Body Talk: An Ex-Navy SEAL Billionaire Romance

by Ashlee Price

  “What is it that we have to prepare for?” I still had no idea what she was talking about from before.

  “Why, for the baby of course. There are several families that we are going to meet with and I need you to look your best. No one will want your child if you look as you do now, dirty and your hair in disarray.”

  I looked down at my clothes and they were stained, but it was only because I only had two dresses there. When I was made to leave in the middle of the night, my things were already in the carriage waiting and I was not able to get anything else. When I mentioned that to her, she made a sound and then told me that I would have to go down to the shops and see if there was something that wouldn’t need too many alterations.

  “I doubt we will find anything as large as you are now.” She tsked and looked off for a time. “I don’t want them to see you like this, so we will have to find something. Go down there and see if there is anything suitable.”

  She handed me some money and I looked at it. She made mention that she wanted anything that was left over and I nodded that I would. What I was really thinking of though, was how much it was when added with my own. There was not much else I could do if she was already planning to sell my baby or give it away to strangers. There was no way that I was going to let that happen, so I knew that now was the time. If I was going to go, really going to leave, I had to do it now because after the baby was born was going to be too late. There was much apprehension in having a child without a doctor or something of the like around, no one to help me, but I knew that I didn’t have a choice.

  She was not going to let me keep my baby and I could never go home with him, so I had to leave.

  “I have to change my shoes and I will go right away Aunt Lea.”

  Looking at me suspiciously, I smiled back at her and she looked at me sharply. Toning down the look, I tried to keep my apprehension and excitement to myself. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew that almost anything had to be better than staying there and listening to her. My aunt had a way of breaking one’s spirit and mine had been broken enough. There was nothing more that I wanted to do then, but leave and never look back. My mind was a long way from the man that kept me company at night.

  Chapter 6 – Damien

  “Is Harriet here?”

  The older woman shook her head, the dark curls falling across her face with the movement.

  “I know that she is and I would like to see her.”

  She stood in front of the door and made it clear that I would not be passing. I didn’t understand why she insisted on being difficult and lying to me. I was told by several people in the village that Harriet was staying there with her aunt.

  “Harriet is here. Everyone in towns knows that she is here, so why won’t you move aside so I can see her.”

  “I don’t know who you think you are….”

  “You know exactly who I am and if I have to get someone to come in there and get her I will.”

  She blanched at the threat and then sighed. “She really isn’t here. I sent her this morning to get a dress and she hasn’t come back yet with my money.”

  “Are you sure she is okay?” I was less worried about her money and more worried about the woman carrying my child. With her so close to when the baby would be due, I knew that some women had complications. I couldn’t even think about what would happen if something happened to her. I knew that I would lose myself and the puckered face woman in front of me was what was standing in my way. I leveled a dark look at her and she flushed more from the intensity of it.

  “I think she is fine. She probably went and spent it on something frivolous. Who knows with her?”

  I could tell that I wasn’t going to get anything from her, but I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t lying. “Take me to her room.”

  The woman was going to say no, I could see her lips forming to the answer, but she must have seen in my eyes that that answer was not going to be taken. I was going to have her and there was nothing that anyone was going to do about it.

  She finally moved aside and directed me up a small flight of stairs that were hidden from my view at first. “She has been staying up here?”

  With a nod of the head, I could tell that Harriet had more than likely ran away from that woman. She was mean and malicious, which was clear from being around her for more than a few minutes. No one could miss the spirit of the woman that was around her for too long.

  The room was tiny and I couldn’t even stand up in it. I imagined Harriet in a place such as this and it made me angry that she had been tossed up there as if she were a servant. I knew that this was her aunt’s place, but it didn’t seem that she was cared for very well there.

  There were only a few things that I recognized as hers and one of them was a dress that had once been beautiful, I could still see her in it, but it was now soiled and stained. The more I saw, the angrier I became. It was not the sort of place for the woman I loved and I hoped that she had left. I knew then though, that I was going to find her and make sure that she never had to live like this again.

  About to leave, I stopped when I saw a piece of scrap paper with her writing on it. I would recognize it anywhere, still possessing several letters that she had written me. They had kept me going the long nights that I was fighting away from home. I picked up the small piece of paper and read it out loud. “Oliver Damien Cross.”

  I liked the name and I liked the fact that she felt like our child was a boy. I had this hope in my heart that it would be a boy, but I felt like all men had desire. If she felt the same way, I knew then more than ever that the feeling I had was true. She was going to have my son soon and I had to get to her.

  Walking back down the stairs I almost stopped to say something, but knew that it would just be a waste of breath on someone like her. She would not see what she had done as anything wrong, but I knew in my heart that she would pay for what she had done to Harriet. Just to treat her to such a place when there were obviously other empty rooms was bad enough.

