Scandalous

by Sybil Bartel

  Her question, my reasons, the situation, all of it—I could sum it up in three words. “Lock and key.”

  “Lock and key,” she whispered, biting her bottom lip.

  I had to step back before I said fuck it with the damn test and took her.

  “Take the test,” I quietly ordered. Ten fucking days. I needed to be inside her.

  With a nod, she shut the door.

  Inhaling, I walked across the room, grabbed my cell, and fired off a text to Luna.

  Me: Need another week

  I rationalized I needed time to bring her back to Miami and get her settled, but in truth, I just wanted to fuck her, sleep next to her and watch her eat with her hands.

  Luna replied instantly.

  Luna: Copy that. Tell her thanks for the interview

  Me: Copy

  Luna: You good?

  Me: Yeah

  Luna: Too early to haze you?

  Me: Fuck you

  Luna: LMFAO

  I didn’t reply. A few seconds later, he sent another text.

  Luna: So. Love, huh?

  Me: Not having this convo

  Luna: That interview was viewed by millions. You ready for this?

  Jesus fuck.

  Me: Again, not having this convo

  Luna: She ok?

  I didn’t have time to answer. She stepped up behind me and placed the pregnancy test on the table in front of me.

  My heart fucking stopped and I stared.

  She was pregnant.

  With my kid.

  “I, um—” Her voice broke.

  I turned and wrapped my arms around her as I let loose with a fucking roar.

  She started in surprise then her arms went around my neck and she held me tight.

  I stood to my full height and her feet came off the ground. Burying my face in her neck, I fucking breathed her in. Flowers, woman, sleep—she smelled like a perfect dream. “Fuck, woman.” Openmouthed, I kissed her neck. “You’re gonna look sexy as hell knocked up.”

  “Falcon.” She burst into tears.

  Putting her legs around my waist, I sat on the bed and took her face in my hands. “Hey, hey, hey.” I swiped at her tears. “Talk to me.”

  “Do you even want kids?” she cried. “Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

  I couldn’t fucking help it, I smiled. “You want the sanitized answer or the truth?”

  Her breath hitched. “Truth.”

  I pushed her hair behind her shoulder. “Two weeks ago, no. I didn’t want kids, let alone a commitment to a woman.”

  She inhaled sharply and her back stiffened.

  I cupped the back of her neck. “But then I met a fucking hot mess of a woman who’d created the scandal of all scandals, sunk her good-girl rep, and found out she’d been drugged. Which, by the way, that fuck Payne is in rehab, and you need to call your lawyer. He told your asshole agent you wouldn’t press charges against Payne if your agent took whatever severance deal you offered him. Payne being his next biggest client after you, your agent took the deal.”

  She looked surprised. “You talked to Peter?”

  “Yeah.” Fucker had been calling me daily wanting updates. “I have your phone. You should call him later.”

  “Thanks.” She tried to pull out of my grasp.

  I held on to her. “I’m not finished telling you about the hot mess of a woman I met two weeks ago.”

  “I changed my mind. I want the sanitized version.”

  I fought a smile. “You’re not getting it, but I will tell you this. A lesser woman would’ve cracked under the pressure of what happened. But the woman I met, you know what she asked me after she woke up in strange place, with a strange man and couldn’t remember shit?”

  “Don’t forget handcuffed,” she added dryly.

  I’d never forget that. “She asked me how her ass looked.”

  Sighing, she rolled her eyes. “For the record, I was joking.”

  “I know.” I swept my thumb across her cheek. “That’s my fucking point. Because that hot mess of a woman I met? She was actually ballsy and mouthy, and best of all?” I gripped her hair and held her tight. “She’s fucking brave.”

  “Oh,” she said quietly.

  “Yeah, oh.”

  Her gaze dropped. “I have a confession.”

  “You didn’t care how your ass looked.” I’d already figured that out.

  “No.” She barely shook her head then looked up at me. “I still haven’t watched that video. I don’t want to see it.”

  “Smart move.”

