“I swear it. This isn’t about Freddie Cage. This is just me wanting to spread my wings a little. And maybe do something for Dotty. Why don’t you and Indie talk to her and see if she’ll give up her place and move in here. She doesn’t do well alone.”
“Aw, but she likes watching those sappy movies. And she cries during commercials.”
“You know you love that about her. Besides, she cooks at home, you know, and she’s a laundry whizz. Callie still moans about her clothes not smelling right after she moved in with and married Jack.”
That seems to perk her up quickly and by the time I’ve reworked the lease and signed on the dotted line I know that things will go just as I want them to.
***
“Okay, Miss Braxton, I think that ought to do it. We’ll get everything ready for the implantation next week.”
My breath is choppy, giddy as Dr. Sparks smiles at me and leans in to shake my hand as I fight not to hop around like a five-year-old in a candy store.
It’s been two months of living on my own and taking those damnable hormones, but I’ve finally reached the stage where they’ll implant the embryo thingies.
I’m one step closer to being a mom and I am so damn excited I can hardly sit still.
After my talk with Percy and a raging argument with Indie that only wound down once I let her sniff the afghan I stole from Dot’s place, she finally relented and started babbling about how awesome it would be to have clean laundry and a clean apartment.
With a live-in cook.
I moved out at the end of that month and right into my own place, which Daddy personally inspected and deemed fit for his little princess.
I’ve been all on my lonesome for a good month now while I went through tests, hormone injections, and scads of other gruesome things to start the next phase of my plan.
The injections were harsh and the mood swings and weepiness had my crew on the verge of a meltdown many a time.
It sucked ass but every time I would question my plans, all I’d have to do is look at Callie and little Jack and I’d find my resolve again.
All they’re doing now is ensuring that the embryo-egg thingies are ready and viable and I’m hot for an implantation. The process is a lot more complicated, but whatever. It boils down to my physicist’s spunk being joined with my egg and then going into me via a needle I’m having nightmares about.
It’ll be worth it, though. I think.
“Okay then, Dr. Frankenegg, I’ll see you next week. Just remember that I feel calmest with some Queen playing in the background and a nice leg rub. You have that done and we’ll all get through this alive,” I joke. Rising to leave.
The good doctor laughs his head off at me and lets me go with yet another warning that sex is off the table for the next month or so.
Admittedly I have been super randy of late, thanks to those hormones, and I can’t look at a man without wanting to jump him.
The ride home is relatively quiet and I walk into my apartment with a giddiness that has me vibrating with glee. Till I set eyes on the idiot I’ve successfully been avoiding for two bleeding months since Callie gave birth to Jack and I told Freddie to take a leap. Off a tall building preferably.
Coming to a dead halt as the door bangs shut, I take him in in all his blond, delicious glory. Oh hell.
The man is ten kinds of delectable as I just stare at him where he’s taken to reclining across my sofa as if he belongs there.
***
Cage
The look on her face is priceless and I have to bite down on my bottom lip to stop a chuckle when her green eyes start caressing me the way a lion looks at a gazelle.
I know exactly what’s going on inside that little body of hers right now, and it’s making me hard just thinking about how hot and ready, how ripe she’ll be with all those hormones coursing through her.
You think I’ve let two freaking months pass by without at least watching my Luci? Not in this lifetime.
I knew my little sprite was planning something.
Something I knew I wouldn’t like.
That proved more than true when I started tailing her and understood what the hell she was up to. I almost blew a gasket when she visited the freaking sperm bank and put in a freaking order for some other asshole’s swimmers!
Imagine that. My woman, my freaking Luci thinking I would ever allow some other dick’s seed to get into her body and take root.
The day I saw that and realized what the little kook was up to I had to go home and drink two thirds of a bottle just to keep myself calm enough not to set the sperm bank on fire.
Somehow I don’t think she’d be too happy having the father of her children behind bars for arson.
When Woody and Jack found me three sheets to the wind and slurring curses at the wall, I caved and spilled the truth. They eventually stopped laughing—Woody did when I punched him in the face—and started helping me put a plan together to cut Luci off at the knees.
What we came up with was so freaking diabolical it makes me want to laugh when I see her finally reel in her lust and fold her arms across her chest, her lips pursing as her eyes narrow.
“Get out.”
“Now, Luci baby, is that any way to talk to an old friend?”
I know I’m goading her here and that chances are she’ll kick me in the balls before she lets me touch her, but I can’t help it. I’ve missed all that fire and attitude.
“You. Are. Not. My. Friend. Alfred. Nolan. Cage,” she grits out as her nose flares.
I can almost see steam coming out of her ears even as she valiantly attempts to ignore the sight of my erection. I always want the woman and I haven’t had sex since the last time I was in her.
I have a big load in here.
“Not nice, Luci. That hurt my feelings, baby.”
“Feelings? You?” she scoffs in amusement, her head tilting in just that way to let me know how ridiculous she finds that statement.
Oh baby, you got no idea, I think, running my eyes over her lush body and licking my lips with a slow slide that has her eyes going lazy with lust.
