Bad Boy Romance: Nick (Romantic Suspense Alpha Male Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Contemporary Short Stories) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 2) (29 page)

****

James was standing outside her
house when Alexis ran back through the door and out into the sunlight. Without
a word she started back toward the crash site. The bag over her shoulder
contained several of the items from the black box and she stayed silent to
steel herself for what awaited her at the mangled ship.

Her father fell into step beside
her and Alexis allowed herself to find comfort in his presence. As long as she
could remember it had been just the two of them. She had followed in his
footsteps going into the military, taking a medical path rather than the combat
duties he assumed, and even as an adult still admired and looked up to him.

As soon as they crested the hill
she could see the changes that had come over the crash scene. The flames were
gone and only shadowy remnants of smoke remained in the sky. They drew closer and
she could hear strange clicking sounds coming from deep within the metal.
Reaching into the bag, she withdrew a long knife. The edge of the blade
sparkled with the tiny microchips embedded along the metal. She turned the hilt
around in her palm, feeling the heft of the weapon.

"I need you to stay out
here and watch the ship," she told James, "Call in to me if you
notice anything strange."

"Like what?" he asked,
a hint of both confusion and concern in his voice.

"You'll know," she
told him, ducking down to enter the ship again.

Around her the crashed vessel
was eerily quiet except for the clicking. She moved along the hallway
cautiously, watching the red glow from the emergency lights for any sign of
shadows or movement. The sound of a piece of metal falling to the floor ahead
of her startled her and Alexis pressed herself to the wall. Sliding around the
corner, she saw what made the sound.

A panel lay on the floor beneath
an exposed section of the internal components of the ship. Tiny lights flashed
within the components, occasionally joined by a small spark. She watched the
section in silence for a few seconds. Nervousness rolled through her belly and
her hand twitched on the hilt of the knife. A moment later, the flashing diodes
within the components disappeared as something dark slithered across them.

Alexis surged forward, pushing
herself off the wall to propel her body toward the open section of the wall.
She brought the knife down into the thick black tentacle with all of the
strength she could put behind it. It bucked against her, nearly shoving her
back against the wall, but she held her ground, keeping the knife deeply buried
in the rubbery, muscular creature.

A strangled animal scream
reverberated through the ship and Alexis finally withdrew the knife.
Oily-looking blood obscured the glitter from the microchips and she carefully
returned the knife to her bag. The tentacle coiled, then shot down toward the
floor, extending from the wall as it slithered toward her. Alexis jumped away
from it and began to run.

She could feel the creature
hitting the backs of her heels as she ran, pushing her to run faster and harder
until she finally burst out of the ship into her father's arms.

"Alexis! What was that
scream?"

"Come on," she said
without answering his question, "we need to get back to my house."

Out of the corner of her eye she
saw the end of the tentacle dip out of the door, then recoil back into the
ship. She met James's eyes, then started back toward her house.

Tyrok was quiet on the bed when she
entered her bedroom, but she knew that was only an effect of the drug she had
injected into his heart. It would not last for long without the next step of
the treatment. She pulled the knife out and let the bag drop to the floor.
Coming to the side of the bed, she gazed down at him. He was gorgeous, more
beautiful than any man she had ever seen, and she felt drawn to him.

She paused long enough to run
her fingers along the curves of his face. Her heart was pounding in her chest
and she felt tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she
whispered and reached forward to draw the knife from the base of his throat
down the middle of his chest.

She stopped right above his
heart and tilted the knife, pushing the tip deeper into his skin. Bright green
blood slicked across his body and he arched toward the pressure of the knife.
Alexis watched as the microchips glowed, lighting up as if drawing power out of
Tyrok's body. When they went dark, she pulled the knife away and dropped it on
the floor, no longer wanting to see it.

"Alexis? Are you
alright?" James asked from the doorway.

She hadn't realized that he was
standing there and felt self-conscious in the way that she gazed at Tyrok.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she dipped a fresh cloth into the water basin
and started carefully washing the blood away from his chest.

"I'm fine," she said,
putting as much conviction into the words as she could.

"No, you're not. What just
happened?"

"I'm fine, Dad. I'm a
doctor. This is what I trained to do. I can't get emotional about it."

"But you are. What did you
just do to him?"

"There is something in the
ship. It embedded Tyrok with control chips so that he and the ship were linked.
He was the only one on it because he was all the creature needed. When the ship
crashed, it lifted some of the control, but the creature is trying to fix it,
which means interfering with the components directly linked to Tyrok. It must
have damaged them, because he was crashing. As the creature tried to repair the
ship, it was killing him."

"I don't understand."

Alexis finished washing Tyrok
and dried him carefully.

"I need you to help me lift
him so I can wrap his chest and change the sheets on the bed. He's going to
have to stay here for a while."

James allowed the conversation
to drop as he helped her lift Tyrok off of the bed and place him carefully on
the sofa in the living room so that she could replace the bedding that was now
soaked in blood and water. He continued to prop him up as Alexis wound long
strips of gauze around him to cover the wounds on his chest, then lowered him
carefully to the sheets.

