Chocolate Rewards: The Sweetness of Two Worlds Colliding Together (2 page)

They
traded confused looks with one another. This same woman had very
kindly showed them to their rooms last night.

“
Number
1, you own me money. Number 2, you scared and offended my maid. And
Number 3, I'm calling the police because you felt the need to strut
around naked in front of her.”

“
We
will of course pay for our rooms immediately. Will twenty-thousand be
enough?” Rokai pulled out the money and laid it on the counter of
the reception. The computer on board the ship had made exact copies
of the local currency.

“
I will
talk to the unmarried woman. Don't worry about that. I will take care
of her. In fact, I would like to give her some chocolate. Where can I
find some?” Rokai hadn't been able to get her out of his head. His
thoughts had drifted back to her again and again.

The owner
was speechless, looking at the money in front of her.

When she
got her wits about her she said. “We have a chocolate factory here
in town. We are known for our chocolate. You could tour the factory
and buy some there.” The woman was back to being nice to them. She
didn't look at them as she counted the money laying on the counter in
front of her. She quickly snatched it all up and put it in her
pocket.

“
Thank
you. We will do that right away.”

Four
hours later Rokai and Jamko were chocolate experts. They had
purchased enough to fill their ship and they made plans to return to
buy more. They also had the clever idea to take plants back with
them. This was going to make them rich. Both were dreaming of laying
a piece of chocolate into the eager mouth of a beautiful woman.

It was
dark by the time they had loaded all the chocolate into their ship.
They had had to make several trips back and forth.

Both men
were dead tired when they arrived back at the hotel. They quickly
fell asleep, too tired to dream about the women that they would soon
be feeding.

Amber
couldn't believe it. He was lying in bed buck-naked again.

She had
been so mad that her boss hadn't kicked them out. Of course, her boss
just didn't have the actual work of cleaning up after them, and
seeing them naked. No, that lay on Amber's shoulders.

She
started picking up his clothes and throwing them on a pile. Then, she
stuffed his things into his bag.

His
clothes and bag were incredibly soft. They were made of the thinnest
leather she had ever seen. She wished she had a pillow cover made
with the soft material.

Rokai
watched her cleaning up after him. She was mumbling to herself, and
he couldn't understand her. The fact that she didn't have a man who
owned her interested him. Did that mean that any man could claim her?
Maybe he should? Of course it would be easier to decide if he could
see her naked.

“
No,
man has claimed you yet?” he asked her, while he watched her
touching his things.

“
I
know, it's hard to believe that no one has snatched me up yet.”

She was
being sarcastic because of the lazy way he was slowly getting up. She
just wanted him out of here so she could clean and then go home.

His late
sleeping was ruining her day, again. She had plans to meet her
friends at a café at three. She didn't want to be late. After they
had something to drink they wanted to go shopping.

Amber
loved shopping. Her closet at home was full, and she had saved up to
buy one of those old fashioned wardrobes, because her dad told her
that if she couldn't put her things away nicely then she couldn't buy
more. He didn't understand, but clothes were her life. Each morning
she woke with a smile, already debating what she should wear that
day.

“
So you
are available to be claimed?”

“
I
guess so. But what you should be thinking about is clearing out. You
have already overstayed your welcome. Off you go. You can shower
while I clean up in here and make the bed.” She was trying to shoo
him like an annoying fly.

“
That's
a good idea.” Rokai liked that she knew her place. He got up and
walked into the shower.

Amber
blushed red at his openness again. Didn't that man have any sense of
shame?

She went
to the bed. “You are checking out today, right?”

“
Yes,
we are,” he called back.

Amber
ripped the sheets off of the bed and quickly remade it with the
things from her cart. She had everything dusted and vacuumed before
he came out. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, but it kept
slipping. It looked like he had no idea how to use one. He was
standing with his back to her going through his bag.

“
The
room looks very nice.” He imagined himself slipping a chocolate
ball into her mouth to praise her.

Rokai
liked that idea. He would take her with him. After all, he was going
to be a very rich man. Being his slave would be something positive
for her. Every woman wanted to be owned by a well off man.

But he
didn't want to appear to her as a pushover. “But you need to learn
to pack better.”

She had
just thrown his things in his bag, without folding anything. “Sure,
whatever. Just get on with it. I still have to clean up in your
friend's room.”

“
That
won't be necessary anymore.”

“
Really?
Is he staying?” If he said 'yes' that meant that she could go as
soon as she finished cleaning up his bathroom. The other guy's room
would only need a light cleaning. Because of their sleeping in, she
would see to it that she finished within ten minutes.

