Wicked Games (14 page)

“I will
not
accept no for an answer, young lady!” Evan Tate’s voiced boomed at Brianna. “The arrangements have already been made and that’s that.”

Noah sat back in his recliner, smiling triumphantly. The whole family was on his side
, and there was no way she was getting out of it.

“OK,
Daddy, you’re right,” Brianna casually replied.

Evan sat up straighter, “What did you say?  Don’t patronize me!”

Brianna laughed, “I said ok! What more do you want?”

“An iron-clad contract would do me just fine,” Noah chimed in
, as Brianna gingerly sat in Noah’s lap and wrapped her arm around his neck. 

“Look, I learned my lesson. I won’t go snooping around in anyone else’s dangerous business anymore!  I’m done with the whole investigative reporting thing.  I’ll take the Public Relations position for Sterling Luxury Resorts and work for you, Daddy.” She kissed Noah’s cheek and added, “But I’m staying in Miami.”

Evan agreed. “Fine, fine. We’re looking for prime real estate to build a Sterling Luxury Resort in Miami Beach. You’ll be able to garner us a lot of good PR
, once we begin construction.”

Diane had another motive for agreeing to it.  “And maybe one day I’ll get some grandchildren
from one of my daughters!” Brianna rolled her eyes. 

After Diane and Evan left, Noah set the alarm, picked Brianna up
, and carried her to his bedroom, as he’d done every night since she was discharged from the hospital. It had been almost eight weeks since she was shot, and she was almost completely healed. 

She still had occasional soreness in her shoulder and ribs
, but the doctors said that was completely normal. Noah had moved her back into his house and had worked mostly from his home office, so he could continue to help her recover. 

At fi
rst, Brianna really did need his help to climb the stairs. She felt safe and secure in his strong embrace. She was past the point of needing to be carried now, but Noah wouldn’t hear of it. 
Neanderthal
, she thought and smiled, knowing that she secretly loved it, too. 

When she was discharged,
she still had dizziness from her concussion, and her sore, cracked ribs kept her from moving easily. But after a couple of weeks of rest, the worst had subsided.

Her first day home from the hospital, Noah put her in his bed
, and she had slept there with him every night since. She remembered the first time they made love after her hospital discharge. She had initiated it, because he had been so hesitant. He was sure he would hurt her, but eventually she won him over. She smiled at the memory of that big, dangerous man giving in to her “torture tactics,” as he called them that night.

She had been without him for too long. One night of making love
, after three long years of being without him, wasn’t nearly enough. She knew he would object, only because he didn’t want to hurt her, so she planned her mission carefully. 

Once he had settled into bed and was drifting off to sleep, she silently moved until she was fully under the covers. She licked the underside of his shaft, along the vein from shaft to tip, the
n around his mushroom shaped head. He was already semi-hard when she first touched him, and he was fully erect within seconds.

She felt his breathing increase with her touch and heard him moan when she took him fully in her mouth. Her hand gently cupped his balls as her fingers lightly stroked them, moving up his shaft as her mouth moved down. His hands came around to
hold her head, and his hips began to thrust in time with her hand and mouth. 

He made a louder moan
, then she heard his sleepy, husky voice, “Bri….ah….
damn
!” He threw the covers back and raised his head to look at her. She lifted her head and smiled at him like the Cheshire cat.  Now that he couldn’t deny her what she wanted, she gingerly crawled on top of him and stroked him with her wet center.

“Want me to stop?” She purred in his ear, already knowing the answer.

His alpha-male growl reverberated to her core, exciting her even more. “Hell no, I don’t want you to stop!”

She raised her hips up and positioned him at her entrance
, as he gripped her hips with his huge hands. Slowly, she began to take him into her, relishing the feeling of him stretching her and filling her, as only he could. She moved slowly at first, rocking her hips and finding her rhythm, until she no longer felt the soreness of her injuries and only the pleasure he gave her. Sensing her need for more, he held tighter to her hips and thrust his up to meet hers. His thumb moved between them, massaging her clit, as she screamed his name.

