Page 38 of Matched to the Alien King
After ten years, those were the first words out of his mouth. Not “Hi, how are you?” or “Gee, it’s great to see you” or “How about that sports ball team that I know you don’t care about?”
I nodded slowly. “I am, yeah. So?”
He canted his head just slightly, one of his many looks of disapproval written across his face. “You know Earth Space Fleet’s feelings about makeup.”
“You mean I knowyourfeelings about makeup. What I do with my face has nothing to do with you. Thanks so much for not shattering my illusions of what any conversation with you post-divorce might be like. Now kindly go fuck yourself.” I sidestepped him to leave, but he snatched my wrist with bruising force and hauled me toward Avery’s office.
Panic lit a fuse inside me. I dug in my heels, tried to peel his fingers from me, but it was no use.
He’d never laid a hand on me. Not ever.
But I’d never stolen his spaceship either.
He threw me in front of him into the office, and I stumbled and tripped my way over Avery’s mess into the middle of the room. Panting, I whirled on him.
He closed the door behind us and locked it, his face the epitome of calm and control, which was so much more frightening than the alternative. “Where’s my ship? Is it here?”
“No,” I told him, deciding on the truth this time. “The landing gear—”
“You kidnapped my crew.”
“And yet not one of them complained. You can’t kidnap someone if they come willingly.”
“You made me look like a fool.”
“No, I didn’t.” I laughed, a real good belly-shaking one. “You did that all by yourself.”
He went silent and cold for a long moment, and I had to wonder what I ever saw in him. He was good-looking, sure, but he was too bossy. And distant. Sometimes so far away mentally that I’d often catch him checking out other women.
Maybe someone he thought he could control more easily than me. By the time he found out I wouldn’t bend under his thumb, I was already pregnant. Whether he cheated or not, I didn’t know. Even while we were married, a part of me didn’t care.
“We’re not leaving this room until you tell me where my ship is,” he finally said.
I crossed my arms and shrugged, like I had all the time in the world. “Don’t you have a war to go fight?”
His eyes widened infinitesimally. “Youhave a war to go fight. Or did the fumes from all of your face paint make you forget? Who are you trying to impress anyway?”
An acidic burn split down my nerves and gathered into my fists.
“Of course I didn’t forget,” I snapped. “That’s a hell of a thing for you to say to me. Now stop acting like a child and get out of my way.”
When he didn’t move from the door, I charged toward him.
I bumped him sideways, or tried to, but he was all speed and muscle. He shoved me into the nearby wall with his forearm braced across my chest.
My head bounced hard. The air funneled from my lungs as I met his arctic gaze.
“Where’s my ship, Nera?”
“You can’t keep me in here. What would Space Fleet say if they knew their favorite captain was a giant fucking asshole who locked his ex-wife in a room?” I smiled wickedly. “And then got his ass beat?”
Swiftly, I kicked the back of his knee hard with my right foot, making him stumble away from the door. I lunged to unlock it, my fingers grasping at the knob, but he recovered too soon.
He wrenched me away, his arms bound around my waist. I swung my feet wildly through the air to try to connect with the fucker, but then I was airborne for a hot second.
Hot because rage boiled up inside of me when I glimpsed what he’d thrown me at.
The desk.
