Page 45 of Bradi

Bradi laughed. “I have feared this day from the moment we got on that POD. I knew, in my heart, I knew that you could never be mine.” Abruptly, he turned his back to her. “Just go, Doc.”

“You think you can get rid of me that easily? You think that I’m going to walk away from you, from us, without a fight?”

He didn’t move.

Reaching out tentatively, Marisa touched his back. “Bradi, please don’t send me away. I love you.”

“Don’t do this, Doc.”

“Gods damn you, Bradi! I’m telling you that I love you and you’re pushing me out the door. In case you forgot, mister, I’m already married to you.”

“Not according to Earth customs.”

She snorted, not believing that Bradi could be so childish. “Well, guess this baby isn’t really here either. I mean, you don’t seem to care about our marriage anymore, am I to assume that you don’t care about me or our son?”

When he didn’t respond, Marisa drew in a sharp breath. “Oh gods, that’s it. I was just something to bide time with. Now that Peter’s back, you know you can hand me off. Be rid of me and the burden I represent.” She touched her stomach. “Damn you to hell, Janelle! I will love this child enough for the both of us. I don’t need you. Go ahead. Go back to it all.”

That got Bradi’s attention. He turned around slowly, and she saw why he hadn’t faced her—he was crying. “How can you possibly want me over him? He’s human. He’s career driven. And this planet is both glorious and cursed. It’s safer for you to go.”

“I love you. Live with it, jerk.”

“I love you too.”

Running to him, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. Bradi kept his lips closed tight, so she moved to his cheeks to kiss away the tears there. “Bradiainn Janelle, I love you with all my heart and I don’t care if you want me to leave.” She paused. “Well, if you do want to go back to all those women, I’ll—”

Bradi lifted her off the ground and backed her up against the wall. His mouth came crashing down on hers and the minute that she tasted his salty kisses, she began to cry as well. “I love you, Marisa.”

“You called me by my name. You rarely call me anything but Doc or baby.”

“I thought it was only fair. You called me Bradiainn.”

She stroked his long black hair back from his face and planted kisses all over his neck. “I need you in me, Bradi. I need to feel your cock buried deep in my body. I need to know that you won’t leave me. That you want me here, with you.”

“Pete will be back soon. We need to sit him down and explain what has happened.”

Digging her nails lightly into the back of his neck, she growled and bit at his lower lip. Her pregnancy hormones picked now to rear their ugly head. “I said that I needed you. Do your husbandly duties now before I really get pissed off.”

A wicked grin spread over his face as he pushed his knee between her legs. “What did you have in mind?”

Grabbing hold of his cock through his pants, she licked up his neck and laughed softly. “How about you fucking me against this wall for starters?”

Bradi wagged his dark brows. “Mmm, how about I make love to you against the wall instead. Same results, makes me feel like a romantic guy, changing the terminology.”

Marisa unfastened his pants and let them fall to the floor. It wasn’t so easy to get herself undone. “Err, Christian tied me up and now I’m stuck.”

Bradi narrowed his eyes as he tipped his head. The unspoken question on his face was enough to tell Marisa that her husband was a jealous man. Not that she needed anyone or anything to remind her.

She snorted. “Not like that. He helped me figure out the cord thing.”

He laughed as he let a claw spring forth from his fingertip. Slashing through the cord and the material, he freed her instantly. “Your breasts are getting bigger.”

Marisa rolled her eyes as she stroked her husband’s erection. “So is your cock.”

Bradi dropped his head down and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Her body reacted with a jolt and she cried out as he sucked hard. Desperate, she pumped his shaft. “Please, Bradi, hurry. I need you in me.”

He growled out as he pulled his head up. His eyes flashed to yellow and she knew he was fighting to stay in control of his beast. The truth was, he’d always have to fight it, and that hurt her heart. She wrapped her legs around his waist and stared into his yellow eyes. They flickered back to blue. “No, let it be, and let your hands go. I want you to make love to me, Bradi. No worries, no rolling away and into water.”

“No.” The look on his face confirmed her suspicions. Bradi had been hiding from her when he’d rolled into the bathing pool that night so many months ago. His running, his hiding who and what he was, had to end.