across her mouth. “You’re really fucked up, aren’t you, babe? They did a real number on you. The sex is off the charts and I’d be a fool not to want that every day of my life. That’s all you, sugar. Not their damn enhancements. I have three little girls who desperately need a mother who will fight for them alongside of me and protect and love them. That’s you. I need a woman who can put up with my jealous, arrogant, demandin’ nature and love me anyway. That’s you too. I like holdin’ you in my arms and feelin’ you in my bed. I like listenin’ to you laughin’ and touchin’ your skin. I like knowin’ you’re goin’ to be wet for me and that anytime I want you, that you’re goin’ to want me right then, at that moment.”
She swallowed hard, his words penetrating through her brain and finding their way to her heart. It hurt, an actual physical pain in her heart to hear him talk like that – to her – about her. Did she dare take a chance? She’d be risking so much more than he realized. She’d be risking him. Wyatt.
As if he knew she was still struggling, he tipped her face up farther, holding her captive with his eyes.
“Do you have any idea how strong I am? Let yourself go, Pepper. Trust me enough to put you back together if you break apart. I’ll do the same. I’ll trust you. If I’m fallin’, I’ll expect you to shore me up. That’s what partners do for one another. Give us this chance. Give the girls this chance. I’ll be a good father to them and their home will be filled with laughter and love. We’ll surround them with that.”
“Be very sure you want me, Wyatt, not a fantasy,” she whispered, her heart pounding hard. “I don’t know the first thing about families or parenting.”
“That won’t be hard. We have Nonny and she’ll be there for you one hundred percent. She already has made up her mind to keep you. Fontenots are that way. I made up my mind when I saw you with that big knife.”