Page 4

ROCHELLE

I knew as soon as Bond left the bed. Having lived the last few years on constant alert with a man who would lash out at the least provocation, I’d learned to sleep with one eye open.

Deciding I may as well get up now that I was awake, it didn’t take me long to get dressed into one of my many pairs of shorts and a T-shirt. Standard issue for me at this time of the year with the heat we’d be experiencing as the day wore on. Sitting on the edge of the bed to put my socks and boots on, I was just finishing tying the laces on my boots when the bathroom door opened, and Bond walked out.

He looked surprised to see me up and ready to go.

“Hey, baby, you didn’t have to get up so early,” he tells me, coming towards me.

Standing up, I met him and sighed softly as he enfolded me in his arms. The same feeling I’d had yesterday of safety and coming home enveloped me as I rested my head against his shoulder. Closing my eyes, I returned his hug, my lips tilting up in a smile when I felt the brush of his lips on the crown of my head.

Pushing away slightly, I tilt my head back to better see him before replying, “I’m used to getting up early, and I want to start looking for a job today.”

“About that,” Bond states, “I was wondering if you’d consider working with me. I run the parts, workshop, and tow, and honestly, I could do with the help, but we’ve had a lot of trouble with theft, and I don’t trust easily, so I’ve been reluctant to hire on anyone. It’s a plus for me that you don’t need any training because you know the parts better than me, and you can bring Daisy with you.”

I’d started to smile at his long explanation of why he wanted me to work with him. There was no need. If I got to be part of his day, I’d happily do it, especially after the last year.

Smiling up at him, I say, “Sold. I’d love to work with you.”

“Yeah,” he replies with a smirk, “you won’t get sick of me.”

“Never,” I answer, going to my toes so I can press my lips to his. Nearly pulling away and second-guessing myself when he stiffens slightly, but then he gathers me tighter in his arms, lifting me slightly and angling his head, his lips parting under mine.

He quickly takes over the kiss, and oh, boy, the man can kiss. A slight moan escapes me as he threads his fingers through my curls, tugging slightly as he tilts my head for better access. Pressing my body closer to him, I am left in no doubt that he wants me, not with his rock-hard cock pressed up against my belly. Whimpering low in my throat as his lips leave mine and trail up my cheek towards my ear, he nips the lobe. I grind my pelvis against him, aching for some relief.

“Fuck, baby,” he growls in my ear, “a year I’ve been dreaming of this. Of having you here with me, in my life, in my bed. It’s all I’ve thought about. It just about killed me that you belonged to someone else. I stayed away for as long as I could. Just one more look, that’s all I wanted, and now,” he takes my mouth again in a hard kiss before continuing, “now I’ve got you here and you’re free. I’m not going to rush this with a quick fuck."

“Nope,” he tells me, trailing his lips down my throat and sucking on the pulse that’s beating in time to his kisses. My clit is throbbing with every suck he places on my neck, and my nipples are hard as rock. I can feel the milk leaking from them, which isn’t sexy at all, but I can’t seem to step back. It’s like he’s got me under some spell with his sexy, mesmerising talk. This was what I’d been missing. A man that wasn’t shy to let me know how much he wanted me but who was still gentle about the way he handled my body. I shivered, and goosebumps ran up and down my arms as he continued his assault on my neck. My knees went weak with his next words; I wanted so badly for him to take me there and then.

“I’m going to take my time with you, baby, and love you like you should have been all along,” Bond continues, his lips back on mine before he removes them again and cups my cheeks in his hands. “When I finally get you under me, I’m going to make sure there is no one else but you and me in that bed,” he assures as he slips a hand between us and into my shorts, pressing up against my clit.

“Holy fuck,” I gasp as I come. He’s barely touched me, but I’m so turned on by what he’s been whispering, along with not being touched since I’d found out I was pregnant.

“Jesus,” I whisper, grinding my forehead against his shoulder, panting slightly, my knees shaking from the force of what I’d just felt.

“You doing okay, baby?” Bond wants to know, his voice husky, and I can tell he’s as turned on as I am.

“Am I good? Am I good?” I ask, slightly awed. “I’ve never come that hard before, and all you did was talk to me; you barely touched me.”

