Voice brittle, I said, “What was this, then? Science experiment? Alien equivalent of cow-tipping?”
His eyebrows drew together as he appeared to puzzle over my words. “No. No cow-tipping. We have been known to make crop circles if we’re particularly in need of diversion.”
Was an alien capable of teasing? Maybe. I stared at him, studying his face, but although his expressions seemed to be similar to a typical human’s, right then he looked placid, neutral, and I couldn’t tell whether he was being serious. “And kidnap humans if you’re in need of…other types of diversion.”
“We take them, yes. But in the case of my people, only those humans who are ready. I can’t speak for the others.”
“The other aliens.”
“Yes.”
Meaning the little gray men, or whoever else might be wandering around in the deserts of America’s Southwest. I supposed I should be glad I’d been abducted by Dev and not one of those “other aliens.” But what had he meant by saying I was “ready”? Ready to have an orgasm over and over again, apparently, but it wasn’t as if I’d sat around fantasizing about being kidnapped by aliens. Hell, I wasn’t even the type to go home with random guys just because I thought they looked cute after I’d had a few drinks. So, what exactly did Dev think I was ready for?
“The next step,” he said, and his hands were moving on me, stroking my nipples, his tongue working its way down my neck to my breast.
Maybe this was just a different kind of diversion, but I knew I couldn’t stop him…didn’t want him to stop. I grasped his hand and pushed it between my legs, my fingers wrapping around his and guiding them where I needed them to go. The feel of my wetness only made me throb harder, and I pushed against him, reveling in the heat of his body.
Then he shifted, moving so his face was between my legs, and his cock pressed down against my lips. I took him into my mouth eagerly, gliding my tongue over his smooth skin, reaching up with one hand to caress him. At the same time, I could feel him working away at my clit, suckling it, even as he drove his index and middle fingers up inside me. I tightened around him, letting his fingers work their way in and out in the same rhythm I used to suck him, up and down, both of us getting closer and closer….
His hands were on me, sliding me away, rolling me over onto my stomach so he could drive himself into me. Oh, God, I loved being taken from behind, my body shuddering as that rock-hard cock pushed its way into me, his hands heavy on my ass, holding me in place, holding me so I couldn’t get away.
Maybe he was doing that so I wouldn’t ask any more questions. At the moment, I really didn’t care. It was enough to have him take me again, my entire body centered on the motion of his hips, the sensation of his cock sliding in and out, teasing at the entrance, then ramming back deep inside.
I screamed my affirmation as I came, screamed my need and utter surrender. He could take me again and again, and I wouldn’t ask why. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the heat in my core, the throbbing ache in my body that only he seemed able to cure.
At last, I collapsed face down on the bed, and he settled himself next to me. After I’d caught my breath, I rolled over on my side so I could see him again, watch him watching me. Maybe I was imagining things or reading something that wasn’t really there, but he looked almost sad, as if he’d seen the hesitation in my mind and knew I’d already made my decision.
He reached out and pushed a lock of hair away from my face. Then his hand lingered at my temple, and he said a single word.
“Forget.”
I crossed my feet on top of the coffee table and shifted the phone to my other ear. My muscles felt oddly stiff, as if I’d engaged in some sort of particularly strenuous activity. Well, we had carted all those succulents over to the new greenhouse that day, so I supposed that could be it. Or maybe not. I did that kind of thing every day; there was no reason why any of my exertions at work should have made me feel so used up.
“Yeah, I know, Jess,” I said, wishing there was some way to cut the call short but knowing I’d just have to let Jessica have her say. “But it’s not my fault — I still don’t know what happened. I’ve got an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow, just to make sure there’s not something really wrong with me.”
Which was a scary prospect on its own. I was not the sort of person to black out for no reason, but I’d lost hours sitting on the side of Highway 60 two nights earlier, and I knew I needed to investigate what was going on.
But since it was Jess, she had to make it all about her. “It was so scary — I was waiting and waiting, and you didn’t come or call — ”
“I tried to text you. Total dead zone out there.” That was right, wasn’t it? I had a fuzzy recollection of pulling out my phone, trying to call Jess to let her know what was going on, and seeing absolutely zero bars on the display. Arizona was just full of digital sinkholes like that. “And then when I got back into town and had some reception, I saw the text from you about Skylar, so I knew you were all right.”
A silence on the other end of the line, which meant that Jessica couldn’t find any holes in my story but really, really wanted to. Then, “Okay, well, I’ve got to go. Skylar’s helping me move the rest of my stuff over here until I get my shit straightened out.”
That’s going to be a long stay, I thought, but I only said, “Great. That sounds like a good idea. Sorry I had to cancel lunch tomorrow, but that was the only time the doctor could fit me in. Maybe next week?”
A grudging, “Okay,” and Jessica hung up.
I tossed the phone onto the couch next to me and then stood, going to the sliding glass door, which was open to let in the first cool breezes of the evening. The house wasn’t much, just two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a room that did double duty as a living room/dining room, but it had a nice deck off the back. I stepped outside and stared up at the sky for a long moment, watching as the first stars flickered their way into existence.
