Page 63 of Rescued By the Alien Bull Rider

The season I met Zohro.

The short span of time before cold winter that had so irrevocably shaped my life. Brought us both here to this new home.

“Autumn,” I said, gazing down at her. “That’s her name.”

The next timethat I woke, it was to the sound of Zohro’s voice.

“I hope you know how lucky you are to have the youngest-ever graduate of the Medical Academy of Zabria wiping your bottom right now,” he said. He was once again stationed at the other medical bed, but instead of sitting, he was bent over it, Autumn’s ankles in one big hand, the other hand cleaning her with a damp cloth.

“Truly, you are blessed beyond compare,” he continued, arrogant as a king, though his eyes glinted with warmth. “I would wipe no other bottom but yours. Except your mother’s, of course.”

“Hold on. Did you wipe me off?” I asked. Zohro looked up from where he’d been swiftly tying a cloth diaper onto Autumn’s body.

“Of course. You were probably still numb from the waist down and did not notice. But there was amniotic fluid and other material that you needed cleansed from your skin.”

Other material.

Oh… Oh God…

“Please, for the love of all that is holy, Zohro. Don’t tell me that I shit myself.” I groaned, mortified.

Thank God I’d mostly given up on the idea that he might ever want to fuck me.

He lifted Autumn and placed her little newborn body against his upper chest and shoulder. He held her so comfortably, and she seemed completely content with him.

If I hadn’t just given birth, I was pretty sure that the mere sight of Zohro holding a newborn would be enough to make me instantly pregnant.

“Don’t tell you?” this absolute god of domestic masculinity said to me. “Fine. Then I will not.”

“What does that mean?!” I screeched.

“I cannot say,” he replied. So hot. So cryptic. So infuriating. “I have been instructed not to tell you.”

“OK. So that means Idid. Hurray for wet cloths. Thank you for your service, Zohro! Chip, chip, cheerio!”

“What the blazes are you talking about?” Zohro asked. “Do I need to do a head exam?”

Even Autumn’s eyes were on me now, as if she could sense the unspooling of her mother’s dignity.

“No,” I muttered. “But if I could have a bath now, that would be great.”

At some point when I’d been sleeping, when he wasn’t settling comfortably into his role of the hottest newborn caretaker ever, Zohro had scrubbed and disinfected the tub. But he steered me away from that option, fretting about cervical dilation and my still-healing uterine wall.

“The nano-medication works well,” he said, “and quickly. But your body still needs its own time to recover.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” I said, glancing down at the saggy puffiness of my stomach. I’d known that I wouldn’t go back to my old body, especially not right away, but there was something weirdly deflating about having a whole damn baby taken out of me and still looking so swollen and different from before. I focused on the healthy baby in Zohro’s arms, and the fact that Iwas alive to be with her, and tried to let insecurities over what I looked like fall away.

Zohro brought Autumn and me over to the place where I’d always filled the tub up, but then he shoved the tub out of the way.

“Sit here,” he said, throwing a strong arm around my waist and slowly lowering me to the pristine floor. “Hold Autumn. Maybe take her diaper off, as it is going to get wet.”

I did so, then settled her sleepy softness against the crook of my neck. Zohro lifted the hose I usually used to fill the tub, and attached a head onto it. When the water came out, it was dispersed through the head in a gentle, warm spray.

“Oh, brilliant. Thank you,” I said. I reached for the hose, then pulled my arm back, unwilling to hold onto Autumn one-handed, especially if her smooth skin got wet and slippery.

And it didn’t seem like Zohro had planned on giving it to me, anyway. Instead, he knelt beside us on the floor, holding the hose above us – only after he’d checked the temperature of the water, of course. I gave a gasp of pure delight when the soft stream of water hit me. I closed my eyes and swayed a little, only for Zohro’s arm to wrap around my waist again, this time alongside his tail, holding me firmly against him. I opened my eyes, watching the water turn Autumn’s hair dark and shiny as it gently coursed over her back.

“Is that alright?” Zohro murmured.

---