by Tasha Black
Posey’s eyes flew open and she looked down the table.
It was true. Not one other contestant had completed their first pie.
Posey smiled and looked up at her friends, but they had already left their place.
Rima launched herself at Posey for a big hug.
“Gently,” Posey managed to whimper before Rima squeezed her like a python.
“Oh, you’re full, sorry,” Rima giggled. “Thanks for saving the farm.”
“Most impressive, Posey Quinn,” Bond murmured in her ear when Rima let go of her.
She turned to brush her lips against his.
He pulled away a moment later to drink half of the pitcher of water that was still on the table in front of her in one gulp.
“Your lips are spicy,” he told her, leaning in for another kiss, but keeping the pitcher in his hand.
“Yo, weirdos,” a deep voice said from behind them.
They all turned to look.
Earl Road and his gang were approaching.
Posey had a terrible moment when she wondered if Earl would hold up his end of the bargain. Bad guys were bad for a reason, and it wasn’t from following too many rules or honoring too many agreements.
“I said if you won I’d leave you alone, and I will. I’m a man of my word,” he said, as if reading her mind. “But, I’ll be watching you.”
One of his companions pointed two fingers at his own eyes and back at the group of friends as if to indicate that he would also be watching.
With that Earl turned to go, sidekicks in tow.
“Sayonara, suckers,” Gretchen sneered at them, then scrambled after her crew.
31
Posey
Posey turned to her friends.
“Did we really do it?” Rima asked in wonder.
“We did it,” Georgia crowed.
“We did it,” Rocky yelled.
Even Magnum smiled with satisfaction.
“We did it,” Posey said, slipping her hand into Bond’s.
“You did it,” he whispered into her hair.
“Mennonites at Work,” yelled Calvin. He had a little cotton candy in his beard.
Ellie skipped along with him and Tom brought up the rear.
“So are we going somewhere to celebrate?” Ellie asked.
“Absolutely,” Rima replied, beaming and embracing her friend.
“Let’s go sing some karaoke. I think Posey has one more good rock ballad in her, right?” Georgia teased.
“Posey and I have other business to attend to. We will see you at home,” Bond said before Posey could answer.
His voice was deep and firm, and he wore such a determined expression that Posey didn’t dare to argue.
The walk back to the observatory was only twenty minutes, but to Posey it felt like a hundred years. She leaned on Bond most of the way, her ankle holding up, but still tender. They walked down the country road, yellow leaves drifting to the street at their feet, the blue sky wide above them.
Though they didn’t speak, their silence was pleasant. She wondered if he was reading her thoughts, and for the first time, she didn’t care.
When they reached the boxwood hedge, her heart began to beat faster.
They climbed the stairs to the observatory.
“Go, and make yourself ready,” Bond told her.
Posey could have asked what she was to make herself ready for, but in her heart, she already knew.
She went to her room, stripped down quickly and got in the shower. The warm water felt good, but it wasn’t what she really craved.
Toweling off, she spotted the bottle of cocoa butter lotion and smoothed it into her skin, relishing the scent and the purr of her senses at the memory of the dream, a dream she now knew was about Bond, had been about him all along, as if she had been preparing for him just as he was preparing himself for her.
She slipped into another of the flowing white dresses from the seemingly endless stack of them on her bureau.
It was time.
But it felt so strange to be going off to her destiny - a destiny she hadn’t imagined would be possible just a few short days ago.
Posey gazed into the mirror over the bureau.
Gazing back at her was the same dark-eyed woman she had always been, yet there was something… A subtle confidence in her eyes, a blush high on her cheeks - all telling her what she already knew in her heart. She was different now.
She was in love.
Posey Quinn, the suspicious, the wary, the conspiracy theorist, had finally let her guard down.
And now anything was possible.
There was a knock on the door and Posey saw her own face light up in the mirror before she turned to go to her man.
32
Bond
Bond stood in front of Posey’s door, drowning in the waves of her emotions as they crashed over him, in spite of his intention not to receive them.
He took a deep breath and knocked gently.
The door opened slowly and there she stood - his love, his mate - ethereal in a white dress, light pouring in the window behind her to fill her hair with sunshine.
Posey, he said, without realizing he wasn’t speaking.
“Yes,” she answered, her welcoming smile telling him he was permitted this indulgence.
“I choose you,” he said out loud, knowing these words were important. Wanting to repeat them, now that she knew him, now that he knew her.
“I am yours,” she told him simply.
There was thunder in his ears as the world crashed in on him, as if for the first time.
His senses were alive with the light, the air in the room, the feel of the floor beneath his feet, the scent of cocoa butter and raspberries.
Bond had finally clicked with his chosen mate.
He was fully human now.
He might be several other things as well, but his soul was sealed firmly into his body now. He knew it to his toes.
Posey, he called out with his mind, expecting nothing in return. Now that he was one with his human body his gift would be gone.
