Loving Them

by Rebecca Royce

  Pregnant? It was such a far off dream. A baby. I touched my wrist where the fertility chip they’d put in me when I was fourteen still worked. “Not without turning off this thing.”

  He ran his finger over it. “I know. When you want a baby, you’ll tell us, and then you can turn it off.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “How will I keep a baby safe?”

  “The same way you keep us all safe. One day at a time and not without help.”

  I yawned, and he lay back on the bed, drawing me against him. “Sweet Paloma. Let’s have babies. Lots of them. But not while we’re fighting my father. Not while we’re running. We have to, at least, stop running.”

  I was sure he was right. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I’ve only got a little while left with you before I have to give up my turn.”

  Aha, so that was how this was working. “I see.”

  “I’d like to hold you. That’s what I really need, I think.”

  I’d never be able to deny Tommy anything he needed since he asked for so little and did so much for everyone else. If Tommy felt comfortable enough to actually ask for something, he was going to get it.

  Besides, I was sleepy, and I would never say no to cuddling. I wrapped my arm around his chest, effectively pinning him to the bed should he choose to move. He kissed the top of my head. I listened to the sounds of the space station. It was funny. I’d forgotten the way the engine that kept us floating in this quadrant of space had a particular buzz. It was almost unnoticeable. Yet, there it was. At some point I’d missed hearing it; the absence had become deafening.

  Tommy’s breathing slowed. I looked up at his face, which was turned toward me. He was asleep. I smiled. He was my husband, and we’d just had sex. Now I got to sleep in his arms. I closed my eyes.

  I woke up later to a grumbling Tommy as he pulled on his boxers. “Fuck. Yes. I know. Not my turn anymore.”

  Who was he talking to? I didn’t see anyone else in the room, and it took me a second to realize he was speaking into his tablet. He turned to look at me. “Sorry, honey, I thought I could sneak out. I didn’t mean to sleep so hard. I’m being buzzed to get out of here, and I can’t blame him. I’d be in a full on rage if I was kept waiting.”

  Tommy leaned over to kiss me. “Best night of my life. Bar none. I love you.”

  Okay, so one of my other husbands was coming. As Tommy left, I hopped out of the bed and went into the bathroom. I was wide awake where seconds earlier I’d been deeply asleep. My heart rate kicked up. I hadn’t asked him which one because it didn’t matter to me. It seemed I’d be getting all of the McQueen men on this, our wedding night.

  I was so lucky.

  6

  A Girl Could Get Used To This

  Quinn lay on the bed, leaning on his elbows as he watched me walk out of the bathroom. He wore a pair of jeans and a black collared t-shirt that clung to his muscles. Sometimes, with all the powerful emotions that swirled constantly around Quinn, it was easy to forget that he was just so damned sexy. On a very basic level, there were few men anywhere who could compete with him. That was actually true of all four of my husbands.

  I was in a white bathrobe that I’d found on the back of the door in the bathroom. Someone, and I wouldn’t even be surprised it was Quinn, had gotten me things I needed.

  He nodded toward me. “I thought it was soft.”

  “It is.” I walked toward him and stopped, shyness suddenly becoming a palpable creature in my mind.

  Quinn narrowed his gaze before he extended his hand toward me. “Come here, P.”

  I walked toward him. Tommy had made this easy. He’d walked into the bathroom, and boom, we had sex. I didn’t actually know how to be sexy. I’d never had to be. In fact, it had been encouraged out of me. With the slap of a whip. Was it something women just knew how to do?

  I walked toward him and let him draw me to him until I straddled him on the bed. He stayed up on his elbows and regarded me quietly for a moment. “Hi, P.”

  “Hi, Quinn.”

  He smiled. “We got married today.”

  “I know.” This was the strangest little conversation. But I had to admit that having it was calming my nerves a bit. “I was there.”

  “I love you.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “I love you, too.”

  “You don’t feel like you got stuck with me when you wanted the other three?”

