PAYTON’S PHONE PEALED in the darkness of the room, forcing her from sleep. Brodie groaned beside her as she reached toward the nightstand. “Sorry, love. I forgot to silence it.” She didn’t recognize the number, but answered it anyway. “Hello?”
“Hey, Payton.”
Shouting sounded in the background. A nightclub perhaps? She checked the clock. Two-thirty a.m..
“Bronwen?” she asked. “Is that you?”
“Aye. I’m at Slàinte. I thought your husband would be here. Doesn’t he own it?”
For whatever reason, Payton felt a coldness roll up her spine. She hadn’t told Bronwen of her wedding plans, due to the fact she was unaware herself, and speaking of bonding to her human friend would have raised more questions than she was willing to answer.
“Payton?” Brodie whispered, sitting up behind her.
Payton grasped his arm. “Bronwen? What do you mean, ‘husband’?”
“Didn’t you just get married?”
How would she have known that?
She felt, rather than heard, Brodie leave their bed.
“Yesterday,” Payton said. “How did you know?”
“Ah, Pay, I’m not at liberty—”
“To say,” Payton finished. “I believe I’ve heard that before from you.”
Bronwen chuckled. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Are you okay?” Payton asked her friend.
“Aye. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“You sound strange.”
“Do I?” A second of silence.
“Bron?” Payton pressed.
“Sorry, was just taking a drink. They make the best cocktails here. Have you heard that before?”
“Yes. I have,” Payton said. “Aren’t they closing?”
“Aye. Just about, but I’m using the next half-hour to the fullest of my ability. Are you in Edinburgh at the moment?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s good,” she said. “Well, I just wanted to say that I was thinking about you. I’ll talk to you soon. Cheers.”
The line went dead. Payton silenced her phone and stared at it for a minute.
“Cole’s on his way to the club,” Brodie said from the other side of the bed.
Payton nodded. “She asked me if I was in Edinburgh and seemed relieved when I said ‘no.’ Weird, right?”
“A bit, aye.”
Payton rubbed her forehead. “She called me a few weeks ago, and that was strange as well. It’s as though she’s checking up on me.”
“You mentioned you haven’t spoken in a while. Did you have a falling out?”
“No. If Bronwen was upset with me, she’d tell me. I never have to worry about where I stand with her.” Payton set her phone on the nightstand. “She said she’s working for Scotland Yard and asked if I knew Molly Adams. She was a girl I went to school with.”
He smiled. “One of the mean girls?”
“No, not mean, just not genuine. She started to pay attention to me when she found out I was friends with Niall, but I never trusted her, so never let her get close.” Payton sighed. “Bronwen sounded off tonight, Brodie. Not like herself at all.”
He climbed back in beside her and held his arm out. “Come here.”
Payton settled herself against his chest and squeezed her eyes shut. “I just can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.”
“Which is why I’m sending Cole to check it out.”
She frowned. “He doesn’t mind?”
“No, love. He doesn’t mind. This is all part of his job. Ali’s back guarding Kade and Sam, so Cole has been sent to find out what’s going on. She’s human. It’s better this way. He said he wanted to show Dalton the club, anyway, so that can be his ruse.”
“Good idea. Is Cole still planning on hiring more people?”
“As far as I know. Kade felt having a human security team was a good idea, especially with what happened at the Tin Ear in Savannah.”
She slid her chin into her hand and raised an eyebrow. “Is there a plan to tell anyone outside of Cole and Dalton that we aren’t human?”
Brodie sighed. “I don’t know. Kade wants to talk about it in a few weeks.”
“Why wait so long?”
“Are you forgetting a honeymoon?”
“No, of course not.” She ran her finger over the sinew of his chest. “But I didn’t take three weeks off, love. I took one.”
“Well…” His body went rigid and Payton stared at him.
“What?” she asked.
“Are you planning to keep working?”
She sat up. “Are you?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then so am I.” She searched his mind, trying to hear his thoughts, but he’d managed to shut her out. She narrowed her eyes and asked, “Were you assuming I wouldn’t?”
He sat up and kissed her shoulder. “Stop staring daggers at me, love. I won’t stop you from working if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, thank you, my liege,” she droned.
“Payton.”
“You don’t have the power to stop me from working, period, Brodie. I love my job and I don’t want to stop working.”
“Then don’t,” he said.
“You’re staying out of it, right?” He studied her for a few seconds and Payton’s irritation rose. “What did you do?”
He shook his head. “Nothing, sweetheart. I simply let Kade know you’d be absent for a few weeks.”
