Restlessness trickled into her comfortable haze as realizations buzzed through her brain. His rich scent was unlike anything she’d ever smelled before and everything about this felt wondrous and new.
And real!
Each touch, each brush of his fingertips, each thrust of his cock into her core forced her closer to the inevitable conclusion that this was no hallucination. His hips sped and her panic mounted. If this was really happening, where was she and how had she gotten here?
He grasped her hips and cried out his pleasure as he spilled his seed deep inside her. Zoe felt each hot spurt. She fell back to the bed then covered her face with her hands. “I want to wake up now. Please, God, let me wake up.”
Vaden stared down at his dancer’s stricken expression, torn between confusion and horror. His first instinct was to shake and berate her for her foolishness, but he looked closer and reconsidered such a harsh reaction. He hadn’t felt her pussy ripple around his cock, which meant she’d found no pleasure in their dance. Was that all there was to her odd behavior? Did she find his skills lacking?
He carefully separated their bodies and shed his pants. Perhaps if they were both naked she would feel less vulnerable. He moved her to the middle of the bed and lay down beside her. Slipping his forearm under her pillow, he propped himself up so he could see her face.
“It is not unusual for dancer partners not to finish at the same time.”
“I don’t think the word ‘dance’ means the same thing here as it does on Earth, but let’s go back to the beginning. Where am I?” She sat up and scooted as far away from him as she could without leaving the bed.
Rather than review all the reasons she should know her location, Vaden simply supplied the information. “You are on the
“You said you’re a commander.” She pulled back the bedding and covered herself with the sheet. “Is this your ship?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “I thought we were beyond all this.”
“I thought…never mind what I thought. How was I brought here? All I remember is a sucking sensation that felt as if it would tear me apart.”
She drew the sheet up to her chin, which helped with his concentration if not his patience. They’d already danced. Why play these games now? “Long-range transportation is especially hard on the human body. Regulations require a minimum of twelve lunar cycles in between voyages. That’s why I can’t send you back, even if I wanted to—which I do not.”
“Twelve ‘lunar cycles’?” She paused as she either sorted it out or her microbes provided the translation. “You mean I’m stuck here for a year?”
What was she hoping to gain by this foolishness? She was naked and in his bed and his seed was already inside her. It made no sense. “I contracted you for five
Everyone had warned him not to contract an Earth woman. Their export regulations were ridiculous and their insistence on discretion convoluted interplanetary protocols. Vaden had no idea why Earth governments were so determined to keep their general populations ignorant of “alien” interaction, and it really wasn’t his concern. Zoe was. Human females could be volatile. They could also be passionate and almost as intelligent as Paridagon females.
Besides, he had debated whether or not to participate in the program for so long, the only contracts left had been for Earth women.
Zoe’s lovely eyes looked into his with such misery he nearly dragged her back into his arms, but then she opened her mouth and began to speak.
“Please, just listen for a minute. I bought the dress from a man in the city where I live. He also gave me a booklet, but I had no reason to think the story was anything other than an amusing tale. And the only thing I signed was a credit card receipt.”
“What was explained in the booklet?” The contract contained a basic history of his people. He now suspected she’d read the contract and didn’t realize what she’d read.
Her eyes widened and she stared past him into nothingness. “Oh my God. I knew I’d heard that name before.” She blinked away the memory and looked at him again. “The booklet was all about the Paridago wars. According to the story, you won glorious battles against the Stagen hordes, a race of beings both cruel and ruthless. After much sacrifice and bloodshed, the war was all but won. All that was left was to negotiate the borders, but the bureaucrats failed, leaving the territories in dispute. So it fell back to the warriors to keep full-scale war from breaking out all over again.”
He snorted. “That about sums it up. We’ve had no choice but to stay and fight while less honorable men returned to their comfortable lives back in the inner systems. Of course, their lives are only comfortable because we’re foolish enough to hold back the enemy.”
She nodded as understanding gradually focused her gaze. “The war has gone on decades longer than anyone imagined, so female companionship has become a real problem.”
“To say the least.”
“When I read the story, it made me think of mail-order brides.” A wistful catch came into her voice as she used the unfamiliar term.
“I don’t understand the reference.”
“At times in human history, females were scarce in certain parts of the planet where I live. Men had no choice but to offer money, or land, to lure women to their remote locations.”
Was that the source of her discontent? She wanted compensation for dancing with him? “A large transfer of funds should have taken place when you agreed to be my dance partner. I didn’t expect you to do this for nothing. If the contract had been executed properly, you would have lived comfortably on Earth for the rest of your life once your obligation was concluded.”
“Then I’m glad I was basically kidnapped. I’m not a whore.” She seemed even more upset than before and he had no idea how to defuse her.
He’d saved and gone without even the most basic luxuries for the better part of two solar cycles so he could purchase her contract. Granted, he now had a dance partner, but it galled him to know he’d been robbed.
No,
She folded her legs beneath her and tucked the sheet under her arms. The sheet stretched just tight enough that her nipples made tempting shadows beneath the stark white material. Desire sparked within him, reaching for the surface, ready to play. He snapped his gaze back to her face and released another sigh. How could he help her not feel like a whore when her primary purpose for being here was to dance with him?
“Let’s talk basic vocabulary,” she suggested. “What does the word ‘dance’ mean to you?”
He grinned, his gaze drifting back to those shadowy nipples. “How about if I demonstrate?”
“Are there more than one kind of dances? You referred to what we did as a Decadent Dance. What other kinds are there? Better yet, what’s the generic definition for the word ‘dance’?”
If this would settle her down and ease her anxiety, he’d indulge her. To a point. “A dance is any series of movements that has no other purpose but pleasure. Dances can be innocent, or joyous, or celebratory, or downright
She nodded then fell silent for a long time. “Are events ever held so that people can dance with each other?”
His cock had already started to rise. He wasn’t sure how long he could indulge her need for chatter. “I think I remember such things from my childhood, but obviously nothing like that takes place on a border ship.”
“What makes this a border ship?”
The question seemed self-evident, but he clarified. “It patrols the borders of the Disputed Territories.”
“How many women are on board this ship?”
“Including you?” She nodded. “Sixteen.”
“And how many men?”
“Three hundred and ninety-two.”
She just stared at him as the color drained from her face.
