Page 67 of Nine Month Contract
“I love them!” I retort.
“Then what is the issue?” he begs, his hands stretched out in confusion.
“I don’t know!” I cry out with exasperation, and Millie bleats her agreement. Or maybe her disagreement. I suppose she’s Team Wyatt since he saved her damn life, the traitor. I rake my hands through my hair and damn near sob, “I just want to feel like I can breathe again. Like I can take a full breath without feeling your presence all around me. I’m used to being on my own, and you are smothering me.”
His blue eyes darken as he stares at me from across the barn, watching my chest rise and fall with the emotion of my confession. It feels weird to accept so much from one person. It feels wrong and worrisome, and I want clearer boundaries.
Because if I’ve learned anything over the past twenty-eight years, it’s that nothing comes without a cost.
Relationships don’t last.
People leave.
You’re stronger on your own. You know this.
But why am I tempted to allow Wyatt to look after me?
With a pop of his jaw, he pushes off the stall and stalks toward me. I shift, feeling like I should be running for the hills from this crazy man who’s just trapped me up on a mountain alone with him. But I don’t run. I stand my ground as he moves into my personal space, enveloping me in his scent. My ass presses up against the butcher-block counter as he bows over me and dips his head so he can meet my eyes straight on.
“Or maybe, just maybe…” his deep voice rumbles, causing my entire body to tremble. “You’re not being smothered enough.”
I struggle to meet his eyes as he looms over me in all his giant, flannel-wearing glory. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, maybe if I just kissed you right now…maybe if I stuck my tongue down your throat and laid you down in one of these stalls and fucked your brains out like the fantasy you described in the truck, we could both finally breathe a little bit easier.”
Holy tits on a bull, Wyatt is saying all the crazy parts out loud now.
His face is deathly serious as he utters words I had merely fantasized about until now. But the reality of this man saying those words and looking at me like that…has far surpassed my wildest imagination.
“I don’t give a fuck if you help out Avery, talk to my brothers and my sister-in-law, or accept gifts from my mother,” he states. “So long as you quit keeping me at arm’s length when it’s clear as fucking day that all you want is for me to touch you everywhere.”
My body shudders with desire, my hormones raging at what this man has just laid out on the table. Surely, I haven’t been that obvious. Clearly, I’ve had moments of wanting him, but I’ve kept my cool with him…haven’t I?
Then again, it’s been ages since I’ve had sex. An embarrassing amount of time. Couple that with my hormones, and I’ve probably been walking around this mountain like a farm animal in heat.
But does he really mean what he’s saying? Or is he just nuts and possessive of this baby inside me? Never mind the fact that it’s wildly inappropriate to have sex with a man who’s paying me to have his baby. He’s all talk, surely.
I’m going to call his bluff.
I tilt my head and step into his space, my breasts pebbling as they brush just below his pecs. Jutting my chin up defiantly, I reply, “I wish you would fuck me. Maybe if you got off, then your grumpy mood would be slightly more tolerable.”
His nostrils flare as the corner of his mouth tugs up into a smirk. “Don’t tease me, Lucky.”
“Don’t patronize me, Mountain Man.” I swallow the lump in my throat as the pressure building in my chest, in my groin, in every part of my fucking body reaches its boiling point. I feel like I could burst at any moment, and this man hasn’t even laid a finger on me.
He noisily sets my keys down and watches me for a moment, his brows lifting expectantly as he waits for me to grab them. When I don’t, he lifts his hand, and his warm, calloused fingers grip my neck. I inhale sharply as his thumb brushes over my chin and jaw as I lean back and allow him to command me because there’s not much else you can do when a man has you by the throat. The smell of him coats me, and I have to fight to catch my breath, my chest heaving with overwhelming need.
His voice is dark and wicked when he says, “I’m not patronizingyou, Trista. I would love nothing more than to take care of youreveryneed, so if you want to be fucked, just say the word.”
A garbled laugh erupts from my mouth as I turn my head to the side, feeling turned on and enraged all at the same time.
Fuck, now he’s calling my bluff.
He pushes himself against me, his groin flush against my belly, and I gasp when I realize just how serious he is right now. His other hand slides around my waist to pull me closer, like any speck of space between us is offensive to him.
“But if we do this,” he adds, his voice drenched with desire, “if you let me fuck you, then you need to know that means I will own your body. Every particle on your skin will be mine for the taking. Do you understand?”
A soft moan escapes my lips, revealing the depths of his effect on me.Fuck you, hormones!
