Saved by Venom: 3 (Grabbed)

by Lopez, Lolita

  Her grip on his wrist loosened. She ran her fingertips along his forearm in a soothing gesture. “I know, but I need some privacy.”

  He didn’t understand why she found it so embarrassing to accept help from her mate when she was clearly still feeling the effects of the sedatives but decided not to push his luck. He started to tell her there wasn’t much that made him squeamish anymore, not after so many years on the front lines, but thought better of it. Something told him she wouldn’t find that comforting in the least.

  Cupping her face, he said, “I’ll be right outside the door. When you’ve finished call for me and I’ll help you stand.”

  After her silent nod he left the bathroom and shut the door. Leaning against it, Venom closed his eyes and felt the tension he had been carrying leave his body. Reassured that she would heal and recover, he could look forward to starting their new life together. Though he had expected to spend their first night as mates in much different surroundings, he decided that he could tamp down his desire and need for one more night. After all, he’d waited this long for a wife.

  The muted sound of a high-powered flush followed by Dizzy’s shocked shriek jerked him right out of his thoughts. Spinning on his heel, he shoved the door aside and strode into the bathroom to find Dizzy hugging the far wall. She gnawed her plump bottom lip as the guilt of going against his orders played on her beautiful face. Apparently she hadn’t anticipated the automated system.

  Crossing his arms, he sighed. “I thought I told you to call for me when you were done.”

  “I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

  He frowned at her with utter consternation. “Dizzy, I’m your mate. I’m supposed to care for you.”

  She wrung her small hands. “And I’m seriously thrilled by the idea of having someone take care of me—but shouldn’t there be some mystery in a marriage? I really, really don’t think we need to get this close, you know?”

  He snorted with amusement. “All right. I’ll let you have this one.” Crossing the room to retrieve her, he said, “When I give you an instruction in the future you need to follow it. I’m not the type to be bossy just because I feel like it. This new world of yours operates under different rules and I need to know you won’t accidentally get yourself hurt.”

  Her expression turned serious. “I understand.”

  “Good.” Scooping her up again, he carted her to the sink and set her down on her feet. He slipped one arm around her waist and braced her body with his even though it put him in an awkward position. When she didn’t move her hands toward the faucet, he realized she was looking for knobs. “It’s motion-activated.”

  “Oh.” She let him guide her hands under the faucet to wet them before tugging them over to the automated soap dispenser. A foamy blue blob landed in her palm. Gently holding her wrists, he smashed the foam between her palms and helped her work up a rich lather.

  Curled around her like this, Venom couldn’t ignore the effect her warm body had on his. Someday very soon, he intended to have her beneath him like this—but very naked. He could just imagine how her snug pussy would feel wrapped around his dick. The very idea of the breathy, pleasured sounds she would make as he rubbed her clit and plowed her pussy had his cock stirring to life in his pants.

  He shifted his hips back a bit so she wouldn’t feel the evidence of his arousal jammed up against that tight little ass of hers. The last thing he wanted to do was make her think he was a sex-obsessed barbarian.

  Their gazes clashed in the mirror mounted over the sink. The flush to her cheeks betrayed her enjoyment of his nearness. He found her reaction rather enticing and decided to see just how interested in him she was.

  When he guided her wet hands under the air dryer, he dropped his mouth to the exposed curve of her neck and planted a couple of soft kisses on her pale skin. She shivered as he skimmed the side of her throat, just above her collar, but didn’t try to evade him or pull out of his embrace. No, she pressed back against him in a silent invitation to continue.

  Not about to pass up an opportunity to get closer to her, Venom swept aside the long pale strands of her hair and nipped playfully at the spot where her neck curved into her shoulder. She whimpered softly, the kittenish mewl traveling straight to his throbbing cock. Licking the spot he’d reddened with his teeth, Venom relished the sight of her marked skin. Spanking had never been one of his favorite bedroom activities but the idea of Dizzy’s flesh all hot and pink from his hand made his balls ache.

