Lori paced in her bedroom, waiting for Sever to join her. She’d been anticipating this all day, and every heated look exchanged between them had built the tension further.

She couldn’t wait to see how he was going to ‘make it up to her,’ as he’d said earlier.

She sat on the bed, tapping her feet on the floor nervously. What would they do tonight? What was in store? Luckily, her bedroom was on the opposite side of the floor from Taylor’s, but still, could they really do this quietly enough to not wake him?

If Sever stayed, if he got married, it would be something they had to work out.

Her hands twisted in her lap as she realized how delusional that sounded.

Married? He’d said nothing about anything like that. Yes, he was awesome with Taylor. And yes, he made their little group feel like a family. And yes, he felt like the missing puzzle piece that made this situation feel like a life.

But she still shouldn’t jump to conclusions. He was attracted to her—that much was certain—but beyond that, she had no idea. She should have no expectations beyond what was happening day by day.

The door to her room rattled softly as someone put their hand on the doorknob.

“Sever?” she called out in a whisper. “Come in.”

The door opened and he walked in, ducking slightly under the doorway, filling the room with his immense size.

She had a light on, and in the warm glow, she saw that his braid had become slightly disheveled, letting strands of hair fall around his face, accenting his firm jaw, his straight nose, his dark, soulful eyes that looked like molten metal from different angles.

“I missed you,” she said.

“I was gone for five minutes,” he said, crawling on the bed with her, pushing her back onto it, holding her beneath him. “I was giving you time to get Taylor settled.”

“And probably compulsively checking the locks on everything.”

He nodded. “Gotta keep my people safe.”

She reached up to stroke his face. “You’re amazing like that.”

“It’s what a man should do,” he said.

“Well, there are a lot of men who don’t. A lot of women out there doing it on their own.”

He scowled. “Preposterous. A man should always do his duty.”

“Duty?”

“Yes, duty. To protect those who need it. To love and honor the women in his life.”

She swallowed. “It’s rarer than you think.”

He blinked. “I hope not.” He shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t understand the world we live in now.”

“Why not?”

“In my day… I mean, where I’m from, men and women paired off for life. That’s still how I think it should be, when you find the right person.”

She rolled her lips together nervously. “I guess so, but how do you know when you find the right person?”

“I suppose you just know,” he said, rolling off to the side of her to prop himself up on one elbow. “Have you ever thought about finding the right person?”

She bit her lip. “No. I mean, there has always been something to distract me. I’ve dated, yes—”

He let out a little snarl, and she raised an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, go on. Something in my throat.”

“Right,” she said suspiciously. “Anyway, yes, I’ve dated, but never seriously. I guess I didn’t find the right one, and then Taylor became my focus.”

Sever turned onto his back, facing the ceiling, hair fanned out around him. “What if you did find the right one?”

She felt herself flush. She lay back next to him, letting her hair mingle on the covers with his. Brown and pink and blue next to his gray. “I guess I’d figure it out from there.”

“What would the right one be like?” Sever asked quietly.

She rolled over and put a hand on his chest, looking into his eyes. “Why are you asking me?”

His face went still, and she could see him waging an internal battle over whether to say something or not. She wanted to urge him forward, but didn’t know how.

“I was just wondering,” he said. “You know. Curious.”

She drew a finger down his chest. “Curious? Nothing more?”

He nodded, his throat suddenly tight, a muscle ticking in his jaw. She loved that she had this effect on him. “Curious. I want to know everything about you. Including what you want in a man.”

She drew her finger a little lower. “I want someone strong, who can protect me. I want someone loyal, who won’t let his eyes stray. It wouldn’t hurt if he was good around the house. I would want someone who accepted Taylor, who could love him as his own. And someone who could live here in Cate’s Creek, with all its difficulties.”

He pushed himself up slightly. “But what if it’s not safe here?”

Did he mean if he left? Because it was safe with him here, but it was delusional to think it would be if he were gone.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

He frowned, thinking to himself about something, and she wished she could crawl into his mind and figure it out.

He pulled her into his arms and held her against him for a moment before flipping her over on the bed underneath him. He pinned her with a hand on either side of her head.

“I really like you, Lori.”

“I like you, too,” she said nervously, her heart pounding at his closeness, at the feel of his hard thighs straddling her hips, his hands so close to her face.

Unrestrained by space, he seemed that much bigger.

He leaned in close, until their lips were almost touching. “I would never hurt you. I promise.”

She nodded. “I know.”

“I want to be with you,” he said. “Really be with you.”

He was asking about sex, of course. That’s how she took it, so she nodded. “Me, too.”

She started to shrug out of her jacket, and he helped her take it off, revealing her blouse. Then he undid the buttons on that, helping her slide it off her shoulders, leaving only a silky camisole she’d put on in the hopes of him seeing it. Plus, a lacy bra underneath.

