Unexpected Sting by Viola Grace (free reads .TXT) 📕

forone. They are very much in the public eye, and Meredith is not apower on her own. She needs more banal bonds to appear wed beforefriends and family.”

“I will stick to the breedercontract. It has clearly defined edges. If I don’t get pregnant inthree months, we are both free, and if the contract has beenpushing us together for that long, we will be sick of each other bythen.”

He held her hand and brought itto his lips. “I very much doubt that.”

She looked up at his bronze skinand golden hair. “I don’t know. I haven’t ever had a long-termrelationship.”

“And you want a child?”

“I figure that I will be able toease into it with a baby. Months to get used to the idea, and then,I get to meet the little person.”

“What am I doing while you arehaving this child?”

“I don’t know; I suppose thatyou can resume your normal activities until it arrives.”

“What if I don’t want to? Whatif I want a home and family? What if I have missed them as much asyou have? My family has been running from yours for eons.”

Stinger leaned up on one arm andlooked at him. “I hadn’t thought of that. Did you travel alot?”

“We did. The short weeks withGrandma Baker were the only rest we had.” He shrugged. “We spent alot of time in Japan, and then, we headed to continental Asia andjust travelled.”

“How many languages do youspeak?”

“A few. Some are dialects ratherthan individual languages. Do you speak anything aside from Englishand Japanese?”

She paused. “How did you knowthat?”

“I used to stay in your room. Isaw all the manga you had piled up, none of it translated. Then,there were the videos, with no subtitles, and everything you saidwith the ogre was in Japanese as that is his native language, sothe cat is rather out of the bag.”

She blushed. “I didn’tnotice.”

Arthur stroked her cheek. “Iknow. You would look very cute in a kimono or out of one. The ideaof that heavy silk sliding off your shoulders... damn.”

“I thought kimono were supposedto stay put.” She crawled up him and put her chin on hisshoulder.

He grinned. “And themixed-gender bathing can be quite nice, or so I hear. I have nevertried it since I had my growth spurt. People got very excited aboutit.”

She chuckled and curled in closeas she nodded off again, listening to him describing the templesnear his mother’s family’s home and the festivals that went on. Hespoke softly, and she let him talk her to sleep.

Chapter Nine

She woke with her hands held in one ofhis across his chest. Stiila tried to ease her hands away, and hemurmured, “Good morning, Stiila.”

“Good morning, Arthur. Is itmorning?”

He chuckled. “It is,technically. You had a trying day yesterday.”

“I tried several thingsyesterday. Which do you think was the tipping point?”

“Yikes, you wake up fast.”

She chuckled. “Can I have myhands, please?”

He released them and thenbrought each one to his lips.

“Would you like to establish anylittle rituals during our contract?”

“Like what?”

“A morning kiss, a kiss when wemeet after being away from each other for more than four hours. Iam getting these rules from Aunt Kallie and Uncle Cian. They getalong well.”

“But your uncle consumes energyfrom your aunt.”

She slumped. “Right, it isn’tnecessary for us.” She mentally kicked herself for wanting toemulate a behaviour that she always found sweet. She sighed. Shehad drawn the sharp edges around their interaction, and she hadjust found a corner.

She looked around. “What time isit?”

“Three in the morning.”

She blinked. “Oh. I feel...”

“Well-rested?” He grinned.

“Um, yes.” She sat up and pulledher braid to one side. Wait, braid? “What happenedhere?”

“I don’t sleep much and wantedto see if I could do it one-handed.” He chuckled. “I couldn’t do itwith one hand, so the ogre said he could and sat here combing andbraiding your hair most of the night.”

“That would explain why I don’thave bed head or hair in my mouth. That is new.”

“It has been the first time thathe has appeared and left without a fight.” He stretched, and shewinced. He had been dozing sitting up. That couldn’t have beencomfortable.

“Sorry that I was using you as apillow.” Stinger didn’t know what to do, so she rolled out of bedand headed to the bathroom.

She used the restroom, brushedher teeth, and then paused, looking down at her thighssuspiciously. She hadn’t cleaned up after the last encounter withthe ogre, so where was the residue?

She washed her face and slid onthe soft cotton robe provided by the hotel. It seemed weird tocreep past the bedroom, but she wanted her computer.

His voice came through the opendoorway. “Your computer is in here. You brought it in lastnight.”

She winced and walked back intothe bedroom. He was holding the computer in his hand. Stinger saton the edge of the bed, and she opened her computer, scrollingthrough the emails that had been coming in. Her mother asked hernot to come home for a few days. Abrax was staying while theydiscussed things.

She sighed. She responded thatwas fine. She would stay at the hotel until after Meredith’swedding.

She confirmed her assignment assecurity at the gallery Wednesday evening. A heavy chin rested onher shoulder. “You are acting as security?”

She was going to turn her head,but her nose literally hit his cheek. “Um. Yes. Urgent Books hasasked me to keep people moving and away from the older artwork ondisplay.”

He pressed a kiss to her neck.“I happen to have an invitation for that event.”

“Good for you. I am working.”She twisted her lips in amusement.

“I can give you a ride home thatnight.” He pressed another kiss to her neck.

“Don’t you have to go straightfrom work or something?”

“Mr. Twilight ensures that allof his staff are driven to and from events so that the likelihoodof kidnapping is reduced and the possibility of DUIs are nil.”

“So, I would be leaving theevent in one of the corporate cars. No thanks. I don’t know when Iwill be done. I wouldn’t want to keep you from much-neededrest.”

“How is your mother doing?”

“How did you know she had sentme an email?”

“She hasn’t been calling you,nor you her, so there had to be another way to get into contact.”He