Page 188 of Mountain Men Heroes

I studied his face another moment and I realized something. The connection I’d felt when we made love yesterday, when he’d been buried so deeply inside me I didn’t know where he ended and I began, that connection was still there. The bonds didn’t break when we rolled out of bed.

The knowledge gave me the courage to take a step toward him. And then another. Until I stood directly in front of him, looking up into his ruggedly handsome face.

“I love your home. It’s beautiful.” I stood on my tiptoes, bracing my hands on his folded arms, and pressed a fast kiss to his lips—the first I’d given him instead of the other way around. “It feels like a home.”

He relaxed his arms and dropped his hands to my waist, pulling me in closer so I stood between his feet. A satisfied smile touched his lips, but I had only a few seconds to enjoy being responsible for putting that look on his face before he pulled me in even closer.

Sawyer dipped his head and, without saying a word, claimed my mouth with his own.

I looped my arms around his neck and sank into his kiss. He’d kissed me more times than I could count yesterday, but this one felt different from all of those.

His lips were gentle but demanding at the same time. He feasted on my bottom lip as if he had all the time in the world, but the way his hands clenched on my hips spoke of urgency.

When his tongue stroked along the seam of my lips, I opened to him, moaning when he dipped inside, rubbing his tongue along mine. Little flames of need licked at my skin, the slow burn building.

Sawyer tugged me closer still. His arms shifted around my back so he held my body tightly to his. I wiggled until my soft curves fit perfectly into the hard planes of his body. In this position, I could feel every inch of him against me.

Sawyer deepened the kiss and I tilted my head to give him free rein. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stay right here forever, his mouth sealed over mine, making me feel desired at the same time he made me feel safe and protected.

Or if I wanted him to strip my clothes off me and lay me out on the rug in front of that fireplace and continue teaching me all the ways we could find pleasure in each other’s bodies.

Turns out I didn’t have to decide. Sawyer had already made up his mind. And I knew this because he pulled his mouth from mine and stared down at me. His eyes all but glowed with desire, gold rimming the dark, dark brown.

“I want to fuck you and hear you scream my name.” He cupped my jaw and rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. “I want to stay buried in you until you admit you’re mine. Until you promise to stay here with me in Wild Ridge.”

My heart stuttered to a stop and then commenced beating at double its usual speed. My lips parted, but I couldn’t utter a single sound.

I should be terrified by his words. But I wasn’t. I was so many things all at once, but afraid wasn’t one of them. The feeling that stood out strongest was the deep sense of longing for a family, a home.

Despite my plans, despite all the rules I’d made for myself, there was something deep down inside me that wanted this more than anything. I could sell my jewelry anywhere. Get my degree anywhere.

I wanted him. And us together. This home he’d created. The job I’d been offered. I wanted to know his friends and his family better. I wanted to belong to him. To spend my nights beside him. All of it. Everything. There was no room inside me for fear.

“Say yes, Trinity.” Sawyer’s voice came as a deep rumble that reached into me.

I stared up into his eyes and mimicked his position, lifting a hand to cup his cheek. “Yes.”

He sucked in a deep breath and something too big to name flared behind his eyes. His hands slid down and lifted me against him, my feet leaving the ground as his mouth came down on mine, hard and deep and claiming.

I lost myself in his kiss. In the feeling of his hands on my body, of his strength pressed against my softness. The word he demanded repeated itself over and over again in my mind. Yes. Yes. Yes.

“Yoo-hoo, hello! Anybody home?” A feminine voice called loudly from the entryway.

I jolted in Sawyer’s arms and he pulled his mouth from mine. I looked up at him, completely bewildered as a chuckle escaped him.

He rested his forehead against mine and smiled. “That’s my mother. Perfect timing as usual.”

My eyes grew wide. “Your mother?”

Even I could hear the panic in my voice.

He flashed me a big smile. “Relax, babe. My mother’s been dying to see you. Don’t worry. She won’t bite.”

And that’s when the emotion I’d been expecting hit me—fear. A ginormous ball of fear hit me squarely in the chest.

Crap.

Eleven

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