Chapter Twelve
I la
y next to Lucian in the tent, staring up in the dark. "How much do you think we scored," I finally said. We'd been laying in contemplative, comfortable silence for five minutes.
He gave a light snort.
"Who knows?"
"
When will we check?"
"
Probably tomorrow. No telling with the Preacher."
I stared into the darkness, reaching for his hand and lacing my fingers in his.
"How's your hand? And leg?"
"
Hand still hurts but that glue really seemed to do the trick on that bite."
"
No infection? Swelling? You need to watch that for infection."
He nibbled at my knuckles, his lips smiling.
"I'm serious."
"
I know you are." Laughter edged his sexy tone.
"
It's not funny, Lucian. It's serious."
"
It's fucking wonderful is what it is."
"
What is?"
"
You. Looking out for me. I can see an injury fetish developing."
I smiled and drew his hand to my lips for kissing.
"No injuries necessary Mr. Bane. I love you perfectly healthy, thank you very much." I bit his knuckle then soothed it with my lips. "By the way, which assignment is next?"
"
I think yours." He drew my hand back to his lips and kissed several times. "We'll nail it. Should be easier at the Ob/Gyn."
"
Hmm. Maybe." I steadfastly refused to look into that empty space inside me.
"
You'll do fine, you're perfect for the job."
"
No. I'm not."
I felt his lips smile.
"You're a woman, love."
"
And it's the Ob/Gyn." The dark abyss loomed a bit closer and I shied away once more.
"
So?"
I huffed
, starting get annoyed with how dense he was at the moment. "You know, I had no clue about the things Becca said."
He went serious.
"What things?"
"
The baby idea things."
"
Well, you're young."
"
And broken, don't forget." And there it was. Right in front of me, staring me in the face like some wild demon straight from the pits of hell. Broken. Failure. Damaged goods.
He
lay perfectly still for a moment then moved up on his side. He found my face and stroked along it softly. "You're not broken, baby. You're still a mother in here. Where it really matters." He tapped my chest but his words stole my breath and brought the full weight of the pain crashing in.
"
I'm not," I gasped, letting him pull me into his chest.
"
You are. Any woman can produce a baby. It takes someone special to love that child beyond herself and do whatever it takes to see him grow happy and healthy. Trust me, I know." He paused a second, as if to push bitter memories away. "You know we can adopt, right? There are so many children that need a perfect mother, just like you."
I nodded against his chest, clinging to the soft firm tone of his voice. He was right. But…
"I just…want to know what it feels like," I squeaked, "feel life growing in me." Part of me felt the need was selfish, while another part insisted that was the only kind of motherhood that counted.
"
Shhhh," he stroked my back slowly and firmly. "I know you do. I'm so fucking sorry, love." He placed delicate kisses on my forehead while wrapping me in his naked limbs.
A shuddering breath helped me swallow some of the agony.
"I felt so stupid when Becca was coming up with those ideas. I don't know anything about it."
"
I know, I know. But you're not stupid at all, you've just not had a reason to learn it. I mean I don't even know the proper term for my own underwear. I call them BVD's only to find out they're actually boxer briefs. But, I didn't need to know it, just so I got the ones I liked."
I snickered against his che
st at his sincere tone.
"
I know," he said, like I was laughing at him. "And I thought briefs were those underwear that…briefly covered your parts."
I bu
rst out laughing in his chest and he pushed me onto my back, kissing me with a smile on his lips. "You lie," I said between kisses.
He only
barely nodded, while getting all perfect with his skills, his hands coming alive with a purpose that spoke to my pulse.
"
Can we do it again?"
"
What?" I asked, rather gasped, into his mouth as his fingers became more purposeful.
"
Play that game."
I moaned a little.
"Come on command?" Anticipation ratcheted up my pulse.
He answered with a growl and nod.
"If I can be the master," I whispered.
He paused as though considering
the possibility for the first time, then hissed out his answer, "Fuuuck, yes."
I whimpered with the iron stab of his cock into my upper thigh
and excitement ran through me.
Lucian
's strong fingers sank into my ultra-sensitive breast, reminding me that not having great sex on regular basis served to make me sore. Mmmm. But how quickly it blossomed into pleasure.
That magical mouth left mine and nuzzled along the curve of my jaw and worked down my neck, every point of contact trailing fire. His grunt of satisfaction came as his tongue flicked over my nipple with insane precision.
"So fucking perfect."
The heat of his cock increased with little thrust against my thigh
, reminding me of my intention to make him come at my command. Not about to be distracted from the mission, I took hold of him and raked the nails of my opposite hand down his back.
He gave me a
rough groan, telling exactly how much I affected him. He was already close. Eagerness turned me to my back, drawing him along to cradle him between my thighs. He slid against my entrance and muscles suddenly bunched under his skin as he fought for restraint. My legs wrapped around his waist to draw him into me even as he tried to hold back. All that self-defense training came in handy, in the most unexpected ways.
I lifted my body against him, taking him in all the way.
"No fair," he hissed, as he drew back a little and returned. Urgency drove us both as we worked together toward the goal.
I waited for the right second, when his muscle
s quivered with the need for release, and sank my nails into his ass. "Come for me, Lucian."
