She laid her head over his heart, listening to it beat. So strong. Steady. Her Trap, loving her so much. She slid one hand up to his shoulder, the other curled around the nape of his neck. Even stretched out, she couldn’t cover his broad chest. But she was where it counted, right over his heart.

“I know.” The admission was low.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She kept her voice just as low, searching for the right words. She knew he would always have that fear of losing her. She just hoped it would lessen over time. “There will never be another man for me, Trap. I’m not helpless or vulnerable, except to you. Not another human being. Not even Nonny, and I like her. A lot. When you get like that, it can’t be about you being jealous because, deep down, you know you have no reason to be. I’ll never give you a reason to be. You have to recognize that what you’re feeling is fear – fear of losing me in some way.”

He rubbed his palm along her thigh to the crease just under her buttock. He liked that soft crease and massaged there before moving his palm over her bottom. He liked that her rounded cheeks, silk over sleek, firm muscle, fit into his hand. He felt absolutely at peace. Content.

“They’re out there. The uncles.” He said it matter-of-factly. He never thought, in a million years, that he would feel so calm thinking about facing the men who had destroyed his family. They’d taken something from him he could never get back. He would always have a deep-seated fear that something would rip Cayenne away from him. “They came at night while we were gone, and they’ll be back, maybe tonight. I saw them on the security tapes.”

“I know,” she said with equal calm. “They don’t matter to us, Trap. They can’t hurt you. Not anymore. They may want to, but they can’t.”

“They came for the money.” His hand smoothed over the curve of her left cheek and up into the hollow of her spine. “It’s really about money, not revenge. Not because of my father. They left him there. They didn’t even try to save him. They didn’t care about him. I paid the ransom for my aunt, and they’ve used the money to hide. To disappear. They want more money.”

“Does it really matter?” She yawned, kissed his chest right over his beating heart. “We’re going to kill them. Both of them. You know that.” She stated it just as matter-of-factly as if they were discussing the weather. “Right now, I need to sleep, but before I do, we need to finish our discussion. It hurt today. On the plane. The things you accused me of. Trap, I didn’t like it. I know when you get afraid, you get ugly. I get that. I do. It’s okay with me if you have to withdraw. It’s even okay if you have to be rude and ugly, but not with me. Not at me.”

She nuzzled him with her chin, her green eyes on his face. “That hurt a lot, honey.”

His hand moved up her spine, taking in the silken perfection of her skin. “I don’t know how to stop myself when I’m like that. I try, baby, but I’ve been using that rudeness to push people away for so long, I’m not certain I can stop.”

“I’m not asking you to stop, Trap, I’m asking you to have a care about what you say to me. Swear. Be an ass. Be remote. But don’t make it so personal that you accuse me of wanting to be with someone else.”

“I didn’t like seeing him touch you. I didn’t like the thought of you giving him your silk. You want to tie someone up, babe, that someone is me.”

She nodded. “I understand that, but I didn’t want to tie him up, and you should have known that. You need to come to my rescue when your friends are pushing me to do something that makes not only you, but me, uncomfortable. They’re your friends. It’s your brotherhood. I’m trying to fit in and follow your lead. I don’t know how to have friends. I don’t know how to work with a team. If you don’t have my back, I’m floundering and will most likely make mistakes neither of us want.”

His hands smoothed back down her spine to that hollow just above her buttocks and then lower to slide over the swell of both cheeks again. Soothing her. Soothing him. He held her to him, savoring the feel of her there.

“That’s what I’m asking for, Trap. You have a care when you feel jealous or fearful of losing me and you take my back. I don’t need diamonds or beautiful dresses, I need that from you.”

He took a breath. Let it out. Searched her face. She meant that. The only thing she asked of him. Not his money. Not what he could get her. Just this. “Then it’s yours, Cayenne. Understand I’m going to fall down a few more times before I get it right, but I’ll be trying my best to give you what you need.” He locked his arms around her, holding her to him. “Sleep there. Right there. I’m going to be waking you up in a couple of hours again. You know that, don’t you?”

She nuzzled his chest and flicked his flat nipple with her tongue. “I expect you to wake me up, and I’ll be very disappointed if you don’t. I should go get cleaned up though.”

He heard the exhaustion in her voice and kept his arms locked tight around her. “Sleep with my seed deep inside you baby. If I’m lucky, you’ll get pregnant.”

She closed her eyes. He felt the drift of her lashes against his skin. “I already am,” she whispered against his heart, and then her breathing evened out.

He lay there just holding her. His heart pounding. His mind shocked at the happiness flooding him when he knew his uncles were coming for him. No, coming for her. For Cayenne. His pregnant wife. He should have been reaching out to his fellow GhostWalkers to help him dispose of his uncles, but he had her. His very lethal, pregnant wife.

CHAPTER 22

Trap woke Cayenne two hours later and made love to her. Gentle, tender love. He was careful of her, each stroke almost lazy. Languid. As if they had all the time in the world. It was still light out, and he ran her a bath, carried her to the bathtub and sat in it with her so he could wash her body with just as much care and tenderness. After checking the security tapes and seeing no action, he tucked her back in bed, tight against him, his arm around her waist, her breast cupped in his palm and they fell asleep like that, close, his body around hers protectively.

Cayenne woke him not more than an hour later, her mouth working his cock. Taking him deep, so that he was already hard and ready before he opened his eyes. Groaning with pleasure, he watched her, appreciating the sight of her, loving that she derived so much enjoyment from the act. She loved him with every stroke of her tongue. Every tight pull of her mouth. When she took him deep or brought him shallow. When she hollowed her cheeks, hummed and flattened her tongue or sent it dancing.