Sitting up and wrapping his arms around her, he turned her over to
lie on her back while he supported his weight on his arms. He was still being so careful to not hurt her, and she was dying to feel his body against hers. She wrapped her arms around his back and gently tugged to pull him down to her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, lightly licking his tongue across her lips. She opened her mouth to invite him in, and he took full possession of it.

Continuing his kisses along her jaw, down her neck
, and to the taut bud of her nipple. His teeth grazed it as he licked, sucked, and kissed on one side before starting over again on the other side. Every touch heightened her arousal even more, and her moans urged him on. He worked his way down her stomach, kissing and licking every part of her until he reached her hot, wet core. Fully settled between her legs, his hands moved under her hips, pulling her knees over his shoulder and her center fully in line with his tongue.

His dark head moved in to lick her from the bottom of her slit to the top of her clit, where he stopped to suck and tug on it. Her hands flew to his head
, as she fisted his hair in her hands, keeping him in place. She felt his chuckle rumble through her from deep in his chest. 

He did it again and again until Brianna was coming apart in his hands. “That’s my girl. Let me taste you, baby. It’s been too long. Come for me, scream my name.” When his mouth met her again, he didn’
t stop until she loudly screamed his name over and over.

He moved to cover her body with his and kissed her fiercely. The taste of her arousal still on his tongue and
lips, pushed her desire into a feverish state.  Bending her knees, she lifted, and spread her legs to allow him full access. With one swift thrust, he was rocking inside her and muttering words of love and ecstasy. 

Sitting up on his knees, he put his hands on the back of her thighs and drove hard into her. In this position, he hit the pleasure spot with every thrust and felt her clamp down around him
, as she came over and over. Her extra wetness was his undoing and with her last cry, he growled her name, as his own orgasm pumped into her. 

He rolled them both to the side to keep from hurting her
, but without letting her go. They fell asleep, bodies still entwined, and he was still inside her.

Still smiling at the memory
of that night, she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed.  She was digging through the bathroom closet to find more cotton balls when she came across her backpack.  With everything that had happened over the past several weeks, she had forgotten all about it. As she emptied the contents, she gasped and inhaled so sharply, she felt a pull in her healing ribs. 

Oh.  My.  God.

Noah was hanging up from a call, as she walked back into the bedroom. “Who was that?” 

“That was Shadow. Seems our friend
, Richard, has gotten a lot of his friends in trouble.”

She stepped forward to Noah, touching his arm.
  “You?”

Smiling, he answered, “No
, not me - thanks to you and those documents! Shadow and his team have rounded up everyone they could identify from the trail Richard left. They will be going away for a very long time. Shadow told his superiors Steele Security worked with him on the wire you wore. Richard’s voice saying he intended to kill you also helped seal his fate.”

He reached for her
, pulled her close to him, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She locked her hands around his neck, as he drew her into a long, glorious kiss. His tongue tenderly stroked hers, and then he pulled away slightly to suck her bottom lip into his mouth, then gently scraping his teeth across it. He peppered her jaw with kisses and trailed down her neck. His hands found her lacy panties and pulled them down to the floor, as he open mouth kissed and licked her stomach on his way down.

Rising slowly, his hands grasped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head. He savored every inch of her, tasting her
, as he took his time with her body.

“Noah, I really need to tell you something.”

“Brianna, I really need to
show
you something.” 

She was undone at the need in his voice
and the wicked, half smile he gave her. He always made her weak in the knees. He quickly shed his boxers and stepped out of them, displaying his rock hard erection.. His fingers lightly trailed over her breasts, stopping to rub her nipples with his calloused fingers, before leaving a trail of fire over her stomach. 

Reaching her shorts, he quickly unbuttoned them
, and pushed them to the floor. Then he hooked his thumbs in the sides of her panties and lowered them to the floor, kneeling before her as he went.

He licked and sucked on her clit
, as she fell back against the wall, her knees threatening to give out from underneath her. His fingers found their way to her center, caressing and pleasing her, and making her wetter. Her fingers on one hand ran through his hair while the other dug into his shoulder, as he brought her closer to the edge. 

She gasped when one of his thick fingers plunged deep into her, her knees bent
, and her back arched, pulling him in deeper. She cried out when his second finger joined the first one, stretching and filling her, getting her ready for him.

