“Despite everything.” My voice trails off, mind swirling, the night and its many happenings still surreal to me. After a longpause, I ask, “Why do you think you started drinking in the first place?”
The fingers of his good hand thread through mine. “Because it’s what I grew up around. All I knew. And it helped me cope with the trauma of my childhood, washing away bad memories. It also made me forget how lonely I was or how much I wanted a beautiful woman and a family. It’s still all I really want.”
“How about a mail-order bride?” I ask, snuggling back into him and delighting in the feel of his warm, hard chest and beating heart against my back.
“Mail-order bride? No way, Calliope. You’re way too good for that. You want to know how I see you?”
“How?” I whisper.
“As a damn queen, a goddess, who deserves a man who will worship her daily. Never take her for granted and always make her feel as special as she is.”
“Do you know of any men like that?” I ask, feeling his stiff rod pressed against my ass.
“Not on Mountain Mates,” he whispers, nibbling my earlobe and licking and kissing my neck playfully. “But I do know one cowboy who would do anything to make you his forever.”
I giggle, heart racing and body shivering as he continues to tease my shoulders and décolletage with his mouth. “But with everything you’ve just told me, you’re a virtual stranger, Mateo.”
“No, I’m not,” he grumbles, good hand coming up to tease my nipples through the fabric of my dress. I pull the thin hospital blanket up a little higher, in case a nurse or doctor walks in. “I just didn’t know I was in a relationship with you until now.”
“But—”
“But I’m still the Army Ranger who served with the 75th Batt. I’m still the man who adores the hell out of you, even if I’ll never be half as eloquent. And unlike the charlatan you thought you were talking to, everything I feel for you is one hundred percentreal, wholehearted, and founded in monogamy of the most loyal nature.”
“Oddly,” I observe. “You do talk a bit like the letters.”
Mateo chuckles, wrapping his leg more tightly around my thigh and grinding his cock against my hip. “Could be. I’ve been transcribing his journals for one to two hours a night. I’m bound to pick up his cadence over time. But even if I fumble my words and make a clumsy ass of myself, what I feel for you is real, genuine, durable.”
“I don’t know exactly what I feel for you,” I confess.
He sighs.
“What?”
“I knew your honesty was going to skewer my heart.”
I raise my hand, palming his bearded cheek. “It’s not like that. I have a lot to think about, sort out. That’s all.”
“Promise you won’t think or sort yourself too far from me, Shivers. Because once I’m out of this hospital, I want to do things right with you.”
“Mmm,” I moan, savoring the thrill of his fingers and mouth dancing over every bit of flesh he can discreetly touch in a bustling hospital.
Against the shell of my ear, he whispers, “I’m going to light candles and get a fire going in the bedroom hearth. I’ll cover my bed in rose petals, and crack a bottle of champagne.” His hot breath warms my cheek. “Then, I’ll spread you out, take my time with you. Move so slowly you’ll beg me to take you and be rougher. But I won’t. Not until I properly adore you and your body like the goddess that you are. Show you how I plan on treating you for as long as you’ll have me.”
Flirtatiously, I say, “You know I’m not letting you off the hook that easily when it comes to the matter of my virginity and how you took it.”
“What do you need from me?” he asks solemnly.
“I need you on your knees, begging for my forgiveness.”
“Groveling?”
“Yes.”
“Whatever you need, Shivers. I’ll grovel for you. But I won’t be the one on my knees. You will, seated on my face.”
I shiver with delight at his words, anticipation building in my core, despite the soreness still lingering there. But the man has to remember he’s about to go into surgery. His recovery could take some time. Turning my head and capturing his mouth, I pant, “Once you’re better, Mateo. Only then.”
“I would do it now, hand throbbing and all, if we weren’t in a damn hospital,” he laments, frustration gripping his voice.