  “What?” I practically shouted and then lowered my voice. “That’s horrible. No, I’m not stuck with you. You’re one of my four favorite people in the universe. I love you, completely. Don’t you dare say that ever again.”

  He nodded. “I had to check.”

  “Why would you even think that?”

  He drew me down closer to him and then laid flat on his back. “Because I blow up ships in our way and I don’t feel bad about it. Because I cause a lot of problems before I even know that a problem is a possibility. Because no matter how much I try, I’ll never be normal. Because I wouldn’t have been, even if my father hadn’t done what he did.”

  I kissed him on his lips, hard. “What makes you think that I want normal? I see all your sides, Quinn. Or I see the ones you have now. You’re always changing. I wouldn’t want you any other way. Would you change me?”

  He scrunched up his face. “Why would I change perfection?”

  “Very funny.” I pinched his arm.

  “I’m not being funny.” He ran his hands down my arm. “You looked nervous when you came out. I thought that maybe you were regretting me.”

  I kissed him gently on the lips. “I was feeling like I’m not sexy.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “P, you have to be kidding. You’re always sexy. You’re sexy when you’re doing…everything.”

  “I love you, Quinn.” And yet I’d had no idea whatsoever that he thought for even a second that I liked him less than his brothers. “I walked out and I was feeling unsexy and you were looking so completely beautiful and I…”

  He never let me finish what I was going to say. He gently but firmly dragged my lips to his. Quinn wanted to kiss and I would never say no. Over and over. We breathed together and sometimes it felt like I didn’t need air at all. I had Quinn.

  On top of him, I could feel as he started to get hard. And then harder. Still, he made no moves to remove my clothes or push us any further down the line from where we were. I bit down on his bottom lip and his hips jerked while he moaned.

  “Fuck. Paloma. Wow.”

  I smiled. Suddenly the question about whether or not I was sexy didn’t matter. He wanted me. Knowing made me feel like I was the most desirable woman in the universe. It was a heady, powerful sensation.

  I stripped out of the robe and threw it to the side. I was completely naked on top of him. His gaze—those amazing blue eyes—trailed over my body.

  “Like what you see?”

  He nodded. Had I actually rendered Quinn speechless? He scooted back a bit and took off his shirt. I ran my hands over his chest and down to his abs. His muscles jumped beneath my touch. He watched my fingers like they were fascinating.

  “P, can I confess something?”

  That was sort of a strange thing to say right at that moment. But, Quinn had pointed out that he did things his own way. “Sure.”

  “I don’t have very much experience with this. Sex was not really an option most of the time. And I didn’t leave the Sandler compound very much before we left there permanently. I…I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  I ran my thumb over his bottom lip. “Quinn, you could never. And I mean never. Disappoint me.”

  His nostrils flared. “I can learn things really quickly.”

  “This is hardly the first time you and I have been intimate. Remember the shuttle?” When we had crash landed on a planet after he’d rescued me from a bounty hunter we’d both almost died and then later been very, very close to getting naked on the floor of the shuttle before Keith had interrupted us.

  “I think about that
all the time.” His eyes twinkled as he looked up at me. Even in the semi-darkness of the low-lit room I could make out every emotion that crossed over his face.

  His nerves hadn’t diminished the hardness I could feel through his pants. “I think if we get you out of those jeans, you’ll be more… comfortable.”

  I didn’t give him a chance to respond. His button was within reach, and I undid it and then dragged his pants down until they were off. He hissed out his breath, and I pulled his boxers down fast, freeing him. As I did, I let my fingernails drag lightly down his legs. His smart gaze followed the movements of my hands again.

  Quinn could concentrate like no other. But I wanted him out of his own head. I needed him here with me. Was he watching my hands so he could analyze why he liked the sensation?

  “Hey.” I tapped the bottom of his chin. “Kiss me.”

  My husband did just as I asked. He closed his eyes, and he made love to my mouth. Our tongues danced together, and he drew me down closer to him until my breasts touched his bare chest. He moaned against my mouth the second my erect nipples made contact with his skin. The sound sent shivers through my body.