“Brodie!”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Look at it as a surprise holiday.”
“I should have done that, Brodie. It’s my job.”
“I wanted to surprise you, sweetheart. And I approached it as a request, not as a demand. I promise.”
“Are you sure you even know the difference?”
Brodie smiled. “If I haven’t figured it out, Kade is able to decipher me… most of the time.”
“Was he really okay?” she asked.
“He was really okay. He was worried you wanted to quit altogether.”
She smiled. “He was?”
“Very. He seems to think he can’t survive the office without you. Sam agreed.”
“And what did you say?”
Brodie pulled her back onto the mattress and up against his chest. “I told him that I would support whatever you wanted to do, even if it meant living in Edinburgh most of the year.”
“You did?”
“I did.” He kissed her temple. “I have this burning desire to make my mate happy for some reason.”
Payton giggled. “Wow. I guess you do.”
“So, am I out of the dog house now?”
“You weren’t really in it, Brodie.”
“Good to know.” He chuckled. “Once we’re back from our honeymoon, we’ll go house hunting in the city.”
“Where are we going on our honeymoon?”
“Where have you always wanted to go?” he asked.
“Venice,” she said without hesitation.
“Oh? Not Paris?”
“We’re going to Paris?” she asked. “Paris will be nice. I haven’t been there, either.”
“No, we’re going to Venice.”
“You are horrible.” She punched his chest playfully. “Are we really going to Venice?”
He laughed. “We’re really going to Venice. On Tuesday.”
She sat up again, clapping her hands. “Ooh, the weather’s perfect for us right now. Can we ride in a gondola? Where are we staying? How long are we staying?”
He sat up and wrapped his arms around her. “Yes, surprise, nine days.”
She wrinkled her nose. “But you’ve already told me where we’re going. Why not just tell me where we’ll be staying?”
“Because it’s a surprise.” He laid his fingers over her mouth when she opened it to argue. “I know you, love. I know your tastes. I recruited Kenna to help me with the planning and the booking.”
She relaxed and smiled. Kenna McFadden, Payton’s half-sister, was Fallen Crown’s tour manager, and the person Payton went to for suggestions on where to book people when the executives traveled. Kenna knew just about everyone in the tourist industry and was a wealth of knowledge when it came to travel. She was also a ridiculous snob and tended to fall on the side of only the best will do.
“So it’s going to be somewhere grand, then,” Payton mused.
“I bloody well hope so, for the price.”
Payton giggled. “If you really wanted to save money, Kenna’s not the person to ask, love. She has the same tastes as Max when it comes to the finer things in life.”
“Which is why I asked her.” He smiled and kissed her. “I also asked her because Niall hates Venice, so he’s a lousy resource.”
“Niall can go jump in the canal. He’s always so grumpy about everything.”
Brodie gave a mock gasp. “Something negative about the great Niall MacMillan? Say it isn’t so.”
Payton giggled again. “Let me rephrase. He hates to travel, hates crowds, and hates to eat exotic foods, so that translates into him being grumpy anytime they’re ready to tour. And to think, he let Max talk him into going on the road with Fallen Crown. Boggles the mind, really. If his mate loves to explore, he’s going to hate life.”
Brodie grinned. “Well, your mate knows you’ve always wanted to go to Venice, so we’re going to Venice. I want you to have a honeymoon to remember.”
She looped her hands around his neck. “We’re off to a smashing start.”
“Aye we are.” He swept her hair from her forehead. “Shall we try to go back to sleep?”
She shook her head. “I can’t sleep now, I’m too excited.”
“As I suspected,” he said.
“Past midnight snack?” she asked hopefully.
“Hokey pokey, perhaps?” he asked.
She clapped her hands again. “You didn’t!”
“I did. I had it flown in from New Zealand two days ago.” Brodie climbed from the bed and donned his pajama bottoms.
She stood on the mattress and jumped up and down. “Oooh, I can’t wait.”
Brodie laughed and held his arms out to her. “Are you putting your robe on, love, or are you going to walk down with me like that?”
Payton set one hand on her hip and tapped her lips with the other. “I don’t know. What would you prefer?”
“The staff’s surely asleep, so I vote nude.”
“Of course you do.” She grinned and let him lift her off the bed. “You’re forgetting about Heather and your mum, though.”
“They won’t mind.”
She laughed as she slipped on one of the robes she’d found in her newly stocked closet. This one was lavender satin with a paisley-embossed pattern in dark grey. It fell just above the knee and was the softest thing she’d ever worn.
