Cohn raised his eyebrows. “Was that wise?”
Looking sober for the first time this evening, Ram shook his head. He thrust his claws through his hair, messing up the neat waves. “No, I should go.”
Cohn clasped a hand on Ram’s arm again. “Yes, I think that’s wise.”
Cohn walked Ram to the door of the restaurant then went back to Daliya’s table. The laughter and pleasant atmosphere from when he’d left had shifted slightly. As he approached Daliya’s eyes locked on him. Her lips pressed tight and she had one hand clenched in her lap.
Cohn’s steps quickened and his temper flared. He didn’t know what Ha-mesh had done, but he would make it right.
His gaze zoomed in on the table and their unfinished meal. Ha-mesh had his arm stretched across the top, fingers gripping Daliya’s other hand. Upon Cohn’s approach, Ha-mesh released her and pulled his hand back. Instead of going to stand behind Daliya, Cohn went straight to Ha-mesh. One hand gripped the back of Ha-mesh’s chair and the other rested on the table ledge in front of Ha-mesh, effectively trapping him.
Cohn bent and lowered his head to whisper in Ha-mesh’s ear. “Do you like having all of your limbs?”
Ha-mesh flinched. “Y-yes.”
“Touch her again and I’ll rip your arm off.”
Ha-mesh gulped and Cohn straightened to his full height. He met Daliya’s gaze across the table. “Are you alright?”
She swiped at her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “I’m ready to go now.”
Cohn bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from threatening Ha-mesh again. He thought Ha-mesh wasn’t the right candidate for her, but that didn’t mean he’d wanted her night ruined. Cohn nodded and crossed to the other side to help her with her chair.
“Good night, Ha-mesh,” she said after she stood.
Ha-mesh twitched and hurriedly got to his feet. “Um, should I call you to arrange the next date?”
“All communication goes through the Teague Security Agency,” Cohn ground out. “They’ll help you to set up the second date if she desires.”
By the look on Daliya’s face as they left. She did not desire a second date.
That thought made Cohn oddly happy.
* * *
Daliya sat in the seat next to Cohn as he drove to Jasmine’s house. She chewed her bottom lip and wondered if she should say something. The date had been going fine until Cohn left. That’s when Ha-mesh became aggressive and handsy. Her only dealings with a Yatur male was from Ahmil and he’d taken things slow.
So slow that he’d never consummated their union. Daliya had wanted to have sex with him. She wasn’t a virgin and she wanted to get the whole sex thing out of the way. Thinking about having sex with a hairy alien who would bite on her during the act had given her anxiety.
Jasmine hadn’t waited to consummate her bond with Synit. They’d had sex the first night and according to Jasmine, sex with Synit was “the shiz-nits.”
But Ahmil had been different. He’d wanted them to get to know each other first, stating that she had waited two hundred years to meet him and he’d waited his entire life. What was the harm in waiting a few more months?
Well, a lot could happen within a few short months. Her husband could die and his parents could evict her from their house.
Daliya let out a deep sigh. Maybe nothing had been wrong with Ha-mesh’s behavior. It was probably all in her head. But even so, she was happy Cohen had been there. Despite his grumblings, she’d felt safe in his presence.
“Why are you making such noises?” Cohn grumbled to her.
“You mean sighing? Because…” she didn’t want to sound like an overthinking, irrational human. “Nothing. No reason at all. What about the sounds you make?”
“I don’t make any sounds.”
She chuckled and glanced at him. He really was handsome. He was dressed in an official uniform that appeared tailored for him. She couldn’t imagine Cohn getting his clothing from a rack, not with his size and bulk. And boy was there a lot of size and bulk to Cohn.
He was much taller and bigger than Ha-mesh and Ahmil. Cohn also had a roughness about him that she found intriguing. Ha-mesh and Ahmil had a look of…privilege about them.
It was the way the two men carried themselves. How they viewed the world and acted as if they’d never been without anything they desired a day in their lives. Arrogant and confident fit best to describe them.
