by Dixon, Ruby
I’m too stunned for words. “But…you said you weren’t a farmer.”
“You said you can learn, so I can, too.” Vordigar gives me a mischievous grin. “From what I’ve seen, it’s working with a lot of machines, and I’m good at wiring that sort of thing. Usually without the owner’s permission, but I promise to use my skills for good.”
It’s too perfect. It almost feels like a trap. “What about the baby? Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I know I want you.” He turns my hand over and rubs his cheek against my palm, his eyes closed. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in my life. I promise I’ll keep you safe and take care of this farm, praxiian or no praxiian. You don’t have to have a baby if you aren’t ready. We can wait as long as we need.”
Oh. I hesitate. I’ve already paid for the shot, which was costly enough that it’s eaten into my profits for the next year. It’s going to take a long time for the farm to recover from the amount I spent, but it was a gamble. I consider waiting for the shot to run out…and I don’t want to. Out of all this hell, the only thing I had to look forward to was a baby to love. “What if I still want to get pregnant? Does that change anything for you?”
Vordigar pushes my skirts up, his hand moving between my thighs. “I’d say we should get started, then. I want you good and pregnant for when we get married, so no one can tell us no.”
I chuckle, sliding my arms around his neck. “With the right bribe, no one will tell us no anyhow. Are you sure you don’t mind a baby?”
He pauses and looks down at me. “I am the least qualified male to be a parent, but the thought has appeal.”
“You’ll be wonderful,” I say softly, and I know it’s true. If he’s half as caring and tender with our child as he is with me, he’ll be the best of dads.
“So,” he murmurs, sliding his fingers through the folds of my pussy. “A baby, a wedding, and a farm. It’s a bit of a change, but I’m game.” He leans in and nuzzles my cheek. “When you look at me like that, I feel like I can do anything.”
“Thank you, Vordigar,” I whisper. There’s no talk of love—yet—but I’m sure it’ll happen, given the right time.
“I should be the one thanking you.” He traces his fingers over my folds, grazing lightly over my clit in the way that makes my entire body dance. “You make me feel like I’m someone, Piper. I’m addicted to that.”
“You are someone,” I say, leaning in close. I want him to kiss me so badly that I’m aching. “You’re the kindest man I’ve ever met.”
“The kindest.” He snorts even as he teases my folds, working my body like a musical instrument. “You’re going to ruin my reputation.”
“The kindest…and you have the biggest dick,” I say, straight faced, and then break into giggles at the pleased expression on his face.
“Listen to that sweet laughter,” he murmurs as he traces circles around my clit, sending jolts of sheer pleasure through my body. “I love hearing you laugh. You deserve laughter every keffing day, Piper.”
“I’ll settle for kisses,” I say, touching his cheek. “If…if you don’t mind.”
Vordigar looks surprised at my request. “Kisses? What are those?”
“Humans show affection by touching mouths,” I say, a little uneasy. I know a lot of aliens have weird laws about touching and many consider human gestures like kissing unclean. If he isn’t comfortable with kissing, I’ll understand. It’ll be disappointing to have so much and not that, but I’ll still be the luckiest woman on this planet if I get Vordigar at my side, smiling and laughing and making me happy every day. That’s more than enough.
“With mouths?” He grins. “That explains why you’re always staring at mine. Thought you found my teeth strange or something.” He grins, showing those fangs that are another mesakkah trait that humans don’t have. “How does one ‘kiss’ then? Show me.”
“All right.” I feel shy as I touch his cheek, guiding his face toward mine. I graze my lips over his, and when he doesn’t jerk back in disgust, I glide my tongue over the part of his lips, encouraging him to open up and let me truly kiss him. He groans as my tongue slips against his, wet and teasing, and then his tongue tangles with mine and he’s kissing me back, and it’s so intimate and wonderful that I whimper low in my throat.
“I like kissing,” he manages, panting, and then his mouth is on mine again, even as his fingers play through my now-soaking folds, teasing me open. He slips one finger into me, and then a second, thrusting lightly even as his thumb rubs against my clit. Between that and his magical, wonderful mouth, I’m gasping and clinging to him within a matter of moments.
In his arms, I know I’m safe. In his arms, I know pleasure is mine. With him, sex isn’t a chore to be endured with Vordigar, but something to be savored and enjoyed often. I’m more than ready when he slides his hips between mine and drags his cock through my wet folds. I murmur words of encouragement as he guides his cock into me and we make love without the plas-film for the first time.