  “Oh God.” She covered her face with her hands. “It’s that bad, isn’t it?”

  It was worse, for someone who wanted a career in acting. “You done for good with movies and acting?” I pulled her hands down so I could see her eyes.

  She didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Even if I lost all my money tomorrow, I couldn’t go back. I don’t want to. That life was always tainted by the way it began for me.”

  I didn’t touch her last statement. If I had my way, we’d have a lifetime to fucking hash that shit out. But right now, I was focused on her admission. “Then the video means nothing, and you don’t need to ever see it.”

  She exhaled, but she didn’t look relieved.

  “What?”

  “What if I go back with you and—”

  “No if,” I corrected. “You’re coming with me.”

  “What if you don’t like me in a week? A month? What if you don’t want to be with me?”

  I smiled. “I’ve got a hot-as-fuck younger woman who sucks dick like a goddess and she’s carrying my kid. What the hell would I have to complain about?”

  Worry etched across her features. “I’m being serious.”

  I sobered. “Growing pains, stupid shit couples argue about, that shit’s gonna happen. We’d be lying to each other if we said otherwise. But I’m not gonna let that shit come between me and the woman who’s carrying my kid.”

  “But it’s not just about learning to get along as a couple.”

  “You’re right.” I brushed my hand down her arm and took her hand. “It’s about chemistry, trust and honesty. The first we have in spades, the second we’re working on and the last we need to always remember.”

  “You make it sound so simple.”

  “Life is only as complicated as you make it, sweetheart.”

  She leaned forward and put her forehead on my chest. “I think I really like you, Falcon Gunther.”

  I rolled her to her back, pushed her thighs apart with my knee and settled between her legs. “Only like?” I kissed her once. “What happened to falling for me?”

  MY HEAD SPUN.

  I was pregnant. Pregnant. With this giant, dominating beast of a man’s child. And he wanted me to move in with him, and I’d never even had my own place.

  I should’ve been freaking the hell out, but his huge body was over me and his hard length was pressing against my panties, and he smelled so incredibly good that all I could think about was being naked.

  His lips landed on my throat then traveled to my ear. “Still not answering?”

  The sound of his deep voice made gooseflesh race across my heated skin. “What were we talking about?”

  “Brat.” He nipped my neck.

  I shivered. Then I gave him the only truth I felt safe enough in that moment to give. “I missed you.”

  “Ten days is too damn long. I want inside you.”

  His mouth crashed over mine, and his tongue plunged in.

  Then it was as if we’d never been apart.

  Gripping my hair, angling my face, and taking what he wanted, he dominated me with his long, drugging kiss. But he didn’t just dominate me. His hand slid over my body, gentle and caressing, as if reacquainting himself with every inch he’d missed. His chest vibrated with moans that swallowed the distance between us. And he showed me with his body how much he wanted me.

  I’d never felt more like a woman.

  I didn
’t just like this man, and I wasn’t merely falling for him. I’d already fallen. Totally and completely.

  His arms on either side of my face, caging me in, his hips pressing into mine, his desire hard against my core, he groaned, but then he pulled back.

  Staring down at me with hooded eyes swirling with determination, he gave me his deep, sexy voice. “You need to decide.” His expression darkened. “But know this. You run again? I’m coming after you.”

  I dared to put my hand against his cheek. “I’m not running.”

  He didn’t pull back from my touch. “You want this?”

  I loved how honest he was. How he didn’t fear talking about the future, and how he didn’t see any obstacles we couldn’t overcome. “I want you.”

  He held perfectly still. “And my kid?”

  All at once, it hit me. It’d never crossed my mind that I wasn’t keeping the baby. Not once. Overwhelmed, shocked, terrified, I felt it all, but I didn’t even consider an alternative. Except he didn’t know that.

  I took his face with both of my hands. “I never even considered not having your baby.”

  His shoulders relaxed, his chest rose with a deep breath and the heavy line between his eyes softened as he exhaled his tension. Then he said the absolute last thing I ever expected this alpha, alpha man to say.

