“Do what you want, just stay out of my way.”
Her lips formed a thin line, her eyes narrowing once more.
He refused to break their eye-lock. Let her drop her gaze first.
But then movement lower on her face caught his attention, movement that shouldn’t have caught his attention but it did.
It phekking did.
Her pink tongue slipped out of her mouth as she ran it over her lips and he found himself watching it move before it disappeared into her mouth again.
“Thank you,” she finally said, rising and moving toward him.
Every bone in his body wanted to jerk backward and away from her intrusive presence but she only took up his bowl and headed toward the cook room.
She’d come so close to him, he could smell the strong scent of flowers that now followed her around.
Frowning, Riv pushed back from the table and stood.
At the disturbance, Grot raised his head and looked at him.
“You.”
Grot blinked at him before resting his head once more. He guessed the tevsi wasn’t going to sleep in his room for another dark-cycle.
Fine.
Whatever.
His mood was sour now and he didn’t know why.
When he retreated to his room, it only got worse.
Stripping off his clothes, Riv fell back against his sleeping cushion, frowning at the ceiling.
This room was the only room that seemed untouched by the female’s presence; yet, it was as if he could still smell her there.
That soft smell of flowers that had wafted into his nose when she’d come close.
Riv frowned at himself.
The memory made him want to squeeze his eyes shut tight.
These thoughts, he knew where they were going.
A dangerous place.
Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if that same flowery scent lingered on her skin.
Would she smell like flowers if his nose was against her and he inhaled deeply?
A flashing image of her hand rubbing her slender neck came back to him and he groaned. Right on its tail was the image of her licking her lips and the feel of her face against his neck.
In his mind, everything was suddenly in slow motion, replaying over and over till he was left wondering what it would feel like if he were to touch her in those places.
It had been too long since he’d allowed himself to even notice a female. That’s what this was.
For several hours, he lay there in bed.
Falling asleep had always been a problem. Staying asleep even harder.
But this dark-cycle, it wasn’t his usual bad dreams about the mines keeping him awake.
It seemed females were the poison that fed his insomnia.
He’d told her to stay out of his way but that probably wouldn’t be enough. He needed to keep far away from her as well.
The animals he had to take care of were all the trouble he needed in his life.
Still…
22
Lauren woke early.
She was alone.
The dog had gone off as he seemed to usually do. She guessed he went hunting or something.
The entire house was quiet.
Maybe her annoyingly handsome host was still sleeping.
She rolled her eyes at the thought of him.
The fact she thought he was good-looking shouldn’t make her forget who and what he was.
He was an alien. One intent on keeping her at arms length.
He still didn’t like her. That was obvious from the conversation the day before.
She didn’t know what she’d expected.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she remembered how she’d moved into his firm body for comfort…how he’d pulled her toward him so she wouldn’t see the parent and child get murdered…
Those things confused her now, but reality wasn’t complicated if she didn’t make it that way.
Stretching, she allowed herself a few minutes for the sleep to leave her eyes.
Regardless of that, yesterday had gone better than she’d expected.
She’d wanted to show him that she didn’t intend to just sit around doing nothing.
She’d never worked on a farm, but she could learn. She had two working hands and a strong back.
On her grandad’s farm, she’d follow him around while he took care of the animals and though he’d never let her help, except for feeding the chickens, she’d enjoyed farm life whenever she’d visited.
There was just something freeing about being able to hang out in the middle of nowhere with only animals as company.
Animals weren’t complicated. For them, life was simple.
Eat, sleep, poop, repeat.
Wasn’t that the life everyone wanted?
She smiled to herself.
That’s why she was up so early.
She intended to head out and begin doing whatever she could to help with the farm work. Going to the exchange with Riv had shown her that some of those aliens—no, most of them—wanted nothing more than a warm cunt and she was more than that.
It’d been terrifying, the way they’d looked at her. She’d had men leer at her on Earth but there was something definitely sinister when aliens did it.
It had been obvious what they’d been thinking about and to even consider they wanted to put their alien dicks anywhere near her…it made her stomach grow putrid.
She’d made up her mind fully then.
There was no way for her to go back home. That ship had sailed…or flown…whatever spaceships did. That meant she absolutely had to make the most of what she had, and that included not getting kicked off the Sanctuary sooner than necessary.
She needed to take her time till she got better at surviving.
Sleep now out of her eyes, her gaze became clear.
Right.
Time to get to work.
Riv tossed on his sleeping cushion.
The thoughts wouldn’t go away.
Memories of the Tasqal female who’d bought him and Sohut so many years ago came flooding back to him, making his shoulders go rigid, his fists clenching hard against the sleeping cushion.
He had been just thirteen orbits when his cock had grown in length and his mating sacs had matured. A clear signal he was a fertile male.
Back on his home planet, it would have been a time of celebration and he’d have been able to join the hunting circles and be seen as an equal among the males of the tribe. No longer a chid, he’d have joined
