Wings of the Raven (4 page)

He tilted his head, those intense eyes scrutinised me cautiously. “Did you start taking something?” We’d talked about it after the first time we’d slept together. He knew I wasn’t on the pill.

I shook my head. This wasn’t how I’d imagined having this conversation. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to lift my chin and look into his eyes. “But, Will, this wasn’t the first time we forgot protection.”

He nodded. The skin around his mouth was taut and his jaw was clenched again. “The night before I left
San Francisco
.”

“Yeah. In the shower.” We’d been careful the first time that night, but the second round, in the shower, had been fast and furious and reckless. And the third… “And again when you woke up after that nightmare.” It had been a bad one; he’d woken me with what could only be described as a scream. Comfort had quickly dissolved into mindless passion.

“Oh, hell, that’s right.” He tunnelled the fingers of one hand through his short black hair, and I could see the gears turning in his head as he counted and added up the timing. Finally, with a miniscule tip of his chin, he reached down and took both of my hands in his. “Are you sure?” His gaze bored into mine, fierce, but not threatening.

I nodded, willing away the tears I could feel welling in my eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart!” He pulled me onto his lap and cradled me against his body. His lips moved softly against my hair as he murmured my name over and over.

Snuggling into his warmth, I let the tears come. His hands, big and warm, stroked up and down my spine while he clutched me close to his chest. “Shhhh, sweetheart. It’ll be all right. I promise,
Carys
. Everything’s gonna be all right.”

When I finally quieted down, I pulled back and looked up into his face, shocked to see that it was tear-streaked, if not as much as my own.

“I’m s-s-sorry.” A hiccough punctuated the end of the word.

“Don’t be.” His voice was shaky and he kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll work it out. But I wish to hell you hadn’t had to come down here to tell me.”

“I—I wanted you to know first,” I admitted. “I was afraid if I waited, someone would figure it out.”

“Thank you.” This time he pressed a kiss to my forehead. Then he croaked out a rusty chuckle. “Your brothers are going to fucking kill me.”

“I’ll defend you,” I said, trying for a laugh of my own, but it came out as a wheezing sniffle. “Hannah will help.”

“I imagine I’ll survive their wrath.” I snuggled back into his chest and he rested his chin on the top of my head. “As long as the wedding is soon.”

“W-w-wedding?” I tried to sound blasé, tried not to show the rush of feverish hope that filled me. “Who s-said anything about a wedding?”

“You
do
want them to kill me then?” His wry attempt at humour was somehow comforting. If Will could laugh, even half-heartedly, then maybe everything would be all right. “Though it will be a toss up on whether they get to me first, or my grandfather. Granddad’s kind of a stickler when it comes to responsibility.”

I’d met his grandfather at the wedding. Josiah Lightfoot had been a Wind Talker during World War II, and a
Los Angeles
cop for decades thereafter. Even in his late eighties, he was fierce and imposing. He’d more or less raised Will and Hannah while their archaeologist parents had travelled all over the world, and I couldn’t help but be glad he was still hale and hearty, so that my baby would have the pleasure of knowing him. But I saw Will’s point. I didn’t think a modern kids-first-marriage-maybe-later relationship was going to go over big with the senior Lightfoots, any more than it would with the aunt and uncle who’d taken me in after my parents died.

“So do we meet in Vegas as soon as this mission is over, or do you want the whole formal deal?” The wry grin was back, but it didn’t mask the strain that was still in his eyes.

I searched his face for any trace of resentment, and couldn’t find any. Still, I didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t as if he’d actually proposed, and as much as I wanted to marry Will, I hadn’t wanted it to be for practical reasons. I wanted it to be for love. But that word hadn’t been mentioned. Instead I just shrugged and looked away.

“Are you feeling okay?” As that idea occurred to him, he held me away from him and raked his gaze up and down my body. “You’re not sick or anything, are you?”

For some reason, that ticked me off—maybe it was hormones, or maybe it was just the emotional roller-coaster I’d been on for the last few days since I’d begun to suspect. “No. I’m not
totally
stupid, you know. If I was having morning sickness, I wouldn’t have gotten on a plane. I’m tired, that’s all. For some reason, I haven’t been sleeping real well.”

“I can imagine.” He let go of me with one hand to rub his temples and the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry,
Carys
. Both for my carelessness and for not being there for you when you first found out. You must have been scared shitless. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“You’re doing your job,” I told him, mollified by his apology. “And yeah, I was kind of terrified. But now that I’ve had time to think about it…” I broke off, not sure I should admit to what I’d been about to say next. I really didn’t want him to take it the wrong way.

“Yes?” He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Go on. I think in this situation, we need to know what each other is thinking. I mean, it just occurred to me… You do want to keep the baby, don’t you? Not…”

“What?” I pulled back from his arms and glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. “Of
course
I’m keeping the baby.” I’m pro-choice all the way, but I wasn’t sixteen or poor or uninsured. I was in a perfectly reasonable position to support a child, with or without Will’s help.

“Thank you.” Will’s shoulders slumped in relief. “So what were you going to say?”

I sighed. Might as well tell him now. I’d blurt it our sooner or later anyway. “I was going to say that now that I’ve gotten used to the idea, I’m kind of excited about it. I mean I’m thirty-two. I’ve got to admit, my biological clock is definitely ticking.”

“I think…” Will said cautiously. “I think mine has been too. And I can’t say I’m entirely thrilled, not just yet, but I don’t think I exactly mind, either. What’s been going on between us—it was probably always just a matter of when, not if, we made things legal.”

Not exactly a declaration of undying love, but as steps go, it was a good one. I relaxed a little for the first time since I’d seen the pink plus sign. And with that relaxation, the crushing fatigue flooded back into me, making me sag back into his chest, yawning.

