Pacific Northwest Werebears(49)

Part way through his speech, Jinger’s mouth had fallen open in shock. She was trying to rationalize the fact she was presumably in his bedroom and on his bed. But his shocking declaration of intent was causing her brain to short circuit. Never in her wildest dreams could she have guessed she’d be in the bedroom of a handsome, funny, amazing man who was trying to convince her he wasn’t only interested in her for a quick toss in the hay, but he wanted it all. As in sex, commitment, and what, family?

Frozen in place, she watched him as he paced, afraid to even twitch a finger lest she break out in hysterical laughter. Something she did when she was nervous. And right now she was about fifteen stages past nervous, she was feeling catatonic.

He had stopped in front of her, hands on his hips waiting for her to respond. When she didn’t have any clue what to say, she saw him start to tap his foot in an impatient manner.

“Well, I’m a little confused, Wyatt,” she managed to whisper.

Wyatt looked like he was going to start pacing again. Instead, he knelt down on both knees and put his hands on either side of Jinger’s hips.

“What part confused you, gingersnap,” he asked shortly.

“How about all of it,” she replied shortly back.

His close proximity was overwhelming. He smelled good and she could feel the warmth of his big body radiating towards her. She wanted to lean in and soak up the heat and breathe in that spicy masculine scent. It smelled like something sweet with a pinch of outdoor crisp breeze.

“Jinger, are you attracted to me?”

“I’m not blind, Wyatt,” she replied tersely.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Do you want to see me again?”

“If you want to see me,” she hedged.

“I think we have established that. I know this is a lot to take. But I didn’t plan on this either you know. My father and recently my brother told me that when you find The One, it’s like a bolt of lightning. I used to tease them about it. But yesterday I found out they were wrong. It wasn’t lightning. That is too quick, a flash of feelings over in a blink of an eye. When I was able to look into your eyes, it was like a hurricane. My breath was whipped away by the wind of your fragrance. My eyes were blinded by the shining beauty of your face. And for the first time in my life, my heart was spinning like a top. When it finally stopped turning, I was sitting in the eye of that hurricane and my entire world made sense.

I knew without a doubt that I wanted to spend every conceivable moment getting to know you. That my world would be nothing but black and white without you there to color it. The first time I saw you, my heart whispered, ‘That’s the one.’”

Holy shit, he was serious. The most gorgeous man she had ever seen was kneeling in front of her and telling her she colored his world. Jinger never thought she was a dumb girl. Naive maybe, but not dumb. All she had to do was think ahead a month in advance and try to imagine Wyatt not being in it.

The thought made her heart hurt.

“I don’t want to not see you,” she whispered. “I just don’t think I can promise you anything right now. I don’t know you, I like you, but I don’t know anything about you. I liked what I heard tonight, I like how I feel when I’m around you, but I don’t want to get your hopes up. What if tomorrow we look at each other and one of us wants to move to Paraguay just to get away from the other one?”

“Paraguay,” he said with a laugh.

“It was the first thing I thought of,” she smiled back at him.

“Okay, no promises tonight. I can assure you without a doubt in my heart, that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. How about we both agree to try? And to give whatever this is a shot. Deal?”

“I think I can agree to that,” she answered, smiling back at the huge grin on his face. Saying out loud that this was not the last night together with him made her heart feel lighter. Her ember of hope was burning bright and she was letting her mind think of the future.

She stopped daydreaming to look back at his face. Damn, he was handsome.

His smile started to fade, then he swallowed nervously. “Jinger? Can I kiss you?”

Jinger wanted to taste him, but couldn’t voice the words. She chose to nod instead.

Wyatt slowly leaned forward, his eyes watching her as he brought his lips to hers. Jinger held her breath and then closed her eyes. The first soft brush of his lips over hers was strong and gentle at the same time. Jinger felt the heat of his mouth and teased her tongue out to taste the seal of his lips. She heard Wyatt moan, his mouth opened to sweep his tongue against hers.

Jinger let Wyatt delve into her mouth. He tangled his tongue with hers, tasting all the corners he could reach.