Rathal waved his hand in front of his face in a gesture of nonchalance. “Oh, just a few simple things… like property, shipping lines, credit accounts, business stakes, jewels, cloth, and a very lucrative portion of a coffee making enterprise that I’ve started.”
Som’ae chuckled gleefully as she picked up the next holoscreen. “You have just become the second largest shareholder in Erral, don’t let him fool you.”
The part of me that had always felt guilty receiving gifts shivered in revulsion, but the new and improved Callie that I was carefully cultivating clapped her hands and nodded that it was her due.
“Okay. Cool. Totally fine. Um… who’s the number one shareholder?” I was pretty sure I already knew, but I asked anyway.
“Why, me, of course,” Som’ae said, smirking briefly before growing serious again. “Now, the second contract portion includes management of personal assets and loss prevention…"
“Oh my god, that was worse than any legal proceedings on Earth,” I said, falling into one of the plush chairs in Rathal’s bedroom with a groan. There were several large windows in here, but metal shutters were drawn shut to block out the Light, to which I was thankful because exhaustion pulled at me like a persistent child.
The contracts had seemed unending, new ones seemingly appearing on Som’ae’s desk out of thin air. Just when I thought we’d reached the bottom of one stack, another appeared. We’d been stuck in that office for hours. It was Light now and my body was reminding me I’d gotten my back blown out recently and I needed my beauty rest. And a shower. And a drink. And a brace for my wrist from holding it out over so many goddamned tablets.
“What, did you think we’d just sign on the dotted line, say ‘I do’ and be done with it?”
I shot him a bleary eyed glare. “Yes?”
Rathal snorted, taking the seat across from me and kicking off his boots to wriggle his toes in the fur rug covering his fancy pink floors.
“The lines at the processing stations should have disabused you of that notion early on. Here on Erral, we have a form for everything and everything is in writing. We’re criminals, darling. Not a very trusting lot.”
I groaned again and let my head fall back against the back of the chair, closing my eyes against the headache that had formed somewhere between forms 8 and 447.
It was quiet for a long, blessed moment and then Rathal’s soft voice slipped through the shadows of his room.
“You do realise we are married now, yes? You had a very dissociated look towards the end there, and I worry that you missed the part where your name became my own.”
The humor in his voice was edged with legitimate concern and that, more than being married now, had my eyes flying open and my back straightening.
I chose my words carefully. “Yes. I am very aware we are married.” I stood, closing the distance between us to straddle his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. “There are no regrets, second guessing, or doubts. I fully consented to becoming yours, Rathal.” I smiled as his face softened. “I’m just tired. That was ridiculous. You should think about shortening that whole process.”
Rathal’s hands smoothed up my thighs to settle on my ass and he cleared his throat before giving each cheek a good squeeze. “Yes, well that has been the topic of several Assemblies. And—strictly legally speaking—you didn’t so much as become mine as I became yours. I am now Ra Rathal NulKal Som’Val Ra’Roshal Johnson Ramirez.”
I mouthed ‘wow’ and pursed my lips. “What if I want your last name? Or surname—uh family name? Whatever you aliens call it.”
“Family name works. Clan name is closer to correct,” he explained, smiling.
“Alright,” I said, shrugging. “What’s your clan name then?”
His hands drifted around my hips and shifted me ever so slightly back and forth over his growing erection while hepressed upwards. His gaze dropped to where we touched and grew heavy.
“Ra’Roshal is my grandmother’s mother’s name,” he murmured distractedly.
I, myself, was growing distracted too, especially as he grew harder and harder beneath me. I was wearing the same soft, thin cloth pants that had become a regular part of my wardrobe and since he’d donned the soft ‘tactical’ pants instead of his usual leather attire I could feel every inch of him through our clothes.
I was reaching for the hem of my shirt when his hands left my hips and grabbed my wrists, stopping me. I gave him a questioning look and he shook his head, a crooked smile forming.
“Would you like to finish what we started earlier?”
I wrinkled my brows. “ Uh, did we not already do that?”
I mean the sex had been pretty vigorous, so I’m not sure how he’d forgotten about it already.
Rathal laughed, his teeth flashing bright in the low lighting of his room. “No, not that part, glorious as it was. I’m talking about our chase and catch game. I interrupted it.”
Oh. A sharp spear of heat hit me low in my belly and my pussy took that moment to clench against my will. Rathal’s nostrils flared and his grin widened.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he purred and stood abruptly, taking me with him.
