Alien Attraction

by Cara Bristol

  I snuggled against his broad chest as he hiked. I couldn’t put weight on my foot without pain, and, between the swelling and the bandage, the boot wouldn’t fit over my foot. I was no small woman, but he loped through the snow like I was no burden at all.

  My hero. “Thank you for saving me,” I said for probably the tenth time. “I was afraid nobody would find me.”

  “I will always try to save you.” His expression grim, he added, “But you shouldn’t have gone into the blizzard. You should have remained in the lodge until the storm passed.” He chided me, but I deserved it. I should have known better.

  “I was worried about you, what you might have overheard and misunderstood.”

  His entire body tensed. A muscled ticked in his jaw. “I heard you tell another man named Handsome you loved him.”

  “He’s my nephew, a child of six solar rotations. His name is Devon, but I call him Handsome.”

  Darq released his breath in a sigh. “I hoped it was something like that.”

  “Then, why did you leave the lodge?”

  “Because I didn’t think of it until later. I’m sorry. I should have addressed it with you directly. I tried to come back to the lodge, but it was snowing too hard.” He peered at me. “I also heard you say you and he would meet again soon, and I feared you intended to return to Terra.”

  My stomach fluttered, my conscience simultaneously clear and guilty. I had planned to return, but since I’d decided to stay, I could truthfully deny I wasn’t leaving. “I’ll be seeing them here on Dakon—hopefully. My sister Stormy has signed up for the exchange program. She’ll bring Devon.”

  “I look forward to meeting them,” he said.

  To have a partner, my family, and someday, children, was more than I’d dreamed I could have. I never wished for fame or fortune, only a man who loved me and a houseful of children. I could forgo the house. A caveful of children would work fine.

  “If—when—Stormy arrives, her mate will accept Devon, won’t he?”

  “Children are a gift,” he said. “It would be any man’s honor to care for Devon.”

  “Good. That’s what I told her, but I needed to verify it was true.” All my problems except one were solved. I still had to come clean about why I’d arrived, but that could wait until after we got back to camp—and I had a proper bath. I wrinkled my nose. “What was in that pit?”

  “We will stop at the bath caves first. I’ll bring you another kel. One for me, also,” he said.

  “That’s a good idea,” I agreed, but noticed he hadn’t answered my question. “What—”

  “I need to tell you something.” The Adam’s apple in his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “A secret.”

  “What kind of secret?”

  “A confession.” He avoided my eyes, and his cheeks, reddened from the cold, darkened with deeper color.

  “You didn’t kill anybody, did you?” I joked. He looked guilty, but I couldn’t imagine he’d done anything serious. He wasn’t that kind of man.

  He jerked and stared down at me. “You would believe that of me?”

  “Of course I don’t!” I hugged his neck. “I was kidding. But see, by comparison, whatever you did can’t be so terrible.”

  “It’s still terrible. Andrea didn’t think so, but she’s from your world. Dakonians would feel otherwise.”

  “You told Andrea?” He was making deep, darq confessions to another woman? I wasn’t sure I liked that.

  “She figured it out and confronted me.”

  “So, what is it?”

  He hesitated.

  “Assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping—” I suggested, making more jokes to hide my growing nervousness. Why was he so apprehensive? It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

  “No—”

  “Armed robbery, treason, extortion, blackmail, terrorism foreign or domestic, burglary, grand theft—”

  “Yes.”

  “Impersonating a police officer—wait—yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which one?”

  “Grand theft.”

  “What did you steal?” I envisioned him hotwiring a skimmer.

  “A chit.”

  “A wood chip?”

  “A lottery chit that allowed me to choose a mate. Romando lost his; I found it and claimed it as mine.”

  I remembered Darq had been fiddling with a little chip at the mate selection. “You found it; you didn’t steal it.”

  “I didn’t give it back.”

  “Finders keepers, losers weepers,” I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “It doesn’t matter to you?”

  “Not unless you’re planning to hand me over to Romando.”

