Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) (24 page)

Pleasant little aches reminded her that she’d met her perfect match sexually. Josh knew precisely what she liked and offered it tirelessly.

Why didn’t I meet him a year ago? Or two?

Why?
A year earlier, she’d been fresh from a breakup with Carl. She wouldn’t have noticed a guy then, even if Josh had grabbed her and laid one of those toe-curling kisses on her.
Well, maybe then,
she conceded.

Earlier than that, she’d still been neck deep in a relationship with Carl and tying the noose around her neck by believing his lying ass.

Maybe he’s not gone.
It was possible that Josh had gone back to his own room to change or gone down to breakfast. If he had a room, it was a safe bet he was invited to breakfast.

That in mind, she jumped from bed, grabbed one of the outfits she kept in the closet in her room at her aunt and uncle’s house, and rushed into the three-quarter bath that she shared with her sister’s room.

Memories of the two of them in the shower sent shivers down her spine. The sounds he made when she sucked him were sinfully arousing.

Move. Don’t give him time to leave without offering to meet him again.

She rushed through a shower, dried off, and pulled her clothing on. That accomplished, she hung the towel and bathmat to dry and made her way downstairs.

Uncle Steven and Aunt Diane sat at the table, chatting over plates of pancakes and cups of coffee. Jo went to the sideboard and filled a plate, then slipped into the closest chair.

She looked around at the empty table, her heart aching. “Looks like everyone got an early start. Is anyone else still here?”

Jo tried to keep her tone light. Based on her aunt’s non-reaction, she guessed she was moderately successful at it.

“Just the three of us. Amy and Sakkra had an early shuttle to Bermuda. Their men left with them. Others ate an early breakfast and went off to whatever their plans were for the day.”

She nodded and started eating, trying to hide her disappointment. There was no way to ask if Josh would be invited to the Easter celebration without her entire family scenting that she might be falling for someone again.

Besides, if he’s a friend of Amy and Sakkra, there’s no saying Aunt Diane invited him.

She sighed and tried to cover it with a sip of juice. Aunt Diane’s questioning look let her know she’d showed her hand...just a bit.

****

Rietin stood on the beach, outside the small security shield, conspicuously dressed in jeans and boots, in contrast to the bikini-clad beach bunnies and the tourists in their t-shirts for the Frog and Onion Pub or Bone Fish Bar and Grill. His hair blew free around his face; he’d considered putting it up this morning, but—for a reason he couldn’t name—he decided to leave it down today.

Inside the shield, Sakku Amy wore a one-piece maternity swimsuit in the royal white and
ullium
with a white sarong, and Sakkra wore a matching pair of men’s trunks. The slight swell of her pregnant womb was the subject of many of the pictures being snapped, Rietin was sure. A full dozen of Sakkra’s finest held position inside the shield, keeping watch on the tourists and paparazzi on the other side.

Bermuda was one of Amy’s favorite places in the world, and she and Sakkra visited often. Though the day had started off with a meeting with the Bermudan government, they never failed to make a visit to the island a mini-vacation if they had the chance.

Though Rietin was consciously scanning the area for any threats to Sakku Amy and Sakkra, he’d resigned himself to the fact that his subconscious was intent on torturing him with memories of Jolene. Her face at climax. Her body begging for him with signs of arousal.

Watching her sleeping before he slipped out of her room and to his own had nearly broken his resolve. He’d considered waking her for one more round of what was undeniably fantastic sex. He’d never met a woman he meshed so well with before.

Reality had stayed his hand, of course. It would be unkind to wake her, both unkind to her and to himself.

What can come of it?
He wasn’t capable of giving a human woman children and probably wasn’t capable of giving a Sakk woman children, either.
I’ve known that was the case since I was fourteen
yans
old, and the healers made it clear I would never be approved to take a mate.

There are women who can’t have children, due to their own medical conditions. I could marry one of them. We could adopt children.

He wondered if the Sakk would allow him to raise a surrendered child. Maybe a male who was genetically sound and could save his family line.

You know they won’t. Not as a single male and not with a woman who isn’t Sakk-descended. Since I can’t mate with a Sakk-descended woman, I will never have a Sakk-descended child.