“These are beautiful underclothes,” he said.

She laughed. “You have the funniest way of saying things sometimes.” She rolled over beneath him to unhook her bra and slid it off under her cami. Then she lay back beneath him, relaxed. “Where are you from?”

“I have secrets,” he said quietly. “I have things I can’t tell you.”

She went still at that. What did that mean? “You’re married?” She tried to struggle out from underneath him. “Oh no—”

He shook his head. “No. Hell no, nothing like that.”

She sagged in relief. “Oh, good. What do you mean secrets?”

“I mean who I am. What I do. Even though to me, those things don’t matter, because I want to be a new person with you. I want a new life with you.”

Oh, maybe he was talking about his work at Date-A-Dragon. Maybe he was saying he used to do things for money he wasn’t proud of. That he was a male escort in every sense of the word. He said he’d come from a small town. Was that the only work in a big city that he’d found, being a big, strapping man?

Regardless, she felt that whatever his story was, she could accept him. He was someone who had dropped everything to help a woman and a grieving child and had never made them feel bad about it.

He was someone who always put others first, and though he was a little controlling, he always got things done.

He was someone who would never allow anyone to mistreat her or Taylor. So what did it matter what he was?

She ran a hand over his arm, and he shivered. “As long as you aren’t cheating on someone, it doesn’t matter to me who you used to be. It matters who you are.”

“And who am I?” he asked quietly.

Someone I’m coming to love. “Someone I want.”

He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. When he opened them, the naked want there left her breathless. “I want you, too.”

Then he was over her, smothering her in kisses, hands roving over her waist, her hips, playing with her jeans as his mouth nipped at her neck, her lips, her jaw, setting sparks off all over her.

Every touch from him felt like an awakening. Made her feel she was coming back to life. Like she wasn’t just someone’s guardian or just someone fighting every day to do her duty, but a woman with wants and needs and the ability to be loved.

Loved.

He hadn’t said as much to her, but he showed it in the tender way he touched her, the way he held her in his arms, the way he went to battle for her without thinking about it.

Could she really hope for something long term?

He slid her cami up and cupped her breasts in both hands, lightly squeezing them. She arched at the sensation, feeling wet between her legs and tight in her stomach. His thumbs tweaked over her nipples, and she gasped, but then he released her and came forward, closing his lips over her mouth.

He kissed her deeply, one hand buried in her hair while the other dipped down to undo the button of her jeans. He lowered the zipper and then tugged the jeans off, all the while maintaining a smooth rhythm with his tongue against hers. Stroking, sliding, promising.

When she was bare in her panties, she felt his hand skim its way up her leg, over her thighs, and then down to her center, playing at the aching wetness, driving her to further heights of frenzy. She writhed against him, but his mouth kept her trapped, filling her with pleasurable domination as his hand worked her closer to release.

She always felt overwhelmed by him, as if lifted up by a tornado and protected by it at the same time. Safe to feel things that would otherwise threaten to destroy her.

She dug her hands into his shoulders and held on tight as he deepened the kiss, thrusting deep as his movements grew tighter over her clit, his hand pushing hard.

Her legs pressed together as tension built inside her, and she could sense she was on the very edge of something incredible as he slowly pulled out of her mouth, leaving her breathless.

She had only a moment to look at him before his finger pressed intentionally down on her center, and she leapt over the edge with a scream, mouth coming down to his neck to bite instinctively as she felt pleasure flood through her, threatening to make her drown.

Her hands scrabbled at his back, and he put his arms around her, stroking her, holding her. “It’s all right, Lori. I’m here. You’re safe.”

Damn right she was safe. Safe and on fire and incredibly hungry for everything he could give her.

She sat up and began to grab at his pants button, still feeling aftershocks of pleasure moving through her. She could see his member, tall and hard and thick, tantalizingly outlined in those jeans that always showed off his muscular thighs.

He put a hand over hers, trapping it. He looked so sexy with hair coming free from his braid, trailing over his shoulders. Like some kind of barbarian.

Yet with her, he was gentle and kind.

“I want these open,” she growled. “I can’t wait any longer.”

He laughed, actually laughed, and then undid the button for her, letting her unzip his pants and pull them down as he kicked them off, leaving him only in tight black boxer briefs.

She licked her lips. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“No,” he said, crawling back over her, trapping her body under his, making her so aware of her own feminine softness as she felt his hard strength. “You’re the amazing one.”

She jerked at his underwear, needing it off. “Stupid, durable cotton.”

He laughed, reached down, and with an odd tearing sound, she saw the underwear come free and get tossed behind him.

How did he do that?

But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was her naked warrior lying in front of her, hair wild and disheveled, muscles gleaming in the lamplight, gray eyes looking at her as though she were the only thing that mattered in the world.

“Take me,” she said, reaching down to pull off her own panties. When she was done, she pulled her cami over her head, wanting to be fully naked with him. By the time she finished, he was kneeling between her legs, spreading them before him.

