The best part? I hadn’t thought about the Jerk Who Stalks Me or my ex for almost twelve hours straight. That was a miracle if ever there was one.
All I could think about was Bahre. I wanted more. I knew he did, too.
A lot more. More kissing. More touching. I loved the way he ran his massive hands up and down my spine. His gentle touch made me feel cherished and loved. I also loved the way he pounded his hard body into me. It made me feel wild and wanton and desirable. Feminine. I felt perfect when I was with him. Perfect. That seemed completely impossible, but it was the truth. I could be hard for people to deal with. Men especially. I was prickly and defensive. Cautious. Wary. I knew that was a fact. I could talk myself into or out of just about anything with logic and cold, hard analysis. I’d been gun-shy about getting into another relationship with any man after my previous bad experiences.
Bahre wasn’t a man though. He was an alien. A beast. When he looked at me, I felt like maybe I could be someone else. Someone perfect. Someone who didn’t have to be scared all the time. Watch every window. Carry Mace in my hand every time I walked outside. Because Bahre would protect me. I knew that. He’d said so. My body knew that. Every cell in my body trusted him not to hurt me. And he was big enough to scare anyone away.
Even Jeff Randall.
My beast was downstairs right now, gathering his things and telling the others about me. Telling the producers of the Bachelor Beast program that he wasn’t their next star. I had a feeling that wasn’t going to go well, but who was going to argue with a seven-foot Atlan? At least there were other Atlans who’d come to Earth with him who could be chosen instead. Although, if they found their mate like Wulf, Braun, and Bahre had, the show was doomed.
That wasn’t my problem. My smile returned. He would be coming to me soon. I’d agreed to have him stay for a few days, see how things went. Find out if we were really as compatible as it seemed. Compatible sexually? Definitely. This wasn’t the typical does-he-leave-the-toothpaste-cap-off situation. He was an Atlan.
When we’d talked—in bed and naked—he hadn’t gone all beastly and made demands. If he had, I would have told him to get the hell out of my life. I’d had enough of arrogant assholes who thought they owned me. I wanted a partner in life, not a boss.
Yet maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to belong to a beast. At least, one particular beast. If last night was every night… God.
I was still smiling when Ellen gathered her things. I realized she hadn’t asked anything else because I’d been off in la-la land in my head.
“I’m going to go clean my brushes. You’ll do great tonight.” She patted my shoulder and gave me another wink in the mirror.
“Thanks.” I felt great. I’d taken extra care with my appearance today. I wanted to look as beautiful on the outside as I was feeling on the inside. I had on my sexiest, pure silk panties and bra. No one would see them but me—and Bahre—but I felt feminine and alluring with them beneath my work clothes. I’d picked a pink silk blouse with a plunging neckline and one of my favorite jewelry sets, the amethysts a brilliant shade of purple that complimented the blouse just right, a black pencil skirt, and my absolute favorite pair of shoes. They were black, they sparkled, and the heels were steel tipped and at least four inches high. It was an outfit I’d worn on camera before, and I felt like a princess in the killer heels. The blouse clung to my breasts, the skirt was snug, and I was hoping Bahre wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off me after work.
Ellen left me alone, and I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let myself have one more moment with nothing but Bahre filling my head.
“Okay, woman. Enough. Focus.” I talked to myself, which wasn’t unusual. The knock was expected and right on time.
“Ten minutes, Quinn.” The intern wouldn’t be late with his only task.
“Thanks!” I yelled.
When the door opened, I didn’t look up from the papers in my lap. Ellen always came back in and puttered around a bit cleaning up.
“Greetings, Quinn McCaffrey. Mate of Warlord Bahre.”
The deep voice shocked my system like a jolt of electricity, and I whipped my gaze around to see the very large man closing and locking the door behind him.
I froze.
For a second I thought it was Jeff Randall, but no. This guy was too big. The voice too deep.
When he turned around, he was no man I recognized. His skin was dark but not the rich mocha of a human, more copper in color, like he had a really bad spray tan. His eyes were covered with sunglasses, but he took them off and placed them in his pocket so he could smile at me.
His eyes were oddly shaped, the golden color almost passing for brown. Almost. The bones of his cheeks too prominent. He just looked weird. And huge. He was well over six foot tall and bulky enough he could probably lift a small car with his bare hands.
He almost could have passed for a Prillon warrior wearing a suit.
When he flashed his fangs—holy shit. He wasn’t Prillon. Prillons didn’t have fangs, as far as I knew—and I’d read up on all the alien races. And he definitely wasn’t human.
“Who… who are you? Get out of my dressing room.”
“Who I am is unimportant. You, however…” He paused and walked slowly toward me. He lifted a hand to pet me, slide his fingers through my hair. I cringed back, but I could only go so far
