Raines, Elizabeth - Captivated [Wicked Missions 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

No, one man will never be enough now.

God, they’d been careless. Perhaps the men thought she had a birth control implant, although getting one on Bromond was next to impossible. The men controlled reproduction the same strict way they controlled every other aspect of women’s lives. Izzie hadn’t obtained one because she simply didn’t have the time to take a lover when she’d been working undercover with Alayna, and her kidnappers hadn’t exactly given her the chance to prepare for making love.

What in the fuck would happen if she got pregnant? Although the odds of conceiving after one interlude were small, the implications were staggering. If Jayce’s seed took hold in her womb, she’d be carrying a possible heir to the Bromondi throne. The notion of her child growing up in such a repressive environment turned her stomach. A son would be taught to treat women as property, and a daughter would be treated as a second-class citizen. Neither option was acceptable.

And what would happen to me?
Would Jayce be forced to marry her to make the child legitimate, or would he let their baby be born a bastard? That taint would force her to leave Bromond forever, but that would mean taking the child away from its father. How could she do that to Jayce?

“What are you thinking, love?” His voice buzzed in her right ear.

As if she’d tell him. “How wonderful that was.”

“We should’ve been more careful.”

“Ya think?” Damn, but she needed to rein in her ridiculous sarcasm.

“It’s okay, Izzie. If you’re pregnant, it’s okay.”

She turned her head to stare into his eyes, shocked at his nonchalance. “You wouldn’t care?”

He brushed the back of his knuckles against her cheek. “I’d love to have a baby with you.”

“You would?”

His smile was easy and honest, but it did little to ease her apprehension. “Of course. I’d like a little girl with hair the color of a sunset, just like her beautiful mother.”

Izzie glanced away for a moment, her cheeks flushing hot at his compliment. Then she let her eyes find his again. “But what if we had a boy? He’d be the future king.”

“Only if I married you.”

“Like that’s happening…”

Pushing himself up on an elbow, Jayce leaned down to brush a kiss over her lips, one so soft and gentle it made tears sting her eyes. “Oh, it’s happening all right,” he announced, his voice full of confidence.

“Excuse me?”

“I want to marry you, Izzie.”

Izzie scrambled off the bed and started searching for her clothes, needing to put some distance between her desires and reality. He didn’t mean it. He
couldn’t
mean it. She wasn’t even Bromondi.

“What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m leaving. Where’d you put my shorts?”

Jayce moved to sit on the edge of the mattress as Damian began to stir, opening his eyes and stretching his arms over his head. That’s all she needed—two of them harassing her. Damian would surely add his two unis to the mix, and all Izzie could think was that her life would truly end if she’d conceived a child.

What in the fuck had she been thinking in having sex with the crown prince of Bromond, let alone ignoring the thought of birth control? She’d been too lost in the feelings he and Damian had inspired, drowning in a desire she’d never known before. Now, all she could think of was escape—especially from the hope of all Jayce and Damian inspired, the hope of being with them and of making a family. Not on a planet like Bromond! Not in a million years! “I can’t stay here! We need to go back to Caldrion! I need to find my partner and get off this hellhole!”

“What are you talking about?” Damian asked as he sat up.

“I asked Izzie to be my queen, and it…upset her,” Jayce replied. He knit his brows at her. “Why does it bother you so much, love?”

“Don’t call me that!” She picked up her shirt and jerked it over her head, not realizing the arms were tangled. After a few moments of tugging and pulling, she was finally able to don it like a suit of armor and cover her nudity. Since three pairs of khaki shorts lay on the tile and she couldn’t remember which pair was hers, she kicked the closest one aside in frustration. Besides, the shirt was long enough to cover anything important.

“Izzie!” Jayce’s tone was every bit as authoritarian as it had been back in his private residence in the palace. She clenched her hands into fists and held them at her sides as she stared at him. “What’s wrong?” he asked, softening his voice.

“Look, I’m not pregnant. We only fucked once.”

“Don’t call it that,” Jayce insisted.

“Call it what? Fucking?” She shook her head. “But that’s what we did
. Fuck.”

“No! We
made love
. I refuse to turn something so beautiful into something sordid.”

Her heart kicked into a higher rhythm at his wonderful words, but to even dare to think one encounter made a relationship was foolhardy. “Can we drop this? Please?”

Jayce stared at her, wondering what was tumbling through that busy mind of hers. He barely knew her, yet all he wanted to do was find a way to keep her at his side for the rest of his life—to share that life with her and Damian. But he had to back off for now. She reminded him of an animal that was cornered by hunters, and until he could remove the fear from her, she’d never listen to him.

If she was pregnant, that would solve his dilemma. She’d never be allowed to leave Bromond, and he’d marry her to bind her to him. Now that she’d scented danger, she’d never allow him close enough again to ensure she became pregnant while they stayed at the compound. Of course Damian would want to make love with her too, and Jayce was surprised to realize he wanted that as well. He wanted both of them to claim her body as well as her heart. That would be the only way to keep her. Two potential farmers had a better chance of planting a seed in fertile ground at the right time, and whether the child was genetically his or Damian’s simply didn’t matter to Jayce.

“I’m gonna get something to eat,” she finally said, not being at all subtle in changing the volatile topic. She turned and marched out the room, her footsteps silent in her retreat.

Damian crawled over to where Jayce sat. “That was brilliant.”

