Page 29 of Guarded By the SEAL
She lifted her arms around his neck to pull him toward her, humming with erotic satisfaction when the movement aligned her body with his from breasts to hip, and she felt his growing erection press against her in the most delicious way.
Things were happening too fast, the spark of a rash decision turning into a fiery conflagration. She should stop, she knew she should, but he felt so good in her arms, so strong, the embodiment of safety and appeal. She was lost to him for as long as he wanted her there.
His mouth moved down her neck in a sensual onslaught, and her heavy eyelids lifted open for a moment. Ivy stood in the doorway, staring at them. Teslyn shoved Wyatt away, but it was too late—Ivy took off running up the stairs, a door slamming in her wake.
Memories assaulted Teslyn. Marilyn telling her to leave her alone when she had a man-friend in the house. Marilyn crying out in sensationalized sexual wonder. Marilyn counting money in the wake of a sexual encounter, then sending Teslyn to pick up booze from Mr. Frawley on her bicycle. Mr. Frawley was one of the men who kept Marilyn company on a regular basis.
“Ivy?” Teslyn called, following her. “It’s okay, honey.” She knocked on the door, hating herself for kissing Wyatt in front of her little sister. Ivy would think Teslyn was just like their mother. She was probably sitting in a corner waiting for the yelling to start, wondering what she was going to eat tonight without Teslyn around to feed her. She knocked again. “Can I come in, please?” She turned the doorknob. “Ivy?”
Ivy was on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. “I’ll be good,” she said quietly. “I won’t bother you and Mr. Wyatt.”
Teslyn frowned. Wyatt had just been Wyatt until Ivy had seen them kissing. Now he’d been given the title Marilyn expected her daughters to use with all the men who hung around the trailer. “He’s just Wyatt, Ivy. Not mister, okay? And you don’t have to be nice to him if you don’t want to. You don’t have to do what he says. Do you understand?”
Ivy nodded, but didn’t meet Teslyn’s eyes.
It was vital Ivy understood this. “Wyatt’s not in charge.”
“He’s not?”
Teslyn shook her head. “No. He’s a nice man, and he’s trying to help us. But we get to do whatever we want. We don’t have to listen to him unless we want to.”
“Will he get angry if we don’t?”
“No. He’s not like Mom’s boyfriends.” She reached up and brushed a lock of hair back from Ivy’s face, and the girl raised questioning eyes to her big sister.
“Will he still give us money?”
“That’s not the way it works.”
“Then how are we going to buy food?”
“I have my own money. I have a job.” One of their stomachs growled, though Teslyn wasn’t sure which one it was. None of them had eaten in quite some time. “Are you hungry?”
Ivy nodded, and Teslyn took her hand. “Come on. Let’s see what we can pull together for dinner.”
They walked back downstairs, and she braced herself to see Wyatt in the kitchen, but he was nowhere to be found. She opened several cupboards before finding a well-stocked pantry. “Do you like chicken soup?”
“Yep,” said Ivy, climbing onto a kitchen stool at the island where her coloring book and crayons awaited.
The front door opened and closed, and Wyatt entered with Jett. “Hi.”
Teslyn’s stomach dipped and rolled. “Hi, yourself. We’re making soup. Are you hungry?”
He smiled. “Starved.” He took a seat beside Ivy at the Island. “I was talking to my commanding officer at HERO Force just now.”
Teslyn did her best to feign disinterest, opening the soup rather than turning around. “Oh?”
“I told him I’m not leaving here tomorrow after all.”
She couldn’t help the twist of her head toward him. “You’re not?” The intensity in his stare made her stomach flip.
“You wanted me to stay, right?”
Of course she did. But why had he changed his mind? Did he think he was going to get in her pants? The thought left her cold. “I guess.”
Wyatt laughed. “You guess?” He leaned down next to Ivy and touched his fingertip to her nose, making her giggle. “Your sister can’t make up her mind.”
Teslyn opened three different types of chicken soup and dumped them into the pan, aware of Wyatt behind her, but unwilling to turn around.
