Force of Attraction

by Force of attraction (lit)

  “Shut up!” Nina shouted.

  “Marisa,” Bradi said, ignoring their lover’s spat and rushing toward his horse. “He wants Marisa. He knows about her healing powers and the baby.”

  “Who’s Marisa?” Jordan asked.

  “His wife.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Bradi rushed through the compound gates and dismounted his horse quickly, tossing the reigns to the first person he saw. The redheaded teenage boy who caught them looked so familiar to him that he almost stopped to question him, but was too worried about Marisa to bother.

  He ran full force toward his house. “Doc?” he called out, as he burst through the door.

  “She’s not here. I’ve been waiting for her myself.”

  Bradi turned slowly, not believing his own ears. “Pete?”

  There, in the center of his living room, stood Commander Peter Williams. Peter gave him an odd smile before taking a step toward him. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, Bradi.”

  “I ... we ... thought you were dead.”

  A faint laugh escaped Peter’s lips as he turned in a small circle. “No, I’m very much alive, and I’ve been worried sick about the two of you.” Peter rubbed his side, as if feeling phantom pain and nodded his head.

  The urge to embrace his friend was great, but Bradi held back, unsure of the welcome he’d get. “We are fine.”

  “They told me that Marisa’s been staying here,” Pete said, glancing around their home. “Hardly seems like the kind of place she’d like.”

  Did he know that Marisa was his wife now? “How did you find us?”

  Peter waved his hand dismissively. “I called in a lot of old favors and managed to find someone who could track the POD signal. It took us a bit of time, but we finally found you two.” Peter put his hands out, and walked toward him. “It’s good to see you. I was afraid that you were dead. I couldn’t believe the preliminary reports concerning the POD when I saw them. I hoped beyond hopes that one of the life-forces that registered on the POD was Marisa. I never dreamed you made it off the ship, too. But, who was the third person?”

  “Third person?” Bradi asked.

  Peter’s brows came together. “Yes, the POD registered three life forms on board right before its signal was terminated. Who was the third person?”

  There was no one else a board the POD except for him and Marisa. It hit Bradi then--the baby. The POD had sensed the moment of conception and had included it in its signal. Bradi stiffened and waited for Peter to probe more. He didn’t.

  “Umm, I’m not sure. The damn thing malfunctioned and we shot right past the rendezvous point. It’s sitting at the bottom of the red sea as we speak. We were lucky to land there. If we had hit solid ground, we would not have survived.”

  A knock sounded at the door and Peter looked at Bradi. “You going to get that?”

  “What, oh ... yeah, hold on.” Bradi tried to regain his composure and opened his door. The redheaded boy who had taken the reigns from him stood there looking at him. It hit him then, it was the boy from the POD. Snatching the boy’s collar, he yanked him through the threshold. “Why you little son of a....”

  A hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Before you tear his head off, you should know that he’s Dr. Graves’ grandson and he saved my life,” Peter said.

  “I told the little bastard to give me five minutes. He took off the second I cleared the damn doorway.” Bradi ran his hand through his hair to avoid striking the kid. “I had to drag Doc further than I should have to get her out of there.”

  “Ceelean, tell the Lieutenant Commander that you’re sorry before he decides to tear your heart out.”

  The boy gulped and took a step backwards. “I’m ... I’m s-orry.”

  “There, that’s better, now isn’t it?” Peter said, with a chuckle. “Now, where’s my fiancée?”

  “Umm, Pete, I don’t know how to tell you this, but....”

  “Bradi, get the door. My arms are full and Christian is loaded up, too!” The sound of Marisa calling out to was both a relief and a worry. She was safe from Stegian, but about to walk into another hornet’s nest. “Janelle, the door, now! I see your horse out here. Don’t make me....”

  He opened the door slowly and found a large mound of plants greeting him. Assuming that Marisa was behind them somewhere, he began to unload her arms. “You should not have carried all of this.”