For some reason, the sight of them made me shiver, but not from cold. No, my body ached with sudden need, and I crossed my arms over my breasts, feeling the weight of them. A throb awakened deep in my core, sending a flush of warmth over my lower body. Why looking at the stars should have made me so aroused, I had no idea. At the moment, though, it seemed as if nothing else mattered except attending to that need.
I hurried into the house, closing the screen door behind me. The thing I needed was in the bottom drawer of my nightstand, and I pulled it out and stared down at the vibrator.
However, for some reason, I didn’t take the next step. I didn’t pull down my panties and touch the device to my body. Yes, I still ached, longing for something I couldn’t even describe, but I knew right then that whatever I needed, I wouldn’t get it from my vibrator.
For just a second, I could have sworn I saw a man’s face staring at me, a face with pale blue skin and gleaming sapphire-hued eyes, and a wave of melancholy washed over me, although I couldn’t say why the sight made me so sad.
I blinked, but of course no one was there. Just some kind of weird hallucination, I guessed. I was tired, after all. I’d lost all that sleep the night I went chasing after Jess, and I still hadn’t gotten quite caught up, because I’d spent the night that followed tossing and turning, restless, unable to find any refuge in slumber. And then I’d worked all day in the sun, tending to the plants, guiding tours when I wasn’t on duty in the gardens. No wonder I felt shaky; that was a lot to do on two crappy nights of sleep in a row.
I figured I might as well call it a day and go to sleep. Yes, it was early, but going to bed early never killed anyone, and maybe I’d get caught up and be in better shape to go into work the next morning.
Having made that decision, I went to the bathroom, cleaned myself up, and grabbed the tank top I slept in from its hook on the back of the door. After pulling it over my head, I headed back to the bedroom…and stopped, staring at the sliding glass door, which also opened onto the deck.
Light filled the r
oom, glaring in from somewhere far beyond my backyard. At first, I thought it must be the full moon rising, but no moon I’d seen had ever been that bright.
That light seemed to jog something in my mind, made me blink and try desperately to recall what it was. A lonely road…an unseen force…a room with a softly glowing ceiling….
I gasped, and then he was standing in front of me, one hand outstretched. Maybe my conscious mind couldn’t recall exactly what had happened during the past two nights, but my body didn’t seem to have the same difficulty — a wave of arousal washed over me, and I went toward him, every inch of my flesh aching with want.
“You were disappointed that you didn’t get to go up in a spaceship,” he said, and it was if the sound of his voice was the key to restoring all the memories of those lost nights…the way I’d awakened in that strange room, the way we’d made love over and over again. How he’d said he was the one to be with me because of our compatibility, because of a closeness I knew I’d never shared with a human man.
“I was?” I said, trying to take hold of those lost memories and make them mine again.
He gave me a delicious smile that brought a warm light to his gleaming sapphire eyes. “I was thinking we could remedy that situation.”
I stared past him, to the source of the glowing light that filled my backyard and washed up the canyon wall a few hundred yards beyond. Yes, that was some definitely kind of vessel, although the light was so bright, I couldn’t make out a distinct shape. Maybe it was a saucer, or maybe some kind of cylinder. It really didn’t matter.
“You want me to come with you?” I asked, trying to get my brain to wrap itself around that concept. Was I really going to fly away with this blue-skinned alien, leave everything and everyone I knew behind?
“Yes,” he said, his voice steady, his eyes still holding mine. “If you’re ready to take the next step.”
Was I ready? The rest of me sure felt ready, and I wasn’t about to argue with that, not when I somehow understood at a deep, instinctive level that this was right, this was what I needed to do. No reason to stay in a life that felt empty compared to what he could give me.
Yes, this could all be some sort of crazy dream, but if it wasn’t….
I moved toward him, then laid my hand in his. Heat washed over me. Oh, yes…in that moment, I remembered everything.
I tightened my fingers in his, recalling how those fingers had felt touching me, exploring me. How I wanted them on me again.
The words came to me far more easily than I’d expected.
“I’m ready,” I said.
The End
Explore more of Christine Pope’s SF romance in her Gaian Consortium and Sedona Files series.
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s typewriter back in grade school. The author of more than seventy books, she makes her home in Arizona, where many of her novels are set.
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The Dragon’s Space Order Bride
Piper Fox
About Dragon’s Bride
Ruby is screwed and not in the fun way. She’s pissed off the prince of vampires and he wants her gone. She’s not sure if that means shipped off to another planet, or dead. Her only escape is to go with the creepo guy with the glowing tattoos and the way too kissable lips who kidnaps her.
If this is Stockholm Syndrome, she’s moving to Sweden immediately.
Ash just found his ticket to buy his freedom and she’s a cute and curvy princess who doesn’t know her head from her delectable rear end. If he can sell her on the black market, he can finally have enough money to break the blood-slave bond and get passage back to his home planet of Dragos.