  “If you find her, make sure she gets back here. We have people to meet or they are not going to take the baby.”

  I turned around and moved till I was right in front of her. “You are going to do no such thing. That is my baby and Harriet is going to be my wife. You will have nothing to do with either one of them again you old crone.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but I think the look in my eyes was enough for her to stop. I left finally and I was glad to see the back of the place. Just being around the woman had put me in a foul mood. I had to find my wife.

  I really liked the sound of that.

  ***

  “You were impossible to find.”

  She smiled at me and smiled down at the bundle in her hands. “Do you want to meet your son?”

  I was nervous to hold such a small creature, but the boy had my eyes and his mother’s smile. When he smiled up at me, I was in love twofold. There was nothing I could do but cradle him against me and look down at her.

  “How did you find me?”

  “I kept asking around and I followed a blacksmith’s wife home and got information from her. Then I met your aunt and you were gone. So there were only a couple of places you could have gone.”

  I was proud of my investigation skills, but I was too late.

  “What is the matter, Damien?”

  “I wanted to do this right, to ask you to marry me before…”

  “You were going to ask me to marry you?”

  “I am. Harriet, I need you in my life and I want you to be my wife. For us to be a family. You are all I have thought about since I left and I don’t ever want to be without you again. I love you, Harriet.”

  Her eyes started to well up as I came towards her. Kissing her, I asked her for an answer and she just smiled up at me. “How could it be anything but yes, Damien?”

  ***

  I watched her put the baby down in the small bassinet and watched her fuss over him for a few
minutes before I called her to bed.

  “He is not the only one that needs some attention wife.”

  She smiled and I was taken aback by her beauty once again. When she smiled at me like that, it was hard to breathe sometimes. As she came towards the bed, her eyes had a glint in them that I hadn’t seen in a long time and my body started to respond before she had done anything.

  “Why are you not next to me?”

  “You are impatient.”

  “I have waited a long time, Harriet. I can no longer be patient.”

  “What is it that you want my husband?”

  I liked the sound of it and I pointed at her. “Me?”

  Shaking my head, I tried to reach for her, but she back stepped out of my reach. Growling I was about to get up when she shook her finger at me and told me to stay. My eyes watched her move a little closer, but still out of my reach and then move her hands up to the top of her dress. Pulling it down her arms, her body was slowly revealed for every curve that I had missed so much. Taking a deep breath, I tried to contain myself, but I hadn’t seen the perfection in full for such a long time. My mind went to the time when I had and I grew larger by the second.

  She noticed and moved to touch me there as she had once before. My eyes closed to the pleasure and I heard her giggle slightly. “Is that what you wanted?”

  Opening my eyes I nodded my head that it wasn’t and I had had enough of her teasing. Pulling her to me, she made an attempt to slow me down, but it was impossible with all of her body in view. She was thicker, her shape more womanly and I was beside myself with need.

  “Why are you rushing, Damien? We have all night.”

  I groaned with the idea of it, but I knew that I wasn’t going to last another minute if she continued to stand there as she was. Instead I pulled her over onto me and her legs straddled my thighs. Her eyes went to the hardness underneath her and she slipped down lower to open my pants and set my manhood free. Her eyes widened and then mine did as well as she leaned down to take me into her mouth.

  My member disappeared into her mouth and I finally couldn’t stand the sight any longer. Closing my eyes, it only made the sensation harder to deny and soon I had to stop her before I lost myself so quickly. I wanted it to last, but more than anything, I wanted inside of her.

  Pulling her back up to my waist, I lifted her up and eased her down onto my hardness. She gasped and I groaned as I filled her slowly. It had been so long since I had felt the perfection, every inch fully taken and squeezed from all sides by her slick, suffocating folds. She whimpered above me when I held her hips still. I needed a moment to adjust to the pure heaven that I experienced, still wanting to last as long as I could.

  She was impatient though, as she had been the first time and started to move, grinding me deeper with only the inch or two that she was able to manipulate inside of her. She was becoming frantic, wanting more and I could feel her wetness surrounding me. “Please, Damien, I need all of you.”

  I could no longer prolong the inevitable and instead of trying, I slammed her body the rest of the way down as my hips thrust upwards. Harriet screamed out my name as I felt the rush of fluid around me. It was too much to take and as I gripped her, I thrust upwards over and over again until I too was groaning her name in release. It was always so perfect with her.

  Harriet collapsed on my body and I moved the silken strands out of my face as she tried to catch her breath, my thickness still inside of her, pumping seed and being clenched with each lingering spasm of pleasure. It was a time before she started to sit up and I felt myself growing larger in her again. Harriet whimpered and I asked her if she wanted me to stop.

  “Never, Damien, please don’t ever stop.” A surge from beneath stopped her words and her bright eyes were gone behind her lids again, as I felt the inner cling of her sheath around me. Harriet was made for me and no matter what happened next, it didn’t matter if she was with me and our son was healthy. They were all that mattered to me now.

