He flipped the phone closed and tossed it on one of the nightstands next to the bed. Neither one of us reacted when it started to ring again. This time he ignored it, and threw himself back on the bed and covered his eyes with his arm.

“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” I asked the question knowing what the answer would be as he shook his head in the negative.

“No.” He lifted his arm and turned his head so he could look at me. “That’s not true. I do want to tell you what it was about but I can’t until after this weekend. The reason Kallie and I didn’t work out is more complicated than the fact that she was unfaithful, but I can’t lay all her business out there until she comes to terms with it herself. She was calling to tell me she’s ready to start being honest with the people that love her.”

I cocked my head to the side and considered him for a silent minute. “She isn’t thrilled with the fact that you’re seeing me?” I hated that a sliver of doubt worked its way underneath the confidence I’d slowly been building since I decided he needed a dog. If his ex, the mother of his child, didn’t want me in his life, I knew that could eventually make things very difficult for us.

He barked out a bitter-sounding laugh. “Oh, she doesn’t mind that I’m seeing you now. She’s upset because she knows I’ve been looking at you for a long time. Her ego is bruised and I think her feelings are hurt, which tends to make her act like a two-year-old.”

I blinked at him in surprise. “What do you mean you’ve been looking at me for a long time?”

Suddenly he rolled over so that he could crawl up the mattress and settle himself next to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side. His lips touched my temple and then brushed across my cheek. “Do you remember the night she showed up at Dixie’s right after I left her, and she saw you, or rather saw the way I looked at you. She figured out pretty quickly that she was no longer the woman that had my attention. I told you, honey, I saw you and I couldn’t stop looking.”

I gulped and reached out to put a hand over his heart. “I hate confrontation. She was so angry and upset. I couldn’t get out of that apartment fast enough.” I tapped my fingers on his tattooed skin in time to the rhythm beating under my palm. “I didn’t want her to see the way I was looking at you.”

His arm tightened around me and his lips hit my ear. “How were you looking at me?” His words made me shiver as I tilted my head back so I could meet his questioning gaze.

“I was looking at you the way I used to look at men before I was scared of them, the way I looked at them before I knew how dangerous they could be. I was looking at you like I found something special, and I knew if she saw it, she was going to want to take you back. She was very, very foolish to throw what she had away. I was looking at you like I would never let you go if you were mine.” I let out a yelp as he pulled me, blankets and all, over the top of him. His arm locked around my waist and his cheek settled on the top of my head as he held me to him like he was the one that was never going to let go.

“I’ll make sure you don’t ever regret looking at me like that, honey, because I’m looking back at you the exact same way and that’s what has Kallie all riled up. I watched her with blinders of youth and infatuation on. I had huge blind spots where she was concerned and we both know it. When I stare at you, my eyes are wide open and there isn’t anything that makes me want to look away from you.”

I yawned and snuggled down into his embrace. “Hard to watch where we’re going when our eyes are on each other and not on the path we’re taking.”

He chuckled against my hair and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders so that I was effectively trapped in his hold. I waited for alarm to wake my sleepy senses up and for panic to make my body stiff but neither showed up. I wondered if it was possible to fuck the fear away because it was nowhere to be found as he yawned and told me confidently, “Doesn’t matter what the path we’re on looks like as long as we’re walking it together. If I stumble you can be there to help me up, and you know I’ll do my best to never let you fall.”

He had a point. I’d been struggling to make my way uphill on my own for so long that the idea of having someone there to offer me a boost, to pull me up when it felt like I couldn’t take another step, was so overwhelmingly comforting that if I hadn’t been exhausted I probably would have burst into tears again. Wheeler could pull me up and I would help him over the rocky terrain that was waiting for him as he adjusted to being a new father. Everyone always said you should never hike alone and the wisdom in those words was very apparent.

I was woken up the next morning by insistent hands covering my breasts and warm lips tickling the back of my neck. It felt like I had only closed my eyes a couple minutes ago but I wasn’t going to complain when one of those hands trailed across my tummy and his knee made room between mine so he could situate himself behind me. His teeth dug into the spot on the curve of my neck where I had left a mark on his collarbone the night before and we both let out a strangled groan as he entered me from behind. It was a long, slow press that stretched overly sensitized muscles and burned in a delicious and unforgettable way. Everything felt amped up, hotter, harder, and more intense. It was a sensation overload and felt like I was drowning in pleasure and satisfaction.

It wasn’t until I came on a strangled scream, my body clamping down on his as I writhed and wiggled in front of him, that I realized the reason it felt so good was because there was nothing between us. He pulled out of me, my body greedily trying to keep me exactly where he was, and rolled on his back, his hand wrapped around his slick and glossy erection. His face had an almost pained expression stamped all over it. I watched entranced for a long minute until I realized he was going to finish without me and that was simply unacceptable. That erection was mine. I owned that impending orgasm and I fully intended to take it.

I twisted so that I was lying horizontally across the bed and reached out to replace his fist with my own. His eyes drifted shut and his fingers found my hair as I brushed my nose across those stark black tattoos that marked his lower abdomen. His happy trail tickled my nose as I dipped my tongue into the shallow indent of his belly button.

“Poppy … I’m close. That’s a lot.” His voice was shaking, letting me know exactly what was going to happen if I got my face any closer to that throbbing hard flesh that was pulsing excitedly in my hand. He was always looking out for me even when it went directly against what he really wanted from me.