Brodie slid his hands over her bottom and kissed her. “I think this might be my favorite so far.”
“You know you didn’t have to buy me so much. I don’t think there will be enough days in a year for me to wear everything in that closet.”
“I have to admit, I was surprised by the mass quantity the shops delivered. After checking the receipts, I was sure they’d sent more than I paid for.”
“Oh, why?”
He smiled. “Because I paid the same amount for three suits, six pairs of jeans, and two pairs of shoes, as our sisters did on everything in that closet.”
“Well, that might be because two-thousand pounds is a bit much for a pair of jeans, love.”
“Bite yer tongue. You love my jeans.”
“I do, but I love you in whatever you wear.” She ran her finger down his chest. “Or don’t wear.”
“If you continue down this road, love, we’ll not make it downstairs for the ice cream.”
“The ice cream can keep.”
Brodie kissed her, lifting her off the ground so that she could wrap her legs around his waist.
“I want to play a little,” she said.
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “I want to direct.”
“As you wish, love.” He set her on the bed. “What do you want me to do?
Her breasts grew heavy and her nipples pebbled with desire as she thought about what she wanted to do with him. “Um… can you lean up against the headboard?” she requested.
Brodie grinned, shifting to do as she asked.
She took a deep breath and straddled his hips.
“Can I touch you?” he asked.
Payton smiled. “I thought I was directing.”
Brodie chuckled wrapping his hands around the headboard. “Sorry.”
“As you should be.” She giggled. “Yes, you can touch me.”
He reached for her neck, pulling her gently down so he could kiss her. Shifting his body slightly, he slipped a hand between their bodies, and ran a finger gently across her clit. She gasped, sitting up and dropping her head back. “Oh, wow.”
“You okay?” he asked as he eased up.
“Yes, don’t stop,” she rasped, gripping his arm.
“You’re so wet,” he said.
“Mmm,” she hummed as he worked her body. She lifted up, reaching between them to guide him inside of her.
“Fuck,” he breathed.
Payton lifted up again, lowering herself, relishing the feeling of his girth stretching her.
“You’re tight, Pay. Is it hurting?”
Payton shook her head. She lifted up and lowered again, then she leaned back, bracing her hands on his thighs for leverage so she could move more freely and rode him, letting the feeling of ecstasy wash over her.
“Fuck, baby,” he said.
Payton dropped her head back and moved faster. Her orgasm hit her fast and hard and she found herself falling across Brodie, her breath coming in short bursts.
“Babe.” Brodie wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck.
“Sorry that was so quick.”
Brodie chuckled. “We’re not done, love.”
“Oh, I know.” She smiled down at him. “Can I try something?”
“Whatever you want.”
She separated herself from him and kissed his chest. “Your turn.” Payton slid further down his body and wrapped her lips around his cock.
“Baby,” he whispered as his fingers wove into her hair.
Payton closed her eyes and focused on the task at hand. She loved his body. Loved his response to her. When Brodie gripped her hair and his body locked, she could feel he was close, so she added her hand to speed up the process.
“Now, Pay,” he rasped, and groaned as he climaxed.
She kissed his cock and then crawled up beside him as he caught his breath and folded herself against him. He wrapped his arm around her, slipping his fingers into her hair and kissing her forehead. “Amazing, baby.”
Payton buried her face in his neck. “That was fun.”
“Aye, love.” Brodie chuckled. “Are you still hungry?”
Payton didn’t answer… she was sound asleep.
* * *
The next morning, Payton was up before Brodie and slipped into her private dressing room just beyond her closet. She dialed Alasdair’s number, desperate to know what had transpired in the middle of the night.
“Good morning, Payton. Or should I call you ‘Your Highness’?”
“If you do, I’ll skelp yer hide, Alasdair Ryan.”
Alasdair chuckled. “So you’ve said. We’ll stick to Mrs. Gunnach, then, eh?”
“Or Payton. Did you find out what happened with Bronwen?”
Silence.
“Ali?” she pressed.
“I can’t tell you that, Payton. You know that.”
“I know nothing of the sort.” She frowned. “She’s my friend, Ali. You can tell me.”
Not until he talks to me, love.
Payton let out a frustrated squeak.
“Payton?” Alasdair asked.
“Sorry, Ali. That wasn’t directed at you.”
“Hand me the phone, please,” Brodie said from the doorway.
Payton shook her head. “Ali, we’ll call you back.”
“All right.” Alasdair hung up.
