Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (32 page)

“
Their wisdom, maybe, but not their looks,”
Frankie sent back candidly.
“He looks like a bowling
ball with legs and a hat.”

“
It’s true the Twerkins are not considered very comely to look
at,”
Kerov
admitted as the short, squat General waddled over to take his place
at the table.
“But
then, neither are the Kindred.”

“
What? Why not?”
Frankie demanded.

Mentally, he shrugged.
“Because we do not meet the Tarsian standards of
beauty.”

“
What, so you’re…not considered attractive here?”

He
snorted.
“Hardly.
A male should be thin with narrow shoulders, almost white hair, and
dark purple eyes. My eyes and hair are the wrong color and my
musculature is considered grotesque. Also, my body temperature is
too high—all reasons why Xirnah wanted nothing to do with
me.”

Frankie could
scarcely believe it. By Earth standards, Kerov was positively
mouthwatering. Not that she would tell him that—it would be too
embarrassing. Still, it couldn’t hurt to give him a compliment.

“
Well I think you look nice,”
she sent back.
“
More
than
nice, actually. With your broad shoulders and the fact that you’re
so tall…and your eyes are really
intense.
I…uh…”
She
broke off abruptly, feeling embarrassed. She really shouldn’t have
said so much.

“
I
find you very attractive too,”
Kerov murmured in her mind.
“With your lush curves and your long dark
hair and brown eyes…at the risk of sounding like that idiot,
Ramlow, I find you both beautiful and exotic.”

“
Oh…”
Frankie
bit her lip and felt her cheeks heat with a blush. Could he really
think she was beautiful when she was so far removed from the
standards of beauty he was used to?

“
Of course I find you beautiful,”
Kerov murmured and suddenly her mind was
flooded with the same images he’d sent her the night before—images
of him touching her…caressing her…kissing her…

Suddenly, Frankie
felt a stirring between her thighs—Kerov’s shaft was getting
hard!

“
Stop it—stop it!”
she begged.
“You’re giving me a hard-on
!” In fact, she could feel the long, heavy shaft
between his legs pressing hard against the thin, black fabric of
his uniform trousers. It was so massive, she felt like it must be
obvious to everyone and the General was coming around to sit beside
her on her right hand side. What would he think if he saw Kerov’s
thick monster of a trouser snake poking out at him?

“
Sorry,”
Kerov
sent quickly.
“You’re right—this is not the time or the place for this
discussion. We must be serious now and above all, follow correct
dining protocol. It is vitally important that you act in the proper
manner but don’t worry—I will guide you every step of the
way.”

Frankie was grateful for his guidance and agreed it was time
to get serious. Unfortunately, the erection which had grown between
Kerov’s thighs refused to go down. She had to stand there in agony,
feeling like everyone was watching as the General came waddling
around to his chair right beside her.
Dios,
did men have to put up with this kind of problem all
the time? If so, it was a wonder they could ever go out in public.
How awful!

“
Kerov,”
she
sent.
“What am I
supposed to do? How do I get this damn thing to go
down?”

But there was no
answer.

Frankie tried again.
“Kerov?
Kerov?
Where
are you? Answer me!”

Again, nothing.
Somehow the big Kindred was suddenly gone from her head. And he had
taken all his knowledge of how to act properly at the banquet with
him.

Frankie was on her
own.

Chapter Fourteen

Galaxies away, Kerov
was woken by a shrill, annoying tune ringing in his ear. He sat up
at once, momentarily disoriented. It was dark—nighttime—where was
he? There was a thin sliver of light coming from somewhere—when his
eyes adjusted he was able to look down at himself and take in his
surroundings. He let out a low curse when he saw he was back in
Frankie’s body, lying in her bed.

His heart started to
pound. Frankie—where was Frankie? And what was he doing back here
in her body? They had been about to start the banquet—it was a
situation loaded with potential pitfalls and she would be lost
without him! How could he get back to her?

I
have to fall asleep,
he thought.
That seems to be the way this works—when one of us sleeps, the
Switch occurs. I have to go back to sleep so I can get back to my
body and help her with the banquet.

But there was no
possibility of sleeping with the tinny, irritating music which was
coming from the small table at the side of the bed.

Kerov fumbled on the
small table and found the source of the noise—a flat, rectangular
machine about the length of Frankie’s hand. The moment he touched
it, rows of numbers appeared on its blank screen.

What in the Seven
Hells is this? Some kind of communications device?

Kerov stabbed at the numbers to make it stop the noise but
nothing happened until his thumb accidentally pressed against a
small, recessed button near the bottom of the device. At once the
noise stopped. But as he was about to put the thing back down, a
voice came out of it. A
male
voice.

“
Frankie? Hey
,
mi amor
, I’ve been
thinking about you.”

“
What?” Kerov growled. “Who is this?”

“
Don’t be like that,
mi corazon—
you know who this is. Come on, I
miss
you,” the male voice begged. “Don’t be like
this—you may have divorced me but you’re still
mi esposa
in the eyes of God, as your
abuela
is always
saying.”

Finally Kerov was
able to put it all together. This must be the male Frankie had
called her “ex”—the one she had been joined to but had left.

“
Carlos
,” he
said, frowning as he spoke into the communication
device.

“
Of
course
it’s
Carlos,” the male on the other end said. “Who else would be calling
to say they loved you?”

