Authors: Abby Blake
What the hell was he going to tell his brothers?
* * * *
She watched out the window as the landscape changed. Snow seemed to cover everything until there was nothing but white, and still they moved farther into the ice fields.
“Where do you live, again?” she asked nervously.
“See that black dot on the horizon? That’s our research station and living quarters.”
She squinted but could barely make out the smudge in the distance. It seemed that everything was made of white at the moment, and she wondered how this guy even knew where he was going.
This guy?
God, she didn’t even know his name.
“What’s your name?” she asked and then, because she wasn’t quite sure of the protocols between a whore and the man who’d paid for a year with her, added, “What should I call you?”
“My name is Matt. Just call me Matt,” he said, sounding very irritated.
Uncertain what had sparked his anger, Mikayla chose to sit quietly and tried to pretend she was invisible. The last six days had been emotionally exhausting, and despite her fear of what was to come, she felt her eyelids close. A small inner voice screamed at her that she should stay alert, but it was drowned out by her trust in the man beside her.
Despite his irritation, Mikayla felt certain that Matt would not hurt her, so when her eyes closed again, she couldn’t find the will to stay awake any longer.
* * * *
Matt glanced over at the sleeping woman. She looked exhausted, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her, but he wasn’t sure how she would react to being carried off the flying pod. As soon as he opened the door, his brother John stepped up to the opening.
“About fucking time you returned. I should’ve come with you. Changed my mind only minutes after you left, so I thought I’d head into…” His words trailed away as his gaze landed on the woman sleeping in the passenger seat. He turned to Matt with a wide grin. “You bought takeout?”
Matt didn’t even know he was going to do it until his knuckles connected solidly with his brother’s nose. John staggered back a step but thankfully didn’t raise his fists. God, what had he been thinking? As crude as John’s words were, he wasn’t really out of line. Matt had gone into town to buy a whore’s services for a few hours. The fact that he’d returned with a woman in tow would’ve seemed completely natural.
John eyed him angrily but waited for an explanation. Shaking his head from side to side, Matt held up his hands and started with an apology.
“Sorry, John, that was out of line, but things are complicated.”
“Complicated how?” John asked as he watched Matt suspiciously.
“Complicated as in she’s not really a whore. Her boyfriend dumped her on this planet and left.”
“So you’re what? Helping her out? Why bring her here? Why didn’t you just put her on the next transport home?”
“Yeah, well, that’s where it gets complicated.” Again, John eyed him suspiciously. There was less than a year between them age-wise, but John always managed to make Matt feel like the much younger sibling. He squirmed under his brother’s scrutiny. “I had to buy her for a year.”
“But you said she wasn’t a whore.” His brother looked confused. Rightly so.
“She isn’t. I think it was her first time, and Evans—you remember that sadistic prick?—grabbed her and was going to rape her, and I kind of reacted on instinct.”
“How much?”
Even though Matt had known the question was coming, he sure as hell didn’t want to answer. He braced for the reaction he probably deserved as he said the amount out loud. And, of course, John did the last thing Matt expected. John laughed.
“Pretty good price, but she should’ve earned enough to be able to afford…” His voice trailed off again when he looked at Matt. “Damn,” he said quietly, “she didn’t get her cut.”
Matt nodded, unsure he wanted to tell his brother that she had forgone her commission voluntarily. But it didn’t seem fair to let her pimp take the blame, so he explained in as few words as possible and waited for John’s reaction. Fortunately, John was a reasonable man and nodded his acknowledgement.
“I suppose we better figure out where she’s going to sleep and what she’s going to do while she’s here. The twins have been asking for help for a while now. I guess we could find something for her to do. Does she have any skills?”
Matt shook his head. If he were to be completely honest, he knew very little about the woman other than she seemed to have no experience working as a whore and that she probably had no family. Not much considering he’d just brought her to their work and living quarters in the middle of nowhere. A couple of plots from horror stories popped into his head, but he quickly dismissed them.
She was exactly what she seemed—a woman who needed their help and protection—and he would find a way to do both somehow.
“You gonna wake her?” John asked as he stepped closer to the sleeping woman.
Matt hesitated. He didn’t really want to wake her. He’d rather carry her to his room, but she was still a frightened woman in a strange place, and waking up while he carried her could make things far worse.
“Mikayla,” he said softly. She didn’t stir. “Mikayla,” he said a little louder and this time touched her shoulder. Still no reaction. “Mikayla!” he called in exasperation and clapped his hands together, “time to get up.” Nothing.
John made an annoyed noise and shoved Matt aside. He unbuckled Mikayla’s seat harness and then bent to lift her into his arms. She snuggled against him for a moment and then seemed to fall back into a deep sleep.
John sent Matt a pointed look and then asked, “Where to?”
“My room,” Matt said without trying to analyze why it was so important to him that she sleep in his bed. He had no intention of sleeping in there with her, so he really had no logical explanation. John raised an eyebrow, but Matt just shrugged. “I’ll sleep in the lab.”
His brother gave him another assessing look and then turned to step out of the vehicle.
* * * *
John carried her all of fifteen feet before he realized that he had an erection. Even knowing that she wasn’t here as their private concubine didn’t seem to lessen the arousal he felt. Considering that Matt had punched him in the nose for assuming she was a prostitute, he didn’t even want to imagine how Matt would react to him panting over the woman.