He stood before her and she locked her arms around his neck. He cupped her ass and pulled her up on him
, as he pushed her back into the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist, as his mouth covered hers. Their kisses turned deep and intense. He grunted with deep need and drove his thick, hard shaft deep inside of her.   

He placed his hands on the wall, just under her hips, and continued to pound
deep into her, over and over again with intense desire. “Look at me, baby.”  She opened her eyes and felt the connection to him deep inside her chest, her love for him overflowing from her eyes. 

She relished
every thrust and every feeling with him. Her hands roamed everywhere over his body, fingernails digging into his sinewy form with every orgasm that rippled through her. Her moans, screams, and utterances were driving him on even more.  Unable to hold back any longer, as she climaxed again, he let go and let her body milk him dry.

Through heavy panting and continued
sweet kisses, he continued holding her against the wall, with her legs wrapped around his waist. “I love you so much, Bri,
so fucking much
. God, you just don’t know how much I love you and have missed you. I will tell you and show you every day. I never want to be without you again, not even for a day.” 

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him, “You are my life, Noah.
I will never leave you again, no matter what. Whatever the future holds, we’ll face it together.”

He carried her to the bed and carefully deposited her on her pillow before climbing over her to hold her in his arms again for the night. He pulled up closer to her, molding their bodies to fit each other, and
softly asked. “What did you want to tell me?”

“It can wait until tomorrow.”
She wanted to tell him, but he already sounded half asleep, and she knew this would probably keep him up all night. Wrapped in his arms and his warmth, she drifted off to sleep, completely sated, and completely happy again.

She stood looking in the bathroom mirror, “OK, Brianna. This is big. You’re going to walk downstairs and tell him. Just tell him.” 

She stared into her own eyes. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can. Quit being a coward.”

Great, now my inner dialogue is coming out!

While she still had the courage built up and before she could talk herself out of it, she walked towards Noah’s office.

She called out, as she turned the corner to his office, “Noah, we really need to talk abou---,“ then she saw he had been totally engrossed in something he was working on. 

He didn’t look up when he said, “Uh…ok….just a sec.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Noah. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

She turned to leave
, but before she was even through the doorway, his arms came around her waist and gently stopped her. She hadn’t even heard him get up.
How does he do that?

“You
never
bother me, Bri,” he tenderly nuzzled her ear. He turned her around, and he sat on the back of the chair that was directly in front of his large desk.  “Now, what did you want to talk about?”

“Noah, it can wait
, really. You were deep in thought, and I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I know you’re busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you. Ever. I made that mistake once
, and it’ll never happen again.” His tone was resolute. She couldn’t stop the butterflies it gave her to know how sincere he was.

She wiped her palms on her
shorts, suddenly aware that they were sweating, and she was really nervous. Her eyes darted around the room, as she tried to think of how to tell him. He immediately noticed how she chewed on her bottom lip, a sure sign that she was nervous. He tried to remain calm, knowing they were at a good place in their relationship, but he was still set on alert at her demeanor.

“Umm, look, I understand if you get mad at me when I tell you this. But I really didn’t do it on purpose.”
The words were flying out so quickly, as if she had to spit them out fast, or hold them in forever.  Her voice was pleading, and he knew she was scared…of him, of how he would react.

He stood and took her hands in his
and kept his tone gentle. She had been through enough, and he vowed he would never be the source of her insecurity again. “Bri, you never have to be scared of me – to talk to me, to tell me anything. Whatever it is, we’ll work through it together. OK?”

She nodded and bit her lower lip
again. He kept holding her hands, stroking the tops with his thumb to give her reassurance. She continued, “You see, the thing is, with everything that’s happened…I didn’t even expect to see you, much less anything else…Then I got shot and was in the hospital.”

Noah smiled reassuringly,
“Bri, just tell me what’s going on. Let me help.”

“I realized last night that I….um….haven’t…been….on…birth control.”

“Since? When, exactly?” His face was the unreadable mask again and his thumbs stilled. His whole body went as hard as stone. Brianna felt like she would hyperventilate before she could answer him.

