Then, she paused and glanced at King. “Do you need the elevator?”

  He shook his head. “I’m good.”

  Elevator? I hadn’t known there was an elevator.

  She didn’t argue with him, but I wanted to demand he use this elevator. I turned to look back at him, and he grinned.

  “I got this, sweets.”

  “What if you fall?”

  He leaned close to me and pressed a kiss to my closed lips, which I was not opening until after I brushed my teeth.

  “I’ve walked down these stairs in worse scenarios. Crutches are child’s play.”

  “But there is an elevator. Why?”

  He cupped my face. “Because it only fits one and I refuse to be away from you for a fucking second.”

  Oh. I stared at him, wishing my mouth didn’t taste like vomit. I wanted to kiss him. Tell him I loved him. Instead, I turned and walked down the stairs slowly in case King needed me to catch him.

  When we were both at the bottom, I sighed in relief.

  Stellan, Ronan, Monte, Barrett, and Roland were all sitting in the sofas around the coffee table. They were looking at me and King.

  “Good to see you, Rumor,” Ronan said.

  What did I say to that? Thank you?

  “She’s been through a lot. Not up for talking,” King said, placing a hand on my back. “Come on, sweets.”

  None of them said anything more as we passed them. A man I didn’t recognize stepped out of one of the rooms. He looked to be about King’s father’s age, but he wasn’t dressed like the older men. His jeans, cowboy boots, and fitted black shirt reminded me of something King would wear. The tattoo that wrapped around his arm looked like chains.

  When our eyes met, he looked familiar.

  “Rumor, this is Linc Shephard. Stellan’s brother. He runs the Mississippi branch of the family.”

  The eyes. That was it. He had Stellan’s eyes. Although that was where the similarity ended.

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry you have hurt men because of me.”

  He shook his head. “Not your fault.”

  If I had stayed inside, like Sebastian had told me to, then it wouldn’t have happened, but I didn’t have time to argue. I wanted King to sit down. He looked like every step he took was painful.

  Linc walked past us toward the room with the other men. Dr. Drew stepped out of the furthest room on the right, followed by Maeme. She was smiling.

  “Come this way,” she said.

  Dr. Drew gave me a reassuring look as I passed him and stepped into the room.

  King didn’t allow more than a few inches of space between us. When he looked at the doctor with a scowl, I realized he was still angry about my checkup. Did he not want the doctor to do this? We needed to check the baby, and I liked Dr. Drew.

  “Oh good Lord, King. He delivered you. He’s stitched you up more times than can be counted. Stop acting like he wronged you,” Maeme scolded him. “You’ve already choked him out over it. Let it go.”

  I spun around and gaped at King. “You did what?” I asked him, horrified.

  He threw one more glare at the doctor before looking at me. “He touched what was mine.”

  “I am pregnant, King. He has to check me.”

  King flexed his neck and popped his jaw like he was trying to calm down. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “Ignore him,” Maeme said. “Lie on the table, Rumor.”

  “I’ll also need her to pull her bottoms down just above her pubic line. Can he handle that?” the doctor asked.

  “YES,” Maeme declared. “I will handle him. And if this doesn’t work and you need to do an internal one, I will call Stellan and Ronan in here to deal with his crazy ass.”

  “Like hell!” King snapped at his grandmother.

  She stepped around the table and jabbed his chest with her fingernail. “Do. Not. Speak. To. Me. Like. That. Again.”

  To my surprise, King actually simmered down somewhat. I looked between the two of them before climbing onto the table.

  King moved past his grandmother to stand beside me, taking my hand in both of his. I lifted my eyes to look up at him. His perfect face was tense as he watched the doctor setting things up.

  “You want to pull her pants down for me?” the doctor asked.

  King moved then and gently tugged the front of my leggings down, keeping his hand lying flat over my pubic bone as if he was hiding something. If I wasn’t so worried about him taking out the doctor, I would laugh at this behavior.

  The doctor glanced at him, then looked at me. “Normally, the gel is cold, but Maeme made sure yours was warmed first,” he said with a smile before he covered my stomach with the clear gel.

  I turned my head to the screen as he began the ultrasound. I didn’t know what I was seeing, but I held my breath as I waited until he said something.

  A small thudding sound filled the room.

  “That’s the heartbeat,” he said with a smile. “Nice and strong.”

  King’s hand tightened on mine as I kept my eyes glued on the screen.

  “This,” Dr. Drew said, “is your baby.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, barely making out the small pea shape growing inside of me.

  “Measuring right on schedule,” he added. “Everything looks just fine.”

  Turning to look up at King, I realized he was watching me. The awe in his expression took my breath away. He wanted us. Both of us. The words I love you were right there. I had to fight to keep from blurting them out right now.

  The paddle on my stomach was removed, and King pulled up my leggings, covering me, then tugged my shirt into place. His need to keep me covered made me feel special. As if he saw me as something he cherished.