  “Pfff, please, these are light. You and Christian sound so much alike at times that it scares me. Oh,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “You should see the healing properties in some of these. That one with the blue tint is similar to aloe, except it heals burns instantly. Christian showed me and I’ve got to tell you, it blew my socks off. Bradi ... what’s the matter?”

  * * * *

  Marisa eyed Bradi. He seemed a bit pale to her. Following him through the doorway, she reached for him. “Are you sick? Did you get too much sun? I told Nina to take it easy on you. I....”

  “You never do stop lecturing about one’s health do you, Dr. Langston?”

  Marisa’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. Had she just heard who she thought she did? Turning slowly, her gaze drifted first over a redheaded boy who looked even paler than Bradi and then it fell on Peter.

  She dropped the plant in her arms and stared at him for a moment, too shocked to move. Christian came in behind her and stopped quickly. “Marisa, what’s wrong?”

  “Peter?” she asked, reaching for him, unable to believe that he was not only alive, but standing in her living room.

  He caught her hand in his and pulled her to him. His embrace was strong, passionate, overwhelming. Marisa’s lungs screamed for air, but her body refused to take a breath. This couldn’t be happening. His lung was punctured. She thought he was dead. And now there was Bradi and the baby.

  Peter cupped her face and brought his lips down on hers hard and fast. Normally, a kiss from him could bring her to her knees, but now she wanted to push him off.

  “Little doctor?” Christian’s voice brought her back to her senses and she ended the kiss with Peter.

  Marisa touched Peter’s face lightly, still unable to believe her own eyes. “You’re alive.”

  He kissed her fingertips and drew one seductively into his mouth. She heard Christian gasp and wondered what could be going through his and Bradi’s minds.

  “Please,” Marisa said, pulling her hand back from Peter. He looked her over and smiled.

  “I guess this planet agrees with you, Marisa. You’re glowing! I’ve never seen you look so beautiful.”

  Did he know?

  She glanced back at Bradi and found his jaw clenched tight and his eyes blazing. “Peter, I don’t know what to say. I ... I thought that you were gone. We thought you were gone,” she added quickly, still looking at Bradi. His face didn’t change and she wanted to run to him and toss her arms around his large neck. She didn’t.

  Peter touched her chin and directed her attention to him. “I wasn’t sure that you’d survived either, but I knew that I couldn’t stop looking for you, Marisa.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled a scannable notepad out. “I brought our engagement contract with me, so if they have a Minister or a licensed uniter, we can make it official.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Gods, I’ve dreamt of this moment. I’ve wanted to hold you in my arms and make love to you since we departed Earth. I can’t wait another minute.”

  “Peter, I think that we should....”

  He ignored her and looked at Bradi. “Who can we see about making this official? The sooner the better. I want to be buried so deep in my wife by the end of the night that this planet sends her off because she’s screaming too loud.”

  “Peter!” Marisa shouted, shocked by his statement.

  “You would need to speak with our Chieftain,” Bradi said coldly, never once revealing he was her husband now.

  Didn’t he want her anymore? Had he changed his mind?

  Peter clapped
his hands and walked over to Bradi. “Great, take me to this guy and we’ll get the ceremony started. Oh, and I want you to be my best man, of course.”

  “Of course,” drawled Bradi, his gaze hard and on her.

  Marisa’s brow furrowed. “Bradi?”

  Christian stepped forward and broke the tension in the room. “I may be of some assistance in locating the Chieftain. If you’d like I will take you out in search of him.” He looked directly at her and tipped his head. She knew then that Christian had bought her and Bradi some time to talk and thanked him with a silent nod.

  “Right this way,” Christian said, motioning to the front door.

  Marisa waited until she was sure they were gone before moving toward Bradi. He jerked away quickly and glared at her.

  “I won’t hold you back, Doc.”

  “What do you mean you won’t hold me back?” She glared at him. “And what the hell was all that about? You practically handed me to the man.”

