“Boss, you ready?” Nerus called. “You’re late!” He gave the door another pound with his fist before his footsteps retreated.
Cora backed away from me, her shoulders slumping.
Just ask me, Aneah. Forget dinner. I’ll blow it off to bed you if you just ask me to.
But she didn’t. She went to the bed and picked up my clothes. Bringing them to me, she didn’t shy away from my nudity as I put them on. My eyes barely left hers, and her eyes didn’t leave my body. She had the whole suite smelling like a zibe grove at the end of season, lush and sweet. She was going to kill me.
“Which shoes should I wear?” she asked, finally turning when I was almost done, and producing two pairs of shoes. One set was gold, obviously picked out by Thisa. They were flat wedges dripping with gold chains. Cora could burn them for all I cared.
“Wear yours,” I said, cock twitching in my pants at the prospect of seeing her in them all night. If she wore them when I bent her over the bed, her feet wouldn’t dangle.
Cora smirked like she knew what I was thinking as she tossed the gold shoes on a chair and headed for the door. Her cat gave me a squinty-eyed glare from the pillows on Cora’s bed where he’d curled up like a little king. I thought he might be onto me, too, and he did not approve.
CHAPTER 24
CORA
Yiri was the meanest,hottest, most wicked alien husband I could have picked for myself.Why wouldn’t he fuck me?I could barely get him to kiss me or even touch me. Right before dinner, I thought it was finally going to happen, but Nerus interrupted. The tension was slowly killing me. Seriously, one more minute of that nonsense and I would have dropped to my knees, ripped off his towel and swallowed his cock.Try not to screw me then!
But apparently Yiri’s Uncle Zacal had demanded that my husband take me to dinner. Yiri explained that it was important that we be seen together in public often, at least for a while, to avoid conflict with the Cendaquans. I wasn’t an expert on alien diplomacy, but as a woman, if the man who snubbed my marriage proposal started parading his new wife around as publicly as possible, I’d be pretty pissed. But whatever. This was his world, not mine, and I didn’t mind going to dinner. I was pretty hungry.
We did talk about the cekets over dinner, as promised. Yiri tried his best to convince me that it would be safe for me to swim with the cekets he considered his, even though they were wild and not at all pets. He said they were loyal to those who helped them, and he fed them often. He thought that loyalty wouldextend to me as his mate, but I wasn’t all that eager to put his theory to the test.
We ate at a restaurant that was more like a palace, if you asked me. It had stone turrets and everything. We sat on a terrace overlooking the ocean, a burbling water feature nearby drowning out the murmured conversations of other tables. But we were very clearly the topic of discussion for all of them.Everyonewas staring at us.
“Are you kind of a big deal around here, or is my dress as shocking as I thought it might be?” I asked Yiri, nearing the end of our meal.
“A little of both,” he grinned. “I can’t take full credit for the attention we’re getting. I’m not sure some of them have even noticed I’m here.”
I scoffed. “Please. Every female here is drooling over you.”And sizing me up.
“Every male here wants to take you home,” Yiri countered.
“Well, too bad for all of them,” I said a little tartly. “Because you’re mine.”
Yiri’s answering smile was devilish. “Is my wife feeling territorial?”
I bounced my shoulder and sipped some of the zibe wine Yiri ordered for me, shooting for nonchalant when I felt anything but. “So what if I am?”
“Will you think I’m a very bad male if I tell you I like it?” he asked. The gleam in his eye told me he’d enjoy my jealousy whether I liked it or not.
“I already suspect you are,” I said, dryly.
“It’s an interesting position to find myself in,” he said. “I knew I’d be jealous of any male looking at you, but I never expected you to feel the same about me.”
“You didn’t think I’d be jealous of all the women—females—who look up when you walk by?”
He made a face. “They don’t,” he said. “They might glance my way and then take a step back, but they aren’t appreciating me the way these males appreciate you.”
I snorted. “Riiiight.”
He dipped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “They don’t. I’m infamous. That’s all. No female is looking for an old thug like me, no matter how much money and influence I have.”
I blinked at him.Was he for real?
“Okay, first of all,” I said, holding up a finger, “I wasn’t looking for anyone at all, and you came along and convinced me to leave my solar system in a matter of weeks. You think I’d have hopped a transport vessel for just anyone?”
“Better be glad you didn’t,” he growled. “It would not have gone well for your husband when I found you.”