  “Uh, Captain?” A medic called through the closed bathroom door as he knocked hesitantly. “Is everything okay with the patient? Her vital signs are outside the acceptable parameters, especially her heart rate and blood pressure.”

  Venom chuckled quietly as he kissed Dizzy’s cheek. He had forgotten all about the small patches dotting her chest and upper arm that transmitted vital signs to the monitors in her room and at the medic’s station. Raising his voice, he answered, “We’re fine. Thanks for checking.”

  “All right. Uh—maybe you could try to get her back in bed. I mean, you know, to rest, sir. Not to—”

  “I got it.”

  “Right. Uh—I’ll just go now. Let me know if you need any help with her, sir. Medical help,” the medic added quickly.

  Venom laughed at the medic’s fumbling but Dizzy looked absolutely mortified that the man had thought they were fooling around in the bathroom. He settled his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head before holding her gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “We’re mates, Dizzy. It’s perfectly fine for us to enjoy each other’s company.”

  “I know.” She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself. “Where I come from couples don’t talk about these kinds of things and they sure as heck don’t joke about them with other people.”

  His earlier plans to ease her into his lifestyle were on target. Taking her to the officers’ club would definitely have to wait. Massaging her shoulders, he said, “If something makes you uncomfortable or embarrasses you, tell me. I’ll stop and we’ll reassess the situation.” He pressed his lips to the side of her neck one more time. “Let’s eat.”

  He picked her up again and took her back to the hospital bed. While he adjusted the incline, she touched his arm and asked, “Can you bring me my bag?”

  “Sure.” He retrieved it from the chair by the door and brought it over to her. Not a fan of the one-bag rule, he said, “I’m happy to make arrangements for anything you left behind in The City.”

  “Thanks but there’s nothing left.” Dizzy unzipped her small suitcase and retrieved a leather messenger bag. She dug around inside it until she found a pink hair tie that she used to secure the pale-blonde tresses away from her face. “I chose the things that meant the most to me and gave away the rest. It wasn’t like I had much anyway. I lived in a tiny studio apartment, so there wasn’t much room for extras.”

  He listened carefully for any sadness in her voice but didn’t detect any. She honestly seemed okay with jettisoning her possessions before jumping into the Grab. Something she’d said earlier about only poor women being pulled into the lottery came to mind. Perhaps she hadn’t had much in the way of worldly goods in the first place. The desire to shower her with pretty things hit him hard. “Anything you need or want I’ll find for you.”

  She shot one of those dazzling smiles his way. “Thank you.”

  As she set aside her bag, he lifted the tabletop attached to the bed into place and secured it. He picked up the trays of food and explained, “I wasn’t sure what you liked so I got a tray of hot things and another tray of cold things.”

  When he lifted the lids she sat forward with interest. He started to drag a chair closer but she pointed to the foot of the bed. “Why don’t you sit there? I’ve got my legs crossed, so there’s plenty of room.”

  He considered her suggestion and figured it would work fine. Bending down, he removed his boots and made a mental note to see the uniform shop about another pair. He had a backup
set in his closet but would need to break in another pair just in case.

  Hopping up onto the bed, he realized that sitting with his legs crossed wouldn’t be as easy for him as it evidently was for Dizzy. The nimble little sprite seemed awfully flexible. The sight of her so comfortably contorted spurred some terribly dirty thoughts. He was suddenly very glad for the table between them that shielded the obvious hard-on pressing at the front of his uniform pants.

  “I think you’re going to have to drape your legs on either side of the mattress, Venom.”

  He loved the way she said his name in that gentle, sweet voice of hers. “I think you’re right, sugar.”

  One side of her mouth lifted to form a quirky smile. “That sugar thing seems to be sticking.”

  He picked up one of the cutlery sets and handed it to her. “You don’t like it?”

