She brushed a kiss over his lips. A whisper, no more. There was nothing sexual in the gesture at all, yet it was the most intimate, sensual thing he’d ever experienced. His body reacted with a need and hunger bordering on primal. He felt that small whisper slide inside of him and take hold.

He’d been with women and he’d kissed a lot of them. This was no kiss, yet he felt more than he’d ever felt in his life. A shiver of acute awareness crept down his spine. He wanted to gather her into his arms, strip her naked and spend hours tangled with her, sharing her body, skin to skin.

Her arm slipped from his neck and she subsided on the pillow, as if the energy it took for the one small movement was too much. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Wyatt. Sometimes our brains are just as needy as the rest of us. Yours is just a little more so, but in the end, it’s the intelligence the children got from you that’s allowed them to stay alive this long. They understand danger and death. They know they can’t bite even when they’re teething and it hurts. So thank you. I wouldn’t have them without you, and I love them. I want to take care of them. So, again, thank you.”

He sat back, away from her, away from that potent lure he couldn’t seem to resist. He still felt her touch, as if the small gesture had been a stamp that had her name and branded her as his. His body hurt. Ached. Demanded. The blood pumped fast through his veins, a hot turbulent rush of pure need. It took great effort not to touch his mouth with his fingertips – or to get up and lock the door.

“I’m not certain that was the best idea you’ve ever had,” he said.

Her moody gaze moved over his face. “I got that the moment my mouth touched yours.”

She had lit a match and he was on fire. Clearly she was too.

“What the hell is going on between us?” Wyatt asked. “Do all men react like me?”

She shook her head slowly. “I wasn’t trying to seduce you. I have to try with the others. It isn’t natural, I have to create the feelings in them, feed them. I don’t feel anything as a rule. With you… it’s different. Real. I don’t know why and it’s a little scary.”

He didn’t trust what he didn’t understand and he sure didn’t understand the volatile chemistry between them. He would have leapt off the bed and put the distance of the room between them, but it was impossible to move at the moment.

“I just want you to remember that I wanted to take Ginger and leave. From the beginning, I wanted away from here. You insisted I stay. I’m not part of some big conspiracy and neither are the babies.”

“Don’ kid yourself, Pepper, you’re definitely part of a conspiracy and so are the babies. The question is, are you a willin’ participant?”

“I’m tired and I hurt. I understand why you might think that way, given the circumstances, but I’m tired of trying to convince you.”

“Well, that’s too damn bad, because when I go into that laboratory to get the children out, I won’t be alone. Ezekiel and Malichai will be with me as well as a couple of others. I don’ want to get my friends killed because you’re doin’ Whitney’s biddin’.”

Pepper let her gaze drift over his face. He was beautiful. Perfectly beautiful. It was hard not to allow herself to be drawn to him. She’d always wanted to feel something for a man, just to know she could. Her body felt as if it was in a constant state of arousal. She’d been programmed that way and she couldn’t seem to do much about it, but it was her body’s doing, not some man. Until this one.

She was shot, snake bit and in a terrible situation, but she craved him. If she closed her eyes, she could taste him. Feel him. Why? The question beat at her. She might take the chance if it was just her, but it was the babies as well. She wouldn’t risk them. She just couldn’t. This man was dangling his family in front of her. He was offering her a home, but he wanted a relationship with her that didn’t include anything but a sexual one.

She didn’t want to be wanted for sex. She needed to know she was far more than an object, a body Wyatt wanted. It hurt more than she wanted to admit. Maybe if she wasn’t so connected to him, if he hadn’t opened some door between them, she could live with just sex for the sake of the children, but she saw into him. She saw what he was capable of giving and she wanted that for herself. If not with him, then with someone else…

He paced across the floor, a restless, lethal jungle cat, his eyes smoldering with fire. She could actually see the cat in him, his eyes focused on her, angry, possessive.

“Don’. Don’ even think about being with another man. You aren’ takin’ those children from me. They’re mine. I can protect them here. I can raise them here with a family that loves them. You throw another man into this mix, Pepper, and someone is goin’ to get seriously hurt. You aren’ goin’ to win this one, so just accept that this is the best thing for everyone and we’ll work out the problems.”

He was truly fascinating when he was angry. He looked powerful. Intimidating. Scary. Yet she didn’t feel physically threatened. Wyatt wasn’t a man who would ever harm a woman. She would have known that even if she hadn’t been inside his mind.

“You told me to trust you, Wyatt, but you don’t trust me. You still think I’m some kind of bait to lure you into the laboratory for whatever reasons you think this Whitney has to get you there. Why do you even believe the other two girls exist? Why believe me at all?”