Illicit Mate (Abducted 4)

Darrick’s chest constricted and he shot to his feet and started to pace.

“Fine. I admit it. Being in this type of relationship is taboo and will cause all three of us heartache and pain. It will also be extremely difficult for our children.”

He felt a hand on his arm and he stopped, his gaze jerking to Jenna who now stood beside him.

“Darrick, I won’t pretend to know what you went through as a child. I know my brother was harassed because he was gay and it was painful. I hated seeing him go through that. But where I live we’ve come a long way and romantic relationships that were once considered taboo are more accepted. Casey tells me that the same is true on your planet for this type of relationship.”

“There’s still a stigma.”

Her hand glided up his arm, then brushed lightly along his cheek and she gazed at him, her wide blue eyes glowing with love. The feel of her soft fingers resting on his cheek had a calming affect, despite the heat that it triggered within him.

“That was true for my brother, too, but he’s happily married now. If he had denied who he is, he would never have found that happiness

“Darrick, I know what it’s like to be afraid of a new situation. I’ve been pulled from my world and flung into a new environment, paired with someone who isn’t even the gender I expected, and I’ll be on a new planet soon, where I have no idea how I’ll fit in. I’m unnerved by the whole situation, but once I let go of my preconceived notions of what love means for me… once I accepted that Casey truly is my tannish-ae…”

The conviction in Jenna’s sapphire eyes affected Darrick profoundly.

Then Jenna gazed at Casey with a look of love that took his breath away.

“Once I realized that, I knew that the most important

thing in the world was to be with Casey. Nothing else mattered.”

She turned her gaze back to Darrick and took his hand. His heart pounded when he saw the love blazing in her eyes just as brightly as she stared at him.

“I feel the same for you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.” She squeezed his fingers. “If you leave, the pain will be unbearable.”

“Jenna, I—”

“This situation is already so difficult for me. Please say you’ll be there to help me through it.”

His chest clenched so tightly he could barely breathe. He was frozen. Everything in him insisted he had to walk away from this relationship. Everything except his heart. It pounded in his chest like a barrel drum, every beat insisting he pull this woman into his arms and promise he would never leave her.

“Darrick,” Casey said, now standing beside Jenna, “whatever society throws at us, we’ll handle.”

He sucked in a deep breath.

“But what if people call you indecent names? Or try to beat you up? That happened to my mother once. She was in the hospital for a week.”

He’d only been eight years old and seeing her in that hospital bed, all bruised and with her arm in a cast had left him shaken to his very core.

“I couldn’t bear it if that happened to either of you.”

Casey tipped up her chin, her ponytail bouncing. “I’d like to see them try.”

Jenna squared her shoulders and locked gazes with Darrick. “I won’t run away from this because of what might happen.”

“If you’re doing this to protect us,” Casey said, “don’t worry about that. What other people think or say doesn’t bother me.”

Gattra, he just wanted to give in. To let himself feel the joy of loving these two women. To spend his life with them.

Jenna stroked his cheek and this time she tipped up her chin, her eyes glowing with love as she stared into his.

“What will be far more painful than what anyone else does,” Jenna said, “is if you walk away.”

Her words were like a kick in the gut.

The restraints he had so tightly bound around his emotions snapped and the deep love and need he felt for Jenna and Casey surged through him, pushing away all reason.