by Cora Blu
“Not what Aroc did, no,” she said. “But the selling of the fuel to be recycled properly on another planet, yes. Do they know there are humans recruiting ethnic maids to smoke out the troublemakers?” She shook her head. “Not that I’m aware. It was a shock to me when Ryner told me, but by this time, I’d been introduced to many bizarre things courtesy of Captain Aroc. ”
“What happens if you get caught?”
“We have our transporters. Then a cleanup crew’s dispatched to erase the memories of that affected person on Earth.”
Timothy wiggled away from Savannah and sat on his heels on the floor, holding out a hand to Norese. Sadie got down and allowed the little girl to extend a hand to touch Timothy’s. She wasn’t comfortable and scrambled back into her lap.
“Timothy, that was sweet of you to want to play with Norese. Give her some time; she’s still a little shy.”
“How long’s this been going on?” Savannah asked. “Richard cheating the government and making these deals with the aliens?
“I don’t know.” And she hadn’t. No one had ever told her what year or century this had begun, but she knew it hadn’t been recently. Aroc had too much built up anger for humans for it to start last year. “My situation was a little different. It works because some things are kept secret.”
Savannah came down on the floor with Sadie and Norese. “This Karuntee that you’re making a family with…can he…” She wet her lips, her cheeks a bright red with embarrassment. “Can you get pregnant?”
Pictures of Aroc’s nude body warmed her mind, making her sweat beneath her clothes. “Yes. Norese’s mother was human. She died in childbirth.” That pulled at her heart knowing it could very well be her in a year if they weren’t careful.
“You shouldn’t take any chances and use birth control, Sadie,” Theresa warned.
She looked between the women. “So no one has a problem with me being with an alien, just as long as I use protection?”
“Sadie, honey, I may have lost my home and any semblance of my life because Richard tried to steal from the government. I can’t take Timothy back down there and expect to be accepted in society, not the way we were before, and I don’t want my memories tampered with. If living on the moon—”
“Space station, Savannah,” she corrected.
“Space station is the only way to have a second chance, then that’s what I’ll have to do. You’ve been a real friend to me and at one point, I questioned whether I could trust you. Nevertheless, I’ve trusted you with my Timothy since the day he came into our lives. I can’t stop trusting you now.”
Sadie leaned in and hugged Savannah. “You’ve always been a friend, even when others treated their help like a servant. And I don’t say family because that support comes out of a sense of responsibility. A friend is there because the other person matters.”
“You matter, suga, always have.” She cupped her face. “And I can see you didn’t do this lightly, turn my Richard in. Your eyes are just as wet and glossy as mine. I love you, Sadie.”
“I love you too, Savannah. You’re a good person.”
Chapter 22
Sadie snuggled Norese’s warm, limp with sleep body to her shoulder, flurries of red hair floating in the air around her head. The puffs of peanut butter scented breath crossed her face as her little girl snored inches from her mouth. Yes, Norese was hers now and she couldn’t be happier had she given birth to her.
Exhausted, Sadie smiled weakly typing in the code to her home…their home until they moved into Aroc’s place. He did have a bigger place where Norese had her own room and him being over the karuntian’s, he’d need to be accessible to his people. Setting down Norese’s bag on the wall console hatch, Sadie nudged the button with her elbow. The bag slipped down into a funnel that fed the nylon bag into her guest room.
Adjusting the sleeping bundle on her shoulder, she kicked off her loosely tied boots making her way to the kitchen where she replicated a bowl of chicken soup.
“And 6 ounces of earl grey tea...120 degrees, no sweetener,” she added when the voice prompter spoke suggesting a beverage. Lifting the tray, she crossed out of the kitchen to the hall to put Norese to bed. The door buzzer sounded, bringing her attention around to Aroc and Oliver walking through her front door, immersed in deep conversation. The tray clanked on the table as she set it down, sluicing tea over the cup’s rim.
Oliver froze when he glimpsed Norese asleep in her arms.
