Crux: A Sci-Fi Romance (The Jekh Saga Book 2)

by H. E. Trent

  Run.

  Her feet refused to budge.

  Jerry tossed himself onto the ground and rolled onto his back.

  “It would seem the dog likes me.”

  “Yeah, he recognizes his people,” Erin said.

  “Funny.”

  She shrugged. The quip had been mean-spirited and reflexive. She was on the defensive and knew it.

  “Don’t rub that little tramp,” she said. “There are probably only five other dogs in this area, and he managed to find one of the non-spayed females when Trig took him into town a couple of months ago.”

  “He impregnated her?”

  “Climbed her like a Sherpa and went to town, from what I heard, and that dog was a German Shepherd. I don’t know how he succeeded, and I don’t want to imagine what those puppies are going to look like. Suffice it to say, Sassy the Dog’s owner isn’t thrilled at the prospect of having to find homes for a mixed-breed litter. He won’t know if they’ll be good for herding or just…” She cringed. “Chasing birds, like Jerry. Damn dog acts like he’s gonna get a trophy for running off those harmless fluffy things.”

  “Not so harmless. They peck at plant roots. By trying to get to the insects that take shelter beneath them, they destroy the crop.”

  “Huh.” Bending, she clucked her tongue and then scratched the enthusiastic mutt between the ears when he ran over. “I guess he knew what he was doing, after all. He’s always been intuitive that way, though. He was my brother’s dog before he died. Jerry was trained to hit the panic button when he was unresponsive.”

  Esteben nodded slowly and gave Jerry the scratch to his belly he’d been seeking after he’d run back to him.

  “I imagine he’s why my face always seemed cold and wet when I was ill.”

  “He may have been in your bed. Court used to try to keep him in his own doggie bed at night, but he pretty much does what he wants. He’d climb up on that crate in front of the front window and squeeze into the gap, if it’d been left open. We kept finding him on your pillow, and since you were conked out most of the time…” She shrugged.

  Jerry sprung back onto his feet and took off at a clip, barking in the direction of beating wings and, standing, Erin shook her head. “Silly dog.”

  She knocked the dust off her hands and started toward the main house. Occasionally, she gave the doctor a hand in Little Gitano, giving immunizations and doing well-check exams, and she figured asking him if he were all caught up would be a nice, community-minded thing to do.

  And it was a good excuse to get away from Esteben.

  “Where are you going?” Esteben called after her.

  “To be productive. I’ve got blisters on my fingers. No way in hell am I going to install any more sensor wires today. I’m finding something else to do.”

  In a moment, he was at her side, his long stride keeping easy pace with her faster, shorter one. “I came out here not only to see Kerry, but to talk to you.”

  Sighing, she stopped. Turned. Looked up. “What, Esteben? If you want to talk about what happened last week, I’d just as soon pretend it never happened.”

  “Why?”

  “Really? Okay, then. Um.” She passed a hand through her curls and blew out a sputtering breath. “You know, I try hard not to start almost every sentence with ‘Where I come from,’ but this circumstance kind of merits that phrase.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his chin. “Go ahead, then.”

  “Because I need your permission, right?”

  Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.

  “Where I come from, nobody talks about one-night-stands after they happen, especially if they end awkwardly.”

  His jaw clenched.

  “If you encounter someone you’ve had a tryst with, you just nod and smile and keep moving.”

  “Like strangers.”

  “Basically.”

  “What if I’m unhappy with that arrangement?”

  “You just have to deal. Sometimes, people tell you no, and you accept the rejection and move on with your life.”

  “Is that what’s happening? You’re rejecting me?”

  Erin closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  Oh shit.