But instead, he felt a wave of love in response, so strong it nearly took him to his knees. He hadn’t lost his gift. It was stronger than ever.
Bond, she smiled up at him without speaking.
But the demands of his human body were too great. He could marvel over keeping his gift another day. For now there was only Posey and the draw of her soft warmth.
He lifted her off her feet, placed her on the bed with all the restraint he had left.
Desire, as he had felt it before, had been a mere longing, an ardent wish for a physical reward like chocolate or music.
Now the hot misery of it descended on him, and he felt the hunger for Posey pounding and pulsing in his veins. He didn’t know whether to beg pleasure from her like a dog, or demand it from her like a king. His emotions warred, both helpless and imperious.
Take what you need, what we need, she told him.
I didn’t speak…
I heard you, I hear you. Her thoughts were incredulous.
He felt her mind enter his, watched her see herself through his eyes, and marvel over his need for her body, for her heart.
And then he saw himself through her eyes: strong, unbearably handsome, kind. And the way he made her feel, happiness clouded only by the swirling emptiness inside her, desperate to be filled.
Then he could take no more and claimed her mouth with his own as he tore at their clothes, forgetting how the buttons worked, not caring if he ripped them all to shreds, until, at last, there was nothing between them.
She was sweeter than the honey at the fair, soft as starlight. He kissed her, wishing he never had to stop, but unable to slow the freight train of his desire, urging him to mold his hands to her neck, her breasts, her thighs and the warmth between them that drew him like a beacon.
Bond, she thought, arching her hips to meet his hand, her own hands clenching the sheets, her body taut with need.
&nbs
p; He kissed his way down her neck, nuzzling her breasts, nipping at the little buds on his way down, wishing he could stay to answer their stiff demands, but rushing down past her soft belly and into the apex of her thighs.
The fragrance alone was enough to stop his heart. Oh, the heat that emanated from her, like she was burning for his touch.
Fascinated, he knelt between her legs, gazing at the source of all this passion, of life itself.
She sighed and the sound was like a chorus.
He lowered his mouth to her, lapping at the tender opening, unable to stop himself from burying his tongue in that satiny paradise.
The pleasure she felt filled his mind and he was nearly blinded by it. He followed her longing, drunk with the earthy pleasure of exploring her crevices, her sweetness running down his chin.
But she ached for something different now, a yearning to be filled, to be whole with him.
The idea of it sent his body into a frenzy of lust so intense it was nearly frightening and he feared he would split her in half with the violence of his need. He stalled, continuing to torment her with his mouth as he tried to try to calm himself.
Her response only pushed him closer to the edge.
Anything that happens between us is right. You will not hurt me, you cannot make a mistake, she told him through their bond.
He crawled up to her, cradled her head in his hands.
Her dark eyes burned, as if her soul were trying to reach out of her body and envelope him. Her lips were swollen from his kiss. She was beautiful, with the sheen of sweat above her lip, and the glassy hunger in her eyes. She would still be beautiful when that smooth brow was wrinkled and when her caramel-colored hair was white.
“I love you, Posey,” he told her out loud.
“I love you, too,” she panted, her hips lifting up to meet his.
33
Posey
Posey was transfixed, paralyzed by the beauty of her mate, and by the reflection of herself that echoed back to her in his thoughts.
It was everything she saw in the mirror, but with the flaws blurred and the strengths highlighted in perfect clarity.
What he loved in her appearance was not the symmetry of her face, or her pert, feminine features. Instead he praised the expressiveness of her eyes, the bold set of her chin, the bead of sweat above her lip.
She blinked, trying to find her way between his thoughts and her own.
He gazed down at her, those startling blue eyes flashing with desire.
She felt his lust suddenly, as if the ache of that rigid organ were in her own groin.
Posey envisioned how it would feel when he entered her, and Bond groaned above her, having experienced the fantasy with her.
Do you want…? he asked.
Yes.
Then the heat of him was against her, and he was pressing inside.
She felt her own pleasure at being entered, at the same time that she experienced Bond’s wonder at the warm, wet heat that tightened around him, bringing ecstasy even as it increased the unbearable tension of his need.
She imagined him giving in to his desire, thrusting and filling her with abandon.
The next moment he obeyed her wish.
Posey was enthralled in the force of his lust, her fingers clenching his muscular shoulders. She didn’t know if it was to hold on physically, or if she was clutching him like a life raft as she was shaken by the emotional torrent of their shared sensations.
The teasing friction, the warm flesh, the scent of her mate, and its reflection through his senses of her own - all of it had Posey soaring and burning for the touch that would allow her to burst.
She pictured his hand against her and it was there, large and rough, sliding between them to stroke her.
She felt his delight as she began to shiver in his arms, helpless from his attention to such a small thing.
And then she was flying, flying and crashing into the most incredible pleasure, tossed between the convulsions of her ecstasy and Bond’s lazy pride at what he had wrought.