  Quiet and stoic, he gave me his gratitude. “Thank you.”

  The last of my reservations shattered into a million pieces as my heart filled with a joy I didn’t know was possible.

  My eyes welled, and I kissed him.

  Soft and gentle, my lips against his, I wanted to show him my heart. I wanted to give him a piece of me I’d never given to anyone else. I wanted him to know how much he meant to me.

  But the second our lips touched, the heat between us exploded.

  We weren’t gentle. Or subtle, or reserved. We’d crashed into each other’s lives, and the sexual tension had detonated then like it was detonating now.

  Dominant and aggressive, he took over the kiss and I let him. His mouth on mine, then on my neck and down my throat, he latched on to my breast.

  My back arched, and he ripped my panties down my legs.

  His thumb circled my clit, and he sank a finger inside me as I frantically reached for his pants. Beyond talking, there were no words between us. I needed him inside me, stretching me, filling me, and he knew exactly how to deliver.

  Shoving my hand away from his pants, he quickly freed himself and sat up. Leaning back on his knees, his finger stroking in and out of my needy core, he stared down at me. “So fucking beautiful.”

  “Please,” I begged, reaching for his cock.

  “Arms above your head,” he commanded.

  My hips thrusting against his hand, I complied.

  Fisting himself, fingering me, circling my clit with his thumb, he stared at me for a long moment. Then he slowly added a second finger. “What’s your simple life look like?”

  Oh my God. His fingers were magic. My eyes fluttered shut.

  His hand stilled. “Answer the question.”

  My eyes popped open, and I desperately tried to think. Because I knew this man enough to know I wasn’t coming until I gave him the words he’d asked for.

  “Um….” Simple life. What did I want?

  “Don’t think,” he ordered, rubbing his cock against my inner thigh. “Just tell me.”

  As if my body and my mind were made for his brand of dominance, my thoughts turned into words and spilled out of my mouth. “I want a house on the beach, and I want lots of kids, and I want to fall asleep in your arms every night. I want our kids to ride horses, and I want to love you like you’ve never been loved before.”

  My alpha, dominant, ex-Marine bodyguard surged.

  His hard length plunged into my core, and he thrust all the way to the hilt.

  He growled, and I cried out.

  Then his lips were on mine and he was moving. Hard and deep, then gentle and shallow, he drove into me, over and over.

  Desire, soul deep and relentless, built up in layer after escalating layer of need until my body bowed off the bed.

  Crying out in shock, elation, and pure, mind-altering joy, I came apart. “Falcon!”

  My pussy clenched around his impossibly huge length, and every muscle in his body went rigid. A roar ripped from his chest, and he filled me with his love.

  “I’M NOT SIGNING THE PRENUP!” She slammed the door in my face.

  “Then I’m not fucking marrying you!” I yelled back, pounding my fist on the door.

  “Fuck off.”

  “Open the goddamn door and I will!” I’d fuck off and fuck her right in this goddamn hallway.

  Collins chuckled. “I told you, trouble.”

  “Go fuck off with that shit,” I ground out. “Don’t call my wife trouble.” Why the hell had I asked him to be my best man?

  Collins grinned. “She isn’t your wife yet.”

  “Because she won’t fucking sign the prenup!” I yelled at our bedroom door.

  “Because signing it gives this marriage an end date,” she yelled back.

  I threw my hands up. “See what the fuck I have to deal with?” Goddamn it. “Pregnant women.” I shook my head.

  “I still wouldn’t sign it if I wasn’t carrying your kicking, who-needs-sleep-at-night, I’m-a-holy-terror son!”

  “Jesus Christ.” I leaned my forehead on the wall.

  “Quit swearing,” she barked.

  “Trouble in paradise?” Talon Talerco, the SARC assigned to our Marine unit, chuckled as he came up the stairs.

  “See?” Collins crossed his arms. “Trouble.”

  Talon looked at me but tipped his chin toward Collins. “He still spoutin’ that bleeder versus trouble shit?”