  The last time she’d had a conversation that had transpired similarly to the one at hand, she’d had to change all her contact numbers and get rid of the email address she’d had since she was thirteen. That guy had thought that since she was a McGarry, she should have been easier—he’d thought she was suffering for a lack of options and that no one but him would touch her. He’d been mistaken. She could find a man willing to fuck her pretty much anywhere. Being seen in public with her was their issue. Sure, Matt may have been willing to date her publicly, but Erin had standards, too. A fat cock did not a good boyfriend make. Matt was a fucking idiot.

  She took a deep breath. “Okay. Let me cue up the pep talk.” She let her hand fall to his hip.

  He’d stopped clenching his jaw, but the speculative look he was giving her didn’t seem any less hostile.

  “Man, you Jekhan dudes and your egos. Everyone tells me that you’re not prone to having an excess of ego, but I think that’s bullshit.”

  “Is insulting me really moving this conversation along in the direction you’d like?”

  “I’m just stating truth. Look. This—” She pointed to him, and then herself. “Not gonna happen. We’re not compatible.”

  “Compatibility is irrelevant.”

  She snorted and pinched the bridge of her nose again. “Oh, shit. Here we go. You’re looking at me to be that quiet broodmare for you, right? The one who doesn’t talk or even want to be in your personal space for the most part.”

  “Well, that’s the way you’re behaving. If you’re going to act like a Jekhan woman, perhaps I should treat you as if you were one, no?”

  “First of all, don’t try to insult me at the expense of an entire group of women. They can’t help being how they are any more than you can help being a chauvinistic jerkwad.”

  “A what?”

  “Pay attention to the important stuff. Don’t get distracted by the words you don’t know. Second of all, I am not yours for you to be assuming that I should be behaving in any particular way. We had sex. Amazing sex, but just sex. That’s all. I’m not your girlfriend. I’m not your mate. I’m not even your lover.”

  “I’d say given the relative dearth of eligible females in the area that you should be.”

  Erin closed her eyes and slapped her hand to her forehead. “Are you fucking serious? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? I think if you did, you’d dial that shit down a little.”

  “Of all the men you could choose, why would you pick him?”

  “What?”

  Esteben made a violent gesture toward the main house. “That…baker. You’d choose someone with no class, no breeding—”

  “Someone who’s been nothing but kind and sweet to me since I’ve arrived on this rock. How fucking dare you? You don’t get a say in who I associate with.”

  “Or who you share a bed with. You reek of him.”

  “Well, good. I’m glad. And so what if I do? That’s my business, and I don’t really understand why you’re making it yours.”

  He took a step closer, eyes flashing and nostrils flaring. “You came to my bed.”

  “And?” She shrugged again. “I don’t see what one thing has to do with the other. Whatever arrangement I have with Headron is none of your concern and, to be quite honest, I’m starting to regret having had an arrangement with you.”

  “Why him?”

  “Why not him? You fuck men, right? You should be able to wrap your brain around what would make a guy like him attractive, or, hell, maybe you can’t. Maybe he’s not your type just like I’m not yours.”

  “What do you know about my so-called type? What would you know about what I want?”

  “What you want is very clear. You want to have your way. If you want that, you’d
better keep that nose to the ground and go sniff out a Jekhan chick who’ll put up with that bullshit for a year or two before she leaves you in favor of solitude.”

  He fisted the fabric of her oversized shirt and pulled her over to him. “Are you trying to be mean, or does that come naturally to you?”

  Staring up at him, she rolled her eyes and then sucked her teeth. Yeah, I’m trying because you don’t get it.

  She wanted him to make her be nice, and he didn’t need to talk to do that.

  “Why are you so infuriating?” he snarled.

  “Why are you such bad boyfriend material?”

  “Is that what you want? Some smiling sycophant who’ll fawn all over you? A pet?”

  “Fuck yeah. A pet who happens to have a big dick, really soft lips, and knows how to watch my back when shit hits the fan.”

  Esteben pulled her closer. “You deserve a man.”

