by Aliyah Burke
“You’re very brave to not be crying right now.” Mal walked with swift and decisive steps.
“It hurts.”
After pushing into the main area, she placed her on the examination table. She swiftly grabbed gloves and everything she knew she would need. Seated on a stool, she wheeled it over to her. Mal grasped the girl’s arm and unwound the large towel around it.
“Let’s start with your name. I’m Mal.”
“An…Anna.”
“That’s a lovely name.”
If she was Anna it meant the boy was Paul. Now she remembered. She picked up the needle as her fingers danced higher up along Anna’s arm then slipped it into her skin, administering the local. Anna’s pain must be great but she’d kept mum about it.
Anna saw the needle in her hand. “I don’t like shots,” she cried.
“Me either,” Mal said, setting the empty syringe down.
“Don’t use it on me. Needles hurt.”
“It’s been done already. Did you feel it?”
Anna looked at her arm. “No.”
She winked. “I’m just that good.” Mal began cleaning the wound. “So, where were you to get such a tear in your arm?”
“Paul and I wanted to see—”
“Anna!”
“Were you injured in the stable, Paul?”
“How’d you know? I didn’t tell, Paul, promise.”
“I’m the doc. I know.” No need to tell the children there was grain in Anna’s wound. How it’d got there, she wasn’t sure.
“Are we in trouble?” Anna sounded worried again. “We don’t want to go back to the other place?”
“You’re not in trouble,” Mal promised as she continued working. “You’ll need to speak to Mr Yang about this, however.”
“He’ll be mad.”
She opened the suture kit. “I’ve been here a while now, Paul, and I’ve never seen him mad. He may be disappointed but not angry.”
Paul sidled up closer. “Why disappointed?”
“Because,” she said, closing the wound. “He cares for you. Both of you.” She flicked her gaze between the siblings. “There now. That wasn’t so bad, was it? I need to know if this was metal or wood that did this?” She’d discovered a lot of wood slivers but had to make sure.
“Wood,” Anna admitted. “But there was some metal on it.”
They would need tetanus boosters. Mal tied off and cut the extra surgical thread. She stroked her chin. “Hmm, I think perhaps you need something else”—she rolled to the counter and stood—“something pretty. Ah hah. Here we go.”
Box in hand, she returned to Anna. “Which princess would you like?”
Anna’s eyes grew big as she stared at the bandages. “This one.”
“I wondered if you would take her. I see you a lot like Princess Merida.” She opened the bandage roll and began covering the sutures. “You know, she’s from my country, this princess.”
“You can sound like her?” Anna’s voice was full of wonder.
“Of course I can, wee one,” she replied, thickening her brogue.
Even Paul smiled a bit at that. Once Anna was all taken care of, Mal spun on the seat as she kicked back to the box holding gloves on the counter. She removed the old set and plucked another pair with a practiced motion. She disappeared into the other area where more drugs were stored preparing two more syringes. Back out with the children, she sat then rolled over to them and stared at Paul.
“Let me see your hand now.”
“What?”
She beckoned with her newly gloved hands. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” she whispered conspiratorially. He inched closer. “Everyone gets into scrapes at times. Even my husband. Now he likes to pretend he doesn’t but even he has been under my care while I patched him up. It happens.”
“I didn’t get princess bandages, though.” Billy stepped into the room.
Mal never released Paul as she cleaned out his injury. “Well, you have to be really brave to get that or the…Transformers one, like Paul can have.”
“Did you really have Dr Mal fix you up, Billy?”
Her husband stopped by Anna on the exam table and checked out her arm. “I sure did. Tell you the truth, she’s being much nicer to you two than she was me.” He winked at Mal, sending her stomach into that familiar free fall it had around him.
“They’re just being braver. Hold that right there.” Another kick of her legs and she was with the bandage rolls. Transformers and Ben 10. “Okay, Paul. Which would you like?”
He picked Transformers—Bumblebee to be exact. Mal fixed him up then stood. With a look to Billy, she quickly gave the duo the shots she wanted them to have. Neither complained as Billy talked to them while she did it.
“You two”—she peeled off her gloves—“are finished. Now we just need to tell Mr Yang.” She tossed the gloves.
The door opened again and there he stood. Lian Yang. The man emanated and personified calm.
“Thank you for seeing to Anna and Paul, Mal. Children, if you will come with me. I would love to hear about your adventure today.”
Billy lifted Anna down. She came to Mal, looking up at her. Mal bent.
“He’s not angry, you see. Concerned. Tell him everything Anna.” She tapped the edge of the girl’s bandage and said in Scottish Gaelic, “Be strong, darling. Just like your idol, be brave.” A kiss on her forehead before she shooed Anna along.
Paul seemed a lot less optimistic about the potential outcome. As they exited, Anna’s voice carried back. “I’m like Princess Merida. She’s from Scotland just like Dr Mal. We both have red hair.”
Lian’s response was too low to hear but Anna’s giggle wasn’t.
Mal reached for the disinfectant spray and got to work cleaning up. She wiped off the uncovered parts of the exam table and yanked down then tore off the used paper, leaving new in its place.
