Domestic Duet: Domestic Alliance & Asset (26 page)

He made a sound in his throat. “I realized that later, when you opened up about your loss,” Aroc spoke quietly.

“When you took me from Earth to your vacation home, I had no idea any of this, you or the technology existed. That first day you introduced me to Norese—”

“You thought I was lying about my world.”

She had, until she saw the blackness of outer space outside of the viewing window, filled with nothing other than shuttles coming and going under the space station. She left that out.

“But woke up on your sofa, and found out I’d been examined by your doctor. However, meeting Norese was the only thing initially keeping me from running.”

“And me baffled by the female I’d watched sleep from across the room on the sofa, I remember,” he said looking more relaxed.

“I realized you wanted help with Norese. By the end of the second week I’d become familiar with things. You started coming to Norese’s room to bring me to your bed. I was shocked that all you wanted was to hold me.”

“That’s not all I wanted, it’s what I required of you so you would stay. I’d do anything for Norese’s happiness and if that meant not insisting we have sex so you’d return, then I’d live with it.”

Sadie burned under his stare. “When you undressed in front of me that first time, and I saw what the difference was, I won’t lie, it startled me.” The day flashed in her mind, the passion, fear, and desire, all of it clear as if it happened yesterday. Her core heated making her blush. “I wasn’t certain I could be with you.”

Aroc worked his callused fingers, massaging the sensitive skin between her shoulder blades, eliciting a string of moans from her mouth. “But you come back to visit us every week without fail.”

“I’ve developed a tolerance for your differences...spikes that emerge from your spine are new for me.”

“You impressed me wanting to stay with us having no experience with my kind.”

She enjoyed his company, and easy conversation.

“You’re body’s fascinating. The spikes, the color, tattoo, and learning the proper way to massage your back, I enjoyed and still do.”

“You liked that best, massaging my spikes,” he said in a low voice as if remembering. “You weren’t turned off or afraid.”

Their stares were becoming too intense. The fact that Norese kept handing Sadie peas off her plate reminded them they weren’t alone.

“I will admit, when it happened, in the shower, you were gentle and patient. Touching me, you prepared me before you just took what you wanted.”

“Do you remember what I said to you that day?”

How could she forget? “In the shower, when you put your face in my neck, you called me Katherine.”

His face closed down.

“Aroc, you used my body to sate your desire for Katherine. I wanted to shove you away. Curse you,” she said the lump returning to her throat slurring her words.

Aroc held his glass midair, his intense eyes trained on her mouth. “I mourned Katherine before I kidnapped you.”

She took the glass, returning it to the table. He threaded their fingers together, shocking her, bringing them to his heart where he pressed them tight to his hard chest. He pulled her closer and for the first time, Sadie caught the flecks of burgundy fragmenting out from his black irises like lightning strikes illuminating his feral stare. “What you heard me say that day was a karuntian phrase between lovers, Sadie.” He rested his lips on her ear, his breath warm and scented with the drink. “
Ka-hon-tek-ron
loosely refers to how good you feel in my arms.”

Sadie blushed from her toes up to her ears, stammering her next words, “In the shower, the passion, the urging, that was for me?”

Nudging her earlobe he nodded then leaned back to feed her a slice of the protein on his plate from his fingers. The remaining piece he popped into his mouth. He chewed, and then downed his drink, refilling both their glasses from the pitcher on the table.

She hadn’t taken notice of how much he took care of her before today. The men from her past were preoccupied looking for jobs or getting in her pants. They never showed the level of love Aroc was now. And that embarrassed her, she’d been so blind to the true reason he wanted her there. He liked her. “Thank you,” she said, indicating her full glass.

He nodded once.

“Is that why you come back every week, to help me mourn Katherine’s death?” He chewed the morsel before finishing.

“Aroc, most of my family’s moved up north for jobs in the manufacturing plants. So Theresa, myself, and a handful of cousins here and there live here in the south. I never see anyone until someone dies or has a baby. I came back because I liked your company. Not just to help you mourn.”

