The Visitor: Alien Hunger Special Edition (5 page)

He wasn’t proud of it, but he also
hadn’t been in any frame of mind to look a gift horse in the
mouth—not when he’d wanted her so bad he could taste it for years.
Not even his pride had protected him one iota.

She’d wanted him, though. She might
not have known who he was, but he’d damned well been with enough
women to know desire when he saw it, to feel it in a woman’s touch
and recognize the breathless little sounds of pleasure they made
when they enjoyed his touch.

It rankled that she hadn’t known him.
It made him vaguely ill to realize that he hadn’t cared, still
didn’t, had in fact been relieved that she hadn’t—because she sure
as hell wouldn’t have let him touch her if she had!

No doubt, in her mind, he would always
be the troubled, ‘problem’ kid who used to sit through her class
imagining what it would be like to fuck her until she screamed his
name. He’d never doubted she knew exactly what was going through
his mind either, because although she never said anything, she
would blush when she noticed him looking at her. It had amused him
to watch the effect he had on her, given him a sense of power when
he saw how flustered she was.

It almost made up for the way she’d
made him feel when she’d tried to convince him to go to counseling
for the ‘abuse’—the background his superiors had cooked up for him.
She’d told him he was too smart to throw his life away and end up
like his old man—a useless drunk that spent as much time in jail as
out of it. Not that she’d said that, but she’d said enough that he
wasn’t in any doubt she knew about the history that had been
invented as his cover and that had been a painful pill to swallow,
the shame of discovering the woman he worshipped like a goddess
only saw him as a dirt poor, white trash boy destined for
prison.

He hadn’t been so far gone, though,
that he’d even considered telling her the truth.

Possibly because he was pretty sure
she’d believe the invented past before she’d believe the real
truth—which, very likely, she wouldn’t have believed at
all.

And if she had, she would’ve
considered him more of a monster than she did already.

He’d been so furious after that
lecture, he’d gone out of his way to prove that she was right about
him—which was probably the stupidest thing he’d ever
done.

Or maybe not.

He’d managed to put her out of his
mind long enough to complete the study he’d been sent to make and
put together his report in a more or less timely manner.

He’d managed to avoid far more serious
repercussions that anything the local authorities might mete out to
a juvenile delinquent.

It had been hellish, though. For a
while he hadn’t been able to get past the fact that he’d screwed
around and deprived himself of the possibility of even worshipping
from afar. It might’ve been sheer torment to know that he was never
going to come close to having her, but he’d wanted to keep his
fantasies.

After a while, he’d managed to
convince himself he was well away from temptation.

Mating was forbidden.

He would’ve done something truly
stupid if given the opportunity.

Because, unfortunately, he hadn’t been
on this world long at all before he’d discovered it was totally
unsuitable as a colony and it wasn’t likely he’d be moving in
permanently. Earth people were facing pretty much the same problems
they were—overpopulation and dwindling resources.

He couldn’t stay and he couldn’t take
her with him.

And then they’d discovered new worlds
capable of sustaining healthy colonies and they’d removed the ban
on mating—were allowing them to breed … so long as they kept the
birth rate down.

He was only coming to this world to
find a mate because theirs was a compatible species and a fresh
gene pool.

He was only going to this country
because the culture was so similar to his own that he saw a higher
likelihood of finding a compatible partner.

He was only going to this city because
he’d established an identity for himself here when he’d been sent
to scout this world.

He wasn’t looking for anyone in
particular.

He just needed to accumulate enough of
their currency to attract a mate he found pleasing.

In that respect the culture was no
different from every other culture he was familiar with.

He had to prove he was capable of
taking care of his mate and any issue of their union. In a more
primitive society, that meant being a good fighter and a good
hunter.

The more advanced they were, the more
the focus shifted toward energy and mental capabilities and away
from the physical superiority.

Any delusion he’d allowed himself that
he’d completely forgotten her, completely and totally buried his
youthful infatuation, had vanished the moment he saw her, though.
Everything he’d worked so hard to convince himself of had fallen by
the wayside. He’d felt as hungry, and as unworthy, as he had when
he was a stupid kid … and he’d behaved as badly.

His stomach churned as he
recalled what he’d said to her, the
way
he’d said it, and the look in
her eyes. His throat closed. “
Jod
,
mabay
! I didn’t mean it!”

But he had, he realized. He’d felt
like dirt when she’d looked him afterwards and made the damned
comment about the fucking condom! As if he was some fucking disease
ridden piece of trash! He wasn’t a … fucking man whore! He used
protection on the rare occasions when he indulged!

He just hadn’t seen any
need to protect himself from her—when mating was the
objective
—and he’d been
too stupid to realize she would be upset by it.

And he hadn’t taken anything with him
and there was no fucking way he could stop himself once he saw the
possibility! He hadn’t even thought about a damned condom until
she’d brought it up!

Hell! He hadn’t even gotten her damned
number!

He’d screwed things up about as badly
as he possibly could! She wasn’t going to give him the time of day
even if he could wrangle the number from her sister!

He should’ve written her off a long
time ago, he realized angrily. He’d thought he had. He’d damned
sure worked hard enough to get her out of his system that he
shouldn’t be lying awake now trying to think of some way to figure
out how to get a second chance when he hadn’t even expected to get
a first chance.