Deep breath. Breathe!
“Since that first night you caught me, and my bag was still at the hotel.  And….Noah….um, I’m late.”

He was silent.
Too silent. And she was about to hit full panic mode. She trusted him fully, and she knew he would never hurt her. The issue was simply that she didn’t feel like he really trusted her yet. They were just getting their relationship back on track. This sort of thing has a tendency to make some men run away. Fast. And she didn’t know how she could survive losing him again.

Since he still hadn’t spoken, she felt the need to fill in the silence.
“Look, Noah. I didn’t do it on purpose,
I swear
. I may not even be pregnant. It could just be all the stress I’ve been under. I was going to the store this morning to get a pregnancy test, just to be sure, but…. Dammit, should I not have told you yet? I just didn’t want to keep it from you. I don’t want to keep anything from you. I didn’t want you to think I went behind your back, if I took the test without you.  Maybe I should’ve made sure before I said anything?”

I’m in full
panic mode, and he’s just standing there!
She knew she was rambling, but his lack of response was rattling her more than if he’d been mad about it. 

“
Noah, say something – anything. Please. Are you mad? Do you want me to leave?” She looked down at her hands and chewed on her lip.

“
Woo-hooo!”
Noah yelled, as he scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around. “We’re having a baby!” He was beaming, as he kissed her, when he sat her back down.

“Noah, wait
. We don’t know for sure yet,” Brianna said with a nervous laugh. But it was useless to try to tell him. He grabbed his keys off his desk, pulled her hand, and headed to the car.

“Well, let’s find out for sure
, right now!”

Back from the store, pregnancy test in hand, Brianna walked into the bathroom. Noah desperately wanted to follow
, but he thought he should give her a little privacy, as she peed on the stick. 

How long can it possibly
take to piss?
He paced outside the bathroom door, hesitating with his hand on the knob several times, before she finally opened the door to let him in. 

“Well?”
Like a kid on Christmas morning, he could hardly stand to wait.

She laughed, “Noah, I just
now took it. It takes a couple of minutes for the results to show.”

He stood over the sti
ck for what seemed like hours. After a couple of seconds, he asked, “Are you sure you did it right?”

“Yeah, it’s kind
of hard to mess it up, Noah.”  She laughed and shook her head at him. She took a couple of steps away and sat on the edge of the enormous garden tub in his master bath. And waited.

After an eternity, Noah turned to her and knelt with
his perfectly chiseled body snugly between her legs. His eyes held the passion and feelings that he usually kept buried and hidden from others. 

He
lifted her shirt, slowly bent his head to her stomach, kissed it, and said, “You’re carrying my baby.”

At Noah’s insistence, the receptionist made an emergency appointment for Brianna. As she
looked around at the other women in the waiting room of the OB/GYN office, noting their various stages of pregnancy, she tried to picture what she would soon look like. Brianna had explained her worries to the receptionist when she made the appointment. She wasn’t sure how many weeks it had been, she had been put under anesthesia and given other medications, and she wanted to make sure her baby would be healthy.

The receptionist scheduled her for an ultrasound and told Brianna to bring the medical records from the hospital
, so the doctor could review them. Noah was ready to tell everyone about the baby, but Brianna had convinced him to wait until after the first doctors visit and they had more information. Her name was called and they followed the nurse down the hall to the exam room. Brianna changed into the paper gown and sat on the examination table.

Noah rummaged through everything in the room while they waited for the doctor
, opening the cabinet doors, rifling through the supplies, and flipping through the magazines on the counter. Finally, the doctor strolled in the room, said hello, and then motioned for her to put her feet in the stirrups. He performed his usual physical exam and tapped on her belly. Brianna watched his face for any sign of worry.  Not seeing any didn’t make her feel better, though.

“Well, what do you say we have a look at that baby?” The nurse had gathered the materials for the ultrasound and started putting lubricating gel into a condom. She picked up the ultrasound wand
, put the condom on it, and handed it to the doctor.

Noah’s eyes locked onto it and
with his threatening tone asked, “Where are you putting that, exactly?”

