by ANGEL PAYNE
“Do you?” I rebutted. “I mean, I can’t help but feel like this has been easy for you in some ways. That you’ve kept me conveniently hidden away out here, and now? Well…” I swallowed so hard, it felt like there were golf balls lodged in my throat. “Yeah, well…now this.”
I drifted off, barely saying the last words loud enough to be heard. If I had to raise this baby on my own, I would. And could. If I had to. But this child would never believe he—or she—was a mistake. Ever.
“Woman.” Bas and his growl punctured back into my consciousness. “What on fucking earth are you talking about? ‘Hiding you away’?”
He stared like I’d just sprouted a second head—until clearly, the full brunt of his anger set in. “Tell me one goddamn time I have ever treated you like my hidden secret. One. Damn. Time.”
I gulped again.
He glowered harder.
Right before folding his powerful arms across his chest, which showcased the rippling definition of his muscular pecs and biceps. Down lower, his thighs were flexed and his stance was braced wide.
No more gulping now.
My mouth was too dry.
His body, so taut and coiled and furious, was officially doing some crazy things to my bloodstream. And my nervous system. And my hormonal, confused libido.
Sexual, primal things.
At once, I knew that Sebastian had seen the shift in my gaze, a direct result of my heated thought process. I watched it in the blaze through his eyes. The way he suddenly flared his nostrils. The decision with which he took a slow, menacing step toward me. Then another. I held my ground, defiance stiffening my spine while lust spiked hotter through my blood—and zapped straight to my pussy.
As the arousal struck, wetness rushed between my legs in a startling tingle, and my lips fell open. I wasn’t sure if I was shocked or unnerved; maybe both—but it didn’t matter when my man covered them with his possessive, open kiss. It was wicked and sinful. Vehement and perfect all at the same time.
I told him so by answering his erotic growl with my entreating sigh. Bas gave me what I wanted at once, gripping my hair in his dominant fist before cranking my head back for his complete plundering. The moan that crawled up my throat was needy and loud, and I wasn’t ashamed. I was desperately aroused and entirely consumed by the swell of natural chemicals in my system.
And confused. Oh, yeah. Definitely that.
I was so. Damn. Confused.
“Turn around. Stand beside the bed. Hands on the mattress,” he growled after nipping down the front of my throat.
“Whaaa? What?”
“Do it, now, Little Red.”
“But…but the ba…ba…” I tried to form a coherent thought. And it just wasn’t happening. I was so aroused, I could only think of his dick and my pussy and how they needed to come together in the most instinctual way.
“Oh. Don’t you worry, Little Red. We can still fuck. I already cleared it with the doctor.” His voice was so low, it vibrated across my whole ribcage. “Now do what you’re told.”
He seized my hips and spun me toward the bed, adding a gentle push for emphasis. I had to bend at the waist a bit to place my hands on the mattress, but the maddening, mesmerizing man had probably anticipated that.
Ohhh, how he had.
I heard the familiar sound of his belt whooshing through the loops of his slacks, and my pussy registered the noise as a promise of impending pleasure. Next came the thunk of the buckle as it hit the thickly padded area rug beside the bed. But the best sound of all was his sensual moan, scraping the air like a hummingbird’s wings but impacting my skin like a condor’s talon.
“You ready?” he prompted.
“Oh.” I frantically nodded. “Ohhh, yes.”
“You sure?” he warned. “This is going to be fast and rough, Red.” In one forceful move, he grabbed my pajama bottoms and then yanked them to the floor. “Out.” The one-word command was accompanied by a tap to my lower leg.
My folds gushed while I stepped out of the pants. My senses swam—this time, in all the right ways—as I watched Sebastian toss them to the side. When he stayed in a kneel, my nerve endings sparked like stars. Holy shit, I hoped that meant—
“Oh, God!”
I whimpered it as he shoved his face into the gap between my thighs. Then louder as he darted his tongue deep into the crack, bestowing a languorous sweep from my pussy to my tailbone.