It's the perfect escape plan. Except for the fact that she lights up the fire in his soul like only a fated mate can for a lonely dragon.
Ruby
Well, that's it. Ruby's life was officially over. Dusted and done. Dead.
Her bratty stepsister was marrying the freaking alien vampire prince and he wanted Ruby out of their lives. Forever. She couldn't show her face in another club, couture shop, or even get into a spa to get her nails done without being booed and hissed at. Not to mention the fact that Vamp Dickhead had cut her off. She couldn't even buy a soy mocha no whip no foam double shot latte.
What, like none of these women had ever tried to trick a rich powerful guy into marrying them instead of their stupid sister? Ugh. They weren't even actually related. Just because Ruby's mother had married Ember's father, for his money no doubt, didn't mean the two girls had to love or even like each other.
Maybe she should have at least faked it. If there was one thing Ruby knew best, it was that love was the most effective weapon she had to get people to do what she wanted. Her mother had taught her that a long time ago.
She was going to use that feeling against her sister's new husband right now. Because there was no way she was moving into the rat-infested public housing when she'd lived in luxury her whole life. She put on her best help-me face and sniffled. "What am I supposed to do? I don't have anywhere else to go."
Roman sat behind his big desk with his hands steepled staring her down. She would not be intimated by him. She would not. "You should have thought of that before you tried to hurt my mate."
Mate. Ew. It gave her the heebie jeebies every time Roman called Ember that. He made it sound like they were animals. Disgusting. Whatever. She knew that meant he would do anything for her sister. His love would be what got Ruby a whole new life away from aliens and their weird matings.
"You know Ember doesn't want you to kick me out. She loves me. I'm her only family in the whole world. She'll be devastated if she never got to see me again." There, that ought to do it.
"Which is why I've told her you're going on an extended vacation to my planet to try and find your own mate. I will not allow you to harm her ever again." He smiled and his sparkling white fangs dropped.
Ruby's heart stopped. Dead. Which was probably good, since a vampire could hear her heart beating and was probably going to drink her dry. She took a slow step back, ready to sprint out the door. Except vampires were faster than sin and there was no way she could get away.
Roman snapped his fingers and two huge, muscled supernatural bodyguards swooped in from the shadows and grabbed her by the arms. They picked her up and she opened her mouth to scream, but one of the brutes slapped his hand over her whole face, stifling any sounds of her terror.
They dragged her out of Roman's office and into the front entryway of his castle. She fought against them because she must. She couldn't just give up and let them kill her. She might be dead to the world, but she didn't want to die. What could she possibly do to escape frickin vampires?
Divine, or rather alien vampire inspiration hit her, and she bit the guy holding her. Hard.
"Ouch. What the hell? You little bitch." The big guy dropped her straight on her ass and looked over at his friend. "She fucking bit me."
Brute number two laughed. "Let me see, you giant man-baby."
"What about her?" Brute one glared down at her.
"She can't get away, not with the amount of perfume she wears." Brute two made a face. "I could track her to the moon and back. Might be fun if she tries to hide from us. Boss didn't say we couldn't hunt her and have her for a snack."
Ruby scrambled back like a crab while the two vamps examined the one guy's finger. No way she could get away. Dead. Dead. Dead. All because she'd wanted a little more out of life.
She slammed into the wall and someone else grabbed her from behind, yanking her into a dark hallway. He pulled her up against his chest slapped his hand over her mouth. His dark voice whispered in her ear from behind.
"Don't scream or I'll throw you back to the vamps. Come with me and I'll save your life."
What choice did she have? She could be jumping from the frying pan into another frying pan or this creeper in the castle could be her savior. If she was lucky, he'd be somewhere in between. Ruby nodded and the guy pulled her deeper into the shadow. He opened a panel that led to some kind of secret passage in the wall and right as he shoved her in, he pulled something from his jacket and sprayed it into the hallway.
The door slid shut behind him and just in time. The guy held his fingers up to her lips to keep her quiet and they heard heavy footfalls just inches away.
"Hey. Where did she go? I can't smell her anymore."
Ruby sucked in deep breaths to keep from hyperventilating in this tiny space. She pictures wide open beaches and palm trees and cabana boys brining her drinks to stave off the wave of nausea. She could breath. She was safer in this claustrophobic space than out there facing the vampires. She slumped against the dirty wood in this weird cramped secret tunnel.
The vamps were running away from here, away from her. She had herself under control now, so pushed her savior's finger away and straightened up, brushing the grime from her Chanel dress. If this was the last nice piece of clothing she was ever going to wear, she didn't want it getting ruined now.
"What was that spray you used? Is that why they can't smell my perfume anymore?" She needed to get some for herself if she was going to be on the run and they really could smell her from miles away like they said.
On the run. What a ridiculous notion. How was she supposed to find a place to hide if she didn't have any money or credit cards to pay for a hotel?
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