by Lisa Lace
"Do you like it?" Neesa asked.
"Oh, yeah, I like," I said, grinning at her.
"Now let's do your hair," she said.
We worked together and put it up in a bun at the back of my head. She attached a golden chain that went across my forehead and wrapped around the bun — a flat blue stone hung from the chain in the center of my forehead over my third eye. By the time we finished, I didn't even recognize myself.
"Wow," Neesa said, as I turned to her. "You look amazing, Quinn. Airik won't be able to resist you."
I didn't know what to say to that. I was saved by Neesa bustling me out the door and downstairs to a waiting room. As we crossed the lobby, there was an unfamiliar man that was watching me. It made me feel uncomfortable, but I ignored him. There must be weirdos on every planet.
We waited impatiently until the sound of a knock on the door made us both jump and then laugh.
"Come in," Neesa called.
"Hey ladies, it's time to start the show." It was Airik. When he caught sight of me, he was transfixed and spellbound. But I hardly noticed as I tried to wrap my head around how amazingly handsome and sexy he looked in his outfit.
Neesa looked back and forth between the two of us.
"Did we succeed in our mission, Quinn?" she said. I remembered that she was still in the room.
"I guess so," I said, having no idea what she meant.
"Mission? What mission?" Airik said, glancing at his little sister.
"The mission to overwhelm you with the beauty of your bride," she said, beaming at him.
"Oh yeah?" he said, looking back and devouring me with his eyes from head to toe. I felt myself blush again. "Mission accomplished."
Chapter 6
QUINN
I stifled another yawn. It had been a long day. It was nearly midnight. Airik and I sat at the front of the room at a long table, facing everyone. The table was up higher than the rest so everyone could see us, which increased my discomfort. I glanced down at my middle fingers.
I was married.
There was a silver band on each finger, studded with tiny blue stones matching the one on my forehead. An intricate pattern crisscrossed the metal. I loved them. Airik had two rings similar to mine. His were a copper color with the same etching. There were black stones sprinkled on his rings.
The ceremony had been strange, but the heart of it was familiar. It was the same as on Earth. We swore to love, honor, and take care of each other until death parted us. What else was there to say at a wedding?
I felt guilty swearing that when I wasn't planning on staying married to him. But I felt better when I promised myself that as long as we were married, I would honor the vows. I was making them in good faith. The marriage would just end sooner than eternity.
I unmistakably felt the presence of my future lover at the ceremony. I knew he was watching, somehow. There had been a profound sense of approval from his spirit. Maybe he was okay if I was with Airik for the year. Then I would divorce him and go and find my real true love.
When I was free, I would find the man with whom I was supposed to fall in love.
"Quinn?" Airik said, putting his hand over mine and making my heart skip a beat. "How are you?"
"I'm good. The ceremony was lovely. The rings are beautiful."
He dropped his head, looking a little bashful. "I'm glad you like them. I hoped you would."
The reception had stretched on with speeches, jokes, and people demanding we kiss each other. Airik gave me chaste kisses. They were almost pecks on the cheek. Maybe in their culture, those types of kisses were appropriate at a public event like this.
I had been so nervous that I drank several glasses of a beautiful pink drink that waiters kept setting in front of me. Eventually Airik cut me off, telling me that it was a potent alcohol and would make me drunk. By that time, it was too late. It was a good thing all I had to do was sit and look pretty. There wasn't any dancing.
As it turned out, it didn't matter why he was kissing me like I was his sister. I was having a hard enough time concentrating as it was, being drunk and horny. I didn't need him kissing me so passionately in front of all his family members that I forgot my name. I had a feeling he could kiss me like that.
I wondered if he would when we got back to our room. The thought made me shiver. I tried to focus on what he was saying.
"We can go now if you want to."
"Oh, can we? I'm exhausted."
"Yes, of course. Let's thank everyone and head up to our room."
"Okay," I said, my heart beating a little faster. Would he want to do anything when we arrived at our room?
I leaned on his arm as we said our thank yous and wished everyone a long life. We walked out of the conference room and into the lobby. I was surprised to notice that the man Neesa and I had seen earlier was still there. I could feel his eyes on me the whole time we were in the room. The way he was looking at me made my skin crawl.
Once we were in the elevator, I turned to Airik. "Do you know that man?"
"I don't," he said, frowning when he looked at me. "Why? Did he say something to you?"
"Not a word," I said. I was probably making a big deal out of nothing at all. "He didn't say anything. He was there when we went to the wedding, and I thought it odd that he was still there when we came out much later."
"Come to think of it, I don't know him, which is odd in Nivan. We don't see too many strangers around here. I know almost everyone either on a first name basis or at least by sight. I'll have someone check up on him if he's still hanging around tomorrow."
"That would be great." I felt relieved. It seemed unlikely that the Sons of the Heavenly Father would have gone to all the trouble to follow me here, but you never know. If Airik could confirm the stranger was from Koccoran it would make me feel better.
