“The job.”
“Oh, right. The job that I think might be a two-person job.”
A flicker of relief washes over his face, and I want to laugh, but I don’t. Instead, I turn somber.
“I used to have a partner. Dan Terry was his name. He was a good guy, but I’m sad to say that he died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t either of our faults. We did everything right, but the job… it’s dangerous.”
“You think?”
I grimace, and my fingers trail along the edges of the bandage. “I’m so sorry you got shot.”
“But you want to continue this line of work.”
“Yes, but with you as my partner.”
“Just for this one mission?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I think maybe it’s time for me to have another partner. For every job. It’ll be safer that way, hopefully, and if we’re lucky, neither of us will get shot again.” I smile wanly.
“What about being another partner? I never got paid for killing you—”
“Actually…” I tilt my head to the side. “The general found the briefcase that held the money owed you for killing me in John Doe’s vehicle. As far as she’s concerned, you can have it.”
“Seriously? In that case, that’s enough for me to buy this huge house I’ve been eyeing. Maybe you can move in.”
“How huge a house are we talking?” I ask.
“Six bedrooms, five bathrooms. Fifteen acres.”
My jaw drops. “That’s way too much house for just the two of us.”
“Well, maybe we can fill the rooms with kids.”
I burst out laughing. “Next, you’ll be proposing.”
“Well…”
I slap him.
His grin is roguish and oh so sexy. “What do you think?”
“About the house?”
“About the proposal.”
“Wait, you’re proposing? For real?”
“Do you want me to get down on one knee?”
“I think it’s way too soon for all of that.”
“Maybe,” he admits. “I guess we should talk about what you want in the future. After this job, that is.”
“Well, I…” I hesitate and duck my head, feeling a little shy.
“Do you want kids?” he asks. “I’m going about all of this so very backward. I’m surprised you haven’t thrown me out of your bed.”
“Don’t think I haven’t thought about that because I have.” I nudge my shoulder into him. “I am…”
What Ines said to me comes to mind. “All you have to do is find a guy in a few months and get pregnant a few months later. So long as you have the first before you turn thirty-five, you’ll be fine. It’s more of an issue if it’s your first over thirty-five.”
Ines and I talked like kids are a given for me if I found Mr. Right in time for me to have them.
Seems like I might’ve found him after all, but do I want kids? As I’ve gotten older, I kind of thought that kids might not happen for me, might not be in the cards. I’ve been alone for so long became my default naturally.
But that doesn’t have to be the case. Not anymore.
“You’re what?” Tox urges softly. “If you’re infertile and can’t have kids, that doesn’t change anything for me. I still love you and want to be with you no matter what. Yes, the house is a bit big for two people, but—”
“You what?” I interrupt, smiling widely.
“I what what?” he asks, looking so confused that I have to laugh.
“You what me?” I tease.
“Oh.” He flashes me a reckless grin. “As if you didn’t know already. As if you couldn’t tell by what happened not that long ago in this here bed.”
“What happened here?” I ask, feigning ignorance.
He pulls me closer to him. “We made love.”
“Yes, we did,” I murmur.
“And I’m serious. I don’t care if you’re infertile. The overlord won’t be happy with me, but I don’t care. It’s not up to him how I live my life.”
“Um, I thought that was exactly the case considering he is your overlord,” I say dryly.
“Technically, yes,” Tox admits, “but I’m not going to give you up.”
“You’ll never desert me?” I giggle.
“Of course not.” Tox has no idea what I’m referring to.
My mom used to listen to a lot of oldies music. I haven’t thought about her in years. She died when I was still a teenager. I don’t think most ordinary people become bounty hunters. I got roped into it because of a fluke thing. Someone wanted something done—namely, the identity of the person who hit his car. I did some digging, figured out who the guy was, and delivered him. The car owner paid me, called it a bounty, and I realized there was money to be had in that line of work.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I assure Tox. “I’m not infertile.”
“Just because you can have kids doesn’t mean you want to, though,” he points out.
“I do,” I say honestly. “I do. I don’t know about enough to fill six rooms.”
“Well, one of the rooms will be ours, so we only have to fill five rooms.”
“Because five is so much less than six.”
“It is.” He winks.
I bite my lower lip.
“What is it?” he asks.
“You’re so nosy.”
“Not really. I just want to know what my pretty lady is thinking.”
I stare into his slightly neon blue eyes. “I’m thirty-three. In two years, I’ll be at advanced maternal age. If we’re going to have kids, we should start trying now.”
He places a hand on my flat stomach. “I’d love to think that one is growing already.”
“I don’t think it works quite that quickly,” I tell him dryly.
“Maybe not, but still. We can get back to trying right now if you want.”
He goes to kiss me, but I laugh and push him away.
“You asked about what I want for the future,” I say slowly.
He nods.
“Well, I had a thought not that long ago about wanting to have a lot of land…”
“Fifteen acres good?”
“Maybe.” I grin at him. “I know we’ve gone out to eat a lot, but I actually enjoy cooking a lot. I was thinking about how I wouldn’t mind be able to grow my own food. Maybe having some animals. A barn. A farm.”
“So why haven’t you done all of this?”