When I come, it’s with his mouth on mine, his cock deep inside my body, his spur on my clit, and my heart swelling with joy.
I might cry again a little, too, but I reassure Vordigar that they’re good tears.
They’re all good tears from here on out, I decide.
6
VORDIGAR
As if fate itself approves of my decision to stay, everything seems to line up perfectly for the next few days.
The va Sithai brothers are disappointed that I can’t go with them. Once they hear it’s because I need to protect my female, they don’t protest. It’s in our blood, as mesakkah, to take care of our females. And they have a younger sister, so I’m sure they understand. They’re going to continue on without a navigator, with Kaspar taking over those duties. I wish them luck, but I don’t think they’ll need it. If there’s anyone that can take down a band of pirates and collect the bounties, it’s those three.
The next morning, Piper’s pregnant. It’s early, of course, but she does a quick blood-scan with her home med-pad and the fertility shot has done its trick. It might have something to do with the fact that I took her six times last night, each one better than the last, and I’ve thrown the plas-film into the recycler. There’s no better feeling than being deep inside her and I never want anything separating us again.
She shows me the results of her blood test with a wary expression, though, as if she’s not entirely sure I’ll be happy.
“That was fast,” I admit as I pull her into my lap and put my arms around her.
“It’s supposed to be fast. That’s the point.” Her mouth quirks. “Are you happy?”
“I will be if it has my face. This sort of beauty needs to be passed along to the next generation.” I mockingly stroke my jaw.
Piper cuddles against my chest. “I’d be fine with that. What now?”
I stroke her back, considering returning to our bed. But…first thing’s first. “Now we go into port and get married.”
* * *
Humans are more sentimental than the mesakkah when it comes to matings. For our people, you simply go to the nearest courthouse and file legal documents to join your families together. Humans like ceremony and celebration, so Piper wears a pretty white dress and asks me to say vows to her.
I’m considering what I’ll say when the praxiian that’s been harassing my female shows up at the courthouse to protest our union. Five minutes later, I’ve beat his face to a pulp and have one foot on his neck as I take Piper’s hand in mine. We sign the documents—making sure the praxiian can see the exact moment that Piper slips out of his grasp—and I know immediately what my vows to my female will be.
“Piper, as your husband, I vow that this piece of garbage,” I say, pausing to step harder on the praxiian’s furry neck, “Will never threaten you again. You, or our child.”
Her face glows with happiness.
The magistrate takes the praxiian down to the jail to cool off for a few days (
thanks to a well-placed bribe) and I take Piper in my arms and kiss her.
“Do I take your last name?” she asks me, breathless. “Now that I’m your wife?”
I hesitate. Last names are a sore spot with me. Mesakkah are proud of their lineage and family names are revered—the older, the better. “I don’t have a real last name,” I admit to her. “I’m station trash. I was dumped on Riis Station—at the docks—when I was a kit. Grew up in the slums there. I don’t have a good family name to share with you. My full name is Vordigar Riis-Dock.” I shrug. “And the ‘Vordigar’ comes from the name of the old dock-master’s favorite racing sled. I’m a nobody.”
She shakes her head, clasping my hands, her eyes bright. “You’re Vordigar Riis-Dock, protector and husband to Piper Riis-Dock, your wife. You’re a soldier, a good man, a farm-owner, and a father. There’s no one else I’d rather be married to.”
Her brilliant smile makes me feel as if I can take on the universe.
Epilogue
VORDIGAR
“Da Da!”
My daughter squeals as she races into the barn, her arms stretched wide as she toddles toward me.
“Whoa there,” I say, grabbing her with one arm and tucking her against my side. My other hand’s deep in the innards of a fussy drone, trying to jiggle the motor so it’ll stop sputtering when it’s out in the field. It’s not my drone, but that of a neighbor. For the last two seasons, everyone in all the neighboring farms have been bringing over their drones for me to fix, once they saw how fantastic our crops looked after I tuned ours. It brings in extra money, which is a good thing, because my little monster of a daughter is going to need new clothes if she keeps outgrowing hers. I extract my hand from the drone carefully and wipe an oily smear on Kessa’s little nose. “Did you hide from your mother again?”
“Da Da!” she cries again, thrilled. That’s the only word she knows how to say just yet, much to my Piper’s consternation.
“Your mommy’s going to be real mad when she sees you in here with Da Da’s equipment,” I tell her, hefting her onto my hip and exiting the barn.
