He ate his beef barley directly from the can, using a spoon as an afterthought. Penny paced herself. Her own can of tomato soup just wasn’t the same without a thick slice of garlic toast or a grilled cheese sandwich. Not for the first time, she yearned for bread or sugar cookies fresh out of the oven.
“You know what I miss,” she said, filling the silence. “Cookies. Specifically making cookies with my momma.” She waited for Kol to change the subject or pepper her with questions about human cuisine, but he remained silent, so she talked to fill the quiet. “She does a lot of baking around the holidays. Breads, cakes, rolls and cookies. Sometimes even those tiny fancy cakes. Petit Fours. Jesus, those are so good but such a pain in the butt to make. You know what my favorite cookie is?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Shortbread. They’re just butter, sugar and flour but they are so good. I could probably make some if we had butter.” Everything in the fridge had long since spoiled. She checked. “The recipe is simple, but they don’t rise when they bake, so you have to be particular when you roll out the dough. With chocolate chip, you can just slap a wad of dough down and it’ll shape itself into a good looking cookie. Not shortbread. Everything has to be just so.”
She took a sip of the tea. It was bitter but warm enough. “And that’s what I love best: the fussing to get everything just so. When you get a good looking piece of shortbread, you know the baker spent time. They cared. I don’t know why I told you all that.” She kind of did, because all she could think about was his tongue on her pussy and how good it felt to kiss him and how much she wanted more, and she needed to think about something else.
They had zero privacy and if she didn’t do something about her needs, she was going to throw herself at him again, and this time she wouldn’t pull away. He could wear clothes, too. That would help. Her alien had no problem displaying his hard body and sitting casually without pants.
At least he wore his armor pants now, even if he was still shirtless with the firelight highlighting the strong cords of his neck and his arms.
Actually, there was one room she could get some privacy. “Be right back.”
She hurried off to the bathroom down the hall. Fortunately, the water still worked in Stu and Maggie’s house. No power meant no hot water but it did mean a working toilet, and a chance to lock herself away for a few minutes. With the door closed and locked, she leaned against the pink tiled sink.
The bathroom was time capsule from the Eisenhower administration but it was in good shape, if not current fashion. She liked it. The room had a comforting quality. No matter what happened—bad day at school, lost your job, aliens invaded—this room remained forever pink. That was something she could count on.
Penny leaned against the counter and shoved her hand down her panties. She didn’t have much time, but she couldn’t sit there another moment with her clit throbbing while she stared at Kol and all his muscles and listened to his deep voice that went right to her core…
Part of her wondered if some stray hormone still lingered in her system. The other part didn’t care. That part wanted to remember how it felt when Kol put his face in her pussy and held down her hips. He looked up at her like he feasted on ambrosia.
Her finger slipped through her folds, rubbing her clit with increasing speed.
A handful of days ago the aliens were weird and Penny’s first impression of Kol was downright ugly, but here she was working her clit, picturing his different but entirely masculine and attractive body. Even his face.
She’d grown fond of his face.
His dick, though, that was still weird. What would it be like to suck his dick? The spines had been soft when she touched them. Would they tickle in her mouth? She should have tasted him when she had the chance.
A knock sounded at the door. “Penny.”
“I’m busy,” she said. A good girl would have been mortified but his voice only made her more desperate for release. She could invite him in to give her a hand—or his hard cock, a naughty voice suggested—but Kol wasn’t a casual fling kind of guy. Sex with him was for keeps. He wouldn’t let her go and the thought of belonging to him forever was hot.
Really hot.
“Your breathing is elevated,” he said through the door.
He could not possibly hear that.
“Go away. The soup didn’t agree with me. It’s a real mess.” There. That should be gross enough to keep him away.
“I do not smell intestinal distress.” The door rocked on its hinges.
Fine. Penny pulled her hand out of her panties with a small whimper. No orgasm for her, just clit-throbbing frustration while she eye-fucked Big Red. She rinsed off her hand in the ice cold tap water when the door burst open.
Kol stormed in, nostrils flaring and his eyes wide. His tail lashed violently against the pink tiled walls. His gaze went straight to her hand. She held it away from herself, like it was contaminated. Kol crowded her against the counter and grabbed her hand.
He brought it to his face, breathing deep, and every part of his muscular frame softened. Before she could protest, he licked the fingers that had worked her clit and he hummed happily in the back of his throat.
A good girl would have been horrified, but Penny knew she wasn’t exactly a good girl. It was hot. Damn hot.
Smacking his lips, he turned his eyes to her. “Does your body still need release, my mate?”
“I’m fine,” she lied. “I think there’s still some of your, um, stuff in my system.”
“Then we should work it out.” He lifted her and sat her on the edge of the counter, wedging himself between her thighs. He growled, leaning in and sniffing again. His nose pressed into her neck and he lapped at the cords of her collarbone. He pushed up her sweater, shoving his face into her cleavage and still he went lower, lips and tongue blazing a trail down to the waistband of her pants. His fingers slipped under the cloth but went no further. If he dipped down, he’d find her panties already soaked. Still soaked. She’d never really stopped being wet.
