Dangerously Hers (10 page)

“Females are not allowed to train,” he said for the hundredth time.

Unperturbed, she stayed at his side.

Jess nodded toward Eva. “Can’t you use some of your influence so I can go out there with her?”

So far Eva and Lo’Ren were the only females allowed on the training field. Eva had negotiated with Taio for herself and Lo’Ren to be able to train. According to Mazel, Eva was in the process of negotiating with Taio to allow her to train other females.

Rasha turned to her. “I didn’t know you were a fighter as well. I seem to find out something new about you every day.”

She looked past him. Off in the distance, heat radiated off the lake, showing as rising steam. “I didn’t used to be but I’ve fought because I had to…”

The Mindari’s slimy tentacles were all over her.

Wet.

Cold.

Sticky liquid slid slowly down her muscles as his tentacles wrapped around her arms, torso and legs. Poking and prodding…

“Jess?”

She snapped back to reality. His concerned eyes were on her, searching her face.

Jess rubbed her arms, soothing the goose bumps that had erupted over her skin. No tentacles, no slime, but most of all, no Mindari.

He placed a gentle hand on her arm and gave her a reassuring stroke. “Females should not feel as though they need to fight,” he said softly.

She pulled away. “Yeah, well, tell that to all the women in the brothels. I’m sure they’ll agree with you.”

Jess stared across the training field. She’d never seen anyone who enjoyed fighting as much as Eva. The woman actually laughed as she somersaulted up and around one of the training simulators.

If I had martial arts training, I would have fared better in the brothels.

“So what am I supposed to do now?” Jess asked, not wanting to give up so easily.

“You may have this time to yourself.”

And that was the problem. Time to herself. Jess needed something else to do and JB wasn’t any company. She couldn’t catch him alone. Despite Eva’s warnings, wherever JB went, his small entourage of horny women followed. Something that didn’t sit well with the Sonis males.

Rasha flashed a wicked smile. “Unless you want to stay and watch me train?”

Jess rocked back on her heels. “Watch you and the other giants grunt and hit each other? Um, I think I’ll pass.”

She
so
wanted to stay and watch the way his pants hugged his legs. How every time he moved just right the outline of his thick cock could be seen.

And the sweat that dripped from him. She suppressed a shudder. Oh how she had to resist so many different urges within herself not to lick each and every drop from his chest and abdomen.

He dipped his head and sauntered to the training field. His training suit caressed every inch of his body. She groaned.

I want to trail my hands over every fine muscular line. And his ass. Wow.

Ass…so…tight. The thought of her teeth grazing across it made jaw clench. Jess tore her gaze away from his ass. She looked at the next best thing, the backs of his thighs. Very thick thighs. The kind of thighs that would feel good between her splayed legs.

When he reached the field, Rasha glanced at her over his shoulder. Catching her stare, he grinned. “Big,” he mouthed.

Heat flushed across her face. She whipped around and almost ran right into Marcie. Was it too much to ask that Marcie hadn’t seen her ogling him?

“He’s mine,” Marcie declared.

Yep, too much to ask.

Jess snorted. “Congratulations.”

She’d been ogling his body. So what? It didn’t mean anything.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Marcie said as Jess passed her.

Jess couldn’t help but stop. “And what might that be?”

Marcie took a peek at the training field then back at Jess before straightening her shoulders. “You’re trying to steal my man.”

“You mean your alien. That’s not a man over there.” Jess motioned toward the training field. “There aren’t any ‘men’ over there.”

“You’re right. Those aren’t men, those are warriors. Look around, Jess, this planet is full of strong and able warriors. Men didn’t rescue me from that asshole who bought me, a warrior did.”

“That’s because most of the men are still slaves, toiling away in work colonies,” Jess said slowly.

Marcie opened and closed her mouth as if she couldn’t find a retort.

Jess shook her head. “He’s my boss, nothing more. You can have him. He’s yours.” All she wanted to do was get away from here. “Not interested. Don’t want him.”

“He can’t stay away from me.”

Jess began to walk away but then stopped and cocked her head. “Are you forgetting that I make his schedule? He hasn’t seen you since I arrived. When’s the last time you were with him?”

