by Elle Harper
“Some. It used to be much more common.”
“There you are, then. It is worth a try, yes?”
She nodded, and it was impossible to miss the flash of excitement in her eyes. Something about it, that passion, the way he could practically see her planning and processing, was just as magnetic as her curves. Maybe more so.
He felt his body tightening. This was only going to get worse.
“She did have one requirement that is non-negotiable, and I agreed with her.”
“What’s that?” she asked, focusing on him again.
“We both know there are some who aren’t happy to have Earthens among us. She insists that you have a guide who will also serve as your guard should you run into any of our less-friendly kin while out on your travels.”
“Oh. Yes, I guess that makes sense. I hate to put anyone out, though.” She frowned a bit, and somehow that was adorable too.
He smothered a grumble. Did he find anything NOT adorable or alluring about her?
“Our people are getting something in return, hopefully. All we can ask is that you try your Earthen plants here.”
“Of course I will. And I’ll share the knowledge I have about those plants with any of your own growers or botanists, happily.”
He nodded.
“So, how long will it take to find a guide, do you think?” she asked, tucking her legs beneath her as she shifted positions on the bench beside him.
“One has been found already. You can leave as soon as you are prepared.”
“Oh! Do you know who it is?”
“Me.”
“Uh. Why? You’re a soldier.”
“We are required to take a period of leave every so often to remain sharp. I elected to take mine now.”
“But…”
“No questions. Aavi required a guard and guide for you. I’m suited to do that and can’t fight because I am on leave anyway.” He left out that he didn’t trust anyone else to guard her, that the thought of her out, in sometimes-remote places, with another male or even another female, made him want to hit something. He wasn’t the only one who followed her form when she walked through the settlement.
And that shouldn’t matter, but it did, and he’d offered to be her guard almost before the requirement was out of Aavi’s mouth. If Aavi had been surprised by it, she hadn’t let on.
“Fine, no questions,” she answered, shaking her head. “Thank you for this.”
He turned to her and immediately realized his mistake. The suns were setting behind her, turning her dark hair into a halo of ethereal burnished fire around her head, her skin looking even more luminous than usual. His breath caught in his throat for a moment before he looked away again.
“Just let me know when you’re ready to leave, and we’ll go,” he said.
“It’ll be soon. I can’t wait.”
He nodded. He sat with her, listening as she half talked to him, half thought out loud, as enthralled as if he was witnessing the most dramatic fire fight of his life.
And it was then that he realized how completely destroyed he already was, that the tiny, pale alien with her weird mannerisms and bizarre eyes held far more power over him than he’d ever wanted anyone to have ever again.
Chapter Four
They set out at dawn two days later, took a small transport to the edge of a farm, and began hiking and collecting samples. And Harper was mesmerized. The first two days passed in a blur of excitement and discovery and newness, and Harper knew her friends would have been teasing her about her excitement and endless questions.
Their third day saw Harper and Rassan tromping through Izoth’s version of a tropical rainforest. If she’d thought the meadow they’d visited the day before, or the farm and orchard he’d taken her to on their first day made her giddy, this had her on the verge of a botanist nerdgasm.
For the last two days, Rassan had taken the lead, pointing out things he thought she might find interesting. The database connected to her portscreen allowed her to capture an image of any plant she was curious about and receive information about its uses, classification, rarity, and other facts. Rassan hadn’t been kidding, just like on Earth, the rainforests here were exploding with ecological diversity. The forest floor teemed with mosses and leafy plants, flowers she only could have imagined in works of fantasy, in shades of bright, pure blue, iridescent green, and pale violet. Birds, not like those on Earth, but scaled and horned, flitted from branch to branch above them as they walked.
“This is amazing,” she said as she continued on her way.
“So you’ve said. Numerous times,” he said wryly, and she shook her head.
“It is! I’ve studied plants for over half of my life now. I was one of those kids who had a room full of houseplants and scrapbooks full of pressed flowers and leaves. And then I loved it so much I went to college to learn more. I can’t describe what it’s like seeing this place… so much of Earth’s plant life is gone and a whole new world of flora…” she shook her head, glancing up at him at what might have been a snort of amusement from him.
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s cute,” he said with a shrug as he kept walking.
Harper felt a deep blush rise to her cheeks. “It is not.”
“Sure it is,” he said as he continued. He was still as business-like as ever, but over the past couple of days, he’d seemed to have loosened up a tiny bit. Mostly, she’d been surprised to find that he had a wry sense of humor that she found ridiculously attractive.
Who was she kidding? She found almost everything about him attractive. His huge, bulky form, his golden glowing eyes, that deep rumble of his voice. And maybe even more than that, his utter and complete competence. She never had to wonder if he knew what the hell he was doing. It was clear that he did, whether he was navigating, choosing a site for camp, setting up their small shelters, or communicating with his fellow soldiers via comm. The male exuded competence.
