“Of course, ma'am.” Aerria followed the stylist, named Puri, to a small booth.
“My nephew was orphaned here on Jiang. It took us some weeks to get here and locate him, and during that time he was taken to a brothel training program where they changed his hair to an exotic shade. It was a rather frightening experience for him and we're hoping that getting his hair color changed back to a normal shade will help put it behind him.”
“Oh, certainly we can get his hair color changed back to a normal tone. Poor little one!”
Two hours later Olvar had permanent golden brown hair.
As they got ready to leave, Domingo asked the hairdresser, “You wouldn't happen to know of a place where we could rent a furnished apartment for a few weeks? A safe neighborhood, doesn't have to be luxurious. We need to remain in Jiang for more than a month.”
Puri said, “Actually I do know a place. Grandmother’s Court. I have family there. Let me give you directions.”
Domingo received the map on his com.
“Grandmother’s Court is gated on each end. Flitters and transports aren’t allowed, they have to stop on the north or south landings. It has many small shops with apartments above, very safe neighborhood. There's a park where the children can play,” Puri said.
“Thank you. This sounds just like what we're looking for,” Aerria said.
“Talk to the greengrocer, tell them Puri McCloud sent you.”
The taxi dropped them off at the south gate. They walked through the gate to a wide avenue. The buildings were similar in structure, two or three story prefabs, the style seen all over Jiang. While all similar in shape and building material, their exteriors had been changed to individualize them, with awnings, porches, outdoor cafes and benches, planters and trees. Pastel paint covered many doors, and balconies had been added.
They passed craft shops, handmade clothing and jewelry stores and small restaurants until they found the grocery.
While Domingo made inquiries, Aerria and the children tried a fruit drink from a vendor inside the grocer’s. They sat at the front entrance on a bench and watched the people go by.
“I like this place. Did you see that kids my age are walking around on their own? Must be safe,” Blevin observed.
“I do see that. But I still want you with Olvar. If he were to get separated from us he would not be able to communicate with anyone.”
Domingo came out wearing a grin. He winked at her and Aerria’s heart spiked for a moment. They had not been alone together since the morning of crazy passion. Now they were going to be living together.
The apartment was on the third floor above a tea shop, it had two bedrooms, a small living room and kitchen combined, and a tiny bathroom. It had a balcony overlooking a community garden. The aroma of cakes and teas wafted up from the shop below. Its monthly rent was less than one night at the hotel.
“Happy colors,” Olvar observed. With a coral flowered sofa and bright blue kitchen cabinets, it was definitely cheerful.
Aerria stood in the small bedroom and stared at the luggage. Her bag, and Domingo’s. A perfectly natural place for Blevin to put it, the married people in the bedroom with the wide bed.
Except she had planned to share with Janna, put the boys in the other bedroom, and Domingo on the couch.
Someone came up behind her, so close she could feel the heat from his body. Domingo. His hands rested on her shoulders and he pulled her back against him. She relaxed, enjoying his heat and strength.
“It will be good for us to have place away from the children, where we can talk in private,” Domingo said.
His arms slid down and circled her waist pulling her tighter, and now her relaxation turned to something else entirely. Awareness, bordering on lust. Aerria cleared her throat. “You are right. Blevin can sleep on the couch.”
She tried to ignore the reaction she had to his closeness, but really she just want to pull him over to that bed with the cheerful leaf print cover.
Dinner that night was several varieties of soup and bread purchased from a restaurant just two doors down.
“I have a very good opinion of the food here,” Blevin said as he shoved a savory biscuit into his mouth.
“Me, too.” Janna slurped a noodle and made Olvar giggle.
“We have a busy few days ahead of us. Tomorrow we will buy food for the house, and I think go to the park everyone talks about,” Aerria said.
Janna cheered.
“I will go to our hotel to contact the language chip dealer, and the ID paper dealers.” Domingo said. “The nice thing about this apartment...it was done with no forms. I gave credits, we have housing. Can’t be traced, like the hotel can, because the credits were to the greengrocer.”
“Are we safe here then?” Blevin asked. “We saw kids walking around without adults. They wore school uniforms, grey shorts and short sleeved tunics with color patches on the shoulder. Boys and girls just the same.”
“I think we are safe enough. We need to keep the door locked and not invite anyone into the apartment. Stick together when we are out of the apartment, especially until Olvar gets a translator chip,” Domingo said.
“Once we are a little more settled and just waiting for custody forms from Mercia, we’ll be able to explore. Our housing is less expensive than we expected, so that frees us up to do more things while we are here,” Aerria said. “We’ll see about getting on the Jiang com system tomorrow.”
Blevin chose to sleep on a makeshift bed of couch cushions on the balcony, with the grid locked down, letting in sounds and a breeze from the street below. Aerria checked on the little ones, who were sound asleep in the small room with two single beds. Aerria turned to go to her room.
Their room, for now.
She could almost imagine they were really married, a couple with a family of active children.
Domingo was sitting on the bed, shirtless. She shut the door and moved to him, unable to take her eyes from his. The air seemed charged with electricity. Aerria could hear herself breathe a little fast.
