by Skye Jordan
“That’s when I found out he was married.”
Gypsy’s declaration hammered Wyatt in the chest. “What?”
“Yeah.” Her expression turned grim. “He had a wife and—I kid you not—five children. Five.”
Wyatt’s eyes closed on a curse. He couldn’t even imagine how hard that news must have hit Gypsy.
“He was so understanding.” Her voice changed as she imitated his words. “‘I’ll take care of you, baby, don’t worry about anything. I’ll take you to the clinic. I’ll even pay for the procedure.’”
It took Wyatt a second to understand he’d been talking about an abortion. He’d always believed a woman’s choice was her own, but that was hard to reconcile in his heart when he thought about Cooper. Wyatt truly loved that kid.
“When I told him I wanted to keep the baby,” Gypsy said, “he tried to buy me off. Actually pay me to have an abortion.”
Wyatt gritted his teeth. “I hope you hid his body well.”
She let out a surprised laugh, then sobered. “I did one better. After I got him to sign over all his parental rights, I made a stop at his wife’s house on my way out of town. If I’d been her, I sure as hell hope someone would give me a heads-up about my cheating husband.”
“Oh, what I would have given to be a fly on that wall.”
“No, you wouldn’t. It was awful. So, so awful. She had no idea. She’d dedicated her life to this man, and she was so damn sweet, her kids loving and adorable and well-behaved.” She shook her head. “Being the one to deliver that kind of news was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. On the upside, she divorced him and took him for everything he had, which was substantial. And she and I still talk. We want the kids to know each other when they’re a little older.”
“Jesus.” Wyatt stared at her, speechless.
She met his gaze with a wry smile. “Spell broken?” She gave a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Thank God. I’m not going to have to worry about your annoying flirtation anymore. I should have told you this a long time—”
Wyatt reached for her. Sliding his hand around the back of her head, he pulled her mouth to his. He needed her to shut up. He needed to absorb this new level of admiration. But her lips were warm and soft, and she didn’t fight against the kiss, pushing his purpose in a whole different direction.
He pulled away, just a whisper of space between their lips. Her gaze was heavy-lidded and vulnerable, and that was something he’d never expected from this warrior. A fist of heat gripped his gut. “You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
Relief slid through her eyes, and a little smile tipped the edges of her lips. Then she leaned in and kissed him. Really kissed him. A flurry of butterflies tingled through his body, head to toe.
He felt like he’d been fileted open and all his emotions poured out. So much affection and admiration and desire. He moaned against her lips and took the kiss deeper. Her tongue greeted his, and Wyatt floated in shocked euphoria. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He’d all but resigned himself to never being more to Gypsy than a customer, an acquaintance, an occasional friend.
She pressed her free hand to his face, and the sweet gesture broke Wyatt’s heart open. Women came and went in his life. He’d had sex with more women than he could count. And not once had he felt what he was feeling now, an overwhelming desire to sink in and stay. To see her tomorrow, the next day, the day after that.
He slid his hand down her back and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body up against his and sliding his thigh between hers. Damn, she felt amazing. Her breasts soft against his chest, her toned thighs rubbing against his. All while she tasted him with slow, fiery passion.
Wyatt’s blood flooded south, creating pressure between his legs. His hand followed the curve of her spine, slid over her ass, and squeezed, pulling her against him.
Fire burned straight through him, and Wyatt moaned into her mouth.
With every kiss, his heart filled a little more, and by the time they broke for air, the words I love you were swimming around his head. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. He’d learned enough about her over the years to know what she was made of. He’d been crazy about her since the first time she’d trusted him to hold Cooper.
“Wow,” she said between quick breaths. “You’re good at that.”
“I thought that was all you.” He brushed her hair back. “I knew we’d be good together.”
A little light drifted out of her eyes.
“Uh-uh,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “Don’t do that. Don’t push me away.”
She closed her eyes on a sigh. “It’s just—”
“It’s not just anything,” he said, keeping his voice stern. This was a woman who’d need a hard nudge to get her out of her own head. “It’s something. It’s been something for a long damn time. Stop trying to talk yourself out of it. This is right, Gypsy.”
“I told you—”
“Cooper comes first, I get that. But Cooper and Belle are asleep. Safe. Happy. You get to have a life too. You get to be happy too.”
He kissed her again, letting all his desire melt into their connection. She responded with a moan that set Wyatt on fire. He rolled to his back and took her with him. He slipped his hands under layers of clothing until he found skin. Soft, luscious skin. She hummed with pleasure and sank into the kiss.
The feel of her wanting him blew all his circuits. He hadn’t realized just how badly he’d wanted her until he experienced the power of her wanting him back. He slid his hands back down her body, over her ass, and held her as he lifted his hips.
She made a sound deep in her throat, pushing another rush of lust through his body. She broke the kiss, planted her palms on the truck bed on either side of his shoulders, and pushed up. She also moved the leg between his to the other side, straddling him.
“Damn,” she said, her eyes lusty, her lips a little swollen. “You’ve got nice moves.”
“I can’t begin to show you my best moves here.” He used one hand to sweep the hair away from her face and slide his hand into the soft strands. “And there’s so much I want to show you.”
