Captivated: Return to Earth by Ashlynn Monroe Page B

suffering.”
    “I don’t want to leave you, but I want to go home.”
    “You can’t have it both ways. You have no idea what
real sufferin’ is. Do you think waking up to the sound of you in bed with a man
I consider my brother is nice? Do you have any idea how I feel when you smile
at one of them? You belong to me in a way you don’t to them, and I can’t enjoy
it because I see the way you stop yourself every time you want to touch me
outside of bed. I died a million times, and you never noticed.”
    Franny’s stomached clenched, and the quick flutter in
her core sent arrows of desire through her.
    “I love you. May God have mercy, but I love you,
woman. You quiet my darkest demons and you awaken ones I’ve never known until I
held you. Damn it, Franny, you’re torturing me.”
    She was in his arms. He’d made her wish for things
that could never be. He’d rekindled dreams of romance she thought she’d buried
on Earth. She wanted a husband and children, not an endless orgy.
    A real life was out of reach, but now she’d twisted the
three men up in her heart and couldn’t imagine one without the others. There
was no turning her back on any of them. She wanted them all. Maybe it’s time for a new dream.
    Cade was kissing her with a desperation that was
remarkable for its complete lack of his typical restraint. She felt moisture on
his face. Her strong Cade was letting her see how much he hurt.
    Franny turned her head to the side so she could draw a
deep breath and speak. He kept kissing her face.
    “You’re the strongest man I know. I’m sorry,” she
gasped.
    “Don’t ever be sorry for me, woman. Fuck my pain
away,” he whispered in her ear.
     
    Guards surged in and grabbed the desperate newsman to push
him back into the swarm of media as the uniformed workers struggled to hold the
rabid assemblage at bay. Cade scowled into the multitude of cameras as he stood
in defiance of the mob. The way he menaced them with his hard eyes and grim
frown made him appear just as untamed as the public envisioned. He was still
dressed in his rough, dirty clothing and his gaunt-from-illness appearance only
added to the brutality of his image. This was what they wanted and he was
feeding into the mythology of what people thought of the miners from Utopia.
    Nebraska rushed back and grabbed Cade’s arm. “It’s not worth
it,” Nebraska shouted over the rabble.
    Cade pulled away from the horde and shrugged off Nebraska’s
hold. Franny watched expressions played across Cade’s rugged, handsome face.
    Her breath hitched and her heart pounded. Dawson stood
protective and close. He made her feel both adored and exasperated. Her men
might’ve come to civilization, but that didn’t mean they were going to be
civilized. She should have expected this, or prepared them. She hadn’t and
didn’t. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to hide the fact her hands
were shaking. This was too much for them after all they’d been through.
    The other miners had been hustled away, but it was her men
the media loved, because it was their story—at least a PG version of it—she’d
told to sway the public to want to rescue them.
    Dawson pulled her tight against his body, using himself as a
shield of sorts. “Don’t look at them. Keep moving,” he ordered, and she let him
rush her away.
    She was separated from her men as more security swooped in
for crowd control. She panicked. The memory of being taken from them was still
raw, even after all the time that had passed.
     
    Franny wept hard, her knees curled up to her chest.
Loss weighed on her heavily. How could he give
me up like that? He didn’t even try to fight for me. Was he that afraid of the
soldiers? He didn’t even let the others try to keep me. I love him. Damn him.
    A female soldier came and knelt down next to her.
“It’ll be okay. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
    “That’s just it,” Franny said. “They weren’t hurting
me. I love them.”
    The woman