“We have our own room.” His voice had a raspy quality that sent a shiver down her spine. “We might get used to this.”
“That might be all right.” She slid her hands into his hair, enjoying the slightly coarse waves between her fingers. Strong hair.
He wrapped his arms around her and flipped her back onto the bed.
“So, do we take all the children to Olvar’s appointment or leave Blevin and Janna alone here?” Domingo asked her the next night.
“Or one of us go alone with Olvar and the other stay here?” Aerria rested her head on his shoulder. “I am uncomfortable with all the options. I wish the forgers would have met us in a hotel room.”
“I know.” Domingo slid a hand through her hair. “More than likely, the children would be fine here alone.”
“Unless something happened, then it would be a disaster,” Aerria said. “I’m not sure I should leave Janna unsupervised by an adult.”
“I understand. Her abilities outstrip her maturity.”
“Right. When we are done with Olvar’s identification, I plan to study ways to deal with precocious children.”
“Good plan.”
Domingo was quiet for a while. “Do you remember Sulas and McGarry? They escaped with us. They have a business here on Jiang. Body guards and transport. I could contact them and see what it would cost to hire them. One could stay here with the kids, one could go with us for back-up.”
“That might work.”
Chapter 4
The cyborgs Domingo knew arrived at their apartment at dawn the morning of the appointment. Sulas was tall, dark skinned and muscular, and McGarry was a towering, raw-boned man with a shock of red hair and numerous freckles. They chatted with Domingo for a short while, then Aerria, Domingo, Olvar, and Sulas headed out, leaving Blevin and Janna at the apartment with McGarry.
“I told them our story,” Domingo told the family the night before. “They think Olvar was born and raise
d on Jiang. His mother was troubled, and never got him a language chip. His parents died, so I am getting custody.”
They took public transport all the way to the inner city district of their meeting place. Taxi’s, which took credit sticks, could be traced, but transport passes were purchased at a kiosk and only the point of sale was recorded, not the individual uses of the pass. Domingo had purchased long term passes for the family at an inner city kiosk, far from Grandmother’s Court.
Aerria took deep breaths and pointed out interesting sights from the window, to keep her own nerves at bay. Olvar didn’t seem to be nervous at all, but rather excited. Jiang organized crime did many peaceful transactions. They had nothing to fear from the ID dealer.
The appointment was held in a building like a fortress. No windows until the fourth floor, solid and forbidding. I wish I felt better about this.
The clinic inside was better. It was ordinary, furnished with simple chairs and soft colors. They entered the medic’s office and the actual procedure was quick. Olvar was given a small sweet, which held a fast acting anesthetic. As soon as he was asleep, the technician placed a nano chip under Olvar’s skin. The chip would work with the brain's language area, allowing instant translation of many languages.
“He’ll be tired for the next few days as language data absorbs, but he should have no other issues. Sometimes a child will get a headache but that is usually due to being tired. My contact is on your com if you have any complications.”
They left the clinic and took an elevator to the twentieth floor. It was far more luxurious than the clinic, with floor to ceiling windows, sleek furniture and thick carpeting.
“They just need to record Olvar’s ID chip in the file they are compiling for his official identification record. This shouldn’t take long,” their case manager said.
It didn’t, a wave of a sensor wand, Olvar’s retina scan, and they were done. They paid the enormous amount of credits for the chip procedure and the identification papers and left, Domingo carrying the sleeping child.
“This will be the most dangerous part of the day. The streets here are far more dangerous than the businesses. Locals know what type of business district this is, they might think you are wealthy, and a possible blackmail target,” Sulas said. “I’m going to get a float chair for the child so we don’t have to carry him.”
“Here, hold Olvar for a moment?” Aerria took the limp child. Domingo pulled a hooded jacket out of his small back pack, and then put on his cyborg face plate that covered one eye and ear. He pulled the hood down, hiding the metal appliance, which gave him enhanced sight and auditory information.
Sulas returned with a float chair. “We are going to spend an hour or so taking random transports. Once we are sure no one is following us, we’ll get to a main hub and work our way to home base.”
On the third crowded transport, Sulas ran a detector over the four of them. “We picked up a bug.”
Her mouth suddenly dry, Aerria asked, “Someone is really trying to follow us?”
“Yes. I can fry the bug, but the person trailing us is probably with us on this transport.”
Sulas fried the tiny chip with a pulse from his metallic fingertip.
Both the cyborgs proceeded to look through the crowded transport, which held about forty benches, close to a hundred passengers.
“I’ll walk to the front so I can record the people in those seats. My facial recognition program might be useful, though in this crowd it's less effective. Let’s get off at the next exit and cross the platform to transports on the other side.” Sulas walked to the door at the front of the vehicle while Aerria and Domingo exited out the back, maneuvering the float chair between them.
It happened so fast, but the details engraved in her mind almost made it seem so slow—
A large, hairy hand gripped the handle of the float chair, jerking it out of her hands, and Aerria cried out and fell to her knees. The crowd of passengers surged around her as she lunged at the kidnapper, and clutched his leg, hanging on with clenched fists, her nails digging into the fabric of his pants. I can’t believe this is happening. Not Olvar, not taking him! She screamed for Domingo.
