As she backed her way to the door, Sheldon kept her in his sights.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “She didn’t do anything wrong. No line was crossed. She’s my friend and guard.” My hands soothed over his stomach. “I love you, baby. Only you.”
Winnie slid out the door, probably not taking a breath until she was through it. Sheldon could be downright terrifying. Noone ever truly knew what he had on him. To me, he was as gentle as could be.
Turning in my arms, Sheldon lowered to his knees, lifted my shirt, and pressed his nose to my stomach to inhale me. “I don’t want anyone else touching you.”
“It didn’t mean anything.”
Strong, possessive hands roamed over my ass until he gripped me hard. “Mine,” he growled against me.
“All yours. No one else’s.”
He went to work undoing my jeans, then pulling them down along with my boxer briefs. My dick wasn’t fully hard yet, but being this close to him, it was only a matter of time.
“Sheldon, stop,” my mouth said while my body swayed closer to him. I craved him down to my soul, but I was so worried about him.
“Can’t. Need to mark you.” He pressed open-mouthed kisses down one leg, then up the other.
“If we’re going to do this, let’s go to bed.”
He got to his feet and took my hand in his, pulling me toward the bedroom. Sheldon climbed onto the bed first and lay on his back. It was usually the other way around with me there. It was obvious he needed something different.
I took off the rest of my clothes while he did the same as he watched me. My movements were slow and unsteady as I brought myself over him. I wasn’t nearly as confident in bed as he was, but I was getting better at being with a man—being withhim.
Before I could bring our bodies flush, Sheldon drew his legs up. “Fuck me, beautiful.”
“Wha-what?” I hadn’t done that yet. It was always him in me, which I loved. Sure, it was a dream of mine to be inside him. We just hadn’t gone there.
“Lube up and get in me. I don’t need stretching. The pain will ground me.”
“Can’t you meditate for that? I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I need the pain. I’ve never trusted anyone else to do this. You have all of me, Forest. There is nothing you can do to hurt me, except walk out the door and never come back.”
“Hear me when I say that will never happen, but I also need you to know I can’t go on like this with you. I need you to stop leaving our bed at night and pacing for hours. I’m here, the person you can tell anything to. Talk to me, baby. Tell me what you want, but you have to stop hunting during the day and pacing at night. Just stay with me.”
Tears quickly filled his eyes. “I don’t want to scare you away.”
I finally lowered myself to him, needing to feel him against me. “Nothing you can say or do will make me go, except you being unfaithful or abusing me. I’m here for the long haul. I’m worried about you though.”
His arms came around me in tight bands as hot tears hit my skin where his face was tucked against my neck. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ve seen and done so much. I know what this world can do. It can’t touch you, For. It just can’t.”
“It won’t,” I said the words with absolute certainty, but the reality was, there was no way to tell what would happen in the future. If I’d learned anything from Colleen, it was that we could alter our paths. We were in charge of our destinies.
“I love you more than I knew was possible. Every time I walk out the door, it’s like my heart is torn from my chest, but I’m not good for you right now. What if I say or do the wrong thing, and you don’t look at me like you did before?”
I leaned back enough to see his eyes, how the tears continued to leak from them. How his bottom lip trembled ever so slightly. Sheldon stayed his usual calm self in front of everyone. He didn’t let his emotions out. Most of the time, that was who he was.Now, he had to get it out, or he would burst. Sheldon trusted me with a part of himself that he never showed. He could let himself be vulnerable with me.
“I. Love. You. That’s not changing. When we got together, I knew damn well who I was entering into a relationship with. You’re not going to frighten me away. Don’t you realize the power you have over me? I’ll give you everything and ask for nothing in return. I’ll expose my throat to you. You could wrap your hand around it and choke me, and I’d let you. I trust you.”
“Forest,” he whispered brokenly.
“Don’t you see? We’re perfect for each other. The parts you think are broken, combined with the whole ones, make you who you are. You don’t need to let anyone else see those except me. What a gift it is to be the one you lay yourself bare with.”
“Marry me.”
“What?” I probably should have said that calmer than I did. Too late now.
