Slipping from the bed and the warm curve of her body, Jaro left Aylia sleeping the sound slumber of a female well sated. He, however, found himself restless. Exiting his room, he ran into Brax, who wouldn’t allow him to sidestep him this time.
“You seem in a better mood,” his cousin cautiously said.
“Not really,” Jaro replied, heading into the lounge, Brax on his heels.
“Odd, I would have thought the numerous times you made her scream would have left any male smiling from ear to ear for at least a planetary rotation. Or did you abstain from release to punish her?”
Jaro arched a brow in reply.
Brax laughed as he leaned back in his chair. “Okay, stupid question. So what are you going to do with her now?”
“Sell her.” Never. But old habits were hard to break, and admitting he cared for the female seemed weak.
“No, seriously.”
A shrug lifted Jaro’s shoulders. “It’s what I should do given what she attempted.”
“I’d say you’re even now given you’ve just done the same thing to her.”
“I’m not letting her go.” He couldn’t prevent the vehement words and Brax noticed.
“I think you care for the redhead.”
“No, I don’t. She’s simply a ready vessel for my cock.”
“Really, then sell her to me. I’d love to see if I can get her to make that same spine tingling scream when she comes.”
Jaro didn’t even know he’d moved until the chair his cousin sat in tipped backward and he found himself straddling Brax’s chest, his fist pulled back, ready to pummel him.
A twinkle entered Brax’s eyes. “I’ll take that as a no?”
With a snort of disgust, Jaro got off his cousin and went to the ship’s beverage unit, ordering up a shot of alcohol that, while a tepid version of the real thing, still heated its way to his stomach.
“There’s no shame in caring for a female.”
“There is, though, when she turns around and plays you for a fool,” Jaro replied, the bitterness of the past inflecting his words.
“Frukx, cousin, not Shinja again. Just because she turned out a slut, doesn’t mean this one will.”
No, Aylia definitely didn’t come close to having the sexual experience of Shinja or any of his past bedmates. However, she made no bones about the fact she just wanted a child. And once she gets it, she will leave me.
Sudden frustration and anger made him fling his glass at the wall where it bounced and narrowly missed Brax. Stupid, unbreakable plastics. He’d have to invest in some glassware at the next port so that the next time he wished to vent, he’d get the satisfaction of shattering shards.
“Listen, I know the idea of letting a female close to you again frightens you.”
Jaro growled at the implied weakness.
“Don’t you growl at me when I’m telling the truth. It’s not weak to admit Shinja hurt you and that now you find yourself wary to care for another again. But face it. You like the redheaded barbarian.”
“She’s Zonian, not a human barbarian like Tren’s mate.”
Brax arched a brow. “Sure, and Zonian females have two tits. Anyway, regardless of her origin, you like her. And despite the fact she might try to kill you, I think she must like you else she would have probably bitten off some part of your body when you bedded her.”
Brax had a point. She’d not tried to hurt him once during their copulation, at least not intentionally. “It’s not that simple. She only wants a child from me. Once I impregnate her, she’ll leave.”
A frown creased Brax’s brow. “But you’re on that contraceptive that makes you sterile. So, she’ll never get pregnant, and thus won’t ever go.”
“I think she’ll notice at one point that my seed isn’t taking root. Then what?”
A loud sigh escaped his cousin. “For a smart mercenary and deadly assassin, you’re awfully stupid sometimes. Did it never occur to you that the longer you keep her, the more likely she is to fall in love with you and want to stay? Maybe if you stopped being an idiot for two nanoseconds, you’d realize that keeping her tied up as your sex slave might not be the best course of action if you like her and want to pursue a relationship with her.”
“But she looks good spread eagle and bound,” Jaro replied with a grin.
“I’ll bet she does. But, wouldn’t it be more fun if the ropes and chains were just for bedroom sport and not to keep her prisoner?”
“Why can’t you be dumb like your brother?”
“Because being smart gets me between more thighs,” Brax joked before leaving the rec area.
Jaro sat there in pensive silence, rolling over in his mind the things his cousin said, most of which made sense. He liked Aylia, not that he planned to tell her. That kind of ammunition belonged in no female’s hands. He did want to spend more time with her, and not just with her flat on her back in his bed—it restricted his repertoire of positions.
Can I make her like me? Entice her into staying with me so that I can either relieve myself of this lust for her, or figure out if I’ve succumbed to something more tragic, like…gulp…love.
The direction of his thoughts made him scowl. Next thing he knew, he’d look like his brother, all besotted and changing his life to please a female.
Despite his intense dislike of that idea, he couldn’t help wondering where in the galaxy he would choose to settle if he decided to ever put down roots. But he got ahead of himself. First, he needed to convince Aylia that she cared for him. And the quickest way he knew to any woman’s heart involved shopping, a male’s most dreaded task.