  “Maeme tells me that you have a lot of questions and concerns. She’s ordered you a book, but I have one, too, that I brought you. My cell number is on the front. Call me, text me, with any questions you have. It doesn’t matter the time. Also, I brought you some pills to help with the nausea.”

  King helped me sit up while he balanced on his crutches. I reached for the book and took it, feeling as if I had just been given gold.

  “Thank you,” I breathed, clutching it tightly.

  He gave me a quick smile, then stood up. “I need to go tend to my other patients. If you don’t have any other questions for me, that is.”

  I shook my head, feeling guilty that there were people here who had been injured while saving me, and he was in here, giving me an ultrasound.

  “Thank you. Please, go help them.”

  He glanced at King before turning and leaving.

  Maeme’s sniffle reminded me she was still there. I shifted my body to get off the table and looked over at her. She was wiping away tears and grinning.

  “Oh my,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t know I was gonna get so emotional.”

  Then, she came and gave me a quick hug before turning to King. She squeezed his arms and looked up into his eyes, saying nothing before leaving the room.

  When I looked back at King, he was watching me. I wanted to know what he was thinking, if he was happy. Or did this make him feel trapped? I wished he’d say something. Let me have an idea of what he felt.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he said.

  I nodded, knowing he needed to lie down. All my worries could wait. Getting him healed was most important right now.

  • Twenty-Nine •

  I got shot for defying my boss, wanting to come find you, and you should ride my dick like a good girl because of it.

  Rumor

  When I opened my eyes, King’s erection was pressed firmly against my bottom, and his arm was wrapped around me with his hand tucked between my legs. His thumb moved and rubbed directly over my clit, causing me to gasp.

  A deep chuckle behind me told me he was awake and knew exactly what he was doing.

  “Sit on my face, sweets.”

  I turned over to look at him. His eyes were no longer bloodshot, but hooded as he stared at me with a sexy grin on his face. I was also relieved to see the dark circles were gone from under them.

  “You’re hurt,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, I am. And the only thing that will make me feel better is your pussy riding my tongue.”

  I felt my entire body flush, and I clenched my thighs together. “Don’t you want breakfast?”

  He bent his head, brushing his lips over mine. “The breakfast I want is between your pretty thighs.”

  Dear God, this man.

  I returned his kiss, wanting nothing more than to do exactly what he wanted of me. But he had been shot, and he needed to rest. He didn’t need me to be getting off with his mouth.

  “But what you need is a good meal and rest,” I replied against his mouth.

  He groaned, then reached for me and pulled me over on top of him until I was straddling his body. “Sweets, there isn’t a meal that compares to your cunt. That’s as good as it gets.”

  I covered my face and laughed. He knew how to make me beet red and turned on, all at the same time. His hands grabbed my hips, and he moved me down until I felt his hard length press against me.

  “If I can’t get it on my mouth, then I want it on my dick,” he said in a husky voice. “I’m hurt, sweets. The least you could do is ride me like your favorite horse.”

  I squirmed, causing him to groan and my entire body to hum with pleasure. “I don’t have a favorite horse.”

  He grabbed the sides of my panties and ripped them, then tugged the fabric from my body. “You’re about to have one.”

  “King, you’re hurt,” I started as he lifted his hips and shoved his boxers down until his cock was free.

  “That’s right. I got shot for defying my boss, wanting to come find you, and you should ride my dick like a good girl because of it.”

  I stopped the rocking my body was doing of its own will and stared down at him. “What?”

  “Fuck me, sweets.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant. You got shot because you defied Blaise?”

  He grabbed the top of my thighs and pushed me back until the tip of his erection lined up with my entrance. “No one tells me I can’t go get what’s mine,” he said. “Now, lift that perfect little ass up and let me sink into that needy pussy.”

  Unable to tell this man no even if I wanted to discuss this further, I did as he’d told me to. The moment I pressed down on him until he was fully seated inside me, he threw back his head and let out a deep, low sound in his chest. For a moment, I was lost in the sheer beauty that was the man beneath me. The way his tanned skin flexed, his muscles standing out. I could spend the rest of my life looking at him and never grow tired of it. The dark, heated look in his eyes when he opened them made me tremble with excitement.

  “Ride me, sweets,” he said just as his hand smacked firmly against my right butt cheek.

  Leaning over him, I grabbed on to the headboard and lifted my hips, then dropped back down onto him.

  He grabbed my ass with both hands and growled, “Fuck, that’s it, baby. Such a good girl, taking my dick.”

  The moment the dirty talk started up, I knew I was gonna be done fast.

  He leaned forward, grazing my nipple with his teeth. “Damn, those are the prettiest fucking tits I’ve ever seen. They’re bigger.”

  I’d noticed that too. They were more sensitive as well. I bit my lip as I bounced on him. This felt different. My body was needier. It craved being filled. A frenzy was building in me, and I locked my eyes on King’s face as I began to press down harder and faster.

  “Ah! Ah!” I cried with each jolt of pleasure, wanting more. Panting, I dropped my hands to his shoulders and chased the orgasm that was coming. I had to have it.

