Blake, Abby - Mikayla's Men [A Bride for Eight Brothers, Book 1] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (10 page)

Over the last week, despite his decision not to, he and Mikayla had somehow become friends. Having a woman on the base certainly changed the social dynamics, but no matter how he tried to convince himself they were just friends, the leap in his pulse and the blood flowing south certainly disproved his attempts.

He glanced over to see John watching him closely, a neutral expression on his face but a knowing look in his eyes. John knew most of what had gone on with Peter’s ex-fiancée, but even he didn’t know the full story.

Peter hadn’t quite managed to explain the reason Jessie had left him was because he’d wanted to share her with his brothers. Once she’d learned about the lifestyle his parents enjoyed, she’d looked at him with different eyes and the fake exterior had slipped. The glimpse of the woman behind the mask she wore was a little frightening. She’d calmly agreed “to lie with his miscreant brothers”—her words, not his—on the condition that he signed over the family business and its assets to her. Basically, she was willing to sleep with them for a price, and quite a high price at that.

How ironic that Mikayla had come to them as a paid whore, yet she was the one sleeping with his brothers by choice. It seemed so bizarre that the woman he’d loved had been such a cold, calculating, money-hungry bitch and the woman he’d told himself to ignore seemed to be the one he’d been seeking.

The one thing that still held him back, however, was that she’d told them all that it was just fun while she worked off her debt—as their administration assistant, not their whore. Once she had enough money to pay Matt back and get home with some cash still in her pocket, she’d leave them. They’d finish their contract here and move on to the next planet.

And with that simple thought, Peter realized the next contract held no appeal. For the second time in a long time, he wanted more. He truly wanted the life his parents led, one of love and family, respect and compromise. He glanced around the table, imagining what a family dinner would be like with seven brothers, their wife, and half a dozen kids.

Mikayla glanced at him, perhaps surprised to see him smile, and he couldn’t help wonder if his brothers wanted the same. Maybe it was something they needed to discuss. Maybe they could talk Mikayla into something more permanent.

Maybe he really could have the life he wanted.

Chapter Nine

“Come with me, baby girl.”

Mikayla tried to hide how much Brock’s big hand wrapped around her wrist affected her. It was almost as if the moment Brock or
Lachlan
touched her in their commanding way she went as compliant as a kitten in its mother’s mouth.

She laughed at her silly imagery, and Brock gave her an inquiring look.

“Sorry,” she said, barely managing to hold back the giggle.

“Sorry, what?” he demanded sternly.

She had no idea what he meant, so she shrugged slightly and tilted her head in question. “Sorry, Brock?” She phrased it as a question and breathed out in relief when he smiled.

He ran the back of his hand down her cheek, and the unexpected tenderness in his gaze brought tears to her eyes. “That’s right, baby girl. Normally, I’d want you to call me Sir, but with so many brothers, I’d rather know that you remember who you’re with.”

She nodded in understanding. She’d worried the same thing herself, but the brothers had all been so different in their lovemaking that she’d had no trouble remembering.

Brock led her to his room located next door to Lachlan’s. She barely had time to glance around before he lifted her dress over her head and gave her another order.

“Hands behind your back.”

She did as he said, shaking a little from both excitement and fear of the unknown. He helped her to lace her fingers together, and with his warm palms massaging her shoulders, he encouraged her into a kneeling position on the floor.

“Do you know anything about BDSM, baby girl?” he asked as he sat on the bed in front of her.

She shook her head and answered, “Only that I seem to like being spanked.”

He grinned and leaned forward to touch her face. “Yes, you do,” he said very seriously, “but enjoying a spanking and being a good sub aren’t really the same thing.”

She looked at him with a million questions running through her head. He smiled and rubbed a callused thumb over her lips.

“First rule of a good sub is to keep your gaze down.”

Surprised by that remark, she stared into his eyes for maybe three seconds before it occurred to her she was doing the exact opposite of what he expected. “Sorry, I—”

“Second rule is to never talk unless answering a direct question.”

She closed her mouth, biting her tongue to control the urge to speak out. Doubt began to drill through her. She’d grown up on Earth where men and women were considered equals, and the idea of being less than that was not very palatable. Suddenly, she found herself wondering if she could do this at all.

“I can see the doubt in your eyes, baby girl.”

She tried to look down, but he still held her chin with his fingers, and he refused to let her break eye contact. She wanted to blurt out again that she was sorry but at the last moment remembered that she wasn’t supposed to talk. Her vision blurred as she struggled to find a way not to disappoint him.

“I–I’m sorry,” she stuttered out before realizing that despite reminding herself a moment ago not to speak, she’d gone and done it anyway. She closed her eyes, but still the tears fell.

Brock leaned over, helped to unlink her stiff fingers, and pulled her onto his lap. He held her close, rocking slightly as she cried. God, as an independent, self-sufficient female, she hated tears, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop their flow. Brock simply held her, refusing to let go when she tried to leave.

The warmth from his embrace wasn’t really something she wanted to give up, so she stayed where she was and cried for every fucked-up thing that had happened to her before she’d met Matt and come here to the research facility.