Hell yeah, baby, want me. Look at all this need and feel it.
“I’m hurt, Luce. Of course I have feelings. In fact, I came over here to let you know that it’s hurting me the way you’ve been ignoring me.”
“Get over it, asswipe, I had to. I had to get over a lot of things. Like you ignoring my calls and texts. Being booted out of your building…basically being made to feel like I don’t exist. I got over it and so can you.”
The hit is direct and I feel myself falter just the tiniest bit when she seems to collect herself and stomps away to the kitchen, her cute ass twitching with every step.
My dick just gets harder when I see it and I have the overwhelming urge to go after her and touch her. I want to fuck her so badly right now, it feels like my balls are about to implode.
I can’t, though. I don’t want her rejecting me just yet, something I know she’ll do no matter how hot she is for me right now. So instead of following her and throwing her on the kitchen counter so I can eat her sex and thrust into all the creamy heat, I stay seated right where I am and wait on her.
Today is not about getting what I want from Luci. It’s about seeing just how serious she is about the path she’s taken. If she doesn’t budge from her plan, then I have plans in place for my little sprite that will not only ensure she’s mine but will also ensure that I get another shot with her.
Sex may sound good right now, but it in no way guarantees that she’ll give me a second chance and I know it.
No, better to stay the course, Cage, and win the pot outright.
When she stomps back into the living room she’s carrying two bottles of water.
The way she practically throws it at my head is hilarious, and I find myself chuckling a little as she flops down onto the other sofa and just glares at me.
“You won’t leave? Fine. What do you want, Cage?”
The w
ay she says my name instead of calling me Freddie like everyone tests my limits. I want to push her down on the sofa and take her like a wild man just to hear her screaming my name up at me as she comes around my length.
Stop. Focus. Stay the course.
“I wanted to actually talk to you this time instead of having to listen to you tell me all the ways and reasons you can’t forgive me, Luce. You never gave me a chance to apologize and explain some of the things—”
“Oh? You feel all put out that I wouldn’t sit there like a docile kitten and swallow whatever bullhockey you wanted to spout at me. Oh sorry, Luci, it’s not you, babe, it’s me. Maybe a little. I never meant to hurt you. I just don’t do the love scene. Oh no, wait! Maybe you wanted to tell me that you had a shitty childhood and can’t help being a loveless ass? Well too freaking bad, Cage! We’re all messed up in some way thanks to our parents. It’s normal. That doesn’t mean we have the right to shit on other people, and it sure as hell doesn’t give anyone the right to do what you did to me. You used me, knowing how I felt, and then tossed me away like last night’s old pizza.”
Yikes. Those hormones are really doing a number on my usually sweet, sarcastic baby.
“You’re right.”
What else can I say? She’s got me pegged like a motherfucker and we both know it. I knew it in that hospital and I’ve thought about nothing else since she told me to screw off.
I’ve had a shitty childhood and it bred some trust issues. So what? I’m a grown man and I should have manned the hell up a long time ago and accepted that just because my own parents were assholes does not mean everyone else is a lost cause.
I know this, I’ve come to accept that I’ve lived almost half my life in a fog, pushing people away and closing myself off like an idiot. All that’s on me and I know that I don’t deserve Luci, that I can’t blame her for never loving me again.
Too bad accepting that and letting her go are two totally different things.
My words seem to shock her and I watch in amusement as her expression goes from nuclear rage to shocked suspicion.
“You know?”
“Yeah. I know that I fucked up because I was a coward who would rather push the people he loves away than risk being abandoned. It’s taken me a while to really look at myself, Luci, but I finally did it when I realized what I mistake made with you. I didn’t like what I saw. So here I am, begging you, pleading. Please forgive me and give me another chance. I swear to God, Luci, if you just give me a chance to show you how it can be, that we can be together and have the happy ending…you won’t ever regret it.”
My heart’s beating like a jackhammer and I feel my palms go liquid when she just sits and stares at me like I’ve grown another head or two.
I can’t say I blame her for the lack of trust, and I definitely can’t blame her for wanting to protect herself from further hurt. I deserve whatever she throws at me, and I will take it all with not a word of protest.
Losing though?
Rule three. Never quit.
I’m sure as hell not about to break that particular rule now that I’m playing for the future of my unborn children and the only happiness I will ever have.
After a long silence and a lot of sweating while she chews her lips, I close my eyes in resignation when she looks at me and slowly shakes her head.
“I can’t do this again. I’m sorry, Cage, but the answer is a definite no. You hurt me a lot. It took me a long time to get the message that you and me aren’t meant to be, but I got it now. Loud and clear. I can’t go back to the desperate, hopeful craziness of the past because it would just push me too far this time. I’m done. Finished. Over you.”
Shit. Looks like plan B just became a reality.
“Okay,” I murmur, getting to my feet and stalking over to her slowly, my heart hurting a little as I bend down and brush a soft kiss to her ash-blond hair. “I get it. I’ll be seeing you around, Luce.”
