Page 41 of Rough Choice

Kye called over the walkie for the others to stand down as he and Eliana slid into their bedroom. They could still hear Fiona and Grier shouting at each other, and they couldn’t help but laugh.

“She’s going to murder him if he doesn’t sleep with her,” Eliana said as she helped Kye out of his wet clothing.

“He’ll sleep with her,” Kye replied confidently.

“He will?”

“Oh yeah,” Kye said and when he was standing naked, he began assisting Eliana in removing her wet clothes. “If he doesn’t do it to clear our debt, he’ll do it because he’s insanely attracted to her.”

“You think he likes her?”

“Likes her?” Kye asked incredulously. “No, he can’t stand her. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to bend her over the couch and…”

“I get the picture,” Eliana said, holding a hand up to stop him. They were both naked now and shivering from the cold. Ducking under the covers, they wrapped their arms around each other and their lips connected. “I hope the storm doesn’t wipe out the clinic. I need to pick up my prescription,” she said while he was kissing her neck. “You know, my little pink pills?”

Kye propped himself up on his forearms as he hovered over her. “What if…” he began, and his blue eyes found her brown ones. “What if you didn’t pick up your prescription?”

“You mean… go off my birth control?”

“Yeah.”

“But eventually you know that I’d get…”

“Pregnant?” he asked. “Yeah. I know you would. I think that’s the idea.”

“You mean it?” she asked, eyes brimming with tears. Kye only nodded, a soft smile tugging at his lips. She pulled him down into a hard kiss, and when his erection found her heat, he pressed into her with no hesitation.

The storm raged outside and struggled to match the intense argument from the living room, but neither held a candle to the passionate tempest between Eliana and Kye.

When the storm finally subsided, an eerie calm overtook the compound. Eliana was the first to wake the next morning, and when she stepped outside, the sky was such a brilliant blue it was hard to imagine only hours before there was utter chaos. Palm fronds and boards littered the ground, and the sopping wet earth squished underfoot.

“Be careful,” Grier said, stepping outside. Needing to busy herself, Eliana was already gathering up the debris and making a pile in the courtyard they could burn down. “We’re mostly safe, but I see some scattered glass shards.”

“I can grab some of the work gloves from the shop,” Eliana offered. She saw the hesitant look on Grier’s face, and it gave her pause. “Where’s our little friend?” she asked without taking a single step closer to the old stables.

“Asleep in my room.” Eliana’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t have sex with her!” he said quickly.

“I didn’t say you did.”

“You were thinking it,” Grier grumbled, and Eliana laughed. “What?”

“I’ve never seen you like this. You’re usually cool as a cucumber and now you’re all bristly like a porcupine,” Eliana said and grabbed the other end of the log Grier was dragging off the path. Together they carried it to the makeshift bonfire pile.

“I’m not a porcupine, and I’m not bristly; I just didn’t sleep well,” he defended, and Eliana rolled her eyes. “Well, how would you feel if the freedom of your friend’s lives depended on you sleeping with someone you’d only seen as a younger sibling?”

“I don’t think it’s as dramatic as all that,” Eliana stated and brushed her hands free of dirt. “Fiona doesn’t really expect you to impregnate her.”

“She sure as hell does!” Grier snapped. “You heard her! If there’s one thing I know about Fiona Strong is that the second she gets a thought into her head, there’s no beating it out of her.”

“If you don’t want to have sex with her then don’t; she can’t force you. That would be rape, and she doesn’t seem like a rapist.”

“She might!” Grier said with his hands on his hips. “She’s been after me for years, and now she’s got me by the proverbial balls. If I don’t give her what she wants, then she’s going to call in the debt you and Kye owe. Now that she knows where you’re living, you’ll have MC bounty hunters so far up your asses you’ll be spitting handlebars.” Eliana laughed, and Grier grew more agitated. “I fail to see the humor in this.”

“Grier, you’re scared of her!”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are, look at you! You’re flustered and paranoid. Who knew all it took to rattle the great, stoic Grier Owen was a five-foot-five redhead.” Eliana couldn’t keep the amusement from her voice if she tried. “I promise, if it comes down to it, I’ll defend your virtue!”