When she’d cried her eyes raw and her head felt stuffed with rocks, Brock carried her into the bathroom and ran a bath. He held her hand as she stepped into the warm water then left for a moment but was back quickly with a large glass of fruit juice. She drank it gratefully, the icy-cold fluid soothing her raw throat. Uncomfortable, she smiled at him shyly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in a croaky voice.

“Do you feel better now?”

Surprisingly, she did. Brock wiped a cool washcloth over her heated face as she tried to understand why. She’d just had a full-on crying fest in the arms of a man she’d technically only just met. She should be really embarrassed but just couldn’t find the energy. Mikayla smiled up at Brock, amazed to see he wore a look of satisfaction. Satisfied by what? She’d already proven she couldn’t be what he wanted, so why would he seem happy about that?

He smoothed his hand over her forehead.

“Relax, baby girl, our time together is just beginning.”

“But,” she said, feeling thoroughly confused, “I don’t think I can be what you want me to be.”

“Baby girl,” he said, making sure that he had her eye contact, “you are exactly the person I want you to be.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Let me explain it this way. I want you to be all the things that you think make you a bad sub. I want you to be feisty and outspoken and confident. I know that’s who you are inside, and I find it very appealing.”

She wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this, so she tried to keep her mouth shut. It didn’t work. “How can those traits appeal to a man who wants me to bow my head and not talk unless I have permission?”

He smiled and helped her to stand in the tub and then held her steady as she stepped out.

“Simple,” he said as he dried her quickly and then wrapped the towel around her. “The fact that your natural behavior is to do the opposite, when you do bow your head and stay quiet because I ask you to, it is a far more precious gift than you realize.”

“So the fact that I’m not submissive is why you think I’ll make you a good sub?” She gave him an assessing look, wondering if she understood him correctly.

He laughed, gathered her into his arms, and led her back to the bedroom. “That pretty much sums it up. I’ll teach you everything you need to know.”

Still confused but happy she hadn’t disappointed him, Mikayla was about to climb onto the bed when another scary thought crossed her mind.

“Brock, I’m not sure I could be submissive in front of the others.”

“I would never ask you to be,” he answered very seriously. “Well, except with
Lachlan
. You know we like to share, right?”

“Share as in?” she asked, feeling a little more off balance. She was building relationships with all of the brothers, but she didn’t think that’s what Brock meant.

“Share as in play with the same sub at the same time.”

“Oh,” she managed to whisper, feeling very overwhelmed again. When Matt had told her Ryan and Ty would take her at the same time it had been an exciting thought, but the idea of two demanding Doms playing together seemed far more concerning.

Brock leaned over and smoothed the skin over her brow.

“Don’t worry, baby girl, we’ll take care of you. I promise.”

* * * *

Brock held Mikayla as she slept. She’d been so exhausted from crying that she had fallen asleep almost instantly the moment she laid her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her curly hair while he thought over the conversation he’d had with Peter earlier.

His brother had returned to the kitchen moments after
Lachlan
had taken Mikayla back to his room. Peter seemed especially concerned for Mikayla’s emotional state, and it had taken all of three seconds conversation to realize that Peter was in love with the woman. It had taken another five minutes to realize that Peter wasn’t sleeping with her.

The biggest problem was that after watching her reaction to a spanking there was no way in hell either he or Lachlan could ever back off. He just hoped that the seven of them could find a way to something that would make them all happy. Polyamory wasn’t a foreign concept to any of them, but seven was a rather large number and more husbands than any relationship they’d known of growing up. Maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe seven men was four too many.

Hell, one cathartic, emotional outburst from the woman in his arms and he was already making plans for the future.
Shit.

It’s wasn’t like she was the first woman to cry in his arms. As a Dom, he’d comforted many women at their most vulnerable. BDSM wasn’t just about whips and handcuffs. It was also about the trust a sub placed in her Dom when she submitted. It was the part he liked most—that connection, the emotional release.

It had been far easier to read Mikayla than any other sub he’d known. She wanted to please him, wanted to please all of the brothers, and that first realization that she might fail had opened the emotional floodgates. For over a week now, she’d held herself together, refusing to give in to what she saw as weak emotions, but Peter had seen it and made sure that Brock understood. Brock felt humbled by her trust. And Peter’s.

He was almost asleep himself when
Lachlan
came into the room. He stood beside the bed, just watching the sleeping woman in Brock’s arms for a long while before he stripped off his clothes and climbed in behind her.

Brock met his brother’s eyes and realized that he’d probably heard everything from his room next door. The walls on this station were paper-thin, and in this instance, he was quiet grateful for it. At least he wouldn’t have to explain every detail.

Lachlan
ran his finger through her hair much the same way Brock had done earlier.

“She’s the one, isn’t she?”

Brock nodded. Yes, she was the woman for them both, but she also belonged to their brothers. The hard part would be figuring out how that was going to work.

Chapter Ten

She woke surrounded by warm flesh. At first disoriented by the cloudy feeling in her head and sinuses, Mikayla quickly remembered her pitiful emotional breakdown last night and wanted to do nothing more than hide her head under the blankets and never come out.

Unfortunately, the blankets were at the bottom of the bed, having been kicked off during the night. Sleeping between two massive men seemed to be a very warming experience. In fact, she doubted she’d ever be cold sleeping between these two.