Suddenly a Bride (3 page)

His body was getting tense, and that was not a good sign.  It might have been eighteen years ago since he last ejaculated, but he remembered the way his body tensed right before it
happened.  H
e searched for another room
,
but the nearest one marked was several yards away and by the way his
body tensed
, he knew he wasn’t going to make it.

He turned his face to the wall and muffled his cry of pleasure as
he ejaculated
.  He stayed
as
still as he could with his body wanting to jerk in response to his orgasm.  He didn’t remember it being this intense, but it was and he was sure it was back then too. 
His breathing still heavy, he glanced over his shoulder and saw a female creature give him a look of disgust before she continued walking down the hall.

His face flushed with both embarrassment and anger.  Maybe he could have found a private place sooner, but did she need to stand there and gawk at him?  At least the rest of the area was vacant.  The brochure was still in front of him, so he dared a peek at the result of his accident.  The entire pubic area of his suit was wet, as was the front of the brochure.

He sighed.  He couldn’t exactly go to Earth in this suit.  What
he needed were some new clothes
and to find a place to
hide from onlookers
in case this happened again before he was due to depart for Earth.  He didn’t think his body could gear up again that soon, but he needed to be prepared.  Obviously, this wasn’t
something he could control.

Knowing it looked suspicious, he kept the brochure over the evidence and searched for a clothing shop.  He found a place that sold clothes from a variety of different worlds, and among them were Earth clothes
.  Excited, he pulled the shirt
and pants off the shelf
and paid for them.

The first thing he did was find a resting room, which of course was empty now that he didn’t have an immediate need for it, and threw out his old clothes.  He cleaned himself up the best he could and realized too late that he didn’t have underwear.  Oh well.  He’d get some on Earth.  His life mate would know where to go for stuff like that.

Once he put on the t-shirt and jeans, he pulled his black boots back on and exited the resting room.  The clothes were not as thick as the jumpsuit, but they were comfortable
enough
.

“You’re getting ready for Earth?”

He glanced over his shoulder and noticed the man
from his planet
who was also going to Earth.  “In a way,” he admitted.  He wondered if he should ask his traveling companion about how his body was coping without the pill, but then he figured it couldn’t hurt.  Nothing could be more embarrassing than realizing someone watched him ejaculate in the corrido
r.  Clearing his throat, he asked
, “
How are you adjusting to not taking the pill?”

The man shrugged.  “I’m still taking it.  I’m not going to be with a life mate right away, so I see no need to worry about sexual urges until I do.”

He nodded, not sure why the answer disappointed him.  He reasoned it was because he didn’t want to be alone in having a major adjustment take place.

“You know that you’re not supposed to go off of it until you get to Earth or are about a couple
of
hours from departure, right?” the man asked.

Now he did.  But he opted to say, “The pamphlet said it could take anywhere from fourteen to twenty-four hours for the effects to wear off.”

“So you’re planning to go through the ceremony as soon as
you
see who the agency picked for you?”

“I don’t want to give her time to back out.”

“Maybe you should.  What if she’s not a good match?”

Then he was screwed because once the ceremon
y took place,
that was it.  He was confined for life.

“Did
you already ejaculate
?” the man asked.

“I didn’t expect to be able to so soon, but yes.” Even as he admitted it, heat came to his face.  It wasn’t that the topic of ejaculating wasn’t common on their world, but it was humiliating to have timed it as wrong as he had.

“Let me guess…that’s why you got the new clothes?” A knowing grin crossed his face.

Rilo sighed.  “I thought I could will it away.”

He laughed.  “Well, at least you know what to e
xpect next time.  A friend of mine
said he ejaculated about ten hours after he stopped taking the pill, so I’m not surprised you ran into that problem.”

“Then why does the pamphlet say fourteen to twenty-four hours?”

“That’s the average.  Some men are sooner and some are later.  But that’s a good thing that you’re quicker.  It means you can have more sex when you get there.”

True.  And that brightened Rilo’s mood considerably.

“I hope my body is ready sooner rather than later too.  Once I find the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, I want to be able to enjoy the bonding ceremony as soon as she agrees to be with me.”
He motioned to a theater down the corridor.  “I hear the 3-D show puts you right on Earth.  It’s supposed to be as good as being there.  Want to check it out?”

“Sure.” It beat reading through boring brochures.

“I’m Marn, by the way.”

“Rilo.”

The two new friends turned to go to the theater.

Chapter Three

T
he time came for Rilo and Marn to depart.  The fuzzy blue creature with big black eyes and a long snout handed them a card.  “Scan the card through the door.  When the door opens, go in and you’ll be transported to your destination.  Only one person goes in at a time and no swapping cards.”

“There’s no spaceship?” Marn asked.

“Not
for
a trip this long,” it replied.

