“I meant what I said. You deserve to be protected. And I’m going to do just thatandget you what you’ve been waiting on.”
Nerves weigh heavy in my stomach, twisting it, forcing me to say what I’ve said for the better part of my life. “I don’t need to be protected. I’m more than capable.” I say it as a fact, though hearing it, I don’t sound convincing. It sounds, and feels, like a lie.
“I know you are. It’s why I told you what I want, but I want —no, I need— your permission to do what I have to do tomorrow. I need you to say out loud that you’ll let me stand up for you.”
Thoughts swarm my head. The emphasis on tomorrow is throwing me off. Tomorrow is Harper and Chloe’s wedding. Is he about to cause a scene? No. He wouldn’t. Would he? Confused, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “Why?” A loaded question. One that could address any of the questions I have for him.
Why do you want to protect me?
What happened that you aren’t saying that warrants your protection?
Why are you willing to do so much for someone who just appeared at random in your life?
But then I remember something my grandmother told me in passing when I was young, that stood with me ever since.“Nothing in life is random. Especially not when it involves matters of the heart. Love will find you when you least expect it, and sometimes it will save you, even if you didn’t realize you need saving.”
“Because I want to,” he says unapologetically, unknowingly confirming what my grandma said to me.
There’s so much I could ask him. Even more that Ishouldask.
But I don’t want to.
All I want is this.
To feel safe, appreciated, cared for, not just by anyone but by him.
“Is that okay with you?”
“Yes,” I breathe as I curl up on him, resting my head on his shoulder. “I trust you.”
Like I’ve never trusted anyone else before.
CHAPTER 32
TOMÁS
She already gave you permission, I remind myself as I stare at her bare pussy while she sleeps. My mouth drools, craving her on my tongue, knowing that it will be the much-needed fuel I require to get through the first order of business today, before the wedding begins.
Lying on my stomach flat on the bed, I inch my way closer, and the moment my tongue extends, making contact with her clit piercing, she stirs awake.
I peer up at her from between her legs, making eye contact.
“Good morning,” she hums, pushing my head down so my lips graze her wet and ready ones.
I press a kiss to her clit. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Fuck,” she moans with her hips rolling forward and back, arching off the mattress, sending my mouth into a frenzy.
As much as it pains me to only have time to give her one orgasm, I make sure I eat her out exactly how she likes —with attention to her clit, and two fingers gliding in and out of her at a slower tempo than my tongue. If I didn’t have to leave the ranch to pay a certain someone a visit, I would be here for hours. There’s something about eating a woman out that turns me onmore than just about anything else. And if I had to pick a pussy that I’d eat and worship daily for the rest of my days, it’d be hers. Without question.
She creates a vise around my head, her fingers digging into my scalp as she rides the wave of her release. I press another kiss to her center, then her inner thigh, trailing more up her mound to her torso, taking my time ascending to her neck until I linger at her ear. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t leave me,” she whines in protest. “You’re teasing me,papi.”
Capturing her lobe between my teeth, I bite down softly. “No,you’reteasing me calling me that when I have to go.”
She sits up, watching me as I grab a T— shirt and pants from my suitcase.
“Does wherever you’re going have something to do with your whole protecting me speech from last night?”
