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HEATH
“That’s right. She needs you. You’re her Daddy.” Wyatt’s eyes burn with an emotion I can’t quite identify and don’t expect because we’ve talked about this.
It’s a punch to the gut, as is the way he wraps his arms around her. Protectively, the way I should be holding her. Holding both of them.
“It’s more complicated than just saying that.” They’re both too pure to understand.
They don’t know how hard it is to give people your heart after a lifetime of guarding it like a fierce dog.
“Tell us, then.” Emily lifts her pretty little chin, jutting it at me. A challenge. “Unless you think we couldn’t possibly understand.”
Fuck.
She growls when I don’t answer. “That’s it, isn’t it? You think we couldn’t possibly get it. We’re too young, too—”
“Damn it, Emily, I love that about you,” I bark out. “I don’t want you to understand. I want you and Wyatt to have a perfect life together. Do you know what a gift it is to find your mate the first time?”
“Yes, I do. I’m deeply aware of how wonderful it is—and how hard it is at the same time when one of them refuses to admit what is right in front of him.” She elbows Wyatt. “Baby, tell him.”
I grin despite myself. Bossy little girl.
He catches her arm and lifts her hand to his mouth. His gaze locks on my face as he kisses her clenched fist. “I don’t think he’s ready to hear it, sweetheart.”
My throat goes dry. “Hear what?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.”
Emily growls at him.
He just keeps kissing her hand, his lips soft on each of her white knuckles.
My pulse jacks up. “You think you know me better than I know myself?”
His gaze doesn’t waver. “Yeah, Heath. I know you.”
Fucking punk. “You don’t know shit.”
“I know you want to have your mouth on her right now. You’re fucking mad as hell that I get to kiss this little fireball right now and you can’t, aren’t you?”
Even though he’s got a lock on my attention now, I can still see Emily’s eyes go wide. “Wyatt,” she breathes. “That’s not—”
“Nice?” He shakes his head. “Heath doesn’t need nice right now. He needs to be shown that we’ll be just fine without him. That maybe you don’t need him to be your Daddy.”
I surge forward, stopping just a foot away from them.
Between us, Emily takes a shuddering breath. I can see her little body straining toward me, but Wyatt is holding her tight. No more hesitation, no more big puppy energy. He’s all man now, confident and strong for his little one.
Everything I knew he could be.
But it’s wrong.
“You just said she needs me. Now you’re saying she doesn’t?”
He shrugs. “Isn’t that what you said you wanted? And then, sure, you walked it back, but not enough. Not all the way, because you have to keep one foot in a safety zone.”
I ball my hands into fists to stop myself from grabbing him and shoving him against the wall. Taking Emily from him and wrapping myself around her. “Maybe what I want is too fucking complicated.”
“Is it, though?” His mouth is moving up her forearm now. He guides her hand to his neck, encouraging her to hold on to him—and to present her tight little body to me at the same time. She’s stretched taut, her nipples pointing straight at me through the thin fabric of her T-shirt.