  She sighed. “Found one. Or maybe…” She tapped her chin contemplatively. “He found me? Well, actually Court found him, and through the miracles of networking—”

  She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to say after that, but Esteben wouldn’t have let her speak the words, anyway. He’d put his mouth over hers, and had forced his tongue between her lips.

  He released her shirt and scooped her up by the ass, holding her tightly against him as his tongue searched her mouth and one hand held her head firmly in place.

  She allowed herself three seconds of possession. With eyes closed and body limp in his grasp, she let herself be kissed—be dominated, really—and then another three.

  Then she stopped counting and kissed him back.

  There was urgency to his kiss. It seemed to hold all his passion, his frustration, his arousal.

  It took her breath.

  “You should be with me,” he said in a pause.

  “I…can’t be.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we want different things, Esteben. I doubt that’s going to change.”

  “Damn it, I—” He carried her over to the trailer and, keeping her legs wrapped around his waist, dropped her ass onto the edge. Pulling her head to the side, he bit and kissed down the slope of her neck, and she needed something to do with her hands, too, and as if on their own, they found his waistband and nudged it down.

  His cock was in her hand, hot and turgid, and she was squeezing as if she had any intention whatsoever of escalating their ill-timed tryst.

  Grunting, he found her waistband, too, and yanked her pants down as far as he could with her legs being wrapped around him. He unhooked her feet, pulled her pants down to the tops of her boots, and then threaded his head through her legs.

  With her ankles propped onto his shoulders, he plowed into her with perfect aim, and swore in what was probably Jekhani.

  She lay limp against the hard, metal trailer’s floor, semi-paralyzed and staring at the sky as each of his desperate thrusts pulled a whimper from her throat.

  Gripping her hips tight, he threw his head back, and hissed. “You… insufferable… Terran… woman…”

  She clenched around him hard, which made him thrust even more forcefully. She let out an involuntary laugh and closed her eyes. “Just like that. You want to fuck me like an animal, go ahead.”

  “That’s all you want from me?”

  “That’s only part of what I want, and I shouldn’t want that from you. That’s our impasse, Esteben.”

  “No.”

  “No, what?”

  He didn’t respond, and she half expected him not to.

  His thrusts into her had lost their rhythm, but she wasn’t going to let him pull out until she’d had her satisfaction.

  She tightened her legs around him and pulled him into her, again and again, hard enough, deep enough for his balls to slap against her ass, and she remembered pregnancy wasn’t going to be an issue because he was infertile until further notice, and, really, the risk of acquiring an STD from him was negligible.

  She was going to get what was hers and send him away, and then she’d be done with him.

  I mean it this time.

  “Come on, Esteben. Fuck me like you hate me, because this is the last time.”

  The sound that came through his clenched teeth likely could have summoned the dead, and she muffled it by pulling his head down. She ate his noises, tamed his tongue, and likely broke skin on his back. Her nails dug deep into his flesh and the fire he stoked inside of her built, and built, and it needed to be let out.

  She let it out through her mouth—through her shouts—until he pressed a hand over her mouth and whispered, “Shh, shh,” into her ear.

  He kept thrusting, all the while nipping at her earlobe.

  All she could do was writhe and let her eyes water. She could hardly draw breath, and her brain wasn’t entirely convinced she needed air, anyway. It liked that dizzy, spinning feeling.

  Oh god.

  “You come to me.” He gave her ass a punishing squeeze and then heat flooded her within. “Me.”

  “You…” she said behind his hand.

  He lifted his hand, kissed her again, and worked his hips side-to-side a few times as if he were just taking a cool-down lap around a track.

  “You’ll come to me,” he said.

  “Come…to you?”

  He slipped out. Kissed her chin. Kissed her jaw.

  He pressed his forehead to the floor beside her face and just breathed for a while.

  His swallow was audible just before he said, “Perhaps you’re right. I’m all ego and no common decency.”

  More steady breathing, as he languidly skimmed his thumb along the edge of her jaw.

  “I don’t know what you want. I don’t know what to do with you, but I can’t let him have you.”