While Cohn had an air of confidence about him, comfortable with his place in the world. He took his job seriously, always looking, watching and assessing from the moment he picked her up. She doubted his eyes missed anything.
“You growled throughout the entire dinner,” she finally told him, getting back to their conversation.
Cohn grimaced, never taking his eyes from the road. He didn’t need to watch the road. The hovercar was on autopilot and the way their technology worked, all vehicles “talked” to each other on a smart network. After the car accident, Ahmil and she had been in with Cohn, she’d learned all about the transportation system on Teague. Cohn could close his eyes and go to sleep without fear of the hovercar running off the road or hitting another vehicle.
“It occurred to me that you were growling because you didn’t want to be here. Did you know it was me when you accepted the assignment?”
“Who I was sent to guard isn’t an issue.”
“Can you transfer and have someone else watch over me?”
“You’re a high priority assignment. I was assigned to you because I’m good at what I do.” Cohn blew out a heavy breath. “This is my business and job and I’m good at it.”
“You’re good at what you do?”
“The best.”
Daliya’s lips twitched as she fought finding humor in his words. “You’re cocky.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I’m not cocky. I’m the top enforcer for a reason.”
Daliya made her shoulders shimmy. “Oh, la la. How does one become top enforcer?”
One side of his mouth lifted. “It was a rigorous process that took a lot of devotion and time. Mainly good instincts and being able to read people.”
Daliya straightened. That could be a good skill to help her. “So, um…what did you think of Ha-mesh?”
Cohn’s mouth twisted and his brows pulled low. “I don’t like him.”
When he didn’t elaborate, she rolled her hand in the air for him to continue. “Because…”
“Because I don’t,” he snapped.
Daliya slumped and turned back in her seat to watch the road. It was snowing. It was always snowing on Teague. Fat white flakes fell from the sky and shimmered when the light from the hovercar hit them. “It would’ve been nice to get a Yatur male’s perspective.”
She let out another sigh. He was grumpy for some reason or another. She would figure it out later with Jasmine.
“My job would be easier if you didn’t garner so much attention when you walked into the room.”
She humphed. “Well, that’s not my fault. I’m one of only four thousand humans on this planet.”
Which was why there was some crazy person leaving her messages probably at this very moment.
“You seem to like the attention,” he said nonchalantly.
Surprise had her turning back toward him. “Why do you think that? I don’t thrive on attention. I would rather walk into a room and no one know I was there.”
His gaze remained forward, watching the road ahead. “I’ve never met a female who didn’t like all eyes on her.”
“The worst thing in the world for a woman is to have attention from someone they don’t want.” Her thoughts settled on her would-be stalker. Maybe she’d had a run-in with him at an event that Ahmil had taken her to. How else could her path have crossed some unknown Yatur male?
Cohn shrugged off her statement. “Well, you’re human. Everyone on Teague is going to track your every movement.”
Well, there was no need in sharing any of the incidents w
ith him. His mind was clearly made. She’d brought the attention on herself and would have to deal with it alone. “Will it end?”
She needed some hope to cling to because at some point Jasmine and Synit were going to get suspicious at her reluctance to return to her own place.
“Eventually.”
As an answer, it didn’t instill a lot of reassurance in Daliya. She could only hope her stalker took the hint and left her alone.
Chapter Six
Daliya’s heavy sigh weighed on Cohn. He wanted to give her his full opinion about Ha-mesh. He wanted to tell her that Ha-mesh looked too refined to engage in outdoor activities. That it looked like Ha-mesh had never been exposed to the elements for any amount of time. That someone like Ha-mesh would never get his claws dirty. In the end, Cohn didn’t say any of that because it would sound bitter and reveal his truth.
He was jealous of Ha-mesh.
He’d done his research on every candidate Daliya had scheduled dates with. He’d needed to know who they were, their families, their careers and if there were any security concerns associated with them in relation to Daliya. She was the client and the client needed protecting at all times. He hadn’t delved into the candidates’ finances. The Bride Program officials had surely picked through all their finance accounts to determine if the candidates had the ability to provide for their new mates.
