Blake, Abby - Sweet Captivation [A Bride for Eight Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (6 page)

Relief poured through her. It was probably silly, but she needed him to make love to her before he went. She felt so disconnected from him somehow. Even though she’d slept in his arms nearly every night since Bryce’s unexpected arrival, it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

She lifted onto her toes to press a kiss against his mouth. He groaned and pulled her closer. “I need you,” he mumbled as he lifted her into his arms and carried her toward their bedroom. Mikayla caught a quick glimpse of Bryce turning away, but then her husband began kissing her and every other thought and concern melted away.

He carried her into the bedroom, kicked the door shut, and reverently laid her in the middle of the bed before slowly stripping her clothes off. She tried to help him undo his pants, but he pulled away. “Not now, little one. I want you to relax and let your Dom enjoy his sub. Put your hands behind your head and open your legs.”

Smiling with relief Mikayla did as she was told, letting her thighs fall open so that he could wedge himself between her knees and dip his head to kiss her pussy. His tongue flicked over her sensitive flesh, but his movements quickly became more urgent, more needy. She gasped as his tongue thrust deep into her folds, his hands pressing her thighs open wider as he lapped at her cream and stroked her need higher.

She quivered, breathing harshly as he suckled her clit and stroked her swollen bud with the tip of his tongue. Gasping, she moved her hands, and he growled low in his throat, the vibrations pulsing through her. She put her hands back, whimpering as he fucked her harder with his tongue.

In, out, over, higher. She swallowed hard, her orgasm close, her breathing rapid, her nerves screaming. He held her there, engulfed with need, desperate for climax. Three little words, “Come for me,” and then she was flying, shaking, gasping as release swept through her, and yet he stroked her higher, wringing every drop of her climax from her overwrought body.

He rolled off the bed, quickly shucked his clothes, and returned to his position. The look in his eyes was wild, the need in his movements obvious. But he held back, pressing slowly, carefully, into her welcoming flesh. Just as slowly he pulled out. In and out in gentle rhythm. He watched her face closely, his love for her shining brightly.

“I love you,” he whispered as he closed his eyes. She felt his cock swell inside her, then the sweet pulse of his seed entering her body. Gentle waves of climax rippled through her, the feeling overwhelming her emotions and making her cry.

He stilled immediately, trying to move away from her, but she held him close, refusing to let him leave. “I love you,” she said with a wobbly voice. “Please come back to me.”

Lachlan seemed surprised by her plea, and he smiled that confident smile once again. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll have Brock back here before you know it and then you can give him the third degree for being so stupid. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said through her tears.

* * * *

Bryce tried not to listen, but considering the small size of the cabin and his position of the lounge, it was kind of hard to avoid. His cock had stirred at her first quiet moans, and his brain had gone into overdrive at the sound of her climax, but it was the words of love that stole his heart.

Mikayla loved her men equally. He’d seen her get excited at the sound of an incoming message not really caring which husband it came from, just happy to see them all. Bryce shifted restlessly on the sofa. His leg felt just a little better today. With the plate and screws the doctors had inserted, he was fairly certain that he hadn’t done more damage the day he’d literally dodged a bullet, but the last few days of pain had made him worry otherwise. His physiotherapist would’ve been livid to hear that he’d practically run on the damn thing when he’d barely been cleared to move at all.

He closed his eyes, hoping to feign sleep if Mikayla and Lachlan came back into the room, but a soft sound from the communicator signaled an incoming message. He glanced at the bedroom door but decided to check it himself rather than disturb the room’s occupants.

He levered out of the chair and hobbled to the console. A few button presses and an image of Matt appeared on the screen. He looked frantic, and Bryce scrambled to turn the sound down. The last thing he wanted to do would be to upset Mikayla less than an hour before her husband left.

“Lachlan,” Matt began, sounding even more frantic than he looked. “Don’t leave Mikayla with Bryce. I should’ve told you this…before, I mean a long time ago when it all happened, but I didn’t and I should’ve, but I wanted to tell you face to face.” Matt took a deep breath on the recording as if he’d just realized he was rambling. “He’s dangerous. I saw him kill a woman ten years ago. Please, just wait for me to get there. I’ll explain everything, just don’t leave Mikayla with Bryce.”

On the recording Matt ran a hand down his face, clearly beside himself with worry, and then leaned forward and the message ended. Bryce glanced over at the closed door of the bedroom. It would seem that neither occupant had heard the quiet summons or its warning. Lachlan needed to rescue Brock. A couple of days’ delay could literally be the difference between life and death. Making a decision, knowing his brothers would never forgive him despite his best intentions, he deleted Matt’s message.

Shakily he limped back to the lounge and lay down. Adrenaline buzzed his veins, and his heart pounded wildly as memories of that night so many years ago rolled through his mind once more.

Chapter Five

How did a woman with seven husbands end up alone with only a mysterious brother-in-law to keep her company? Mikayla rubbed at the ache building behind her forehead and tried to think rationally. For the past several hours she’d bounced from sorrow to fear and anger and everything in between.

Despite the fact that they were all thrilled to be having a baby, the timing of her unexpected pregnancy sucked. If she hadn’t fallen pregnant she would’ve been able to go back to the mining planet with them, and Brock wouldn’t have had to do the job of two men by himself and gotten injured, or possibly die, in the process. If the contraceptive-vaccination that slimy little pimp had given her had worked as it should’ve, she wouldn’t have fallen pregnant in the first place.

A protective hand hovered over her belly as her train of thought coalesced in her mind. Shocked at her selfish feelings she sent a prayer of apology to her baby and every deity she could think of. Her pregnancy was a blessing. They all wanted this baby. She wanted this baby and many, many more.

