Alpha Star: Big Sky Alien Mail Order Brides #1 (Intergalactic Dating Agency): Intergalactic Dating Agency (10 page)

She kept her eyelids clenched tight. “It’s just a little vertigo. It’ll pass.”

“Open your eyes.”

She wrinkled her nose instead. “Bossy,” she reminded him.

He gave her hair a tug. “If you want that second orgasm…”

Cautiously, she squinted at him. “Are your eyes really that blue?”

“Yes. Are your eyes really that bad?”

“Unfortunately not so much my eyes as my brain. It’s an old injury, mostly better, but…” She loosened her death grip on his neck just a little. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to strangle you.”

“It’s fine. But better when you do it down here.” He slipped his hand between their bodies and found the swollen, sensitive nub of her clit.

She caught her breath, and so did he when her pussy tightened around him. He eased out then in again, watching her closely.

“Keep your eyes open,” he demanded. “You’re not spinning anywhere without me.”

She wanted to tease him again, but the embarrassing disclosure was a reminder that this was just a one-night stand. They didn’t have a cosmic connection, but neither did she have to impress him. They could just be what they were: two people enjoying the moment, even if it was
only
a moment.

She slipped her hands down his chest to frame his lean hips and guided him into her again. “Okay, you got me.”

“Never give up so easily to a mercenary.” He made it sound like a threat.

She nodded carefully, glad her vision didn’t wobble. “I’ll make a note.”

He gave her a slow, sensual stroke. “To be clear, I mean other mercs,” he said in a silky voice. “Not me.”

She nodded against the pillow. “Because you’re different.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how different.” His eyes gleamed with that unbelievably blue fire.

“I think I’m realizing,” she said.

“I should hope so.

To punish him for teasing her with the tip of his hot cock, she angled her hips just enough away from him that he almost popped out, and with a growl he lunged to take her again.

“Didn’t want to give in too easy,” she said.

“I’ll make it hard.”

He was good for it, she knew. Maybe too good. As he roused her again, her mind started to spin. She closed her eyes and hung on.

“No.” He pinned her to his chest. “Keep your eyes on me.”

But his eyes were so blue, like falling upward into the big sky. Every muscle in her tightened as if she were dangling over the edge of an upside down cliff, terrified of the plunge.

“Zoe,” he warned. His jaw was clenched as tight as she was, his face flushed with an almost golden glow.

She clung to him, even her inner muscles holding him tight, not wanting to let him go. “Sin,” she breathed.

He manacled her wrists with his gloved hand and straightened her arms above her head, arching her into him. “I got you,” he rasped. He lowered his head to her breast and sucked hard on the distended peak of her nipple. The wet, succulent pull of his lips and the hard flick of his tongue piercing zinged through her like a jolt of lightning, illuminating her from within.

Like the slow motion collapse of a soap bubble, she came, rainbow scraps of pleasure drenching her. He thrust again, and the shards of her orgasm blasted apart in all directions. But instead of vertigo, she felt as if she flew with them in a million pieces, a brilliant, exhilarating dance on the edge of oblivion.

He plunged again and she choked on a hoarse, muffled scream as the orgasm rolled onward. Oh god, how could it be still coming? The slick spear of his cock pinned her to the bed and thrust her into a wild sphere of sensation. With her arms overhead she couldn’t hold herself to the earth, and she spun out to the farthest reaches.

He chanted her name in a low, rough voice that reached deep inside her and unearthed another spasm of pleasure. Each pulsing thrust sent her spiraling, and she writhed against him. He brought his mouth crashing down on hers. No lightning bolt this time, but an extinction-level volcanic event. As she came apart in a geyser of brilliant, fiery sparks, she was dimly aware of him exploding into her with a guttural shout.

At this point, she couldn’t care if they were too loud. She didn’t know what sound a meteor made as it streaked across the sky, but shattering in a blaze of glory was worth some ribbing from her roommates.

The afterglow lasted longer than any shooting star. She felt as if they were hovering, each slowing breath wafting them higher for a moment before easing them down, still glowing but less like a meteorite and more like dandelion fluff floating in sunlight.

She groaned out a contented breath but then couldn’t take another as his heavy form crushed her into the mattress.

“Uh, Sin?” she croaked.

“All those victorious battles,” he mumbled, “and in the end, I was destroyed by a small Earther female.”

She shoved at his chest. “Hey, not so small.”

“I yield.” He rolled away from her push, dragging her with him so she sprawled across his chest.

He didn’t feel very yielding. Despite the silky smoothness of his skin, the muscle underneath was still taut under her, as if he could hold her up all night.

And his cock was still hard inside her. Despite their vigorous banging, she didn’t feel roughed up inside. If anything, she felt as if she’d been giving a vag massage. Was that even a thing? Oh, he was very good. She almost preened at how good she’d chosen.

Still, she shouldn’t use and abuse him. She started to lift herself off his cock, but he tightened his arm around the small of her back.

“Just stay another moment,” he murmured.

Her smug satisfaction melted like warm icing at his wistful request. Dawww, she wouldn’t have guessed he was a cuddler. She relaxed again, pillowing her cheek on his shoulder. With one hand resting on her hip, he folded his other arm under her head to pump up the muscle, and she let out a satisfied sigh.

She could just fall asleep right here… She forced her eyes open, because as fun as it’d been, she wasn’t going to be unconscious in the arms of a stranger. From the angle where she rested, she was looking at his handsome profile. Straight nose, sharp cheekbones, no wonder she’d mistaken him for a Hollywood leading man. The blue eyes were closed, the corner of his mouth gently quirked, and she wondered at his post-coital thoughts. Not that she was going to ask, that would be too intimate.

More intimate than his cock still impaling her?

She let her gaze drop and found herself staring at his ear.

