A couple of complaints came through her headset, and she laughed. "You can keep playing, but I'm resetting us to this point at"—she checked her watch—"nine my time. That's in fifteen hours, boys. See if you can get some sleep between now and then. I want you ready to go live then."
Rubbing her eyes, she stared around at the mess she'd created as she worked through the night testing the new video game she was hoping to release soon. Empty bottles of Mountain Dew. A half-empty bag of Cheetos. And a half-finished cup of coffee.
I am getting too old for this shit.
But even as the thought flashed through her head, she knew she was lying to herself. She would never get tired of using the computer skills she'd first taught herself, and then augmented through a programming major in college. And she was going to stun the world with her new game.
Despite all the obstacles that still faced women in the gaming industry. Despite her thieving ex.
Fuck Jeff Tolle, anyway.
She pulled her long, blonde hair down from the bun she’d twirled it into as she’d worked. She’d considered just shaving it all off after he’d left her, taking her last game program with him. Every so often, his parting shot still rang in her ears.
“You’re too pretty to be a good programmer. No one with half a brain would believe it’s yours, anyway.”
Well, she’d shown him. Despite his investors, all the people he’d paid to check the code over and over again, right up until he released it, he hadn’t really expected her to do what she did.
Then again, he was the one who’d tried to secretly film them having sex. It wasn’t her fault he’d had trouble keeping it up that night. Having a clip of his temper tantrum about it that night pop up in the middle of the game he’d stolen from her? That had been justice, plain and simple. Almost a year later, she still sometimes ran across a reference to “Jeff Limp-Dick Tolle” online.
Still, he hadn’t been entirely wrong—her appearance did sometimes hurt her in the industry. Then again, looking like a supermodel meant that most men underestimated her. Women, too, for that matter.
Not after this game was released, though. No. At that point, everyone in the industry would have to admit that she was more than just a pretty face.
Erac
As the Zodiac whizzed through hyperspace, Erac reviewed what little information he had gathered about the tiny blue planet full of sexually compatible females. There seemed to be quite a variety of them, based on random transmissions that interstellar anthropologists had gathered. He had already watched several transmissions of something called a Bachelor where a male gave females flora and then was allowed to sample them.
That mating ritual seemed almost too easy, but Erac figured he could be on and off the planet in less than a korat, two at most. He would need to verify cellular compatibility before collecting the females. Some bidders could be swayed by just a pretty face, but many were looking for lifemates to produce a family, so he’d have to be selective.
The viewing screen displayed the small collection of planets orbiting the central star. Sol, they called it. No wonder this little grouping had gone unnoticed for so long. Still, Erac smiled to himself, it was a definite stroke of luck to find an untapped source of such lucrative resources.
And I’m the first one here.
Having settled the Zodiac in a low orbit around this swirly blue planet, and making sure the cloaking mechanism would keep the inhabitants from spotting him, Erac used the metamorphic shuttle to transport down to the surface.
With the tweaks to the software that Erac’s father had added, the shuttle could match any surface form of transportation. He’d already selected the perfect image, and with just a few adjustments he was soon piloting—no, they called it driving—a cherry red Trans Am down the streets of Los Angeles in the territory of California and America North.
Now, to find some suitable brides.
In Erac’s experience, women liked pretty things, so he asked the directional device to lead him to a place with many vendors… something called a “mall.”
Scouting the perimeter of this mall, Erac spotted so many potential brides that he wished he could just start tossing them into the shuttle storage bay, but he needed to verify the DNA compatibility first. He just needed to work out how to go about that without raising anyone’s suspicions.
Lost in thought, and not completely familiar with this planet’s traffic rules, Erac didn’t see the petite young woman crossing the street directly in his path. By the time the auto brake engaged, the startled woman had jumped back and landed on her rear end. After her initial surprise, her eyes narrowed and fixed him with a look of outrage.
Not the first impression I was hoping for…
Anna
A venti quad shot, with extra whip, was exactly what she needed to get her exhausted brain kicked into gear, so Anna had dropped by her favorite coffee place on her way to the computer supply store. She wanted to make just a few modifications before the next testing session, and she needed a higher-grade processor to work on.
I can’t believe I just paid retail for the memory.
She was usually better than that—but she had been extra busy lately.
Glancing right before stepping into the crosswalk, she saw a ridiculous red sports car approaching the intersection.
Huh… overcompensating much?
She turned back and dodged a teenager on a skateboard, then hurried to get across the crosswalk before the blinking person on the sign changed color. A flash of red to her right startled her and she had about a half-second to realize that the sports car wasn’t stopping. She jumped back quickly but lost her balance—and on the way down she also lost her caffeine, the now-empty cup crushed under the front wheel of some asshole’s midlife crisis.