Marcie’s face flushed with anger. “He’s just been busy, that’s all.”

Jess started for the palace doors. “Or maybe just bored?”

“Bored? Of me? Ha! You think you can steal him away? He wouldn’t want you anyway!” Marcie shrilled to her back.

As if.

If she were really a bitch she would tell Marcie how just moments before she had pushed Rasha’s face from her crotch, just like he was a dog in heat. But she didn’t. She was growing as a person.

“You can’t compete with me. You’re a hulking gorilla. There’s nothing feminine about you. The only reason any warrior here would even want you is to have babies and you can’t even do that!”

Jess whipped around without thinking. She balled up her fists. Marcie stood ten feet away. Her green dress accentuated her curvy frame. Dainty sandal-clad feet poked from under her hemline. Her blonde hair flowed around her angelic face.

Jess closed her mouth just as fast as she’d opened it. Marcie stared back, a satisfied smile gracing her lips.

Chapter Ten

Fuck Marcie.

That bitch could spend all afternoon fawning over Rasha for all Jess cared. Standing there, arguing with her, was Jess’ only regret. She didn’t like Rasha that way anyway. Who cared if he was fucking Marcie?

Not me.

As she stomped through the hallway, Jess finally decided this was the afternoon she would find a hobby.

Maybe she and JB could figure out how to make a rim and basketball. If she’d thought about it more, she would have brought the one they had made in Laconia.

She could blame it on boredom but all in all she missed JB. She hadn’t seen much of him since she started working and, well, he decided to fuck every female here.

“Hello.”

Jess startled at the ominous voice filling the hallway. Her flailing hand knocked over a vase of freshly cut flowers. “Holy shit, Ship. Stop doing that.”

“I am sorry.”

“Eva’s outside,” she said, righting the vase and its contents.

“I know.”

Jess glanced from side to side and rubbed her hands together. “Um…okay then.”

“Do I make you nervous?”

“No, not really… Well, maybe a little.”

“Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re nice, but…” Jess stopped and looked around again. “Where exactly are you? I feel like I’m talking to myself.”

A purple mist appeared before her. She let out a curse and took a few steps back.

“Is this better?”

“No, not really,” she said, concentrating on the see-through mist. “You can’t, like, go through me or anything, can you?”

“I could but I wouldn’t.”

A shudder ran up her spine. “Make sure you don’t touch me.”

“I’ll make a note of it. Where are you going?” Ship asked.

Right, she was going to see what JB had been up to and find a hobby. She started down the hall again with Ship following in a trailing purple mist. “I’m going to see JB.”

“He is indisposed at the moment.”

Nice way of putting it. Indisposed sounded a lot better than “he is fucking at the moment”.

Okay, sooo not hanging out with JB.

Maybe she could go through some of Rasha’s backlogged appointments. Eva hadn’t been lying. Rasha needed help. For every ten appointments set for him, he only kept two to three. Mazel had done all she could by trying to help organize his day as well as Taio’s but at some point she had just given up.

“How are you adjusting to life on Sonis?”

Jess took the next hallway that would lead her to her office. She shrugged. “It’s okay so far.”

“Are you and Rasha getting along well?”

“I guess so.” She hadn’t given it too much thought. They were getting along. It was…easy. “How long have you known Rasha?” she asked.

“I’ve known him for as long as I’ve known Taio. They were playmates as children.”

Again, she couldn’t wrap her mind around a small version of Rasha. Being small would mean he was once vulnerable. Small and vulnerable? She almost laughed out loud.

“Is he treating you well?” Ship asked.

So far he was the best boss she’d ever had. All she did was arrange his appointments and make sure he kept them. Despite his innocent flirting, he was harmless. He didn’t want her. Not really. There were too many beautiful Sonian females around, childbearing women to choose from or—she hated to admit it—Marcie to keep him busy. The attraction he was feeling or thought he felt toward her was nothing more than fleeting.

“No complaints about Rasha but what can you do to get rid of Marcie?” As far as she was concerned, if she could bury Marcie in the sand, Sonis would be the perfect place to live.

