by Karen Kelley
His memory returned in a flash of naked skin, Lara’s killer body, and the explosive sex they’d shared. He flung the covers back and sat on the side of the bed. He should feel guilty as hell, but he didn’t. He felt satisfied. Very satisfied.
Lara said it would be hard for her to leave—hell, it’d be just as difficult watching her go. Not only was she starting to grow on him, but he’d never had mindblowing sex like this before.
Must’ve been that smoothie. Why else would he see flashing lights?
This was just great. It probably had some kind of hallucinogenic added in. And probably illegal as hell. Now he was harboring a criminal. The hole just got deeper and deeper.
He was going to kill Nick when he saw him. Sam had known Lara would only be trouble.
But the sex had been excellent. Man, he got hard just thinking about it. He wasn’t about to pack her up and take her back to Kia’s. It wasn’t as if she could cause too much mischief stuck way out here in the middle of nowhere…he hoped.
Speaking of trouble, where was she?
He pulled on jeans and a T-shirt and padded barefoot through the house, making a pit stop at the bathroom. He finished and picked up the search again, frowning when he didn’t find her in the living room. She wasn’t in the kitchen, either.
He went to the back door and glanced out.
Not many things in life affected him. He’d seen enough working the streets of Dallas as an undercover cop that there wasn’t a lot that unnerved him—he supposed he would be considered hardened—but seeing the enthrallment on Lara’s face, so much enjoyment reflected in that one expression as she watched the sun rise in the east, really got to him.
Had she never seen a sunrise? Probably—she said they had two suns on Nerak. But he’d bet his last dollar she’d never seen one like this.
As if sensing he was there, she looked over her shoulder, met his gaze, and smiled. “Another temptation,” she grudgingly admitted.
One corner of his mouth lifted—he’d like to think he was another one.
“I love the sunsets and sunrises here. The peace and quiet is so different from the city.”
She sighed. “It’s beautiful.”
“Sorry I disturbed you, but I needed coffee.”
“What’s coffee?”
“A drink. It wakes me up.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you still asleep?”
He laughed. “No. It makes me more alert.”
“We have smoothies for that.”
He frowned. “Now that you mention it, what was in that one I drank last night?”
She shrugged. “I could explain, but you don’t know our chemicals so you wouldn’t understand.” She stood. “I’ll sit with you while you have your coffee, then we’ll look for plants. I must start testing them so that I can find a cure.”
A cure, and she would leave; then maybe his life would get back to normal. He had a feeling his life would never be normal again.
“I enjoyed sex with you very much last night. I’d like to taste you the next time we copulate, though,” she said conversationally as she walked past him, then opened the screen and walked inside.
His body jerked in response. She really had a way with words.
“Aren’t you going to have coffee?” she asked from the kitchen.
“Yeah, I’ll be in there in a minute.” Deep breaths. Slow and easy. He cleared his mind of the image that shot through his brain. Complete control.
Okay, he could do this. How hard would it be to act as if he didn’t want to scoop her up and carry her to the bedroom where they would make mad, passionate love for the rest of the day? The lady already had a superiority complex, and he damn sure didn’t want to add to it.
He went inside and pulled filters and coffee down from the cabinet. His gaze met hers. How could she look so innocent yet…he mentally shook his head to clear it. “Are all Nerakians this casual about sex?”
“Is there a reason we should deny ourselves pleasure? Or not talk about the pleasures we experience?”
“You give new meaning to locker room discussions.” He shrugged. “We just don’t talk about it that much here.”
“Why not?”
He added water to the coffeemaker and turned to face her as he waited for that first cup. Man, he really needed a lot of caffeine so he could get awake.
“I guess some people might. It happened last night, and this is a new day, I guess.”
She nodded. “I can understand this. But I really liked when you touched me and kissed me. Even now, I want to have sex.”
It was all he could do to breathe. His body reacted immediately to her words.
“Oh, good, you aren’t broken. When I looked at you this morning, I thought you might be. It was quite flaccid.” Her eyebrows drew together. “Although you started to stiffen when I touched you.”
He coughed. “You what?”
“I looked beneath the covers. I’ve never seen a naked human, and I wanted a closer look. Last night, I was too excited to take the time to examine you. And later, I was quite worn out from the orgasms I had.”
He had to keep reminding himself that she wasn’t from Earth. Sex didn’t mean the same thing.
“But we can’t have sex now,” she continued. “I must find a cure, and that’s where my duty lies.”