She’d be lying if she tried to say she hadn’t been wondering how competent he was in other matters. That take-charge attitude made her weak in the knees. And yet he wan’t brutish, not like some men she’d known who would boss people around with little regard for their needs or capabilities. He was respectful, forthright, and as far as she’d seen, he never asked anyone to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself. Even on their little excursion, though it was her thing and he was along to help her, he took the most unpleasant jobs for himself: setting up shelters, hunting for food, cleaning whatever he caught for them. She tried to help the first day, but upon seeing how ill the sight of blood made her, he’d insisted she busy herself with her own work while he prepared their food. None of it was required of him, yet he did it.
If she’d known a man like this on Earth, she might not have been in such a hurry to leave.
“If you say so,” he answered, in response to her insisting it wasn’t cute. As they walked, he held branches out of her way, helped her over roots and rocks, as naturally as breathing.
He stopped now and did just that, holding up a thorny branch, tugging it out of the way as he waited for her to pass.
“Thank you. Where do you think you want to stop?” Harper asked.
He glanced around as they walked. “According to the nav charts, there’s a small clearing not too far from here. We should reach it shortly before sunset.”
She nodded and walked behind him, the narrow spaces between lush vegetation not offering many options for walking side by side. That, and he insisted on going first in case they ran into trouble. Not that they had, other than a very large, very angry bird when they’d almost stumbled on its nest.
Harper followed him happily, stopping twice more to catalogue plants she hadn’t seen before, almost giddy to find that one was considered a rare plant. She took an almost ridiculous number of photos of it, ignoring Rassan’s smartass comments and smirk as she geeked out over it.
“Fine, I’m done now,” she said with a laugh, and he shook his head
and moved forward.
It started raining just as they reached the clearing, and she helped him set up one of the structures.
“Inside. We’ll wait for the weather to pass and then set up the other one,” he said, and she nodded, ducking into the cozy little shelter. The rain was coming down in heavy sheets, the wind, whipping her hair and clothing around her uncomfortably.
The shelter was comfortable but small. When it was up, a small inflatable bed filled one half of it, while the rest was open for seating or eating. It was made for one person, usually for soldiers out on missions. With both her and Rassan inside it, the normally cozy shelter felt too small.
Though pretty much any room felt smaller with him in it. That was just the way it was when he was around, as if he was everywhere, his scent, his muscled form almost overwhelming. It didn’t help that she seemed incapable of taking her eyes off of him, or that every once in a while, she’d find his gaze on her as well.
Harper took a deep breath and set her pack near the bed, then sat down on it. Rassan stood (at least it was tall enough to stand in, not like the small tents she used to go camping in as a child) and looked out the door at the rain, which only seemed to be coming down harder.
“Looks like it’s reconstituted rations tonight, your majesty.”
She rolled her eyes and he caught it, smirking. He’d started calling her that shortly after they’d set out and it had become a regular thing. He didn’t say it in a snide way, but in a gentle, teasing way that made her smile every time.
“Sounds delicious,” she said with a smile.
“You have no idea. You’re in for a real treat. Nothing quite like dried and then reconstituted halahar meat.”
Harper grimaced. She’d seen a halahar on the first day of their trek. They looked like a cross between a horse and a very large pig. But scaled and with the ugliest faces Harper had ever seen. She could find beauty in almost any animal, but halahar challenged even her.
“Do they taste as awful as they look?” she asked.
“Worse!” he said cheerfully, giving a snort of laughter when she stuck her tongue out. They watched the rain continued to pour and he shrugged and turned away, securing the door behind him to keep the weather out. He sat on the empty part of the tent floor and started going through his pack, taking out two of the square packages that held their dried rations, as well as a few bottles of filtered water and a small kettle that would heat the water to boiling in seconds.
“Do you need any help?” she asked, and he smirked at her.
“I know better than to ask for that. I’d like us both to survive the night,” he told her before dumping the rations into two bowls then pouring the boiling water over them.
“I could have done that!” she said, unable to help herself from laughing.
“Do we really want to take the risk?” he teased, stirring the rations in each bowl. Harper shook her head and watched what looked like some sort of stew reconstitute as he stirred.
“One tiny issue with a camp stove…” she said, shaking her head. She’d managed to set a few things on fire their first night when she’d turned the small portable stove on too high.
He gave a small snort of a laugh and handed her a bowl of stew and a fork, then rummaged through another bag and took out a bottle of water, setting it on the floor next to the bed for her.
“Thank you,” she said as she stirred her stew, looking at it with more than a little trepidation.
“I promise it’s not that bad,” Rassan said. She looked up to see him watching her. “Not as good as freshly-caught food of course, but I lived on this for years during my training. And still do when we’re off-world.” He took a bite. “But halahar will never be my favorite meat,” he amended.
She shook her head and brought a forkful of halahar meat and vegetables, a gravy-like sauce covering everything, to her mouth. He watched as she put it into her mouth and slowly chewed.
She made a face and kept chewing.