“Fuck, Bas!” My God, he wasn’t kidding about the fast and hard. He’d given no warning of his intentions; he was simply diving in and going for it! His finger prodded at my entrance, pushing up into me before he commanded, “Spread wider for me. Let me in this cunt.”
And I did. Quickly too. But not quietly. I cried out even louder when he joined a second finger to the first. “Yeesss!” I writhed and bucked as he thrust both demanding digits into my clenching, wet opening.
“Mmmm, that’s right, baby,” he murmured into the sensitive place at the base of my spine. “You like it that way, don’t you? When I just take what I want?”
I hung my head between my outstretched arms, not bothering to answer. His question was rhetorical anyway. And my pussy felt too damn good. And my muscles quivered too damn hard. And my head spun with too much pleasure. So…much…pleassss…
Until sharp teeth sank into my ass cheek.
“Answer me, Red,” he snapped.
“Y-Y-Yes,” I managed in a rasp. “I…I like it.”
He fingered me harder. Faster. “No! Say it all. Tell me what I want to hear from your pretty mouth, or I’ll shove my cock into it so you can’t.” Faster. Harder. Fluid dripped down the inside of my thigh because I was so turned on. “Look at this pussy. Abbigail, your body’s crying to be fucked by me.”
Abruptly, he stood behind me, going completely still and silent. He pulled my head up by a handful of my hair, causing my back to arch and my ass to thrust up. Angling my sex for his pleasure now…
He dipped his lips against my ear. And then challenged in a lethal whisper, “I’m waiting.”
“I— I…can’t think. I don’t remember what you said now.” Just as I finished my plea, he shoved his cock into me in one ruthless motion.
“I said you like when I just take what I want from you,” he panted.
“Yes. God, yes, that’s it. Just take what you want from me, Sebastian. Please…” While I all but sobbed it out, I reached between my legs. With jerking circles, I started pleasuring myself.
“I take what I want, Abbigail.” Bas circled his hips and then shuttled his length deeper inside me. “Like this?”
“Yes…just like that.”
“And what are you going to do while I’m at it?” His voice held sensual challenge. I was already hypnotized by his dark baritone grate. “That’s right love, touch yourself.”
“Mmmm. Hmmm.”
“Keep going, my good little girl. Rub yourself hard while I ride you harder.”
“Yes,” I groaned. “Ohhh, yes.”
“Put this knee up on the mattress.” He tapped my right thigh to indicate what he wanted. I obliged at once and wanted to cry in gratitude to him. Changing position, even subtly, opened my channel for a new angle of his long, throbbing length. His next stroke penetrated so deep, stars danced before my eyes.
“Holy shit. Oh, Bas. God. My God…so good. Feels so good.”
“I’m so deep in you, Abbigail. Can you feel that? I want to crawl inside you. Be as deep as I can get. Fuck. Yes!”
What this man and his filthy mouth and carnal imagery did to my libido. I was moments away from climaxing. Now milliseconds.
But before I could say anything about it, Sebastian stopped moving altogether. His dick was buried so far into my pussy, I was certain his cock pressed against my bladder.
“I love you, Abbigail. I love you so completely.”
“I love you too.”
“Don’t ever forget it,” he gritted into my hair.
“But Bas?”
“Yea
h?”
“I…I need to come so badly…”
His low chuckle had me twisting raging handfuls of the comforter. “I know, baby.”
“Th-Then why did you stop?”
“Because I want to come together. And I want us to do it like this. Without moving.”
“Without…but how…”
“Squeeze my cock with your pussy. Let me feel your walls convulse around me. I just want to be still when I shoot off deep inside you.”
“I still don’t get…”
Oh, but then I did.
From the moment he leaned forward and licked my neck, just under my ear. It was the perfect place; the one spot that aroused me more than any other spot on my body. Sebastian knew that, too.
When he added some fast but sharp bites to the effort, I was gone.