He had his own money earned through hard work and grit but knew full well he lacked the sophistication Daliya most likely was accustomed to. Cohn had grown up with working class parents who lived on a budget. Ha-mesh came from a well-off family. Why Ha-mesh hadn’t been on the original list to mate with a human female, Cohn didn’t know. But he knew how Ha-mesh’s name became the first candidate on the waitlist. Connections.
Cohn pulled up to Jasmine’s house. Daliya’s reached for the door before the hovercar came to a complete stop. “It’s been real.”
She opened the door to a blast of cold air and tried to pull it closed behind her but the strong winds resisted her efforts. Daliya leaned and stretched to the side, breaths coming out as pained grunts over the howling of the wind.
“Wait—” Cohn reached for her but it was too late. Daliya tumbled from the hovercar. Cohn scrambled across the seat to find her face down, sprawled and sinking in the snow. “Daliya!”
She mumbled something into the snow he couldn’t hear.
She looked ridiculously cute. Cohn chuckled. Daliya pushed, trying to roll herself onto her back but her coat was too bulky and heavy. He could’ve helped her. He should’ve helped her. Instead, he laughed. Loudly.
Daliya let out a string of curse words and he laughed louder. “Where did you learn those words?”
She finally rolled to her back, her face wet and red. “They were taught to us.”
Cohn couldn’t imagine. “By whom?”
“The A.I.s, I guess? All I know is that I went to sleep knowing English, passable Spanish and cool French words and woke up with a plethora of alien languages in my brain.”
“I should probably help you before you get frostbitten.”
A grin broke out over her face. “Ya think?”
Cohn froze, completely mesmerized by her appearance. Falling snowflakes caught on her dark eyelashes, making the vivid color of her eyes stand out. Her lips were plumper and reddened from the snow. No wonder Ha-mesh and the others wanted her.
Daliya held up her gloved hand. “Um…about that help?”
Cohn snapped to attention and grabbed her hand. Instead of letting him pull her up, Daliya yanked him forward. He lost his balance and his feet slipped from under him. To avoid landing on her, he overcompensated. Waving his arms uselessly in the air, he crashed backward into the sopping wet snow.
Daliya lay next to him, laughing uproariously. Her laughter filled the air with its merry notes. On and on she went and Cohn couldn’t help joining in.
Wiping tears from her eyes, she rolled onto her side and propped her face on her arm. “That’s for laughing at me.”
Containing his chuckles, Cohn pushed to his knees and stood. “I’ll give you that one.”
She held up her hand again, an innocent expression on her face. Her eyes glowed with remnants of her humor. “For real this time.”
He started to grab her hand, but at the last minute, squatted, thrust his arms under her body and lifted her. She held onto his neck. “Sorry that you have to carry me again.”
He wasn’t. She felt good—right—in his arms. Holding her reminded him of how fragile she was. One hearty hug and he could break her ribs. The moment he had the thought, he loosened his grip and walked. Daliya tightened her arms around his neck and his heart flipped and flopped.
A ridiculous sensation he hadn’t felt since he was a boy and one he shouldn’t have for Daliya.
He pressed the button on Synit’s door, announcing his arrival. A few minutes later, Synit opened the door. He stepped to the side so Cohn could set Daliya on her feet.
She teetered slightly on those ridiculous shoes. Facing him, she smoothed her damp hair back from her shiny cheeks. “Thank you.”
“Wear sensible shoes next time.” Cohn turned and walked away.
* * *
“How is she?”
Cohn’s mother set a plate full of steaming hot food in front of him. He’d been on his way home when she’d called, inquiring about his day. On the screen, he’d watched his father in the midst of preparing a meal and his stomach growled. Emotions swirling within, he’d felt the need for her warm and confiding presence.
It was a simple matter to input his parent’s address into the hovercar navigational system and soon he veered off toward the home he’d grown up in.
