Blake, Abby - Mikayla's Men [A Bride for Eight Brothers, Book 1] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (4 page)

“Is he okay?” Mikayla asked.

“He’ll be fine.” He didn’t want to talk about his brother, but then that really didn’t leave him with much to talk about. They’d already agreed to send her home as soon as possible, and once Matt and John finished explaining the enormous amount of money he’d spent and why, he was certain that his brothers would help her in any way possible.

Before he could think of a conversational topic, she asked a question of her own. “Whose bed am I in?”

“Mine,” he said with no small amount of discomfort. He wanted her in his bed—only for sleeping—but couldn’t really explain why. Not even to himself.

She shuffled to the edge of the bed, the empty bowl balanced precariously in one hand as she tried to slide off the mattress without moving the strings that partially hid her femininity. Mikayla looked very awkward, but eventually she growled in frustration, gave up the attempt at modesty, and clambered off the bed.

He tried not to look, but he was human after all, and technically he’d already seen the smooth skin of her hairless pussy, so it didn’t really hurt for him to see…And he couldn’t keep the inner dialogue of excuses going. He should’ve turned away, simple as that. His mothers would’ve both been appalled at his lack of manners.

“Where should I put this?” she asked as she looked around the room. The string tassels had fallen back into place, but she tugged on the waistband of his jacket in a futile attempt to stay covered.

He turned to his wardrobe and grabbed a T-shirt. It would be way too big for her, probably hang to her knees, but the caveman in him wanted her in his shirt. God, when had he gotten so territorial? The woman didn’t belong to him. They were sending her home. End of story.

“I have to go,” he said more harshly than he intended. Trying to ignore her startled expression, he pointed to the door at the left of the bed. “Bathroom’s over there. Get some sleep.”

And with that, he practically ran out of the door.

* * * *

 
“He bought her home?” Peter asked, not even trying to hide the surprise in his voice. The story John was telling him sounded so out of character for their brother Matt that he kept wondering if John was playing a joke on him. Matt was always the quiet, serious one who never made a decision without considering all the angles. But then again, Matt did have a soft heart, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

“He wants to get her on the next transport to her home planet, but he basically cleared out his bank account buying her,” John said.

“Why did he pay for a whole year? Couldn’t he have saved money and just paid for a week?”

John rolled his eyes at Peter’s words, and again Peter was left to wonder just how little he understood about this planet. Since they’d accepted this survey contract eight Earth-months ago, he’d spent pretty much every moment working. Unlike his brothers, who made regular runs into town for supplies and whores, Peter hadn’t even left the station.

His monk-like existence had often been the subject of good-natured ribbing, but simply put, women were trouble, and Peter had lived through enough trouble for one lifetime.

“Matt needed to pay for a whole year in order to settle her contract with her pimp. Without that he wouldn’t have been able to bring her here.”

Peter nodded his understanding, choosing to ignore his brother’s exasperated tone of voice. “So he wants us to pay her ticket home?” John nodded again, and this time, Peter nodded with him. “Sure, no worries. Just let me know how much and I’ll do a bank transfer.”

“Thanks,” John said as he turned to leave the room.

“Have you spoken to Brock and
Lachlan
yet?”

John froze midstride and turned slowly to face Peter. Peter could read the answer on his brother’s face even before he spoke the words.

“They’re not due back for another week. I think maybe we can handle this without involving them.”

Peter grinned at John’s carefully chosen words. It was no secret that John and Brock clashed over just about everything. They were practically complete opposites. John was an enthusiastic people person, and Brock…well, Brock simply wasn’t. Brock had been called many things over the years, but brooding and intense seemed both accurate and inadequate at the same time.

Lachlan
was almost as intense as Brock but somehow seemed more approachable, more human. Where
Lachlan
was comfortable in almost any situation, Brock did almost anything to avoid social gatherings.

Ironically, Peter got along better with Brock than any of his other brothers.

“Okay,” Peter said, trying to hide his grin, “but you’ll need to hurry. I expect the snow season earlier this cycle, and the data I’ve been collecting suggests that it could be a rather severe winter. We’re liable to be isolated for a lot longer than we first thought.”

John nodded sharply then left the room. Despite his determination not to even think about her, Peter found himself wondering about the woman currently occupying Matt’s bed. Would she prove to be as much trouble as the last woman he’d spoken to?

* * * *

“Hello, sweetness,” a deep voice said as she struggled to wakefulness. “Time for breakfast.”

The delicious aroma of something that smelled like bacon had her stomach growling loudly, and her eyes popped open. She blinked several times before she realized she wasn’t seeing double.

“Finally,” the man closest to her said with a huge grin on his face. “We were beginning to think you’d sleep the day away. Hungry?”

She nodded, wondering why she wasn’t scared of these two men. Maybe it was the familial similarities between them and Matt that put her mind at ease, or maybe it was the fact that Matt had promised that he and his brothers would protect her. Whatever the reason, it certainly was nice not to wake up frightened.

The previous three nights had been the most harrowing of her life.

“Oh, darlin’, what’s that look for?”

She shook her head, not sure how to answer. It probably wasn’t a good to start a conversation with,
I’m really happy I’m not scared of you.
She settled for, “I’m Mikayla, and you two are?”

It probably sounded rude coming out of her mouth like that, but they both broke into identical smiles and laughed easily.

“I’m Ryan, and this ugly fellow beside me is my twin brother, Ty. I told him to let you sleep, but he insisted that you be woken as quickly as possible.”

