Page 27 of Ever After All

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. “Are you making sure this bet meets the standards of consent?”

“Sure am. I’m a modern man.” My tone was light, but I was serious.

In a flash, the teasing mood shifted to sober as Rosie held my gaze. I watched as emotions danced in the depths of her eyes. “I don’t like admitting this, but Wyatt Cannon, you just do it for me. I’m not worried about that. Ever.”

Her words felt as if they slammed into my chest and gripped my heart as I stared back at her. I knew what it cost her to be open and vulnerable to me or anyone. Maybe I didn’t understand all of Rosie’s heart, but I knew what I felt. Perhaps someday she would trust me enough to help me understand her more thoroughly.

Emotion tightened in my throat, and I actually had to clear my throat to speak. “I’m honored with your trust. I promise I’ll protect it.”

Chapter Fourteen

Rosie

Hours later, I lay in the darkness. Wyatt’s words played on repeat in my thoughts, complete with his gruff, somber tone. I promise I’ll protect it.

He had already told me he loved me, and my heart didn’t know how to believe it. I was still shocked at the depth of my own feelings. I loved Wyatt. It seemed too fast as if I’d lost my balance running downhill. I’d known him as long as I could remember. He had always been in the periphery of my life as a person who was safe and one of my closest friends.

The memories from that fated week before I went to nursing school had been burned into my body and mind. I hadn’t been able to forget him. Everything with him during that week had just been soooo good.

At the time, I chalked it up to it being my first really good connection with someone on a physical level. I’d been focused on leaving for nursing school immediately after that, and those distractions had crowded my emotions around Wyatt out of the way. I’d also been worried about my dad and my brother. My dad was obviously a perfectly capable adult, but when you’re the oldest child of two, and your only parent works a lot because they have to, it’s not unusual to slip into a caretaking role. I had worried deeply about my brother with me moving away from town.

As my thoughts started to detour onto that track, I slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel back onto Wyatt. It said something that I’d preferred to contemplate telling Wyatt I loved him, then let myself dwell on my worries for my brother.

I shifted in bed. During that week years back, Wyatt and I had slept together almost every night. The sleeping part, that is, along with the super-hot sexy times. He’d slept flat on his back or curled up around me.

At this moment, he slept on his side with his palm resting on my belly. Even in sleep, his touch was comforting. He had strong, capable hands.

I flushed as I lay there in the darkness. All it took was a subtle shift of his palm, and nothing more than the minuscule friction created by his calloused touch was a turn-on. Everything about Wyatt was a turn-on for me.

My mind circled back to when the pizza arrived just barely past fifteen minutes after Wyatt ordered it. He’d teased that tonight could count for him winning the bet. I straightened one of my legs where my knee had been bent. I didn’t mean to, but it woke him. I could feel the subtle buzz of energy slide through him as his hand moved in a slow caress across my belly before settling in the center again.

“What are you worrying about, sweetheart?” His voice was low in the quiet darkness.

My body hummed. I might as well have been a little cat purring in the darkness at nothing more than a brush of someone’s fingertips under my chin.

“How do you know I’m worrying?” I hedged as my lips curled into a smile.

“I can practically hear you thinking.”

I bit my lip, feeling bashful and grateful for the cover provided by the mostly dark bedroom. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night. Maybe it was because my heart was determined to shout out my doubts for once, but the truth slipped out.

“I love you.”

Wyatt went completely still. It wasn’t as if he’d been moving much, but the silence suddenly became loaded, vibrating with emotions and our thoughts banging around inside our own heads and hearts.

He cleared his throat. “Well, you know I love you.”

My heart pounded so hard I could hardly breathe. I managed a small sip of air before whispering, “That’s what you said.”

“Twice,” he said, his voice low and clear. “For what it’s worth, I think once is enough, but just in case you didn’t hear me say it before.”

I turned over, curling toward him to see his face better. “I heard you that night.”

“So what’s got you worrying about this in the middle of the night now?”

His eyes held mine, his gaze direct and holding a tenderness that nearly cracked my heart wide open.

I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Since we’re being honest, it’s what you said earlier about trust. I wanted to tell you I loved you then, but I didn’t.”