Page 6 of Trak
Four
That seemed to shut her up, at least momentarily. The female had a comeback for everything.Everything. It was maddening. It made him want to remove theEnglishchip permanently, just so he didn’t have to hear the words. He could just listen to her voice and pretend she was saying nice things to him. She had a lovely voice when she wasn’t snapping, or yelling, or telling him that she didn’t want to have sex with him.
He looked at her over the gently bubbling stew of thejatibath, which was a luxury he’d installed because he enjoyed it so very much. High Sage Ferias had chosen a true beauty for him. Anna’s red hair clung to her chest and shoulders in dark wet waves. Creamy skin blushed easily and her delicate sprinkling of freckles intrigued him. He’d never seen “freckles” before. The term was from his English vocabulary chip, and he was delighted to see the tiny tan marks sprinkled beyond her face to spray over her full breasts and shoulders. She had a pert little nose, pouty pink lips, and wide green eyes that spat fire at him. Hopefully, at some point, the fire in them would take a less hostile gleam.
He’d seen the rest of her naked and liked the whole package. She had a slim waist and a nice, rounded bottom that he itched to take hold of. It had taken effort not to touch when he’d picked her up. The temptation was there, but so was her fear and pain. Plus, there had been a few basic bodily functions that had been neglected by his professional couriers. They would not be getting a good review from him. By that, he would be revoking their license to work out of the Bott-L2 station. No female—no transported being—should be treated the way Anna had been.
Now, having been fed, relieved, and pampered in a healing bath, she didn’t appear quite as sharp-edged. He considered reaching out and initiating contact again, but that was exactly what she expected him to do. He could see it in the suspicious glint in those green eyes and had little doubt that she would lash out with all that pent-up stress from her unfortunate trip here. The female was not willing, and that was that.
Resigned to not relieving the powerful ache between his thighs, Trak leaned back,eyes closed. He would wait forherto touchhim. He knew she found him attractive. It had been hard to miss: dilated pupils, indrawn breath, hot flush, etc. It was all there, and he’d seen similar reactions on plenty of females over plenty of cycles. They found him appealing. Not just him—Virilians in general did well with females. Unfortunately, so few species were biologically compatible for anything other than pleasure.
When several long moments went by without him feeling a hand on his knee or an “accidental” brush of her foot to his thigh, he opened his eyes to see what was going on. The female’s eyes were closed. Her face was slack. She’d fallen asleep in thejatibath and was slowly sliding into it.
He swiftly pulled her into his arms before she slid under the surface. To his surprise, she settled against his chest with little more than a murmur. She curled her fist in the dip between his pectoral muscles and remained sleeping. He’d meant for the bath to be relaxing. Notthatrelaxing, thought.
Gently, he smoothed the hair off her face. It was an opportunity to reallylookat her. In sleep, she looked young. He knew her age to be twenty-five in human years. He did wonder, despite his denials, why she needed money so badly that she was willing to rent her body to an alien male, sight unseen. He could have been a sadistic monster and she would have been at his mercy.
With a frown, he carefully lifted her from thejatibath, stood still as warm jets of air dried their bodies, then carried her to the bed and placed her on it. She sighed as he tucked the covers around her. She didn’t wake, indicating how utterly exhausted she must have been.
He slid into bed alongside her, resigned to not having sex that night with anyone but himself, if he chose. Well, he could go and find someone, but Trak didn’t wantsomeone. He wanted Anna. Instead, he eventually drifted off to sleep, listening to the deep draws of her breath and fantasizing about nestling his face between her naked breasts and burying his cock in what was likely a sweet, tight pussy. Ah, he couldn’t wait. He was decent enough, but he wasn’tthatbloody decent.
Five
Anna awoke to an arm draped over her belly and warm breath on her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and another to recall whom she was with. She turned her gaze to the enormous male curled on his side, still asleep. Close up, she could see that the dark smudges ringing his eyes werenotmakeup, but a natural dark tinting of the skin.
Hewasbeautiful. He had a disreputable, rock star look about him—the sort your mother would warn you to stay far, far away from. Anna had no idea what her mother would think of Trak, and it was too late to be warned off. By now, Jimmy knew where she was and what she’d done. She knew he would have told her not to do it, so she’d kept this plan to herself.Hewas why she’d put in to be a mail-order baby mama for an alien. By now, that five thousand would be in Jimmy’s account. Her little brother might be younger than she, but he was responsible. He could stretch that money, and hopefully she’d be coming home with five million dollars that would enable him to put his cancer and their father’s bad decisions behind him for good.
Trak would be a memory. Hopefully not a bad one. She took a quick mental inventory of herself. She’d fallen asleep sometime in that tub. What happened between there and the bed? Not much, according to her body. She would be sore, if he did anything, and she was not. The Virilian had dried her off and put her to bed and—probably—nothing more. She’d give him the benefit of the doubt. It made her like him a little more.
She gingerly wrapped her thumb and middle finger around his wrist and dragged it off her with the intention of sliding off the bed and finding whichever door led to the bathroom.
“G’morning, love.” His voice was rough from sleep. He did not move his hand.
“Oh. Hello.” She stopped trying to be subtle and pushed his arm away. Waking up naked in bed next to a male who was also naked made for an awkward-feeling morning. “Wait. Is there a morning out here?”
“No,” he replied. “But isn’t that what humans say to each other when they awaken together in a bed?”
“Sometimes, I guess.” She cleared her throat. “Whatisoutside? Are there windows in this place?”
“There are.” He rolled to his other side and fiddled with a tablet mounted on the wall. Two metal plates that Anna had thought were just part of the wall, slowly began grinding open. A thick, clear window was revealed with a view of the space outside. She wrapped the sheet around herself and got up. She slowly walked to the window. There, she gazed in awe at the scene on the other side.
The space station arched upwards in a semicircle of lights, metal and activity. It was breathtaking in its massive size and was busier than a beehive. Small vessels zipped about like hummingbirds. Hangar doors opened and closed, admitting and dispatching ships of all shapes and sizes. A small ship buzzed right past the window, causing her to stumble back a step.
Trak chuckled. “It won’t crash. Although I’d keep that sheet up. You may get an audience.”
“Wow,” she breathed, ignoring him. “What is going on out there?”
“The Bott-L2 space station is primarily a trade hub,” he explained. “It’s positioned centrally between several important planetary systems. This is a neutral location to do business or negotiate deals.” He’d gotten up and was standing directly behind her. Heat from his body penetrated the silky fabric. “Virilians do a lot of business here, so we purchased our own section of the station.”
“What kind of business do you do?” she asked.
“All kinds. We scavenge wrecked ships, do a good amount of mining. Some of my comrades take the occasional mercenary job.”
“Not you?” It should be weird to make small talk with an alien. It wasn’t. He seemed perfectly at ease standing there, naked, chatting with her.
“My crew is specialized to strip out the valuable components of wrecked ships and sell them to the best buyer.” She felt his breath in her hair. “We’re business people, not fighters, love.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your scars say otherwise.”