“What happened to them?”
Shoving everything into the trash, she looked at Billy. “Not sure.” She took some lotion and began rubbing it into her hands. “Paul had the least damage. Wherever it happened was near grain. I found some in her wound. I gave them each a tetanus shot to be on the safe side, even though I found wood in the wound. I know there’s nails and such in the barn.” She walked to her office then powered up her computer.
“Let’s go to bed,” Billy said.
“Sorry, I have to put all this in their file. I’ll be up in a little bit.”
He sat in the chair across from her desk. “I’ll wait.”
She cut her gaze over to him and was met by his smoldering one. Wetness surged through her pussy as she read his blatant look. She felt it too—she had a hard time focusing when he was around. Well, on something other than sex.
“If you want to.” She bit the inside of her cheek and got to work. The faster she got this taken care of, the sooner she could welcome his cock inside her pussy. And she wanted him there.
Chapter Thirteen
Billy watched Mal as she arched her back and a wordless scream escaped her mouth as she came, hard, around his cock. The shower wall was at her back, her palms pressed against the tile as she utilized as much purchase as she could to grind herself on him.
Water pelted him but he ignored it, focusing instead on the woman with him. In and out he stroked, as his own pleasure raced upon him. With a low roar that left the bottom of his throat, he came in a rush. Her pussy gripped him and milked every bit of his seed it could.
She sagged against the wall and opened her eyes. Her hair was plastered to her head and she looked totally sated. A water nymph who’d just had the best sex of her life.
He smirked and she moved her hands to his shoulders, drawing herself closer, blocking the spray with her back. “That is one hell of a way to start the day,” she panted in his ear.
Palming her ass, he nipped her shoulder. “I agree. Can we just do this all day long?”
She chuckled but shook her head. “No. I have work to do. I’m pr
etty sure you do, as well. Don’t you have teaching today?”
He thrust within her. “I’d rather work on making our own children than teach others.”
“We’ve been practicing,” she said, slicking some of her hair back. “If you really want to discuss that, Billy, I’m open. We can talk about me stopping birth control. But I want to make sure you’re as on board as you think you are.”
He reached around her and turned off the water. Still keeping her in his arms, he opened the glass door to step out onto the blue plush mat waiting for him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Are you going to put me down?”
“Nope.” He carried her to the bed, ignoring the water on their bodies, and lay her down. “I’m going to fuck you again. Now answer me. Why wouldn’t I be?” He began stroking her, slowly, allowing his cock to harden even more.
“Kids are a lot of work. It’s not like they come the age the children are around here. There are years of diapers and no-sleep nights.”
He rose up on his arms as he continued to work his hips. “I want children with you, Mal. I can’t think of a better place to raise them. Look, with all the kids here, we’d have babysitters we don’t have to pay. They’d be well protected—and definitely well loved.”
She moaned and undulated beneath him. He dipped his head to capture one of her nipples. He rolled it around in his mouth before biting it lightly. Her gasp and flex of her internal muscles had him grinning.
“Are you worried because there is the potential of attack?”
“I’d be foolish not to be, but I know the children are always protected, Billy. I just… We’ve not been married that long and… Oh God, do that again… And we don’t know each other that well yet.”
She was panting. He kissed his way up her chest until they were eye to eye once more. “I know this body just fine, Malmuirie. I know what makes you scream”—he proved it—“and what makes you moan.” Again, he proved that. “We’re learning more and more about one another each passing day.”
Her eyes were closed and her teeth had sunk into her plump lower lip. He increased his speed and watched her breasts bounce with every deep drive into her wet pussy he delivered.
“Let’s talk about it some more,” he said.
“Ye…yes,” she gasped. “Later.”
He agreed, dropped the conversation and pounded into her until she cried his name again to the room. He didn’t stop until she lay beneath him, trembling with the aftershocks of her orgasm. Only then did he slow and withdraw from her pussy.
They cleaned up once more and she kept out of his reach until she had some clothing on. “Help me with the bed,” she said.
They stripped it and were in the process of putting on clean sheets when a knock came to the door.
“Come in,” he called out. Cale popped his head in and Billy smirked at him. “Scared there, brother?”
“Wasn’t sure what I would find. Wanted to be careful.” Cale smiled at Mal. “Good for you for making him do some housework.”
“It’s domestic bliss, you bastard,” Billy quipped.
Mal snorted and rolled her eyes. They finished making the bed and she walked out with a wave and a farewell to the both of them. Billy put the laundry in the hamper and faced his brethren.
“What’s up?”
“Haven’t seen much of you lately. Wanted to catch up.”
He shrugged shamelessly. “I’ve been busy.”
“I know. We all know.”
Billy crossed his arms. “I’m sure you have a point there somewhere.”
“Nope, not a one. I don’t blame you.”
They exited the room and headed down to breakfast. “So, what did you have in mind?”
“Training session?”
“I’m in. Just you and me? Or are we inviting anyone else?”
“I was thinking just the two of us.”