  “Esteben, that’s not your choice. The choice is mine.”

  “You should be mine, if anyone’s.”

  “I belong to me and only me, and I get to pick who I think will give me what I need.” Or no one, if the men who could give it were the wrong men.

  “And what do you need? Please, tell me.”

  She gulped, too, and passed a hand through his damp hair. “Nothing…but everything.”

  “I can’t… I don’t know what to do with that.”

  “I know, but from you, that’s what I need.” Carefully, she pushed herself up onto her elbows and kicked one foot until she could get her leg out of her tangled pants. Then she backed away from Esteben and slipped down from the trailer.

  He was silent as she unlaced her boot and pulled her foot out.

  Silent as she carefully redressed and re-tied her bootlace.

  Silent as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants and stared at him.

  Her heart broke damn near every time she looked at him. Always had, from the moment she’d hooked him, wild and thrashing, in Buinet. She wished there could be something more to them, but she couldn’t believe there was anything in the cards for them. Together, they were the flames of spontaneous combustion that would provide no long-term warmth.

  And like Headron, he was a Jekhan male who needed to be in a Jekhan trio. They still had time to preserve their race, their culture. There were women out there for them. She couldn’t be one.

  She let out a breath, smoothed down his sideburns, and got on her tiptoes to kiss his chin. “I’ve gotta find some work to do. I’m sure you have things to do, too.”

  No response, but at least his stare wasn’t completely hostile. Just sad.

  She waved and started toward Owen’s house. “I’ll see you at dinner, maybe.”

  “Dinner. Right.”

  She didn’t think he’d show up, and for the first time, she registered actual remorse about it. His intensity was bound to ensnare her for good soon.

  “Ugh,” she whispered. “Can’t do this. Not with them.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Esteben was aggressively distracting himself from thoughts of Erin in the shed his brother had convert
ed into the barn’s office. Even a week after his encounter in the fields with her, he reeled. He didn’t know what to do with her, only that he had to do something. He was drawn to her like renta birds were to roots. Certainly, the Tyneali part of him that was aggressively procreation-driven had judged her as a healthy, strong mate. In spite of her being Terran, he didn’t discount the appeal of that. Beshnis may have had a deserved reputation for being brutes, when necessary, but they loved their children. He wanted some. Also, if he had to be completely honest with himself, he had to admit he was simply intrigued by the woman’s unpredictability. Her mind was a mystery to him, and he relished a good challenge. Challenges gave him reasons to get up every day.

  In the office, the farm’s denizens stored the COM device that was sometimes functional, various computer components, paper books and catalogs the McGarrys had brought from Earth, and various other items that the farm’s inhabitants needed central access to. He was poring over maps of the area and marking old trade outposts when Fastida slipped in.

  “Oh,” she said, tugging up her pants by the belt loops. She was apparently still getting used to wearing Terran-style trousers. She didn’t have to, but being that she was the type to get on her hands and knees to poke seeds into the ground, they made smarter attire than a blousy Jekhan dress.

  She knocked some dirt off her knees, straightened up, and crinkled her nose at him. “Didn’t know anyone was in here.”

  “I won’t be long. Am I in your way?”

  “No. Trigrian asked me to see if I could get a channel open to check the weather.” She poked her body halfway out the door, and seemed to be waving at someone. “He heard in town last week that a storm was coming in, and we wanted to see how big it is so we know how much prep we need to do.”

  Esteben gestured toward the unoccupied desk in the corner. “Be my guest.”

  “Let’s see if we can get the freakin’ thing working.”

  He set down his pen and, curious, turned to watch.

  Fastida was fairly young compared to most of the other Jekhans living or working on the farm, and her natural ease with English and all its vagaries astounded him. Erin claimed she didn’t even have much of an accent, and Esteben suspected that was because she spent every spare moment with her gaze pinned to a screen, watching movies and other entertainments from Earth.