Cohn inhaled deeply, letting the aroma of fresh meat and vegetables fill his nose. He ran his tongue across the underside of the points of his teeth. The only time he received a manually prepared meal was when he visited his parents.
Although he knew how to cook, he never had the time. When he dragged himself home from a day of overseeing the entry level cadet enforcers, exhaustion pulled at his senses and he only wanted to read and sleep.
“Don’t keep us waiting. Tell us about the human.” His father sat across from him, already digging into his meal.
Cohn’s mom sat next to him with her own plate. “Cohn!”
Both of them stared in expectation.
“I will, but after I eat.” He dug his utensil into his food and his mom swat at him. Cohn jerked back and feigned a wince. “Before I talk about her, I ran into Zephon and he said the two of you meet weekly.”
“Oh, yes! He finally told you?”
Cohn nodded. His mom preened. “Every week he sends a hovercar to pick me up for lunch.”
It was clear she delighted in the gesture. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Orila shrugged. “He didn’t want you and Ram to know he still came around to visit.”
Why would Zephon want to keep that a secret? He had to know Cohn wouldn’t have minded if he visited his mother. “That makes no sense.”
His mom put a hand on his arm. “He needs a mother’s love and well, since he can’t get it from his own…”
That had always been the case.
“I think he thought if you knew, you would feel sorry for him like you did when you were younger.”
Cohn squeezed his mother’s hand. “Thank you for being there for him.”
Orila smiled at him. “Now on to my questions. Is the human as small as they are on the holovids?”
“She is,” Cohn said between bites.
“I would be too afraid of breaking one,” his father said and winked at his mate. “I prefer my females with meat on their bones.”
His mother giggled and blew a kiss to her mate. Cohn pretended to gag.
“Is she nice?” his mom asked.
Cohn lifted a shoulder as he took another bite of his food. “I’ve just met her. She seems fine.”
His parents exchanged glances that didn’t escape his notice.
“What?”
“We were hoping that she would meet you, fall in love and pick you,” his father admitted with a rueful grin.
Cohn chocked on his food. His mom slapped him hard on his back. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you’re nice, handsome and can afford a mate now.”
Cohn coughed again, dislodging the food stuck in his throat. “I can’t afford a human one. Besides, I’m fine with my life as it is.”
He’d thought about mating, but with so much competition for a Yatur female, he’d thought he would have to find an off-worlder. Many of them didn’t settle on Teague willingly though because of the harsh climate. With so many things working against him, he’d resigned himself to a life alone and oddly he was fine with it.
“But with your connections, maybe you can—”
Cohn held up his hand. “Mother, Father, I love you both dearly, but I didn’t come here to discuss my love life. I came to eat until my stomach aches.”
His mother laughed. “Eat, my sweet child.”
He took another bite of his food. Then proceeded to tell them everything about his night, right down to Daliya pulling him the snow with her.
* * *
Hours later and laying in the guest room at Jasmine’s house, Daliya fumed. The nerve of Cohn!
“Wear sensible shoes next time.”
She wanted to scratch his eyes out. It was good he’d walked away after speaking. Of course, him walking away gave her the opportunity to watch him leaving, more specifically, she got a good view of his butt. His tight pants left nothing to the imagination. Cohn had filled them out quite nicely.
“Stop,” she mumbled. “You’re supposed to be thinking about scratching his eyeballs out of his skull, not wondering how firm his ass is.”
Cohn Achene, Enforcer.
Daliya logged into her home messages from her comlink and scrolled through them. She went down to the one with Cohn’s name on it.
“Daliya Tempeshi. This is Enforcer Cohn Achene. I am assigned as your guard until you select a mate or one is selected for you. I have noted that you have an outing with Ha-mesh this evening. I will arrive at your apartment exactly thirty minutes beforehand and will escort you. Please be ready and please contact me if you have any questions.”
Cohn: The Teague Bride Experiment: Intergalactic Dating Agency Page 5
