Page 32 of Shielded Hearts

She met his gaze.

“I don’t want to scare you or shock you, so it’s best if we don’t share a bed during our time here.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t have any last night, did you?”

“No, but that is unusual.”

“I see.”

“I thought I’d never have a relationship because of it. I knew my siblings would find partners, but I figured I’d be the eccentric uncle who never had a real relationship.

“Oaks and I are close, but the only reason he asked me to be his best man was to make sure I showed up. If he hadn’t asked me, I would have taken off before the wedding day.”

“Your family cares about you a lot. I see things like that.”

He shook his head, trying to cast off the deep emotions seizing him. “I’m the middle brother. The forgotten brother. And I got really good at hiding to avoid my father’s wrath.”

“You would have just faded away…but your family wouldn’t let you.”

“Seems that way.” He smoothed his hands down her spine, learning the way she felt in his hold and loving it more with each heartbeat that passed.

“You hid from your father, from your thoughts and feelings…from everything.”

He nodded at her assessment. “My father was not an easy man. Guess I learned from him.”

“What did you learn?”

“That men don’t have emotions. It’s why I ended up here, keeping to myself. Till my baby sister came to check on me. I couldn’t get rid of her.” He issued a low laugh. “She stayed, decorated and helped me heal enough to want to return to the Black Heart. Not enough to live in the main house with everyone, but enough I did go home.”

He thought about his time with Willow. How she kept up the cheerful chatter, not seeming to mind that he didn’t have much to add to the conversation. He turned his head and fixed his gaze on the dock once more.

He and Willow had sat there together plenty of nights. Several times, he tried to talk to her about his time in the military—about the things he’d seen and done. In the end, he couldn’t utter a single word.

But Willow knew. They just sat and stared at the same scene that Aspen was sharing with him now.

At the same time he turned back to her, she tilted her beautiful face up.

Cupping her cheek, he closed the distance between them, his movements deliberate. Each inch became a promise of what he was about to do. Her eyes gleamed with excitement as his lips finally claimed hers.

At the first soft brush, he closed his eyes. She let out a small moan, and he tugged her flush against him. In all his years, he never confided to another human being. Horses, he talked to regularly. Even the occasional barn cat. None of those talks provided such a buoyant feeling in his soul the way talking to Aspen did.

As he drew her deeper into the kiss, she rubbed against him. Desire gripped his gut.

Stretching his fingers through her cloud of curls, he swept his tongue out to taste her. She returned the caress with a stroke of her own honey-sweet tongue. She angled her head, drawing him deeper until his cock throbbed and she was practically climbing him like a tree.

Breaking the kiss, she clung to his shoulders as if her knees were too weak to stand. “There’s a bed three steps away from us.”

He arched a brow. “You want to have sex in a bed? I thought a travel concierge would have a more exciting plan.”

“You’re right—how boring. I can’t believe I had such a lame idea.” She gave her head a small shake, causing her loose curls to float around her shoulders.

God, she was adorable and fascinating. And he wanted her.

With a deep chuckle, he lifted her and spun for the bed. She made one of those irresistible sounds that had his cock surging with lust.

Bed.

Naked.

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