Pure fury filled her eyes and she shot daggers at the careless driver. Only, when the driver jumped out of the car and rushed to help her up she was surprised to see he wasn’t some doddering old guy with a dad bod and a combover.
No. He was fucking gorgeous. White-blond hair and eyes the color of the sky.
And also, he was...blue.
Every bit of skin she could see was an amazing shade of blue gray, the color of a stormy ocean.
Didn’t I read somewhere that consuming silver could turn your skin blue?
That had to be it. The color was way too even to be a tattoo. Anna jerked back her hand, startled to realize her fingers had crept out of their own accord to touch the guy’s fascinating skin.
Quit staring, you idiot, she chastised herself. He almost hit you.
Without even a hello or at least an apology for nearly running her over, the blue Adonis scooped her up in his arms. His extraordinarily muscular arms.
Before she could gather her senses, Anna was sitting in the passenger seat of the strangest car she’d ever seen. She could have sworn he had been driving some kind of classic muscle car, but inside the dashboard was an array of buttons and switches and gauges. Before the blue guy could even get his door closed she had already pushed several, wondering what they did.
Simultaneous with his cry of “Oh no!” the car lifted into the air. Straight up, and getting higher by the second. She felt a small prick on her arm and her vision swirled.
And then everything went black.
Erac
This is not going well.
He’d only been on the planet a dacron or two and he’d already injured a female and allowed a crowd of people to see what they thought was a flying red Trans Am.
He so hoped no word of this would get back to his brother.
The silly girl had launched the shuttle and Erac had panicked. He wasn’t even sure why he’d put her in the shuttle to begin with. It would have been simpler to just drive away and try another mall. Or maybe look for something called a “nail salon.”
Something had come over him when she looked up at him with all that fury in her eyes, though.
So much passion.
If she was that fier
ce when she was angry, imagine what she would be like if he could ignite a different type of fire.
It had been pure instinct to grab her and run. Now he was paying for his impulsiveness, because here he was docking his shuttle back on the Zodiac with an unconscious female in tow, one who was going to be doubly furious when she woke up from the hypodermic shot he’d given her. Then there was the little issue of having to tell her she was now in space.
No, this is definitely not going well.
Settling her comfortably in the med bay, Erac went to the bridge and pored over his charts and research trying to come up with a backup plan for collecting the twelve brides he needed to earn his place at the head of the family business.
He tried to concentrate but his mind kept flashing to the moment he’d picked her up in his arms, how she stared at him with what he hoped had been desire, how his own body had responded to the feel of her pale skin.
She had the most luminous eyes… Luminous? What in the nine hells was happening to him?
He was starting to sound like a lovesick bard moaning about heartbreak and life mates.
Wait. No, there’s no way she could be…
The realization hit Erac and took his breath away. He’d felt exactly what he’d always heard the mate activation was like… this gorgeous female was his match. Meant for him… but destined to be auctioned off to another.
The quiet swish of the door behind him alerted him to the woman’s presence. He turned to see her staring in awe at the screen, the one with her planet in full view.
“Is that Earth?” she asked.
He nodded, then rose and walked to stand beside her as she gazed in wonder.
“I’m Anna,” she said, holding her hand across her body. Uncertain what she wanted, Erac crossed his hand over to grasp hers. She gave it one firm pump and then dropped it.
“And you are?” The words hung in the air and Erac realized she was asking for his name.
“Erac.”
“How did I get here?” She seemed remarkably unruffled at being in space. Had the people of this planet been contacted before? He needed to check his records again.
“You were injured so I brought you here in my shuttlecraft,” he explained, hoping her memory of the event was fuzzy.
“You hit me with your car!!” she accused, fixing him with those fiery eyes.
No, her memory was entirely intact.
And she was more upset by being hit than by being abducted. Interesting.
He spread his hands in apology. “It was not my intention to injure you. I was distracted by my mission and I’m still learning Earth transport customs.”
“Mission? What do you mean mission?” She saw the charts and agendas laid out on the center console and pushed past him to examine them. “You’re looking for women?” She snorted derisively. “Well, you and every other guy down there. Have you tried Match.com?” She looked him up and down appraisingly. “Or maybe Tinder is more your speed.”
“I have to find twelve compatible women and bring them back to be brides in order to win the contest. If Delrin beats me, my family and business will suffer.”
She was quiet for several dracots, and Erac began to feel a bit uncomfortable under the directness of her gaze. This was not going at all according to plan.
Finally, she tilted her head to the side a bit and said quietly, “Tell me more about this contest… maybe I can help you win.”
Erac explained his father’s dying wishes and the contest that would determine who inherited the family business. She was so easy to talk with that he found himself telling her all about his mother, his homeworld, even describing his nefarious brother and why it was so important that Delrin not win. She shared her own experience designing games that were very much like contests. She was competitive, like him, and strategic in her approach to solving problems. She’d already started sketching out notes and with just a few instructions had figured out the Zodiac’s computer interface and was now zipping through files gathering information that would locate likely candidates.
