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A sour taste filled my mouth, the moment lost. Pushing out of his hold, I rose to my full height.

“Pet.”

Spinning on him, I huffed.I refuse to come between you two.

You won’t come between us. Whatever happens is because of him and his moods.

I stared at him. When Cyrus usually used ASL, it was shortened to a few words and not several sentences.You’ve been practicing.

He smiled, nodding. Pushing to his full height, he took a step toward me but still remained at a distance. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Sammy knows that. We’ve been through a lot together. Grew up together too even though we had others helping us. It didn’t matter. There were times where we still felt like it was just us against the world. The first time I felt like I belonged was when Jaron asked us to look after Piper and their daughter while he was in jail. I know my brother feels the same way. They are our family, my family, but you...” He took a step toward me. “The things you have given me. The things you have opened up,” he tapped his chest, “in me. I can never thank you enough for that.” He took another step closer. “Losing our parents have messed both of us up. And then the shit that happened with Piper and Jaron...their daughter was almost taken from them for good and it...” He sighed, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. They’re fine now. And I’m rambling.”

I laughed lightly.

“I don’t expect you to give me all of you. Not completely but I want you to know...” Cyrus paused, tilting his head, his dark eyes locking with mine. “I’m falling in love with you.”

My eyes widened at his confession.

“Maybe it’s too soon. I don’t know. It’s not like there are rules for this sort of thing. And I don’t expect you to return those feelings, but I will spend this time we have together, however long that may be, earning your trust and making you realize that you can love me back without getting hurt in the process.”

I opened my mouth, begging the words to come out.

Cyrus closed the last few steps between us, cupping the back of my head and kissing my cheek. “You don’t have to say anything, pet.”

Grabbing his shirt in my fist, I pulled him closer. “I love you, too,” I whispered.

His eyes widened. “What did you just say?”

A breath left me on a whoosh. “I love you.” And I did. God, did I ever love him. It all made sense now. This need for him. This sadness when he wasn’t near. This flutter in my stomach every time he was. He pushed me and challenged me, and I loved him even more for that.

The sound that left his mouth, a low deep raspy growl, set my body on fire.

“Say that again,” he demanded, cupping my ass and lifting me in his arms.

“I love you,” I repeated.

He carried me to the couch. “Again. Louder.”

“I love you.” I had said more words because of him in the time we had been together, than I had in years.

“Fuck, pet.” He covered my mouth with his, licking and sucking at my tongue.

Heat seared through me at the intensity rolling off of him. It was like as soon as I said those words, something inside of him snapped. Add to the fact that I actually spoke and not signed, he became unhinged.

In a quick move, he had my pajama bottoms off and his mouth between my legs.

A harsh cry left me.

Saying those three little words switched something inside of him. He was usually gentle in the way he handled me. Knowing what I had been through with my previous aversion to sex. But now that I was finally able to get a few words out, he became another person. Another person I craved. Wanted. Needed.

Cyrus was brutal in the way he attacked my center with his mouth. Although the damaged nerve endings prohibited me from feeling everything, I could still feel enough.

His hair tickling my inner thighs.

The scruff of his beard scratching at my hot flesh.

His tongue thrusting in and out of me.

Because of him, I had gotten used to the idea of sex. I thought him going down on me would give me anxiety, but instead it helped me feel connected to him on a whole other level. It was far more intimate than intercourse. Knowing he was in full control the whole time; I wasn’t on the verge of a breakdown.