His free hand stroked up her spine again, beneath her bra strap, to the back of her neck. She stared at him, her gaze hot and lazy, but he could see thoughts churning in her head.
“You’re thinking too hard, sugar. This heat has been building between us for years.”
She didn’t argue. Instead, she moved her hands to his waist and pushed them under his shirt. The second she touched him, fire licked through his veins. Her hands skimmed over his belly, his ribs, his chest.
“There’s so much more to you than I expected.”
He didn’t understand if she meant physically or emotionally or in some other way, but he didn’t really care right now either, because she pressed her face to the hollow at his neck and sighed before kissing him there.
His hands tightened on her ass. “Gypsy…”
She brought her gaze back to his. “It’s here or nothing. We aren’t going back to the house. Not for this.” She kissed him gently. “I know your life. You know mine. This is just a lucky bubble of time.”
His heart stuttered. “Gyp—”
“I hope you’ve got condoms on you, because I’m not on birth control.”
His mind lunged forward, and he saw them having sex in a half-dressed frenzy. Wyatt wanted so much more. “I’m having flashbacks to high school. Maybe we ought to—”
“If you say ‘wait,’ I’m going to slug you.” She put her hands on his face and held his gaze. “You don’t make a girl wet, then say you want to wait.”
A shock of lust bolted through him, and he smiled at her. “You’re wet?”
“Find out for yourself.”
He exhaled and let his body relax against the truck bed.
“What’s the matter, Rockstar? Are you so pampered, you have to have everything just right before you have sex? ’Cause I’m here to tell you, with ki
ds in the picture, nothing is ever just right. You take what you can get when you can get it. And I haven’t wanted this with anyone in a long damned time.”
He had the distinct feeling if he backed away now, he’d never, ever get another shot. She’d shut him out and lock the gates with triple dead bolts.
She slid her tongue along his lower lip, and need surged through his cock. “You’ve got exactly a millisecond longer to think about it before I—”
He tilted his head and kissed her. While his tongue teased hers, he slipped one hand between her breasts and popped her bra clasp.
He pulled away just enough to look into her surprised eyes and whisper, “Game on.”
12
Excitement shivered through every cell in Gypsy’s body.
His passionate kiss was a clear response to her ultimatum. He’d picked up the gauntlet, and he didn’t waste any time going after what he’d professed to having wanted for so long.
Wyatt wrapped one arm tight around her waist and rolled her to her back, then expertly slid his hips between her thighs and pushed his erection against her softest spot. With nothing beneath her leggings, the friction shot delicious sensations straight up her body and tightened her throat around a sound of pleasure.
“Keep talking to me, sugar,” he said against her cheek.
His weight was warm and solid and thrilling. Wyatt’s hands slid beneath her jacket, beneath her shirt, then along her skin. He pushed her shirt up and dipped his head, covering one breast with his mouth.
Gooseflesh skittered over her skin. Her breasts tightened, her nipples turned to pebbles, and her hands sank into his hair, so much thicker and softer than she’d imagined. His lips sucked, his teeth scraped, and lust tripped through her body, making her back arch.
Gypsy had a fair amount of experience with men. Unfortunately, too much of that experience had been with men who believed sex was solely for their own pleasure. And as Wyatt circled her taut nipple with his tongue, Gypsy thought fate had dealt her a really nice hand this time around.
Still, in the back of her mind, she was too aware of how long they’d already been gone from the house and desperately hoped Cooper didn’t wake up and want to know where she was. And then there was Miranda. Oh, the shit Gypsy would catch when she got home…
Wyatt lifted his head and framed her face with his hands, then rocked his hips against hers. Pleasure speared a path straight up her body and made her gasp.
“Stay here,” he said, drawing her attention back. “Stay right here with me. There’s nothing to worry about right now.”
He kissed her, slow and deep, making all her worries spiral away. But even as her mind hazed around the edges, Gypsy knew she was floating into dangerous territory. She was too infatuated with him to be crossing this line and expect not to get hurt.
His lips moved to her cheek, then her neck. His hands returned to her body, under her clothes, feeling all her curves until she couldn’t keep from moving against him.
God, it had been so long since anyone had loved her—physically or emotionally. She wished they could lounge in bed between rounds of searing sex, talking and laughing. This man could bring out everything she kept behind locked doors. And it felt so good to let go of everything. To just relax and enjoy the moment. But with a little boy at home, she didn’t have that luxury anymore, and she had a hard time imagining ever having that luxury again.
“Nope,” he murmured. “Stay right here, with my mouth on your skin, my hands on your body.”
She didn’t know how he could tell when her mind drifted, but his words struck a thrilling chord inside her.
He held her against him as he rolled to his back again. Gypsy pressed her knees to the bed of the truck to balance even as Wyatt’s hands snuck beneath the waistband of her leggings at the curve of her spine and slid over her ass. He squeezed as he lifted his hips and rubbed against her. Luscious sensations coursed through her torso, her limbs.
He tucked his face against her neck and laughed, his breath hot on her skin. “I wasn’t expecting commando, but damn, I love it.” He dropped his head, found her mouth with his, and stroked his tongue against hers. The way he kissed made her breath catch. Made her body ache. He pulled back just enough to whisper, “I’ve waited for-fucking-ever to feel you.”