  “Yeah.” I pounded on the door. “Open up, woman.”

  She stood her ground. “I’ll open this door when you tear up that prenup.”

  Fuck me. “No.”

  Talon chuckled. “She ain’t budgin’. You wanna put a ring on it, you better man the fuck up.”

  “I don’t want her goddamn money.” I had my own.

  Collins smirked.

  Talon laughed in earnest. “You’re in a fuckin’ mansion on the ocean in the highest-priced zip code in the state.” He tauntingly raised an eyebrow. “Your money buy her this?”

  I growled at Talon. Combat medic or not, my respect for him wavered when he was being a prick.

  “Exactly.” Talon smiled, as if proving a point. “She wanted it, she bought it, you benefitted. Seven bedrooms is plenty a room for little Tanks and Dreenas. Who fuckin’ cares where the funds came from?”

  “Audrina,” I corrected. “My woman’s name is Audrina.”

  Talon reached over and casually grasped the door handle and turned. The door swung open and my woman stood there with tears on her cheeks.

  “Hey, darlin’.” Talon smiled at her. “How ya feelin’?”

  “Mad.” She swiped at her face then put her hand on her bump. “And fat.”

  Grinning, Talon shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, you look gorgeous as hell. I’d marry you.”

  It was reactionary. My arm was up and my hand was on Talon’s throat before he drew his next breath. “Watch it,” I warned, shoving him against the wall.

  Talerco smiled his fucking smile, and Collins muttered, “Trouble.”

  “Let go of Talon,” Audrina ordered.

  “Sign the prenup,” I demanded, giving Talon one more shove before dropping my hand.

  “Marry me because you love me,” she threw back.

  “I do fucking love you!” I roared. “That’s why I had the goddamn paperwork drawn up. I’m protecting you.”

  Her face softened, and she smiled. “Okay.”

  I stilled.

  I’d fallen for this emotional pendulum shit before in the past six months. Pregnant women could flip on a dime. “You’re signing it?”

  “No.” She grinned and rubbed her belly. “But
I love you back and I’m marrying you.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ.” I wanted to throttle her. Then fuck her. Then kiss her.

  Talon chuckled. “We’ll go tell the preacher and guests to have a few more cocktails while y’all fuck and make up.” He winked at Audrina. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I’ll make sure the bar tab’s on him.” Talon went downstairs and threw open the door to the lanai. “Drink up, everyone! The soon-to-be newlyweds are gettin’ one more screw in.”

  Collins shook his head. “I’m grabbing a beer.” He disappeared down the stairs.

  “You fucking do that,” I said, staring at my woman.

  “Don’t be rude,” Audrina defended him.

  “He called you trouble. I’ll be as rude as I fucking want.”

  “You like trouble,” she shot back.

  “You’re right.” I fucking loved her smart mouth… on every other day but our wedding day when she wouldn’t sign a damn piece of paper that’d protect her money. Not that I’d ever take shit from her. She’d more than paid her karma dues with her fucked-up family. “Just sign the prenup.” I sighed. “Please.”

  Her voice went quiet with hurt. “I don’t want to sign any paperwork that gives you a clear conscience to leave me.”

  Jesus. I couldn’t fault her abandonment issues, but fuck, she was crushing me. “I’m not leaving you. Ever. I’m doing this to protect you. I want you to feel safe.”

  “I feel safe when I’m with you.”

  “I’m always gonna be here,” I promised.

  She looked at me with doe eyes. “Then don’t make me sign anything.”

  “Jesus, woman.” Pregnant, pouting and in a wedding dress. I didn’t stand a fucking chance. “Am I ever gonna win an argument with you?”

  Sweet and innocent and so fucking gorgeous it hit me in the chest, she smiled. “Only in the bedroom.”

  Fuck, she knew how to work me. “And don’t forget it,” I muttered, knowing I was going to drop the prenup thing.

  “Are we done arguing?”

  “Yeah.” I reached for her.

  She stepped back. “It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”