In his defense, he had been heading into town to scratch his itch, so he was already feeling horny. But if he was to be truly honest with himself, he’d admit that it wasn’t just any woman he was feeling arousal for—it was the woman in his arms. Good thing he was comfortable with denial because he sure needed a bucket load about now.
Maybe he should deposit her in his brother’s bed and then do what he was going to do earlier and hop on the pod and head into town. He lifted the woman higher against his chest, and she sighed and placed a hand over his heart, and he knew then and there that he wouldn’t be going anywhere. This woman called to him in ways he couldn’t explain, which was kind of ridiculous considering that they hadn’t actually met yet.
John smiled. Denial was a wonderful thing, he thought as he finally managed to convince himself that the attraction was just a physical reaction to her proximity.
As he lowered her to the bed, he was feeling pretty impressed at his ability to talk himself out of just about anything. That was, until she opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile. Then every decision he’d managed to come to somehow flew out the window, and he was lost.
* * * *
Mikayla woke in the arms of a very handsome man. He wasn’t beautiful in a classic sense but attractive in a rugged, hardworking sort of way.
“Hi,” she said shyly as she tried to slough off the last vestiges of sleep.
“Hello, princess.”
“Are you one of Matt’s brothers?” she asked, looking around the room for Matt. She found him lounging in the doorway with a frown on his face. He didn’t seem happy with his brother. That certainly didn’t bode well for the future. If she was here to service the sexual needs of all seven brothers for a year then jealousy would make life difficult for all of them. Maybe he was just upset that John seemed to be getting first go. She shook her head to clear the silly thought. Matt seemed far more mature than that.
But then, what the hell did she know? She was in this situation because she’d believed a man’s words. She’d been proven very naïve in a most spectacular way.
The man in front of her nodded. “I’m John,” he said as he pushed that annoying curl of hair away from her eyes. “Can I get you anything?”
“Uhm,” she said, a little surprised by the question.
She’d expected to be the one serving them, so having this gorgeous man offer to fetch something for her made her heart ache just a little more. Since forgoing her commission, she’d wavered between calling herself stupid and congratulating herself on choosing the lesser of two evils. John’s actions certainly suggested that they were reasonable men who would treat her with respect despite the fact that she was essentially bought and paid for.
She was about to refuse when her stomach growled loudly. She could feel her face warming with embarrassment, but John just laughed softly, touched her cheek again, and said, “I’ll grab something for you to eat. Be right back.”
Matt stepped in the room looking tenser than he’d been only moments ago.
“When was the last time you ate?” His unwavering stare suggested he wasn’t going to let this go until he knew the truth.
“I had a bowl of soup at the club,” she answered honestly, but he seemed to sense what she hadn’t told him.
“And before that?”
“Not for three days.”
He looked so angry she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he would say about that. John was back quickly with a bowl of something that smelled wonderful. Her stomach growled again.
“So you tried to find other ways to get home first?” Matt asked.
She nodded as she raised the spoon to her mouth. It was probably very rude to start eating while Matt was still talking, but she was so damn hungry.
“So your choices were become a whore or starve to death?”
She couldn’t be sure, but she felt like that last sentence was directed more at John than it was at her. She nodded anyway.
Chapter Four
Damn. Every one of John’s protective instincts kicked into overdrive. She truly was an innocent in a bad situation.
“I need to talk to Peter and the twins, but we’ll figure out a way to get you home, okay?”
She glanced at him fearfully, and he wondered what the hell was going on. She wanted to go home, didn’t she?
“But…,” she glanced at Matt over John’s shoulder, “but Matt paid for twelve months.”
John relaxed a little as he realized her train of thought. Even as uncomfortable as she seemed at the idea of servicing their sexual needs, she had fully expected to be held to the agreement.
John moved to sit on the bed beside her and smiled reassuringly. “We’d rather get you home safely. Don’t worry about the money.”
“But, I, uhm, the least I can do is pay you back.”
He was about to dismiss her words when he noticed the stubborn tilt of her head and clenched jaw. The woman seemed to have pride in abundance. Not something he had recent experience with, to be honest. All of the women he had known on this planet had been whores, so pride wasn’t really something they’d advertised. They may have possessed the quality, but they’d never shown it to him.
John glanced at his brother and saw Matt’s decision clear in his eyes—Mikayla was going home tomorrow, and no one was using her as a whore. John dipped his head in acknowledgement.
“Okay, how about we call it a loan. We’ll get you home, and you can pay us back when you’re settled.”
Mikayla nodded as tears gathered in her eyes. She blinked rapidly, refusing to let them fall, and somehow that simple action made her a hundred times more appealing. He half-stumbled to his feet, managed a mumbled good-bye, and left the room in a hurry. His brother had bopped him in the nose once already today. There was no predicting what Matt might do if he noticed the raging hard-on John suddenly had for the woman they’d both just agreed they wouldn’t touch.
* * * *
Matt stepped closer to the bed after his brother’s hurried retreat. He’d only seen John blush like that once. They’d both been fifteen and flirting with a girl two years older. In fact, if memory served him correctly, John had made an exit not dissimilar to the one they’d just seen.