*****
Aylia woke to find herself unfettered, the heavy manacles gone along with the rope. Sitting up, she looked around and ignored the pang of disappointment that she appeared alone. She stretched as she got out of the bed, her joints popping and her muscles pulling. Despite her confined position of before, and the copious ways Jaro had shown her body-bowing pleasure, she felt great, better than great actually, if hungry. Padding barefoot to the door, she slapped on the control panel, not surprised to find it didn’t open.
Apparently, while he no longer felt a need to chain her, he didn’t trust her to roam his ship—or feel a need to clothe her. He’d locked everything in his cabin down tight, leaving her with nothing to cover herself with other than the bed sheets. Not wishing to get caught up in the draping folds should she need to fight, she chose to remain unclothed.
Sitting on the bed cross-legged, she tried to relax into a trancelike state, a calming technique Pantariste tried in vain to teach her. As usual, her mind whirled, not with her usual thoughts of battle or adventure, but flashbacks of the pleasure Jaro showed her. Just thinking of how he’d touched her and taken her, over and over again, made her body flush.
As if her burgeoning arousal were a signal, the door slid open and Jaro entered. Aylia held herself still, her eyes closed as she pretended indifference, but her body, traitor that it was, responded to his nearness, her nipples pouting for his touch, and her sex lubricating itself for his cock.
Fabric hit her in the face and her eyes flew open as a silken mass tumbled into her lap. All the air sucked from her lungs as she saw him, dressed in the brothel assassin outfit once more, the knotted rope enhancing his musculature and the head cloak leaving only his mesmerizing eyes free.
“Get dressed,” he ordered in a gruff voice.
Sifting through the material on her lap, her brow creased as she tried to make sense of the filmy strips. “What is this?”
“An outfit suitable for a brothel employee.”
She didn’t think, just reacted, flinging the clothes at him with a tart, “I don’t think so.”
He caught the bundle and stalked toward her, a tall, predatory strut that did crazy things to her body. Refusing to let herself become distracted by this tempting body, Aylia scrambled up and stood on the bed, fists clenched, her knees slightly bent.
“Oh, you’ll wear these all right. Now either you put them on yourself, or I’m going to put them on you, but one way or another, you will get dressed.”
She crooked a finger and beckoned him. “Come and get me then because I am not putting those on without a fight.”
“You won’t win,” he stated with cocky assurance.
“Maybe not, but I will hurt you in the process. Or are you going to call in your cousins to help you?”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? After all, the only condition you require is strength; any male between your legs will do.”
Aylia gaped at him, not following his accusation. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You’ve made it plenty clear that you don’t care who you get pregnant with so long as he’s strong. And then what? You’re going back to hide on your homeworld until you need the next child.”
Put like that, it didn’t sound very nice. “But it’s the Zonian way.”
“You’re not Zonian, though!” he yelled.
“I don’t understand why you’re so angry. Why do you care who I bed or what I do once I’m with child? I’d think you’d be happy to be rid of me. Or is your vengeance not yet done?”
“You tried to steal my seed.”
“And you have now given me your seed, many times over. I’d say we are even. I might even now be pregnant thanks to your antics.”
“You’ll never get pregnant from me. Birth control, princess. No male leaves his home planet without it.”
Annoyed with this attitude, and confused at his accusations, she could say she enjoyed the next words she threw in his face. “I’m not stupid. Your birth control is the first thing I deactivated after I captured you. So, I guess the joke is on you. Due to your diligence in showing me how to please a male, you may have given me exactly what I set out for.”
The stillness of his body should have warned her, but it still took her by surprise when he leapt at her, his larger body slamming into hers and pushing her into the wall. Before she could put up a fight, he’d grasped each of her hands and yanked them over her head, trapping her.
The submissive posture should have panicked or enraged her. Instead, desire raced through her at his nearness and the visible evidence of his strength.
“How dare you?” he growled. The silken fabric of his head cloak, covering his mouth, brushed against her face.
“I never lied about my quest. It’s not my fault you thought me stupid.”
“Oh, I never thought you stupid, misguided and perhaps too cocky, but surprisingly, I like those traits about you.” He pressed himself against her, and despite his low tone, he couldn’t hide the hardness of his shaft pressing against the V of her thighs.
“You do? My teacher’s been trying to beat those traits out of me for numerous planetary cycles.”
“The best warriors all own a streak of recklessness. I should know since I’m the best one of all. But you’re changing the subject. I didn’t give you permission to take my seed.” He pushed away from her, his tone not displaying anger, although judging by the tautness of the muscles in his back, it simmered beneath the surface.
“I am Zonian. We don’t ask. We take. And I guess maybe you’re not the best warrior, after all since it seems I bested you.” She expected anger or retaliation at her bold, inflammatory words.