Bond chuckles, removing his hand from my pants. Heat blazed across my cheeks as he sucked his fingers into his mouth, his heated gaze never leaving mine. “Delicious,” he assures me with a cheeky smirk.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I’d never come across a man like him before. I go to open the button on his shorts, but he shakes his head, “That was for you. I’ll keep until we have more time.”

At my look of disbelief, he continues, “I’m a man, baby, not a boy. I promise I’ll be good. Why don’t you go and get changed?” He nods down at my shirt where I’d leaked through.

“Oh my god,” I slap my palm to my face, hiding my cheeks that must be glowing red with embarrassment. How could I have forgotten?

“I’m so sorry,” I say when I notice how wet his shirt is.

Bond shrugs and takes it off, tossing it towards the basket in the corner. “Nothing to be sorry for, sweets, perfectly natural. Go get changed because I have a feeling our girl is going to be waking up soon,” he says, nodding towards where Daisy is moving in her cot.

“Right,” I agree, going towards my bag and getting some clean clothes. I hurry to the bathroom to clean up and change. When I come out, Daisy is whimpering, and Bond is walking up and down the room talking to her. He nods towards the bed, and I take it to mean he wants me to sit, which I do, only then does he hand me Daisy.

Once she’s settled at my breast, we all relax slightly. “I’ll get you a chair for in here so it’s more comfortable for you,” Bond informs me as he runs his hand gently over Daisy’s head.

“You don’t have to,” I assure him. “I’m okay using the bed.”

“I want you to be comfortable, baby.”

Clasping his hand, I tug slightly on it to get his attention, “Bond I’m comfortable. We don’t need much. What you’ve given me so far is more than I’d ever expected. Don’t worry so much. I promise me and Daisy are good.”

“Okay, but you have to promise to tell me if you need something.”

“I promise,” I tell him and nearly laugh when he narrows his eyes at me.

“Mmh, I’m not sure that I believe you,” he grumbles slightly.

Seeing that he won’t relax until he knows I’ll tell him if I need anything, I gently shake his hand that I’m still holding, “Hey, I promise to let you know if we need anything. Now, what is happening today?”

Bond makes a deep grumbling sound as if he doesn’t quite believe me. Sitting on the bed by my legs, he keeps one hand on me as he fills me in on what to expect today.

“We’ll head out once Daisy has finished breakfast and grab some for ourselves. Then we’ll head over to the shop so we can do inventory on what we brought with us yesterday and open up. Once that’s done, I’ll take you for a tour of the town so you can get used to where everything is. By then, it will be lunch, where you’ll meet everyone as we all have lunch together, and then Church. We’ll play it by ear from there onwards.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m looking forward to having a look around. Crowthorne has had its fair amount of attention in the city.”

Bond didn’t look all that pleased when I told him that information. “Nothing bad,” I assure him. “To be honest, you and your brothers have been what most of the ladies have been discussing,” I inform him, then smile as his cheeks redden slightly.

“Whaaat?” he stutters slightly.

Throwing my head back, I laugh at the look on his face; it was a combination of slightly horrified and pure embarrassment with a dash of smugness.

When I collect myself, wiping away the tears of laughter, I realise that it had been a long time since I’d laughed that hard, and it felt good.

“You should laugh like that more often, baby. You’re always beautiful, but when you laugh… well, let’s just say you take my breath away.”

“I haven’t had a lot to laugh about,” I remind him, realising a little sadly how true that was. I am hopeful that that will be changing, though. “I’m hoping that’s going to change, though,” I tell him my thoughts as I fix my top and put Daisy to my shoulder.

“Oh, it definitely will be, Roch, that I can promise you,” Bond told me. “Come on, let’s get breakfast and I’ll go and show you around,” he said, taking Daisy from me. “We’ll grab a pushchair from stores. I know that Noni keeps a bunch of them around for guests.”

Ushering me out the door, I wait as he locks it, and then takes my hand and walks me down the passageway. I look around with interest. It’s gorgeous, with long parquet floors that shine in the early morning sun; big pots of ferns and delicious monster plants line the passageway, and through the floor-length windows, you look out onto the rolling green lawns and colourful flower beds.

We walk into a bustling dining room that has tables full of hotel guests. You can tell right away that they are tourists, not just from their clothes but also from the different languages that are being spoken. It made me realise that this was a world away from what I was used to.