At once, every inch of my sex squeezed around his shaft. Then harder. Harder still.
Sebastian groaned low in his throat. “Yesss, baby, that’s it. Feels so…fucking…good.”
“Oh, God.” I kneaded the comforter like bread dough, focusing on the motion so I didn’t start bucking against him. “Oh…I’m going to…”
“Yeah, you are. Come on my cock, Abbigail. Fuck me, baby. Yes! Goddammit, just like that!” His stiffness jerked inside me. When he moaned again, he dug his fingers into my hips with bruise-inducing intensity. I didn’t care. All of them would be so damn worth it. So damn worth it. “Can you feel me, baby?” he husked in a voice spun of lusty shadows and dark desires. “Do you feel me coming so deep inside you?”
“I do, Bas,” I said with wonder. “I do. That’s amazing. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
He backed out and thrust back in only an inch or two, milking the last bit of his climax. When he’d pulled out altogether, he tumbled onto the bed with an incredulous laugh. At once, he pulled me down beside him. We were a sweaty, sated bundle of limp limbs and colliding heartbeats, coming down from someplace higher than the summit of Everest. Kind of an odd metaphor, considering we were in the middle of the California Desert—and that I was barely capable of remembering my own name at the moment.
“That was…that was…”
“Hmmm. Yesss?” Bas teased. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
I stroked up and down the arm that was wrapped protectively around my middle. “Let’s just say that you never cease to amaze me.”
He laughed into the base of my neck, but not for long. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice full of gentle concern. “That wasn’t too much? Or too rough?” Since he was lying behind me, I couldn’t see his expression, but I could picture it clearly in my mind. All the troubled frown lines…
“Bas, I’m pregnant, not injured,” I insisted. “I will let you know if something hurts or is uncomfortable, I promise.”
“I know you mean that. Thank you.”
I didn’t bother with returning the protocol. There were important things to discuss right now—first and foremost, securing his agreement about my return to LA. That was going to best be done face-to-face, so I turned over—but damn it, the IV tubing got tangled around something on the bed frame and yanked my arm back.
“Ugghh!” I groaned.
“Just hold on a sec,” Sebastian ordered. “Before you pull this out.”
His distraction with the tubing was my sickroom version of a golden egg. As he worked the line free, I went ahead and stated, “When these twenty-four hours are done, I’m going home with you.”
“So you’ve said.” Since he was leaning over me, it was easy to see the little pinches at the corners of his mouth.
“Good,” I said, lifting just high enough to kiss both of them. “It’s settled, then.”
The pinches snaked inward, and he compressed his lips tightly. “Do we have to start this again? So soon? I mean, I’d be happy to fuck the sass out of you again if you push me.”
“Oh.” I giggled. “Is that what that was?”
“Mmmm. Maybe? But in all seriousness, I’ve got a meeting downtown about some changes to the Edge’s parking garage layout. I have to go back tonight. And you, have to stay on that”—he motioned to the IV—“and also see Dr. Landon tomorrow afternoon. So you need to hold tight here for a few more days at least, baby.”
I flattened my own lips but waited for him to settle back against the pillow before I seethed with words again. “You remember that scenario about me hiking across Joshua Tree?”
He huffed. “Abbigail—”
“Once Dr. Landon takes this thing out of my arm, I’m leaving, Bas. Period.”
“All right, all right. Let’s not be ridiculous.”
I jumped my brows at him. “Because it wasn’t ridiculous to make me come out here in the first place?”
“A decision made in love, damn it—before fate even gave us this treasure.” He flattened his hand across my belly and pressed in until our faces were an inch apart. “Are you listening to what I’m saying to you, Abbigail? Because I’m listening to you. And I do understand all your reasons for wanting to go back to Los Angeles. I wish you’d look at things from my side, though. And I don’t think you’re even trying.”
