by Tasha Black
His relationships usually didn’t last long. But then the last one that had pursued him had stayed with him for nearly three standard years. And then he’d caught her…
But no, he didn’t want to think about that right now. He only wanted to think about the small, dark beauty before him.
While he did everything in his power to keep a studied coolness to his outside, his insides were cartwheeling with joy and shivering with lust and curiosity.
Who are you? he longed to demand. Why do I want to pin you down and ravage you, and then feed you ice cream and tell you all my darkest secrets?
The squeal of rocket-brakes roused him and he scowled up at the driveway.
His idiot cousin Ryk nearly slammed into Jonx, who was carrying Valerie’s luggage.
Poor Jonx flung himself out of the way just in time, tumbling onto the grassy meadow with Valerie’s suitcase.
“Oh dear,” Valerie cried, running to help Jonx.
Ryk pulled his candy-fruit red craft up in front of Atlas, ignoring the result of his reckless driving.
“Hey, Rykkie, what’s up?” Atlas said with what he knew was an annoying smirk.
“You know I’m just going by Ryk now, right?” his cousin said with a scowl.
“Whatever you say,” Atlas replied. “What do you want?”
He knew exactly what Ryk wanted. If Atlas wasn’t married by his thirtieth birthday next week, the family trust dictated that Ryk, as the oldest married heir, would take the house. It was a stupid clause that he couldn’t believe his grandfather had managed to work into his will, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Atlas’s lawyers all said it was airtight.
And Ryk loved nothing more than rubbing Atlas’s face in it.
“Oh, I’m just here to measure the pool,” Ryk said.
“You’re trying to figure out how hard you’d have to train to be able to do one lap?” Atlas teased, hating the idea of Ryk swimming in his pool, and likely not taking the trouble to preserve the delicate chemical balance that allowed the garden around it to flourish.
Ryk got out of his craft, slamming the self-seal door in a way that made Atlas want to wince. It was a high-performing machine, but delicate. Leave it to Ryk to buy the expensive toy without learning how to respect it.
“No, asshole,” Ryk said. “The paving company needs to know how much material they’re going to need to fill it in next week.”
Atlas felt his blood boil.
Ryk released a BFF drone from his wrist, ostensibly to help him with measurements. The small origami drone unfolded and flittered about, taking snapshots and reciting figures.
Atlas was enjoying a vision of snatching it our of the air with his towel and smashing is soundly against Ryk’s stupid haircut when the enchanting Terran woman came back to join them.
“I see you have a new assistant,” Ryk said, accentuating the word just enough to make it clear he figured Atlas was fucking her.
The small woman’s eyes went wide, but remarkably stayed the same dark shade.
“Actually, this is my new fiancée,” Atlas said, unable to resist putting his awful cousin in his place.
He wrapped his arm around her and the resulting wave of lust caused him to immediately forgot all of the details, including her name. The surge of emotion made him wonder how he could even remember his own.
“This is my cousin, Rykkie,” he told her, praying her name would come to him while he spoke. “Rykkie, this is… my little pussycat. Say hello, pet.”
Gods of the rings, he was a terrible liar. And now she had two terrible nicknames.
But the Terran seemed to think it was hilarious. Her lips were pressed together to restrain what he imagined would have been a mischievous grin. Her eyes danced, and a dimple appeared on her right cheek.
“I’m Valerie,” she said, offering her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you, Rykkie.”
Valerie…
How could he have forgotten? The name sounded like poetry rolling off her lovely little tongue.
“The name is Ryk,” he said, not taking her hand. “And are you kidding me with this bullshit? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?”
“I assure you it is not,” Atlas told him solemnly. “We are madly in love.”
Noticing that Ryk’s drone was still recording everything, he decided to give his cousin something to mourn over when he got home and replayed the footage, as he undoubtedly would.
Atlas tugged Valerie closer and bent to press his lips to hers in a showy display of public affection.
Her body yielded to his instantly, and he felt a jolt of possessiveness go through him.
The moment his mouth touched hers he forgot his cousin, the camera, the house and the pool.
Her mouth was warm and soft and she tasted like honey. Though he had thought she was physically small, her body melded to his perfectly, as if she were the missing piece that completed a puzzle he didn’t know he’d been working on.
He thumbed open her jaw, needing to taste her tongue, to breach her and be inside her any way he could.
Valerie moaned lightly as his tongue danced with hers.
“Oh for the sake of the gods, get a room,” Ryk yelled, storming off. “And by the way, it’s clear she’s just one of those desperate mail order brides from the underworld. We’ll see what the trustee says about this.”
But the words had no meaning to Atlas, his mind and body were lost in Valerie’s kiss.
***
Thanks for reading this sample of Atlas!
Want to see what happens when Valerie and Atlas try to keep their growing feelings in check, while trying to convince everyone else that they’re crazy about each other? Will they finally find a common ground, or will the gulf between them be too much to bridge?
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Atlas: Arkadian Alien Mail Order Brides #2
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Intergalactic Dating Agency
Looking for a love that’s out of this world? These strong, smart, sexy aliens are seeking mates from the Milky Way. Just hop onboard with your local Intergalactic Dating Agency and become an Alien Mail Order Bride! Join our group of authors as we explore the friendly skies and beyond with trilogies of cosmic craving, astral adventure and otherworldly lovers. Warning: abductions may or may not be included!
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About the Author
Tasha Black lives in a big old Victorian in a tiny college town. She loves reading anything she can get her hands on, writing paranormal romance, and sipping pumpkin spice lattes.
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