Page 25 of Bound to the Tiger Scout
SQUIRE
Swear to god, I could feel that this ship wasmoving. It wasn’t built that different from the other one—though our quarters were bigger and finer—but I definitely knew it was on the move while the other had been still. Like there was a rumble under my feet and?—
“I feel nothing,” Ghosha said with a shrug.
“Maybe because you’ve done it plenty of times before.” I popped another motion sickness pill, determined not to miss a dose. “You’re used to it.”
He huffed a laugh and patted the bed beside him, as if I wasn’t headed for that exact spot. “I’m not such an interstellar traveler as you think. This is the first time I’ve left Nor.”
“Oh.” Curious, I sat cross-legged and facing him instead of cuddling back against him. “Are there other planets to go to?”
“There are several. Some friendly, some not.” He leaned back against the wedge pillow that acted like a headboard and laced his fingers on his belly. “I’ve never been one with an urge to see the universe.”
“But you came to Earth.”
“Like a fool, I volunteered to solicit for sex workers.”
“Why’s that make you a fool?”
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into.” He shrugged. “But if this worked, then every brothel would need humans to compete, even my own. I couldn’t let?—”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “Youown a brothel?”
Ghosha’s eyes grew wide as he stared at me. “Did I not tell you that?”
“I’m not upset, just… Wow. And, well, we haven’t exactly done a lot of talking,” I said with a grin.
He grinned back, and I watched his golden gaze travel over my naked body. “That is true.”
Didn’t mean we couldn’t talk now, though. “So you’re leading the cause and also have a stake in it.”
“Yes.” He stopped there, but I raised my eyebrows and smiled to encourage him to keep going. With a nod, he said, “I was always interested in the brothel when my grandmother ran it, but it was still a surprise that she left it to me. I realize now that I had been apprenticing under her and knew most every aspect of the business by the time she passed. When faced with the option of joining my father making bread or running a brothel…” He held his hands up like he was weighing his options and kept raising the one he’d indicated was for the brothel.
“That’s really kinda cool. I bet you’re a great boss.” I cocked my head and had to ask, “Is your dad okay with you doing that instead of working with him?”
Ghosha shrugged one shoulder. “I’m sure he would have preferred to have us both working with him and taking over the bakery someday, but my sister chose to stay, so he’s happy.”
“So you have both parents and a sister?”
“Correct.”
I squirmed with worry, but had to ask, “How will they feel about me as your mate? Do they know about me?”
He looked away and scratched at his neck. “They don’t know about you. But,” he quickly added when I gasped, “that is onlybecause my father would call us night and day with questions and wanting to hear stories. He would beinsufferable, just like he was when Kreeva met her mate.”
I had zero reference for any such thing, but I was still annoyed that people we were zooming toward didn’t even know I existed. “So what you wanted instead was for him to pester us in person.”
Ghosha stared at me for a moment before rolling his eyes closed and groaning. He drooped where he sat and covered his face with his hands.
I gave him a little kick. “Idjit.”
He groaned again.
“Kreeva’s your sister?”
“Yes,” he said on a sigh as he slumped back against the headboard. “Her mate is Torarin. They have three children, Haviana, Newjo, and the baby, Usara.”
My heart squeezed at the thought of a baby tiger that I might be able to cuddle soon.
