Wounded Birds (The Grayson Series Book 1) (37 page)

The time has come, and my heart begins to race with triumph. He mentioned he would take things slow, but I don’t think I can wait. “I want all of you,” I say.

His eyes widen in exultation and lust. “Are you sure?” He asks.

“Yes, Michael. God, I would do anything for you. I love you so much. You always please me, and I want to do the same for you. Please,” I beg.

Suddenly, he sits up and spins me around, my stomach to the bed, and he lifts my hips up, my ass facing him.

“Ariana,” he says with a roar, hovering over me, his lips to my ear. “I’ll take it real slow. I’m going to get some lubrication.” He hurries off and is back in less than a minute.

His warm hands rub up and down my legs, heating my skin and the blood in my veins. I start as he brushes his fingertips gently over my breasts, awakening them. He glides his palms down my torso and reaches over the small mound and plays with my clit. My body trembles and I gasp with a stuttering breath at the sensation.

“I need to lubricate your ass and myself. I’ll be gentle. You tell me when to stop, agreed?”

I nod, and his hand slaps my ass. I jerk up, surprised at how aroused it makes me.

“That was for not answering me. Now do you agree?” He slaps me again, but harder.

“Yes,” I yelp out. Oh God, I’m shocked on how much I enjoy the sting on my ass. “Michael, I really enjoy when you spank me,” I confess. I’m sure I just surprised the hell out of him, especially with my background, but those sweet, stinging slaps across my ass are enticingly hot.

“You do?” He sounds surprised.

“Yes,” I whisper, and the heat surfaces to my face, making me flush.

“Well, if you behave, I’ll do my best to please my future wife.”

“Make it a point,” I murmur, and the sweet words ‘future wife’ has me melting.

His hands gently begin to massage my ass. His fingers lubricated, he gingerly strokes down between my cheeks, sending a chill up my spine. “I’m going to enter you with one finger and work my way to three. When I feel you can take me, you’ll have all of me. Don’t forget, if it’s too much, you need to tell me to stop.”

“Yes,” I say.

I gasp as his first finger enters me and repeatedly slides in and out, making my body quiver from the unknown bliss of pleasure. Another gasp escapes my parted lips when he enters the second finger, stretching me wider.

“Ahhh!” I yelp from the unexpected spanking he gives me. Oh shit, his third finger just entered, and the pain begins to intensify. Oh God, oh God. I take long, deep breaths to get used to the fullness inside me. He has all three fingers penetrating deep within me and drawing them in and out, in and out, and my body can no longer hold on. I want to burst from the pain, but yet it’s pleasurable. How can I explain this wild sensation ripping through me? It’s so erotically arousing. Painful pleasure is the only way I can define it. I feel the juices oozing between my legs, my body starts convulsing, begging for more.

“God, you’re tight, Ariana, so beautiful. I can’t wait to slam my cock into your sweet little ass. You stop me if I hurt you.”

“Please, Michael, now. I’m ready for you.”

“Are you sure?” He hesitates before he pulls his fingers out.

“Yes please,” I beg. I’ve never wanted anything so much in my life. I need to feel him in my ass, hear his groans of pleasure fill the room. I want him to shudder over my body as he comes inside me. I crave pleasing him. He leaves for a moment, and I hear the hum of the water running. He must be washing his hands. He walks back in, and I feel his pelvis and erection against my back.

I gasp as the tip of his cock enters ever so slowly. The thickness is nowhere near his three fingers. This is two or three times the size. He enters more of himself, and I blow out a breath of pain. I don’t know if I can do this. What was I thinking? This hurts more than the pleasure I was feeling earlier. He spanks me hard, bringing me out of the pain, and I’m overcome by the sweet, stinging sensation of the slap. He slaps me again, and again, making my head spin.

He glides in further. “Ahhh!” I yell out. He stills. “I’m okay, don’t stop, please.” It hurts too much, but I can’t stop. I need to give this a chance. I’ve read in books that it hurts, but it feels so good the moment they’re inside you.

“I’m halfway in, Ariana. You’re amazing, sweetheart. I love you so damn much.” He grunts out, and without warning, he sends me spiraling into an abyss of pain and pleasure as he slams into me with full force.

I cry out from the sting and gratification he’s filling me with. Oh God, so much pleasure. My body begins to convulse, and the pain is no longer there. This is the most erotic decadence I have ever experienced. God, this feels so dirty, sinful, yet deliciously arousing and pleasurable. I want more.

He continues to rock into me, making my body quiver with intense ecstasy. His thick cock rubbing inside the walls of my rectum is so damn erotic that I’m about to erupt. His hands grip tightly around my hips as his fingers dig deep into my flesh. Our minds, bodies, and souls begin to merge into one right before we come apart.