“
No,
we're leaving.”

Her face
dropped disappointed. Great then she would be late. Hopefully her
friends would wait for her. If they didn't, then it would be hard to
find them among the other shoppers and the tourists, who came here to
visit the chocolate factory and lay on the sunny beaches.

Rokai saw
that she was disappointed. Was she already getting attached to him?
He had heard that women did that very easily. She sighed and went
into his bathroom and started to clean up after him.

He was
completely dressed when she came out with an arm full of the funny
drying rags. She dumped then into her wagon.

“
I wish
you a nice trip home.” This was what she always said in such cases.

“
We
will have a nice trip home together.” He grabbed onto her arm and
yanked her along with him.

Amber
tried to get away from him, but he was able to hold her easily with
one hand, and hold his soft grey bag comfortably in his other hand.
He even laid the key to his room down at the front desk.

“
Help
me,” Amber called out to her shocked boss. “He's kidnapping me.”
She fought to free herself from his hold.

Rokai
looked down at her. He could see that she was confused so he
explained. “No, not kidnapping. I am claiming you. Kidnapping would
be if someone tried to take you away from me. Don't worry. I wouldn't
let that happen. I'll hold onto you tightly.”

“
That's
great. Thanks, I feel so safe now.” Amber rolled her eyes. She
didn't think that he would get far. Someone would stop him.

He
marched her through the center of town. People saw them, they even
stopped and stared, but no one stepped forward to help her.

Amber was
starting to really take this seriously. “Daddy!” she screamed at
the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would go and get him.
Someone just had to recognize her.

Rokai
stopped. The poor thing was calling for her father. Something only a
child would do. “How old are you?”

“
What
does that matter?” He had stopped walking and she pumped her arm
all around, trying to get him to let go of her.

“
It
might matter a lot. Just answer me.”

Amber
could see a few men slowly moving closer behind his back. Help was on
the way but she feared that he would be stronger than the men, even
with their unified strength. His hold on her was just too tight. It
was up to her to save herself.

What age
would make him let go of her?

“
I'm
twenty.” She decided on the truth.

Rokai
took hold of her arm again. He noted several other men trying to
close in on them.

How
typical,
he thought. They saw that he wanted her, and now they
wanted to claim her too, just like young children fighting over a
toy. But he had seen her first.

He pulled
her away, and she had to run alongside of him to keep up. He didn't
stop until he arrived at their ship. Jamko entered right after them.
“I see you found something on this planet that interests you more
than chocolate. Congratulations, you now own your first slave.” He
patted his friend on the back and closed the door of the ship before
a speechless Amber could protest.

Amber's
lips silently formed the word 'slave'.

Rokai's
Spacecraft

Amber
raced to the window as soon as the Red Barbarian let go of her. She
pounded on the window with her fists and called for help.

The two
huge men were ignoring her. They had taken seats and strapped
themselves in with harnesses that moved into position on their own.
They grabbed onto the harnesses, which was how they were navigating
the ship.

The ship
was starting to shake and rumble.

Amber
looked around for something to hold on to. She saw the pallets full
of chocolate boxes. There were plants everywhere. They were all the
same plant, but at different stages of growth.

None of
these things were fastened down. Would she be safe, too?

She
returned to the window and saw black darkness filled with white dots.

They were
in outer space. Her jaw dropped.

But that
was impossible!

She had
to be in bed, still dreaming. He had just really upset her yesterday,
and she still wasn't over that.

Soon she
would wake up, go clean up after him again, and then go out with her
friends. Everything was going to be fine. A spaceship couldn't lift
off that easily. This was all a bad dream.

Perhaps
it would be best to just sit down and wait to wake up.

“
Slave,
are you alright?” Rokai unbuckled himself, giving the flying
controls to Jamko.

He went
to his slave who was sitting on the floor by the window so calmly
that he had to see what she was up to.

He sat
down next to her on the floor and took her hands in his. “It's
alright. You are going to miss your mother and father for a while,
but I will be there for you. With time you will get used to being
with me. It's a sad thing that a woman has to leave her family to be
with her master. I understand.”

Amber was
now certain that she was dreaming. There was no way that a man could
act so differently from one moment to the next, as he was doing.

“
I'm
fine. Don't worry about me.” She even took a moment to smile at him
reassuringly before she turned back to the window to watch the stars
go by. They looked magnificent.

Rokai
released her hands. She was being very well behaved. She deserved to
be rewarded. He went to the chocolate supply and got her a piece. He
unwrapped it and went back to her. She was still looking out of the
window, serenely.