  “Never!”

  “Well then, we’re good. It doesn’t matter, but I’m glad you told me.” It made it easier for me to confess my “crime.” I hoped he would be as understanding as I was.

  “You can’t tell anyone,” he said. “Trust me when I say it would be a very big matter to Dakonians.”

  “My lips are sealed, but how did you hide it from everyone else? Didn’t each tribe receive a specific number of draws? How did you explain the extra?”

  “I changed the records in the tome. In our written language, the numeral four is very close to a three. It was easily altered.”

  “So you falsified official documents. You are a bad boy.” I kissed his neck. “We women like bad boys.” We liked them so much, we’d transformed a planet of men into no-commitment, one-and-done, love-’em-and-leave-’em bad boys. Too late we realized we didn’t want them that bad, only a tad bad.

  Like Darq.

  “Do you want to be bad with me?” I purred, forgetting what was really bad was the way I smelled. But, either the odor was waning, or I’d gotten used to it.

  “The way you say it, bad sounds good,” he said.

  “It will be.” I batted my lashes.

  “Does it involve mouth-meshing?”

  “Lots of mouth-meshing.”

  We came around the hairpin curve, the camp appeared, and Darq carried me toward the hot springs. “I’ll leave you at the baths, go and get us some fresh clothing, and then join you.”

  Darq had to hunch over to squeeze through the passage, but we emerged into the large steamy cavern heated by three bubbling hot springs. The warmth permeated my clothing, seeping into my skin and into my bones. I couldn’t wait to strip off my stinky kel and immerse myself. I needed to be clean before I could get dirty.

  I balanced on my good foot, and he helped me out of my kel. He rolled the coat into a ball. “Your other clothing is still useable, but we’ll replace it, too,” he said.

  I hesitated then, realizing I was going to get naked in front of him for the first time. Despite my flirting, now I was nervous. But as I stared into his dark-brown eyes and saw his shyness and expectancy, gentleness and desire, apprehension evaporated.

  Darq was my mate, and we were going to take our relationship to the next level. Fortunately, after the one cambot had fallen in the pool, they stopped following me into the bath cave. This was the one place where I could be assured of privacy.

  He pulled my tunic over my head and tossed it onto a large dry rock. He supported me as he removed the boot from my good foot and unwrapped the bandage from my sprained ankle. I clutched at his shoulder while he bent to tug off my leggings.

  I couldn’t resist stroking his hair and then rubbing my thumb over a brown, leathery horn. I swear it grew. It pulsed, and then Darq growled. You haven’t experienced sexy until an alien with pulsing horns has growled at you.

  He stood up, pulled me against his chest, and kissed me. Slow exploration turned intense, and I surrendered to the kiss, filling my senses with his taste, his feel, his rumbles of pleasure.

  We’d kissed the night I arrived, but this time was different. Before, curiosity had motivated me—I’d wanted to know what it was like to kiss an alien. Now, I kissed
my husband. We hadn’t been legally united in matrimony—not by Terran laws, anyway—but, in my heart, we were married.

  We broke off, and I grabbed his biceps for support. Our mouths were only inches away, and his warm breath washed over me. Brown eyes glinted with desire. “Let me help you into the pool.”

  His horns pulsed when I discarded my bra and did an awkward one-legged shimmy out of my panties. I stood there naked, letting him look. Heat flooded me from head to toe, and my nipples beaded. My body was nowhere close to perfect, but the appreciation in his eyes made me feel as if it was.

  I hobbled to the pool’s edge, and he helped me get settled. Sliding into the heated, bubbling water, I groaned with enjoyment. The only improvement would be to have Darq beside me. I swam a couple of strokes to a ledge where I could sit. I shot him my best come-hither glance. “Hurry back, bad boy.”

  His nostrils flared. “You can count on it.” Then he hesitated. “Will you be all right here until I return?”