And considering the bias against Sakk in other circles, the human authorities will not allow me to adopt a human child if I marry a human woman.

Not to mention, any woman I marry or mate with wouldn’t be Jolene.
It was enough to drive a sane man to madness.

Rietin sighed and focused on his prince and princess again. His job was to ensure their safety.

My job is all there will ever be for me.

Chapter Twenty

“Your cousin to see you, Sakku,” Colonel Muuzo announced from the doorway to the lounge in Sakkra and Amy’s quarters. Before an answer came from inside, he turned, bowed to Jo, and backed away to let Jo pass.

Amy looked up from the book she was reading, her smile fading at her first glance Jo’s way.

Jo felt her cheeks heat.
That’s it. Amy will know something’s wrong. I’ve never had a poker face.

Right on cue, Amy said Jo’s name, a question couched in it.

Her knees quaking, Jo made her way to one of the other chairs and sank into it. “I need to talk to you.”

She didn’t
want
to discuss this with Amy today. This was the last thing she
wanted
to do.

Amy set her book aside. “Go on.”

She glanced at the colonel. “Alone?” she requested.

He waited long enough to see Amy’s wave of dismissal, then retreated and shut the door behind him. Jo sighed in relief at that. This was going to be hard enough without an audience.

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked. A smile curved one side of her lips. “What is your mother furious about this time?”

Jo winced. Furious described her mother’s current mood well enough.

Her cousin’s smile faded again.

“I need your help.”
That’s the understatement of the century.

“I can’t imagine I’d turn you down, but I need to know what the problem is to figure out what kind of help I can offer.” She wasn’t teasing. Amy had gone deadly serious, as if she’d grasped the gravity of the situation already.

Tears pooled in Jo’s eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

Amy’s jaw dropped. “You?”

“Yes.”

She nodded, seemingly stunned. Jo supposed that made sense. It wasn’t a situation anyone who knew her would have expected to find Jo in.

“And before you ask...No, I don’t want to abort or to give the baby up for adoption.”

“Oh, your mother is going to uncork.”

The blunt statement drew a weak laugh from Jo. “Tell me about it.” She sighed. “She already has. You know my mother. You’re only twenty. Halfway through college. No husband. You’re ruining your life. You’re ruining my life.”
I won’t be responsible for raising this kid, you know.
“Uncorked is too kind a term for it.”

“If you’re asking for a place to stay until this all blows over, you’re welcome. We have tons of space here at the consulate.”

Jo stared at her clasped hands, at a loss for a moment. “That might help, but...” The rest stuck in her throat. She tried to calm her rioting heart rate and started again. “What I really need your help with is something altogether different.”

Amy cocked her head to one side. “I’m listening.”

“I need your help to find the father.”

Words seemed to fail her cousin. “You don’t know who—?”

“Of course I do. You know me better than that.” Jo fumed at the insinuation. “The one time in my life I have a one-night stand, and the contraception fails. I hadn’t been with anyone since Carl.”
More than a year ago, but Amy knows that. I was crying on
her
shoulder the night I caught him with that slut.
“And I haven’t since, so...there’s really no question who the father is.”

“But you don’t know how to find him again?” she guessed.

“It was a one-night stand, Amy.”

“You can’t go back to where you met him and ask around to see if he’s a regular customer?”

Jo swiveled her head in a negative response. “I met him at the family Christmas party, and we...sort of...uh... Well, I guess it’s obvious what we did.”

“Then someone in the family must know him.”

Jo shot her the standard ‘duh’ look. “You and Sakkra do, which is why I’m here.” She waved off Amy’s move to answer. “Please, Amy. He’s not listed in the phone book. I can’t find him on the web. I need to find him to let him know.”

“He’s not Sakk?” Amy asked, seemingly perplexed.

“Of course not. Don’t you think I would have told you if he was?”

“But he said Sakkra and I invited him to the party?”

“Yes. He did.” Was Amy being dense?

“To a
family
Christmas party?”

Jo dusted off the ‘duh’ look again.

