Jameson woke up at five AM just like he did every morning. Only today he had something soft and warm in his bed and he didn’t want to get up. Scratch that, some things were already up and hard but Candy was sound asleep. She’d thrown the covers off during the night and she lay on her stomach with her arms tucked under the pillow her head was on. All that rosy gorgeous skin just waiting for him to touch. His fingertips trailed lightly down her spine. He held his breath, caught between wanting to wake her up and wanting to let her sleep. It amazed, hell, confused, him that she could be so trusting. Maybe once he could have been like that but not anymore.

He let his fingers skim lower and she shivered but didn’t wake up. He traced the little dip at the base of her spine where her tailbone was. He heard her murmur in her sleep. He should stop but he couldn’t seem to follow through with that thought. He inched lower, coasting his fingertips over the swell of her ass. He hadn’t really ever given that part of a woman’s body much thought beyond whether or not it was balanced by a nice rack but something about Candy’s, the way it rounded so perfectly, the way it fit in his hands. He knew women were weird about not liking their asses but her skin was so smooth there he could have spent days caressing it. Fuck, he was turning into a goddamned sap.

That thought got him to pull his hands away from her. She actually whined and then burrowed closer to him. “Don’t stop.” He wrapped her in his arms, and went back to stroking her skin. She settled in and was snuffling against him in a minute. It soothed him too.

Did she realize how much she had changed? It was a safe bet that the woman who’d run from him that first day wouldn’t have told him she wanted to sleep with him. He damned sure hoped she was happier now than when he’d met her, she sure as hell was less shy and he kind of loved it. The word felt like gun fire in his skull. He’d known from the beginning it wasn’t just about sex. Okay, maybe just after the beginning. First had been the whole damsel in distress thing. Hell, who was he kidding? First had been her, in that dress, running from him and everything in him screamed to chase her, catch her, make her his.

The problem was now he understood making her his wasn’t just a matter of chasing her and he didn’t know if he could change in the ways she’d need him to. She needed someone softer, more considerate of her feelings. Realizing last night why she wouldn’t have a gun in her house had shaken him. The thought that she was more afraid of herself than anything that could happen to her still didn’t make sense to him. Fuck, she was complicated and he was just a dumb grunt. The thought made him smile. She’d smack him if he’d said it out loud. But the woman was smart, trusting, and made him feel like an idiot.

He tried to ease himself out of bed but she clung to him not letting him go. Yeah, a guy could get used to that.

“What time is it? Where are you going so early in the morning?”

He kissed her temple. She still smelled like sleep, or like she’d been rolled in sugar.

“I’m gonna go to the gym downstairs, babe. You can stay here.” The little dog started whining from his crate.

“Well, I have to get up now. Bitsy is going to need to get walked and then fed.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes. Sitting there, roughed up from sleep and sex, she looked like the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And he knew, bone deep when the time came for it, he’d have to let her go. “Can I come with you to the gym?”

Her question caught him off guard. “Why would you want to do that?” She sure as hell didn’t look like a gym bunny.

“Exercise is supposed to be good for depression.” She ducked her head for a second and then looked back up at him through her lashes. “And maybe I’d like to see how you built those muscles I like to touch so much.”

A full body tremor shook through him. The look in her eyes, combined with her words, damn near made it impossible to breathe. A better man would have given her a kiss and left her alone in their bed. He wasn’t a better man. He wanted as much of her as he could get for as long as she was willing to put up with him.