They pushed into the dining area and were immediately hit by the noise of a massive communal feeding—children running around, loud voices, silverware and plate noise, and of course the adults were there as well.
Billy couldn’t believe how much this scene made him feel like a family. He loved it. The loudness. The organized chaos. All of it.
Across the room, he spied Mal talking to Taylor and Dracen. Well, Mal and Taylor did most of the talking. Dracen was standing there, munching on a piece of toast. He nodded at her, one she returned.
“Have you noticed anything different with Dracen?”
“Nope. She’s quiet. That’s not new.” Cale swooped into the fray, whipping the kids up into even louder cries.
Billy sighed and went after him. The women had helped make the meal so he, Cale, Tiarnán and the boys were on cleanup—a task that didn’t take as long as one might expect.
“I have to teach some things to the ones staying home today, Cale, but I’ll contact you when I’m done with that. Right now, I’ve been told I’m meeting the bus with the kids.”
“Come on, Billy!” a cry from the other room reached him.
“Coming!” A salute to Cale and he was off with a playful roar to pick up the girl who’d called for him. He swiped her under his arm and ran to the door with her bouncing. Callie screeched and laughed as he carried her out and jumped down the steps before placing her on the ground.
“Okay,” he said. “Is everyone here?” Snapping his arms behind his back, he looked down his nose at those gathered. “I don’t hear a roll call.” He frowned. “Accounting of all who are present and accounted for, if you please.”
The children, the young ones, all responded. Even the older children had a ghost of a smile on their faces. Billy hung out with them until the bus had come and each of them had climbed on and taken their seats. He waved to the driver—who’d been vetted even more than they thought they had done with Haley, who’d kidnapped Taylor—then to each child. Until the bus vanished from view, he didn’t leave.
“You’re really good with them,” Mal said from behind him.
“I remember what it was like going to school here. We always had one of the others hanging out with us. Made me feel more like I had a family. Was part of one.”
Her smile was soft. “I can see that. Every little thing to allow you to feel a part of it helps.”
He walked to her and took a kiss. “Did you feel that way?”
“No. I was always in the system and in large places with those not adopted or fostered.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t have that.” They meandered to the side of the house and sat at one of the wrought iron tables.
“My life was tolerable as a child. I got family when I met Shelly.”
He took her hand and, smoothing his thumb along her soft skin, he gazed about. Billy liked being with her.
“Billy?”
He snapped his gaze back to her. “Hmm?”
“Don’t you have a class to teach?”
Shit. He jumped to his feet. “You make me forget things, woman.”
Her laughter trailed him. “Sure, blame me.”
He took the steps two at a time and burst inside. Some of the older children who were in school later were expecting him for a martial arts class. They taught all the children, believing it helped them to build character, add to their confidence and teach them respect for others.
They were waiting on him, silently in a line, when he arrived.
“So sorry I’m late.” He looked at the quietest male, Danny. “It was the wife.”
They all laughed.
“Let’s get started.”
* * * *
Mal wiped the sweat off her brow and rested her hands against her lower back. She gazed around and wondered what the hell she’d been thinking.
“Tired, Doc?”
She blew out a breath, moving the damp hair in her face away for the briefest of moments. The man with her didn’t seem winded. Sure, he was sweating too, but he didn’t appear exhausted. Everything about Tiarnán screamed feline grace and power.
“Tossing hay is a lot more work than I expected.”
“Rest. I will finish.”
“Oh no. I may be wiped and nowhere near in as good of shape as you, but I will finish this with you.” She readjusted her gloves. “So what if I’m too damn sore to move and will be crying in pain, but I won’t let you view me as a weakling.” She pursed her lips. “Well, at least not as a quitter.”
He pinned her with his hazel eyes. She felt like a deer in the headlights—frozen with fear and uncertainty.
“I neither view you as a weakling or a quitter.”
“And for that I’m grateful, but I’d like to keep it that way.”
His face softened a teensy bit. Then again, perhaps it was just a fervent wish in her head and her subconscious had created it.
“It will. I won’t hold it against you that you’re a Scot, either.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Irish.”
This time she was confident his expression softened. Not for long, but she was willing to take what she could get. He turned back and hefted two bales at a time, chucking them with apparent effortlessness.
And I struggle to move one at a time. Sure he was using hay bale hooks but still, one per hand. Impressive was putting it mildly.
As she worked, she debated about the type of woman he would end up with. She was going to have to be something pretty damn amazing. Mal wondered when she would get a chance to meet Roz and Aminta. Dracen hadn’t exactly been welcoming with open arms. True, Mal didn’t see her too much. Taylor had become a good friend but to be honest, Mal wasn’t sure she’d be that happy here without Shelly with her.
She was so sore when he took away the last of the bales. Her limbs ached in ways she didn’t believe possible. Clothes, wet with sweat, clung to her body as her chest heaved with her breathing.
“Thank you for helping.”
She blinked and tried to work some moisture in her throat. All of it ran down her skin. He tossed her a bottle of water, which she opened and drank from gratefully. “I’m not sure how much helping I actually did. Thanks for the water.”