  Just because I’d ventured into a raging blizzard, gotten lost, and fallen into a pit of frozen poop—yeah, I’d figured out what had been in the pit—didn’t mean I couldn’t take care of myself. “I’ve bathed here alone before. I’ll be fine.”

  “I won’t be long.” He gathered up my soiled clothes and left.

  I ducked my shoulders under the water and waited for my mate.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Darq

  “You’re back! Where’s Sunny?” Starr confronted me as I raced into our cave.

  “She’s bathing. I came for fresh garments.”

  “Did she talk to her family?”

  “Yes. We’ll tell you about it later.” I slowed but didn’t stop. My mate who was naked, waited for me.

  “Torg and I went ahead and cooked dinner,” she called.

  “Thank you. We’ll eat later.”

  I set Sunny’s clothing aside for washing. On the way to the cave, I’d tossed the kel into the camp incinerator. It took a lot of work to hunt kel, strip and tan the hide then sew it into a coat, and the loss of the item was not insignificant, but neither Sunny nor anyone else would desire to wear the kel again. My own coat, not nearly as dirty, would need to be cleaned.

  I stripped and donned fresh clothing then gathered up some for Sunny, along with another kel. She’d been using some sweet-smelling Terran liquid soap, so I grabbed a tube of it and some of the drying cloths Starr had acquired.

  “When will you be back?” she asked as I dashed out.

  “Can’t say. Eat. Don’t wait for us.”

  She said something else I didn’t catch, but I didn’t stop. Perhaps I’d acted rudely, but my mate waited for me. Naked. We’d meshed mouths again. She waited for me. Naked. It was all I could think about.

  I ran, slipping and sliding across the compound. I moved three large rocks in front of the cavern before entering.

  Sunny was splashing in the pool when I entered the main cavern. “That didn’t take long.” The way she smiled caused my horns to throb. My manhood had grown hard already. Her dark hair lay wet and sleek against her skull, making her eyes look huge in her face. They lit up with welcome and invitation. No female had ever looked at me that way.

  “No. I’ll have to apologize to Starr. She wanted to talk, but I didn’t listen.”

  “Nobody will come in to use the pools, will they?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I placed rocks at the entrance to signal they were in use and to stay away.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  Working together was so critical to survival, privacy was not part of our culture. We had no modesty about nakedness, and often bathed together. Relations, however, were another matter. For that, we did desire to be alone. Sometimes couples used the mineral springs for bathing and relations. Hence, signal rocks.

  I stripped off my garments, grabbed the soap, and hurried to the spring. Sunny’s gaze felt like a heated caress against my skin. I could tell she found pleasure in looking at me—as I did with her.

  I plunged into the water, sending a cascade over the side. She giggled.

  “I brought soap.” I held up the tube. I knew what I wanted, but I wasn’t sure how to approach her. “Perhaps I could wash you,” I suggested.

  “Perhaps you could.” She tilted her head and invited me with a curve of her lips.

  In my eagerness, I squeezed too hard and squirted out half the contents.

  “That’s more than enough for both of us for several baths.” She scooped a portion from my palm.

  I worked the remainder through her hair. The slick, wet strands slid through my fingers like Terran silk as I massaged her scalp. She closed her eyes, her face relaxing. My horns pulsed at her moan of pleasure. I slid my hands over her neck and shoulders. Her bones felt delicate, her skin as smooth as her hair.

  She slipped off the ledge, rinsed away suds. “My turn,” she said, motioning for me to wet my hair.

  After ducking under the water, I perched on the ledge. She positioned herself between my thighs. My manhood reacted to her nearness, pulsing, hardening even further. Water lapped at her breasts, and I imagined I licked at them, swirling my tongue around the rosy centers. She spread the soap over her palms then dabbed my head, working the frothy liquid though my hair. With both hands, she washed my horns, rubbing in circles, stroking, caressing. Burning desire shot straight to my manhood. Pleasure and torture, all in one. An involuntary growl rumbled in my throat, and I had to dig my fingers into the rock to remain seated.

  “Does that feel good?” She blinked, her false innocence igniting another surge of lust. My mate teased me.