“
Why are you calling at this hour?” Kerov demanded. “It’s…” He
glanced at the communications device which a quick scan of
Frankie’s mind told him was a “phone.” Numbers at the top of the
screen proclaimed the time. “It’s only o-four hundred hours,” he
said. “Why would you call to proclaim your love at such an early
and inconsiderate hour?”

“
I
told you—because I
love
you,
mi
amor!
And I’ve
been thinking about you…” Carlos’s voice dropped to a lower
register. “Tell me, what are you wearing right now? Do you have on
one of those sexy little lacy outfits like they sell at your
work?”

Kerov began to feel
extremely annoyed. Not only had this male called and woken him at a
crucial time, pulling him away from his own planet and Frankie when
she most needed his guidance, but now he was making a sexual play
for her even though she had expressly rejected him in the past.

“
What I am wearing is none of your concern,” he growled.
“Frankie—I mean
I
have told
you I want nothing to do with you. Do not call me
again.”

He stabbed at a
button Frankie’s memory told him would end the call and had the
satisfaction of hearing the noise on the other end cease abruptly.
But just as he was about to turn over and try to go back to sleep,
the irritating jingle began again.

“
What?” Kerov demanded, picking it up. “I told you not to call
again!”

“
Mi linda,
please, you’re
killing
me,”
Carlos moaned dramatically on the other end. “Don’t you know I
dream of you every night and think of you every day? I can’t help
myself—I love you so much it
hurts
inside.”

“
I’ll hurt you on the
outside
if you don’t stop calling,” Kerov threatened. “Leave me
alone!”

“
I
can’t—my heart won’t let me!”

Carlos sounded like he was crying now, which irritated Kerov
to no end. Was Frankie’s ex
drunk?
From the maudlin sobbing on the other end of the phone, it
seemed a sound deduction.

“
We
belong
together,” Carlos whined through his tears. “Even your family
says so! I just don’t understand why you left me!”

“
Do you really want to know why Frankie left you?” Kerov
demanded, forgetting for a moment to pretend he was her. “It wasn’t
just for your sexual inadequacies—although they were
many
—it was because you didn’t treat her
with respect. She had ambitions that went beyond childcare and
domestic servitude but you belittled her and held her back, never
taking her hopes and dreams seriously.”

“
Wha…?” The drunken Carlos sounded utterly confused but Kerov
wasn’t done yet.

“
Not only that, but you refused to pleasure her with your
tongue,” he went on relentlessly.

This, to him, seemed like an absolute sin against the Goddess.
How could a male live on a planet where worshipping your female
with your tongue and mouth was allowed and yet abstain from the
act? He would have killed for such an opportunity but Carlos had
refused to even
try
it.

“
Mi corazon—”
Carlos began but Kerov was still angry.

“
You don’t deserve to be with Frankie,” he snarled. “She’s
intelligent and talented, and beautiful and passionate! And you are
too selfish and blind to see her for who she is. Not just a
plaything to service and clean up after you—a female of
worth.”

“
I…
mi
linda,
I d-don’t
understand,” Carlos stuttered at last.

“
Which is exactly why Frankie left you in the first place,”
Kerov told him. “That and the fact that you are selfish in bed and
have a very small shaft.”

Then he hung up the
phone. This time Carlos didn’t call back.

However, half an
arhn later, just as Kerov was starting to drift off again, someone
else did.

Irritated beyond belief, Kerov snatched up the phone and
looked for a way to mute it or turn it off completely. But this
time there was a name flashing on the screen.
Mom.

Kerov stared at it
in trepidation. Should he answer or not? It was still early in the
morning—or late at night—however you wanted to look at it. Why
would Frankie’s mother be calling at this hour? A quick scan of
Frankie’s mind showed that it didn’t matter—no matter what the
time, she would have answered a call from her mother to keep the
other female from worrying.

Cursing under his
breath, he stabbed at the button and put the phone to his ear.

“
Hello?”

“
Francesca Benita Hermosa Rodriguez!” Frankie’s mother
exclaimed angrilly. “What’s this Carlos tells me about you
insulting him and hurting his feelings? That’s not how a good wife
acts towards her husband! Have you ever heard me insult your father
like that? No! And that is why we have been married for thirty-five
years! Now, let me tell you…”

And she proceeded
to—for the next two hours.

Kerov wanted
desperately to get off the phone but there didn’t seem to be a way
to do so without offending Frankie’s mother. In his culture,
respect for one’s parents was deeply ingrained and he simply
couldn’t risk hurting Frankie’s relationship with her mother. So he
had to hear over and over how she had been wrong to leave Carlos,
how he still loved her, and how the entire family was waiting for
them to get back together.

As he listened,
Kerov’s heart sank. He realized that he had been letting himself to
have more and more feelings for Frankie—feelings he should never
have allowed to grow. Clearly, even if she liked Kindred
males—which he knew she did not—she wasn’t free to start a
relationship with him. To hear her mother tell it, she was still
tied in some way to Carlos and eventually she would return to
him.

At
last, after hours of the tirade, a clicking sound came from the
phone. Pulling it wearily from his ear, Kerov saw
work
blinking on the screen.

“
Mother, please,” he said—the first words he’d been able to
get in for ages. “Forgive me but my work is calling.”

“
Your
work.”
She
sniffed. “If you would come back and be a good wife to Carlos, you
wouldn’t
have
to work.
He has a good job—being a wife and becoming a mother is all the
work you need!”

“
But for now, my work sustains me,” Kerov pointed out. “If I
do not answer I could get into trouble or lose my job. I need to
take this call.”