“I should’ve charged more.”
I would’ve thought it impossible to laugh until he showed me otherwise. “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.”
“You’ll never have to find out.” He kisses me again and then again, until I’m clinging to him and desperate for him to take my mind off the trauma the way only he can.
When my phone chimes with a text, I pull back from Wyatt in case there’s news about Milo.
“Marcus texted to say he and Tara are thinking about Milo and my family.”
“That’s nice of him,” Wyatt says, nonplussed by the mention of my ex-fiancé, because he knows he has nothing to worry about where Marcus or any other man is concerned. “They’re doing well?”
“He said it’s going great with her, and he’s been sober for almost sixty days. I guess they aren’t defining their relationship because his sobriety is still so new, but he said she’s been amazing and he’s crazy about her. He said he’s praying for Milo and all of us.”
“Glad to hear he’s doing well,” Wyatt says. “I need a shower.”
I love how Wyatt is glad to hear Marcus is doing well and isn’t the slightest bit threatened by him texting me. “Me, too.”
“Care to save water with me?”
“I’d love to.”
We get up and go into the bathroom, pulling off clothes as we go. The sight of his bare ass gets my attention, the way it always does. When he turns to me, he catches me gawking at him.
“Don’t objectify me. It’s unseemly.”
He makes me snort with laughter. “How do you do that?”
After he checks the water temperature, he turns to help me with my bra. “Do what?”
“Make me laugh at a time like this.”
“Sorry. I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”
“You’re not. I’m saying it’s just what I need. You are just what I need.”
He puts his arms around me, and the feel of his skin against mine has the same effect on me as usual. If he’s near me, I want him. Hell, I want him even when he’s nowhere near me. “I always want to be what you need.”
In the shower, he washes my hair and body with the sort of reverence I’ve come to expect from him. He never touches me with anything but love and the utmost gentleness. Even when we get carried away, he’s careful with me. But when he lifts me against the wall of the shower, I start to object. There’s never a time when I’m not concerned about his fragile heart.
“Shhh,” he says as he joins our bodies. “I’m fine. You’re fine. Milo will be fine. I feel it in my bones.”
That’s all it takes to restart the tears. “God, I hope so.” I’ve never prayed harder for anything in my entire life than I have for my brother since I stepped out of my office into a nightmare at the restaurant last night. At first, I feared my mother had died, but hearing what’d happened to Milo was worse than even that would’ve been.
“Hold on to me, love,” Wyatt says. “I’ve got you.”
I tighten my arms around his neck and close my eyes, letting him take me on the sweetest ride ever. Half an hour ago, I wouldn’t have thought it possible to be on the verge of an orgasm, but leave it to Wyatt. I know I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s capable of this even at the worst of times, but it’s just further proof that he’s the one for me.
“I love you so much,” I whisper as I come back down from the highest of highs.
“I love you more, and I’m so sorry you’re hurting.”
“You make it bearable.”
He buries his face in my neck and kisses me there, sending a tingle of sensation through me.
But even as I luxuriate in the arms of my love, I fear that Milo might never have what I’ve found with Wyatt.
MARIA