Aroc crossed the space to hold her by the back of her neck, his thumb tipping her face up to meet his mouth coming down to hers. The familiar kiss quieted her jangled nerves knowing he was okay and in her arms.
When she pulled away to breathe and work the wet, gross vest from his body, remnants of the battle evident everywhere, she settled Norese to his chest. Sadie left the room and tossed the gore-laden vest in the incinerator, stopping to wash her hands before returning to the living room.
Aroc crossed the room to the replicator bar. “Commander—a drink?”
“Blue Ale’s good,” he replied, settling on the sofa, his attention trained on Norese clinging to Aroc.
Aroc grasped the neck of the containers between his fingers to hand one to Oliver who took a long drink before setting it on the table.
Waiting for the bomb to go off, Sadie propped a hip on the edge of the sofa, resting her knee to Aroc’s shoulder. Running her hand over his baldhead, she watched the exchange.
Oliver touched a finger to Norese’s tiny hand, stroking carefully.
Norese’s eye stretched wide at the first touch.
“Sweetie, it’s okay.” Sadie said.
“Is she always this shy?”
“She’s cautious of new people,” Aroc defended, kissing his little girl’s face.
“What did you think she’d look like Oliver?” Sadie said, waving a hand, gesturing toward his squinting eyes. “You look stunned.”
“Not this,” he replied, raising his eyes for a brief moment before returning to Norese. “This child is…a child.”
“You were expecting a monster, weren’t you?” Aroc accused, giving Oliver a tight grimace. This was hard on him to expose Norese to humans, she noticed. Utterly the toughest thing she’d seen him attempt.
Oliver nodded once. “Yeah, to be blatantly honest, I didn’t anticipate she would be Katherine. I mean it’s obvious she’s karuntee, but those eyes...that accessing stare I saw in Katherine. I understand why you kept her a secret all this time. She’s precious.”
Norese, who shied away from most, let Oliver take her hand in his. Slowly, she let him hold her on his lap. Oliver absorbed her features, and Sadie could see the love he held for Katherine.
Oliver looked up. “This means the world to me to hold this little girl in my arms. Katherine was the first person to see past my having been in prison.” He wiped the tears running down his face. “Thank you,” his words came out on a whisper.
Norese surprised them all by lovingly touching Oliver’s face. “You ‘kay?” her tiny voice broke him down.
He chuckled, tears dripping over his lips. “Uncle Oliver’s okay, sweetie…stunned, but okay.”
Norese scrunched up her nose, turning her face up to Sadie. “Mommy Sadie…he stinky.” Sadie’s jaw dropped and Aroc’s hand rested on her waist, love exploding in his eyes with black and burgundy fire.
“I know, baby, but next time he comes to visit he’ll smell better, right Uncle Oliver?”
He nodded and mouthed, “thank you” to her and Aroc.
It took a few minutes before anyone spoke. The moment was too powerful to rush.
“So what happened after we left? Did you catch the rogue karuntee?”
Oliver nodded. “Grenus is in custody. He worked with Edwards bringing in some nasty chemicals that would eventually make it into the oceans around the world.”
“Edwards is in your government’s hands now and his belongings and bank will be searched and confiscated. You did good bringing his wife and son up
here, Sadie. He’ll have some real enemies with the companies that purchased contaminated fuel. The inventory in their factories will be tested and that’ll run into the millions.”
She exhaled at the mention of the amount of money that could feed a third world country for a few years, being blown on these greedy men. “I’m glad we were able to bring this to a close. This case has left me needing a break,” she said, her voice low and weak from her exhausted body. “I loved that family and greed has left Timothy without a father and Savannah without a husband.”
“They have you, Sadie, and that’s saying a lot,” Oliver admitted in a soft tone he seldom used. While his eyes absorbed every inch of Norese’s face committing it to memory.
She stood as Oliver started to leave, catching him around the waist. The hug she gave was sweet because after everything that’d happened between them, she saw Norese’s uncle through the tough exterior. “Are we okay, you and I?”
