Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 92507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
He stares. Then, his mouth curves in a hard smile. “You’re playing a hard game.”
“There’s a lot on the line.”
“What happened to that sweet female that was batting her lashes at the guards?”
I drop my voice to the husky note. “You need me to be sweet? Will that change your mind?” I put my hand on his thigh.
He pries it right back off.
I’m surprised…and a little worried. I want to be relieved that he doesn’t want sex. It’s not like I’m dying to jump on his dick. But sex is just about all I have to barter.
“I want you to be real,” he tells me.
“All of this is real,” I say to him. “I need your help. You need my help. I thought we could help each other.”
“By having a baby? And taking up farming?”
“It’s not the life I would have chosen, either, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good one.”
He leans back and gives me a skeptical look. “Why not sell your land? You said some praxiian is all over you wanting it. Sell to him. Make a tidy bundle.”
He doesn’t get it. He really doesn’t get it. “And go where?” I lean back, feeling a little defeated. “No one will take me back to Earth. It’s Class D, which means I’m not supposed to be out here anyhow. Humans are contraband. Let’s assume I don’t end up in someone’s zoo—I’ll end up in someone’s brothel instead, all of my money stolen. No one gives a shit about what happens to a human…except here. Here, they gave me land, and supplies, and a chance to have a normal life, and I’m going to take it.” I lean forward, just a bit, because I need him to understand just how much this means to me. “This is my land. No one’s fucking taking it from me, either.”
Vordigar watches my mouth. His lips curl into a slow, crooked smile. “I didn’t know humans could get so fierce.”
I lean back again, blowing out a breath in frustration. “This is serious.”
“Oh, I know.” But he keeps grinning at me. “I’ve just never been approached by a human and had her demand that I make her pregnant.”
“Only if we marry. I don’t want any of this”—I wave my hand and gesture at his form—“without some sort of benefit on my end.”
Vordigar throws his head back and laughs. “You mean you’re not dying for my cock? I’m wounded.” He clutches at his chest.
I start to smile. Just a little. “If we’re being completely honest, I’ve had enough alien cock to last me all my days, thank you very much.”
He laughs harder.
It feels good to hear someone laughing. I realize in that moment just how isolated and afraid I’ve been for the last few weeks. No, months, really, because Melissa was always super busy with her farm, and she was my closest neighbor. Since she’s been gone, I’ve had almost no one to truly count on. There’s Chloe and her mate, but they’re busy and Chloe has a baby to take care of. She can’t drop everything to come visit when I’m bored or lonely…and I’m bored or lonely far more often than I’d like to admit.
I don’t know this Vordigar guy. But he laughs easily and he pried my hand off his knee when I came on to him, so he might just be the best guy I’ve met in a really, really long time.
“Please help me,” I whisper, my desperation coming out despite my best efforts to play it cool. The scars on my face itch, and it takes everything I have not to touch them. “I know it’s not ideal, but we can make it work. Please.”
Vordigar studies me for a long moment. Then, he looks out the window, his laughter dying. “I need to think about it for a while.”
“Of course.”
We ride the air-sled in silence all the way back to my farm.
9
VORDIGAR
I don’t know what to do.
She’s laid all her sticks out in a row, as the game players like to say. She’s confessed her plan and what she needs. She’s offered me sex and a home. It’s dark when we pull up to the farm, but I can see neat rows of crops and a herd of meat-stock in a nearby field. There’s a small, domed homestead and a barn, and it looks like a nice spread. I know a dozen soldiers that would have keffing killed for this opportunity.
I’m not sure I’m ready to be a father, though. Or a farmer.
My plans for the future were simple—leave Risda III behind and get back into piracy. I dabbled in it before the war, and kept ties with friends in the business while I was in prison. I ran goods for a few buddies while on Haven, and I know people. I look intimidating as hell. I’m a competent navigator and a very competent mech. I can make some decent credits provided I get on the right ship, and I know just the people. The va Sithai brothers are looking for another to join them on a job, and I’ve promised that I’d go. It’s bound to be incredibly lucrative.