Rilo examined
his card marked with his name and SS12 E3
 
30.754167
,
-86.572778
.” It made no sense to him, but then, he reasoned it didn’t have to.
  He glanced at Marn.  “What does your card say?”

Marn showed him his card.

“The numbers aren’t that different.  Do you think we’ll be in the same location?”

“Maybe,” Marn replied as they walked down the small corridor that led to a door.  “I guess we’ll find out when we get there.  If you see me, be sure to say hi.”

Rilo nodded.

They seemed to be the only ones going to Earth, which surprised Rilo since he thought more men from his planet would be heading there.

“Earth must not be popular,” Marn commented.  “So, who goes first?”

Rilo shrugged.  “I will.” It didn’t matter.  They’d both be at
their destination soon enough.
He swiped the card through the slot by the closed door.
 
A slight click and a green light blinking above the door notified him that it worked. 
“Good luck, a
gain.”

“You too.”

Rilo entered the white circular space that fit no more than one person.  He’d been able to hold off on his nervous excitement because he’d been talking to Marn, but now that he was alone again, he felt the feelings return.

“Face toward the door and insert
your
feet into the silver slots,” a mechanical female voice said.

Turning around so he could obey, he cleared his throat, realizing that his body was trembling.  Exactly what would this be like?  He’d never transported anywhere before.

A low hum resonated as a blue light scanned him, starting at his feet and going up.  He stayed still and waited for the procedure to be done.  By the time the blue light went over his head, the hum stopped.

“Location: Crestview, Florida.  Earth,” the voice said.  “Transport engaged.”

Then, before he had time to blink, everything around him faded into black and he was aware that he was floating.  For a second, he t
hought he would end up lost in
space…or
in
a black hole somewhere.  But as soon as the thought came to him, images came
in
to view and the floating sensation went away.  It took him five seconds to acclimate
to
his new surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was the humidity.  The second thing he noticed was
the building in front of him.  The third thing he noticed was that he stood on pavement.  A few cars were in the parking lot
around him.  As he stood there
, he experienced a flood
of words
downloading
into his mind.  He guessed that was the agency’s doing.  It was overwhelming at first, and all he could do was stand there and process it.

His new home didn’t look too different from what he was used to, which didn’t surprise him after studying Earth, but the sight
of two females passing by caught
his interest.  They were lovely to look at.  Soft features,
breasts, narrow waists, nice hips
. 
They didn’t wea
r jumpsuits, like the females ha
d on his planet, which gave him a
glimpse of more of their flesh
than he’d ever seen.  Sure, he’d seen drawings, but this was different.  This was much more intriguing.

But neither one were his life mate.  He frowned.  Would he know her when he saw her?  He stepped forward and noticed something was in his back pocket.  Surprised, he stopped and retrieved it.  A wallet. 
Curious, he opened it to see a bank card
,
a green paper card with his social security number
on it, a driver’s license
, and a white folded-up paper.  He pulled the white paper
out
and unfolded it.

It was a receipt from
Star
Systems Unlimited
.  It stated that his life mate was Caitlyn Davis who
was now Caitlyn West
. 
It came with a black and white picture of her, and he thought she
was pleasing to look at.  Forcing his eyes off her image, he read the other items on the receipt. 
His Earth name was Chris West. 
Her employment was a waitre
ss at a place named Jack’s Diner
.  He glanced up
and saw that Jack’s Diner
was, indeed, etched above the rectangular building
before him
.

Then he read that his wallet contained a driver’s license, a social security card, and a debit card to a bank where hi
s money from his home world was
transferred.  Currently, his balance was $25,583.26 in American currency.  He wondered how much that was.  He knew that the wish had cost a lot more than he bargained for.  It nearly wiped him of his savings.

Well, he’d have to ask his life mate about this when the bonding was complete.  He studied her picture again so he’d recognize her when he did see her, folded the paper back up and
slipped it into his wallet before tucking it into his pocket.  He stood still for a moment, trying to gauge if his body was anywhere near ready to
engage i
n the bonding ceremony.  It wasn’t
.  He could only hope that he could stall her long enough so she’d be around when he could emit his hormone.

Someone drove a car up to him and waited.
  Realizing he was in the person’s way, he moved and let hi
m park.  The parking lot seemed to be filling up.  That had to mean it was time to eat on this planet.  He glanced at the one sun in the clear sky and saw that it was heading west and casting a subtle orange tint over everything.  Again, not so different from his world, and if this was similar, then this would signal the final meal of the day.

He followed a man and woman who carried something with a baby in it.  He came closer to see exa
ctly what babies looked like.  On his world, a
ll children were born in labs and educated in schools before released to the general pu
blic to work, so his experience
with infants was limited to what he’d read and seen in pictures.