“Well?” he asked expectantly.
“We had this food on Earth. Frozen food that you could re-heat. Called salisbury steak. And it tasted almost exactly like this.”
“... Is that a good thing?” he finally asked.
“No. No, it is not.”
He laughed and shook his head, eating more, and she took another bite of her stew. They ate together in silence for a little bit, and she kept finding her gaze wandering to Rassan. It did that far too often.
“Do you have a girlfriend? Wife?” she finally blurted, the question on the tip of her tongue for the past few days now.
He looked at her blankly. “Why? Do you want the job, your majesty?”
He didn’t say it in a mean or even teasing way, which would have led to her either waving him off or ignoring him. No, not Rassan. He said it in that deep, rumbling voice, looking at her, his eyes searching her face.
“I was just curious. Making conversation,” she said, finding the contents of her bowl very interesting all of a sudden.
He was quiet for a few moments. “No, I do not. It’s been a while since I've had anyone.”
“Why?”
He sighed, and she looked up to see amusement, not resignation or annoyance on his face. “You and your questions…”
“You’d be bored if I didn’t ask you so many of them,” she joked. “And you love it, or you would have told me to hush by now. You can be rather bossy at times.”
“Oh, no worries. If you begin to annoy me too much, we’ll find something else to do with your mouth,” he said. “Which I’ve mentioned once before. Maybe you didn’t think I meant it?”
Her entire body heated, and she glanced away. She knew her cheeks had to be a lovely shade of magenta. She shoved a forkful of food into her mouth, saving her from having to respond.
Rassan watched her, suppressing a groan at the way she lowered her gaze, the ridiculously alluring way her skin pinked. It made him want to strip her bare and see just how far the blush reached.
Traveling with her the last couple of days had been maddening. He’d already lost track of how many times he’d fantasized about bending her over a tree stump or boulder and sating the endless, gnawing frustration she raised in him. And that wasn’t when he was thinking about tying her hands behind her back and making her kneel for him.
The fact that, more and more, he was suspecting that she would enjoy that, only made it worse.
He’d made do with quick, casual fucks over the past few years, not daring to get into another relationship, let alone the type of relationship he was beginning to fantasize about with Harper. He couldn’t do it again. Support someone, grow with them, live with them… only to have her turn her back on him later. And she would. He was gone often, sometimes for long stretches of time. And the type of woman he craved, the type of woman he suspected Harper was, were the types who also needed plentiful, and regular attention.
Which he’d been told, repeatedly, he simply couldn’t provide. He’d failed as a mate, as a master (even Earthens had relationships like that, he’d been surprised to learn. Not so different…) and as a lover.
Failure wasn’t something he tolerated. Not in others, and not in himself, especially.
And yet.
He couldn't seem to stop himself at times with her.
“Not asking any questions now?” he asked lazily, keeping his eyes on her. Feeling her body heat, even from where he was sitting. “So afraid to find out what else we could find for your mouth to do?”
She was quiet for a moment. She shyly raised her gaze to his and then glanced away again as she set her bowl down. And then she surprised him by speaking in her sweet, soft voice.
“More like afraid of how much I want to see what you’d do with me if I pushed you too far.”
He barely stifled a growl of desire as his cock twitched in his pants. It was already semi-erect most of the time when he was around her, and her words did nothing to help it settle down.
“Careful, little one. Ke
ep saying things like that, and you’re going to find out,” he warned. “And it’s just you and me, all alone, for the next ten sun cycles.”
Mm. The shiver that went through her curvaceous body at those words. The way her blush deepened. The fact that he could see her nipples peaking prominently beneath the light blouse she was wearing. Her scent filled the small tent. Her warmth. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The storm raged outside, rain striking the outside of the tent. It felt like they were the only two beings in existence.
“Please,” she whispered, raising her gaze to his again.
“Please, what?” he murmured.
She blushed deeper and shook her head.
Oh, this was perfection. To have this submissive, curvaceous, clearly needy female in such close quarters. And he knew he’d be kicking himself in the light of day, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. But his body had a mind of its own at the moment and he had no intention of overruling it, not if she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“I will do anything you want, Harper,” he said quietly. He rose and stepped toward the bed, standing in front of her and gently placing two fingers under her delicate chin, lifting her gaze to his. “But you have to ask for it. Exactly what you want.”
He could feel the way her body trembled.
“I… I can’t,” she whispered.
“Oh, you can. Unless you want nothing. Should I go sit down over there again?”
“N-no,” she said softly.
“Then tell me what you want me to do to you. Now.”
He didn’t miss the way her gaze kept going to his mouth, how she squeezed her thighs together. He had a feeling he wasn't the only one who’d been having fairly detailed fantasies over the last few days. His had started the moment he’d laid eyes on her.
“Anything,” he repeated. “There is nothing I’ll refuse you if you ask me for it. Not a single thing.”
She whimpered softly. “Rassan…”
“All you have to do is say the words, Harper.”