By the time we got into the room, it was all I could do to stumble to the couch.
"Are you intoxicated?" he asked, looking at me with a bemused expression on his face.
"I am really drunk," I said. "You should have warned me about the pink stuff."
"Sorry."
He looked uncomfortable and sat down beside me without touching my body. He had minimized physical contact all night. I was beginning to think I had imagined the heat in his eyes earlier.
"I have to explain something to you, and I hope you're sober enough to understand it."
I hiccupped. "I'm sober enough to understand anything," I said.
"Sure you are," he said, a tiny smile on his face. "What I'm about to tell you might sound archaic, but it is another part of our cultural rules."
"Yes?" I said, trying to look serious but feeling like giggling at his alien culture.
"We're not legally married yet."
"What? But we stood in front of that man, said some words and you gave me these." I held up my hands to show the rings.
"Yes. That's all important. But there's one more thing that is necessary to make the marriage legal."
"What's that?" I said, having absolutely no idea what he meant.
"We have to consummate it," he said, watching me carefully for my reaction.
My eyebrows went up, and my nipples got hard. I felt a flash of lightning race down to my core.
"Consummated." I repeated.
He nodded.
"We can't just tell them we did because they perform tests the morning after. We only get the marriage certificate after our examinations are complete." His eyes were closed, and he had a pained expression on his face.
I stared at him.
"They're going to verify we mated?"
He nodded. I think he expected me to be appalled. On a purely intellectual level, I was a bit scandalized. But on a physical level, my body was doing a happy dance. I was going to get lucky tonight. This was what Neesa meant when she had talked about needing chemistry between Airik and me tonight.
In any event, my intellectual side had to put up token resistance.
"We don't even
know each other."
"You never had a one-night stand, Quinn?" he murmured.
"I have," I said, honestly.
"How well did you know him?"
"Good point," I said. I couldn't even remember his name. "But isn't there a clause in the TerraMates contract that says I don't have to sleep with you if I don't want to?"
"Do you honestly find the thought of having sex with me abhorrent?" he asked. His expression showed a worry and vulnerability that made me want to reassure him immediately. "Of course, I would never dream of forcing you," he added before I could say anything.
"Of course not. And I don't find it at all abhorrent. I was dreaming about it this afternoon. You're quite attractive, Airik." I couldn't help the heat that crept up my cheeks. I couldn't let him think I didn't want him.
"You were dreaming about us?" Our eyes connected and held. This time, I couldn't stand to have him so far away from me. I needed a passionate kiss, not the chaste kind he'd been giving me all evening.
I stood up unsteadily and walked over to him.
"Have you heard about the underwear a Koccoran woman wears on her wedding day, Airik?" I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my breasts up against his chest. I wasn't usually this forward. The pink drink must be making me bold.
"There are rumors. Men aren't allowed to see it. We're not supposed to know about it until our wedding night."
"It's designed to give you access," I said, looking him deep in the eyes.
"To what?" he said, licking his lips.
"To the important parts of my body."
He swallowed, and I watched his Adam's apple bob up and down. I kissed it. He pulled in a deep breath.
"Do you want to help me out of this gown?" I said. "It's tight and constricting."
"It would be my pleasure," he said, leading me over to the bedroom.
* * *
Airik took his sweet time stripping me out of my dress. I didn't mind being free. I wasn't thinking thoroughly about my actions while I was drunk. The fact that I wanted him badly helped. But who was I kidding? I had gone home with a stranger from the bar on a night long ago. My husband was next to me. There was nothing wrong with a husband and wife enjoying conjugal relations.
He unbuttoned me slowly, planting kisses all the way down. He periodically stopped for us to make out like teenagers, our tongues twisting around each other. Every time he kissed me, I got more and bothered for him. Once he had me out of the dress, the sexy, naughty underwear made me squirm with need.
He made full use of the underwear to access the vital parts of my anatomy. Finally, we were both naked.
"Quinn, I can't wait anymore."
"Me neither, Airik," I said, panting. "Do you have protection?"
"Protection against what?"
"A condom or something, to make sure I don't get pregnant."
"Why wouldn't you want to get pregnant?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Right, you didn't get the brochure on Koccoran. The short version of the story is that we have an extremely low birth rate due to environmental conditions. There's no such thing as birth control here. It's against the law to prevent conception."
"We get to do it with nothing between us?" I said.
"What other way is there?"
"Well, we have these things called condoms on Earth. They're like a latex glove that wraps around your..."
He made a disgusted face.
"Yeah, it's not as much fun. I mean, I've never done it without a condom. But I imagine it feels better with nothing between us." I felt myself tingling at the thought of his flesh against mine.
"Airik, I need you inside me, right now," I said, pressing my hips up towards his hardness.
"Quinn," he breathed, and I felt him at my entrance.
"Yes, yes, please, Airik."
I felt like a wanton, but it had been a long time for me. I needed this. He pushed inside. I gasped at the size of him. I hadn't got a good look, but he was quite the handful.
