flesh as it soaked up the last of the water.
“Will you be upset when you conceive?” he finally asked her as he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I should have thought before forcing my first kiss on you. Before binding you so effectively. I should have explained…”
“Wouldn’t have changed anything.” She came back around, grabbed another towel and dried herself. “I would have wanted you anyway.”
He stilled, almost uncomprehendingly. “Are you certain, Roni?”
She paused, then breathed in deeply as wry amusement crossed her face. “Taber, that nice big c**k of yours isn’t the only thing I had on my mind when I saw you, you know. It was you I missed all those months. It was you I dreamed of before you ever touched me sexually. It was your babies I’ve always dreamed of having. Otherwise, you would have found my knee driving your balls up to your throat when you did kiss me. Now are you satisfied?”
He winced. She wasn’t above it. She had done just such a thing before.
“Understood.” He nodded quickly.
“Good. Now I know Callan’s waiting downstairs for you. I’m going to curl up on the couch until you get back. Kane and some others were bolting the glass doors in place earlier, so maybe I can still manage a few hours of sleep before this place gets crazy again.”
She looked exhausted. The constant worry, sexual needs and physical danger were taking a toll on her.
“Sleep in the bed…”
She shook her head. “I can’t sleep there without you. So hurry up. I’m getting pretty damned tired.”
He dressed in clean clothes while she pulled on one of his large T-shirts, the hem nearly reaching her knees, before grabbing a spare blanket from the quilt rack in the bedroom and heading for the sofa.
“I’ll be back soon.” He bent and kissed her soft lips as she stared up at him drowsily. “Hurry and come back. I’ll need you soon.”
He could smell the need building in her. He nodded abruptly and turned and left the room. She couldn’t live like this much longer, he thought. She was becoming exhausted, worn down. If she didn’t conceive soon, then he worried that her health would suffer. But what, he wondered, would happen when she did conceive?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Roni was starved the next morning. She had awakened late, showered and dressed, and headed immediately to the kitchen as she followed the scents of bacon, eggs and biscuits. When she entered the sunlit room, it was to find the three women talking softly over heaping plates and steaming coffee. Her mouth watered violently.
“On the stove.” Sherra grinned at her as she eyed the plates with starving desperation.
“I feel like someone cut a hole in my stomach,” Roni sighed. “Taber’s going to have to install a kitchen in that damned apartment he calls a bedroom if he insists on spending all his time up there.”
“It won’t be much longer.” Dawn’s soft, melodic voice had Roni stilling in surprise as she turned to look at the other woman.
“Excuse me?” she said, confused.
Dawn shrugged. “You’ll conceive soon.”
“And you know this how?” Roni asked as she lifted a plate from the center island and moved to the stove.
“Because I can smell it.”
“Dawn,” Sherra spoke up warningly.
Roni glanced over as the other woman shrugged and lowered her head to her food.
“So what does it smell like?” She frowned, poured a cup of coffee and carried it and her plate to the table.
“We aren’t certain.” Sherra avoided her gaze.
“Dawn sounded certain enough. Is it information that can only be given if you kill me later?”
Merinus smothered her laughter, though Sherra frowned disapprovingly. “No, but maybe something you don’t want to hear yet.”
Roni glanced back over at Dawn. “Give me a timeline and we’ll see how good you are.” She shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth as Dawn turned to her in surprise.