Page 39 of The Marriage Bargain

CHAPTER 22

DELLE

What was I thinking? What the hell did I just do? That’s what I was thinking. It was all well and good to say you’d temporarily marry somebody to cover your butt. And that creepy encounter with Flight Commander Abidah told me I’d probably made the right decision. I preferred Overlord Caide to the Flight Commander a million times over. On the other hand, the whole matching-tattoos-marriage-marks poking my chest part was not something that I’d been prepped for. I still didn’t know what to make of it, but it scared me because it all felt a heck of a lot more permanent than human ceremonies where you said a few words, traded rings, and signed your names on a piece of paper.

What if the marks meant I really was permanently bound to this alien male? What if I really was married to an alien Overlord…for good?

He said it could be dissolved, I comforted myself as Caide thanked the Asterion Official and paid him for his services. He then held my coat for me, which I wordlessly slipped on, before donning his own tight-fitting jacket and taking my hand. He ushered me to the door and outside into the quiet corridor. I noticed him glancing around before he started us off down the hallway.

“Looking for the Flight Commander?” I guessed quietly.

He nodded. “I fear he may try to cause trouble.”

I felt myself bristling again with the insults of his words. “He’s an ass. I don’t know why he would cause further trouble. Clearly, he’s not attracted to me and doesn’t like me. All he wants is a baby-maker.”

“I think he wants control more than anything,” Caide said soberly. “You defied him. So did I. He will not forget that insult.”

“Well, I won’t forget him barging in here like he owned the place. Like he owned me. Like I said, he’s an ass. I would never give a creep like that the time of day, much less have his little Gorgathelian babies.”

Caide laughed as we stepped outside into the night. “The notion of him thinking he could control you and force you to bear his offspring is humorous.”

“I thought most men, alien or human, wanted to control their women,” I said grumpily. The whole thing had left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Sure, I’d seized control and avoided the Flight Commander, avoided the breeder’s list, but at what cost? I’d still had to marry an alien male to do it.

Caide’s grip on my hand tightened, causing me to swing around to face him. A curtain of tiny, drifting snowflakes separated us as he stared intently into my face.

“I would never try to control you,” he said earnestly. So earnestly that I felt a shiver creep down my spine. A shiver that had nothing to do with the winter night. My mouth drifted involuntarily to his lips. They were perfectly shaped. Masculine and sexy and oh-so-kissable. And just when my eyes had lingered there a split-second too long, they parted to allow words out.

“Unless you wanted me to,” he murmured quietly, one hand dropping to rest lightly on my waist. His touch seared my skin, despite the layers of winter jackets and clothing. My eyebrows flared at the joke, at the positively wicked smile that curved his beautiful mouth.

I wasn’t a virgin or anything, but I felt my cheeks get hot.

“Who—who says I’m into that sort of thing?” I sputtered. I knew I should take a step back, away from his hand holding mine, away from his hand on my waist, but I couldn’t make my legs move.

“You strike me as the type of female who might be into many things, given the time and opportunity.”

“I do not! I mean, I…I do?”

He chuckled and let me go. “I don’t know. But I thought I would try. All a male can do is try.”

He started off, walking towards his transport and my truck, parked side by side. I hesitated half a beat, then rushed to catch up with him.

“All you can do is try, huh? Listen, mister, is that what you’re into? Control? Bondage? Like…what have I gotten myself into?”

All of the sudden, I felt nervous. Sex with an alien in and of itself was plenty to contemplate. But what if he was into kinky stuff? I’d never done kink. Basically, I’d done missionary and that was it. I hadn’t been in a relationship long enough to delve into kink. What if he wanted a lot more from me than I was ever willing to offer? He’d told me sex would be on my terms, but when he’d said sex did he mean the basics, or…?

He stopped so quickly that I skidded a step in the snow. His hands flashed, reaching out to catch me by the upper arms and prevent me from tripping or tumbling face first into the side of his glowing blue transport. With gentle strength, he drew me closer. A funny expression of humor and concern mixed with self-consternation tempered his face.

“Delle,” he said firmly. “I told you once and I will tell you again as many times as you need to hear it… I am not a monster. I will not force you to share my bed. Do I want you to? Yes. I think I would hardly be a living male with warm blood in his veins if I didn’t want to couple with you.”

Despite the coolness of the night, my body went hot. Oh my goodness, I groaned inwardly. The wording brought up all sorts of imaginations of our bodies intertwined in a bed, wrapped up close, skin to skin. Did he have to put it like that?

Either he didn’t notice my embarrassment or didn’t care. Instead, he went on gently, “Our sexual relationship will be what you want it to be, how you wish it to be, and when you wish it to be. I am not into anything, as you humans put it, besides having an enjoyable time with my partner and ensuring my partner has an enjoyable time with me. That being the case, I have no expectations other than hoping—and I did say hoping—that one day you will share my bed as my wife. If you do, my sole expectation would be to please you. I know I will be pleased.”

Holy crap.

How was a girl supposed to deal with a speech like that? My insides were melting. I couldn’t deal with the mental images his words evoked. Pleasure. Both of us pleasured. Satisfied.

Somebody get me out of here before I do something really stupid, I pleaded mentally.

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