Page 76 of Her Tempting Protector

“Eventually move,” he interrupted. “Visit to begin with.”

“Okay, visit. Then there’s Chelle, Baily, and Aries. Who are they?”

“Sister. Sister. Dog.”

She gave him an arch look. “Again. That’s a lot.”

“Which parts?”

“Surprisingly, it’s the sister, sister, and dog. I’m liking the part where I come out for a visit. Not necessarily staying with you. I can stay at a hotel.”

Don’t grin.

Do. Not. Grin.

“A hotel won’t work,” he said in a teasing tone. “I’m still going to have to be at the base most weekdays, and then you’ll be bored during the day without my smiling face around and you stuck in some gloomy hotel. But, if you’re at my place you can acclimate yourself to the area. I can also introduce you to some great people and you can spend some time with the sister, sister, and dog.”

“Cullen—”

He propped her up, so they were nose-to-nose and he smiled. “Now, let me be serious for a second. Remember what I said about not wanting to rush my fences?”

After a moment, she nodded.

“In no way, shape, or form do I want to push you into anything you’re not ready for. Coax you? Cajole you? Absolutely. But I don’t even want to try to seduce you, Carys. This is all on your timeline. You’ve been hurt, I know this. I want a chance for you to get to know me when we’re not running for our lives through Africa.”

“That’s not the part that scares me,” she whispered.

“What is?” What have I missed?

“What happens when you finally get to know the real me?” she asked.

He cupped her soft cheek and traced her plump satin soft bottom lip. “Then I will fall even harder.”

* * *

Pulling herself out of his arms had been a heck of a lot harder than she thought it should be. Apparently, it wasn’t just newborns that needed skin-to-skin contact. Carys blushed as she thought about lip-to-lip contact.

Sarah caught her from across the table and raised her eyebrow. Darn it. It was tough having such a good friend that they could read your mind. Sarah had been trying to drag her into the back bedroom ever since she and Cullen had come back into the dining room for dinner. Carys had avoided the girl chat. Part of it was because she didn’t know what to say, but if she were truly honest, the real reason was that she didn’t want to miss a moment of her time with Cullen. And, drat it, Sarah seemed to have guessed that too!

“Aunt Carys, who drew this?” Tonya asked as she held up a well-executed drawing in pencil on lined paper. It showed a mother holding a baby. Carys looked down at the corner of the paper.

“A little girl named Leila drew that,” she answered Tonya. “I met her a while ago. She lives with her mother, sisters, and brother in Egypt.”

“How’d you get it?” The little girl’s piping voice brought back visions of the two girls in Sudan.

“Mr. Lyons brought the pictures and letter to me when he came to visit. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

“Uh-huh,” Tonya nodded vigorously.

“Do you want to see pictures of Leila and her sister?” Cullen asked.

“Can I, Mom?” Tonya asked as she slipped off her chair in preparation for her mother’s affirmative answer. As soon as she got the nod, she ran around the table to the side where Cullen and Carys sat. Cullen had his phone out, and Tonya immediately hung over his arm to check out the pictures.

“Where was that? Is that Egypt?”

“Nope, that’s Sudan, but both of those countries are on the continent of Africa,” Cullen explained.

“They’re pretty,” Tonya said. “I like her braids.” Cullen didn’t seem to mind the little girl’s fingerprints on his phone.