Bond was leading us towards a table that was set up near the back of the dining room and could easily fit about twenty people by the look of it, but at the moment, only had three men sitting around it. I recognised Blaze and Cairo but not the other man. He was about the same height as Bond, with fair skin, green eyes, and dark red hair. The way he was studying me had me wanting to squirm slightly; I guess I’d have to get used to it, being a stranger among them.

Bond pulled out a chair for me, “Sit, baby.”

Cairo and Blaze both smiled and greeted me with a good morning. Turning towards the other man, I introduced myself before Bond could, holding out my hand to him, “Hi, I’m Rochelle.”

His lips twitched slightly as he gently grasped my hand and gave it a quick shake, “Rogue. I know who you are, Rochelle. I’m glad you found your way here.”

Surprise clear in my voice as I questioned sceptically, “You are?” because the expression on his face didn’t match his words.

“Yeah, I am. Hopefully, Bond will be happier too. You’ll learn that we only want what is best for our family, and you and Daisy are Bond’s, which makes you ours.” Not saying anything, I look down at the full plate that Bond places before me. I’d been so caught up in meeting Rogue that I hadn’t realised he’d walked away.

Looking from my plate back up at Bond, I say, “Um, thank you. But this is a lot of food.” I hated waste, but I wasn’t sure if I’d get through the plate he’d put before me.

Across the table, Cairo chuckles, “Eat what you want, doll; one of us will finish whatever you don’t want.”

My eyes widened in surprise, but I figured if they didn’t mind eating someone’s leftovers, then I wouldn’t mind them doing it.

“Give the baby to me,” Rogue demands of Bond, holding out his hands.

Bond looked reluctant, but it would be hard to eat holding Daisy, no matter how good she was. “Fine,” Bond huffs. “But I get her back afterwards. You can’t keep her.”

“What?” I squeak slightly.

“Rogue’s a baby hog,” Blaze tells me with a small smile as Bond transfers Daisy to Rogue, who looks more than comfortable holding a baby.

“How many kids do you all have?” I wonder.

“Rogue and Julia have two, Noni and Bull have four, so only six here for now—well, seven with Daisy joining the ranks,” Bond informed me.

‘That was still a fair number of children,’ I thought as I started to eat.

“What are you up to today?” Rogue wants to know as we start to eat.

Bond fills him in on what we’ll be doing for the rest of the morning. We finish breakfast, and everyone disperses. Bond takes me to find a pushchair for Daisy, and then we walk towards town. It doesn’t take long—just five minutes—before we hit the top of the main road. It’s something special, that’s for sure. It reminds me of the old-fashioned towns I’d seen in pictures; all the buildings are freshly painted, and there’re big tubs of plants along the covered verandas. There are a few craft shops and a small mini market that has a bakery attached.

In the distance, I can see a fuel station, making it the first and last stop, which is genius really. Next to it is a sign for the garage, the parts shop, and the towing company. Next to the parts shop is another storefront that is being renovated, and Cairo is speaking to a couple of the builders.

“What’s that going to be?” I ask curiously, taking it all in.

“Cairo’s opening a machine shop. His family owned one, and he apprenticed there before joining the army.”

“Where’s the vets?” I wonder, looking around but not seeing anything.

Bond points to a big brown building just on the outskirts of the town with a fenced-in yard. “Just over there, Josie needed a bit more room for runs for the animals that she has to keep longer than usual and also more parking than the town offers.”

“This is us,” Bond says, taking keys from his pocket. He unlocks the doors and pushes them open for me to enter while he follows with Daisy. I’m pleased but not surprised to see that we walk into a neat and clean shop with a counter at the far end and neat rows of parts along the back wall.

“Blaze and Cairo unloaded for me last night; all the parts should be in the warehouse.”

“Well, then,” I say, slowly turning around in a circle to have a proper look before stopping to see Bond looking at me with amusement. “Show me to the warehouse, and let’s get started. The quicker we get that done, the quicker you can show me more of this beautiful town.”

That’s what we did. The warehouse, while not as big as what I was used to, was more than adequate for the size of the shop that Bond was running. It didn’t take long to unpack and stock the shelves, even with stopping to feed Daisy.

I missed my dad and hoped he’d be as okay as he could be, but for me and Daisy, for the first time in a long while, I felt like I was home. I just hoped that whatever trouble followed me—because I knew it would—that Bond and his brothers would be able to keep us as safe as they seemed to think they could, because I wanted to stay here where I had a feeling we could be happy.