  “Fuuuck, sweets. You keep this up, and I won’t be able to hold off,” King said before spanking me harder than before. “My baby likes to ride after all.”

  “King,” I moaned as the first tingle started to unravel.

  “That’s it. Come for me. Squirt all over my cock,” he said, breathing heavily.

  With those words, it slammed into me, causing my body to jerk several times as the gush of my release pulsed so hard that it ran down my thighs and his.

  “FUUUCK! That’s mine!” he shouted as his hips lifted and his body tensed up.

  The warmth of his release shooting into me sent me off again, and I dropped down onto his chest, my face buried in his neck as I continued to have burst after burst of this complete euphoria.

  When it finally began to ease, King’s arms were wrapped around me, his cock buried inside me. I sucked in a breath and then exhaled slowly. My heart was still racing as I relished in the best sex of my life.

  “Sweets, if this is what pregnant sex is, then you’re gonna fucking stay knocked up for the rest of our lives.”

  I giggled, pressing my face into his collarbone. I had kind of gone a little wild. But wow. That had been incredible.

  He trailed his fingertips down my back and over my bottom several times as our breathing slowed.

  “I think I’m more sensitive,” I said.

  “No shit,” he replied, causing me to laugh again.

  “Is that bad?” I really hoped not.

  “Depends.”

  I lifted my head to look at him. “What does that mean?”

  He reached up and brushed the hair out of my face. “On if you like walking bowlegged. Because I’m about to fuck you again and possibly after that. I’m thinking I might keep you in here and fuck you for the next nine months.”

  I grinned, pressing my lips together.

  “You like that, don’t you?” he asked, taking my chin and pulling my mouth down to his. “Just think, I could have eaten your pussy, then fucked you. Next time I tell you to get on my face, you do it.”

  I wasn’t going to argue. I sank into him, savoring the taste of him as he held me. No matter what the future held, I had this with him right now. If I lost him one day, I’d be devastated, but it could happen, and when he bored of me, I would hold on to these memories.

  • Thirty •

  My own fucking baby mama.

  King

  I walked back into the bedroom to find Rumor standing there in nothing but a towel. Her head full of damp ringlets that I fucking loved. I was down to needing one crutch today, but it would be a week or more before I was free of the added support. Thanks to Gage fucking Presley.

  “You’re back,” she said, smiling.

  The way her eyes lit up when she saw me made my chest feel like it was gonna explode. Jesus, was there anything she did that I wasn’t obsessed with?

  “Meeting was short,” I told her.

  “Are you hurting?” she asked, concern shadowing her face.

  Yeah, it hurt like a son of a bitch, but I wasn’t telling her that.

  “No, sweets. Can’t feel a thing.”

  She didn’t look convinced. “You need to rest. Sit down. I’ll get you something to drink, and you can watch TV.”

  Damn, she was cute.

  I let my gaze travel down her body slowly. “I’ll sit if you come straddle me. Naked.”

  She shivered and held on to the towel tightly. “We just … had sex twice,” she replied, but I could tell she wasn’t against it.

  “And you’re naked in a towel with all those pretty curls wet and hanging down your back.”

  “Shouldn’t we talk?” she asked softly.

  My eyes shot back up to her face. “Talk?”

  She nodded, those big eyes of hers looking at me nervously.

  I took a step in her direction. Damn crutch made everything hard. “What do you want to talk about, sweets?”

  She shrugged, and it was real hard not to drop my gaze back to her tits. They were at least a size bigger.

  “The … baby.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Yeah, if you want to.”

  I watched as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, then let it go.

  “Do you not want to?”

  I wanted to do whatever the hell would put a smile back on her face. And possibly get her to either sit on my face or dick. Her choice. But clearly, she was worried about things, and I needed to reassure her.

  I nodded toward the sofa. “Let’s talk,” I said. “But as much as this pains me to say, you need to put some clothes on. I won’t be able to focus on much else if you’re sitting there in a towel.”

  A small laugh escaped her, and it was like a fucking shot of heroin to my system. I loved that sound. I wanted to hear it all the time. She stepped into the closet to get dressed. Her modesty was cute. I’d seen every inch of her body, but she still couldn’t get dressed in front of me. I didn’t say anything to her about it because if she dropped that towel for me, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t bend her over and pound that tight cunt again. Talk be damned.

  I walked over to the sofa and dropped the crutch before sitting down, then propped up my injured leg. I rested my head against the wall and trained my eyes on the door of the closet. When Rumor walked back out, she was dressed in a pair of black shorts and a white tank top that was cropped enough so that when she lifted her arms any, the smooth, tanned skin of her still-flat stomach showed. I narrowed my eyes, not sure I was okay with her leaving the room like that. I didn’t want anyone seeing her stomach. That was mine.

  “Why are you frowning?” she asked as she walked over to sit next to me.

  “Shirt is too short,” I replied.

  She looked down at it, then back at me. “Your aunt gave it to me.”

  “Don’t care.”

  Rumor tilted her head to the side and smiled at me. I was pretty sure she could get away with anything when she smiled like that.