Payton faced her mate and crossed her arms. “I know I’m going to have to adjust to a lot of new rules being bonded to a member of the royal family, but the fact that Ali can’t tell me things now doesn’t sit well with me.”
“He’s never told you anything relating to security.”
Payton raised an eyebrow. “He has so.”
“No. He hasn’t.”
She frowned. “And you know this how?”
“I don’t want to start a fight, Pay.”
“Too late.” She sidled past him and back into the bedroom.
He didn’t follow right away, which just managed to irritate her more. She paced the bedroom trying not to let her annoyance get the better of her, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She didn’t want to be the little woman expected to walk four meters behind her royal husband.
“It’s four steps, love. Not meters.”
“Well, I’m not doing that either!” she snapped, and glared up at him. She hadn’t heard him approach, and his ability to sneak up on her was disconcerting.
Brodie smiled. “I don’t expect you to.”
“What did Ali say?”
“Cole found Bronwen, but chose to watch instead of engage. Something’s going on that’s not quite right.”
“What does that even mean?” Payton asked in desperation.
“Honestly, I don’t know everything just yet. Cole hasn’t debriefed with Alasdair and isn’t planning to for at least a week.”
“Why couldn’t Ali just tell me that?”
“His sense of confidentiality, I’d imagine.” Brodie sighed. “But we’ll work on that, sweetheart. Because there really was no reason for him not to tell you that, other than the fact his ethics are centuries old. You have to admit, having Samantha, Pepper, and you come into the family is going to take an adjustment. For him,” he added quickly.
“Why? Because we insist on being respected and treated equally?”
“Yes,” he deadpanned. “Because Alasdair doesn’t respect you, or treat you as an equal. He’s an awful, awful man.”
Payton wrinkled her nose. “Okay, maybe not an awful, awful man. Just really old and stuck in his ways.”
“He’s younger than me, love.”
“He is?”
Brodie nodded. “By almost a hundred years.”
“Then why isn’t he a little more evolved than you?”
“Oh, so I get credit for being evolved?” he asked, with a sexy grin.
“You’re assuming that by me saying he’s less evolved than you, I’m saying you’re evolved. Nice try.”
Brodie laughed. “Touché.”
Payton grinned. “I do happen to think you’ve come a long way. So, perhaps you have evolved more than I’ve given you credit for. Either that, or I’m a magnificent teacher.”
“Probably the latter,” he retorted. “How did I manage to change your mind?”
“You bound me,” she retorted.
Brodie laughed. “Had I known it would be that easy, I would have bound you five years ago.”
“Had I known the wonders of being bound, I would have let you.”
“Oh, if only that worked, eh?” He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close.
She ran her hands through his hair. “I have spent the last five years feeling as though you didn’t love me and that I couldn’t trust you. I feel like an idiot now.”
“Payton,” he whispered. “Don’t say—”
“No, let me speak. I will acknowledge that you could have done a few things better, but I could have as well. I could have let you explain yourself the night of your party, instead of running home, but I was putting a wall between us because I didn’t want to trust you. I was so frightened of getting hurt, I didn’t give you a chance. That was unfair.”
“You had to go by your logic, sweetheart. You hadn’t reached your ár mökun, so there was no way for you to fully grasp the truth. I never blamed you for that.”
“I know you didn’t. But now that we’re bound, I can’t believe I didn’t trust you. With the situation with your parents, I assumed you had it in you to be unfaithful. Now I know better.”
Brodie chuckled. “Well, I have a little of that assumption to confess as well. I threatened Niall on occasion.”
“You didn’t!”
“I’m not proud of it, but, aye, I did. I hated that you two were… are… so close. I didn’t want to kill my closest friend, but would have if he’d touched you.”
“Oh, Brodie. He knew he wasn’t my mate. He reiterated that fact often, and was always the perfect gentleman. He’s closer to me than a brother, but that’s the only way I’ve ever viewed him.”
“Why would he need to reiterate that fact?”
Payton felt her cheeks heat. “Because I complained that it would have been easier to be in a relationship with him.”
Brodie frowned but quickly relaxed. “How do you feel now?”
“The same as I felt before.”
“That it would be easier to be in a relationship with him?” he asked in horror.
“No,” she stressed. “I have loved you since the moment I met you at the castle. You had me at fourteen, love. I may have grumbled to Niall on occasion, but ultimately, my absolute devotion to you never changed. There’s never been anyone else but you.”
“Good answer.” He smiled and kissed her.
“Just promise me you’ll be patient with me.”
He frowned. “About what?”
