Their Mating Illusion [Paranormal Protection Unit 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

“Oh dear god, seriously?” she asked with a wide-eyed look. “No, I really and truly don’t like that at all. I don’t like that you have such a low pain tolerance.” God love him, the poor man had no pain threshold. She worried for him. It wasn’t that he was a skinny geek like most people would think a techie was. He was well built, muscular, and an absolute dreamboat. However, he had no pain tolerance. That just wasn’t good. At all.

Quincy nodded, wide eyed, at her as his lips began to twitch and he burst out laughing. “I’m kidding, babe.” He laughed at her look. “I had a set of weights dropped on my foot. That’s why the crutches.” He chuckled, wiping his eyes. “I actually have a fairly high pain tolerance, unless I bump that foot, and then you will see a grown man crying his eyes out.”

“Well hell, that makes a huge-assed difference.” She then frowned, cocked her head to the side, and asked, “What else is it that you have led me to believe one way and you are actually feeling another? Or had another? Because I have a feeling that I’m missing something else, darling, and I really hate that feeling.”

Frowning in genuine confusion, he tipped his head. “What do you mean, love?” he asked. “I honestly can’t think of anything else, but if you point your sometimes-not-very-bright male in the right direction, I might figure it out with your help.” He did have his moments of absolute stupidity. It had to be the male gene just cooked his little noggin’ from time to time.

“I don’t know, love. I just have a feeling that I have missed something. I don’t get it either. I feel as if there is just a little something that I might have assumed that wasn’t reality. So tell me, what is it that I have assumed that was wrong, darling mine?”

Staring at her in genuine confusion, Quincy shook his head. “I don’t know, Maya,” he said softly, taking a step back from her. He didn’t like where this was heading and he was lost to start with. “I’ve been nothing but honest with you, Maya. I’m sorry if you feel otherwise but I can only give you the truth I’ve always known.” Taking another step back, he shifted. “I’ll go and work instead of eating if that’s all right with you. I’m not feeling very hungry right now, love,” he murmured and headed for his office with the odd sensation of having been kicked in the gut.

Maya reached out and stopped him. “Don’t leave me. Not like this. You take things too heavily upon yourself, honey.” She reached out and stroked a hand to his cheek and then she knew. “I know what it is,” she whispered. “Our first night together.” Her eyes got wider and then she began to grin. “I was a virgin, but you weren’t, were you? Oh lord, I kept going on and on about it.” She ducked her head and pressed her forehead to his chest. “Lord, you must think that I’m such a dork.”

Oh, that…Yikes!
Pulling her into his arms he brushed a kiss to her lips. “You were and are the sweetest person I know, darling. I loved the fact you were so excited about it. I wanted to say something but I didn’t know how or what to say and not get my head taken off,” he admitted honestly. “I’ve also never thought of it since.” Quincy nuzzled at her cheek. “Are you mad?” he asked in concern. Women were weird creatures on the best of days, but something like that, hell, he didn’t know what would set one off.

“No, not at all.” She looked up at him and added, “But please never walk away from me? The way that you were about to now. When you get upset with me, when you feel like I’m ‘attacking’ you or whatever, face me. Quincy, we are stronger as a team, as a unit than we are apart and I need you to know that. I love you. I really, really love you but you need to trust me, too, honey.”

Ducking his head, he nodded. “I’m sorry, love.” He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “The only excuse I have is that it’s still new.” That, and he was used to facing things on his own. That mentality had gotten him in trouble before and likely would again. It was who he was. It was how he’d survived for so many years. Sharing was hard for him. His natural defense was to close off and watch warily.

“Just love me, Quincy. Talk to me. Don’t walk away from me. Never walk away from me, honey. Don’t close down. Don’t close me out because that hurts me. Truly hurts me.” She tried to get him to see the truth. “No matter what happens, darling, no matter. Always talk to me. We will always be able to work things out but only if you talk to me. Shutting me out only hurts us both.”

Nodding, he hugged her to him tighter. “I never want you to hurt, love. I’m sorry I hurt you,” he whispered quietly. “This is all new and scary to me, babe. I’ve never once had anyone actually depending on me for much of anything. And no, the Teams don’t count because there are no emotions involved in the interactions.” Well, a bit of friendship but even that was stiff most days.

