He tugged at one of the strands of silk. "Now, when I look at you, I want you with every cell in my body. Again, that isn' you comin' on to me, because you don' ever do that with me. You feel what I'm feelin' and that terrifies you. I know because there's no denyin' that connection between us. I can feel the intensity of your emotions. You want me just as much. I just scare you a little when I get angry, but I'd never hurt you. No matter how angry I get, I'd never hurt you."
Chapter 13
Pepper stared up into Wyatt's face a long time, her body at war with her mind. Could she trust him? Did she dare? If it was only her, but there were three little children who had been locked in laboratories all their lives. She was making a decision for them. When Wyatt was close to her, when his mouth was on hers, she couldn't think reasonably.
Right now, his body was hard and aggressive. She could see the warrior in him, a predator who hunted the swamps and bayous, went out on his missions and came back with more scars, but triumphant. He was a throwback to the Vikings she'd read about in the history books. He appealed to her on that level.
Who was she kidding? He appealed to her on every level. She'd grown up in a world where everyone was deceptive and wanted something from her. Not just her, the babies. She hadn't been able to give them any kind of life. She hadn't even known what she wanted for them until she'd entered Nonny's house. Until she'd seen the love Wyatt had for his grandmother.
Wyatt's face changed from that of a challenging conqueror to sweet, and she knew instantly she was in trouble. She tried to move, but he'd pinned her against the wall and he hadn't so much as rocked back when she pressed her hands against his chest.
"Baby, listen to me," he said, his voice so gentle she closed her eyes against it, needing to shut him out. "You're just scared. We've added two more men into the mix, one of them a natural-born scientist. I understand that, but it isn't something we can't take care of together."
Reluctantly, Pepper opened her eyes and let herself drink him in. Her obsession. Her addiction. Her savior. But was he real? She'd never been so scared in her life. She'd faced guns and knives and even one of Braden's supersoldiers, but Wyatt... Wyatt disarmed her with kindness and his voice, and sex.
"I'm scared for the children and I'm scared for you as well. This can't be a coincidence, you know that, Wyatt. It's too much. Too intense. How can I go all this time, being around so many men and never feel anything at all? Not even a ripple of excitement. Not even when they were training me. I didn't want any of them to even look at me let alone touch me."
"That doesn' upset me in the least, knowin' you aren' lookin' at other men."
She took a breath and confessed in a rush. "And then I saw you. Out there in the swamp, beatin' that man for what he did to your grand-mere. I was alone, afraid and I'd been shot. So had Ginger. I knew I had to get both of us help, but I couldn't look away from you. I couldn't. And that terrifies me because I don't put anyone before the children. I shouldn't have stopped to look. My heart shouldn't have beat faster. I shouldn't have gotten damp and my breasts shouldn't have felt swollen and achy when you were exhibiting such a penchant for violence, but it happened."
He groaned at her description. "You're killin' me, honey. Don' use words like 'damp' and 'achin' breasts,' not when I can' do anythin' about it."
"Don't you see? That's how I feel, and then you offer me everything. The entire world. Just like that. When you kiss me, I can't think. I want you and nothing else. Why is that, Wyatt? I'm supposed to be the one that can use sex as a weapon, but I'm the one caught, not you."
His hand drifted over her face, his touch so gentle she ached inside. "God, baby, they really did fuck you up, didn't they? You don' know who to trust. I'm standin' in front of you and you've been inside my head, and you're still so scared you can' see me."
Tears burned. "The babies, Wyatt. I have to consider them first. Who else is watching out for them? If I can't think when I'm kissing you, when I'm standing this close to you, I have to question that."
He dipped his head and pressed kisses along her jaw, blazing a trail to the corner of her mouth. "You are questioning it, Pepper. I'm standin' right here with a hard-on the size of Texas pressed into your hot body and you're still askin' questions. Your brain is workin' just fine. It's gone in the wrong direction, but you're still thinkin'."
He tipped her chin up. "Look inside me, sugar. I like it when you're inside my head. I don' mind. I want you to feel safe with me."