To her surprise, he laughed. “So you have, princess. But don’t expect to catch me off guard again. Now, enough chatter. Get dressed.”
He seemed to have mistaken her for some docile servant.
Crossing her arms over her chest, her reply came out as a challenge. “If you want me clothed, then bring me my own raiment. I won’t wear the cast offs of a whore.”
When he twirled to face her, the silken material of his cape swaying with him to settle around his broad, muscled shoulders, she couldn’t help a shiver from coursing through her body.
“The only clothes you had I sliced from you and disposed of. Not that they were any more concealing than this garb.”
“What of the articles on my ship?”
“Sold in the port I stole you from, along with everything on board.”
Her means of getting home was gone? “Bastard.”
“Not according to my mother. Now, will you put the clothes on or shall I parade you through the streets of the planet we’re docked at naked?”
Cocking a hip, she placed her hands on her waist and thrust her chest forward. “Why hide it? I might as well flaunt it before the auction so I can ensure a steady stream of males willing to donate their seed. The faster I get pregnant, the quicker I can go back home.”
An animal stalking, that was what he reminded her of when he came toward her with slow, fluid movements. Unconsciously, she backed up until she hit the wall.
He stopped just before her. “You are the most vexing female I’ve ever encountered.”
“Really, because I’m just a pale shadow compared to real Zonians,” she retorted.
“But you are not a Zonian.”
“Perhaps not in looks, but in everything that counts, I am.”
“Are you not curious at all about your origins? My computer says you are human, probably from the barbarian planet Earth.”
“Our past has no place in the present,” she repeated by rote despite the inner urge that begged her to find out what else he knew.
“It should because the customs you are trying so desperately to cling to are not your own. In your culture, females, after some mating rituals, choose one male to breed with. The pair most often stay together to raise the children they choose to have.”
“How do you know this?”
“Research. It is common knowledge if you but ask the computer. Of course, our knowledge about your homeworld is limited due to its protected status, but if you truly were of a mind to discover the cultures of your people, I am sure my brother’s mate would happily discuss it with you.”
“She’s like me?”
“Yes, right down to the annoying factor. Oddly enough, my brother finds her irritating ways endearing. But he always was strange. I thankfully don’t suffer from the same malady.”
“Well excuse me for annoying the frukx out of you,” she snapped. “It must be my barbarian gene making itself known.”
“You’re forgiven.” She could have sworn humor laced his comment, not an easy thing to tell with the cloak covering his face. “Enough talking, princess. Time to get dressed, or is this your way of saying you want to feel my hands on your body again? I’m sure I could delay our excursion long enough to please your insatiable side.”
Truthfully, she did want to feel him touching her and then plowing her with his thick cock, but to admit it smacked of desperation. He’d made it clear his dislike of her despite his use of her body. She also did not, despite her brave words, wish to parade about in the nude which left her with only one irritating choice.
In silence, she grudgingly put on the outfit as he leaned against the wall watching with a seemingly negligent air. Dressed, she looked down at herself with a moue of annoyance. “I think I was less conspicuous naked.” The filmy skirt, made of thin strips, hid her sex, and yet didn’t, the soft fabric clinging to her pubic area, delineating it. She could only imagine how her backside looked. The silken top appeared even more sheer, the material molding to her nipples and breasts, the rings of her piercings clearly visible.
“Frukx!” His expletive made her look at him and she couldn’t miss the hard bulge which stretched the skimpy cloth around his loins. Whirling, he rummaged through a hole that opened in the wall at his barked command. Without looking, he flung a wadded up bundle at her.
“Put it on.”
“It” turned out to be a long cloak that covered her head to toe. She found it odd. After all, he’d given her the damned outfit to wear and now apparently he didn’t want her to be seen in it. It didn’t matter to her one way or another. Their excursion off the ship meant she’d soon plan her escape, before any brothel that bought her thought they could put her to work.
But it seemed their preparations weren’t done. He approached her gripping something, and when she saw what he held, she did fight, calling him every vile name she could think of, but in the end, his greater strength won—but not without her giving him some blows that would bruise up nicely. He led her from the room holding the leash that snapped onto the neck of a collar he’d placed on her.
As she stood stiffly beside him as they waited for the docking bay door to open, she ignored his softly murmured, “I’m sorry for the leash and collar. Trust me when I say it’s for the best and will keep you safe where we are going.”
“So would a knife,” she snapped.
“If I give you one, will you promise not to use it on me?”
His clear eyes met hers, and she hated the way she still melted under his gaze after his treatment and humiliation. “I’ll carve you with my own fingernails if I get a chance.”
Instead of rebuking her, the jerk laughed then yanked her off ship like some fancy pet on a leash while she mentally detailed the ways she’d kill him.