It takes everything I have in me to walk away from her as those beautiful green eyes mist over and I see her lip tremble, but I do it because like I said, I have every intention of winning this fight, and to do that I need to ensure that I have a connection to her that can never be broken.
I hope she forgives me for what I’m about to do, though. God I hope so because as things stand, I am determined to make Luci Braxton my wife. Right now, there’s only one way to do it.
I make the call I didn’t want to make just as I slide into the car waiting for me and pray that things work out.
“Well? Did she go for it?” Dyson Braxton barks as soon as he answers my call.
He may float around in a fog of love and lust for his wife most of the time but the man is and will always be a shark, just like me and the boys, and he knows how to play things when he’s invested.
He came to me not too long ago when, just like me, he got word from the security team that’s been tailing her since she hit sixteen years of age. Seems Luci’s dad is not into the thought of having his only princess impregnated by some dick he doesn’t know.
Plus, well, I went full sap and broke down on the guy and admitted what a lovesick chump I am.
He likes me now, as much as is possible when just a few weeks ago he wanted to murder me with his bare hands for hurting his girl.
“What do you think?”
“Well balls, mate, I didn’t think she would,” he huffs. “She’s like her old dad in that way. Stubborn as a bleeding mule, my girl. Dammit. We’ll have to go with the next plan and hope she doesn’t kill us all when she discovers what’s happened.”
“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. You’ve seen how she is when she’s pissed?”
Dyson gives a choked laugh and I can just see him shaking his head like a proud papa.
“Got that damnable temper from her mum. My wife may be scatty and one of those hippies with the love and peace shit streaming from her pores, but the woman does have a vile temper and Luci got it straight from her.”
Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, old man.
“Okay. So we’re going with plan B. I’ll call you when it’s a go. Once again, please do not tell her mother. I want to live to see my children, old man,” I warn, cupping my balls as a shiver runs through me.
Luci once threatened to de-sack me and wear my balls on her charm bracelet. I snorted at that and asked her how she’d fit the big bastards on that delicate chain, and she just smiled darkly at me.
Call me nuts but I don’t relish the thought of losing my baby makers when she finds out what I’ve done.
“And I want to live to spoil the little blighters. Now stop gabbing to me and go do your bloody job, Cage. And remember, you hurt her again and they will never find your body.”
I like him. He’s my kind of people.
The next call I make after ending the previous one with a grunt is to Woody and Jack.
“Tell me she went for it,” Jack says with a groan as Woody just laughs.
“Shut up, Woody. And no, that would be a negative on the ‘love Freddie back’ plan. Seems my little sprite has taken quite the dislike to me.”
“Shit. I guess that means…”
“Call your guy, Wood.”
Chapter Six
Harvest Time
Luci
My nerves are rioting as I lie in the hospital bed and watch the nurse bustle around me with a cheery smile. According to her and Dr. Sparks, things went well and I should be out of here in no time. All I feel is a sort of finality.
I should be ecstatic that the procedure went well and that so many of the embryos were viable, yet I feel sad. Defeated. Like I could burst into tears and never stop as it finally hits home that this is the last page. I can never go back and consider getting with Freddie Cage and having my fairy tale because I could be a mom soon.
The knowledge is somewhat hard to swallow, and I find myself battling tears of regret even as a sense of giddiness starts to unfurl. I’m happy, knowing that I could even now be pregnant. I a
lready love my baby so much it’s terrifying.
“Well, kid, this does it, huh? It’s just going to be you and me from now on. No wedding and happily ever afters.”
Shut up and get moving, you gloomy cow. So what if it’s over. Be honest with yourself and stop looking at it through rose-colored glasses. It was done months ago when he walked into his home with a half-naked woman and no pants.
“You okay, honey?”
My inner monologue stops as the nurse comes over to check me over for the last time and gives me the go-ahead to dress and leave.
“I’m okay. Just nervous, I think,” I murmur, letting her help me change from the paper gown back into my loose dress and granny panties.
“That’s completely normal, hun. Now you know what to keep an eye out for and you know what to do if you start cramping or spotting,” she says as I slide down from the bed in Dr. Sparks’s office and wait for my wobbly legs to take my weight.
“I do. I’ll be okay, I promise. Just need to get home and have a lie down while I pray a little.”
I’m off work for the next week, on a light bedrest as I wait for my body to hopefully take and get through this next stage. If that happens, I’m back on with only a slight change in work intensity till I can confirm whether I am or am not pregnant.
A waiting game, I think dolefully as I pay the cabbie and slide out at my building, my only need right now a soft bed and the sleep I didn’t get as I tossed and turned last night, once again obsessing about Freddie Cage and those sad blue eyes of his.
I trudge into my apartment and fall into bed, drifting off when my phone rings and I grab at it with a groan, answering with a barked curse.
“What! I’m trying to freaking sleep.”
“Well isn’t that a nice way to greet your mother, Lucille Braxton, and here I am trying to call you to warn you about your week’s endeavours girl.”
THE NAUGHTY ONES: The Complete 5-Books Series Page 16