His grin sent a slow roll through her stomach.
"Of course, not safe in the sense that I'm not goin' to jump you every chance I have. But Pepper, you need to know I'd protect you and the girls. They're my daughters. I'm all about family. If you don' know anythin' else, you have to know that about me. We made a decision together to keep them safe..."
Her head went up, her eyes flashing at him. "Even from him? Your scientist friend? You'll keep them safe from him?"
Wyatt didn't look away from her steady, accusing stare. He didn't even flinch. "I brought Trap here deliberately because he's a man who can help me figure things out. He's brilliant. Those girls can't grow up segregated completely from society. We don' want that for them. That means, Pepper, we figure out how to keep them from killin' someone accidentally. Trap can do that for us. He'd never turn them into lab animals. Give him a chance. Trust me enough to know who is goin' to have our backs."
His body was so hard and hot, not giving an inch. Her own body had long ago betrayed her. "Wyatt, are you like me?" She watched his eyes, terrified of the answer, but she had to know. "Can you do what I do? Is that why I can't resist you?"
His smile was slow in coming and it melted her heart and wreaked havoc with every cell in her body. "I didn' realize you couldn' resist me, honey. You just handed me the world. I can' seem to resist you either. The real you, not the one who goes huntin'. Are you goin' to trust me on this, babe? You got to come to me all the way. With both feet in. If we're doin' this, both of us have to be all the way in."
"I'll kill him. You don't want to see that I'm capable of being every bit as lethal as you and your friends, Wyatt," she said steadily, wanting him to see the real her. "If you want me, you have to know that's part of who I am. If he hurts one of them, if he makes them feel as if they aren't human, I'll kill him and never look back."
He pressed closer to her, his grin going wider, his eyes dark and sensual. "You think that's goin' to put me off you? Is that your way of tryin' to push me away? Because it only makes me hotter for you. I like attitude, babe, and I like a woman who knows her way around a knife and a gun. You're not sayin' anythin' I don' want to hear."
She shook her head. "I hope you believe me, Wyatt. I won't hesitate to protect my children."
"Our children, Pepper," he corrected. "Never forget that. They're ours. Ours to protect. I'll do that with the last breath in my body. And just so you know, you're exactly my kind of woman, honey. I'm countin' on you to protect all of our children with your last breath as well. I want a partner, babe. But you got to trust my lead."
His hand came up to bunch the hem of her shirt, drawing the material up. "We good, honey? Because I've got this wicked hard-on that you just made harder. It's a hell of an ache."
She swallowed hard. "You plan to do something about it?"
"You have no idea," he answered, and lowered his mouth to hers once more.
Fire raced from his mouth to hers. Flames poured down her throat and spread like a wildfire through her body. She heard the soft little sound of despair escape before she could stop it. Already her hands had run up his chest and curled around his neck, dragging him closer. She was lost in him. She'd always be lost in him. Tears burned behind her eyes, but as if he knew, he lifted his mouth from hers and kissed both of her eyes.
"Don' do that, sugar, you're breakin' my heart. I'll take care of you and the girls. I want you just as much as you want me. It isn' just you in this. You aren' alone."
She lifted her head to look at him. She
'd already memorized his face. Every line. Every edge. "I don't know what love is, Wyatt. But whatever we have between us is strong and won't let up."
"I'm going to teach you all about love, honey. My kind of love. It's fierce, burns hot and has stayin' power. Enough for a lifetime." He drew her shirt over her head and tossed it aside.
She reached for his. She had to believe him. She'd been in his mind. He was tough and hard, but he wasn't a deceptive man. She could keep her eye on Trap, but she'd warned Wyatt. He was intelligent enough to believe her. He saw her with all of her flaws and even her terrible need and weakness for him - and he still wanted her. Like this. A firestorm of passion that burned so hot they both were in danger of going up in the flames.
"I'd burn in hell for you," Wyatt whispered against her throat.
"With me," she corrected. "Burn with me."