“I don’t believe you have to worry about Marcie. Despite his previous dalliances, Rasha is still unattached.”

Indisposed and now dalliances. Ship must not like saying sex, fucking, sexual relations or any other word to describe the deed. She stopped at her door as the thought hit her. “Hold on, are you trying to set me up?”

“No.”

After she scanned her hand, the door slid open. “You could have fooled me.” She made her way across her office and dropped in the chair.

Ship followed her inside. “Eva has asked me to ‘push’ for information about you and Rasha.”

Jess laughed and shook her head. “The word is pump. She wanted you to ‘pump’ me for information.” After she turned on her computer console, a holograph of Rasha’s calendar projected over her desk. “Tell Eva to mind her own business. Nothing’s going on between me and Rasha and nothing ever will.”

She used a finger to motion over the icons of appointments and business contacts. She sifted through them, categorizing them.

“Eva does need to mind her own business but I am afraid that is unlikely.” Ship let out a small sigh.

Jess snorted. “If she’s trying to play matchmaker, she failed. I don’t want one of these giant aliens.”

“Jessica, there aren’t many DNA differences between humans and Sonians.”

Her fingers froze midair. “Don’t ever call me Jessica.”

“My apologies. JB calls you Jessica, does he not?”

“Only when he’s trying to get his ass kicked,” she ground out.

“Noted.”

Her fingers thrummed against her desk. “Plus, I’m not a suitable mate. As I was just reminded by a bitch, I can’t have children.”

“I shall remind Eva.”

“Thanks.”

A knock sounded at her door, catching her attention.

Yazmine.

Jess caught her breath. “Ship…do you mind leaving us alone?”

“Of course not,” he said. The purplish haze dissipated into nothing.

“Did I interrupt you?” Yazmine asked.

The once-confident alien who had oozed sex appeal now appeared as a wounded female. Her hair was braided and knotted into a bun. Her orange-and-red gown hung loose on her frame. Her once curvy body had been replaced by skin and bones.

“No, come in.” Jess indicated the seat across from her. Nervously, she shifted around the items on her desk. She had known this day was coming but hadn’t prepared for it mentally.

Yazmine eased into the chair. “Eva suggested that I talk to you. She said you were improving from your captivity in the brothels and thought you might offer me some advice to help me get over my ordeal.”

Jess choked. “Get over it? No. I deal with it, albeit not in the best ways most days. But I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.”

Yazmine slumped in her seat. The air seemed to leave her lungs just as easily as her confidence slipped away. “I thought…” Tears streamed down her face.

Jess did something she’d never thought she would do in a million years. She got up and stood by Yazmine’s side and pulled Yazmine against her. Yazmine buried her face in Jess’ stomach and let her tears run free.

“I think about it every day. Some days more than others. The healers have taught me relaxing techniques. They help to calm me when the panic attacks come on. I’ve realized that not only am I stronger, I’m wiser. Back then I was weaponless and powerless. But now I won’t ever be caught off guard again,” Jess said.

“I’m not like you. I’m not a fighter.”

“I wasn’t either. But it’s what I’ve become. I had to fight back then and even now I have to fight to control my emotions…my thoughts.”

Yazmine shuddered. “I can’t get the images out of my mind. The slightest smells make me remember things I’d hoped to forget.”

Jess hugged Yazmine’s head. “I hope I forget in time. But in the meantime I try to use my emotions to get stronger…better.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be strong again.”

Jess cradled Yazmine’s chin. “Listen, you are strong to have gone through what you’ve been through and survived. The road to recovery will not be easy for us. But we
will
recover and we will be whole again.”

“How do you do it? How do you get out of bed every day and have the courage to live…to want to live?”

Jess released her chin. “Everyone knows that I hid on Kane’s vessel when I escaped. But…” She thought back on that night, how scared she was and how alone she had felt.

Thinking and reliving those first days brought the familiar overwhelming sense of pain to the surface. Shaking, she lowered herself to the floor.

“Jess.” Yazmine crawled onto the floor next to her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I’ve upset you.”