Page 60 of The Pregnancy Pact

“Is your former husband the sole male you have bedded?”

She snorted. A funny sort of sound, a combination of disgust and humor.

“That’s pretty good, coming from you,” she said. “Yes, for your information, my husband is the sole man—male—of any species that I’ve ever had sex with. Why are you asking? Would you be turned off if I’d had multiple partners, considering how many you’ve had?”

“Not at all.” Quite the opposite, in fact. A strange sort of excitement filled me. I reached out, gently trailing a forefinger from the tip of her nose to her top lip, then tracing the outline of her lip all the way around. “Rather, I am anticipating pleasuring you in ways no other male ever has.”

She’d gone still beneath my touch. She didn’t fight it. She didn’t move. But her cheeks pinked when I warned her of my intentions.

“You, uh, think pretty highly of your skills in the bedroom,” she said, when I removed my finger.

“I’ve had much practice,” I smirked. “I assure you, I have every intention of putting my skills to very noble—and frequent—use.”

“Oh my.” She flipped on her side, turning away from me. “Not right now. Good night.”

Just like that, the spark was gone. The conversation ended. Disappointed, but not deterred, I chose to accept the decision we’d made and wait for another day.

“Good night,” I echoed and caught myself before adding, “My love.”

Chapter 35

Lorelai

To be honest, I wasn’t sure Ellax would agree to wait on sex until later. After all, I’d promised him that I’d sleep with him as soon as the pact was officially witnessed. I would have kept my word. After years of living with a liar and a cheat, I was very big on keeping promises and being a person of integrity. However, Ellax didn’t push the issue. He didn’t try to seduce me…unless that whole touching my lips thing had been an attempt.

Which, let’s be honest, had kinda-sorta almost worked.

The longer I was with him, the more I found myself attracted to the smaller things he did. Not the blatantly obvious, I want to have sex with you moves. Anybody could do that. Anybody could have sex with anybody.

Huh. Charlie is proof of that, I thought, as I lay there in the dark, fully—almost uncomfortably—aware of the alien male beside me.

Not everybody cared enough to show kindness. Gentleness. A hug when I needed it. Carrying me across the footbridge earlier when I’d discovered a terrible fear of heights.

Those were the things that drew me to Ellax Pendorgrin, proving he had a lot more underneath than the outwardly calm and cool Asterion Elder by day and playboy by night.

Playboy.

I stifled a groan.

I’d had enough of playboys to last a lifetime. At my age, it wasn’t cute. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t forgivable if it meant unfaithfulness. I didn’t have the strength to suffer through a marriage like that again.

And yet…

I was in a precarious position. Far more hung in the balance than my happiness or my sanity.

The fate of all wild humans could possibly depend on which way I influenced my new husband.

I felt small and lost in comparison to so much responsibility.

Wish I knew how to contact his son, Caide, I thought. Despite the enormity of the day, I was tired and sleep was crowding in, blurring the mental images behind my eyelids and softening the edge of danger and trauma. Maybe he and his wife could help convince Ellax to fight this…

I fell asleep. And woke with a small start a few minutes later.

Only, looking outside showed me it wasn’t a few minutes later. Sunlight from the planet’s twin suns was pouring over the mountain peaks. Disoriented, I rubbed my eyes with my fists, trying to figure out what was going on. My sleep-addled brain finally came up with an answer that made sense. The glass doors between us and the mountains were equipped with a technology that caused them to darken in the morning to allow better, longer sleep. As the day wore on, the darkening would fade back into clear glass. I’d heard of the technology, but hadn’t seen it. The Asterions had lots of luxuries they hadn’t brough to Earth yet.

However, the light seeping into the bedroom was enough to show me morning had arrived. And what had wakened me?

Ellax, moving around.

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