Looking down his straight nose at her, Oliver smiled the smile of a contented man. “You were right. I treated you as less because you’re black, but damn if you weren’t more. You’re good for a man’s soul and Norese is a very special girl to have you in her life.”
“Your woman’s out there and when you find her, bring her around to meet your friends.” Sadie hoped he found someone to love him, because he had so much love to give.
“C’mon, Commander, I’ll walk you out. It’s been a long case and I want time alone with my family.”
Aroc walked Oliver out to the public area of the human space station.
Time passed in slow tired minutes as she fed and bathed Norese, and then dressed her for bed. Knowing Aroc wouldn’t sleep in her small bed, Sadie tucked Norese’s little body in there snug beneath the covers.
Closing the door behind her, she crossed the hall to her room. Stripped down to her bare skin, Sadie headed for the shower. A tinge of pink swirled down the drain with the other dirt and grime. An angry gash bled down her calf. When had that happened? Outside of the shower, she waved the medical wand over her cuts. A minute later the reddened skin had puckered around the edges, slowly healing. Setting it back in its cradle she caught a glimpsed of herself in the mirror.
Hair wet, dripping down her forehead, she stared at her bedraggled appearance as she tucked the thick towel between her breasts, then stood before the hair dryer until her hair stopped dripping. A measure of dampness she could deal with. What did she look like to Aroc? Of all the things she’d gone through tonight, her appearance took center stage. Picking up a vented brush, she ran it through her hair until it lay black and shiny down around her shoulders. Turning from side to side, she checked her work examining her ends nervously. She was anxious to see Aroc. This was crazy. Aroc’s seen every part of my body, from the front porch to the garage. She stared; exhaustion eating at her battered body, and felt the woman inside hungering for Aroc’s touch.
In the kitchen, she reheated her cup of earl grey tea to ease her jangled nerves. Padding into the living room, steam rising from the delicious aroma, she lowered herself onto the sofa and tucked her bare feet beside her.
After a few sips of tea warmed her throat and soothed her upset stomach, she slumped and gave in to the peace. Pressing the button on the electronic pad on the table, she listened to the report from Ryner, while she waited for Aroc’s return.
Sadie picked up the remote to hear the violins she began playing in her home after hearing them for months in Aroc’s. The music he’d played while they shared their dinners. Reclining, she rested her cheek on the sofa, damp hair clinging to her face. The sound of the door mechanisms churning brought her head up.
Her pulse quickened at the sight of Aroc closing the space between them. His torn cargo pants exposed a thigh wound she hadn’t noticed in the field. How had she missed all of that blue blood soaking into the fabric? Who sliced him? It wasn’t important as she rushed over dropping to her knees to dab the towel to the cut.
His hand caressed the back of her head as she peered up at him and something loosened in her heart allowing her to breathe. Anticipation for his touch coiled in her belly.
He leaned over to drop a kiss on her damp hair, lingering as his fingers burrowed through her tresses. “You smell good, Sadie. Let that go. It’ll heal. Come up here,” he commanded, his ribs outlined under his taut skin, each ripple feeding effortlessly into the next.
She got to her feet. “Are you hungry? I can whip up a sandwich while you jump in the shower.”
“No.” He eyed the room. “Our daughter…is she asleep?”
Her stomach clenched with those words, sending a shiver down low in her belly. “Ah, she’s uhm, asleep in my bed. As usual a warm meal and a story, and she fell asleep.” She stood, tucking the ends of the towel between her breasts. His stare lured her body to step forward. “What happened down there after we left? Did Ernestine and Norma get out okay, because they still work down there.”
“Ryner worked with the police chief, and did a thorough mind sweep of everyone on scene. The contaminated fuel is being filtered by Ryner’s staff to be recycled and reintegrated into the inventory.”
“So Colson and Wixom will go through interrogation, then put to work on the prison station. What about their families?”
“They’ll get a visit from the Sheriff saying they were in a fatal car crash and their bodies were burned beyond recognition.”