The doctor chuckled, “The baby is too small
at this stage to see it by regular ultrasound. We only need to insert it just past the tip, it looks worse than it really is.”

Soon the black and white picture appeared on the screen. The doctor pointed out
the baby from all the various lines and squiggles on the screen. The doctor began taking measurements of the size of the baby, the size of her uterus, and the volume of amniotic fluid. Noah moved to Brianna’s side, kissed her cheek, and grabbed her hands. Together they watched in amazement at the images on the screen.

“Well, from the measurements, it looks like you’re somewhere around
six to eight weeks right now. I can only give you an estimate right now, but we’ll do more measurements, as you get farther along.” Brianna did a quick calculation and realized conception could’ve occurred just before she was battered and hospitalized, or just after her release from the hospital. Just those few days could make such a difference…

The doctor told her to get dressed and meet him in his office
, so they could talk about her medical records, what to expect over the next several months, and any other questions they had. Brianna’s hands were shaking as she dressed, because she was so nervous. Noah put his arms around her and pulled her close, “It’ll be ok, baby.” He kissed the top of her head, and they walked to the doctor’s office.

The doctor was nice
, but matter of fact as he spoke, “We try to give as little medication as possible to pregnant women, especially in your first trimester. I can’t guarantee anything, but I don’t see any medications that alarm me.” 

Bri
anna let out a sigh of relief and felt Noah squeeze her hand. She looked at him and saw his unfaltering smile. His strength seemed to move through his hand and into her. She had to believe everything would be fine, that the baby would be healthy. Outside the office, she began to breathe easier and felt truly happy.

“I have to go into the office for a
meeting now.  Will you be ok?” Noah’s voice was laced with concern.  She could tell he didn’t want to leave her yet.

“Yep, I’ll be fine. Quit worrying about me
and get to work.” Her voice was teasing and playful. 

Noah kissed her goodbye
, climbed in his truck, and drove off towards his downtown office. He really didn’t like leaving her, especially after their first doctor visit. He wanted to take her home and spoil her for the next fifty or sixty years. He knew it was somewhat irrational to worry so much about her, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there could still be some repercussions from the issue with Richard.

Brianna walked across the parking lot to one of the Steele Security SUVs she was driving until she got her own car. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a full size SUV drive slowly behind her. She was reaching for the door handle when a man grabbed her from behind,
covered her head with a black cloth, and pulled her into the back of the SUV. 

He tied her hands and growled into her ear
, “Don’t fight if you want to live.”

She sat motionless, trying to calm herself
, and figure out what to do next. Her voice couldn’t hide her fear as she asked, “What do you want with me?”

She felt the car move and knew they were on the main road. She tried to figure out where they were headed
, but her sense of direction was off under the hood she was wearing. Thoughts of Noah and their baby kept her from going into complete panic mode.  She was trying to keep her stress levels as low as possible, but at the moment she wasn’t having much luck.

After several stops, starts, and turns, she heard the vehicle’s engine turn off. Rough hands grabbed her from the back seat, yanked her out
, and pushed her forward. One grabbed the back of her arm and guided her in the darkness.  After more turns and pushes, she was guided to what felt like a soft chair.  She asked again, “What do you want?”

An angry, hushed voice responded. “I want those documents,
Brianna
. Give them to me, or your family will get you back in
pieces
.”

Her hand went instinctively to her lower abdomen to protect her baby. Bile rose in the back of her throat
, and she fought to push it back down.

“I
- I don’t have them.”

His voice held disgust and disdain for her.  “Then what good are you?”

Keep him talking.
“I don’t have them with me. I can get them.”

“Can you now?” He didn’t believe her.

“Yes, just….don’t hurt me.”

He didn’t answer
, and she knew he was considering his options.

“If you let me call Noah, he can get them.
He can meet you somewhere, or he can leave them somewhere…. you can let me go. Just take the documents and let me go.”

She recognized the man’s
voice...US Marshal Stevens. Over the last couple of months, Noah had told her about several high-ranking officials, who had been arrested during Shadow’s investigation of Richard. She hadn’t heard Noah mention his name. She had just assumed he’d been arrested, too.
Now I’m here with him…wherever here is
.