  “I didn’t say that.” She opened the protective packaging and tugged free a fork. “The first couple of times I thought maybe you couldn’t remember my name.”

  Her mischievous grin sent little darts of excitement right through his chest. The more relaxed she became around him the more of the real Dizzy he glimpsed—and he really liked her. “Your name isn’t an easy one to forget.”

  She made a little laughing sound. “My real name is way worse.”

  He’d been tempted to dig through her bag and peek at her official paperwork while she’d been sedated but it felt wrong to go through her things, even if they technically belonged to him now that she was legally his property. “What is it?”

  She shook her head. “You first.”

  “My name is Venom.”

  “No,” she said. “The name you had before the academy.”

  Before the academy? “I take it Risk filled you in on our naming conventions.”

  “He mentioned that you lose your birth name when you enter the academy and earn another name when you graduate.”

  “It’s a way to build unit cohesion and brotherhood. The boys we were when we joined the academy disappear at the front doors. We’re all the same and all on equal footing. No one is richer or poorer. We’re just numbers.”

  Her expression turned sad. “That sounds terribly hard for a little boy.”

  He shrugged. “It’s not easy but it’s our way. Someday our sons will climb the same stairs to the academy’s front doors that I climbed and my father climbed and his father before him.”

  Dizzy went perfectly still at the mention of someday having his sons. It wasn’t a secret that Grabs were meant to promote procreation of strong, healthy boys to fill the ranks. It was one of the reasons why only the bravest, toughest soldiers were granted the right to take wives by earning valor points. It weeded out the weak and the less deserving.

  But he had only just Grabbed Dizzy that morning and already he was talking about sons. What the hell is wrong with you? You’re going to scare her.

  While he had been dreaming of starting a family for years, Dizzy was in her early twenties, still very young to be considering a family of her own. Would she balk at the idea? Would she follow Menace’s wife’s lead and petition for a birth-control implant?

  “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want you to think that the only reason I entered the Grab was to get you pregnant.”

  Shit. That sounded even worse, didn’t it? He could just hear Raze laughing at him and encouraging him to keep digging.

  “What I mean is that I want more than just children with you. I want the whole package.”

  She studied him for a few discomfiting moments before finally saying, “You’ve probably just jinxed us.”

  Bemused, he asked, “Jinxed? How?”

  Her mouth slanted rather impishly. “You’re all puffed up about the idea of having sons. We’ll probably end up with a dozen girls.”

  Dizzy’s playful reply set him at ease. Maybe they weren’t so far apart when it came to that issue. “If they’re as pretty as their mother I’ll be a very proud father.”

  She waved her fork at him. “There’s that flattery again.”

  “Is it working?”

  “Maybe.” She rolled her top lip under to squash a grin. Turning her attention to the food, she asked, “What do you want?”

  “You go first.”

  “Um…” She poked at a few dishes before choosing a green salad loaded with fresh vegetables, a serving of steamed veggies in a tart sauce and some of the fruit. She gestured to the salad. “I can share this.”

  He shook his head. “I had one with lunch.” Eyeing her choices, he pushed some of the grilled steak her way. “You should have some protein.”

  She pointed out the bright-red beans on her salad. “These are protein.”

  “I meant meat.” He remembered Vicious telling him that Hallie had been hesitant to eat what she wanted. Food insecurity was a real issue on Calyx and women tended to be underfed and malnourished. He gave Dizzy a scrutinizing glance. “You should probably have more protein in your diet.”

  She made a face and shoved the dish back toward him. “I don’t eat meat.”

  He gawked at her. “What do you mean? How can you not eat meat? It’s delicious.”

  “I’m sure it is but it’s not for me.”

  Venom couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of any person choosing to forego a juicy steak. “Why not?”