"I had to deactivate the
control chips," she said softly as she brought the cool, fresh sheet up
over Tyrok.

"Is he going to be
alright?" James asked.

"I hope so."

****

For days Tyrok lay still and
silent in Alexis's bed. She knew his body was fighting to regain control of
itself and restore order now that the chips were no longer controlling him. She
found herself talking to him as she went about her duties, telling him about
herself, the mission, her worries, and anything that came to mind.

Rather than asking for her
father's help, she changed his bandages herself, cutting the strips away to
reveal his healing wounds and then allowing his body to rest against hers as
she propped him up to wrap him in new gauze. Each time she looked at him she
felt herself falling harder for him. He was startlingly attractive, but she
felt a connection to him that went beyond just the smoothness of his skin, the
curve of his full lips, and the long eyelashes curled against his cheeks.

It had been more than a week
since the crash when she came in from a particularly difficult day, bathed, and
stopped by her bed to touch his face before going into the living room to sleep
on the couch. As she stood there, however, the empty space beside him on the
bed seemed to call out to her. The expanse looked cool and soft. She had had
James help her change the sheets again the day before and she could still smell
the fresh scent clinging to the fabric.

Her entire body seemed to
release its tension at once as Alexis lowered herself to the mattress and
rested back into the pillows. After a week sleeping on the couch the bed felt
heavenly beneath her. The sensation of Tyrok so close to her only increased the
feeling of calm and she curled onto her side with her back to him so she could
drift to sleep.

Alexis didn't realize how deeply
she was sleeping until she suddenly snapped awake. For a moment she didn't know
what had awoken her, then she felt the movement beside her again and realized
that Tyrok was stirring. She remained still, not wanting to startle him any
more than just waking up beside a stranger probably already would by turning
over to face him.

She expected him to jump out of
the bed and start asking questions, but instead he surprised her by sliding
closer. The warmth of his body wrapped around her, drawing up against her back
to tuck himself into all of her curves. She gasped slightly and felt him touch
a hand to her hip, then draw it up and drape it around her waist.

"Tyrok," she started,
but didn't know how to continue.

His face nuzzled her hair at the
back of her neck.

"I could hear you," he
said softly, the sound of his voice sending a shiver down her spine.

"When?" she asked.

"Every day. I could hear
you talking to me. It is the only thing that kept me going."

He touched a kiss to the back of
her shoulder. She sighed at the feeling and rolled over so that she faced him.
Their bodies touched lightly and their faces were so close Alexis could feel
his breath on her lips.

"Tell me more," Tyrok
whispered and she smiled.

"About what?"

"About you. I want to know
everything."

She laughed and cuddled a little
closer to him, tucking her hands under her cheek.

"There isn't much to tell.
I have been here for almost two years and before that I was in the military
back home, and before that I was raised by a military man, which basically
means I was always in the military."

She laughed again and he smiled.
Her heart soared.

"Are you ever homesick?"
he asked.

Alexis nodded.

"Sometimes. It's just so
different here, but I've only ever had my father, so at least he's here with
me."

"What do you miss the most
about Earth?"

Alexis let out a long breath of
air, looking into the distance as she pondered his question. There were many
things that she missed about the comfort of her home planet, but finally she
settled on the one thing that pulled at her the most.

"The stars. I always loved
looking at the stars. It never gets dark for long enough here to see
them."

She looked back into Tyrok's
face and saw him smiling at her.

"Watch this," he
whispered and rolled onto his back.

Alexis followed his lead,
flipping onto her back so that her shoulder touched his. Tyrok reached beside
him to the bedside table and closed the cover down over the small nightlight
she had placed on the table the week before as if to keep vigil over him.
Alexis had drawn the light-blocking curtains and suddenly they were in nearly
complete darkness.

She felt Tyrok sit up slightly
then heard a sound as if he was blowing out a stream of air. Above her the
ceiling shimmered then came to life with dozens of tiny balls of light. They
glittered against the darkness, shifting every few moments to create patterns
and familiar constellations.

Alexis gasped, but couldn't
move. She stared at the stars surrounding her and felt emotion welling in her
throat. A few tiny sounds escaped her lips and Tyrok rested back against the
pillows.

"You're –" she
started, but paused again.

"Yes."

Alexis gave a short laugh.

"I didn't think you were
real," she shook her head and tried to come up with the words to make more
sense, "I mean, Star Lords. I thought they were just a fairy tale."

"Do you think that I'm just
a fairy tale?" he asked and she noticed his voice had dropped lower.

She turned back onto her side to
face him at the same moment that he rolled toward her.

"Maybe," she breathed
and felt his hand come to her cheek.

His thumb stroked her cheekbone
gently, then he ran his fingertips along the curve of her jaw. Using his hand
to steady her head, he drew his face closer and touched his lips to hers.

