by K. D. Jones
“Fine. But you drop his alien ass off and come straight to the Newberry tribe,” Corey told her sternly.
She nodded her head. “I will. One more thing, I need one of your shirts.”
“You are not giving one of my shirts to that alien!”
“Please, Corey. Ben took the alien’s uniform top. He needs to have some kind of covering before we go up top.”
“Fine. But if he messes it up, you owe me a new one.”
She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best.”
***
Liam heard someone approaching. He lifted his head and sniffed. All Drastans had really good senses, but since the bump on his head, his had been a little off. He was prepared for the worst.
Her scent hit him first. She didn’t have any flowery smells like the women in the domes had, which lingered on their skin. Those smells were sometimes overwhelming to him. No, the scent he picked up was purely her own body essence, and it went straight to his cock.
“Maggie?” It was the first time he had spoken her name. It felt good on his lips.
“Captain Estro, I’m going to take you out of here.” She peered back outside and seemed satisfied. Then she approached him, carrying a large knife him her right hand.
“Won’t your people be mad at you?” He was confused.
“Jerry planned on releasing you anyway, but I found out your life is in danger. I don’t trust Ben. He’s the tribe leader of the other group. He and I never got along. I overheard him saying they planned to take you, and if they didn’t get what they want, they would kill you.”
“What do they want from me? I am here to help.”
“They want supplies and weapons, alien weapons,” Maggie told him.
“I can’t give them that.” Liam shook his head. Weapons were the one thing that his father had insisted they would not offer to the Earth people. Look at the damage they did to themselves with their own primitive weapons. Giving them anything advanced would just be irresponsible.
“I know.”
“I don’t want you to be in trouble with your … tribe. Just set me free and I will find my own way out of here.” His arms ached when she cut him loose from the ropes. He stood up too fast and swayed. She reached out and steadied him.
“You don’t know the way out. There are many turns in these tunnels. You could get lost, or you could pass out from that bump on your head. Here, put this on.” She handed him Corey’s shirt.
Reluctantly, he put on the shirt. She was right. It would take longer for him to try to find his way out, especially with his senses not fully functioning. “Let’s go, then. The further away we are, the better.” He put his arm around her shoulders for support. She fit perfectly against him. He tried to ignore the feeling of her breasts pressed against his side.
“How old are you?” he stopped and asked.
“I just turned twenty-one,” she told him, urging him on. They walked to the door. She made him stop so she can peer around the corner to make sure no one was there. They stepped out, keeping to the shadows. She glanced up at him. He seemed to be looking at her intently. “How old are you?”
“I am thirty of your Earth years old.” He wobbled a little from dizziness.
She teased him, trying to distract him from his pain. “You’re practically an old man.”
“I am not old.” His younger brother Kyle called him an old man all the time, but he found he really didn’t like to hear it coming from Maggie.
“Do you have a family waiting for you?” There was hesitancy in her voice.
“I have two brothers and a father back onboard the Eclipse.”
“Eclipse?”
“My ship, a Drastan battleship.”
“No wife or girlfriend or children?”
He grinned, catching on to what she really wanted to know. “I do not have a woman. You call spouses husband and wives. We call them asawanis. I do not have an asawani.”
“Oh, okay.” She looked away.
“What about you Maggie? Do you have an asawani or a … boyfriend?” He leaned against the wall of the tunnel to catch his breath.
She shook her head. “No.”
“What about the man with red hair?”
“Corey? He’s my friend.”
“And the blond, Ben?”
“Never!” She let go of him to scout a few feet ahead.
He didn’t miss the hate in her voice at the mention of Ben. It only confirmed his guess that the man had hurt her in some way. He needed to find out how. But this wasn’t the time or place to get those answers.
They continued walking for what seemed like hours. They probably would have made faster progress if it were not for Liam having to stop to take deep breaths so often. Periodically Maggie would scout ahead or backtrack to make sure they didn’t run into anyone.
“Do you see anything?”
“So far, no.” She looked at him with concern. “You aren’t going to make it to the entrance before sunrise.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You’re out of breath. I don’t understand how you can be out of breath from a small bump on your head.” Maggie walked closer to him and reached up to touch his forehead, which was a little bit sweaty.
“It’s not just the bump,” he told her, leaning into her touch. He felt a tingling sensation that traveled through his whole body. Why was he reacting this way to her?
“Then what is it?” Her eyes traveled down to his lips. He licked them automatically.
“The differences I told you about between my people and yours. Oxygen intake is one of them.”
“You can’t breathe?” she asked with concern.
“I can still breathe, but I am struggling a bit. The air is thinner down here.” He felt a sense of loss when she moved her hand away.
“It’s never bothered me.” She took a step back from him.
“You have had five years to adjust to it. I have not been fully exposed to your planet’s environment before now. I need my helmet. It supplies oxygen and filters out the radiation.” It also had his communicator built in so he could call for assistance. He worried that Kyle might have been captured too, or worse if he had attempted to fight these Earth people.