  Bradi laughed. “I have feared this day from the moment we got on that POD. I knew, in my heart, I knew that you would never be mine.” Abruptly, he turned his back to her. “Just go, Doc.”

  “You think you can get rid of me that easily? You think that I’m going to walk away from you, from us, without a fight?”

  He didn’t move. Reaching out tentatively, Marisa touched his back. “Bradi, please don’t send me away. I love you.”

  “Don’t do this, Doc.”

  “Gods damn you, Bradi! I’m telling you that I love you and you’re pushing me out the door. In case you forgot, Mister, I’m already married to you.”

  “Not according to Earth customs.”

  She snorted, not believing that Bradi could be so childish. “Well, guess this baby isn’t really here either. I mean, you don’t seem to care about our marriage anymore, am I to assume that you don’t care about me or our son?”

  When he didn’t respond, Marisa drew in a sharp breath. “Oh gods, that’s it. I was just something to bide time with. Now that Peter’s back you know you can go back to your groupies.” She touched her stomach. “Damn you to hell, Janelle! I will love this child enough for the both of us! I don’t need you! Go ahead! Go back to it all!”

  That got Bradi’s attention. He turned around slowly, and she saw why it was that he hadn’t faced her--he was crying. Running to him, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. Bradi kept his lips closed tight, so she moved to his cheeks to kiss away the tears there. “Bradiainn Janelle, I love you with all my heart and I don’t care if you want me to leave. I’m staying here with you so just get over it!”

  She paused. “Well, if you do want to go back to all those women I’ll....”

  Bradi lifted her off the ground and backed her up against the wall. His mouth came crashing down on hers and the minute that she tasted his salty kisses, she began to cry as well. “I love you, Marisa. You hardly ever do that.”

  “You called me by my name.”

  “I thought it was only fair, you called me Bradiainn.”

  She stroked his long black hair back from his face and planted kisses all over his neck. “I need you in me, Bradi. I need to feel your cock buried deep in my body. I need to know that you won’t leave me. That you want me here, with you.”

  “Pete will be back soon. We need to sit him down and explain what has happened.”

  Digging her nails, lightly into the back of his neck, she growled and bit at his lower lip. Her pregnancy hormones picked then to rear their ugly head. “I said that I needed you. Do your husbandly duties now before I really get pissed off.”

  A wicked grin spread over his face as he pushed his knee between her legs. “What did you have in mind?”

  Grabbing hold of his cock through his pants, she licked up his neck and laughed softly. “How about you fucking me against this wall for starters?”

  Bradi wagged his dark brows. “Mmm, how about I make love to you against the wall instead. Same results, makes me feel like a romantic guy changing the terminology.”

  Marisa unfastened his pants and let them fall to the floor. It wasn’t so easy to get herself undone. “Err, Christian tied me up and now I’m stuck.”

  Bradi narrowed his eyes, as he tipped his head. The unspoken question on his face was enough to tell Marisa that her husband was a jealous man. Not that she needed anyone or anything to remind her of that.

  She snorted. “Not like that ... he helped me figure out the cord thing.”

  He laughed as he let a claw spring forth from his fingertip. Slashing through the cord and the material, he freed her instantly. “Your breasts are getting bigger.”

  Marisa rolled her eyes as she stroked her husband’s erection. “So is your cock.”

  Bradi dropped his head down and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Her body reacted with a jolt and she cried out as he sucked hard on it. Desperate, she pumped his shaft. “Please, Bradi, hurry. I need you in me.”

  He growled out as he pulled his head up. His eyes flashed to yellow and she knew he was fighting to stay in control of his beast. The truth was, he’d always have to fight it, and that hurt her heart. She wrapped her legs around his waist and stared into his yellow eyes. They flickered back to blue and she knew that he was struggling with his beast. “No, let it be, and let your hands go. I want you to make love to me, Bradi. No worries, no rolling away and into water.”

