Wanton With a Vampire (19 page)

Caitlin grinned. “I’m sure we’ll come up with
something once everyone gets here.”

Trish had worried they wouldn’t be able to
get all the guys to the house, but Caitlin had taken care of
everything with two phone calls— one to Tempest and the other to
Hannah. Tempest and Aiden were getting ready to head to Nathaniel’s
house, where they planned to stay until after the babies were born.
Tempest loved the idea of messing with Aiden and didn’t seem to
care if there was a good reason or not. Getting Hannah on board
with the plan was much harder because she didn’t like tricking
Noah, but Caitlin could be very persuasive.

The guys were in one of the sitting rooms
bonding. All except Isaiah, who was out breaking into the main
offices of a company whose name he had refused to divulge. Trish
thought it was kind of crazy that people paid Isaiah to break into
their own companies— crazy and really cool at the same time.

“We have no plan,” Trish pointed out.
“Shouldn’t we have come up with a plan before the guys came over
here? While they’re getting along now, one of them is bound to say
something stupid soon.”

Tempest was leaning back in a chair, looking
like she was trying to hide a watermelon under her shirt. She kept
pushing her nearly shoulder-length blonde hair behind her ears. It
had been cut in a short bob several months back, but Tempest seemed
to make it in for a haircut about as often as Isaiah. “Aiden is
getting on my last nerve, so, hopefully, he’ll be distracted for
hours. Every time I so much as shift my weight, he’s asking if I’m
having a contraction.”

“You are, like, totally ready to have those
babies,” Willow blurted. With Tempest in the room, Trish’s reprieve
from Willow’s bimbo speak was over.

“Lydia is going to be really mad that we
didn’t invite her over for this,” Hannah stated as she nursed
Hope.

“Lydia would have brought Roman,” Trish
said.

“He would not have reacted well to this at
all,” Caitlin added.

“True,” Hannah said. “While he’s loosened up
a lot since he’s been with Lyd, he’s still kind of uptight in a
scary sort of way.”

“I would say it’s sweet that he’s protective
of me, but it’s not,” Trish continued. “The men in this family make
me want to change my name and move to a new city some days.”

“Wouldn’t do any good,” Caitlin said.

“She’s right,” Tempest agreed. “Isaiah would
find you before you even unpacked your first box. That is, if they
didn’t send Aiden after you first.”

“Why me?” Trish asked.

“It’s probably because you’re totally nice
all the time,” Willow said. “Them being all protective and junk is
cute, in a creepy stalker kind of way.”

“I’m not sure creepy stalkers can be cute,”
Trish said. “Although, I guess they’re cute to Caitlin since she
married her creepy stalker.”

“Dying has certainly brought out your bitchy
side,” Caitlin said with a disdainful stare.

“I was going to say it brought out her sassy
side,” Tempest piped in and then groaned and clutched her
belly.

Caitlin rushed to Tempest’s side. “Are you
okay? Is it time? I can get Helena back here and call in the rest
of the OR team while Justin gets you prepped.”

“Calm down,” Tempest said. “It’s just Braxton
Hicks contractions. I’ve been having them for a couple of weeks.
You were there for my last ultrasound, so you already know I’m not
going into labor this week.”

Caitlin put one hand on her hip, giving
Tempest a disapproving frown. “That is not what Justin said. He
said you are not
likely
to go into labor before your
c-section next week but to take it easy.”

“I am taking it easy,” Tempest said. “Don’t
forget, I’m a doctor with experience delivering babies. I know what
labor looks like.”

Willow snorted. “You are such a liar. The
closest you’ve come to delivering a baby was helping our aunt in
the delivery room, and you tried to get out of it.”

Tempest glared at Willow. “If you don’t stop
telling them all my business, I will sit on you.”

They were all startled when a masculine
throat cleared near the entrance of the room. “Don’t worry, ladies,
I won’t be here long,” Alek said and made his way over to
Trish.

As much as she hated to admit it, she liked
the way he seemed drawn to her. That was an even bigger reason to
hope things with Phoebe were resolved soon so Alek could move on.
Everyone was right about her not being the casual sex type. That
didn’t mean she would give up the sex as long as Alek was in the
area. Nope, he was far too much temptation.