“My sexual advance wasn’t to sate my desire for Katherine.” His brows squeezed together. “I worked your body to exhaustion because of that damned bikini you wore on the first day at the beach and dreamt of you ever since.”

That surprised her.

“You replicated the tiny piece of nothing for me and made me wear it. But in bed all we do is cuddle. You don’t look beyond my waist, Aroc. What am I supposed to think?” Sadie had misjudged his actions horribly.

“You made it exceptionally clear that day, that sex with me was not something you wanted to repeat. Which I respected. Seldom had Norese accepted anyone the way she accepted you so I kept our relationship for Norese. Then you grew on me.”

Sadie missed his presence during the week. By Friday, once she stood in front of his door, she was anxious, almost giddy, to see him. “Norese is perfect and you grew on me too, Aroc.” She ran a hand through the fluffy red curls en mass on the toddler’s head. “We both misjudged the other’s reaction to what we’d done.”

“Sadie,” he said seductively, his hands steepled over his plate.

She held her fork aloft midway to her mouth. “Hmm.”

“Ka-hon-tek-ron.”

Her fork hit the table. Norese laughed at the splattered food dotting the surface.

They finished their dinner in swollen silence. What had they truly become to one another over the year? Were they friends, allies…or estranged lovers?

After a warm bath with Norese where Sadie washed the toddler’s hair and scrubbed her clean, Sadie crawled into her bed and swaddled the toddler, twining around her where she nearly drifted off herself. She heard the mechanism of the door churning. A shaft of light illuminated a strip over the pink and yellow bedspread.

Untangling her arms from around Norese she angled back to see Aroc sauntering across the floor to kneel beside the bed. His hands wedged beneath her hips, lifting her from the bed, then set her on her feet.

“Time for your first lesson.”

“My lesson?”

Chapter 13

He led her past his bed to the stairs at the back of his bedroom that led to his workout room. Going up the steps, she was reminded of the last time they’d been on them together, her knees out wide, and him deep inside her body, giving her orgasm four or five. She’d lost count after her legs had quivered uncontrollably like the surface of a puddle after having a rock skipped across the surface.

Inside, the walls were padded with black nubby fabric. The floors padded with thick cushions and his musky male scent permeated the cool air.

Dragging her hands along the walls, she absorbed the image of him using the myriad of weapons that appeared ancient. Hooked blades at least five feet long topped with worn handles decorated one section of the wall. Her fingers stroked across a vicious looking stick with metal balls on the ends of chains thick enough to tow a car.

Twisting at the waist, she looked back at him watching her closely. “I’ve never truly looked around in here before, not wanting to intrude on your private space,” she admitted, awed by his equipment and size of his weights on the floor. They had to be three hundred pounds each. She tossed him a wide-eyed look of surprise. “You train with all this equipment every day?” The blade of the knives gleamed under the overhead lights along with the glint in the corner of his wicked eyes.

Aroc got behind her, and she allowed him to position her legs out wide in a braced stance. “Hold your hands up to protect your face and mentally prepare yourself to be attacked.”

How do you prepare to be beat up by an alien…curl into a ball and cry violently? As her inner tomboy instincts kicked in, Sadie raised her fisted hands close to her face.

“Good,” Aroc murmured, coming around to study her checkered PJ bottoms and white T-shirt. Pretty lingerie had never been a concern. They were too expensive and she had more important bills to think about: rent, food, heat. His head raised, eyes settling on her face. “They’ll have to do for now. We’ll replicate fighting attire later.”

“Good because I like these to remain in one piece.”

His smile almost made it to his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He got into a fighting stance. “Come at me…a take down,” he commanded getting in a stance with his feet shoulder width apart.

Lunging forward, she ran at him, focused on ramming her body into his stomach, and realized that at the last second that was a bad idea. He tilted, broad shoulders blocking her, and caught her around the waist before grappling her to the floor. Under his hulking form pinning her to the weaved mat at her back, she felt every ripple and curve of his body.

