Blake, Abby - Keen Inclination [A Bride for Eight Brothers 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) by Abby Blake Read Free Book Online

wondered if he should intervene. But Mikayla knew exactly what to say.
    “I’m sorry, Master.”
    With a stifled groan, Brock wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both onto their sides on the floor. Still intimately joined, he closed his eyes and held his wife like she was the only anchor in his suddenly rocky world. John felt a touch of embarrassment for having witnessed something so intensely private. Brock had never shown any weakness in front of his younger brothers, and to witness it firsthand was somewhat humbling.
    Both Lachlan and Brock always seemed like the responsible older brothers. Always in control, always doing the right thing, making the hard decisions, and it was easy to forget that they were human with the same frail emotions as the rest of them.
    John moved away, quietly hoping Mikayla could reassure his brother that she had no intention of leaving.

Chapter Five

    Emotion sat like a heavy ball in her stomach. She’d been so caught up in her own misery she hadn’t even noticed how difficult it had been for Brock to deal with everything that had been happening.
    Caught in the vise-like grip of his arms, she lay quietly and accepted his intense embrace. She’d seen the concern on John’s face as he’d left the room, and she’d felt even more wretched knowing that she’d let her husbands down.
    “I’m sorry, Brock,” she managed to whisper. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please forgive me.”
    “I forgive you, baby girl, but you need to promise to be honest with me, with all of us, from now on. If you have a problem, you need to discuss it with your husbands, not bottle it inside.”
    She nodded again, struggling to keep the tears at bay.
    “Good girl,” he said, his hand stroking up and down her arm, over her hip, and to the edges of her sore bottom. “Let’s get cleaned up. I need to take care of your ass or you won’t sit comfortably for a week.”
    “Maybe that’s a good thing,” she said, still feeling remorse for what she’d put him through. “It might remind me not to keep secrets.”
    He laughed quietly. “That it might,” then added thoughtfully, “but it will also stop me from spanking you again this week, and I suspect that you have quite a few spankings coming your way, baby girl. It’s been a long time since I got to play with my sub properly.”
    Brock carefully rolled away from her, got to his feet, and lifted her into his arms. “Tomorrow,” he said conversationally, “we’ll go to California and visit Tracey and her husbands for a while. Then John and I are going to lock you in our hotel room and keep you naked for five days straight.”

    * * * *

    Lachlan cursed at the latest proximity alarm. Now the bastards were landing in the dark as well. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t asleep or that they had night-vision equipment. It still pissed him off that they’d even think of trespassing in the middle of the fucking night.
    He was halfway to the communications room when Ryan, Ty, and Bryce met him in the hallway. “We’ve got this one,” Ty said with his usual trademark smile. “You can answer the subspace communicator.”
    Now that he was close enough, Lachlan could hear the insistent buzzing noise. He glanced back at his brothers, but they were almost at the end of the hall before it occurred to Lachlan that if it had been Mikayla, they wouldn’t have been so keen to hand over the task.
    When he saw the ID code, he wanted to run in the opposite direction, too. As much as he loved his mother, she could be a royal pain in the ass when something was on her mind.
    “Hi, Mom,” he said, trying not to sound anything but neutral. The woman’s talent for reading body language was as freaky as his own, and he knew any sign of weakness would lead to a lecture on whatever subject took her fancy.
    “Lachlan, you look tired,” she began without preamble. He tried not to roll his eyes in irritation. Their parents were all well aware of the situation they