“There is friendship there and a family bond of sorts, darling. You don’t see it but I do, love. All of you are your own little dysfunctional family, but you are all healing. Slowly but surely, you are all healing.” She looked up at him and added, “It’s all right, love. Just always talk to me from this point out or I am not to be held accountable for my actions.”

Narrowing his eyes on her, he tipped his head. “What do you mean by that, darling?” he asked curiously and, yes, a little suspiciously. She’d sounded very determined and slightly evil when she’d said it. Had him a bit on the worried side of things. One never knew with women just what they were capable of.

“Just saying that if you don’t talk to me from this point out, don’t share your worries and fears, then I’m going to do something very nasty like…” She had to think for a moment and then she came up with, “Like take you to the mat or make you sleep on the couch or”—her eyes lit up—“take your electronics away from you until you do talk to me.”

“I have more at the office,” he said and smiled at her peeved look. “I will talk to you, love,” he promised softly. “But it’s not always easy for me. I was alone a long time and, even with the Teams, we’re not exactly all about the circle of yakking and such.”

“Well you are no longer alone, darling. You were never alone. You just never let anyone in, love,” Maya told him softly. “Now you have me though and you know as well as I do that I will badger you until you give in and tell me exactly what is on your mind and what’s bugging you. I love you, darling, but it is the way that it should be. We are a pair for a reason, mister man.”

Smiling at her words, he nodded. “I like when you badger me though,” Quincy said. Touching her nose lightly, he tipped his head. “You wrinkle up your nose ever so slightly when you’re in a determined mood. It’s kind of sexy actually.”

“Well then, I will make sure that I badger you often,” she teased with a wink. “Because I love you and I never want you to forget, even for a nanosecond, just how much that you are loved,” she explained. “By golly.”

“Seriously?” he asked, staring down at her. “‘By golly’ is the best you can manage?” He shook his head. “You really need to hang out with the Teams more if that’s the best you can give me, sugar,” Quincy teased with a growing grin.

“Oh I have a full arsenal of words that I can use, darling. I just chose at this moment not to use them.” Maya winked at Quincy and added, “Besides, I seriously doubt that you would let me spend much time with the Teams before you started to cook their rears for being too rough with me.”

She had a point there. He’d kill them all if they so much as damaged a single hair on her head. “You can hang out with them, love. I never said there should be any arm wrestling or battle royals going on,” he pointed out. “I think they’d all like to get to know you, too, actually,” Quincy murmured softly, running a finger down her cheek.

“Only as long as they will teach me self-defense as well.” At his look, she shook her head. “I need to know how to protect myself with something other than magic, Quincy, and we both know that if you and I started to train we would end up naked and, well, that’s not how I intend things to happen with an attacker. I know that I’m safe here, but I still need to know, please?”

Nodding slowly, he figured it couldn’t hurt. “I’ll see if Allister will teach you,” he said quietly. “He’s the most easygoing and least likely to harass you.” Unlike his evil twin brother. “He’s a Dragon but he’s trained others before of the magic realm and is good at it. He’s got infinite patience and amazing control. Just watch out for Aiden, his evil twin.”

“Why don’t you train me?” she asked with a frown. “Or train with me, rather? I want to spend time with the men because I really do want to get to know your friends but I would like it if you were there as well.”

Chewing his lip, he nodded. “I could do that if you’d like,” he agreed. “But if I get too overprotective and step over some imaginary feminine boundary line, just tell me. Don’t knock me unconscious and then glower at me for the next month, all right?”

“Don’t worry, love, I will tell you,” Maya promised him with a wink. “Now then, I think that for now we will worry about each other and then later, when we make it to the gym, we will worry about training, deal?”

Leaning over, she let go of another heave. Her stomach once more emptied its contents, which happened to be nothing at all. Leaning back, she then curled up in a ball on the floor and cried. Gods, what was wrong with her? She had been perfectly fine an hour earlier, an hour earlier when they had made love before Quincy had to leave.