  “No.” The look on his face confirmed her suspicions. Bradi had been hiding from her when he’d rolled in the bathing pool that night so many months ago. His running, his hiding who and what he was, had to end.

  “Fuck me now!”

  “D-o-c,” Bradi growled out as he slammed into her, impaling her with his cock. He smashed her body to the wall, and sent hot juice running down her thighs. With each thrust, Bradi left the back of her head banging against the wall. It would have been painful if the feel of him buried deep within her pussy didn’t feel so good.

  Clawing at his back, she held tight to him as he continued to pump his hips rapidly. His back rippled and she knew that he was just this side of shifting. The thought of that should have scared her, it didn’t. It turned her on. “Oh, yes, Bradi ... yes.” She cried out as she felt her orgasm building.

  White lights flashed behind her eyelids as her inner legs tightened. A tingling sensation moved down to her toes. Bradi snarled as he pushed her hard, one last time against the wall, and finished deep within her, spitting his seed into her.

  Panting and still coming, Marisa hugged him tight as she wiggled on his still hard shaft, utilizing all the pleasure it had to offer.

  Bradi’s eyes shifted back to blue and he tried to back away from her. “Doc, I’m sorry. I lost control.”

  “Shhh,” she whispered pulling his mouth to her. “It was perfect. It’s part of you, Bradi, and I love you, so I love it as well.”

  “You are too good for me. You know that, don’t you?”

  Marisa moved her hips more and felt him flexing his cock deep within her. He lifted her free of his shaft and eased her to her feet. She thought he was done. When he turned her to face in the other direction and pulled her hips back, she knew she was wrong. As he hooked an arm around her midriff and took her toward the floor, she glanced back at him. “Bradi?”

  Instantly, she felt the head of his cock rubbing against her soaked slit. A low rumble sounded from his throat as he ran his hands over her ass. Pulling her cheeks apart, he slid a finger dangerously close to her sensitive anal opening. “Bradi?”

  “Relax, Doc. I would never hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  He pushed his finger in slowly and she felt her tiny rosette fight back against the intrusion. Bradi ran his other hand up her spine and rubbed his cock near her opening. “Relax, baby. Let me love all of you.”

  Working his finger in and out of her slowly, he moved his other hand around to the front and began tweaking her swollen clit. Without thought, she bucked back against him, driving his shaft into
her pussy and his finger deeper into her ass. The sensation of being so full was too much and she came instantly. Bradi pulled out of her and placed the tip of his dick to her anus and slipped it in slowly.

  White-hot pain tore through her body and for a second, Marisa thought she would either pass out or scream. Bradi reached back around and toyed with her clit again, as he eased his length into her more. “Push down, baby. Push down.”

  Marisa did as she was told and the pain lessened, quickly making way for a unique sensation that brought her pleasure. Her body tightened as another orgasm hit her. “Oh, yes ... Bradi, yes ... more!”

  He pushed in to the hilt and she thought that she might explode.

  “So tight ... you feel so good.”

  Bradi began moving in and out of her slowly, letting her ease into the idea of having his cock buried in a new location. Marisa was lost in the bliss of his tweaking, tugging, and screwing and screamed out as yet another orgasm claimed her.

  Bradi slammed his body to hers and released his seed into her. Moaning in ecstasy, he draped his body gently on hers, still buried in her, and still coming.

  “What the...? Marisa?”

  The sound of Peter’s voice caught Marisa off guard and she turned to see Peter and Christian standing in the doorway. She leaned forward as Bradi withdrew slowly. Disgust moved over Peter’s face and his eyes hardened. “You’re fucking our best man? My best...? Marisa? It’s Bradi! You hate Bradi!”

  Bradi tossed her his shirt and it took her three tries to get it on, because her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Marisa glanced at Peter and then to her husband. Bradi finished lacing his pants up and put his hand out to her. She took it carefully, and moved closer to him, needing the shelter, the safety of his arms.

  Peter reached for his weapon and Christian put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I would not advise that, Commander.”