“And when you’re not here?”

“I told you, we’ll find another way. But you stick with me. You stick with our girls. We’re goin’ to make a life for ourselves, and Braden and Whitney can go fuck themselves.”

“Your mouth is terrible, Wyatt.”

“And why do you think that is, Pepper?” he challenged, and folded his arms across his chest.

He didn’t bother to hide his heavy erection from her. He was blatant about it. But even as he casually unzipped his fly and loosened his jeans to give his body a little relief, he knew she needed more. Something to hang on to when he was being a complete and utter bastard. Her eyes dropped to his groin as his cock sprang free. Her eyes shimmered with sadness when she looked up at him again.

“You don’ know what you are to me, do you?” He dropped his voice even lower. Confessing should have been difficult. What man wanted a woman to know she held all the cards? It wasn’t. He was asking a lot from her. He knew he was never going to be a picnic. Not ever. He’d try to tamp down his temper and learn not to let the monster loose. It was shameful and a little embarrassing to lose that kind of control. More, he didn’t like hurting her.

“Here’s the thing you should know and always hold in your head, especially when I’m being difficult,” he said, his eyes on hers. “You’re it for me, Pepper. You always will be. The air that goes in and out of my body, as necessary as that. My very breath. More even. You’re my life. That’s why I can’t give you up or let you run away from this. I figure you’re strong enough to live with me the way I am. I know I can live with you. I have to.”

Her eyes went dark like the midnight sky. The look he loved, all soft and feminine. The starburst began to take form through all the dark purple.

“You’re the reason I’m goin’ to come home after I go out with my team into a hot zone. You’re the one that’s goin’ to keep me safe, because I’ll know you’re here waitin’ for me. I’ll always know that when I’m not here to take care of you and the girls, you can kick serious ass if you need to. There are a thousand more reasons why you’re necessary to me, and sex has nothin’ to do with any of them.” He flashed her a soft grin. “That’s a bonus. A huge one, but still a bonus.”

“I’m not running, Wyatt,” she said quietly.

“Are you goin’ to learn to handle the monster in me?” He slowly slid the buttons of his shirt open and pulled the material from his body. The moment his shirt was gone, he fisted his heavy, hungry cock.

She nodded slowly, her eyes on his chest, assessing. The wound was far from healed, but it was healed enough.

“No matter what happens, it’s you and me. Got that? No matter how scared you get, or how worried about the things you don’ know, it’s still you and me. When I say mean, hurtful things, you’re goin’ to handle it. Hit me over the head, yell at me, kick me or fuck my brains out, you handle it because no matter what, it’s you and me. You understand?”

She bit her lower lip, instantly centering his attention there. He loved her mouth. He’d lain in bed – alone – thinking about her mouth every minute of the day. Thinking about what her mouth did for him and how it led to other tight, scorching hot places on her body that showed him the way to paradise.

“I understand,” she said, her gaze continually dropping to his hand wrapped around his cock.

He let his fist glide over the shaft just to watch her eyes change. Smolder. He loved that burn.

Her chin lifted and she gestured toward his groin with it. “Do you think I want to have sex with you right now? Especially after the way you acted? I’ve learned what sugar and honey is, and Wyatt, I’m not feeling particularly sweet right now.”

He grinned at her. “I don’ mind it when you’re hot as hell, baby, that’s good too. And you want to have sex. You’re burnin up, I can feel that heat comin’ from between your legs from here.”

“With you,” she reiterated.

For one second he saw red. Actual red. His hormones went crazy. He wanted to tackle her and take her right there on the spot, show her she belonged with him, to him, that the more she challenged him, the less she was going to win. He breathed through the reaction, although the need to dominate settled heavy on him.

“Who else, babe?”

“No one else, you idiot.”

The crazy, insane monster striped in black and red settled back. “So this is your way of tamin’ the beast, because, sugar, let me explain to you, it isn’ workin’.”

“This is my way of telling you that from the moment you walked into the room, the moment, I was wholly focused on you. It’s always like that. I don’t see other men. I don’t want them. Only you. So, Wyatt, you tell me, why isn’t it the same for you? Why don’t you see me when you walk into a room? I don’t want to be property that you possess and protect. I want you to see me, the person I am, the one who focuses on you and only you.”

There was truth in what she said. He’d felt her there in his mind. She’d been spinning with the girls, helping to teach them to have fun, but he’d already been half out of his mind because the other men in the house were around her constantly, picking up and playing with his children. His woman. His.

“Pepper, just like you can’t help bein’ needy when that biochemical builds too high in your system, I need you when whatever monster is inside of me starts to break loose.” He didn’t have any explanation for her. She was right.