The kidnapper tried to shake her off, his foot kicking back toward her shoulder and landing a hard hit, but she didn’t let go despite the pain. She held on with everything she had, determined this creep wouldn’t get Olvar, aware other people were tripping over her legs as they rushed to their transports.
The leg she clutched went limp, the kidnapper landed on the ground, and two large hands pulled her up.
Domingo held her, and over his shoulder she saw Sulas, holding Olvar who blinked at her and then smiled.
“Let’s go! Follow me,” Sulas took off. The passengers ignored them and rushed around the unconscious man. They rushed across the platform to the other side and hopped on a transport. Sulas checked them for tracers. “No bugs. A little more distance from the Bridge District and we can head home.”
They entered the apartment to the sounds of Blevin shouting, “I won!” McGarry protested while Blevin did a victory dance, waving a game controller.
Olvar giggled. “Blevin won that big man.”
Aerria glanced at Domingo and grinned. Blevin and McGarry had spoken in Mercian. “Language chip works.”
“How did it go, nanopip?” Blevin asked Olvar. Olvar wrinkled his nose. “They made me take a nap. Then a bad man tried to steal me but Aunt Aerria and Uncle Domingo knocked him down.”
“Were you scared?”
“No, I was mad. Aunt Aerria hung onto the bad man’s leg so he couldn’t get away. Then Domingo hit him and zapped him.”
Aerria was tired from all the tension of the day, and achy from her fall and the kick to her shoulder. Olvar was yawning, so she helped him to bed.
“How’s your shoulder?” Domingo asked when she entered the living room.
“Getting stiff. I’ll take a pain reliever.”
“I thought Sulas and McGarry and I could go explore the court for the afternoon. They know how to play that ball game all the kids here play and will teach us. You could have a nice soak in the tub and relax. We’ll bring dinner home. Unless you don’t want to be alone?”
“That actually sounds perfect.”
That night, finally alone in their room, Domingo sat down next to her, the tube of healing cream in his hand. “Let’s see how it looks.”
“It feels better.” Aerria slid down the loose neckline of her nightgown. “Having the afternoon to relax helped.”
“Hmm,” was all Domingo said. He smoothed the soothing cream over her shoulder. Then his lips were on the sensitive place where her neck and shoulder joined, the soft caress sending a shiver down her.
“I thought we made a good team,” Domingo said. “Sulas took out two other men trying to close in on us, but we handled that one just fine.”
“We do make a good team.” She caressed his jaw with her fingers. “I’m thinking this could be a permanent arrangement. Or at least, I want it to be.”
Domingo’s smile lit his face up. “I’m thinking the same thing.”
“Really? Even with my kids? They are...formidable.”
He grinned. “I’m pretty sure what I’m getting into.”
“Well, as long as you’re sure.” She kissed him.
About Melisse Aires
Take a bookworm from Montana. Hand her a stack of her much older brother’s sci fi and fantasy novels, James Bond thrillers and horror comics. Later, introduce world of romance fiction.
Then, make her a jinx. Every great genre TV show she loves gets the ax– Beauty and the Beast, Dark Angel, Firefly, Buffy. And Buffy and Spike never have a happy ending! She gets upset about no romance in the world, and fires up to write her own stories with happy endings.
Throw this all together into a small house in Wyoming, along with a bouncy dog named Baxter and too many cats, shake constantly, and pour onto a computer keyboard.
There! You have me, Melisse Aires.<
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To find more books by Melisse, click here:
| Melisse Aires | Amazon |
All of Me
by Lea Kirk
About All of Me
Heat Level: Medium
Tough as nails, Garrison "Gunner" Reed thought the Anferthian invasion of Earth was life-changing, but that was nothing compared to rescuing April Buroski from the invaders' slave ship. Now, he can't get the petite, honey-blonde woman out of his mind. But, April's pregnant with her deceased boyfriend's child, and there doesn't seem to be room in her life for another man.
April will never forget the man she lost in the invasion, her first love, Dave. Yet, when the chips are down, Garrison is there for her and her baby. The emotions stirring in her heart for the former Army colonel war with her feelings for Dave. Can she let go of the past and embrace her future before it's too late?
Chapter 1
February
A horse nickered as Colonel Garrison “Gunner” Reed strode past the stables, dust from the soon-to-be paved road puffing under his boots. Damned if it wasn’t like living in the Old West, but with some out-of-this-world modern conveniences.
Hard to believe that, less than a year ago, Earthlings had had no proof that life existed anywhere else in the universe. Now we’re survivors of an alien invasion that wiped out damn near the entire population of the planet. He shook his head at the enormity of it all. If it hadn’t been for the heroic quick action of the Matirans, they’d all be slaves to the Anferthians.
But Matiran generosity hadn’t stopped there. They’d also provided the surviving Earthlings with pre-fab housing, high-tech gadgetry, and inter-galactic trade rights—per the recent treaty between the two newly allied worlds. Even their military was being reconfigured as a joint venture. And the Earth/Matiran Unified Defense Fleet provided an ideal new career path for an old Army guy like himself.
Romancing the Stars: 8 Short Stories of Galactic Romance and Adventure Page 11