ROMANCE: BAD BOY ROMANCE: M.V.B. - Most Valuable Baby (Sports Secret Baby Romance) (Contemporary Interracial Pregnancy Romance) (46 page)

“He saved me!” she continued. “The specimen broke out of its cage, or… I didn’t lock it up right, or something,” she could feel her face flushing red and her words continued to pour out quickly. “Either way, it attacked me. It was going to kill me, dad! But then Amias showed up. He saved me!”

“What did I tell you about calling me that?” he dad asked her under his breath.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she corrected herself. “But you have to believe me, sir! He saved me!”

“Don’t be foolish!” he laughed again. “That’s just what he wanted you to think he was doing.”

“That’s foolish!” she shot back at him. He looked at her, surprised by her suddenly bold attitude and unusually outspoken way of speaking. “If he had wanted to hurt me, he could have done it well before your men showed up!”

“You had better hold your tongue, Nicole,” her dad warned her.

She didn’t listen to him, though. She just kept talking, loudly and confidently. “He’s peaceful His people are peaceful, but they’re coming here—to Earth. We have to let him go, as a sign of good faith. If we don’t, they will be forced to attack us!”

“He’s been filling her head with nonsense,” the Commander said to his men, as they all joined in a quiet chorus of laughs.

Behind her, she heard Amias shift his weight around. He reached out and placed his hand on the small of her back. “It’s okay, Nicole. They won’t believe you no matter what you say,” he said to her quietly.

Her father stepped forward, an expression of anger on his face, one so intense that she had never seen it before. He didn’t say anything, which made her even more nervous; he just reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her towards him. In a swift motion, he reached back and released his blow, smacking her square across the side of her face.

She stumbled back, raising her hand to her check where her father had just struck her. Amias reached out and pulled her back to him. She could feel that his body was becoming warm, and the temperature in the room began to rise again. “No,” she said to him quietly. “Not now.” She knew he was one the brink of changing again, and she couldn’t let him do that. If there was any hope that her father would believe that he was peaceful, he had to control his anger—now more than ever.

“I knew you didn’t have what it takes,” he father said to her harshly. “You’re too weak, Nicole. You’ll believe any sob story he tells you.”

“But it’s true,” she tried to defend Amias.

“Men,” her father addressed the Commander and his team. “Take this specimen to high security.”

The men didn’t respond verbally but jumped quickly into action. Before they could take Amias away from her, Nicole turned and looked up at him. Pressing her hand softly to his chest, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he replied just as the men wrapped their strong hands around his arms and pulled him away. As they led him down the hall, he looked back at her over his shoulder. She wanted to go after them, to make sure he was all right.

“Give me one reason that I shouldn’t fire you right now,” her dad’s voice broke into her thoughts.

She turned her attention to him. “Because I’m telling the truth, sir. I really am.”

He shook his head and looked down at her with a look of disappointment. “I’ve already given you too many chances to do this job right. After this whole disaster, I’m tempted to just send you home right now.”

“Please,” she said once again resuming her submissive air. “Let me stay. I promise I can do this. I’m learning; I’m getting better. I believe you, sir. All he’s told me is lies,” she said the words as convincingly as she could. She had to make him think she believed what she was saying, that was her only chance to continue working with Amias.

“Fine,” her dad said turning to leave the room. “But Nicole?” he asked her before leaving. “This really is your last chance.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

It took a few days, but eventually she convinced Allen and the others on the research team to let her continue to work with Amias. Her dad wasn’t very happy about it, but begrudgingly he also agreed.

They had moved him to the higher security holding rooms on the other side of the Gen-Lab campus. They were separated slightly from the other buildings and surrounded by nothing but open fields of grass.

When she finally saw him again, she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from letting out a quiet gasp of concern. His face and chest were badly bruised from the beating of the guards, and running along his arms were cuts and scratches from the fangs and claws of the mountain lion-like creature that attacked her.

“I never had the chance to thank you,” she said as she sat on the cold, hard concrete floor next to him, cleaning his wounds.

“I would do it again,” he replied watching her carefully as she worked.

“I realized just the other day,” Nicole continued, “that I don’t really know that much about you.”

“There’s not really much to tell.” He was quiet for a moment while he thought. “Back home I was a pilot,” he added slowly. “I had to work really hard, but eventually, I was able to work my way up through the ranks and earn the title of Captain.”

“That’s impressive,” she said trying to keep herself focused on her work, and not on the way her heart raced in her chest every time her fingers brushed against his soft skin. “What was your planet like?” she asked.

“Zexilon?” he said thoughtfully. “It was a beautiful place. Everything was green and lush. Not like here,” he added.

“Well, you’ve only seen a small part of Earth,” she pointed out to him. “You were found, where?” she tried to remember the information Allen had given her about him. “The South-Western United States, right?”

“I believe so, yes,” Amias confirmed.

“Well,” she laughed a little. “That’s your problem. You landed in one of the driest, most arid parts of the country! Now, if you had landed in Colorado or Montana, you would know that Earth has some pretty lush areas as well.”