  I took his hand in mine, linking our fingers together, and then drew our joined hand between us. I wanted him to touch me, and since I seemed to be leading this time, I would just ask him for what I wanted.

  I pressed his finger against my core. He stopped kissing me and stared into my eyes. “P?”

  “Touch me here. Would you?” My phrasing was off. But who needed speech, really, when it came down to moments like this? Quinn had muddled my brain.

  I placed his finger on my most sensitive spot. “Right there.”

  He sucked in a breath before he moved his index finger over my clit. Heat travelled up my spine. “Like that?”

  “However you want to.”

  Quinn took his time. He experimented. Pretty soon, he was moving his finger over the spot in exactly the right circular motion with the exact right amount of friction. I shuddered against him. It wasn’t going to take very long for me to come. Not if he kept going the way he was.

  I exploded around his hand, and he gasped when I did. I hardly heard it. I was too busy seeing stars and losing sense of all time and place. Pleasure rolled through me over and over. When I could finally speak, I could barely manage words. “Thank you, Quinn.”

  “P, you are so fucking beautiful.” He breathed hard. I reached down, his cock calling out to me. He’d made me come. I wanted to do the same. “No.” He shook his head. “Inside of you. If you touch me, I’ll never make it there.”

  I would have argued if this wasn’t our first time. I wanted him inside of me, too. I backed up a bit. I’d never been on top but I knew what to do. While he watched me with such love on his face, I lowered myself down on him, taking him slowly inside.

  Deeper and deeper, inch-by-inch I fit Quinn inside of me. He gripped the bed, his knuckles turning white on the sheets. When he was inside of me, fully fitting inside my core, I took his hands in mine, making him let go of the sheets, and I placed them on my hips.

  Quinn grinned up at me. “Better there for sure.”

  Slowly, I moved. Up and down. His hips jerked as he met my strokes with his own movement.

  “P…”

  He didn’t finish what he would have said, or maybe all he wanted was to say my name. It was lovely. The rooms were quiet around us, and there were just the noises we each made. The moment felt sacred.

  “I’m going to…” His voice trailed off, but I knew what he meant.

  “Yes, me too.”

  A few more seconds, and I was done. My explosion earlier had been earth shattering. When I came this time, it was easy, smooth, like a rush of warmth surrounding me and not letting me go. Neither did Quinn. He held on tight, his body emptying inside of me, joining us. Forever.

  Quinn kissed all over my face, his breath warm on my skin. I smiled at him, held tight against him. He pressed his nose to my face, closing his eyes.

  He was warm, lazy in a way I’d never seen him before, and he couldn’t stop touching me. I loved it.

  “P, I…” He had started and stopped saying those two words three times. I didn’t think he was avoiding anything. His mind, it seemed, was stuttering.

  I wasn’t going to point it out. This was Quinn actually relaxed.

  I kissed his lips gently. “Do you want to sleep, love?”

  He nodded, tugging me against him. “Love you. So much.”

  “Me, too.”

  Quinn closed his eyes.

  I stared up at the ceiling and listened while Quinn’s breathing evened out. With his nose pressed up against my hair, I could hear every intake of air he made and every small sigh. It was so… intimate. For me, the sex had been utterly fantastic. I’d gladly go for another round anytime he wanted to. But there was something about this, too. About the after. About being held in his arms and allowed to see such a powerful force with his guard down and his trust entirely in me to take care of him, that called to my heart.

  I would always see to it that he was okay. The same way he kept telling me that he would never let danger near me, I would do the same for him. Quinn McQueen had the softest heart, even if he didn’t know it.

  He snuggled closer, wrapping his leg across my body. I studied his face. He wasn’t awake. This was purely him wanting me closer, even in sleep. I took the edge of one of the blankets and drew it around us tighter.

  Eventually, I slept.

  A kiss woke me up. I knew before I even opened my eyes that it was Keith, not Quinn. They were twins, but there were distinct differences between them. One of those was their particular scents. Quinn always smelled like mint. Keith was fresh air and cloves.