"You're tight, Quinn," he said.
"It's been a while," I told him, panting as he pressed in further. "And I've only done it a handful of times."
"I'm not complaining," he said as he thrust in more.
I felt myself opening for him. My inner muscles stretched to accommodate him. "Jesus, that feels good," I said.
He bent and sucked one of my nipples into his mouth, scoring it with his teeth. It made my hips jerk, plunging him deeper inside me.
I was breathing quickly. I cried out as he drove in hard, embedding himself completely inside me.
"Oh, fuck, Airik."
He kissed me passionately. I squirmed beneath him. Our bodies were slick with sweat. Then he began thrusting rhythmically in and out, touching a bundle of nerves I hadn't noticed in the past.
I didn't know what he was doing, but I knew I was enjoying it more than I ever had before. Soon I felt my pleasure rise. Heat started pouring from my core into every corner of my body. I didn't know that when women said they were hot for a man, they meant physical temperature.
Every time our pelvises hit together, he rubbed against my clit and another spot inside me. He had his head bent, sucking my breasts. My desire ratcheted up several notches, and I moaned, unable to stop myself. I had never felt like this before. Airik began whispering to me in an alien language. I didn't understand what he was saying, but it sounded sexy. I thought I would come right then.
"Faster, please, Airik," I said.
He increased his speed, driving into me and making me crazy.
"Oh, yes. Yes, that feels so good," I said.
I felt the intensity rising higher and higher until it peaked. I exploded with the longest, hottest orgasm of my life. I screamed and writhed as I convulsed around him.
"I'm going to come," he said. Then he stiffened and groaned. I felt his seed filling me. It made the spasms increase again as if my body wanted to pull every drop out of him.
Finally, we lay still, with him on top of me and still inside.
When he rolled off of me, I let out a little sound of dismay when I felt us separate. He pulled me close to him. My back was against his chest, and I smiled.
"That was unbelievable," he said in my ear.
"I have never, ever experienced anything like that in my life before," I told him truthfully.
"Me neither, Quinn," he said. I felt him smiling into my shoulder. "It's an auspicious beginning, I think."
"Very auspicious," I said, rolling a little so I could kiss him.
Our lips felt like they had been made to kiss each other and soon we were lost again. This was going to be a long night.
I was confident we would pass the test.
Chapter 7
QUINN
We received our marriage certificates after we got tested. We each gave a swab of our saliva for DNA testing that proved our identities. A machine spit out a rectangular sticker.
The man processing our marriage certificates smoothed the label on my left arm. Right arms were for birth certificates. After a minute, when I moved my arm back and forth, I could see our marriage information. The date of the wedding, our names, and a photo of Airik and me.
Once he did the same steps on Airik, we were legally married. We got dressed to go outside again. Airik took my hand as we walked out of the building and back into the bitter cold. Even though I had three layers on and wore more clothing than him, I still felt chilled.
"We're only getting two days of honeymoon," he said. "I'm not taking off of work."
Because this wasn't a real marriage, I thought.
"Where do you work?"
"I'm a senior admin for the government. I don't want to talk about work right now. I'm already a bit of a workaholic, and this is supposed to be our honeymoon."
"Of course. That's fine. We have all year to get to know each other," I said. I didn't care. I was on a high today.
"I was wondering something," he said. He opened the door for me to a small sn
ow car waiting outside the building.
"Is this one self-driving?"
"Yes. I own this one. They don't all have drivers. The ones in town are self-driving. Any cars that go out of town need drivers because the terrain or the snow can require human intervention. That brings me back to what I was wondering," he said. The look in his eyes gave me shivers. "Is it possible you're wearing your special underwear like I asked you to?"
I smiled at him, feeling as sexy as I ever had in my life.
"Maybe I am."
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"You mean I didn't wear this skirt for nothing?" I said, indicating my attire. "I wanted to make sure you had access if you needed it."
He didn't say anything as his hand slipped under my skirt. He sucked in his breath when he discovered how much access he had to me. He set the car to the slowest speed possible on the way home.
* * *
I saw him again. It was when we stepped into the hotel and pulled off our mitts and hats. The man from yesterday disappeared down one of the halls.
"Did you see him again, Airik?" I asked, feeling a spike of fear pierce my heart. He might be randomly staying at the hotel, but my intuition told me otherwise. I had learned a long time ago that it was always right. "Will you have him checked out? You don't think I'm crazy, right?"
I wished again that my Dad was here. He had always been my protector. But he wasn't here, and I would have to get used to it, despite my heartache for him and anything familiar from home.
"Sure, Quinn. But why are you worried? I think you had better tell me."
Tell him? I couldn't tell him the whole story, but I would have to give him something.
"It sounds silly, but when I left home, I was being persecuted. There was a cult that was trying to...well, they were attempting to kill me. I'm afraid they might have followed me here."
"Pursuing you seems unlikely when you consider the expense," Airik said.
"I'm probably just being paranoid." I tried to dismiss my concern just like he did.