“What did you need?” she asked.

“I’m going to check out a lead on Phoebe,” he
said as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Do you have to run out right away?” Tempest
asked.

He shook his head. “I can stay for a little
while, why?”

“We need your help with something,” Tempest
said, and Trish’s eyes widened.

“We shouldn’t involve Alek in any of this,”
Trish said quickly.

Caitlin looked thoughtful. “It’ll work better
if he helps us.”

“Do what?” Alek asked.

Trish let out a sigh. “I heard Justin, Noah,
and Aiden want to do some mind control experiment on me.”

Alek’s lips thinned, and his cheeks flushed
with anger. “Yes, I’d heard that, but I’ve already told them it is
not going to happen.”

“You should encourage them to do it,” Tempest
said.

“Absolutely not!” Alek said.

“The thing is,” Trish told him with a smile,
“It never worked on me before. I faked it.”

Alek’s lips twitched. “I’ve never had a woman
say that to me before.”

“So, will you help us?” Trish asked.

Alek looked at his watch. “I have a little
time before my meeting, but we can’t do anything elaborate.”

“Can I make a suggestion?” Caitlin asked.

Alek could not believe he’d allowed himself
to be talked into playing such an immature prank on his nephews,
even though they deserved it. While he understood their curiosity,
experimenting on Trish was wrong. Then he had to wonder if he’d
feel that way if they were considering experimenting on a woman
other than Trish.

He found his nephews watching a soap opera on
the Spanish channel. “What exactly are you doing?” he asked.

Aiden flashed a lopsided grin, looking a
little embarrassed. “Watching my favorite show.”

“We’re just making fun of him,” Noah stated a
little too quickly.

Alek would definitely have to remember to
tease his nephews about this later. For now, he had to help the
ladies with their plan before his meeting. “I was thinking about
your idea for the experiment with Trish.”

“We already promised we wouldn’t do it,”
Justin replied with annoyance.

“After some thought, I think we should,” Alek
said. “If I’m going to spend time with Trish, I should know if I
need to watch myself. I also need to know if she’s susceptible to
compulsion in case Phoebe finds her.”

“That makes sense,” Noah agreed, still
looking a little skeptical. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking I’d have her come in here and
try using mind control to get her to do something she wouldn’t
normally do.”

They all nodded. “That sounds reasonable,”
Justin said.

Alek walked a little way down the hall and
yelled out, “Trish! Can you come in here for a minute?”

Entering the room, Trish had a sweet smile on
her face. “What did you need?”

“Come here for a minute,” Alek said, and she
walked over to where he was standing. He was keeping his fingers
crossed this worked. To make it convincing, he had to actually push
the compulsion into his voice. Otherwise, his nephews would know he
was messing with them. “You want to seduce Justin. There is nothing
you want more than Justin, and you can only hear my voice.”

“Not funny, Alek,” Justin protested as Trish
sauntered toward him. Her ample curves were making Alek hard.
Justin, on the other hand, looked mortified.

“Make her stop,” Noah demanded.

Trish straddled Justin’s lap, pressing her
breasts against his face.

“Stop, Trish,” Justin said, trying to use
compulsion to end the game.

“Oh God, I need you so much,” Trish said as
she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Both Noah and Aiden moved to intervene at the
same time as Caitlin burst into the room.

“What the hell are you doing, you cheating
prick?” Caitlin screeched.

Hannah, Tempest, and Willow followed her.

“Justin!” Tempest said before glaring at
Aiden. “Are you just going to stand there and let him cheat on
Caitlin? She’s our friend. How could you watch this kind of
perversion?”

“This is Alek’s fault,” Justin shouted, still
trying to get Trish off of his lap without hurting her.

“No,” Trish said and stood to glare Justin,
Aiden, and Noah. “This is all of your faults. How could you even
think about experimenting on me? I’m not some kind of lab rat. Oh,
and for your information, the other times you thought you’d
controlled my mind, I was faking it.”

The women all started laughing at the
dumbfounded looks on his idiot nephew’s faces. That is, until
Tempest doubled over, spewing out a string of profanity that would
make a sailor blush.