“The stuff earlier.” She grimaced. “I kind of assumed you’d try to make me quit my job, and then I got mad about the security brouhaha. I shouldn’t have thought the worst.”
“I think we both have to deal with a learning curve, sweetheart.” Brodie chuckled. “If I’m being honest, I would prefer you to quit your job, and I absolutely don’t want you to know what’s going on with the security—”
“But…”
“But,” he continued, “I also know that your job makes you happy, and even if I don’t want to admit it, your idea when Pepper was missing, to follow her with Cole, was a good one. And the way you handled yourself during the incident at Jenners’ was remarkable. That being said, I’d rather you not put yourself in danger in the future, but I’m finding you’re more dangerous when you’re uninformed.”
Payton grinned. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“Can we make a pact then, that we’ll endeavor to communicate?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Especially when you want to play the big strong alpha male and protect me?”
“Aye, especially then.”
Payton nodded. “Yes. I would love to make that pact with you.”
“Excellent.”
“Now. What’s the deal with this party today?” she asked.
“Wow, talk about a segue.” Brodie laughed. “Who told you?”
“Fiona. Last night.”
“Hmm, too bad your memory hasn’t lapsed since last night.”
“I wouldn’t be good at my job if my memory had a tendency to lapse.”
“Very true, love.” He smiled. “A picnic at the loch with just family. Very small.”
She sighed. “Oh, good. We should probably get dressed and face the day, eh?”
“Why? We have several hours before everyone gets here, and I’d like to take advantage of the fact you’re still undressed.”
“Dirty old man.”
“Strumpet of my heart,” he retorted.
Payton giggled. “Oh, that’s good, love. We should have that embroidered on a pillow.”
“You inspire me to greatness.”
“Have you told Kade everything about Abela yet?”
Brodie shook his head. “No. But I will.”
“We should probably do that this morning, eh? I get that our reception is supposed to be all about us and everything, but I would like to know your family’s comfortable. And at the very least, Kade should absolutely be told about what’s going on.”
“Because he’s my brother, your boss, or our king?”
“All three,” Payton said and headed to the bathroom.
“Where are you going?”
Payton faced him. “We are taking a shower and then calling your brothers and Fiona.”
He frowned. “But I want to take you back to bed.”
“I know you do. How about you take me in the shower?” Payton suggested and slid the robe from her shoulders. “We can get dirty and then clean faster.”
Brodie sighed. “If you insist.”
Brodie lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist and carried her into the bathroom, setting her in the shower and turning on the water.
“Hands on the wall, love.”
Payton did as he instructed, the warm water cascading over her back, while he cupped a breast and pinched the nipple. “Yes,” she whispered.
His free hand slid to her belly, then down between her legs, his finger moving over her clit and into her wetness. She mewed, pressing her bottom against him, wanting more.
She lost his hand on her breast, but only long enough so he could guide his cock inside her from behind, then he doubled his attention on her nipple and her clit as he slowly thrust inside her. she dropped her head back, connecting with his shoulder as she groaned in ecstasy. “Harder, Brodie.”
“Hands back on the wall,” he demanded.
She did so immediately and was rewarded with his cock slamming into her harder and harder until she came so fast, she let out a scream, but his hand squeezing her breast had another orgasm building as he continued to drive into her.
“Yes, Brodie. Oh…”
“Come, baby.”
She let herself fall into the abyss of climax and he held her close for a minute while they caught their breath. “Gets better every time.”
“I know,” she whispered.
He slid out of her and turned her to face him, pushing her wet hair out of her face. “I love you, Payton. Yer bloody perfect, you know that, right?”
“I love you, too.” She smiled, leaning forward to kiss his chest, running her tongue over his nipple. “My turn.”
His hands tightened in her hair. “Yeah?”
“Mmm hmm.” She kissed her way down his body until she was kneeling in front of him. She grinned at his hardening cock... always so ready... and kissed the base before wrapping her lips around the tip. Brodie hissed as she gave a gentle suck. She took him deeper, cradling him with one hand as she worked the shaft with the other.
“Fuck, baby!”
She grinned. She loved her newfound power in lovemaking, and enjoyed the effect of his cock inside her mouth. His legs stiffened and he pulled her hair gently, so she knew he was close, she quickened her strokes and then he groaned and thrust against her mouth. She took all of it, milking him until he was dry. When he relaxed, she gave one more suck, kissed the tip of his cock and climbed back up his body, kissing his neck, then his mouth.
Now that they were dirty once again, they cleaned up and got ready for their family day.