Wyatt couldn't move fast enough, his hands dropping to his jeans. He just pushed them down, off of his hips and thighs so his cock sprang free. He jerked her jeans and lacy panties down to her ankles.
"Kick off the shoes, babe," he instructed. "Hurry it up."
Already her addicting spice called to him, the scent drifting up to tease his cock and make his mouth water. "Damn it, woman, hurry the hell up."
"You're always in such a frenzy."
Her laughter curled inside of him, around his heart and lungs. He pushed two fingers deep inside her slick, hot channel, and found her sensitive button. She gasped, and he took her mouth ruthlessly, hot blood surging through his veins.
She damn well had to stop questioning their relationship. He wasn't going to allow her to walk out on him before they even got started. Aggression mixed with lust was tempered and colored by the curious melting around his heart. He kissed her over and over, making certain she knew exactly who was kissing her. It's my fingers inside you, Pepper. And it's my cock you're goin' to be ridin'. Don' think about leavin' me again. We have a problem, you talk to me about it. You don' just decide we're over. You're scared about somethin', you come to me to fix it. Do you understand?
He knew he sounded harsh and dominant, but he didn't give a damn anymore. She had to know they were supposed to be together. Hell or heaven, it didn't matter. They had to be together.
He stroked and tugged on her clit, brushing his thumb over the bundle of nerves again and again as he pushed his fingers deep into her. Her breathing came in ragged little pants and gasps, music countering the roaring thunder in his ears. Finally, finally, he heard the shoes drop to the floor.
Instantly Wyatt swept her up to his waist, drawing her leg around his back. "Like that, sugar. That's good."
She got the idea, wrapping her legs around him, her hands at his neck.
"The bra, hon, that's got to go." He lowered her just enough to lodge the throbbing, burning head of his cock in her scorching entrance. His voice had gone low, growly, almost hoarse.
"Put your hands under your breasts and bring them up to my mouth," he instructed.
He watched her eyes darken. Fill with lust. The starburst through the midnight purple. So sexy. She licked her lips, her sweet mouth he went to bed with and woke up with wrapped around his cock. He felt the electric current racing through his body straight to his groin at the sight of her tongue on the curve of her lower lip.
She moved then, a slow undulation, her channel grasping him with greedy fingers, closing around him tightly in pure silken heat. Even as she moved, her eyes still on his, she brought her palms under her firm, high breasts and offered them to him. Already her nipples were peaked. He could see the marks of his possession from the night before on the round, soft globes. He liked seeing her skin branded with him.
He dipped his head and sucked her left breast into his mouth. Simultaneously he lowered her hard as he surged upward with his hips. She threw her head back, colliding with the wall, her mouth open in a silent scream.
He loved how much she enjoyed sex with him. She never tried to hide what she was feeling. He gave her pleasure and she returned it tenfold. It was never enough for either of them.
She picked up the rhythm he wanted immediately, taking her guidance from his hands. That left him free to feast on her breasts and nip and bite and kiss all along her throat and neck and chin.
It didn't last as long as he would have liked because he was burning from the inside out. The slow, easy ride went hard and fast and then harder still. There was no way to prolong the pleasure, not when her muscles were milking him insistently and she was so close.
"Don'," he commanded. "You wait for me. Hold on."
"I can't."
"You can. You will." He poured command into his voice. He was so close, but he needed this, hammering in and out of her, her tight, hot, wet, silken fist wrapped around him, driving him out of his mind.
She leaned forward and bit down on his shoulder. The sharp sting only added to the pleasure building and coiling inside of him.
"Please, Wyatt, I can't hold back."
He knew she could and would. She always did when he told her to. For him. She did it for him. He liked knowing she would. Just like he always anticipated what came after. Just the thought drove him over the edge.
"Now, babe. For me. Give me yourself."
Her body clamped down on his, a strangling vise that felt like heaven and burned like hell. Her muscles tightened impossibly, rippling with life, a tidal wave overtaking her, overtaking him. It started somewhere in his toes, boiled in his balls and rocketed free, jetting into her, filling her with his essence. He loved that. Loved that he was deep inside her. He didn't want to leak out of her. He wanted to stay there, his scent all over her.
