Chapter 20
Sylvia, the first woman to prove that life existed on other planets, currently regretted that discovery. X’s demands had her speechless, but she didn’t get the ability to respond because his brother called, pulling the handsome thing from the bathroom.
What kind of a man tells you that he'll give you a ticket home if you sleep with him? Then he rushes you out of the bath because his brother is on his way over? His brother, the Minister of Defense, who thinks you took down the planetary defense grid because you're secretly working for seven-foot-tall blocks of Jell-O.
"Dr. Cohen, you either drag yourself out here now, or I'm coming in to get you, clothed or not."
Thatkind of man. A demanding, egotistical, and annoyingly sexy man who was also the Supreme Regent of the planet. A planet full of people who also thought she was working for the enemy.
Sylvie sighed.Look at the bright side. At least he stopped his scientists from dissecting you.
She shivered at the thought and got up, tugging the towel from a nearby rack and stepping onto the cold floor.
"Dr. Cohen!" His voice was right outside the doorway.
"I'm coming!" she grumbled, wiggling this way and that, trying to squeeze into the strangulation device that Zantharian women considered clothing. She'd just managed to work the pants over her hips, considering all the while if it would be better to lose her panties to gain a spare centimeter. Sylvie turned around, then slapped her arms across her naked breasts.
The Supreme Regent was leaning against the alien doorframe, a strained look on his face.
"Get out!" she yelled, looking around for something to throw at the regent.
"You're taking forever. My brother will be here any minute and I meant what I said about not letting you out of my sight."
"But you just let me out of your sight so that I could get dressed. You stood out in the hall."
His expression didn't change. She almost had expected his skin to shift to yellow, but instead a faint orange hue had appeared.What did orange mean?
"You didn't wait in the hall, did you?"
"I did," he said. The orange coloring remained.
"But I wasn't out of your sight?"
X's eyes wandered down her body and she shivered, turned away from him for a momentary pause on the rising desire to give in to his demands. Her nipples hardened painfully and she glanced down before steeling herself. She was a grown woman. Pretending that she wasn’t was not going to help her current situation. She spun on her heel and took a step toward him.
"Stop ogling me and answer the question!"
The regent's eyes returned to hers, then skittered away. "I observed you from my console. It's the only way I could be certain that you haven't been infiltrated."
"So you watched me get dressed. After I asked you not to?"
"You didn't ask me not to watch you. You asked me to leave the room, which I did. You still owe me an answer to my request."
Sylvie rolled her eyes. If she wouldn't have had to bare a breast by removing her hand, she would have slapped him in the chest.
Go ahead. Put your hand down.He's already seen it all anyway.
"Unbelievable," she hurled at him, then turned her back to him and fastened her top as quickly as possible. Modesty had been too much a part of her past to squelch it in the moment. "Watching me while I change. Making lascivious propositions instead of politely sending me home."
Sylvie embraced her anger. He'd earned it and it felt so much better than the desire to slut herself for a ride home. She hadn’t slept with a man in far too long and not really knowing what was beneath his sarong left her feeling almost dirty in wanting to find out. She was raised a prude and there was no way she was getting past being one because a sexy alien requested that she did.
She pushed past him into the hallway and headed toward the sitting room.
"If this were Earth, you'd be kicked out of the office for sexual harassment. Maybe they'd even throw you in jail." She stomped into the sitting room, giving full rein to her frustration. "In fact--"
Sylvie froze. Another alien was already in the room. A maroon alien with familiar features.
X was standing in front of her with his back to her before she could blink. He was protecting her. His actions caused her angst to die down… fast.