“I think it got kicked under some debris when Ben hit you over the head.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Ben hit me?”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. He’s an asshole.”
“‘Asshole’ is the term you use to refer to someone who is not a good person?” He knew the Earth dictionary fairly well and recalled this word being mentioned as slang.
“Yep. Ben is the biggest asshole I have ever met.”
“How much further to the entrance?” Liam pushed away from the wall to walk some more. He hated feeling like a liability. He needed to be able to protect her, yet she was the one having to protect him. That didn’t sit well with him at all.
“A couple of hours more if we have to stop periodically. Less if we can keep a steady pace. I think we should rest. We’re still hours ahead of Ben and the others. We’ll rest for two hours, then keep going.” She was already looking for a place for them to rest.
Liam nodded his head. “Yes, I think that will be wise.” He didn’t have his helmet, but resting might help him get his breathing under control. His helmet also had a tracking device. His brother would be able to locate his helmet and possibly track him to the entrance. He just hoped his brother would be smart enough to call the rest of the team in to look for him instead of try to do it all on his own. His younger brother was always trying to prove himself and sometimes he didn’t use common sense.
“Come over here. I found a spot we can take a rest that will keep us hidden from anyone approaching.”
Maggie was already wedging herself into a tight crevice. Liam wasn’t sure how he was supposed to get in there. “Where should I lay?”
Maggie sat up and pointed to the spot behind her. “Sit behind me. You can put your legs on either side
of me.”
Liam maneuvered himself the way she suggested. It put her small body between his legs. He tried to shift back so that she wouldn’t feel his arousal pressing tight against his pants. She leaned back against him, careful to not compress his chest and lungs. She wiggled her backside up against his groin and he had to fight not to moan.
“Is this okay?” she asked innocently.
“Yes,” he whispered. Liam closed his eyes and tried to think of something besides how good she felt against him.
“Get some rest. I’ll wake you in a few hours and we’ll get you back to your people. Then I’ll return to my tribe,” Maggie said as she turned and snuggled her face against his chest.
Liam frowned. She planned to go back to the tribe. He wasn’t going to be able to let her go. Not back to that hellhole. Not back to this Ben who had hurt her somehow in the past. No, he wasn’t going to let her go, period.
Chapter 8
Maggie moaned as she felt hands cupping her ass and squeezing. Oh man, that felt good. She stretched her body like a cat and felt hard, warm skin under her hands. What the hell? She lifted her head and stared into dark, sexy eyes.
She discovered she was lying on top of Liam. Her legs were on either side of him and when she tried to sit up, she straddled him, bringing his hard shaft directly against her pants-covered crotch. Oh shit.
“Uh … hi.” Her hands had slid underneath his shirt and she was stroking his bare flesh. He felt good.
“Hi,” Liam growled as he sat up. Instead of letting her slide off, he used his big hands to pull her more firmly onto him. He ground his hips upwards and groaned at the feeling of her against him.
“Liam?” She looked at his eyes, which had shaded darker with desire. She licked her lips and tilted her face up, meeting him halfway. He leaned forward and claimed her lips.
Fireworks seemed to explode behind her closed eyes. She opened her mouth to him and he teased her with his tongue, causing her to move closer to him. It was totally different from the kiss that Corey had given her. Her brain seemed to short circuit and all she could do was feel. Every part of her felt lit up.
She allowed her body to rub against his. He felt so good. She had never allowed herself to get this close to a man before, but something inside of her was breaking free. Maggie found herself wanting more with Liam.
He was touching her under her shirt, pulling her small bra aside to reveal her warm breast. She released his lips and moaned when he tweaked her nipple. She arched her back to press more firmly into his hands.
“Liam,” she said with need.
“Maggie, I …” A loud noise interrupted him. Damn, he hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings.
They pulled apart as quietly as possible and moved to get a better look around. Maggie fixed her bra quickly, then sighed with relief when she looked back at him. “It was a rat.”
“What is a rat?”
“Small rodent. A lot of them came below when the nukes went off. But because of their nutritional uses their numbers are dying down.”
“Nutritional uses?” He looked confused.
“They’re meat. We can eat them,” she explained. She had eaten quite a few in the last five years. They didn’t taste that bad, but probably would have tasted a lot better if they had spices to put on them. “Come on. The sooner we can get you back to your people, the sooner I can return to mine.”
***
Liam frowned. Maggie still wanted to part ways. But he wasn’t ready to let her go. Not after kissing her, holding her, touching her. No woman had ever made him feel the way she did. Did she not feel the same?
They walked in silence for what seemed like another hour. He had to hold back from bombarding her with a ton of questions. He wanted to know everything about her.
“You said that you did not have a boyfriend. Have you ever had a boyfriend?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why not? You are attractive. Any man would be a fool not to want you.” He watched as redness rose to her face. It was very becoming on her.
