by Roma, Laurie
To keep her safe.
What he said to her was more than a promise. It was a vow. As long as he had breath in his body she would never be alone again.
* * * *
Mikayla slowly woke, feeling normal for the first time in forever.
Well, maybe normal wasn’t the right word for it. She winced as her body protested when she shifted on the bed. Every single muscle in her body was screaming in agony from overuse. She was sore and tired, but this was the first time since she had been kidnapped that she has woken without the burning need driving her insane. She felt content lying there with Gage curled around her back, holding her close to him as if he could protect her even in sleep.
A curse and a benefit of the lust-dust drug was that she remembered everything that had happened, even while she was under the influence. After she had come out of her shock at the hospital Brett had arranged to have her and Katie released. Once back at the cabin Gage had carried Mikayla into her bedroom where they had disappeared for the last two days. They had lived in a bubble all their own, their lives consisting of nothing more than sex, sleeping, sex, eating and more sex.
Unable to help herself, Mikayla had turned to Gage countless times during the drug cycles and every time she did he was right there with her, ready to love her until the storm passed again. He gave her anything and everything she needed, bringing her release too many times to count then sleeping with her, protectively curled around her during her momentary respites from the agonizing need.
During those long hours together, Mikayla had screamed, moaned and whispered her love for him. In return he had said it back to her over and over again, showing her in every way possible that he loved her. He had matched her passion when she needed, bathed her and fed her when she was hungry. He had kept her grounded through the insanity and showed that he would be there for her.
No matter what.
Her pussy was raw and swollen from the constant sex, but the drugs had kept up their demand of her, pushing her into a sexual haze of need time and time again. She couldn’t even imagine what Gage’s cock felt like after the multiple times he had fucked her into a screaming orgasm.
Gage had sent his cousin Sebastian out to buy some special items for him when they had left the hospital. During their time together Mikayla had become intimately familiar with the vibrator, butt plug and other various toys that Gage had bought to help her through the hours of forced arousal. Even so, after the first several hours she knew what she was asking from Gage was physically impossible.
She remembered crying when Gage had asked Dr. Ellis to give him a dose of the drug simply so he could keep up with her sexual appetite. Despite her protests, Dr. Ellis had altered a smaller dose, just enough for Gage to be able to satisfy her needs. She had begged Gage not to take it, saying she could deal with the pain. She told him it was getting better, but he had taken the drug anyway, waiting to be able to provide for her, to suffer with her though the phases.
Mikayla knew that she would never love him more than she did at that moment.
During their sexfest hiatus the rest of the team had kept busy down in the security center, probably to try and avoid the noises coming from her bedroom, even though the room was supposed to be soundproofed. They had taken Dr. Ellis back to the cabin with them where he was staying in one of the upstairs guest bedrooms when he wasn’t down below in the security center with the others, trying to work on an antidote for the lust dust.
Brett, Rock and Adrian used the information Slade had gotten from his interrogation of David Henley and the guards, along with any additions that Robert Ellis could provided, to organize a takedown of the entire kidnapping operation. They wanted to formulate a plan to take the three other locations down simultaneously. The only issue was that David Henley had only known where two of the facilities were located and no one had actually been to the third location. Slade himself had interrogated them again, but came back to the cabin with nothing new to add to their intel.
Mikayla knew that she would have to get up and get to work soon now that the drugs were finally wearing off. Only, she didn’t want to. Even though she hated losing control of herself due to the lust dust, she had trusted Gage to help her through it.
To keep her safe.
And despite the circumstances, she had loved their time together. Sure, most of the time the sex had been manic, need-driven fucking, but there were also the sensual, loving moments where they had taken their time. After the last few days there wasn’t a spot on each other’s bodies that they hadn’t touched, sucked or tasted.
With both of them on the drug there were no barriers between them. No lies, no evasions, just basic truth. They had used the time together to talk, telling each other things they had never shared with anyone else. Inside the walls of that room they had formed a bond, sharing their past, talking about their feelings and hopes for the future. She had been honest with him about her job as a sniper and her role as an agent for IAD. She told him about the offer she had gotten to head up the training facility there at the cabin, and Gage had been overjoyed at the news. Although he made it clear he was okay with what she did, he admitted that he was pleased she wouldn’t be going out on missions as much if she took over running the training site.
Gage in turn had talked about his past and the betrayal that had ended his career as an actor. He told her about the “Stark curse” and how it had made him gun-shy about getting involved with a woman who would own his heart. Their love had come as a surprise for both of them, but they had become a unit and she wanted to hold onto the connection.
He had informed her about the baby during one of their baths together. At first she had been shocked. She had been on birth control, but he had told her that the antibiotics she had taken after she had been shot in Las Vegas had countered the effects of the contraceptive. Gage had waved off her guilt when she had tried to apologize. It hadn’t been planned, but he hadn’t been angry about it.
Actually, he had seemed quite pleased with the news.
