He dragged her closer, desperate to be skin to skin. She was made for him. She fit. Perfectly. The chemistry just got hotter the more they kissed, inflaming his every sense until he couldn’t think straight. Until there was no way to do without her. She was inside of him, living and breathing, and without her body to sustain his, there was no Wyatt. He knew part of that was the biochemical spilling from her mouth to his, but more, he already knew the taste of her, what it felt like to be inside of her. Once he started kissing her, it was difficult to pull back without having her.
This isn’t going to work, Wyatt. It’s not.
She didn’t take her mouth from his, but she protested, and that made him all the more crazy. Thunder roared in his ears. He slammed his palm against the wall beside her head. He had never wanted a woman so much in his life. Not just wanted her – needed her. No one else was ever going to satisfy the craving inside of him, a terrible empty hole that only she could fill.
You damn well aren’t goin’ to change your fuckin’ mind because I’m angry with you. You had no business throwin’ out a lure to him and you know it.
She startled when he hit the wall, trying to draw back, but there was nowhere for her to go. Wyatt had her there, captured between the wall and his body. His prisoner. He held her there, his brooding gaze drifting over her face.
“You belong to me and no one else.”
“You don’t own me,” she denied.
He could see the panic in her eyes, feeling it rising like the tidal wave of sheer lust had risen in him. “I do,” he said softly. “You’re mine and I’ll be damned if I’m ever goin’ to give you up, so just know that, Pepper. Know as much as you belong to me, I belong to you. We’re in this together. We had this conversation. We talked it all out. I’ve been inside you dozens of times. You knew when we first started this that there was no goin’ back.”
“What is this?” She sounded as scared as she looked. “Doesn’t this scare you, even a little bit?”
Her body trembled, shivering against his. He leaned down and brushed a much gentler kiss over her mouth. Her eyes were huge, her breath coming too fast. She was very close to panic and seemed more vulnerable than ever. Wyatt realized her fear was very genuine. Pepper hadn’t been made to feel passion and attraction – only to make men feel it. She had no idea what to do with the intense chemistry sizzling between them. She had no idea what to do with him, especially when he was angry.
“You’re safe with me. You are. I’m a loyal man, a family man. You don’ have to be afraid of what you’re feelin’. I’ll take care of us.”
She shook her head. “How do you know what you’re feeling is genuine, that I didn’t cast a lure for you too?” She touched her mouth with shaking fingers. “Because a week from now, I don’t want to hear you say that.”
He captured her hand and brought it to his mouth, his teeth scraping gently at the pads of her nervous fingers. “I can not only feel the lure when you test the waters, but I can see it as well, a thin line of energy going from you to your victim. No one else in that room spotted it and they’re all GhostWalkers. What does that tell you?”
She winced visibly and lowered her lashes. They were wet. Spiky. His heart contracted hard in his chest. He pushed back the stray tendrils of cloudy waves that just refused to stay tamed in her braid.
“Don’t say ‘victim,’ Wyatt. Don’t use that word.”
“I know you didn’t deliberately seduce me, Pepper, because you’re scared to death of me – of what you feel when you’re with me. I connected us when I attempted to heal you, but you connected us long before that, when you jumped between Ginger and me and took that bite. I knew in that moment that you were the one for me. There was no sex involved right then. None. Just a woman showin’ tremendous courage, the kind of courage a man livin’ in the bayou needs when he wants to raise his family here.”
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.”