My eyes widened and I scrambled to grab the covers that he was working to pull over me. I quickly tucked them up under my chin as I stared down at my lap.
“I promise I didn’t look.”
My gaze snapped to his and my eyes narrowed. He was a man and he was telling me he didn’t peek?
“I wouldn’t have even come in without permission, but sweetheart, the sound of your sobs was killing me and you didn’t answer when I called out.”
When he put it like that, what could I say? The skepticism drained away and in its place was a feeling I hadn’t felt since my parents died.
Nurtured.
Sure the ladies and even their men would try to comfort me if they thought I needed it, I knew that without a doubt. But I never let them get quite close enough and I knew they sensed that. They were all intelligent people.
Yet over the past six months, my walls had come down little by little with Paxton. Then at the party when I had a meltdown and with the incident at the bakery huge chunks seemed to have crumbled around me, letting him sneak in further under my radar.
If only it didn’t feel so damn good I might be able to erect the wall once again and keep Paxton from wiggling his way into my—
Shit, what was I thinking? Is that what had been happening since we met? Was Paxton wiggling his way into my locked away heart?
That couldn’t happen—
My thoughts died in my head once again when Paxton softly swiped his fingers across the side of my forehead and pushed some wet strands of hair behind my ear.
“I set the clothes the ladies left over there on the dresser.” His hand started to drop from my face. “If you want to get dressed, I’ll go—”
My mind started screaming,No, no, no!I frantically grabbed his wrist. “You said you would stay!”
“Easy, darlin’,” he said in a gentle tone as he sat down next to me on the bed. “I was going to say I’ll go make us something to drink. How about some hot cocoa?”
“Sorry, cocoa sounds amazing,” I told him, dipping my head so he couldn’t see my face as I released my hold on him.
I’d made a fool out of myself.
He slid his thumb under my chin and raised it so I met his gaze. “I promise I won’t leave until you ask me to.” His blue eyes held nothing but sincerity and I melted into the mattress.
There was that feeling again.Nurtured.I also felt protected.
I immediately missed his touch when he dropped his hand away from my face.
He stood. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Paxton studied me as if gauging if I was okay or if I would freak out again. He must have felt I was stable enough because he turned and headed toward the door. “Get dressed, sweetheart,” he said, then he was gone.
Why did the endearments he used feel so sweet?
* * *
I’d donethe unthinkable and let him hold me.
Let.Pfff. I’d asked him to.
I’d been asking a lot of him through the evening and was getting in deeper with him as the night grew later.
When he came back in with cocoa and smiled at me with his dimples that could charm any woman, my face flushed and heated with pleasure. Then he was going to leave me alone so I could sleep, stating he would be in the living room, and I blurted out something that had his eyes going wide with surprise.
“Can you hold me for a few minutes until I fall asleep?”
Those blue eyes of his turned slightly gray as he studied me. “Are you sure?”
I nodded my head. Then I lifted the covers and scooted over so he could climb in. As I turned away from him, I felt the bed dip as he sunk down onto the mattress and the next thing I knew, he was dragging me back into a warm, protective cocoon.