“Oh, Ariana, you’re so fuckin’ tight. Your ass is glorious.” He hisses out. I feel the tremors vibrate from his body. He lays over me, panting for breath. “Oh! Damn it, Ariana, I’m going to explode.”

I hear his sweet cries, and he screams out my name right before he comes inside me. He touches my clit, moving his fingers in a circular motion and plays with my left nipple with his other hand, killing me with such powerful sensations. I follow right behind him, screaming out his name with the most earth-shattering orgasm my body has ever experienced.

“Oh God, Michael,” I yell out with stuttering breaths. I can’t see straight; everything is a blur. I collapse on the bed, inebriated, and he falls on top of me, breathless. I feel his tremors diminishing, as are mine.

Minutes later Michael rolls off me. “Ariana, are you okay?”

I turn myself around with a drunken sensation. “Yes,” I say, taking a few breaths in. “This . . . was . . . amazing, Michael. I never . . . I never thought this would feel so erotic, so hot, so good, and so mind-blowing.” I pull him down and kiss him hard on his lips.

“Ariana, you’re incredible. I didn’t think you’d be able to take all of me.” He shakes his head. “I was worried.”

“I love you so much, Michael. I would do anything to please you. Feeling you shudder and moan the way you did when you were in my ass was the biggest turn-on.” I kiss him again. I take a last stuttering breath, and exhaustion begins to set in.

“Oh, Ariana, you can drive a man to insanity when you talk like that.” He kisses my forehead. “You look like you’re ready to pass out. Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?”

“Yes, now let’s go wash up and get some sleep. I’m exhausted, and I’m sure you are as well after your vigorous workout,” I say, and he taps my nose and pulls away from me, and we head for the shower.

Chapter 35

Numb

I’m startled out of a deep sleep when the alarm goes off. I open my tired eyes, moaning softly, the clock reading six thirty in the morning. I moan again.

I stare at the huge figure next to me, wrapped around me as if he were a blanket, emitting a wealth of heat. His soft, even breaths fall against my neck, and his arm, built like Adonis’, gently rests over my waist. I take a deep breath and inhale his fresh, wholesome scent, provoking every nerve in my body.

I shut my eyes, reminiscing of our erotic lovemaking only hours ago, and I begin to sizzle as an egg over a hot pavement in a hundred twenty degree temperature.

I gasp with exhilaration as I realize something. “Michael, Michael, wake up.”

He jumps out of the bed, overwrought. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asks with a panicked expression.

“I slept through the night. I did it, Michael,” I say with joy, getting light-headed from the excitement.

He pounces on me, hugging me. “Oh, thank God, thank God,” he cries out and smirks. “I may have to fuck your sweet little ass every night.”

I beam with animation. A thrill shoots straight to my core. “Don’t tease me now, Michael.”

His sweet, mesmerizing laugh echoes in the room. “Sweetheart, I’ll have dessert waiting for you tonight,” he whispers, pulling me close into his warm body.

“I need to shower,” I groan, getting up from the bed.

An unsettling sensation flutters around my belly. Oh, no. I dart toward the bathroom, and I lift the toilet seat up, collapse on the cold tile, and eject everything from my stomach, heaving several times thereafter. Sweat and shivers course through me in violent waves. I take slow, deep breaths to ease the queasiness and shakes rumbling over me. Maybe this is a reaction from not taking the medication.

I hear Michael burst in like a cyclone. He rushes over to me and pulls my hair back. The faint sound of the faucet running hums.

He places a cool washcloth over my face and neck, and my body is convulsing with tremors from the bile continually expelling from my poor stomach. When is this going to end? I have nothing left inside me.

“Damn, Ariana, what happened? Do you think this is a side effect from not taking the medication?”

“My . . . thought . . . exactly,” I utter out between bouts of vomiting, my limbs shaking. I can’t control this. This is awful. What is wrong with me?

“We should get you to the hospital.”

I shake my head, violently throwing up again. “I’ll be okay.” I manage to say, lying through my teeth. I’ve been getting sick after Thanksgiving, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Maybe I picked up some kind of bug while I was overseas?

“Sweetheart, I don’t give a damn about your protest. I’m bringing you to the emergency room. I’ve never seen anybody vomit this much. You’ve been sick on and off since we left Texas.”

I take a deep breath, waiting for the shakes and vomiting to abate. Michael kneels beside me, holding me firmly against him, soothing me with a cold cloth over my forehead and wiping my mouth.

