he tore his mouth away from hers and placed his forehead against hers, in an attempt to catch his breath. She did the same. Sucking in deep breaths of air and feeling tender places in her mouth that his tongue had been. He had been greedy, but so had she. He hadn’t just consumed her. They had consumed each other.
He pulled back slightly and stared down at her with eyes that were filled with desire. She recognized that look in them. “As you can see, Cheyenne, nothing has changed between us. We’re as hot for each other as we were before. Do you know how many times over the past eleven months I’ve awakened during the night, as hard as a rock, wanting to give us both pleasure? And how many times I wished you were there in bed with me so I could touch you all over, kiss you all over, just like before? Then there were my dreams that served as a recollection of all those positions we tried, all those I taught you. Although I didn’t intend to get you pregnant, it really doesn’t surprise me that I did, considering everything.”
Her mind became fragmented at all the memories he was bringing forth. He was right, considering everything, especially how much they had been into each other that night, although they had tried being careful, it wouldn’t surprise her if they had begun getting careless and concentrating on pleasure more than on birth control.
That thought prompted her to say, “We might not have planned for them, but I don’t regret them, Quade,” she said, wanting him to know just how much a part of her they were. “They are my life.”
“As well as mine.”
She reared back, refusing to believe what he was saying. “No,” she said sharply, lifting her chin up. “There’s no way you can feel anything toward them this soon. You found out about them today. You just saw them.”
He reached out and took her stubborn chin between his fingers, caressing the outline of it with his fingertips. “And is that supposed to mean they can’t mean something to me? Do you think just because you carried them in your body that I don’t also have a connection? Granted, a part of me wished I could have been here to see how your belly swelled each month, but I wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean their existence means any less to me.”
Cheyenne looked at him, tried to weigh the sincerity in his words. It took more than potent seeds hitting a fertile egg to make a man a father. Maybe she was far too aware of what made a good father because she’d had one. Her dad had been a hard-working man who had cherished his wife and adored his daughters. The only thing she wished was that he’d laid off the cigarettes, which had resulted in him getting lung cancer and dying way too soon.
“Okay,” she said. “You want to be a part of their life, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a part of mine.”
He smiled and the way the corners of his lips curved made a wave of desire run through her stomach. She fought hard to downplay the effect. “I think it would be hard separating the four of you,” he said. “It’s a package deal. I want them and I want you. I claim them and I claim you, as well.”
Her gaze narrowed. “No. I won’t let you. We are Steeles.”
“Not for long.”
She frowned. “Are you threatening me?”
He chuckled and gave her that look she had found endearing the first time she’d seen it. “No, I thought I was asking you to marry me.”
“You didn’t ask. You all but demanded.”
“Then I apologize and will start over. Will you marry me?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Can I ask why?”
“I’ve told you why. I don’t know you.” And when he opened his mouth to speak, she quickly added, “Out of bed.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute and then. “All right, then I have a proposition for you.”
Something warned her to be cautious. “What kind of proposition?”
“I want to give you the time to get to know me, just like I want to get to know you.”
She stared at him. “Why?”
“Because according to you, that’s the reason why you won’t marry me. My job will be to try to impress you, sweep you off your feet and make you feel comfortable enough to consider the fact that you, me and the babies together as a family is the only way things can be.”
Cheyenne didn’t like the sound of that. She was an international model who traveled all over the country. What if he had a problem with her chosen career? And then there was that part of her job that no one, not even her family knew about. Her agent wasn’t even privy to information about it, although on occasion Cheyenne used her professional model status to get in and out of places where she needed to be.
“And if I don’t see things your way and agree to your proposition?” she asked, needing to know her options.
“Then I will seek legal counsel to see what rights I have as a father. If the five of us being together as a family is not an option, I need to make sure I have a legal right to be a part of my children’s life. I’d rather not involve an attorney, of course, and prefer that for the sake of the babies we can reach some kind of a reasonable and acceptable resolution. But if not, I won’t hesitate to take you to court for shared custody rights.”
Shared custody rights. Her heart jumped at the very thought of her babies being separated from her at any time, especially while they were so young. She just couldn’t imagine it happening. But then all she had to do was to stare into Quade’s face to know that he couldn’t imagine it being any other way...other than the option he had given her. The one where the five of them would live together, married, as a family.
She needed to think. She needed to be alone. Basically, what she really needed was him gone. Around him she couldn’t completely think straight. “I need time to think about this, Quade.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “I’m not proposing that we marry right away. All I’m asking for is time for you to get to know me. However, I want my children to have my name as soon as it can be arranged. I want them entitled to everything I own if something were to ever happen to me.”
Cheyenne lifted a brow. If something were to ever happen to him. She didn’t even know what he did for a living for crying out loud. “What do you do for a living?” she asked.
“I recently retired from working for the Federal Government.”
“In what capacity?”
“Secret Service.”
Her frown deepened. She wondered if the reason he had been in Egypt that night had anything to do with his job. Most men who worked in the Secret Service were in place to protect the president, but that had not been the case with Quade. The president had been expected to arrive in Egypt, but hadn’t yet done so. That made her wonder...
It hadn’t been a coincidence for her to be in Egypt that night. The first lady was to arrive with the president and Cheyenne needed to be in place, behind the scenes. She shook her head, finding the possibility that the two of them could be associated with the same agency under the umbrella of the Secret Service mind-boggling. “So, you’re one of those men who stand guard over the president wherever he goes, possibly taking a bullet if things got that far.”
“Yes, something like that,” he said, his gaze never leaving hers.
She nodded. He was being evasive just like she had been a number of times when her sisters had questioned the reason why they couldn’t always reach her whenever she traveled abroad.
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