Page 44 of The Marriage Bargain

“That was Tarra. She’s going into labor. It’s too early. Zyn’s rushing her to the hospital. We have to—”

“Go stay with the children,” I supplied. “Zyn phoned me. Are you ready to leave?”

“Just have to grab my coat. My stuff’s all over at their place anyway. Do you need to bring anything? You know, you don’t have to go, actually. It’s not your respon—”

“I am going,” I said, stopping her before she could complete the thought. “My transport will get us there far faster than your truck. Also, my transport means you needn’t be held up at the gate. And…” I shrugged. “You are my wife. They are my family too.”

I spoke the words aloud, almost hesitantly, wondering if she might recoil to suggest an Asterion, an Overlord, an interloper to Earth, was part of her family.

No.

She blinked once, as if she either hadn’t considered this or was processing it, then shrugged. “You’re right. I guess they are your family too, as long as we’re married. So, do you need to grab anything, then? We’ll be there until Zyn and Tarra get back from the hospital. Who knows how long that might take?”

“Only my coat for tonight. I can return home in the morning to gather anything I need before work.”

I followed her out of the bedroom where, minutes before, both of us had been caught up in a sexually charged situation, presumably about to surrender our bodies to one another. How quickly things had changed, and yet, while I definitely left with regret that the time hadn’t been right to join my body with hers, I also left accepting a strange new fact. That I not only had a wife to look after and protect, but an extended family, as well. An extended family of humans.

It was an odd thought, but not unpleasant.

CHAPTER 25

DELLE

Under any other circumstances, I would have been pissed—and I mean beyond pissed—that I’d been that close to getting it on with my hot new alien husband, only to have to stop when things were getting good. And when I say good, I mean my knees where weak, my entire body was trembling, and a million goosebumps had popped up everywhere he touched me. I hadn’t known such raw, deep, primal hunger could consume someone. I sure hadn’t known it could consume me.

In my wildest imaginations, I never would have dreamed I’d have been reacting to a non-human like that—or a human, for that matter. Sex with my previous boyfriends…let’s be real. It was nice. It was fun. But it had been awkward in the beginning. And sort of a process of figuring it out as we went along. Not once, ever, had my body been lit on fire the way it had as soon as Caide’s mouth was on mine. At that instant, my skin, my insides, turned into molten lava. I was ready for him. I was shoving myself into him, almost like I was trying to get at his body despite the layers of clothing between us. I swear, if the phone hadn’t rung when it did…

Damn it, I swore as we glided along through falling snow in his transport. Even now, the memory was enough to stir a desire so strong it was painful. I cannot believe that baby chose to come now. Damn it, just damn it.

The realistic part of me was instantly aghast at my selfishness, reminding me this wasn’t about me getting my freak on with an alien Overlord. We had plenty of time for that later. Right now, my sister and possibly her baby’s life could be endangered. Why was I thinking about sex at all under the circumstances?

Grow up, Delle, my conscience chided me. You’re not a horny teenage boy.

True, and I did feel bad. But I also felt…

Like I wanted to have sex with my Overlord husband.

I glanced over at him, seated next to me in his transport. Blue lights from the glowing dashboard glinted off his skin, highlighting his golden eyes, which gleamed even brighter in the gloom. He commanded the skimming transport with a button push here and there, and one hand on the steering console. If he was rattled by our make-out session being cut short, or by the situation we were walking into, I couldn’t tell. He didn’t look rattled. Instead, he’d calmly gotten us out the door and into his transport, which was about the size of a large truck, with plenty of room for both of us. After firing it up and getting us going, he’d reached out and taken my hand. He'd yet to let it go.

My gaze dropped to our hands resting there on what passed for a middle console, our fingers loosely clasped together. Caide’s attention was on the control panel, and the snowy night outside, but his thumb absently stroked over my skin, creating ripples of flame beneath the surface.

Ripples of flame, but at the same time… something strangely sweet, too. All of the prior sexual heat was great in a scorching, searing way. But there was something undeniably cozy, intimate about a man—male alien, rather—who wasn’t trying to get anything out of me at the moment. Simply holding my hand of his own accord because he wanted that connection.

Oddly, that rattled me more than almost having sex. I turned my chin to stare out into the night, the glittering snowflakes a blur as we whizzed past. Sex was a primitive urge that I could understand. Two beings attracted to one another giving into a very natural outcome. However, this hand-holding thing…it wasn’t that I didn’t understand it. Of course I did. But I also understood that was what couples did. And not even all couples. Not everybody held hands. That was what couples did who…liked each other. Enjoyed each other. Wanted to be touching at any time simply for the sake of touching.

I can’t lie. The notion of this alien Overlord wanting to get it on with me made more sense to my confounded brain than the notion of him liking me. Wanting to be with me. Touching me just to touch me. Even comfort me, maybe, I thought, turning again to stare at that silvery thumb grazing my knuckles.

“Are you alright, Delle?”

His low-pitched voice speaking out of nowhere at first made me start, jerking me from my thoughts, then set the violin strings in my stomach to vibrating.

“Fine,” I said, forcing myself to wriggle into my seat like I was trying to get comfortable. “Nervous for my sister and the baby, of course, but otherwise I’m fine. How about you? Going to babysit a bunch of little girls. This is new territory for you.”

He flicked me an amused glance. “All of this is new territory for me. Earth, you, marriage, and now nieces by marriage. When does it stop being new?”

I chuckled. “I have no idea. My life’s also been covering a lot of new territory lately.”

“Marriage? Me?”

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