“Yeah, well,” Amias said shifting his weight around and placing his hand on hers, stopping her from dabbing the damp cloth on his wounds, “Zexilon only had a small portion of the entire planet that wasn’t covered in trees and green spaces.”

“What happened to it?” she asked, looking from his hand up to his eyes. They were more intense than usual—a deeper green and a more focused look.

“Our planet,” he began to explain. “It was much smaller than Earth, you see. And despite the fact that there weren’t nearly as many populous places, the amount of toxins that were thrown into the air still did their damage to the protective layer of our atmosphere. Slowly, it began to deteriorate, and the small planet couldn’t sustain itself anymore.”

“That’s horrible,” she said turning away slowly, so as not to become completely consumed by his stare.

He placed his hand under her chin and turned her face back to his. “What’s horrible is the way your father spoke to you the other day.”

“Oh, that?” she asked nervously. “That’s just how he is. He’s a very passionate man when it comes to his work at least.”

“What about his family?”

“He loves my mother,” she said surely. “I don’t doubt that at all. But I think he loves her for her qualities more so than for who she is.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mother is very submissive. She’s the perfect woman for an overbearing, demanding man like him. She seems to enjoy making him happy.”

“What about her happiness?” Amias pointed out.

“She’s happy as long as her family is happy.”

“And is her family happy?”

“I suppose we are,” Nicole responded with a shrug. “My brother and sister are all successful in their careers, even though they’re not the careers my father would have chosen for them.”

“And you?”

“I’m happy, I guess,” she said, knowing that her tone wasn’t convincing, however.

“You don’t have to lie to me,” he said placing the palm of his hand against her cheek, in the exact place her father had slapped her just a few days before. “No one could be happy being around someone that makes them feel the way your father makes you feel.”

She took a deep breath. “I want to make him proud,” she admitted. “But I don’t think I ever will. I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough for him.”

“What about yourself?”

“I’m sorry?” she asked confused.

“Are you proud of yourself?”

“I suppose I am,” she said shyly. “I did well in school—really well, actually. And I do enjoy biology, although I’m not sure I enjoy working with it this way.”

“Then don’t,” he said inching towards her slowly.

“I don’t have another choice,” she said softly. “I need this job.”

“No you don’t,” he said as he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her closer to him. “You’re very intelligent, Nicole. You could do anything you wanted to.”

She felt her hands become sweaty and heart began to pound in her ears. She leaned forward removing the small space that was between them and pressed her lips to his. Once again she was filled with the almost electrifying spark of passion that she had felt the night he saved her.

She lifted her hands, now shaking, and wrapped them around him. She felt his strong muscles beneath her fingertips and the warmth that seemed to float off of his body. He pulled back slowly, looking at her with an expression of longing and desire. “You’re a very special woman, Nicole. I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

“How do you see me?” she asked, running her fingers through his hair.

“I see who you are; I see how you feel. You’re kind and genuine. You’re soft, but not weak. You’re a strong person, but you just haven’t figured that out yet.” He pulled her close again, kissing her passionately.

“I don’t feel strong,” she said when they pulled apart again. “But when I’m with you, I feel different than I ever have before.” She ran her hands over his chest, tracing the outlines of his muscles. “I feel safe and confident. I may not feel strong, but I don’t feel weak—like I usually do.”

“Good,” he smiled at her as he pulled her close to him again. He lay back onto the ground, pulling her down with him. She let him reach down and pull off her shirt, and when she once again found herself in his arms, the feeling of his skin pressing against her filled her with a warming sensation.

He ran his hands over her body, moving them slowly up her sides, then around to her chest. The sensation of his touch filled her with a passionate longing. She let herself release all of her inhibitions—all of her fears. She gave herself to him completely, both physically and emotionally.

The experience of their bodies intertwined together was unlike any she had had before. His movements were strong and sure, but delicate and caring at the same time. The connection that formed between them at that time was one she knew she would never be able to fully let go of. He had changed her; he had made her whole. It wasn’t just being with him, but knowing that he believed in her, that he saw her for who she really was—or at least for who she had always wanted to be, but was too afraid to let herself recognize before.

When they pulled apart, she felt a cold sensation run over her, a shiver that ran up her spine and left her longing for his warm touch again. “How do you do it?” she asked, as she lay on the floor next to him, resting her head on his chest.

“Do what?” he asked, stroking her back slowly.

“How do you seem to always know what I’m feeling—what I’m thinking?”

He laughed a little and kissed her on the top of her head, pausing to inhale deeply, absorbing her scent. “It’s a secret,” he whispered.

“All right,” she said quietly. She was fine with not knowing. She didn’t need to know how he did it; all that mattered was that he did. He understood her in a way no one else ever had, and that was enough.

CHAPTER NINE

Over the next week, Nicole continued working long hours with Amias. Even though she didn’t need to, she would go back at night, and they would spend hours talking and getting to know each other. The bond that had formed between them that night in his cell continued to grow.

But one day, it seemed like something changed. It wasn’t in the way he spoke to her, or looked at her—those were the same kind, genuine actions they had always been. But, his movements were more agitated, and his body seemed to tense nervously more and more frequently.