“Penny, yes?” he asked, voice thick with want.
“I’m afraid of what happens if I say yes.” The blush came over her fast and hot.
He chuckled, lips against her stomach and the vibrations going to a delicious spot inside her. “You have seen my anatomy. You know what will happen.”
“I mean with us.”
“I will wait for you to claim me, as I have sworn.”
“Even if we have sex?”
“Just so.” He nodded at his own words with the air of arrogant authority. She loved it and hated it at the same time. He was so sure of himself that she wanted to take him down a few pegs, but she also wanted to kiss him.
Choices, choices.
Her hand rested against his pec, solid and warm. Hell, it was no choice at all. She wanted him and waiting any longer was just punishing herself without cause.
“Yes, Kol. I want you.”
His eyes blazed in a moment of triumph. Growling fiercely, he lifted her from the counter and took her back to their bed and the fire. He had her on her back and naked faster than she thought possible. He leaned over her, also devoid of his scant clothes.
She woke to this image of Kol over her, illuminated by the fire, a day or two ago. Initially it frightened her, now it was the fulfillment of her deepest desire.
His eyes took her in, like she was also the fulfillment of his deepest desire. “You are for me, Penny. Always,” he said.
“That sounds like you’re claiming me, Big Red, and we had an agreement.”
“I am stating fact, female.”
Silvery light illuminated the tattoos on his arms planted on either side of her head. It spread up his powerful limbs like wildfire, the design burning intensely in the dark. She had seen this the time before, but it hadn’t really registered, the toxins clouding her head. This time, however, she could appreciate the elegance and strength in the design. “You’re glowing.”
“For you.”
“Kol—” She
raised her hand to his face. He turned into her palm, cradling his face in her hand.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, lifting her hips up, inviting. He didn’t need prompting. The head of his cock dragged through her slick folds, teasing her. His mouth worked her nipples, sucking and teasing. With a groan, Penny let the sensation of his rough tongue flow over her overheated skin. She wanted more skin, more contact, more touching, and more him.
Everything, she wanted everything.
She must have growled in frustration because Kol chuckled again, this time her already hard nipples ached in response. She kicked in heels into his ass, urging him on.
“Are you impatient, mate?” That sexy, frustrating laugh again.
“Kol—”
“Yes, Penny.” Not a question, an answer.
The head of his cock pushed at her entrance, her swollen, eager flesh giving way. He stretched her, but she knew he would. Progress was slow, despite how wet she already was, but the burn and stretch of herself around him was so satisfying. Better than she imagined. Better than anyone else.
He pushed until she didn’t think there was any place else for him to go. She was filled completely. Then he pushed just a bit deeper and the spines at the base of his cock brushed her clit. He pumped slowly, dragging those spines and massaging.
Every part of her body lit up with sensation. She sucked in her breath, trying not to scream.
Kol paused. “Penny?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she panted. “Your spines. I can feel them.”
“That is their purpose.”
Blowing ladies’ minds. Got it. Yay evolution.
Her hips rose to meet his thrusts. Their movements grew frantic with need. Penny lost the rhythm as Kol’s pace increased with intensity. It was all she could to do to hold on.
Growling, he shifted, pushing her legs forward to her chest, and he went deeper. Somehow. His tail wrapped around an ankle, holding it while his free hand worked her clit. He took no prisoners. She was going to come for him and she was going to come hard.
“Kol! I—” She went over the edge, screaming his name, clutching at his shoulder.
He followed, growling, face pressed to her neck as he emptied deep inside her. The points of his tusks dug into the soft flesh as his lips worked. He mouthed something against her skin, but she couldn’t make out the words.
“Hey,” Penny said, grabbing his hair and pulling his face towards hers. She stared into his eyes that weren’t quite human and a face that definitely wasn’t human but a face she loved, nonetheless. There was so much in her heart that she wanted to say, needed to say, but no words came.
“Hey,” he repeated.
“I can’t believe I love your ugly face so much.” She flinched at her words. They were true but harsh. Also, she’d just confessed that she loved him. Kind of a big moment and not something that should be blurted out with an insult.
Kol laughed, easing her apprehension. He rolled her until she was on top of him. “I love your sharp tongue and your odd Terran face.”
“What’s wrong with my face?” She never really wondered if he thought she was pretty. He once said she was beautiful; she just assumed he liked what he saw.
“It is flat. Here and here.” His thumb brushed across her brow and her lips. “Odd.”
“Yesterday you said I was beautiful.” The indignation in her voice wasn’t play acting.
“It is not your face that makes you beautiful, my mate.” He gently lifted her chin, holding her gaze. She found only sincerity there, then his eyes darted to the side and mischievous smirk replaced the tender affection. “This is good because you are odd.”
“Hate to disappoint you, Big Red, but you’re going to see a lot of this face. Get used to it.”
“I’d like to see a lot of this, too.” He slapped her ass.
“You never know, you might get lucky on that date.”