“Poor thing.” He snuggled me close, then reached out a hand to switch off the remaining lamp. “Get some sleep. We’ll figure it all out in the morning. Right before we get you on the first possible plane out of this hellhole.”

He settled me against his chest, my cheek pillowed on him while his arm wrapped around me. His other hand settled low on my stomach, in a gesture both protective and affectionate that made me sniffle again. It was going to be all right. I drifted off to sleep with that thought running through my mind. Everything was really going to be all right.

Chapter Three

I woke the next morning before daylight, feeling warm and safe and contented for the first time in weeks. Will had me wrapped in his arms, which felt so good I thought I never wanted to move. Except I had to go to the bathroom.

“Good morning,” he whispered when I crawled back into bed a few minutes later. “Everything okay?”

“Mmm. It is now.” I kissed him, softly at first, then with more and more intensity as we both woke up. His body was hot and hard, his cock ready and prodding against my hip. My own arousal followed quickly. I could feel my pussy swelling and dampening for him, while my nipples were already taut little pebbles rubbing against his smooth chest.

Will kissed his way down my throat, pausing for a moment to nip the tendons of my neck. Rolling me onto my back, he kept his weight on his hip beside me, while his upper body leaned over mine. With one hand, he cupped my left breast, squeezing it softly.

“Are these more sensitive yet?” he asked curiously as he lightly rubbed his thumb across the nipple.

Hell yes.
But all I managed out loud was, “Uh-huh.” Wanting more, I arched my spine, pushing against his hand.

He squeezed just a little harder, still being exquisitely gentle, while he moved his mouth down to capture the other nipple. I gasped at the thrill of pleasure, then moaned as he began to suck. Wet heat coated the inside of my thighs, and my hips began to move restlessly, seeking more.

“God, you taste like heaven,
Carys
.” He switched his mouth to my other breast, which meant he was leaning all the way across my chest, pressing down on the other with his pecs. I moaned again, then cried out as his big hand moved down. He paused to trace the raven-shaped birthmark on my hip, then brought his hand around to cup my mound. His middle finger slid between my slick labia, pressing lightly on my clit and tickling the mouth of my pussy. I wriggled my hips, trying to drive that finger inside, where I wanted him so badly I ached. Will was in the mood to torment me, though. Instead of delving into my slit, he slipped the finger back up and began to massage my distended clit.

Every part of me was primed that morning. I don’t know if it was the pregnancy, or just the two weeks apart, but my body responded like crazy, amazing even me with the degree of reaction to each little touch. I bucked my hips in time to his fingers on my nub, while I clutched his head to my nipple with one hand and dug into his back with the other. I looked down and in the first light of dawn, I saw that dark head against my pale skin. His inky lashes were closed against his cheeks, which hollowed as he suckled me, and I almost came, just from the sight of it.

“More,” I gasped out. What he was doing was wonderful, but I still felt empty. He understood and immediately shifted his hand so it was his thumb strumming on my clit, while he penetrated my pussy with one long finger, then two.

“Yes!” I let my eyes flutter shut as I concentrated on the sensations he evoked with his hands and his mouth. No one had ever touched me like Will did. He wasn’t my first lover, but he’d so quickly become the best—and the only one who’d ever mattered.

He knew my body as well as I did myself, or maybe better. As the tension coiled in the core of me, he increased the pressure of his mouth and the speed of his hand. My nerves raced towards completion until finally he pressed down with his teeth at the same time as he shoved his fingers deep. I shattered, the waves of pleasure rippling through me from my scalp to my toes.

He immediately slowed his ministrations, gently easing me down just enough. Then he pulled his fingers out, rolled above me and slid his rigid dick into my still-pulsing sheath.

“I assume this is still allowed,” he muttered. “I don’t have to wait nine months to fuck you again, do I?”

I opened my eyes and gazed up into his, and was surprised by the light-hearted giggle that emerged from my throat. “God, no. In fact, I’d say it’s absolutely required.” I tightened the muscles of my vagina around him and wiggled my hips side to side. I hadn’t had time to do too much research yet, but I’d checked on
that
right away. As long as there were no complications and things didn’t get too rough, sex was just fine.

“Thank God,” he muttered, pulling almost all the way out before he pushed back in, slow and steady. He kept up that measured pace for a few moments before his control broke and he picked up speed. Since I was still tingling from my first orgasm, it didn’t take much to have me climbing again. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his back as I eagerly met each of his thrusts. Our bodies, slick with sweat, slid against one another’s with delicious friction.

“Will!” I screamed as I crested again, longer and even harder this time, my walls clutching his steely cock.

My climax triggered his and he shouted, “Mine,” as he slammed himself deep and spurted ropes of hot wet fluid into my womb.

It wasn’t a declaration of undying love, but it was enough. Whether I’d wanted to admit it or not, I was already his, and would have been even if I hadn’t been pregnant. Will was my one and only. I only hoped I was his.

Afterward, he lay above me propped on his elbows to spare me his weight. I held on while the slowly diminishing spasms of my pussy milked answering twitches from his gradually softening shaft. He dropped leisurely kisses on my cheeks and forehead and smiled.

“Good morning.”

I laughed. “It sure is from where I’m at. Glad it was good for you too.”

He grinned at my teasing and kissed the tip of my nose. “Very. Now when’s your flight out?”

I scrunched up my face in confusion. “Not until Monday. Why?”

“No.” He shook his head and levered his body off mine before sitting up. I tried not to wince at the feeling of loss. “You’re leaving today. It isn’t safe here.”

“What do you mean?” I rolled to my side, watching as he stood and strode to the window. I hadn’t pulled the blackout drapes, so only the sheer curtain filtered the golden morning sun which cast a glowing halo around his sharp, stark features. If I’d been an artist, I’d have loved to paint him, just like this, naked in the sunshine.