“No time. I’ve been working too hard as a bounty hunter.”
"Hmm. I'm figuring that once we get married and you become pregnant, you should retire from bounty hunting."
“If you want to continue bounty hunting or being a mercenary,” I start, but he shakes his head.
“I’m not going to bounty hunt without a partner, and I won’t if that partner isn’t you. I can figure something else out. Maybe even being a farmer.”
“Are you sure you will want that? It’s a lot of manual labor—”
He flexes his impressive bicep. “I think I can handle labor,” he points out.
“Long hours—”
“You’ll have to let me sleep some,” he says, nudging me.
“You really will do that? Give up the adrenaline, the adventure, and be a farmer?”
He nods.
“You came to Earth, why?” I ask.
“Because I didn’t feel like I belonged on Kuria, and now I know why. I wasn’t meant to live there forever. My place is here, with you.”
I’m melting. “You always know just what to say.”
“Yes, well, being a farmer is better than being a soldier.”
“You can’t say that. You haven’t spent a day on a farm.”
“Have you?”
"Yes. One of my friends growing up lived on one. She was the most laid back girl I knew, even though her day was very structured. She didn't go to school like I did. Her mom taught her in between all of the chores, bu
t she was as smart as a whip, and she knew a little bit about everything."
“You helped her with chores?”
“I did a few times. More with the animals than the crops, but I think we should start there, with the crops. The animals will take time to learn as far as what they need for upkeep, and if we’ll want to sell them or eat them or…”
Tox begins to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just wondering what my friends will think when I tell them I’m a farmer.”
“You think they’ll laugh?”
“Oh, definitely. Without a doubt. They won’t believe me at first, I bet.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to be a driver, a builder, an officer or captain like my dad. I didn’t want to be a scientist, a doctor, none of that. I just couldn’t find anything out that I wanted to be.”
“There aren’t any farmers on Kuria, is there? I heard it’s very dry, red rock everywhere you look.”
“That’s right. There’s water, but it’s underground. They’re trying to change that, but change takes time.”
“A lot of things take time,” I murmur.
“We have all the time in the world.” He starts to rub my back, sending shivers down my spine.
“We have until tomorrow morning,” I inform him.
"Then, that's plenty of time."
“For what?”
“For us to try to get you pregnant.”
I start to laugh, but his lips press against mine, and I give into him, give into love, give into hope. Thankfully, the job we’re going to do tomorrow should be a short one. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be the last job we do before we get married, get settled at the new house, start our farming efforts…
Yes, I’m mesmerized by my alien mercenary, but I’m even more mesmerized just thinking about what the future has in store for us. I won’t be alone ever again, and if we have our way, we won’t be a family of two for very long.
Thank you for reading Mesmerized by the Alien Mercenary! I just loved writing about bounty hunters and mercenaries! Hm, I could write an entire series just centered on alien bounty hunters! What do you think?
Next up is Wanted by the Alien Wanderer, featuring Nos, the son of Officer Enos and Tia from Overseen by the Alien Officer!
And if you haven’t read the story of how Tox’s parents got together, check out Captured by the Alien Captain!
~Ashlyn
Other Books By Ashlyn Hawkes
The Kurians
Ravished by the Alien Raider
Taken by the Alien Traveler
Detained by the Alien Discoverer
Enchanted by the Alien Explorer
Dazzled by the Alien Daredevil
Mesmerized by the Alien Mercenary
Wanted by the Alien Wanderer - available for preorder
Visited by the Alien Voyager - available for preorder
Needed by the Alien Nomad - available for preorder
Hypnotized by the Alien Hero - available for preorder
The Novans
Chosen by the Alien Commander
Selected by the Alien Scientist
Bought by the Alien Breeder
Picked by the Alien Pilot
Ordered by the Alien Overlord
Captured by the Alien Captain
Overseen by the Alien Officer
Dominated by the Alien Driver
Solicited by the Alien Scout
Bartered by the Alien Builder
Grabbed by the Alien Guard
Smitten by the Alien Soldier - available for preorder
Wooed by the Alien Warrior - available for preorder
Honored by the Alien Hunter - available for preorder
Prized by the Alien Pirate - available for preorder
About the Author
Ashlyn Hawkes has always been fascinated by the stars, so it’s no wonder that when she started to write romances, she gravitated to big, strong, muscular heroes… with blue skin. Aliens. They need love to, right? And she plans to play matchmaker with as many aliens as possible. Who wouldn’t want to be chosen and claimed by a handsome brute of an alien?
Email Ashlyn at [email protected]. She loves to hear from her readers! Happy reading!
Special Author Note
Hi, readers! I absolutely hate proofreading errors. I really do, but sometimes, my editor and proofreaders might miss a few.
That’s where you come in.
If you email me at [email protected] with errors from any of my books (honest typos and not style choices), you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card! As long as there’s one entry, there will be a gift card given. Not only that, there will be one per book each month!
Thank you in advance for your help!
Oh, and when you email me, if you feel that any of the characters deserves their own story, please let me know in the email too! I’m considering extending the series!
Finally, if you would like to join my beta reader team or my ARC team, let me know!
Until next book,
~Ashlyn
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