Mikayla didn’t know how she had felt about it at first. A baby certainly hadn’t been in her plans, but she found that she already loved that little spark growing inside of her. She could already imagine a little boy or girl with Gage’s brilliant emerald eyes and heart-stopping smile. Well, it seemed like she would be staying in Serenity and running the IAD training facility after all. She would make a life here, with Gage and their baby.
But first, she had unfinished business to attend to.
Mikayla turned into Gage’s arm so they were facing one another. He truly was a beautiful man. She smiled as she thought of how he winced every time she had called him that. In sleep he looked younger. The harsh edge of his sculpted face was softer without the intensity of his green eyes added to the mix.
She really did love him, so much that he had filled the places in her heart that had been broken in the past. They had their differences, and she was sure that their lives together would never be tame or easy, but there was love there between them. And with that love they would work to conquer anything that came their way.
Together.
Gage’s eyes slowly opened, those bright-green eyes beaming at her with warmth and welcome. “Hi, baby.”
“Good morning.”
“Are you hurting again?”
She shook her head. “I think it’s passed now. I feel okay…finally.”
“Oh, thank Christ.” Gage flopped down on his back with an exaggerated sigh, but dragged her with him so she was lying on his chest. “I think you broke my dick.”
“I sure hope not.” She laughed. “I plan to use it often over the next several years so you better make sure it’s still in working condition.”
Gage’s expression sobered as he eyed her. “So, does that mean you’ll marry me?”
She blinked, unsure how to respond. “Is…was that a proposal?”
“That depends on your answer,” he hedged.
“Oh no,” Mikayla said as she poked him
hard in the chest, exasperated with him. “That’s not how this works. You have to actually ask in order to get an answer. And because that was a piss-poor job of asking, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say anything.” She started to roll off of him and he followed her, trapping her body underneath his so he was looking down at her.
“We’re going to have a kid together…”
She frowned at him. “Is that why you asked? Gage, we don’t have to get married just because we’re having a baby together.”
“So, that’s a no then?”
She heaved out a sigh. “It’s a non-answer because it was a non-question. All I’m saying is that just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean we have to get married. I know we haven’t known each other long and that this…situation has been anything but normal. I just don’t want you to feel pressured into doing something you don’t want to do.”
“Are you finished? Good, because it’s my turn. For two people who are crazy about each other we seem to have a problem getting on the same page sometimes. We’re gonna have to work on that over the next fifty years or so. I really don’t care if I’ve known you for ten days or ten years. What I do know is that I love you and that I’ll keep loving you until the day I die and probably beyond that because I’ll be damned if I’ll let even death keep us apart. I want to marry you and raise Junior with you. I want us to be a family.”
She slowly smiled at him. “Junior?”
“Yeah, Junior, because we can’t have a girl. I mean I can barely leash the crazy with you, and I know you can handle yourself with all of your ninja skills. Can you imagine how insane I would be if we had a little girl to worry about? No, it has to be a boy.”
Mikayla couldn’t help it. His panicked expression was priceless and she laughed in his face.
“Sure, laugh it up. We’ll see who is laughing if I have to deal with female questions and, oh god, dating! She wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house until she was thirty!”
She reached up and yanked lightly at the hair on his chest.
“Ouch!”
“Focus, Gage. What were you saying before you went off on your tangent?”
He rubbed at his chest, pouting for a second before smiling down at her. “Oh yeah. Will you marry me? You should know that I’d been planning to ask you before I even knew about the baby. I knew I loved you and wanted you to be mine when I realized I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I didn’t get you back. It nearly broke me, Mikayla. I want you with me, always. So, marry me.”
“You know what, Mr. Stark? I think I will…”
“Thank god,” Gage breathed out then leaned down to kiss her. “You said your friend lives in Vegas, right? I have my pilot’s license. We can use the helicopter and fly over and get it done and be back for dinner.”
Mikayla laughed again and shot him a pitying glance. “Gage. My uncle is a commander of the allied forces and one of the founders of IAD. Do you honestly think he is going to be all right with me eloping in Vegas in a wedding where he doesn’t get to give me away?”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, sweetie. You are.” Mikayla leaned up and took his lips with hers. She smiled up at him, smoothing his hair back off of his face with a gentle hand. “We’ll have a real wedding. With your family and mine.”
“But your family is bound to kick my ass before I get you to say ‘I do.’”
She chuckled at that. “I’ll protect you. I don’t need years either, Gage. I know what’s in my heart. I love you. I love you so much I don’t think I have the word to tell you just how much you mean to me. Neither of us is perfect, but I think we’re perfect for each other. I would be proud to be your wife.”
“Mikayla…”
Gage whispered her name in a reverent tone before his lips met hers again. The kiss deepened into a sharing of their feelings, too profound for words to convey. And in the morning light they came together one last time before they let the outside world back into their private haven. They touched, free from the demands of the drugs, simply two people in love.
