Page 44 of Redeem Me

BEAR

Natasha tastes just like I remember. I’ve been dying for a kiss since I left the mansion. I lift her up to sit on the kitchen island. I need her closer. She feels small and fragile. I need to protect her by wrapping my body around hers like armor.

My head’s been on wrong since she came back. I keep seeing trouble everywhere and feel under attack. Natasha showing up with her entourage rubbed salt in the wound torn open by her leaving.

I don’t know what I want from Natasha. Maybe forgiveness. Or devotion. No matter my reasoning, I keep poking at her and expecting her to figure it out for me.

Kissing her is easier. I can’t imagine anyone more beautiful. The world becomes very simple when she’s in my arms. I never wanted to let her go when our hookups ended.

I feel the same way now when she wiggles free of my grip and steals away her lips.

“What?” I grumble, thinking she’s fucking with me.

Natasha gestures towards the kids, watching us from the floor where they still hope to draw the cats to them.

“They’ve never seen a man eat my face before,” she says and I frown at her.

“What does that mean?”

“Did all the blood rush to your dick, making your brain useless?”

“Yes.”

Natasha stares into my eyes until all my anger and worry seep out of me. When I only see her, I breathe easier.

“That person never kissed me like this. The kids don’t know what we’re doing. I’m worried they’ll get scared.”

I glance at the kids who stare at us. I guess it would seem like I was eating their mom’s face.

“Do they know about the women who, um, crapped them out?” I ask, knowing as soon as the words leave my lips how Natasha will give me grief.

She rolls her eyes and smiles at the kids. “Are the cats still scared?”

The children blink a few times as if waking from a dream. They look at each other before focusing on the cats. I can’t see what my boys are up to from this angle, but they must do a cute cat maneuver because the kids giggle.

“I want you,” I tell Natasha.

“I know.”

“Now say you want me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“You’ve been rude. I’m withholding my affection until you show better manners.”

“I’m not a project. You aren’t here to fix me.”

“You already know how to behave. You’re choosing to act this way with me.”

“You ran off and lived with that guy.”

An irritated Natasha likely wants to jump off the island and create space between us. I keep my body pressed between her thighs, so she can’t escape. My fingers brush across her throat and think of the sexy woman hiding underneath this buttoned-up, white shirt and dark blue jeans.

Fishing her phone from her purse, Natasha shows me a picture of the kids when they were little. They’re in diapers and smiling without teeth. I don’t know how old they were, but they’re hamming it up for the photo.

“This is the picture I took when I first saw them in their crib. These gorgeous little Muppets were just sitting there waiting for someone to love them. Their father didn’t care. Their mothers were gone. Their grandmother dumped them in the crib and left without waking anyone to watch them. I saw their smiles and lost a part of myself instantly. I wanted them to be mine.”