“Are you okay?” Bryce’s voice was so similar to Matt’s that she had difficulty answering that question without bursting into tears.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Just hormones.”

Bryce didn’t look convinced, but he nodded and continued his awkward hop-limp back to the sofa from the bathroom. She hurried to move the blanket that had half fallen on the floor, and he smiled his thanks as he slowly settled into the cushions.

“Where have you been?” She blurted out the question in an attempt to distract herself from her own concerning thoughts, but when she saw the fear on his face, she almost wished she hadn’t asked. But just like Lachlan, Bryce managed to hide the emotion behind a cocky smile.

“The bathroom,” he said very seriously.

“No, I mean, where…why, I…” She trailed off, unsure how to phrase what was essentially a direct question. It was clear by his answer that he would rather avoid explaining, but that was just too damn bad. At the very least she wanted to know why none of his brothers had ever mentioned him. “Where have you been for the last ten years?” She folded her arms and waited. The cocky smile was still in place, but he seemed to be running several answers through his head.

Damn it! She was a hormonal, pregnant woman missing her husbands, and she was going to get a straight answer from this man. He must’ve seen her building fury because he answered with a half truth.

“I’ve been around. I’m not in the same type of work as my brothers, so, you know, we don’t see that much of each other.”

“And your type of work,” she said, using her fingers as quote marks for the word work, “would be what, exactly?” When it didn’t look like he was going to answer, she threw another question his way. “Matt said you’ve done some time in prison. Why?”

He looked really annoyed at her questions, and a part of her was screaming at her to back off, but a larger part wanted to know details. She instinctively felt she could trust him, but she’d been wrong once before and self-doubt started to creep into her mind. God, what if he was as dangerous as Matt said on that first day?

She shook her head as Bryce went to say something. Judging by the wicked grin, it was probably pure bullshit anyway. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to go lie down.”

* * * *

Bryce watched as Mikayla walked into her bedroom and quietly shut the door. He’d been on the verge of telling her everything, of spilling every dirty, ugly secret to a woman he barely knew but was starting to really care about.

That was wrong on so many levels he couldn’t even begin to understand the impulse. She belonged to his brothers and certainly didn’t need to be burdened with the confessions of the family black sheep.

For hours Bryce lay on the couch and thought over every possible scenario. Even though he had absolutely no intention of telling her anything, in his heart she was the one he wanted to tell.

Hours later he woke with a start. There’d been a noise. Something he couldn’t remember, or identify, but a noise that should not have been there. Very slowly he reached under the pillow and retrieved the handgun Lachlan had left with him. Bryce flicked the safety off and then lay perfectly still hoping to identify the source of the noise that had woken him.

The low moan came again, and Bryce’s heart beat double time when he realized it was coming from Mikayla’s room. He got off the lounge but hesitated at the bedroom. The woman was pregnant and missing her husbands, she had a right to grieve if she wanted.

But then a gasping moan of pain reached his ears, and he couldn’t stay away any longer. If she didn’t need him, she could just kick his ass out. He limped to the bed as quickly as he could, almost falling to the floor when he saw her face.

Mikayla was pale, her skin almost translucent in the poor light. Covered in sweat she panted through her teeth and seemed to be trying to lie very still.

“Mikayla?” he asked as he reset the safety and tucked the gun into the back of his jeans.

“Hurts,” she managed to pant out. “When I move it hurts.”

Fear drenched him as he tried to quickly assess the situation. He didn’t know much about pregnancy but he knew abdominal pain and bleeding were very bad signs.

“Mikayla,” he said trying to sound calm, “I’m just going to lift the blankets and check if you’re bleeding.” Her eyes flew open, panic swirling in their depths, but she nodded once and groaned again from the small movement. Working as fast as he dared, Bryce untucked the blankets from the end of the mattress and lifted them away from Mikayla. She wore a modest but pretty white nightdress that thankfully didn’t seem to show any signs of bleeding.

“Okay,” he said reassuringly, “there doesn’t seem to be any blood, but I’m going to call an ambulance just in case.” She nodded her agreement, so he quickly placed the blankets back over her and stumbled to the communication console. He contacted the medical emergency number, and a confident looking woman wearing a nurse’s uniform filled the screen.

“How can I help you, sir?”

“My wife,” Bryce said, figuring it was the easiest explanation, “is having severe abdominal pain. She’s seven, nearly eight weeks pregnant.”

“Is she bleeding from her vagina?”

Bryce shook his head. “Not that I can see, but it seems to hurt more when she moves.”

The nurse nodded as she checked something on a board to her left. “Sir, I need to send an ambulance for your wife, but your details aren’t coming up on our system.” Damn, Bryce had disabled the call ID and location function the day they got here. Lachlan hadn’t been pleased, but he’d understood Bryce’s thinking. Unfortunately, his paranoid precautions were about to cost Mikayla precious time.

“We’re in a hunting cabin about two thirds of the way up Clyde Mountain.” He gave her the address, and the nurse looked thoughtful for a moment. She pressed a few buttons on the console in front of her and then smiled with what seemed to be relief.

“Sir, we have a hovercraft heading your way. They should be there within twenty minutes. I need to get your wife’s details into the system.”

He didn’t want to delay getting treatment for Mikayla, so he rattled off as much information as he knew and then made up the things he didn’t. By the time he got back to Mikayla she seemed to be in more pain. She grabbed his hand in a tight grip, her eyes pleading with him to stay with her. They were the longest twenty minutes of his life.