Chapter Seventeen
Mikayla came to a halt as she walked down the hallway into the living room, shocked to see more people than she was expecting. Gage had to brace himself in order to stop from running into her then cursed under his breath as he took in the new additions.
She wasn’t surprised to see Slade, Adrian, Sebastian, Nick, Brett and Robert sitting around the large dining room table together, but she was surprised to see were IAD agents Tara and Lucian sitting with them.
Mikayla’s friend Tara “T-rex” Toshi was an exotically beautiful woman. Petite and almost delicate looking, most people didn’t know how lethal she was until it was too late. The two women had worked on countless missions together and had a special bond that had been forged amongst the ocean of testosterone that was IAD. They each held their own against the other agents, but it was nice to have female friends to bitch to when the men had their stupid male moments.
Sitting next to Tara at the table was the devilishly handsome Lucian Steele. Lucian had black hair, black obsidian eyes and a lean muscular body that had most women fantasizing the moment they saw him. Although Mikayla had never fallen prey to his innate charm and sex appeal in the romantic sense, she loved him like she did the rest of the agents.
They were family.
Mikayla looked over to see Rock, Dylan and the gorgeous dark-blond Julian King, Tara’s fiancé, sitting on the couches. It was obvious to see that Dylan had a slight case of hero worship with the IAD agents and he was listening intently to whatever Rock was saying. Wulf jumped up from where he had been lying at Rock’s feet and padded over to greet Mikayla. She patted his head affectionately and opened her mouth to greet the newcomers, but the words got caught in her throat on a strangled gasp. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as Sal Moretti and IAD commander Sinclair Hamilton walked out of the kitchen, both carrying large steaming mugs of coffee in their hand.
Sal was a big, dangerous-looking man. His unique amber eyes always reminded Mikayla of a deadly beast walking on two legs. But out of the two of them, Sin was the man that caught her immediate attention. As one of the IAD commanders that coordinated all of the divisions around the world, Sinclair “Sin” Hamilton was one of the only individuals that could instill fear in any of the hard-hearted IAD agents. His short hair was dark as midnight, with eyes to match and a dark shadow covered his chiseled jaw. It wasn’t his appearance that set him apart from the group. It was the aura of power he wore like others wore clothes.
No one exuded pure intimidation better than Sin.
Sal was the first to see Mikayla and Gage standing in the hallway. He smiled held out his mug to her. She took it gratefully and gulped down the dark brew like it was the elixir of life.
“Hi there, Lynx. Good to see you’re still able to walk,” Sal said with a grin then headed back into the kitchen to get some more coffee.
Damn it, she was going to kill someone. She had to force herself not to shift in embarrassment as Sin swung his piercing gaze her way.
“Commander,” she said as she straightened.
Sin waved a hand at her as he sat down at the table. “Seriously Lynx, you aren’t going to go all formal on me now after all of us have been listening to you have sex for the last few days, are you?” he said dryly.
“Shit…” Yeah, she was definitely going to have to kill someone.
Sin raised an eyebrow as he looked at Gage. “Pretty impressive stamina, Hollywood.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lucian said with a grin. “The soundproofing in this place is pretty impressive. But you are loud, Lynx. Who knew you were a screamer?”
“Tara?”
Tara reached out and slapped Lucian hard on the back of his head, making him curse. “I’ve got your back, girl,” Tara said with a wink.
A loud bang had them all turning to where Brett had leaned down to smack his head on the table. “No, no, no. We talked about this. It’s like Fight Club. You don’t ta
lk about it, then I don’t have to think about what’s been going on in there for the last few days. It’s like it never happened.”
Mikayla snorted out a laugh and joined them at the table, with Wulf following her like a loyal sidekick.
“I think I’ve been replaced as his favorite,” Gage murmured to her.
“He’s a good dog.” She smiled at him and rubbed Wulf’s head as he stared up at her in adoration. Avoiding eye contact with everyone, she lowered her aching body into a chair. Once she was settled, Wulf draped himself over her bare feet, keeping them warm. She gritted her teeth as she heard the snickers of amusement as Gage sat down slowly beside her.
Slade, Rock, Julian and Dylan also joined them at the table and she quickly made introductions. She did a double take when she finally got a good look at Sebastian’s impressive two black eyes. “What the hell happened to you?”
Mikayla shot a glare at Rock, who held up his hands.
“It wasn’t me this time. I had my fun when we went through this with Tara.”
“Fun…?” Julian muttered.
“This one,” Sebastian said, pointing to his right eye. “Was a gift from Slade. And the other one was from Adrian.”
Mikayla frowned at the men in question then settled on Brett.
“What?” Brett said innocently. “I didn’t touch Sebastian. I got mine out of my system when I punched Gage in the hospital.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Gage said, sarcasm all but dripping from his voice.
“Good times,” Brett said then tapped fists with Slade, making Mikayla roll her eyes at them.
“I think you are forgetting something,” Slade said casually as he stared at Sebastian.