  I opened my eyes. “Hi.”

  “Hello, beautiful. I was really hoping I’d get to kiss you awake.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, my eyes travelling to other side of the bed. How had Quinn gotten out without waking me? I must have really knocked out. I turned my attention to Keith. “Did you guys agree on some kind of order for tonight, or are you all playing this by ear?”

  “We drew cards. Otherwise I would never have waited so long.” He was on his knees, straddling my body. With his chin, he nodded toward the bedside. “I didn’t forget the wine. I just had to wait to bring it.”

  I followed where he’d nodded. There was a glass of wine. I grinned at him. He had promised. Although, the idea of drinking anything right then didn’t sound appealing. I’d never had wine. I wasn’t going to try at… whatever time it was.

  “What time is it?”

  He stretched his hands over his head. “Midnight.”

  “That early?” With so much happening, I would have thought we were closer to dawn. “Where have you been all night?”

  The suite was too quiet. He hadn’t been here.

  His mouth met mine with two gentle pecks. “Helping with the cleanup. I thought if I couldn’t be here, I might as well be helpful.” He kissed both my cheeks. “Look, you’ve had a long night already. We don’t have to do anything but sleep. We have our whole lives together.”

  For however long that was. I didn’t say that aloud, and fortunately for me, Keith didn’t seem to read my mind the way he always seemed to. I didn’t think any of us could afford to be sure that there would be any future to hold on to.

  Besides, I was awake now. And Keith was close to me. Why would I choose to spend the night asleep?

  “Keith.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. I was totally naked, and he was fully dressed. That was going to have to change. “I want to be totally yours.”

  He smiled at me sideways. “You already are. You were from the moment I saw you in that horrible place limping around the garden. Then you came, and I got to take care of you when you needed it. You’re totally mine.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Keith raised both his eyebrows. “I want you to be totally mine too.”

  I kissed him, sliding my tongue ov
er his bottom lip. He closed his eyes but didn’t let me continue to play with him the way I had been. Instead, he slipped his tongue into my mouth, laying claim to me in that moment.

  “Hands against the headboard. Hold on to it.”

  I blinked for a second. This was a new side of Keith. I backed up, grabbing on to the headboard as he’d told me to. I was totally naked, and he could see every bit of me. I swallowed. My earlier confidence in my attractiveness fled.

  And then I saw the look in his eyes. Keith loved me. “I’ve dreamed about this since the night I met you. How I was going to make you feel. How I was going to take care of you. The ways that I could show you how much I love you. I want you to let me. I want to tell you to do things. If you don’t like that, I won’t do it. Just being here… it’s a gift. I can—”

  I cut him off. “Whatever you want, Keith. Whenever you want it. However you want it.”

  “Don’t let go. Not until I tell you to. Or, you know, if you really want to.” He bent over and took my breast into his mouth. I sucked in my breath as he bit down on my nipple.

  “Oh, by the universe, Keith, oh.” I held onto the headboard harder. I might break the bed.

  He stroked his hand down my side. “You’re so beautiful, Paloma. I told you once I wanted to mark you. I’m going to tonight. And I think you’ll like it. Your body speaks to me.” He ran his hand back over to my other breast and squeezed it gently. “You’re mine to worship tonight and always.”

  His mouth was everywhere. I squirmed beneath him, but I didn’t let go of the headboard. He’d told me to hold on, and I was going to do my best to do so.

  He cupped my pussy with just the right amount of pressure. I moaned. “Paloma, I love you.”

  “Keith, can I touch you? Please.” My hands ached. I wanted to give as good as I was getting.

  “Would that make you happy?” I nodded my response. “Then by all means, let go of the headboard.”

  I dropped my hands and got up on my knees. I tugged his shirt over his head before undressing the rest of him. He had a scorpion on his leg that I’d never seen before. I didn’t know about Clay yet, but so far only Quinn hadn’t been inked with the Sandler tattoo.