Which was pierced.

Wait, when had he put an earring in? Not that she minded a bit of decorative body mod, if that was his thing—especially when his thing worked so nicely on her thing—but how had she missed it? The gold loop wasn’t huge, and it clung close to his skin, almost as if it was part of him, but it gleamed clearly in the harsh light of her bedroom. Were her eyes getting worse?

She cleared her throat. “I liked that piercing.”

For a moment, he was silent, and she wondered if he’d fallen asleep. But he cracked one eye open and rotated his head to face her, hiding the earring. “What?”

“Your tongue.” Her cheeks heating. “It was nice. Does it match the one in your ear?”

“My…” He rolled his head away from her, touching the gold ring.

The spot on her hip where his hand had rested felt chilled without his touch. When he dropped his hand and looked at her again, his expression was equally cool, and she swore his jaw worked as if he was checking his tongue.

“I’m glad it pleased you.” The odd inflection in his voice that she hadn’t been able to identify before was stronger than ever.

She raised her head and frowned, uncertain of his mood. “Maybe I should…”

His hands on her hips steadied her as she pulled away. She couldn’t help but look down. There was that faint, hazy glow again, as if the light above him was reflecting weirdly off his cum-slicked dick…

Then she noticed the ragged tatters of the condom still wrapped around him.

“Oh fuck.” She jolted back and clamped her hand over her mound. Little late, of course.

He followed her glance. “I’m sorry. Was it a keepsake?”

“What? No. It was…supposed to keep me from getting pregnant.” Her heart slammed. “It wasn’t
that
old.” And she’d known he was big and powerful, but not
that
powerful to punch right through the latex.

Sin pushed up onto one elbow, touching his earring again. “Don’t concern yourself with that.”

She glared at him. “Easy for you to say.”

He glanced up distractedly then focused on her. “I’m not fertile. And I carry no communicable diseases.”

She grabbed the mussed top cover of the bed and pulled it toward her. “I’m sorry. Not about the no diseases thing. But no kids. I mean, if you wanted them, since you said you came from a big family.” Just because she wasn’t ready for unplanned motherhood didn’t mean she should cheer his sterility.

He shook his head. “It’s…temporary. When I find my bride, the condition will reverse itself.”

She’d heard of male birth control shots in development but hadn’t realized anyone used them yet. Of course a sexy foreign prince would get it first. Keep from knocking up the peasants like her.

For which she was glad. He could save it for his bride, whoever she ended up being.

The thought made Zoe yank the blanket higher. The twinge in her chest was just a reaction to the shock of seeing that poor exploded condom.

Sin rolled off the bed to his feet. He peeled out of the condom remnants and followed her gesture to the trash can before turning back to face her.

Against the boring white walls of her room, which she’d never gotten around to decorating even though she worked in a thrift shop, his big, muscular frame was almost dazzlingly exotic. And erotic. No poster would ever replace the vision of him emblazoned permanently on her mind’s eye. Even if she someday went blind.

She bit her lower lip. “We…probably shouldn’t trust the other condoms. But there are other things we could do.”

He stalked back to the edge of the bed, his blue gaze so intense she swore it sparked off her skin. He grasped the edge of the cover and tugged. “Show me.”

Sin left the small domicile before the rising of the singular pallid sun.

Zoe was still asleep in the rumpled bed. The sex had knocked them both out. Or maybe that had been what she called “the late-night munchies” which were also very enjoyable. But after only a couple hours, he’d repositioned himself on her pillow, bumped his ear, and awakened himself from the unfamiliar sensation of the
singilt
ring.

He’d been so angry about his cybernetic hand, but it was his own body that had betrayed him.

The mating rings weren’t supposed to appear until he’d pledged himself, giving his mate the chance to win his rings. Jaxian biology had evolved to exude the heavy metals that were prevalent in their environment. When a metal-lord had matured enough to seek a mate, the
singilt
rings would display his readiness. But he hadn’t felt the mating instinct yet. Other than being forced by Gre-Gre in order to claim his solar system.

Maybe the implanted servos and biologics to rebuild his hand had accidentally triggered his body to start producing the
singilt
. He’d thought he had time to choose his bride and explain the unique aspects of metal-lord physiology.

Now he just had to hope he wouldn’t die.

This intergalactic dating game was more dangerous than all his lightyears as a merc.

Zoe kept her breathing slow and even until Sin quietly left her room. Then she held her breath while she listened…yeah, there went the front door.

She curled tighter into the blanket he had smoothed around her shoulders when he rose. And to think she’d been planning to share her leftover day-old—well, two-day-old—Twinkle, Twinkle frosted star cookies with him for breakfast.

Fine. More for her anyway.

Against her very best judgment, she jumped out of bed and went to the window. She nudged aside the curtain and peered out. Her bedroom and Delaney’s both faced the front of the house, so she should be able to see—there he was. The sun hadn’t come up yet, but the sky was a tarnished silver.

Kind of like her memory of the night would be.

Oh, but he really was fine. His butt in those slightly odd jeans deserved a statue or something. He was headed back toward town, the fog of his breath ringing him like a fading ghost. She put her hand to the glass. Yeah, it was cold out. But he could’ve stayed. She might’ve even fallen asleep at some point, once they finally turned off the light.

She pushed away from the window before he disappeared down the street. She had enough blankets in the bed to be warm by herself.

But even though she snuggled deep, she was too wired to close her eyes and finally sleep. What a weird day and night it’d been. Like one long dream.

Finally admitting there was no way she’d doze off now, she shoved back the covers. A glint on the sheets caught her eye and she squinted. A quick sweep of her hand over the fabric made the little glints dance. They looked like…flakes of gold?

She shook her head, hid the glints back under the covers, and padded into the shared bathroom to set herself to rights.