Page 52 of Tangled up in You

"Yes, baby."

"Um…" A little frown marred her brow as she stared up at him, her face flooding with pink that spread down her chest. He’d been staring at her too long. "Is something wrong?"

"No," he murmured, letting go of the shirt and pushing up from the couch and standing. "Nothing’s wrong." He pulled his t-shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor. More red flushed her skin as she licked at her lips, then bit at the bottom one.

Good.

Embarrassment had no place between them.

Only this.

Only desire.

Only the love that he felt for her. He was nearly bursting with the need to tell her. But he couldn’t. Not yet. Not without his brothers. And not until Alyssa was ready to accept the three of them as her only ones. He’d had to push Josh and Jake hard about this after she’d fallen asleep the night before. Lucky for them they’d exhausted her to the point she had completely passed out, because their whispering over her head had gotten a little heated at times.

But in the end, they’d agreed.

No talk of love, babies, and forever until she was ready.

His fingers stilled on his zipper.

Babies.

Had they already given her one?

No matter how much pleasure—satisfaction—welled up inside him at the idea of her growing round with their child, they’d been selfish by not giving her a choice—intentionally or not. It hadn’t even been something they’d consciously done. In all their back and forth on the best way to make her theirs—and there had been a lot of that—none of them had suggested, "Hey, let’s knock her up." But with all the bare sex they’d had withher, tying her to them with a child might already be a foregone conclusion.

But, god, taking her bare—the feel of her hot, wet walls clamping down on him with nothing between them had been a heady experience. And when he’d come inside her?

It was the only way he wanted to be with her from now on.

But she’d brought it up. And now that it was out there, he had to worry if they’d screwed things up with her. So, even though it might be a little late…

"We have condoms."

Seeing how quickly her brows rose, eyes widened, and mouth formed a little O might have been funny at any other time. But he?—

"Do youwantto use a condom?"

"No." She’d asked, and he had to be honest. A condom was the last thing he wanted. But he and his brothers would honor her wishes. Too late or not.

Her features relaxed, almost like she was relieved. Either that, or he was reading what he wanted to from her expression.

"I see," she murmured, as she sat up.

I see?

What was that supposed to mean?

"Ahh…" He closed his eyes at the way she traced a finger over the front of his well-worn, faded jeans, breathing hard as her touch grazed over his cock—then harder when she cupped his balls and gently squeezed. He lifted his lids and found her staring intently at him. "Baby?"

A visible shiver shook her body.

"I don’t think I’ve told you this," she murmured, moving her hand to grip his rock-hard length. "But I love how you call me that."

The L-word, but not in the way he wanted to hear it.

"Is it what you normally call your women?" Her hand paused as she looked up at him, a little worry darkening her eyes.

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