“Okay,” Tempest said through gritted teeth.
“That one was probably real.”

Aiden’s face paled, and he looked like he was
about to pass out. Caitlin was immediately on the phone, getting in
touch with the OR team. Justin was completely in control, looking
confident and prepared, his mind focused on what needed to be
done.

“This may be a little earlier than we
expected, but you know we have everything ready.” Justin assured
Tempest. “I want to do an ultrasound to make sure the babies are
still looking good, and then we’ll get you prepped.”

Tempest looked downright amused. “Isn’t it
funny that we’re the only calm ones?”

Justin laughed. “I may need to sedate
Aiden.”

“I’m fine,” Aiden claimed, snapping out of
his panic. “Let’s go check on my babies!”

They hurried out of the room, and for a
moment, Alek couldn’t take his eyes off of Trish’s radiant smile.
When she noticed him watching her, she smiled even brighter. “Isn’t
this exciting?” she asked.

Alek chuckled and kissed her on the nose. “It
is exciting,” he admitted. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.” As
he walked out the door, Alek felt a strange mix of emotions, most
he wasn’t ready to deal with.

Trish wasn’t sure what to do while Tempest
was in the operating room. Justin said it would be a little while
before anyone could come out to update them. Noah and Hannah had
already taken Hope home, since they weren’t that close to Aiden and
Tempest. Willow also had to head out for her shift at the women’s
center she helped run, but Ivy was on her way. That left Trish on
her own, since Caitlin would be assisting with the newborns, and
Alek was still investigating the lead on Phoebe.

Since she wasn’t that close to Tempest, she
wasn’t sure how she should react. She’d always loved babies, so she
was excited, but she wasn’t likely to see the triplets very often.
Reaching a hand down, she absently placed it on her own belly.
After having unprotected sex with Alek, she’d gone back to check
the date of her last period, and she should be okay. Then again,
she’d been on birth control to help regulate her cycles until her
accident. With everything going on, she’d missed two pills before
her accident and hadn’t thought about taking one since. That meant
she needed to wait until her next period to start again. It also
meant her cycle was probably off, something she had no intention of
mentioning to Alek.

She’d thought about the Plan B pill before
mentioning it to Alek, but then she’d started fantasizing about
being a mom and knew she wasn’t going to take it. She knew Alek
would want the baby, even if they weren’t meant to be together. If
she was pregnant, she’d figure out a way to make things work with
Alek without making him feel like he had to marry her. If Hannah
and Nathaniel could work things out, so could she and Alek.

The doorbell pulled her from her musings, and
she was pretty sure it was Ivy. Nathaniel had given Ivy a key, but
she never used it.

When Trish opened the door, her suspicions
were confirmed.

“Hi, Auntie Ivy!” she said with a bright
smile.

“They’re here?” Ivy practically screeched.
“What did she have?”

“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Trish
admitted. “Justin took her back to the operating room about an hour
ago. He was waiting for your cousin, the anesthesiologist, to get
here, so I think it will be a little while before anyone can slip
away to update us.”

Ivy nodded. “I’ve been a nervous wreck since
you called me, but I had to finish the group session before I could
leave.”

Trish had called Ivy last because she was
sure Ivy would be worried, and there wasn’t much to do other than
wait. Just then, her phone vibrated, and she saw it was a message
from Caitlin.

Two boys and a girl. Everyone is doing
fine.

She grinned and turned the phone toward Ivy,
who squealed and hugged her. “I can’t wait to see them!”

“I’m assuming they’ll bring you back once
Tempest is settled into her room, but that probably won’t be for a
couple of hours.”

They’d converted a suite on the lower level
to accommodate Tempest, Aiden, and the triplets until Tempest was
ready to go home.

Just then, the door slammed open and banged
against the wall. “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! I’m going to be
a freakin’ grandmother!” Lydia screeched as she bounced into the
room.

Roman followed at a more leisurely pace,
looking calmer than Trish suspected he was. “My granddaughter is
the mother of those babies. Wouldn’t that make you a grandmother
already?” he asked.