All he could think about was untying the sash and stripping her robe from her body and having sex again.
“You don’t mind that I studied you, do you?” she asked.
God, he needed coffee bad, but it was still dripping into the carafe.
“People don’t examine other people when they’re…when they’re vulnerable.” He didn’t like the thought of what else she might do when he was asleep. A whole different kind of ache started down low. He almost reached down to make sure everything was still intact.
“I’ll examine you when you’re awake then. Tonight, we’ll have sex again after I’ve studied your plants.”
It wasn’t a question. It was more of a command. He started to tell her they might make love or they might not, but he knew damn well he’d be lucky if he lasted until nightfall. It was going to be a very long day.
“I’m ready,” Lara said as she came out of the bedroom still wearing her green robe.
“I thought you were changing,” Sam told her. What the hell had she been doing in there for the last hour?
“I meditated so that my mind and body would be in sync. It’s better if I’m in complete harmony. And I also asked the ones who’ve passed before me to guide me in this journey of healing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Did they speak back?” He glanced around the room. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of ghosts popping out of the woodwork.
“Of course they didn’t.” She looked at him like he had the brain of a bug.
“Well, you can’t wear that into the woods. All you’ll find are a lot of brambles and sticks stuck in the hem of your robe. Didn’t Kia send a suitcase of clothes?”
“My robes are a symbol of who I am. All healers wear green robes, or white if they’re meditating. Sometimes other colors because we can, but mostly green.”
“Or nothing at all if you want.”
“Yes, of course. I often go naked. The temperatur
e on our planet is quite pleasant.”
Why the hell had he mentioned her going naked? Now he had a vision of her traipsing through the woods without a stitch of clothes. And worse, he wasn’t that far behind her. Adam and Evil.
No, it was his thoughts that were evil, not Lara. He was discovering how open and honest she was. Not something he was used to.
His gaze moved over her. “If you don’t want to ruin your clothes or scratch your legs, then I’d suggest you wear what Kia sent.”
She looked as if she wanted to argue but apparently decided against it. “I’ll change.”
Sam didn’t think she looked too happy, but it was for her own good. He went to the front door and looked out. It was going to be a nice day.
If he’d been here alone, he would already be fishing or just taking a morning walk through the woods. Deer were plentiful in the area. There used to be a ten-point buck that hung around. A beautiful animal.
“Okay. I’m ready,” Lara said.
He went back inside, then had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing. He probably should’ve laid her out some clothes.
“Is this good for the woods? It’s quite pretty.”
She wore a long gown of shimmering gold. He had a feeling Kia had never packed for the woods. Hell, she probably had no idea what the woods were.
“You look beautiful, but no, that won’t do, either.” When she looked crestfallen, he continued. “Come on. I’ll help you find something.”
They went back to the guest room, and he dug around in the suitcase until he finally came up with a pair of jeans, tennis shoes, and a T-shirt. Kia had packed thongs—oh, God, thongs—but no bras—oh, God, no bras. He swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Okay, he could handle this. Lara didn’t have to wear a bra. Hell, it was just the two of them in the middle of nowhere anyway.
He handed her the clothes, explained what went on first, then went back to the other room. If he stayed in there very much longer, they wouldn’t be looking for plants until this afternoon.
She was frowning when she rejoined him. “This isn’t comfortable. The pants are binding.”
He turned around. Oh, man, he probably should’ve let her wear the robe. The jeans fit her like a second skin, and the T-shirt didn’t even meet the waistband. There was a nice expanse of creamy skin and a cute little belly button showing. And the shirt fit snugly. There was just a little bit of a bounce when she moved, and her nipples poked against the material.
“Oh, you’re horny again,” she commented.
Kia was going to kill him for teaching her some of Earth’s more colorful language.
He cleared his throat. “Sit, and I’ll tie your tennis shoes.”
“Have I mentioned how very pleased I am to see you weren’t damaged last night?”
“Yes. Do you think we could talk about something else?”
“Why?”
“Because if we don’t change the subject, I might just pick you up and carry you to the bedroom.”
“But I’m not tired.”
He shook his head. “Baby, we wouldn’t be sleeping.”
Dawning shined in her eyes. “I think I’m horny, too.” She bit her bottom lip as if she was worrying over a big problem. “I need to start researching plants so that I can find a cure, though.”
“Then we’d better get started.”
She nodded but glanced regretfully one last time toward the bedroom.