“And the ring leader…Edwards?”
“In a cell with Grenus on the prison station.”
“Grenus will kill him the moment they close the cell,” she said.
“Baby, can we discuss this another time? It’s over. We’re together, a family now. A new couple, and I want to celebrate all night with my female.”
Her nipples tightened as he leaned down, removing his boots to set beside the table. Thick, corded muscles churned beneath the skin on his shoulders. He ran a hand over his smooth head and released a long, deep sigh. He withdrew the weapon in his belt, setting it on the shelf where she kept a picture of her parents.
She went willingly when he tugged her to his chest, his heart beating a calmer rhythm than she had expected. It contrasted the wild hunger she’d never seen before today.
“Aroc…you okay?” Eyes hooded, she let her hands glide up the expanse of his chest, fingers splayed absorbing the warm smooth taut skin covering his thud of a solid heartbeat. With one fingernail, she traced the tattoos down his arms. He unraveled, dropping his head back on a growl before his hands rested on her hips.
“Sadie!”
His movements were as slow and controlled as the music wafting through the air, setting them miles away from the bloody battle still fresh in her mind. The gentle caresses of his fingers reacquainting themselves with the line of her body eased the towel from her hips, replaced by his hands.
She flinched at the first feel of his fingers skating over unexplored territory that would stay unexplored tonight. Their eyes met, his understanding her meaning shone through sadness in his black and burgundy eyes.
In the bathroom, the auto lights came on when they passed under the scanner. She hissed when Aroc sat her bare bottom on the cold counter.
“In the living room when I pushed your hands away from my behind…were you disappointed I’m not interested in the freaky stuff?” she asked, skeptical of his response. After all, he had desires he may not have shared with her yet.
“Of course I am, Sadie. What male wouldn’t want to claim every inch of his female’s body,” he retorted succinctly, rubbing a finger just under the curve of her ass as if contemplating a way to convince her to give in to his needs. But he was teasing her with his torturous deep drawl crawling over her skin, and the intimidating size of his body lulling her into a trance. “I’m disappointed I won’t know the tight grip I’m certain you’d hold me inside you with as I push you past your control to listen to you moan and sigh, biting your lips as I begin to plunge in and out of this tight sweet spot.” He kissed her gently, his fingers slip
ping lower to her quickly swelling folds, stroking back and forth. “Trade off…I get to make love to you every night while waking to this face, this enchanting face, every morning with the scent of this lush flower coating my fingers, my tongue, and my cocks. I think I’ll survive without breaching your tight little flower.”
His eyes, trained on the pulse in her throat, glittered under the soft lighting.
She was wet and quivering with each rhythmic play of his fingers. “I may not last with you doing that, saying those words knowing you intend to make good on your promise.”
“I can’t promise it won’t be uncomfortable or even hurt a little, but I promise I’ll do everything I can to give you pleasure in every way of every day that you let me love you.” His raw hunger dripped over her in waves of moist heat from his lips.
She lost sight of those glossy dark eyes the moment he dipped his head. A salacious tingle moved up the hollow of her throat. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes, letting the sensation burn through her. Felt the rough nudge of his baldhead raising her chin up high. Oh, so sensual.
His teeth caught the tip of one nipple, suckling it into his mouth, the hot cavern burning through her skin. Sadie’s lips parted. “Oh Lord, Aroc—please!” The pop of release hit the air giving her a second to catch her breath, but he moved to the other breast, laving until her back bowed and he greedily swallowed his building saliva.
Soft light bathed the smooth curve down the rigid muscle of his shoulders to dip between and down his back. She scratched her nails over his hot skin. He growled around her flesh, licking her breasts and easing the hint of pain he’d left behind each bite. Sadie held him to her to keep balance, debating if it mattered, because soon she’d climax and he wasn’t even inside her.
He licked with a gluttonous appetite that reflected in the burning heat in his eyes. He did that three times and she gasped behind each assault. She exploded violently, jerking her hips over his fingers working her limp and breathless.