Getting up and off the floor, she walked shakily back to the bed and dropped down and wrapped her body up in the blankets. Reaching a shaking hand out, she grabbed the phone and dialed Quincy. “Honey, I hate to bug you,” she murmured softly. “But is there any way that you can come home? Bring some saltines and tea maybe? I think that I’ve caught a flu bug.”

Dropping the phone, Quincy didn’t even think, just did, and was at her side in seconds. “Baby,” he whispered, leaning over her slightly. Stroking her hair gently, he waited for her to shift so he could see her better. “Maya, love, talk to me, sweetheart.” Their kinds, changers and Magic Users, didn’t get sick often, which was why he was already freaking out. If she was sick it would not be good.

Maya looked up at him and sighed. “I was perfectly fine this morning. I’m not running a fever. I’m not anything except so very tired and I just puked my guts out.” Weirdly though she was already beginning to feel better. That’s when it hit her. “Oh god,” she whispered. “Pregnant. I’m pregnant.” After doing a bit of mental math she knew that it was true, and paled just a bit. “Oh lord, love a duck, we are pregnant.”

Staring blankly at her, he started to smile. He probably shouldn’t but he couldn’t help himself. “Really?” he asked. At her look and nod he did a little happy jig and crouched down to give her a gentle hug. “I love you, Maya, darling mine.”

Maya grinned and hugged him right back. “And I love you, too, Quincy.” She pulled back and frowned. “Talon. Oh that dirty rotten…” She now recalled what had brought Quincy into his power and she said, “I think that you have known all this time, at least subconsciously. That is what saved me that day from the Jeep.” She grumbled. “You knew that I was pregnant with our child.”

“Babe, I swear to all the Gods and Gaia that had I known I would have told you, flat out,” he said, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. He’d heard pregnant women were hormonal and unpredictable. Best not to upset her too early on. “But maybe that’s why I reacted as I did,” he admitted with a frown. Why else would he have turned the offending Jeep into dust that hadn’t even hit the dirt as it disintegrated?

“It’s all right, love. All that matters is we know now.” She paused and sighed. Leaning back, she put her hands to her eyes. “Gods, we are pregnant.” She was beyond shocked. Good lord, she wasn’t sure that she was ready to be a mom.

“I’m definitely not ready to be a dad,” he admitted, settling down next to her. “I really didn’t have the best role models growing up and, if you count those I work with, our kid will need therapy before he or she is out of the womb.”

Maya couldn’t help but to snort and shake her head. “You silly, silly man. Haven’t you realized yet that the men and women that you work with as well as yourself are exactly what our child will need? Honey, this baby is going to know nothing but love, acceptance, and truth. This child is going to be in such a better place than normal human children are because he or she will know the truth of the world and they will learn from the womb that you are always honest and upfront about everything.”

“And crazy,” he muttered, stroking his fingers up and down her arm. “I just hope I don’t screw up like my folks did,” he whispered. “It’s always been my biggest fear that I’d do or say something to drive you away. Now I’m about to have a child to worry about, as well.” He was going to start hyperventilating any second and it wouldn’t end well.

Rubbing her hands up and down his back, Maya spoke quietly to him. “Well considering that I have no issue telling you when you piss me off and helping you get back on the track to making me happy, I don’t think we will have to worry about that. All I ask is that you talk to me. That you love me. I know you are going to love our child so that’s not even something that I have to ask for. You aren’t going to screw up because I won’t let you.”

Laughing softly at that, he hugged her gently to him, careful not to squeeze too hard in case she still felt the need to throw up on him. Brushing a kiss to her cheek, Quincy leaned back. “I’m glad you realize you need to keep me in line, darling. Sorry I’m so high maintenance.”

Maya shrugged. “Darling, trust me. I’ve grown up in a family of high-maintenance men and women. I had to learn really, really young to deal with them.” She winked at him. “And I love you, darling. You are more than worth taking care of.” She moved so that she could curl into him more and sighed. “How about you pull the blanket up and over you, too, so that we can have a bit of a nap together, please?”

Shifting her gently, he tugged up the blankets and wrapped her tight in his arms. “I probably should have called Talon and told him where I was going,” he said. Not that he cared but he had a feeling his boss was going to have words for him. “Though he might be able to figure it out, considering the state of my office when I bailed.”