  I lathered my palms and dragged them over her breasts, causing her nipples to draw into tight buds. I washed her chest and back and then hauled her against me for another mouth-meshing. Slipping and sliding, grinding and bumping, we moved together.

  I did not want her to put weight onto her ankle, so I stood on the ledge and lifted her up to lean against me. I steadied her with one hand and, with the other, washed her legs, the swell of her bottom, the hidden area between her legs.

  She dug her fingers into my arms, her face contorting with pleasure as I massaged her womanhood, focusing on her pleasure nub. She began to pant, and then she stiffened. Her neck arched. At her cry of rapture, my already-urgent desire spiked. She slumped, but I caught her before she could fall.

  I eased us both back into the water.

  Though I ached with need, cuddling my pleasure-spent mate brought a satisfaction and contentment I wouldn’t have traded for anything. She lifted her face and then tugged my head down and meshed my mouth with hers. Our tongues twined in a knowing and passionate exploration.

  Sunny wiggled off my lap and grabbed the soap. “Stand up,” she said.

  I loved the naturalness of our togetherness. I loved her. Her openness, her smiles and giggles, her boldness. Her touch. Oh, fates, her touch. Her caresses made my senses sing in exultation. She closed her wet, soapy hands around my manhood, and fire raced through my loins. Passion snapped and coiled.

  When I could delay no longer, I drew her close. Pleasure soared as her body welcomed the thrust of mine. Her legs girded my hips, and we moved as one, together rocking in rapture.

  She reached the pinnacle, her womanhood clenching around me moments before I succumbed to ecstasy, driving into her with a motion no longer under my control. As the last shudder wracked my body, my knees gave out, and we toppled into the water.

  We came up gasping, sputtering, laughing. A moment of joy, a moment of utter ridiculousness shared by two. My happiness ran over. I hugged her and laughed some more. Then we kissed, and we shared that physical joy again, but, this time, I ensured we did not fall over.

  Afterward, we dried off and donned our clothing. I rewrapped her ankle with a dry bandage. Over her insistence she could walk, I carried her to our cave.

  “There you are!” Starr greeted us. She looked at Sunny’s
wrapped leg. “What happened?”

  “I twisted my ankle.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Famished,” Sunny answered, but her smile was meant for me.

  “Torg—get them some food,” Starr said.

  My brother glared at me, unable to refuse the request. He had no issue taking care of Sunny, but it went against his nature to cater to me. On sufferance, he dished out two platters of roasted kel and mashed root vegetables. I enjoyed having my older brother, the leader of our tribe, serve me.

  He smiled at my mate. He glowered as he set the platter before me. “Don’t get used to it.”

  Sunny began to eat. The delicious smells made my stomach growl, and I dug in, too.

  “We expected you back sooner,” Torg said. “I assumed you had decided to spend the night.” He and Starr joined us at the table.

  Facing the entrance, I spotted three insects. They appeared to be injured, their flight uncoordinated and labored. They separated, each taking a different corner of the room. I realized I hadn’t seen them in a long while. They hadn’t been around while I searched for Sunny, nor had they been with us on the hike back to camp. Yet, they’d found their way home.

  Sunny noticed them, too, and narrowed her eyes. “They can’t function in the cold.”

  “What can’t?” Torg asked.

  “Insects from Terra,” I replied, certain the bugs had stowed away on the ship.

  Starr kind of frowned, but then she asked, “Did everything go all right at the meeting place?”

  “I got lost in the blizzard, fell into the latrine, and Darq had to pull me out,” Sunny said. “If he had hadn’t found me, I would have died.”

  Starr clapped a hand over her mouth. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, now.” My mate smiled at me.

  “How did that happen?” Torg demanded an explanation for why I hadn’t taken better care of my mate. Thankfully, I had found her and would watch over her much more carefully in the future. Nothing would ever happen to her again.

  “Don’t be mad at him. It was my own fault,” Sunny said.