His abs tensed against hers, pulling him forward, deepening the kiss and pushing his hands deeper into her leggings and over her upper thighs. And as his tongue licked into her mouth, his fingers slid over the wetness between her legs. His touch left fire on her skin. She moaned into his mouth, and he echoed her immediately, pulling away to whisper a hungry “You weren’t just messing with me. You are wet.”
She pressed her face to his neck, trying to slow her spinning mind and quiet her revving body. But Wyatt continued to stroke her, his touch hungry one minute, teasing the next. Gypsy already felt dripping wet when he slid his fingers inside her.
“God…” she whispered.
“Mmm, you feel good, sugar. Tight and wet and so fucking hot.” His sultry voice mirrored his movements, fingering her deep and slow until her hips rocked into his touch. Until she got the taste of orgasm in the back of her throat.
Gypsy sat up to pull at his belt buckle, and Wyatt brought the hand that had been stroking her to his lips and deliberately held her gaze as he licked her taste from his fingers, then hummed as if she was a delicacy.
Her heart kicked at the erotic display and made her wish she could spend an entire night with him. It would be a night she would never forget, no doubt. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for them. All they had was right here, right now, so she pulled at the button of his jeans.
“You’re an impatient little thing,” he murmured, pushing her jacket off her shoulders and pulling it off her arms.
“I like to think of myself as efficient.”
He was laughing, his hands sliding down her arms when the button pulled free and she got the zipper down.
With her gaze still on his, she slid her hand into his jeans, beneath the waistband of boxer briefs, and palmed his cock with enough pressure to turn his humor into hunger.
His hands gripped her arms hard, and his eyes closed on a growl from deep in his chest. The sound thrilled Gypsy, as did the thick, long, hot length of him in her hand.
He sat up, fisted the back of her shirt, including her bra strap, and dragged it over her head, forcing her to release him. The night air created gooseflesh across Gypsy’s chest and back. Then he did the same with his own shirt.
This was the first time she’d seen his body. Really seen his body. And she was far more impressed than she’d expected. The moonlight shimmered over a wide chest and abs that were downright chiseled. Muscles rounded his biceps. She only had time to stroke her hands over the crisp hair of his pecs before he enveloped her in his arms, warming her skin with his own.
The sensation was both foreign and familiar, and it filled a hole inside her she’d left empty for too long. Time seemed to warp, both slowing down and speeding ahead.
Pleasure drifted through her body, releasing all her tension like a drug. She pressed kisses to his neck, shoulder, chest. Ran her hands over the muscles of his back. He cupped her face and kissed her for long, unhurried minutes. This man could make her forget everything—all the hurts from her past, all the reasons she kept herself protected now.
He rolled again, easing Gypsy onto her back and sliding between her thighs. He kissed her everywhere—her neck, her shoulder, her chest, her breasts. Gypsy combed her hands through his hair, loving the feel of it.
“Wyatt.”
He lifted his head, his drunk gaze finding hers. “Yeah, sugar?”
“I need you.” God, that was hard to admit. “Like, now.”
Heat flashed across his face. “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her leggings, rose on his knees, and pulled them down and off her legs. Then he just looked at her, which made her incredibly
self-conscious. She’d lost the baby weight, and her job was physical enough to keep her fit, but she was still grateful for the forgiving moonlight. She knew too well what kind of women he usually slept with, gorgeous and built. Pleasers who would do anything for a few minutes in bed with a celebrity.
For tonight, she let herself believe this was different. Told herself this meant something, even if that something was just in this moment. Because this moment was all either of them had, and that look of raw hunger on his face couldn’t be faked.
“So fucking beautiful.” He slid his hands up her thighs, her abdomen, cupped her breasts, and finally eased his hips between her legs again.
She lost herself in his kiss. His sexy, slow, sweet kiss. Moved her hands down his back to his jeans and pushed them lower on his hips. She pulled his wallet out of his back pocket with one hand and reached between them to circle his thick shaft with the other. He groaned and rocked into her grasp, pushing his cock along her palm. His skin was like velvet, his length like steel.
“Condom,” she murmured.
“If you want me to get it,” he said, breathing heavy, “you’ve got to stop…what you’re doing.”
She released her grip. He groaned and braced himself on one forearm, then grabbed the wallet and turned it over, shaking everything out—credit cards, cash, condom. And a handful of guitar picks. One of the dark picks glimmered in the moonlight, casting an iridescent rainbow over the dark background.
She picked up the condom and the guitar pick. “This is so pretty.”
Wyatt laughed. And laughed some more.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, grinning at him.
“Just the difference between women and men. I think that condom looks beautiful, but I’m damn sure you meant that guitar pick.”
“What’s this mean? Waitin’ on you?” The letters were inscribed in metallic silver.
“It’s the name of a song I just finished.” He kissed her. “A song inspired by you.”
Gypsy’s heart danced inside her chest. She didn’t have the words to respond, but Wyatt didn’t seem to notice. He took the condom from her hand and ripped the packaging with his teeth.