“After what happened … I just didn’t want to let anyone get that close.”
“What happened?” There was something in her voice that bothered him.
“I was attacked. After that I didn’t trust any man for the longest time.”
He would have asked her what she meant by attacked, but he already knew. She had been forced sexually. “Who attacked you?”
She stopped walking to turn and look at him. “It was a long time ago. The situation was dealt with and I’m past it.” She went back to walking. “We should reach the entrance in less than fifteen minutes.
She wasn’t going to tell him any more. She didn’t trust him yet. He would have to do something to change that.
“What about you?” she asked.
“What about me?” He watched her perfect ass, nicely showcased before him in her khaki pants.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
He smiled, pleased that she would want to know. That must mean she had an interest in him. “No. I had courted a few women back on my home world. Nothing serious. But I have been on tour for a few years now, so that doesn’t really help with a social life.”
“Oh.”
“Maggie, I would like you to come back to my ship with me.” He tried to broach the subject in a calm manner.
“Why?”
“I would like to introduce you to my brothers and my father. You can learn about my people. I can even introduce you to the dome leaders so that you can get more help for you people.” He found he wasn’t above using assistance for her people as an excuse to keep her with him for longer.
“I don’t know.” She bit her bottom lip as she thought about it.
“My brother is part of the leading mediko teams for the Drastan Nation. We could see if he would come down to help treat your people.” He gave her a reassuring smile.
“Why do my people need to be treated?”
“Because of the radiation. Your people have all been exposed to at least some degree of radiation from the nukes. You are alive, but all of you are too thin, your skin is very pale from being underground so long, your eyes are sensitive to light, and you must have noticed your hair.”
She reached up to touch her braid. “What about my hair?”
“Its lovely, but it is getting brittle. I bet that it takes a long time for it to grow out.”
“Is my hair going to fall out?” She looked sad.
“Not yet. But my brother and his mediko team can fix all of that. Give you and your people treatments and supplements.” Liam touched her hair.
“Your brother would do this if I agree to go with you to your ship?”
He should say yes. Say yes and do anything to get her to come with him. But he couldn’t lie to her. “My people came to Earth to offer assistance. None of it is dependent of you coming with me. I would just like to show you my world.”
She looked into his eyes and gave him a half smile. “I’ll think about it.”
It wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a no either. He would keep tempting her until she did say yes. But would he be able to convince her before he headed back to the Eclipse? He wasn’t sure.
He followed her as they ascended the stairs. He needed to find a way to convince her not to return to the tribe. Liam could still feel her lips on his, the weight of her perfect breasts in his hands. Great stars, he wanted her.
They reached topside just as the sun was rising. He was almost blinded by the bright light. The air was humid and felt thick in his lungs.
“Here, put this on.” Maggie handed him a wetted down piece of cloth.
“What’s this for?” He held the material between his thumb and fingers.
“Wrap around your mouth and nose as a filtering mask.”
He snorted. He couldn’t help it. This wasn’t going to do a lot of good if the winds picked up and blew more radiation levels their way, but when he saw the hurt look on her face an
d he was immediately sorry. “Forgive me …”
“No, I understand. You have better masks and tools to filter stuff, but this is all we have. Take it or leave. I don’t give a fuck.” She stormed away, heading in the direction of the place they had first encountered each other. She used her hand to shelter her eyes.
He felt like a jerk. How could he make it up to her? He wrapped the makeshift mask around his face and ran to catch up to her. “Maggie, I apologize. There is no excuse for my rudeness.”
She looked at him and nodded before continuing on without speaking. As his younger brother Kyle would say, he really fucked this up. His brother loved Earth slang and had taken to it like no one’s business in the past few days. He hoped his brother was okay.
They walked for about an hour, stopping periodically for him to catch his breath. He really needed his helmet. His breathing was increasingly erratic. He needed oxygen, good clean oxygen, badly.
“We’re almost there,” Maggie told him, looking back at him with concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I just hope my helmet is still there.” He saw her biting her lip. “Are you okay?”
She stopped and looked at him guiltily. “When Ben knocked you out, I took this from you.” She pulled something out of her coat pocket. “Here”
He took his scanner from her. “You had this why?”
“I didn’t want Ben to get his hands on something that could be used as a weapon. I couldn’t figure out what it is used for and felt guilty that I had it.”
“It’s my scanner. I use it to scan the area for life forms. It also tells me the radiation levels in the air, and I can stun an enemy a few feet from me, but it’s not really a weapon. I did have a weapon, but it’s missing.”
Maggie reached into her pocket and pulled out another item, handing it to him. “I also took this.”
Liam took his blaster from her. “Now this would have been extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“Well, I’m definitely glad I kept that out of Ben’s hands then.” She turned and walked a few more steps. “We’re here.”
They entered the building and began looking for his helmet. He found it knocked across the room under a broken step. He lifted it and put it on his head. He turned the switch and the oxygen filled up inside. “Ah …”