His eyes were hot as he studied her, gazing all over her body but returning to her center, where she was aching and wet for him. So ready.

She’d always wondered if she would be a more sexual person when she found the right man. Now she knew. When she felt safe, when there was someone she cared for, she was an insatiable animal inside.

He lifted her legs to put them over his shoulders and then licked wickedly at her core as she thrashed helplessly in pleasure. Her hands twisted into the sheets, and she was about to cry out that this wasn’t what she wanted, but then his soft, wet kisses felt too good to resist.

And she could always have what she wanted right after.

He kept kissing, licking, thrusting his tongue over her until she came again, this time arching back against the tide that overcame her, swamping her in heady pleasure, making it hard to think or breathe.

As she came down, she saw him staring at her with hot, hungry eyes. The next minute, he was spreading her legs and coming between them, propping himself over her as he positioned himself at her entrance.

His eyes locked on hers. I’ll be careful, they seemed to say.

She nodded and wriggled against him, locking her legs around his waist in an attempt urge him forward. He came into her slowly, achingly, deliciously, and though at first it was tight, as she breathed deeply and relaxed, she found he was a perfect, perfect fit.

He was hitting all her spots without even moving, just because he was so big. She put her arms up around his neck and stroked his face softly. Then she tensed slightly, focusing on the feel of him. “So amazing.”

He leaned down to kiss her on the mouth, bringing them closer. The kiss was a few seconds long, hot and tender, and she got the feeling he was trying to compose himself, that he was just as overwhelmed by their connection as she was.

“I’m ready,” she said quietly against his ear. “Are you?”

“I’ve been ready for you all my life,” he said hoarsely, and the expression on his face was something she would remember forever, so intensely honest and sincere.

Her hands entwined around his shoulders again, and he began to move inside her, setting off feelings she didn’t know she could have. She moved along with him, feeling the inevitable tension build inside her, more powerful than anything before.

I love you, she said quietly inside her. I love you, Sever, and I don’t even know who you are.

But I do know I love you.

And he seemed to answer her back, looking at her with loving eyes as he thrust more powerfully inside her, bringing them more deeply together every time.

This wasn’t sex; it was something much more, and she ached and bit her lip as she felt excitement rise inside her. When it reached an unbearable pitch, she threw her head back and arched, biting back a silent scream that was almost too hard to resist.

He covered her mouth with his, groaning slightly as he found his own release, jerking inside her and setting off little waves of relief, little echoes of the immense pleasure she’d just gotten.

She threaded her hands in his hair as he finished, holding her tight, murmuring unintelligible words against her lips.

Then he went limp, his immense weight over her reassuring and heavy and safe.

Finally, he pushed up on his hands and looked down at her, face flushed, expression happy, eyes pleased. “That was amazing.”

She put a hand in her hair, pushing the sweaty locks back from her face. “We both use that word too much,” she said with a smile.

“True,” he said. “I’m not good with words. I need to learn more of them.”

She sat up with a chuckle and pushed him back so she could move into his lap. He wrapped his arms happily around her and nuzzled his head against her neck.

She sighed. “That was wonderful.”

He nodded. “Can I stay with you tonight?”

She knew it wouldn’t be proper, but after what they’d just shared, she couldn’t stand to let him go. “I guess so. But you’ll have to get up early to go back to your room. Before Taylor wakes up.”

“I see,” Sever said. “Why can’t we tell him?”

“About the birds and the bees?” Lori asked, agog. “Because I don’t—”

“No, I mean about us being together. About me dating you.”

“Is that what this is?” she asked. “Because we haven’t really talked about it.”

He sat back, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to call it.”

Disappointment ran through her. “I see.”

“I know I want to be with you,” he said. “I know I’m enjoying this.”

She tried not to frown. After all, there hadn’t been any promises. But he sounded so noncommittal after what they’d just shared that she couldn’t help but be hurt.

Especially since she was already falling in love with him.

“I see.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, reaching up to cup her face. She leaned into his warmth but felt a surge of anger at his words.

“That’s easy for you to say,” she said, pouting. “Men always think things will just work out. We women have things to worry about.”

He leaned in and gave her a kiss. “Just trust me, all right? I promise everything will be fine.”

As she leaned into his kiss, she tried to just go along with it, but in the back of her mind, there were still questions. Just what did it mean for everything to be “fine?”

He pulled back from the kiss and clearly expected her to be okay with things, so she nodded.

“I trust you, Sever,” she said. “Don’t make me regret it.”

Something flashed across his face and he tensed slightly. “I won’t.”

“Good,” she said lightly. “Then let’s go to bed.”

But there was an awkward feeling in the room as they got ready and got under the covers together. And even as he cuddled up to her side, spooning her and keeping her close, she couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy.

As if his thoughts were somehow far away.