****

Tyrok lifted his lips from hers
and stared into her face as if evaluating her reaction. In the shimmer of
starlight she could see his stunning, unworldly eyes and felt like she was
falling into them. After a moment he brought his mouth back to hers. Alexis
relaxed into the kiss, complying with the pressure of his mouth to open her
lips. He coaxed her tongue forward and stroked it with his, eliciting a small
moan from her throat.

Alexis felt Tyrok press his body
closer to hers, then loop an arm around her waist so he could lift her up and
roll onto his back to bring her down on top of him. She slid against him and
felt the roughness of the gauze on his wounds touch the sliver of skin exposed
between the hem of her shirt and her waistband.

"Are you ok?" she
asked.

Tyrok nodded, lifting his head
to capture her mouth in another kiss. When they parted, Alexis pushed back so
that she sat on her knees straddling his hips. She tucked her fingers under the
end of the bandage and loosened it. Moving slowly, she pulled the layers of the
gauze so that they slid out of place. As they unwound from around him the
bandages revealed his chiseled body and a scar down the center of his chest
from where she cut him.

Tossing the bandages aside,
Alexis leaned down and touched a kiss to the scar. Tyrok sighed beneath her and
she continued, trailing her lips up his chest and onto his neck. Tyrok's hands
came up to cup her hips, his fingertips kneading into her. They moved up so
that he could grasp the hem of her shirt and pull it up over her head, dropping
it over the edge of the bed.

He rolled them over so that he
hovered over her, nudging her thighs apart with his so that he could settle his
hips between them. Alexis felt his hand come to the front of her bra and
release the clasp. She shifted her weight to allow him to peel the garment away
and toss it aside to join her shirt. His mouth dropped to one breast and Alexis
gasped, arching against the feeling of his tongue slipping around her hardened
nipple.

Tyrok's mouth traveled over to
give the same attention to the other nipple, then moved onto her belly. The tip
of his tongue touched her skin, dragging down toward her hips and dipping into
her navel. He kissed down to the waistband of her pants and Alexis felt herself
writhing in anticipation of a more intimate touch. She felt his hands come to
the front of her pants to unfasten them and he blew a cool stream of air against
the skin he had dampened with his tongue. Alexis's breath caught in her throat
and she lifted her hips, allowing him to ease her pants down over her hips and
off of her.

His fingers hooked around the
waistband of her panties and soon the damp scrap of lace joined the rest of her
clothing on the floor. Alexis felt suddenly shy as Tyrok's eyes grazed over her
appreciatively. He touched his fingertips to the side of her ribs, trailing
them down to trace the curve of her waist, over the swell of her hip, and then
down her thigh.

Alexis drew in a breath as his
touch continued up the inside of her thigh and then delved into her hot, wet
core. He swirled his fingertips into the sensitive pearl of flesh at her peak
and Alexis cried out, gripping the sheets on either side of her. Tyrok paused
to let her relax, then continued his exploration of her body. A moment later,
she grabbed onto his wrist, pulling his hand away from her body and closing her
eyes.

"Wait," she panted.

"What's wrong?" Tyrok
asked, bringing his body forward to kiss her.

"Not yet," she
whispered.

Tyrok smiled at her and brought
himself down on top of her so that she could feel the weight of his body from
her legs up to her shoulders. She reveled in the pressure, bringing her hands
to the small of his back to hold him closer. His mouth played across hers and
his hips began to rock against hers. She felt the hardness of his erection
nudging her and she bit her lip against the delicious sensation.

Alexis slipped her hands between
them to release his pants and then paused. She closed her eyes, again trying to
come up with the right words.

"When you say that you are
a stunning facsimile of a human," she began, awkwardness building in her
chest, "does that mean…" she trailed off and Tyrok laughed, leaning
down to nip at her earlobe.

"Everything is exactly as
you would expect it to be," he whispered into her ear.

Alexis felt a thrill go through
her and she continued her efforts to remove his pants.

"I think it was a perfectly
valid question," she teased. "You never know what you are going to
discover when a strange ship crash lands on your planet."

With those words Tyrok went
still against her. She wriggled her hips against him, trying to encourage him
to keep up his dizzying movements, but he remained in place.

"Oh, no," he muttered.

"What's the matter?"
she asked.

Tyrok pushed back so that he
could look at her face.

"Where is my ship? What
happened to it?"

Alexis shook her head in
confusion.

"It is right where it
crashed. What do you mean what happened to it?"

"You healed me, which means
that you went back to the ship after you brought me here."

"Yes, but I haven't been
back since."

"Oh, no. We need to go
there now. Can you show me where it is?"

Tyrok scrambled off of the bed
and Alexis felt cold, empty, and humiliated still sprawled naked across it. He
tossed her clothes onto her stomach, only worsening the feelings. She started
to dress and he must have noticed her pained expression because he paused for a
moment to touch a kiss to her lips.

"I'm so sorry, but this is
something we need to do right now."

"Why?"

"You say that you love the
stars so much, well if we don't get to my ship quickly, they might all go out
for good."