“I’ll help you get dressed. I’m taking you in,” he orders.

“No!” I yell out. “Michael, please, call Josh okay. I’m tired of hospitals. I don’t want to see one for many years to come.”

“Fine, let me get you into bed first.” Michael picks me up off the floor and carries me into the bedroom. I’m not going to argue. I’m too weak to even move.

***

I must have dozed off because when I open my eyes Josh is sitting at the side of my bed. “How long have you been here?”

He smiles. “Not long, sweetheart. I arrived five minutes ago.” His face is as handsome as his brothers’ but with softer, more soothing eyes.

“How’s your stomach, Ariana?” Michael asks, standing near the glass wall looking out onto Lincoln Center.

“Michael, if you don’t mind leaving the room, I’d like to examine Ariana,” Josh orders with a soothing tone.

Michael’s expression is undecided. He takes a few steps and stops. He opens his mouth to make a comment.

“Michael, please. He’s your brother. I’ll be in good hands,” I say, consoling him.

“Fine.” He walks out like a boy who has been scolded.

Josh turns to me after shaking his head with a grin. “Ariana, when was your last period?”

I’m caught off guard, taken by a whirlwind of surprise at his question. “Why would you ask such a thing? Michael and I have been very careful. We used protection.”

He nods with a smile on his face. “Yes, Ariana, but nothing is full proof, you may have gotten pregnant. I suspected this back in Texas.”

I gasp and sit up in bed. “No! Impossible,” I exclaim. Oh God, how is Michael going to react? What if Michael doesn’t want the baby, or maybe he’s not prepared to become a father? Oh shit. Am I ready to become a parent? Will I be a good mother? I blow out a long breath, trying to absorb the possibilities.

“Ariana, you’re over-thinking things. Michael loves you with all his heart. Yes, this will come as a shock to him at first, the same way you’re trying to process this in your head. We’re still uncertain. Let’s do a urine test and proceed from there.”

He hands me a cup, and I do my thing and hand it back to him. We wait and the blue plus sign appears. Holy crap.

“Are you okay, Ariana?” Josh asks, caressing my arm.

“Not sure, I guess the news has to sink in. Right?” I stare blankly out the window and back at Josh. I’m a bit numb at the moment. I had no plans on having a family for a few years, but now . . . we’re having a baby.

He sits beside me. “You’re not alone, Ariana. You have Michael, all of us Grayson’s, Blake and Joanne . . . . You’re surrounded with love and plenty of support.” He pauses. “Should I call Michael in before he pulls his hair out?” He asks, gesturing toward the doors.

I nod.

Josh stands up, walks to the door, pulls it open, and Michael is in the library pacing with anticipation. He turns. “Is she all right?” Michael asks, eyeing me with a cautious look.

“Ariana will explain,” Josh says, leaving Michael with an expression of fear on his face.

“Ariana,” Michael calls out. “What is it?” His eyebrows knitted together, searching deep into my eyes for answers.

“Sit down, Michael.” I point next to me.

He hesitates at first and finally sits beside me. “You’re scaring me, Ariana. What’s going on?” He asks, glancing between both Josh and me.

I take hold of his hand. There is no other way to tell him than to just come right out and say it. “Michael, you’re going to be a father.”

Michael goes pale, ghostly white. He seems tongue-tied, staring at me with vacant eyes. I’m scared. I don’t think he’s taking the news very well. Crap! Who would?

“Michael, talk to me, please. Say something, blink.” He’s not responding. He’s immobile. Oh, damn. My heart rate begins to increase. I hear the thundering roars of my blood rushing through me. I wait with anticipation for some reaction, words, anything.

After several minutes, or which felt like an eternity, he takes a breath. “Are you sure?” I relax with relief. I thought he fell into a coma.

“Yes,” I answer him, looking at Josh for confirmation.

“Yes,” Josh confirms. “Congratulations, Michael.” Josh gives him a pat on the back and smirks. I think Michael wants to deck him.

“Michael, are you okay?” I ask. I’m worried. He’s pale and appears to be scared out of his mind. What can I do to ease his wariness? I’m as shocked as he is about the news. I never expected this in a million years.

“Michael, say something. You’re scaring the hell out of Ariana,” Josh says, scolding his brother.

Michael shakes his head. He glances at Josh and turns to me. “Ariana, forgive me. This is a shock. I’m . . . I’m . . . euphoric. The news needs to sink in.” He threads his hands through his hair.

I grab hold of him, pressing him tight against me. “Oh Michael, how do you think I feel.”

After several minutes, Josh blurts out of the clear blue, “So, who’s going to call Dad?”