The quicker he walked off his horniness, the better. He grabbed a bag to put samples in, and they left the cabin.
They hadn’t walked far when Lara pointed toward some flowering ground cover. “What’s that?”
“I don’t know very many of the plants by name, but I think that’s called phlox.”
She pulled some and ran a scanner of sorts over it, then handed it to him so he could put it in the bag.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m checking to see if it might be compatible with the chemicals I brought with me. Our chemicals will cause a reaction. From that, I can produce a remedy.”
“But don’t you need a certain kind of plant? Like foxglove is a plant that works on the heart—if you know what you’re doing. It’s also very dangerous.”
She shook her head. “No, the chemical reactions will tell me if it’s safe or not. You forget, we’re far more advanced.”
There she went again, but he chose to ignore her words.
As they walked deeper into the woods, her gaze roamed the area. She collected and dropped samples inside the bag until it was full.
A couple of hours had passed when the hairs on the back of his neck began to tingle. A couple of times, he’d caught a flash of something moving. Deer? No, gut instinct told him someone followed them, but whoever it was, the guy was good. So far, all he’d seen was a brief flash of movement.
His gun was locked in a box at the cabin. Hell, he hadn’t thought he would need it. They were only looking for plants. The bad guys were back in the city. The cabin was his refuge. But right now, it didn’t feel like one.
“That should be enough for now,” Lara said.
“What?” He looked at her, then realized what she’d just said. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“No, you were trying to discover who watched us.”
“You saw him?”
“I suspect no more than what you witnessed. Maybe not as much. The person was very careful not to be seen.”
“You think it was a human?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know the animals on your planet. I know what some are called, but I’m not sure what they look like. It might have been an animal.”
“Maybe.”
“But you don’t think so.”
Had she learned to read him that easily?
“Your forehead is wrinkled, and you’ve been frowning for quite some time. Also, you’ve been scanning the area as if you were looking for something.” She smiled. “I can’t read minds, if that’s what you were thinking.”
He relaxed somewhat. “That’s a relief.”
“And what have you been thinking that you’re afraid I would learn?”
His gaze met hers. “I’ll show you later.”
“I’ve had no doubts that you wouldn’t.”
“And you were that certain?”
She nodded, then looked pointedly below his waist.
Okay, so he couldn’t hide how he felt, but she should learn to expect it as long as she was around him. How could he not want her?
“How long will it take you to study the plants we gathered?”
Disappointment shone on her face. “Not as quickly as I’d like.”
He had been afraid she was going to say something like that. They started back toward the cabin with the bagged plants. He stayed alert, watching for a flash of movement, but he had a feeling whoever had been watching had already left.
A hunter? Some of them got so caught up in what they were doing they didn’t think anything about crossing a fence. The next time Lara wanted to come out, he’d make sure he brought a gun.
Just in case.
Chapter 9
L yraka peeked around the tree. She could hear them talking. It hadn’t been hard with her hypersensitive hearing. Her mother called it a gift.
As far as Lyraka was concerned, it was more a pain in the butt, especially when she tried to sleep. Ah, the sounds of nature. Most city dwellers longed for the peace and quiet. It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. If she had to choose, it was still better than the blast of horns and the constant construction that she’d encountered the few times she’d gone to town with Aasera.
Right now, her hearing did her little good in trying to figure out who the woman was. They hadn’t said anything that even hinted the woman might be from another planet. At least, not since she’d been watching them.
The man was a different matter. She’d seen him before. Tall, nice-looking, and deliciously tanned to perfection. She’d even had a few fantasies about him. Who wouldn’t? Lyraka figured he wasn’t much older than her.
The woman with him looked younger by a few years.
Her age, maybe.
Was she Nerakian? Maybe. It was hard to tell, which was why her mother blended in so well with the people on Earth.
When the two began to make their way back toward the cabin, she followed closely, moving from tree to tree with a speed that would make anyone watching wonder if they’d actually seen movement or if it had only been a trick of the light.
She froze when the man stopped and looked around. He was good—for an Earthman. But she was better.
When he continued on, she studied the female again. The woman certainly didn’t dress like someone from Nerak. She wore the typical clothes of anyone on Earth, which didn’t mean a thing. Clothes did not make the person.
The man and woman walked into the clearing. She didn’t venture further than the trees, staying instead in the shadows where she easily blended in.
At the door, the woman turned and seemed to look straight at her. Lyraka held her breath until she went inside.