Aroc cradled her head in his large hand, his parted lips inches from hers as he waited for her to get her bearings. “Do you know what you did wrong coming at me like that?”

“Presuming you’d give me this first take down to bolster my confidence would be my guess.” Irritated, she let her arms flop out wide to bounce off the mat.

Aroc hovered over her mouth, his hard chest barely touching hers as he held his weight by resting on his elbows. “Get to your feet. We’ll go again.”

Frustrated he bested her, Sadie pushed out from under him to get to her feet, then bounced on her heels. Tipping her chin back, she felt his fingers lift the hem of her top, his hand sliding around her waist.

“Never presume to know your opponent’s actions or motives. To remain in charge, you must become the spider, not the fly, by drawing them into your territory. Then and only then can you use your strengths, not your weaknesses.”

Empowered by his words, admittedly anxious to feel his hands on her again, Sadie inhaled, tightening her stomach muscles. Nothing would quiet her quickly building hunger to feel his mouth on hers again.

Aroc’s fingers flexed around her stomach. “Perfect. You have good tone. A strong frame for such a gentle-looking female,” he commented, his mouth near her ear, warming it with his breath. He patted her flat stomach, the muscles contracting behind each contact of his hand. “Fight from here using your core for balance.” As he tugged her back, his groin rubbed the small of her back. “And from here.” His thumb stroked her ribs. “When you twist, balance the move with your hips, not just your waist. You could strain your back. Let’s go again.” The feel of his hands moving down her hips brought her attention down where he adjusted her stance, angling her hips sideways. She admired the warrior in him. The pride he took in making certain she could protect herself made her smile. “Brace up,” he commanded, leaving her to step into his crouched form before her. Thick muscles bunched at his shoulders, biceps, and have mercy, she could scrub a quilt clean on the ripples of his stomach.

A couple seconds later, Aroc took her down six times. On the seventh, when he had her in a headlock, she’d had enough slamming her foot back into his thigh, weakening his grip. She spun and kicked him in the stomach, the pain shot up her leg, and they both stumbled back. But she remained on her feet.

Excited she finally got a hit in, she jumped into Aroc’s arms. Her breath whooshed out as he crushed her to his chest, whirling her around the padded room. They were both ecstatic at her achievement.

Head tipped back he roared, his voice dark, and predatory bouncing off the walls. “I knew you had it within you to be a warrior.” His warm skin released an earthy masculine scent she found arousing. He stopped spinning to look at her, smoothing back her flyaway strands. “I’m proud of you, Sadie. Proud of the way you take charge of your life and go after what you want. Earth is too confining for your spirit. You should stay up here on the station.”

“I’ve thought about it many times, but I need a reason to walk away from what I know, from my structure.”

Face to face, nose to nose, they stared into the other’s eyes. Her world slid sideways when her back hit the padded wall. Sadie braced her hands on his face, her fingertips on his ears, her lips hungry for his approaching kiss. When it came, it consumed her. Took over and molded her body with an all-consuming heat that lit her from her toes up through her hair. Grouping her arms around his head, she moaned her pleasure into his mouth, a slow drugging play of lips and tongue. The way she’d remembered from the first time. His touch was electric.

“Sadie!” Aroc growled along the tender skin of her throat, nudging her PJ’s away to leave an impassioned trail down between her breasts. “Hmm.” He caressed her lips with his. “Shower with me as a woman, not Norese’s caregiver, for right now. We’ll work out the details of what this is later.”

***

“A shower…”

“Naked this time.” His breath skimmed along her mouth with each word. One-handed, he cupped her jaw, bringing their faces together. “Me inside this body, as deep as you can take this.” His thigh separated her thighs until she rode the length of his leg. “As long as you can take me, Sadie. I’ll make love to you if you let me. But I’ve taken enough of your choices away. This one I’ll leave to you.”