I close the doors behind me a split second before Piper comes racing out—well, waddling out, since she’s heavily pregnant with our second child. Her face is flushed and her dark hair disheveled, but she’s never looked more beautiful to me.
“There she is.” Piper shakes her head, putting a hand to her brow. “I swear, it’s like she knows the moment I sit down at the tapestry, it’s time to run off and find her dad.” Her mouth curves into a rueful smile as she gazes up at me. “I blame you for making her such a daddy’s girl.”
“Like that’s a problem?” I lean over and kiss the top of my wife’s head and then wipe a smear on her nose, too.
She wrinkles up her face, laughing, and grabs a handful of my tunic to wipe it off. “You’re just in time for breakfast, and then I’d like to get some work in on my tapestry if that’s all right. Do you mind watching Kessa for a few hours?”
“Mind?” I bounce my daughter on my hip and she giggles, her small hands smacking against my jaw. My daughter looks every inch the mesakkah, from her blue skin right down to the tiny tail. The only callbacks to her mother are the nose—snub and adorable like Piper’s—and the fact that her horns are tiny and delicate things. It’s an oddly charming mix, and I can’t wait to see what our son will look like when he comes out. “I don’t mind at all. Kessa can help me deliver a drone back to Jutari’s farm. You want to go with Da Da and deliver a drone?”
“Da Da!” my daughter cries again, her small hands patting my scarred jaw.
“I think that’s a yes,” Piper says, beaming up at me. “I just got in some new thread and I want to finish the bottom of the tapestry.”
“The bottom?” I ask, surprised. She works on it every time she gets a chance, but between the farm and the baby—and me, demanding her attention like the shameless male I am—it sometimes sits for long periods of time without her touching it. “Isn’t it supposed to be your life story?”
“It is.” She shrugs. “But I have our family at the bottom, and I don’t think more needs to be said after ‘They lived happily ever after.’ Do you?”
She’s got a point.
I kiss my daughter’s brow, full of love for her, and then I kiss Piper, because it didn’t take me long to fall completely and utterly in love with this clever, brave, achingly sweet human. Love didn’t come first for us, but when it hit, it took my breath—and everything else—with it. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my mate…and now my kit. “Happy ever after is the perfect place to leave it,” I agree, my chest aching with the joy I feel. “Just leave plenty of room for more children if we need to add them, Little Bit.”
Piper giggles, the sound so keffing beautiful it makes my heart soar, even after all this time. “I plan on it. I know what a stud their father is.”
“Da Da!” my daughter agrees.
With them at my side, a male could conquer worlds. But for me, a quiet farm and my family is more than enough.
Author’s Note
Hello there!
This note will be short and sweet. :)
This book is my way of saying thank you to everyone that has said such kind and wonderful things about my ‘Risda-verse’. You wouldn’t think that aliens and marriages of convenience on a remote farm planet would be the most exciting thing, but I’m constantly asked for more stories along these lines. So here you go!
I kinda fell in love with Vordigar and Piper while I wrote them. I intended for Piper to be hard and brittle, but she ended up being just this big, walking wound desperately in need of someone to trust. Those are some of my favorite characters, so of COURSE Vordigar falls head over heels for her. I could probably write dozens more stories in this sort of vein, but I need to stop making new universes and keep writing in the ones I already have. Cough. Cough.
(That being said, the va Sithai brothers show up oh-so-briefly in this story. They’re going to get their spinoff trilogy soon, I swear!)
I’m hoping to have SWORN TO THE SHADOW GOD out next, which means I need to hustle because I still have a jillion pages to write. As always, thank you for reading and for being a fan! You guys and your enthusiasm make it possible for me to follow my muse to remote planets, and I’m eternally grateful. <3
Ruby
Need More Ruby Dixon?
All of my books are Kindle Unlimited, so why not take a stroll through my backlist and see what hits your fancy? Here are just a few suggestions depending on what you’re in the mood for. Read away!
Did you catch Tassar and Leilani’s story?
When She’s Ready
(Psst, this has a free audio book too! It’s on the Read Me Romance Podcast!)
Want other SciFi alien romance books?
The Corsair’s Captive
Prison Planet Barbarian
Pretty Human
The Alien’s Mail Order Bride
Or maybe you’re in the mood to binge-read?
Fire In His Blood (Book 1 of a 9 book series)
Ice Planet Barbarians (Book 1 of an incredibly long series)
Bound To The Battle God (just incredibly long)