Amy put up a hand asking for calm. “Okay. I believe you, but I don’t remember us bringing or even inviting anyone along who isn’t Sakk.” Before Jo could protest, she continued. “What did he say his name was?”

“Josh. Josh Rietin.”

Amy’s eyes went wide. “Rietin? You’re
sure
he said his name was Rietin?”

“That’s what he said.”

Her cousin didn’t respond, and Jo’s blood ran cold.

“Oh, God. He’s married. Is he married?” Josh wasn’t wearing a ring and didn’t have a pale band where he
should
be wearing one, but that didn’t mean he was single. There was a reason behind Amy’s shock, and Jo couldn’t come up with another one.

“No. If it is Rietin, I guarantee he’s not married.” She rose and went to the screen in the wall. “Display a likeness of Rietin,” she ordered the computer.

His picture appeared, surrounded by Sakk glyphs.

Jo breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s Josh. Now...will you help me find him?”

Amy’s intended answer never emerged.

Sakkra opened the door and breezed through the room to his wife. “Ah. Two and a half of my favorite ladies.” His hand covered Amy’s midsection. “And what brings Jo here today? Just a visit?”

Something told Jo that Sakkra’s presence here wasn’t a coincidence. Most likely, one of his warriors noticed her upset and called for him.

Before Jo could open her mouth to repeat the request to find Josh to the Sakk prince, Amy answered him.

“Jo has some news. She’s pregnant.”

Sakkra smiled widely. “Such a blessing. Who is the lucky sire?”

Amy cleared her throat, and Sakkra raised head to meet her gaze. She jerked her head toward the screen, and he followed her line of sight.

His smile disappeared. A rapid-fire series of sounds in the Sakk language left his lips.

Amy darkened. “Speaking in Sakk in this situation is incredibly rude, Sakkra. And, yes, she is absolutely certain it’s Rietin.”

Jo pushed to her feet, stung by the predictable male response. “If you’re not going to help me find him—”

Sakkra was at her side that quickly. “You don’t look well.”

Though her heart was pounding and her stomach churning, though tears burned at her eyes, Jo straightened and offered a bald lie. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” There was a note of alarm in his response that stopped Jo cold. “Amy, I believe the healers should give her a thorough check over.”

Amy seemed to consider that. “That sounds like a very good idea. You are really pale, Jo.”

That’s going too far.
“I’m fine,” she insisted.

Amy took her arm. “Humor him. It’s ingrained in Sakk males. Pregnant women are coddled.” She raised a beautiful
ullium
medallion with Sakk glyphs on it from her chest and showed it to Jo. “They monitor me all the time. One bad burp will set off an alarm in medical.”

Jo wanted to argue that she was joking, but something told her Amy was being serious.
But still...”
It’s not...dangerous, is it?”

Sakkra’s expression of offense taken was answer enough.

“Okay. They can check me over.
Then
you’ll help me find Josh?” she asked. Even if it was some underhanded paternity test, Jo knew how it would turn out, and she didn’t doubt that Sakkra would do everything possible to make sure a pregnant woman had her baby’s father around to help her. It was part of the Sakk mentality about child rearing.

“Of course,” Amy assured her, but there was an unexplained tension in the air.

****

“Rietin, you are relieved,” Eli informed him.

He checked the watch on his wrist. “You’re not due to relieve me for two hours.”

Five yards away, the newest match was shopping with her mate, purchasing candies and toiletries to take to Sakk with her.

“Sakkra requested your presence. It is likely Sakku wishes to dine out or has an event to attend.”

Rietin grunted his agreement and left Eli in charge of the security detail. He started his van and headed for the consulate, deep in thought. Though Amy typically arranged things like that further in advance, it was possible that was the case, and one never kept royalty waiting, even if that royalty was as laid back and unassuming as Amy was.

In all honesty, it was a relief to leave the detail he’d been assigned to. Protecting a newly-mated couple was a bitter reminder of what he would never have.

Too weak genetically to be awarded a match—on Sakk or on Earth—Rietin had long since resigned himself to bachelorhood and had petitioned for work as a warrior guard on a seed world. With the treaties on Earth, the need had arisen for wingless guards who could blend in with the native population.