Page 155 of Duty and Desire

“It’s natural, Lottie.”

She focused on him again. “Yeah, but it feels weak.”

“It isn’t.”

“Okay.”

“It isn’t,” he stressed.

“Okay,” she snapped. “Jeez. Stop being all supportive and sweet. It’s annoying.”

He grinned down at her. “Right, I’ll snap into being an asshole. How’s that go again?”

“You know, in this moment it’s troublesome you’ve no clue how to do that.”

“I could share that the first time I had your face in my lap, this wouldn’t be my call on how you’d be using it.”

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “That works.” She stopped mumbling to tell him, “Though I will say my blowjob plans being indefinitely delayed pisses me off.”

“We’ll get there,” he told her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not a lot of dudes would be free and breezy with indefinitely delayed blowjobs.”

“The guy who did this to you is fucked,” he announced. “He’s going to be charged on some serious felonies, three of them Federal indictments. It’s doubtful bail will be set, and if it is, he can’t afford to post it. You’re safe. You got a lot of people who love you and will look out for you. I got all that and I’m with you in your bed, somewhere I’ve wanted to be for what feels like years. I’m gonna sleep beside you here tonight, not on that fuckin’ couch. And I’m gonna wake up next to you tomorrow. With all that, I can wait for a blowjob.”

Her pretty hazel eyes warmed and she pulled herself up so she was curled in a ball in his lap, not beside him on the bed, her cheek tucked tight to his chest, his arms around her.

Her head in his lap didn’t suck, no matter how he had it.

But still, having her in his arms was a whole lot better.

“I don’t like that I didn’t handle things too well,” she told his pec.

“You handled them fine,” he told the top of her head, pulling her closer.

“I buried it. Acting strong isn’t the same asbeingstrong.”

“Whatever works, works.”

She tipped her head back. “I fell apart, Mo. Lost it in front of everybody.”

“Do you think any of those men care you lost it in front of them?”

“I—”

“Lawson’s kicking himself in the ass a million different ways, he laid it out for you and the way he did,” he shared. “Education, Lottie. Those men love you. As for Lawson and Lucas, they respect you. And the only thing they’re feelin’ now is honored you’d trust them enough to show weakness. I’ll tell you what,if Tex, Eddie, Hank, Luke and the rest had a choice, onlyone, either to be there for you and catch that guy or be there for you to catchyou, they’d pick the second. In a way, they got that. So move on. They have.”

“But, they’re action men.”

“They’re men like me,” he declared, and her eyes widened. “When I saw him and knew it was him, my skin itched to be out there to take him down. But every other part of me needed to bewith you. Trust me. You didn’t fight Smithie’s decision to keep them in the dark and I can tell you feel bad about that. But they got to be in on the important part, being here nowfor you, and they know it. So get over it. It’s all cool.”

“Right. You’re hot. Have a huge cock. You’re spectacular in bed. You approve of my OCD tendencies.Andyou’re quick as a whip?”

He grinned at her. “That’s me.”

“Then I hit the mother lode.”

Because he could.