Could she really help him win the contest?
“So, I recommend advertising for a modeling gig. You don’t want the typical model type—too thin and usually grumpy because they’re hungry—but curvy and beautiful, with enough intelligence and talent to make them interesting. You don’t want to just sell a pretty face.”
“Why not?”
“Seriously?” She shook her head quickly. “You can be better than that. Instead of just scooping up a dozen women like a box of assorted donuts, you could be a bit more selective in choosing them. It will pay off in the end, I promise. You have to actually match these women with appropriate men, right? It’s not enough to just bring them back, so invest in good resources early on in the game and it will pay off later in the boss fight.”
Erac was still pondering what donuts were and why they were in a box, and he had zero idea why she was planning to fight a boss. “Don’t I just need to give them roses?” he asked.
“Why would you need to give them roses?”
“The male gives a rose to the women he desires. Isn’t that how mating works here?”
“Dear God, you’ve been watching too much television. Roses are for when you make a woman angry and you want her to forgive you,” she laughed, “but frankly I never understood the reasoning behind that. I’d much rather get a Venti Macchiato as an apology.”
“So if I give you this Ma Key Ah Tow it will signal my desire and please you?”
She paused and looked at him, and Erac was starting to wonder if he’d completely misunderstood human mating rituals. Then she smiled seductively and purred, “I can think of something I’d like much more than coffee right now, but let’s work on plans for how we are going to get you those twelve brides so you can win this contest and stick it to your brother.”
He wasn’t sure what a stick had to do with anything, but he pulled his seat closer to her and listened to her plans. And smelled the soft scent of her hair. And studied the curve of her neck and the dip between her breasts… and when he could actually pay attention to what she was saying, a strategy started to take shape. He could win this, and if he was really lucky, he could win her.
Anna
“We start with social media. You can learn so much about people just by reading the everyday stuff they post on their pages.” She noticed his quizzical look, so she assured him, “Don’t worry, I’ll write a program that looks for the things we want.”
She was already planning the parameters she’d use to find suitable women. It was a lot like designing one of her games: choose options for different players, make them goal-oriented by offering them something they are missing from their regular lives, have them pass certain trials, and then select winners from the ones who make it to the end of the game. The call for modeling tryouts would go over big in L.A. and after she weeded out the shallow and the stupid, they should have an excellent pool of candidates to choose from.
Erac listened to all her ideas and suggestions, really listened, and made her feel like they were already a winning team. She watched him covertly as he compared his list of most likely bidders to their list of qualities that would match them most effectively. He seemed to really appreciate her input and was all for changing up the mission to matchmaking rather than just holding a random auction. She wondered if all the alien males were as sexy as hers.
God. It had been so damn long since she’d gotten laid. And there were whole worlds of needy alien men out there.
She paused. Actually, there was one right in front of her.
Could I really do this?
She snickered to herself. Sex with a hot blue alien. It was like she’d stepped into one of her own games and found the ultimate prize.
Hell. Why not? It wasn’t like she had anyone else around—her entire life was spent in cyberspace. Her game launched in two days…and then she’d be bored out of her mind waiting for inspiration to strike.
She could test her ow
n theories about alien-human matchmaking right now. She saw the way he looked at her. And she had always been a direct woman. No need to change that now. She interrupted something Erac was saying about how to set up the modeling calls. “Let’s not bother with this program anymore until after I’ve had the chance to feel you inside me.”
Erac blinked, his bright blue eyes going wide as he went completely still. And then he glanced around at the bridge, where Anna had been sitting in the captain’s seat. “Here?”
She laughed. “Yes. Right here. Don’t you think we should test out that compatibility issue? Unless you’ve decided you don’t really want me?”
Her alien blinked again, but she could see his cock—an enormous cock—growing inside his pants.
My alien.
She might actually like the sound of that. And I am pretty sure I’m going to love the feel of it, too.
“Unless you don’t want to put this off until after we’ve had a chance to thoroughly fuck each other,” she added with a grin.
“Oh. I think that sounds like an excellent idea,” Erac finally said. He pulled Anna to him and kissed her deeply, then walked her back toward the console, taking off her shirt as they moved.
He might not know humans, but he sure as hell knew how to kiss.
They alternated kissing and stripping until he was naked, and she still had on just the yoga pants she’d been wearing when he abducted her. But he got her out of her pants quickly enough, putting a hand on her ass and squeezing a cheek as he pushed the pants to the floor.
Then he was all over her with his mouth. Erac dropped to his knees. His soft, remarkably sensual kisses on her mouth became something entirely different when he used the same technique on her pussy. It made her wetter than she had ever been before, throbbing with need.
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