“Why?” she asked, trying really hard to wake completely.

“We just wanted to say hello to our new houseguest before Matt whisks you back to town and onto a transport home,” Ty said with a big smile on his face.

“I’m going home today?” She couldn’t really decide whether she was happy to hear that or not. Home hadn’t exactly been a positive experience. It was, after all, where all this had begun. With no family or close friends to guide her or question her reaction, she’d fallen far too easily for a man who’d turned out to be nothing like he’d pretended. She hadn’t even considered what she might do if the man who claimed to love her changed his mind.

Nope, as much as she’d wanted to go home yesterday, today, staying here in Matt’s bed, surrounded by men who hadn’t yet asked anything of her, seemed like the far better choice.

She didn’t even realize she was crying until Ryan and Ty sat on either side of her and wrapped their arms around her in a comforting hug.

“What’s wrong, darlin'?” Ty asked as he smoothed the tears from her face.

She shook her head, embarrassed to admit even to herself that the idea of being a paid whore to seven decent men was preferable to going back home to the problems that had been the cause of her current mess.

“Don’t you want to go home?” Ryan asked, leaning closer.

She’d always been a pretty lousy liar, so she didn’t even bother. Heat creeping up her neck and over her cheek bones, Mikayla shook her head and tried not to cry harder.

“So what do you want?” Ty asked in a kind voice.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she tried to grab hold of her emotions. Her problems were not theirs to solve. Matt and his brothers had already been more than generous. Despite the fucked-up laws on this planet, not one of the brothers had insisted she live up to the payment Matt had made for her. “I should just go home. I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. I’ll…uhm…pay back the money as soon as I can.”

“No need to panic just yet, sweetheart. There’s a big storm coming that should ground all pod flights for at least a week, maybe more.” Ryan glanced over at his brother, and the two of them shared some sort of wordless communication.

“That’s right,” Ty said, grinning. He stood and then held his hand out for her. She took it hesitantly, not sure what they were up to but willing to listen. “If we can keep you occupied for,” he grinned and glanced at his wrist despite the fact he wore no watch, “say six, seven hours, then the storm will be upon us and you’ll have to extend your stay at our lovely research facility.”

“What do you say?” Ryan added with a waggle of his eyebrows. “Wanna play hide and seek?”
         

“Uhm…sure,” she said even though she wasn’t really sure at all. She wanted to stay, but she also didn’t want to upset Matt. He’d gone to a lot of trouble to get her homeward bound, and she didn’t want to ruin his efforts.

Ryan seemed to understand her dilemma and whispered conspiratorially, “Matt wants you to stay. He just doesn’t realize it yet.”

She nodded, sincerely hoping it was true, and then let Ryan and Ty lead her from the room.

Chapter Five

“Where the fuck is she?”

John noticed Matt’s growled words rang clearly over the loud thud from the door hitting the wall. Hell, the guy was in a serious temper.

“Mikayla?” John asked quite stupidly. Of course Matt meant Mikayla. She was the only
she
on the base—well, except for the creatures they’d been studying. “Is she missing?” John shook his head and mumbled an apology for the inane question. Matt would not be looking for her otherwise.

“Yes,” Matt managed to force out through clenched teeth. “She was in my room sleeping, and now she’s gone. Peter says we have a snowstorm rolling in, and if I don’t leave in the next hour or so, she’s going to be stranded on the base.”

“What about you?” John asked as he realized leaving now would strand Matt in the city until the snowstorm passed and only if it passed before full winter took hold. This planet was proving to be a contrast in extremes especially at this end of the world. Beautiful, crystal-clear summers with only slight snowfall and intense, extreme winters with heavy snowfall and frequent storms.

“I’ll sleep in the pod,” Matt dismissed easily.

“But what if…” John’s voice trailed off as he caught the desperation in Matt’s eyes. Matt needed Mikayla gone. John could see that clearly, but what he didn’t understand was why. “Maybe Peter knows where she is,” he said cautiously. “You check with him, and I’ll head down to Ryan and Ty’s lab.”

Matt nodded and left without another word. John shook his head in relief. He knew that if Matt had been thinking more clearly, he would’ve realized that the most likely place for Mikayla would be with the twins. They were their youngest brothers and, despite being in their thirties and accomplished veterinarians, still found time to goof off and clown around. It was exactly like them to whisk Mikayla away without letting anyone else know.

Fortunately, John’s instincts had been spot-on, and he stood in the open doorway and watched Mikayla for a moment. She sat in a chair in the corner of the lab watching the video feed from an underground surveillance camera. She smiled serenely. The screen showed the den of one of the common species on this planet. The furry, hopping creature was very similar to a rabbit from Earth with a few notable exceptions—it was missing the cute, floppy ears, grew to about seven times the size of an average bunny, and was a ruthless carnivore. But on the screen, without an understanding of its size, it did look quite rabbit-like the way the mother cared for her young. John just hoped it didn’t choose this moment to devour her babies, which, according to Ryan and Ty, was about a fifty-fifty probability.

“Princess,” he said as he entered the room, “Matt’s been looking all over the station for you.”

“He has?” she asked, sounding not only surprised but maybe a little fearful. “I didn’t mean to upset him.” She clambered out of the chair. “Sh–should I go find him?”

John laughed quietly and stepped forward to touch her cheek. He knew he shouldn’t, but there was just something about her that drew him closer with every breath.