“She doesn’t want to marry me.” Damn, but he hated the pouty tone in his voice.

“Good God, Jayce… You
told
her instead of
asked
her.” Damian’s palm smacked the back of Jayce’s head. “Dumb ass. A woman like Izzie would wither and die on this planet. She’d never be able to be herself. Now what are we gonna do?”

He rubbed the sore spot. “What I’m gonna do is find a way to fix things with Izzie. Because she
will
be my wife. And the three of us
will
be together.”

Chapter 5

“Good morning,” Jayce whispered when he realized Izzie was awake.

Funny, but the disagreement after they’d first made love a week ago had been easily brushed aside. Damian had found a medscanner and convinced Izzie she wasn’t able to conceive at that point in her monthly cycle. She’d grabbed on to that information and held it as tightly as a child held a beloved doll. Once she knew she didn’t need birth control, she’d thrown herself wholeheartedly into her affair with the two men, sharing herself with them with a passionate enthusiasm that left Jayce breathless.

“Morning,” she replied.

Stretching like a lazy cat enjoying a warm ray of sunshine, she arched her back and gave a contented sigh. Her long hair was spread over the silk pillowcase, strands of blonde highlighting the blazing red. Her body reminded him of Earth’s panthers he’d seen—sleek and powerful. He smoothed his palm over her flat stomach, loving how her skin always felt hot—as if it was as fiery as her hair.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Mmm…” she hummed as she nodded. “Very well, thank you. Did you sleep well?”

Jayce smiled. “I woke up and still tasted you on my lips.” He glanced down at his stiff dick. “That’s what your delicious taste did to me.”

Her eyes stay fixed on his erection, and it jerked in response. “Well then…Since I caused the…problem, I’ll just have to remedy the situation.” With a sexy smile and a devilish twinkle in her emerald eyes, she reached out to wrap her fingers around his cock—the same greeting she’d offered him every morning for the entire week they’d been at the compound. A drop of pre-cum leaked from the slit in response to her touch.

Since Damian had been his only lover before Izzie, Jayce had never been sure he could respond to another person. Sure, he got a hard-on when he saw a beautiful woman, but he’d wondered if he could ever feel the deep-down yearning he had for Damian for another person.

Izzie inspired that same desire. Jayce wanted her with a primitive need that thrummed through every cell in his body, a need that made him fear ever losing her. And yet that desire didn’t diminish what Jayce felt for Damian in any way. How astonishing to possess such strong feelings for more than one person. Although his father claimed to love each of his wives with equal passion, Jayce had always thought his father’s declaration of caring had simply been to keep the jealousy of the five women at bay. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

He, Damian, and Izzie made love as a threesome every evening and started the day just as they were now, teasing and tantalizing until they invariably fucked each other and all collapsed in sated exhaustion. The compound had become a true paradise, and the thought that they’d have to return to the palace soon was enough to turn his stomach.

People always envied Jayce’s status as crown prince, constantly telling him how lucky he was to have so much wealth and such a bright future. What they didn’t realize was that his life wasn’t one to be envied. He felt like an animal kept in a cage simply for people to stare at. His life wasn’t his own, and being here with the two people he loved had become a stark reminder that no matter what he wanted for his future, he could never again enjoy this kind of freedom, especially when he became king.

Sure, there would be stolen moments when they could return here and re-create heaven, but the three of them couldn’t be what Jayce wanted them to be—three people in a committed and public relationship. He wanted a marriage, a real marriage, albeit he would claim both a
husband
and a
wife
.

Loving Damian had been a slow revelation, built over years of friendship that had changed as they’d grown older to an affection deep enough to last a lifetime. But how in the devil had Jayce fallen for Izzie so quickly? Did Damian feel the same about their beautiful captive? Judging from the enthusiastic way they both responded to her, Jayce believed Damian loved Izzie too.

Jayce had already asked her to be his queen, but not for
love
. For a
ppearances
. His father had pressured him for years to marry and produce an heir. As the only son, the burden of carrying on the monarchy fell on his shoulders. Sure, his sisters would eventually marry and have children of their own, but according to Bromondi law, those future nephews or nieces would only be able to ascend to the throne if Jayce didn’t produce children—a son being much more important than a daughter.

Since he was tired of women he didn’t even know being paraded before him as potential mates, Jayce saw Izzie’s stumbling across his residence as a golden opportunity to commit to a woman he felt desire for, one who would also make a worthy queen. The fact she wasn’t Bromondi didn’t matter. One of his father’s wives was Belusian, and another was of mixed blood, part Rozali and part Jequian. No, his father would be pleased he’d finally decided to marry, regardless of her being an Earthling.

Izzie’s children would be intelligent, and he’d enjoy creating them with her. If they were lucky, those offspring would have her tenacity as well.

But now Jayce’s heart was involved, and that revelation left him dizzy.

“Jayce,” she whispered before she kissed his stomach. Her tongue circled his navel, making him suck in a breath, anticipating what she’d do next. “You’re so handsome.” That talented tongue licked the swollen head of his cock, scattering Jayce’s thoughts like sand in the wind.

“Don’t start without me,” Damian said as he sat up.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Izzie murmured before she took Jayce into her mouth and sucked.

As Damian crawled over to kneel beside them, Jayce reached over to stroke his erection. Catching his partner’s handsome brown eyes with his own, Jayce announced his desire. “I want us both to be inside Izzie.”