Chapter Twelve
Kol
The wind ceased after several hours, but the snow continued, albeit at a diminishing rate. The storm was ending. He would be happy to remain in bed with his mate, but she could not rest. He woke to Penny straddling him and they shared pleasure again. His mate was insatiable, but this time the desperate edge had left her. The toxins were out of her system and this time Penny took what she wanted from him because she wanted him.
He was happy to oblige.
The sun had yet to return so Kol judged it better to remain inside until the snow finished entirely. She had already taught him to play chess. Now he taught her the Mahdfel game, Tooth and Claw. The pieces moved differently, but the game remained about strategy.
Penny paced their room anxiously. She wanted to get out there and scrounge for additional supplies but would not admit her desires. Such a funny thing to keep secret. He knew she worried about food by the way she kept counting the canned goods. The new building had additional supplies, because his mate was resourceful and forward thinking, but not enough for two; not at the rate they consumed the foodstuffs.
Well, to be honest, not at the rate he consumed food. His body required many calories and the stress from the cold used additional energy. He could skip a meal and ration himself, but if they encountered a Suhlik soldier on patrol, he would need every bit of his strength. He could not let hunger weaken him, not when Penny depended on him.
Kol found a stash of gunpowder rifles in the basement in a cabinet. “Stu is a hunter,” Penny said.
The primitive weapons would be useless against the Suhlik armor but they were better than nothing. Kol disassembled the rifles to study how they functioned, then reassembled. They would do.
Once the snow ended, Penny was able to pick up a radio broadcast. Her face fell as she listened to the news report.
“What is wrong?” The reports sounded positive to Kol.
“It’s Christmas Eve. How did it get to be Christmas Eve?”
Kol deduced that this was a significant Terran holiday. “What sacrifices need to be made?”
“What?” Penny held the radio in the lap, stunned. “No sacrifices. Well, we give gifts but… That’s not important. I should be home making cookies with my momma, not here. Freezing.”
“I will keep you warm,” he purred.
He did. Several times.
The comm unit failed to work correctly. Despite his repairs, interference still made it impossible to contact his clan for retrieval. As the radio now worked, Kol deduced that the interference was more than the storm. The Suhlik had blocked communications, which was a common strategy they employed.
The sun hung just above the horizon. Kol made another patrol of the house and surrounding environs. The wind had swept the snow across the lawn and pavement in such a manner that he was uncertain if a hostile target strayed near the house. Until he knew for certain that the perimeter was secure, he could not guarantee the safety of his mate. They were vulnerable with limited food and heat. He did not need a stray person with unknown intentions wandering through the front door.
“Do not open the door until I return,” he said.
“I know.”
“Stay away from the windows.” He had constructed a crude barricade over the windows, but it was barely adequate and would prove no impediment to anyone who truly wanted inside.
“I know. I also won’t take candy from a stranger.” Penny adjusted the owl scarf to cover his neck and chin.
“Do not joke about such things.” His mate teased, but the idea of her accepting candy from another person—from another male—enraged him.
“I’ll sit quietly in the dark. Pinky swear.” She held up the smallest of her five fingers. So strange that humans had so few digits yet they would bargain them away like they regrew.
Kol paused. Did Terran fingers regrow?
“I’ll behave,” she said. Rising up on her toes, she planted a kiss on his cheek. “Come back to me, Big Red.”
“Keep this with you.” Kol handed her the heavy wood club he’d found in th
e basement. Penny called it a baseball bat and demonstrated how to swing it.
She sat on the mattress, next to the candle heater with the radio back in her lap, and she fiddled with the dials. The club rested at her side.
She would be safe until he returned.
Penny
She loved Kol but a little of his over-protectiveness went a long way. Funny thing was, she couldn’t exactly say when her mistrust of aliens had shifted to tolerance then to respect, then to like, and finally into love. Specifically, loving her big red alien with a tail and too many fingers. He was so different from her, but the more time they spent together, the more she realized their differences were superficial.
The important stuff was the same.
Penny adjusted the dials of the radio, searching for a signal. She wanted to verify the date. If it truly was Christmas Eve, then she’d been on her own for nearly three months since the beginning of October. Three months was a long time to wonder if your family was still alive, if they made it to a refugee camp in the safe zones or if they died in a raid. Three months was too long for someone to not make contact. Three months was long enough that if someone was going to come home, they’d be home already.
Her family had to think the same about her. They probably thought she died in the raid that damaged Aunt Jasmine’s house.
She needed to get to the safe zone and soon. She tried not to worry about their food supply or what happened if she got sick. After the way the gashes on Kol’s stomach healed, she was positive he didn’t get sick. If he did, his super alien healing kicked it in the butt. She, however, invited some virus to come and get her. Cold and hungry, her immune system had to be working overtime. That didn’t even take into consideration all the foreign bacteria and what-nots she stuck in her mouth when she kissed Kol and did… other stuff.
Penny shifted on the mattress, remembering the other stuff.
Snowed in With the Alien Warlord Page 10