Page 65 of Ren: Warlord Brides
He tossed the dirty tubing into the bucket with cleaning solvent. “You have not.”
“Well, I was pretty young. Okay, I was twenty and exhausted from school and work. I made bacon and eggs.” She remembered because the stench of burnt bacon grease haunted her tiny apartment. “I set the lid on the skillet and ate my breakfast. Drank coffee, all that. Eventually, I smell smoke.”
“Did the alarms fail?”
Emry did not want to tell her overly protective alien spouse that her college apartment didn’t have a working smoke detector. “I forgot to turn off the burner, and the pan just got hotter and hotter. Do you know what I did next?”
“No, but I know I will not like it.”
“I lifted the lid. Whoosh!” She tossed her hands in the air. “The grease caught fire. I freaked out and threw the entire skillet out the back door. I had a fire extinguisher right there next to the stove, but no. Chucked it outside.” When the landlord asked about the burn patch on the lawn, Emry played dumb, like it had been there when she moved in.
“I am alarmed at the casual way you tell this story.”
Emry shrugged a shoulder. At the time, her near-mishap rattled her. By now, it had morphed into a funny story. “We all make mistakes when we’re tired. Is it time for dinner?”
“I believe we have done enough for this rotation. Let me complete this one task.” He shimmed back into the crawl space, his legs and tail hanging out the wall.
“This is fun,” she said. “What are we fixing tomorrow?”
Chapter 15
Ren
After a meal, Emmarae selected a film to watch. He barely followed the plot or the actor flickers in the holographic projector’s light. He watched his mate, studying her half-laugh, which sounded more like a swallow-chortle than laughter. When Mittens joined them, Emmarae unfolded her legs to make a lap for the feline. Her fingers stroked Mitten’s fur around the ears the way the feline enjoyed.
Mostly he focused on his mate, waiting for the moment she’d glance his way and smile. Scarring twisted her lips, but that was not her true smile. She smiled with her eyes. The corners wrinkled and her dark eyes shone.
Beautiful.
At some point, she laid her head on his lap. Eventually, she slept.
He let the film run its course, content to listen to his mate breathing.
Emry
A warm, hard body pressed against her. Drifting awake, Emry stretched slowly. Ren crowded her on the sofa, but she didn’t mind. It was nice. Judging from what poked her behind, he enjoyed it, too.
A hand brushed hair away from her neck. “Are you awake?”
“Mmm, getting there. What time is it?”
“We have hours before arrival,” he said. A hand settled on her hip, then drifted under the shirt. The warmth of his palm soaked into her as he explored the contours of her belly.
“Hours, huh? Whatever shall we do?”
“I have a few ideas.”
She leaned back against him as his hand pushed under her waistband. He moved like a champ, like they had years of experience touching each other and making out on the sofa. The black ink on his red skin turned silver, burning a path up his forearms. Before long, his clever fingers brought her to a quick release. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck, growling and digging in with his tusks.
She stumbled off the sofa, half-tripping over her pants as she stripped. Ren watched, legs spread wide and his cock hard.
“Naked. Now,” she said, tossing her shirt to the floor.
“I am enjoying the view.”
She enjoyed the view, too. The sleeveless shirt he wore displayed all his lovely corded, muscular arms. Now the intricate tattoo patterns glowed. It was stunning.
She knelt between his legs and touched an arm. The ink glowed brighter where she touched. “Does this hurt or burn?”