The tent reverberated with his growl as he drove hard one last time before his body bowed for his orgasm, and my own followed, refusing to wait.
****
We rode in silence with Steve on my left
, scratching various parts of his body like a dog with the mange, and Tara on my right, biting her thumb nail, her right leg hopping up and down a hundred miles an hour. I placed a hand on her leg and squeezed a little.
"
Let's go over the products again." Tara yanked the box toward her and pulled out the first item. "This would help a woman…" Tara looked at Becca who got on her knees and gently took the item from Tara.
"
Why are you so nervous, momma?"
Ugh, shit.
"Nah, not nervous. Well, I am in a way, want…" she scratched the bridge of her nose, "want to make those points. Need to, actually."
Becca
's chocolate gaze roamed over Tara, in a keen search for answers. It appeared she found them and thought Tara was in need of gentle handling. The elegant African woman proceeded to go through each toy and read their functions and in turn, their benefit, her tone soothing and even.
I decided at that moment the woman was my favorite person in the world for caring about Tara that way.
Steve's upper body slowly leaned toward me. "What am I supposed to do, again?" he whispered.
I thought about it a second then leaned to whisper back,
"Might be a good idea if you just hold the product bag."
Steve
's immensely troubled gaze turned forward as he nodded slowly. His expression said he was about to surrender to the electric chair and this was his last ride. Unfortunately for him, my concern for Tara refused to let me give him a second thought.
T
ara had us stop off at a local department store and hurried in for loads and loads of hare-brained supplies for her up-cumming gimmick. Ha. Fucking stupid, trying to sell this shit to vanilla crowds.
She spent time on the way drawing rapidly on various index cards, shooing me away when I tried to help, murmuring like a mad scientist, as she went. The idea required her one hundred percent concentration to pull off, more evidence of the hare-brained-ness of all this shit.
Bunch of shade-tree sex-pots is what we looked like. I had dressed in jeans and t-shirt, but Steve decided he needed to look professional. He'd put on his tailored suit, the one that looked like he'd been dragged through the woods for a few miles. And Tara, poor baby didn't know it, but she resembled a frazzled babysitter for a family with a dozen kids.
We were so far from normal, it was frightening. The only thing we had going for us was our sheer determination. If we wanted it bad enough, we
'd find a way to convince them. Worst case scenario, we would come off as a sincerely, seriously deranged trio.
I just had a bad feeling on this one. Too many
'normal' folk in this joint. Toy stores, I mean you kind of know you're dealing with fantasy land, but a hospital? You couldn't get any closer to serious real life. Like the portal of the fucking universe, people were born here. Died here. And we were going to try and sell dildos to the incoming fucking traffic? Jesus Christ, this was really feeling like a
bad
idea.
Acting all legitimate, while walking around with our bags of porno-paraphernalia, we were sorely out of place. In the hospital corridor, we followed Tara this time. Steve whispered harshly next to me,
"Deja vu!"
"
Was just thinking the same thing." Memories of Round Three flooded my mind, when we'd followed Tara to that lawyer fucker's office.
T-Rex Tara. That
's what she was right now. T-Rex mode. And I was glad, too. She needed the strength for this bullshit. This one was way too personal for her.
How did she know where to go? And where exactly was that? She walked with the confidence of one of the resident doctors. Why did they fucking choose Ob/Gyn for her? Did somebody in the organization still hate us, or was it just a coincidence? If that snaky Danielle was really gone, these assignments should have been pretty equal. But this one was like Demon Domination all over again.
Before long, we passed a sign with a stork carrying a pink and blue bundle in its beak. A pair of double doors opened ahead and loud lull-a-bye music tinkled through the air. Tara came to an abrupt halt as a nurse wheeled a woman toward us holding what appeared to be her newborn. I realized we were standing in the hall leading out.
By the time the wheelchair got close enough to
'see' I had my arm tightly around Tara's shoulder. "Oh my God," Tara whispered as they passed, watching the tiny baby and mother with the glowing smile.
Steve pointed to the doors ahead, reminding us why we were there. I turned Tara around, hating the resistance locking up her body.
"Focus, love. Gramma needs you to focus."
She finally gave in to my ushering and we continued forward with her looking around like she was lost now. Dammit.
"Where are we going, sweetheart? You seemed to have an exact location in mind."
She held up her hand and stopped, thought a second, looked around, and pointed forward. I let out a slow breath as we followed her again. She came to a stop at a door and opened it, peeked in, and entered.
The next second found the three of us standing inside what seemed more like a "break room". Steve and I watched as she began setting up like she'd called ahead. Her OCD tendencies kicked into full throttle as she hurried around the small square, leaving Steve and me standing back to exchange silent concerned glances.
She finally turned to Steve with an arm-f of small posters that read
Important Sex Class In Break Room At Noon
. "Go tape these along the hall walls."
Steve held the posters to his chest, a look of
Please. Please I beg you, don't make me
on his face.
Tara gave him an encouraging
whack
on his arm with a sweet smile and a soft, "Move your ass."
"
Did you call ahead, love?" I gently asked.
She turned that sweet smile on me now.
"Element of surprise, sweetheart." She winked.