  She wrinkled her dainty nose. “That’s not a story you want me to tell over dinner.” When he sat there waiting patiently for her to continue, she rolled her eyes and said, “When I was a kid my dad sent me to spend a week with his sister on her husband’s sprawling farm. It was the fall, during the annual hog slaughter. Let’s just say that seven days of watching that cured me of any meat cravings.”

  He had never witnessed such a thing but had always assumed the process from pasture to table wasn’t particularly nice. Even though it didn’t bother him to consume meat, he didn’t want to upset Dizzy so he started to set aside the steak he loved so much.

  Her warm fingers clasped his wrist to stop him. “It doesn’t bother me to watch other people enjoy meat.”

  He cast a skeptical glance her way. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. My best friend chows down on slabs of meat in front of me all the time. It’s not a big deal.”

  Though it was selfish he experienced a wave of relief. The idea of having to sneak his favorite foods wasn’t one he relished but he would have done it for her. “We’ll have to make sure there are other protein sources in our kitchen for you.”

  “Can you get fish up here?”

  “Sure.”

  “I don’t mind eating fish occasionally, especially the fresh stuff they catch down in Blue Shores. We used to go down there every summer for vacation. It was a beautiful place. So much cleaner and prettier than The City.”

  The peek into her past left him with so many questions. From what he knew of the society down on Calyx there weren’t many people who could afford a summer getaway. Had she come from a wealthy family? Why was she living in a tiny apartment if her family had money?

  And then there was the issue of her father. Did she realize the man she called Dad wasn’t her biological parent?

  Tucking into his meal, he made pleasant conversation and hoped not to rouse her suspicions. “Your father enjoyed the sea?”

  She shook her head and swallowed her tiny bite. “He couldn’t stand it so he spent most of his time at the casino there. My mother loved the ocean and the beach so we would have girls-only days on the sand. She said being at that seaside hotel reminded her of the happiest summer of her life.”

  “And what summer was that?”

  “The one where she and my dad made me,” Dizzy said with a sweet smile.

  His gut clenched. She clearly had no idea what her mother had truly meant and he wasn’t about to be the one who burst her happy little bubble. Not yet at least. The truth would come out soon but he had to find an easier way to deliver it.

  Speaking to Risk as soon as possible jumped to the top of
his list of priorities. He didn’t want the surgeon to reveal the information about her DNA before he had a chance to prepare her. Dizzy needed a little time to get used to being his mate and living in this new society before he started tearing into the wall of secrets between her and her parents.

  “Can we visit Blue Shores?”

  He didn’t miss the hopefulness in her voice. “Sure. It will have to wait a few months. We can’t possibly get the travel clearance while I’m on honeymoon leave but I’ll file the permits and work it into my schedule.”

  “I think you’ll like it there.” She stabbed her fork through some of the leafy greens. “I want you to see it the way it is now, just a sleepy, easy place, before they build that monstrosity of a base down there.”

  Venom heard the distaste in her voice. “We need a land-based center of operations for this sector. From what I understand, the Blue Shores community welcomed the possibility of a base there and the financial incentives that come with it.”

  Her shoulders bounced. “They’re not like the rest of our settlements on Calyx. They’re a fairly autonomous group out there. They were the first to break away when our ancestors were given the planet by your people. Long before the settlers who founded Connor’s Run,” she added. “You’ll understand more about them when we visit. They’re just…different.”

  A thrill of excitement rippled through him at the thought of going on vacation with Dizzy. He’d never really had a true vacation. Oh, he took mandatory leave like every other soldier, but he generally coordinated with Raze or Menace or some of his other SRU buddies to hit up one of the pleasure ports. Sex, gambling, sports, films—it started off fun enough but by the third or fourth day he started to dread getting out of his bed. It was so…empty.

  Of course, going on vacation with Dizzy meant he would have a much better reason for not wanting to get out of bed. Technically they were in bed now and Venom didn’t want to budge. He eyed the reclining chair where visitors were supposed to sleep.

  Not a chance in hell…

  Chapter Six