The instant his touch became too much, he slid his hand away and braced himself on top of her, gazing down at her, his eyes alive with the need she felt through him.
Slowly, oh, so slowly, he moved inside her. He was prolonging the moment and she felt every tantalizing drop of the joy and torment it caused him.
Bond rocked his hips, and Posey cried out at the tight pleasure of her own silky entrance around his pulsing member.
He rocked into her again as she screamed and dug her nails into his back.
I need, I must, he told her.
Yes…
And then he was moving quickly, his forehead pressed to hers, bringing her with him as every muscle tightened and he shattered with unearthly pleasure, filling her with his seed, as he cradled her in his arms.
Posey, Posey, Posey…
34
Posey
Later that night, Posey dressed and wandered down from her room, Bond in tow, in search of food and drink.
The others were downstairs. Posey knew it because Bond knew it.
He asked without speaking if she would like to join them and she confirmed that she would.
Bond wrapped his warm hand around hers as they wandered down the spiral stairs.
“Brother,” Magnum said as they entered, Posey reading a tinny echo of his sadness through Bond.
Bond smiled and Magnum smiled back, a hint of those feelings in the corners of his eyes.
“You did it,” Rocky cried, leaping heedlessly over the back of the sectional sofa and embracing them both. Posey didn’t need Bond’s gift to know Rocky was truly happy for them.
She allowed herself to be embraced, then slipped away from Bond to join her friends.
“What was it like?” Rima asked.
There was no answer to that question, no way to explain.
“It was, it is… amazing,” Posey ventured.
Rima grabbed Posey’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
Georgia nodded thoughtfully, her lips pressed together.
“Are you okay, Georgia?” Posey asked, confused that Georgia would take the news so hard, when it was Rima who really wanted her own match to take.
“Oh, I’m happy for you,” Georgia said, roused from whatever had distracted her and smiling now at her friend.
“Georgia,” Rocky called from the other side of the sofa, where he was finally releasing Bond from a bear hug.
“I’m going to run and grab that bottle of wine,” Georgia said, tousling Posey’s hair as she got up and headed for the stairs.
Rocky watched after her, his expression like a puppy with separation anxiety.
Suddenly, he was dashing out of the room and Posey could hear his footsteps crashing up the stairs after Georgia.
“What’s with them?” she asked Rima.
Rima only shrugged.
“Great news, Magnum,” Bond announced, clapping his brother on the shoulder. “Posey and I made a wonderful discovery today that may be helpful with our ship.”
“We did?” Posey asked, confused by her mate’s thoughts of…
“Honey,” he proclaimed. “We must go to town and buy some first thing tomorrow.”
“Wonderful,” Magnum said. “How much will we need?”
“All of it,” Bond replied, striding over to sit beside Posey.
“So,” Magnum said. “What is it like to be fully human, brother?”
Bond grinned over at Posey.
“It’s wonderful.”
35
Georgia
Georgia grabbed the bottle of white wine from the refrigerator and rummaged around in the cabinet for six glasses.
It was good to get away from the crowd. Georgia had always been in control of her emotions - she was a cool headed person and she always had a plan.
But ever since they’d met the boys, she’d been a freaking basket case. Now here she was playing hostess, for god’s sake.
She uncorked the win
e and grabbed a tray from underneath the sink to set the glasses on.
Posey and Bond were mated.
It was an odd idea. She had known Rima would land one of the aliens since the moment she found out what was going on. These guys were like cavemen and Rima was so submissive.
Frankly, it seemed like Rocky should have chosen Rima instead of her. Rima was always being slighted by Magnum’s bluntness and Rocky was so quick to comfort her.
Georgia grabbed a hunk of cheese from the refrigerator, set it on a cutting board, and began slicing it into wedges, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
She honestly couldn’t understand what she was upset about. Georgia did not want to be an alien bride. She wanted to be a police officer. She wanted her freedom.
Rocky had whispered, “I choose you,” into her hair as he spirited her away the night of the ceremony. And as far as she was concerned there was her $9,500 earned. If they never made a baby, she should be glad to have no reason not to take the money and go.
But somehow it wasn’t that simple.
“Georgia,” Rocky’s voiced bounced off the walls of the staircase.
She felt her pulse quicken in spite of herself.
“I’m good, I don’t need any help,” she said sharply, but it was too late, he was already in the doorway, leaning against it, totally unaware of his shocking good looks, which somehow made him even sexier.
“I know you don’t need help,” he told her. “But I will help you anyway.”
She didn’t argue, so he came closer, standing behind her, putting his own hands outside hers.
“What are you cooking?” he whispered into her ear.
Georgia tried not to tremble.
“I’m just fixing a wine and cheese tray. You should probably stand back,” she warned him. “I’ve got a sharp knife.”
When he backed away she breathed a sigh of relief.
But he only circled the counter and leaned over it to study her with those big brown puppy dog eyes.