“I have no doubts you’ll both do what it takes to keep everyone safe, Wyatt. I don’ worry about such things because I know you do.”
Her gaze dropped to the baby in his arms. Her face softened and for a moment he thought he caught the sheen of tears. He didn’t blame her. Sometimes when he looked at his little girl, he felt a little like crying himself. She was a beautiful, intelligent child and far too sober. All of them were working hard to make her relax and laugh. To be a child.
“I’m grateful we have them, Wyatt. I need them.”
His heart clenched. Nonny didn’t say things like that. She seemed invincible. Ageless. He was aware of her hair, white now with age, and the laugh lines around her eyes. She moved slower, but she still felt powerful. He couldn’t imagine losing her.
He swallowed down emotion. Nonny wouldn’t appreciate him plying her with questions on her health. “Then I’m glad we have them.” He glanced down at Ginger’s little face, the sweep of her lashes. He smiled at the baby. “I need them too. All of them.”
Ginger reacted by pushing the bottle away. It was mostly empty anyway. She nodded her head vigorously. She was eager to see her sisters again.
“We’ll bring them home, sweetheart,” he whispered to his daughter. “I’ll need your help once they’re here. You can show them everythin’ and help us teach them they’re safe.”
Ginger wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. He looked over her head to his grandmother.
“I don’ know if I ever told you how grateful I am to you. My childhood was happy, Nonny, thanks to you. I loved growin’ up here. I always knew I could count on you. I always felt safe and loved. I want that for my children. And for Pepper. She never had that either. My daughters don’ know what havin’ someone like you in their lives is like. My heart aches for them.” He wouldn’t have said that to anyone but his grandmother.
“Mine too, Wyatt, but you’ll sort it out, and we’ll make it right,” Nonny assured.
Chapter 14
Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Wyatt closed his eyes and simply savored the sound of Pepper’s voice as she explained things quietly to the team. Soft. Sultry. Ultrafeminine. She had a way of speaking that got inside a man and just refused to leave him alone. He loved the sound of her voice and her perfect little ass that her jeans clung so lovingly to as she bent over the kitchen table to point to various things on the blueprints.
The team surrounded the table and they were good-sized men. Pepper looked tiny beside them. Small and feminine. The thing in him he despised, the mindless black jealousy, stretched and clawed in the pit of his belly. For the first time he realized the unworthy trait was fed by his cat DNA. His woman was always close to the heat cycle and he naturally wanted to protect what was his.
Realizing what was riding him helped, but didn’t completely alleviate the problem. Still, he could see Trap and Draden were a little more accepting of his claim on her, but Wyatt wanted to make certain they knew he was serious. Ezekiel and Malichai knew, and they respected a certain distance from her that the others hadn’t quite gotten yet. Trap, especially. Trap didn’t pay the least attention to any kind of cues.
Wyatt stepped up behind Pepper, his body close to hers and leaned over her back, his head at her shoulder, arms on either side of her body so his hands could rest on the table. He caged her there between the table and his body. Taking up that position enabled him to box out the other men so they couldn’t get close to her, which kept his crazy temper under control.
Just as she had to learn to keep her shield up – and he could see she was getting stronger every day – he had to learn to handle his own shit.
“Fill me in,” he ordered, and moved the sweep of clipped hair off her neck so he could breathe against her much more intimately as he leaned down to look at the blueprints.
She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. His heart stuttered and his cock jerked hard. There it was. The smile that was for him alone. “Did Ginger go down without a fight?”
He brushed a kiss on her mouth. “I told her we were bringin’ her sisters home tomorrow night. She was very happy.”
“I missed putting her to bed.” There was regret in her voice.
“She knew you were plannin’ out the rescue, sugar. She was okay with that.” He brushed another kiss on her mouth, ignoring Trap’s sigh. “I told her you’d be in later to kiss her good night.”