I pull away from Michael and wipe my tears with my hands. Wow, I’m sure Michael would want to tell his dad, but for some reason, I want this to come from me. I’ve become close to his father. He’s been so wonderful and opened his heart to me, showering me with such love and affection. I made my decision. “I want to tell him. Wait . . .” I look at Josh. “Don’t you think we should make sure I’m positively pregnant? How precise are those tests?”

“They are ninety-nine point nine percent accurate, and with the symptoms you’ve been having, I’m hundred percent sure you’re having a baby. I know a wonderful obstetrician if you want to meet with her.”

“Yes, please, thank you.”

“I’ll give her a call this morning. Hopefully, she can squeeze you in today,” Josh offers and walks out.

“Thank you so much, Josh,” I say still feeling numb.

“Yes. Josh, thank you,” Michael chokes out.

I stare at Michael.

“Ariana, are you okay?” Michael asks anxiously.

“Me? Are you okay? I mean you just proposed to me, and now here we are about to become parents. How is this sitting with you?”

“Ariana, I love kids, especially since you are about to become the mother of my child.” Michael scoots across the bed and leans over. He cups my face between his hands, his fingers gently stroking my cheeks. His eyes soften and glisten with pure love and passion. “I love you, Ariana DiMarco, soon to be Mrs. Grayson. I hope to God our demons are gone for good and we can start a new chapter in our lives.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re all in the past and buried.” I brush my fingers across his face, thanking God for all he’s done.

Michael stands up from the bed, eyes filled with joy. “Mommy Grayson, let’s make a few calls.” I quiver at his sweet endearment. I’m going to be a mom and their father is the tornado that whirled me into his heart.

Calling his dad was pure joy. When we gave him the news he was going to be a grandfather again, he was beaming so much the glow came bouncing in waves through the phone. We’ve picked a date, so I asked if it was too soon, and he said, “Nonsense. Valentine’s Day will be the perfect day for a wedding.”

Since then, Michael’s father and I have been communicating with each other regarding the wedding plans. He and Maria are working on the guest list. He requested I take some time off from work. He wants me to meet with the florist, caterers, band, and photographer. I told him to set the appointments for Christmas week when Michael and I plan to fly out there.

He mentioned he ordered a large heated tent, enough to fit five hundred guests. I choked, and Michael almost had a coronary as he listened in to the conversation. Now I know where Michael gets his bulldozing personality.

As for Michael, he was his usual, overbearing self. His excessive protectiveness over me was grating on my nerves. He had gone so far as to have Josh stay with me when he had to fly off to Hong Kong for several days working on the hotel project, which is about to break ground. He insisted I come along. I declined his offer, explaining to him I had no intention of taking any leave from work, especially since I’ll be out a few months when I give birth.

Which didn’t sit well with him, but he swallowed his pride and held Josh and Trent responsible for my safety and well-being, and treating me as if I were a child. I wanted to strangle him, except I couldn’t because my thoughts rolled back to that moment by the bubbling creek when he bared his soul to me about Tania and the pain he’d endured from losing her. This also gave me the compassion and empathy to understand and adjust to Michael’s personality disorder. I almost laughed aloud at the thought. It’s not easy dealing with an overly protective and controlling man. But I love him, and now that I know what makes him tick, our relationship began to grow and blossom into something more beautiful, as the universe intended.

This is a two-way street. It took Michael some time and patience to adjust to my independence and feistiness, oh, and the fear and trust issues I had with men, especially intimacy. He never once forced himself on me. I was the one in the driver’s seat when it came to our being intimate. He patiently waited for me to give the green light, and Michael had to deal with the demons from my past, which followed me. I cringe thinking about the time he risked his life for me.

When Michael returned from Hong Kong, his first visit in my building wasn’t to see me; he marched right into Sean’s office and seemed to be a having a lengthy conversation. I only heard of this when Peggy, Sean’s assistant, informed me that Michael was in with Sean.

Sean called me into his office, and his laughter echoed throughout the room. At first I couldn’t figure out why. However, his merriment diminished, and he offered me a seat as he read over the list of demands Michael had laid out on the table for him.

My hours need be cut shorter. I shouldn’t be traveling outside of the United States, or better yet, no more than two-hour flights. I should be able to take additional breaks, maybe work from home, etc.

When Sean finished reading off Michael’s orders, because that’s exactly how I perceived them, I turned a bright shade of red, not only from embarrassment, but also from anger. My boss, however, found this humorous, I guess from being a father himself, he may have experienced the same anxiety Michael’s having. I, on the other hand, did not find this amusing. I apologized to Sean for my fiancé’s behavior and marched right out.