He shouldn’t have allowed her to get
under his skin like he had! He wasn’t a damned kid anymore—unnerved
about living among aliens and the constant threat/possibility of
getting caught in alien—likely hostile—territory! Scared enough to
lash out at anyone that threatened his cover. He was a full grown
man and he had a lot to offer a woman—even a woman like
Chelsey.

Even if it wasn’t
here
.

All he needed was a chance to convince
her.

* * * *

Chelsey didn’t know how she’d made it
through the rest of the party. She didn’t know whether to be glad
everything that came after having sex with Garryk was just a blur
or worry about how much she’d given away because she was too
distracted to focus on anything. She was so relieved to get back to
her apartment, though, she felt like crying.

Well, not just with
relief. She
was
relieved. It was the realization that she finally had a
little privacy to fall apart, though, that made her feel like
giving in to it.

Garryk! She
couldn’t
believe
she’d had sex with a former student—with
Garryk
Sinclair
of all people—the ‘bad boy’ that had haunted her first years
of teaching. The ‘pretty boy’ that had so tempted her with his ‘I
could eat you alive’ looks that she’d been terrified he was going
to be the death of her career before she even got started
good!

Or ruin her marriage, which had
already been rocky barely two years into it.

Dropping onto her couch the moment
she’d locked the door behind her, she covered her face with her
hands, struggling with the images that had played over and over in
her mind all night.

She hadn’t recognized him immediately.
It had been nearly ten years, after all, and he wasn’t a pretty boy
anymore. He was a man—a drop dead gorgeous man!

And she’d been too busy staring at his
body and that stunning cock to look at his face—until he’d walked
right up to her and leaned down over her so that they were
practically nose to nose. Recognition had hit her with the force of
a sledge hammer then, bowling her over and completing her descent
into total madness!

Because it
was
insane! It was
probably the most insane thing she’d ever done in her life—yielding
to that devil’s wiles—when she knew,
knew
that he’d painted crosshairs on
her almost from the day he’d first entered her
classroom.

She was probably the only female
Garryk Sinclair had ever met in his life that he hadn’t gotten into
his bed within five minutes—until tonight.

How absolutely stupid was
it to succumb when she knew the only reason he had any interest in
her was because she was the ‘one that got away’? Especially now!
She’d just
thought
she was in a precarious position before when she’d known him!
It had been her very first year teaching and she was under heavy
scrutiny and knew it, but her situation was so much worse now it
didn’t bear thinking on!

She hadn’t taught in years and it had
taken all she could do to get accredited again and find a job when
she’d let Lawrence manipulate her in to quitting to be a full time
mother and wife—and it hadn’t looked good that her son didn’t want
anything to do with her. The very fact that Lawrence had gotten
custody had made everyone look at her as if she was some sort of
monster, unfit to be around children.

Lawrence would have a
field day when …
if
he discovered she’d slept with an exotic dancer! As if that
wasn’t bad enough, she knew the probability was high, given the boy
he’d been back then, that Garryk probably had a record, as well.
She wouldn’t even get visitation rights!

Not that she did very often anyway,
regardless of the court orders. There was always some reason why it
wasn’t convenient for Larry to spend the weekend with her like he
was supposed to. But she couldn’t lose her son completely! She
wasn’t going to give up without a fight! She loved him too much and
she was sure if she just hung in there sooner or later he’d see
that none of the lies his father had told were true and he’d come
around.

Unless she got involved with a man
like Garryk!

She dropped her hands and scrubbed
them along the legs of her jeans in agitation.

Who was she kidding? She wasn’t
involved! He wasn’t interested in getting involved. She’d let him
count coup and fuck her!

No!
It was worse than that.
She’d been
all over him! The only thing that had prevented her from begging
him was the fact that she’d been too mindless to think in English!
She’d been babbling in tongues!

Well—
he
had for that matter!

She’d thought her mind was just too
overheated to translate—at first.

A shiver skated through her as the
memory instantly flooded her mind. Garryk Sinclair was a man who
knew how to please a woman! He’d set her on fire, turned her mind
to sludge. If ever she’d needed proof that it wasn’t pure
imagination that women fell all over themselves to spread their
legs for him, she certainly had it! She’d gloried in her
downfall!

She almost thought the worst part of
it was that no man had ever made her feel like that before, because
she knew now what it was supposed to feel like and she was never
going to get to experience anything like that
again—ever!

She could still smell him on her skin
and it was driving her nuts! She felt like a junky in need of a
fix!

Surging to her feet abruptly, she
headed into her bathroom to bathe. She needed to try to put it out
of her mind, needed to get him out of her head. She wasn’t going to
see him again. There was no reason in the world for him to have any
interest in it now that he’d finally scored with
‘teach’.

Even if he was interested in toying
with her, she couldn’t allow it!

God, she wanted to!
She almost thought it would be worth it to be
left in ruins when he dumped her and moved on just to experience
what it felt like for a little while!

He wasn’t a kid anymore. It wasn’t
wrong to think of him as a desirable man—because he was!
Truthfully, she’d never been able to see him any other way, though
god knew she’d tried! He hadn’t behaved like a kid and he sure as
hell hadn’t looked like one. Fresh out of college with the ink
barely dry on her teaching certificate, she’d still been too close
to her own school years to consider him as forbidden fruit—at
first—not until her curiosity had led her to look up his records
and she’d discovered he wasn’t even eighteen.