He held her while her legs slowly dropped to the floor, leaning into her, the wall holding them both upright. Her arms circled his neck, her fingers in his hair. He found her mouth and kissed her over and over. Gently. Rough. Mixing in tenderness because he always felt tender toward her at this moment.
When he finally slipped out of her, he turned them so his back was to the wall and he could rest there, catching his breath. He was still in his shoes, his jeans around his ankles while she was wholly naked. He waited, his eyes on her, a silent command, and she smiled her sweet, loving smile she didn't even know she had.
His. She was his. She knew it. Her body and heart knew it. Her brain hadn't quite come to the same conclusion, but she was working it out. Pepper caught up his shirt while he stood there, draped against the wall. He loved watching her every move. He could watch her forever and never get enough.
Silently she handed him the shirt. He just held it in his hand. Waiting. Anticipating. Loving her. Damn it all. Loving her. He could admit he was long gone now. He didn't want to be, but she'd managed to find her way in. That part scared him. He hadn't expected it to happen.
Pepper leaned forward and kissed his throat. Her mouth ran down his chest to his belly, her hands gliding over him like silken gloves. He felt the spicy biochemical doing its job, sliding into his pores with her addicting flavor. He accepted that whenever she touched him she would still have traces of the biochemical on her hands and he would crave her touch just like this.
But it was her mouth he'd come to need. The way she knelt down, lovingly took his sac in her talented hands, the biochemical giving him a rush through his balls and groin when she held him. The first swipe of her tongue always sent his head spinning. She lapped at him gently, every inch of him, curling her tongue around him, sucking gently and then...
He closed his eyes and let himself savor the rush when her mouth settled around him and drew him deep. His body was the magnet for the biochemical and it rushed to invade, to pour into him through his skin. He hadn't realized at first that that was what helped to leech it from her system, that his own body somehow worked in conjunction with hers to pull the biochemical from her into him.
He loved her mouth on him. She had done this to him their first night together and since, it had become a ritual. Once he realized what happened, that his body drew the biochemi
cal from her system, he initiated it a second time. He'd come to love this ritual. To even need it. But she needed it more than he did. To him, it felt as if his woman worshipped him, cared for him. Her mouth was always gentle. Loving even. It was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen.
His hands smoothed her soft hair. "God, babe, that feels so fuckin' good I don' even have words to tell you."
Sometimes, he found, with her mouth working him, he got hard again and she took care of that as well. Other times, like now, it felt so loving and tender he actually felt a lump in his throat and a burn behind his eyes.
She sat back on her heels and inspected him carefully, making certain he was totally clean before she leaned forward again and brushed a kiss across the head of his cock. "I'm glad."
"You make me feel like you enjoy takin' care of me," he said.
"I do or I wouldn't do it." She sent him a small smile and then rose gracefully to make her way to the connecting bathroom.
He heard the water running. She didn't know. She didn't yet understand that his body could remove the biochemical for a time, giving her a respite. She thought it was the sex. He didn't want her thinking that. He wasn't taking chances she might turn to someone else.
He walked to the doorway and leaned his hip against the wood. "Babe." He waited until her eyes met his. She had a warm washcloth in her hand and was slowly washing his seed from her thighs and between her legs. She didn't have a stitch on and her small waist emphasized her full breasts. As she bent to use the washcloth, her breasts moved invitingly. Everything she did was invitation.
"Somethin' else I haven' told you. I've been figurin' thin's out. How it works with your body and the heat cycle."
Her hand paused and she swallowed. "Can you fix me?"
"Sugar." He said it like a reprimand. "You don' need fixin'. No, not like you mean. You secrete a biochemical that goes into your system slow and begins to build. If you don' have sex, your body overloads on it. You have to release it. When we have sex, that helps, but more than that, it's in your mouth, on your fingers and palms. That's why when you touch a man, he can't get you out of his head. It's addicting."
She took a deep breath and looked as if she might cry. "You? Have I done that to you, Wyatt?"