I yanked away and sat up. “Are you joking?” I retorted. “You really have to be joking, right? Because you really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Please don’t get all worked up ag—”
“You haven’t been here, Sebastian. You have no concept of what this has been like for me. My business isn’t here. My family isn’t here. Despite that, I’ve tried it your way—but now this bullshit has run its course. I can’t use your reasons any longer. Do you see that?”
“Give me a few days. Can we just agree on that? A few days to get security around the house in place. I would feel so much better.”
“Three days,” I agreed but then added, “At the most.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Miss Gibson.” He kissed the end of my nose. “How do you feel? Do you think you could eat something? Broth? A smoothie?”
I thought about it for a moment while I snuggled back into the pillows. All of our…activities…were quickly catching up with me. “Maybe some toast?” But when he started to get up, I hung on for dear life. “You don’t have to get it. Dori gave me her cell number. I can just text her, and she will bring it.” I held up my phone to show him we didn’t have to leave the bed. “Please stay with me. Just a little bit longer.”
But the infernal man swung his legs over the edge to pull on his boxers and pants. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised. “I need to go talk to Elijah about the new plan. He’s got to make arrangements if we’re all going home.”
“All right. For that, I can excuse you.” I grinned, knowing I sounded like a full-blown queen, issuing orders to her loyal subjects.
“Well, thank you kindly, my lady.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll send Dori in with your toast.”
He buttoned up his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair. The man was so damn gorgeous. It was still hard to believe he was mine. And now we were going to have a little boy running around with his good looks and charm. And between the two of us, one hell of a defiant attitude. I don’t know why I had such a strong premonition that it was a boy growing in my belly, but for some reason, I was almost positive it was.
“I hope our little boy has your dark hair, and not this…” I flipped the ends of my unruly mane up with a scowl.
“Little boy, huh? Are you sure about that? I think it may be a girl. And she’d be beautiful with that flaming red hair, just like you.”
“Well, we have a while to wait, so we can come up with a good wager to see who’s right.” I grinned, just thinking about all the exciting things that were in store. It wasn’t all going to be feeling like crap and worried about keeping food and water down.
“Hey, what would you think about bringing Dori back to LA with us? You seem to get along with her really well. You haven’t really bonded with any of the current staff at the Calabasas hou
se the same way you seem to have with her.”
I thought about it but then frowned. “We can’t just ask her to uproot her life, Sebastian.”
“Well, it couldn’t hurt to ask. You never know. I mean really, Red, think about it. What does a place like this have to offer a young woman? She could live in the pool house if she doesn’t want to stay in the staff wing. Or until she can afford something of her own.”
I thought about how nice it had been to have Dori around. Her easygoing nature was so much more relaxed than the stuffy, formal staff Bas had around his house now. Other than Craig, I always felt like I was just “visiting” in their eyes. I probably served as their current wager topic. Everyone place your bets; how long until Mr. Shark tires of this one?
“I’ll ask her, and I’ll send her in with some toast. You rest. You gave me a workout.”
I smiled and watched him leave the room, feeling a glimmer of actual contentment for the first time in months.
Chapter Eight
Sebastian
Three days.
Seventy-two hours.
Forty-three percent of a week.
That was all I was given to get enough security into place for my comfort level with Abbigail’s homecoming.
Which, of course, wasn’t enough time—so saying I felt uneasy about the situation, even while guiding her out of the villa hand-in-hand with me, was the understatement of the century.
In the long run, there were a few factors that did help. Elijah had sweet-talked the whole security team from the Twentynine Palms property to transfer with us, so Abbi was reasonably at ease with them. A bonus: many of them already hailed from LA and knew the city well. On that end, details were transitioning as smoothly as could be expected.
Bonus number two: Dori agreed to come along too, as I suspected once I quoted the monetary incentive involved. Additionally, she had no family or other outlying commitments to keep her in the desert. The cheerful girl seemed excited about a change of lifestyle. She was happy to help Abbi pack everything up, and they were both ready to go when Joel pulled up with the car.
