That had meant the world to him. She trusted him when she had no good reason to trust anyone.

“Crawl up on the bed, babe, on all fours. I want to be in you so deep you feel me in your throat. And don’ ever do this again. I mean it, Pepper.” He smoothed his hand over her hip. He loved her ass. The shape of it. The way she swayed when she walked. “The next time I might just put you bare-ass naked over my knee and whale on you.”

She turned in his arms, sliding her hands up his chest and then her mouth was on him. She poured fire and honey down his throat. Into his belly. Into his groin. Filling him with her. His cock was so full for her, so drunk on her, he feared he wouldn’t last long once he was inside her furnace.

When she lifted her head, her eyes searched his. For the first time since the soldiers had attacked them, he could see the beginning of amusement there.

“Why is it I hear that note in your voice, Wyatt? The one that tells me you like the idea of me over your knee.”

She crawled up on the bed, straight to the center.

“Widen your legs, baby, you know what I like.” He kissed the small of her back and then wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck, pushing her head down to the mattress so her bottom was up even higher. His hand reached between her legs, stroking and caressing, making certain she was ready for him.

“I’d better like the idea. You’d better like it as well. I have the feelin’ you’re goin’ to be there a lot over the next few years. But babe, if you are across my knee bare-assed naked, it had better not be for tryin’ to run off on me.” He let a warning growl into his voice, meaning it.

“I won’t do it again,” she said in a low voice.

He plunged two fingers deep and she cried out. “You told me that before. You said you’d come to me, talk first.” He smacked her bottom, once, twice, and felt the answering heat surrounding his fingers.

“You feel that, Pepper? All that heat running right where you need it? Scorchin’ hot. You’ll like it when you need to. I’ll make certain of that.”

“I won’t do it again, Wyatt,” she repeated, her voice shaking. “Please. I need you inside me.”

He pushed his fingers deeper, drew them out and licked at the honey there, that secret, wonderful taste he never wanted another man to know. “No, you won’, honey, because I’m not goin’ to be so nice the next time. We’ve had this conversation before. You get scared, you come talk to me. I know you don’ have that experience, but you know me now. You know I’m goin’ to listen and then we’re goin’ to take care of the problem.”

Her breathing had changed. Ragged little gasps were interspersed with those beautiful little sounds she made in the back of her throat.

“Tell me you understand that, Pepper. You understand you need to talk to me.” He knelt up behind her. Close. He pressed the tip of his throbbing erection into her hot furnace. It took his breath away, but he refused to let her see it.

She pressed back into him. So hot. So needy. She never held anything back. She always wanted him. She would always want him. It would never matter the time of day, or what was going on around them, she would want his body just the way he wanted hers.

He rubbed her bottom. “So beautiful, baby. You’re just so damned beautiful.”

“Wyatt.” Her voice was demanding now.

“I’m waitin’ on you,” he pointed out.

The breath hissed out of her. She turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder. “I understand and I’ll talk to you, but not now.”

“So demandin’.” He took her hard. He took her fast, and he went so deep he might have actually made it to her throat. His hands settled around her hips and he pounded into her, telling her in no uncertain terms how much she meant to him. Telling her without words, knowing if there was one woman in the world who got it, it would be her. Still, she needed the words. His woman deserved them.

I’m in love with you, Pepper. I always will be.

She was there. In his mind. Filling him with her, just as he filled her body with him. He was damned glad he’d done a stupid thing and followed his brother into Whitney’s demented program. And maybe, whether he liked it or not, he owed Whitney in a weird, roundabout way. None of it mattered to him except his woman and the fierce way she loved him back.