  ~THE END~

  Highlander’s Bride

  Prologue

  Callie is tired of life in Ireland and decides to make a fresh start for herself in Scotland. But as a woman traveling alone in dangerous times, she needs a man to keep her safe and take care of her. She hears about a man at the docks named Spurgis who can set her up with a marriage to a Scottish man. Since life at home is so bad she jumps at the chance, figuring that she could get lucky and get a nice man. Her other choices are not much better, and she can always run away if she has to.

  When she meets Thomas, she thinks her dreams have come true. He is kind and considerate from the beginning, with a smile that makes her swoon. She is excited to be his wife, but it doesn’t go as she thought it would. She can tell that Thomas is holding something back. There are things in her new husband’s life that she isn’t privy to, and Callie herself has her own demons from her past to forget.

  Was it all just wishful thinking that out of everything that had happened, out of all the men it could have been, Callie had married the man of her dreams?

  Chapter 1

  Thomas was tired. It had been a long day and going home to a cold, dark house was the last thing that he wanted to do. Instead he wanted to come home like Bertraud did. He had a wife, children and a nice hot meal while Thomas was usually left with whatever was left over from the day. It was the kind of life that he had wanted in his younger days, but as he got older, he was starting to see the merit in settling down with a family.

  Before that, all he was worried about was war and a warm body next to him at night. It didn’t matter what her name was, or really anything else except that he got what he wanted in the end. The next morning nothing mattered as long as the woman left before too long after her eyes opened. It was not the right way, he knew that now, but now he wondered if it was too late for him. He had been like that for so long, that no one in the village would have anything to do with him. They knew how he was and when he traveled, they seemed to know the same. There was something about Thomas that told the interested party that there was something wild in him. There was something in him that no woman could tame.

  So as he closed the door behind him and sighed in the dark surroundings, he shivered a little with the chill in the air. It took some time to get a fire going and the heat and light were not enough to get him feeling any better. Thomas had had enough.

  He left his cold home to go back to Bertraud’s. Thankfully he was always welcome and he needed some cheering up. After a quick knock, he was invited in and given something to eat. That was really all he needed. “Thank you, Mariss. I hope Bertraud’s knows how lucky he is.”

  The older woman smiled back at him and for a moment he could see the appeal of her. She wasn’t his type, waif thin and quiet, but there was something to be said for such a docile woman. Thomas had a tendency to find ones that were easy on the eyes and good for only one thing.

  “You just have to settle down, Thomas.”

  “There is no one here that would.” It was an honest answer that no one disagreed with. He had a reputation and though he was good for a night, by morning they had to be gone. No one in the villages would take him seriously. His friend and his wife were wondering the same thing.

  Mariss was not one to say much, however when she did it was usually worth listening to. She had an idea that would give Thomas what he wanted or show that he didn’t and it was all just him feeling lonely because he didn’t have time to get a bedmate.

  “You should go down there by the docks. There is a man there that sets up marriages with Irish women coming over.”

  Thomas looked towards her and was actually surprised at the suggestion. “Sets up marriages?”

  She nodded and tried to explain the practice. The women wanted to come to Scotland, but many wouldn’t have any money or family to help, so marrying a Scottish man gives them security. He seemed amazed at the idea of marrying someone he had never met before, but then when he thought about it, it made sense. He w
as not necessarily looking for love. He was looking for someone to take care of the house and put something hot and edible on the table when he came home after a long day patrolling. The rest of it, his other needs, were never hard to find satisfaction for. His reputation wasn’t all bad.

  His mind was reeling and Mariss could see that he was taking her words to heart. Maybe he was ready to settle down, she thought to herself, though no one could read his mind.

  “You will have to tell me where. I may very well go down there tomorrow.”

  Bertraud gave his wife a side look, not sure why she was getting in the middle of it. Mariss just ignored him as she always did. Bertraud would warn of marrying a woman too smart, but would never say it out loud with his wife in present company. While he would never change his marriage to his wife, Bertraud was sure that there were many things that Thomas was not aware of.

  “So what do you think, old man?”

  He sneered at the title that he was still trying to get used to. Pulling on his gray beard slightly, he just smiled and then shook his head. “If that is what you really want, they would not know anything about you. You may have a chance, but do you really think that is what you truly want?

  Thomas wasn’t sure, but he was sure that he was ready for a change. The worse thing that could happen was he would be stuck with a woman that couldn’t cook. “I don’t know. It is something to think about, though.”

  ***

  Thomas did think about it all night. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, but at some point in the night, his mind went from if he could marry a stranger, to what it would be like. He tried to picture it and then he started to think about how to actually make it happen. Where would she sleep? His thoughts never included romantics, but instead it was what she could make his home like. What it would feel like to come home to a warmth hearth.