Page 48 of Alien Rescue

“Yes, and sometimes they bet other things, as well. Like in kiss poker and strip poker.” Now why did she mention that?

He leaned forward, his eyes flashing red. “Kiss poker?”

She wanted to bite off her own tongue the moment the words left her mouth. “That’s mostly for youngsters. I prefer to play for credits,” she said hastily. She held her breath, but he nodded.

Rose relaxed and made sure to lose the first round they played for credits. She set him up nicely, and in the last game she cleaned him out. He sat back and stared at her, and she braced herself. Men rarely took it well when a woman beat them at games like this.

He threw back his head, and an unearthly sound came out of his mouth. Rose flinched, bracing for a blow. The sound went on and on. Slowly it dawned on her that he was laughing. She relaxed and waited until his laughter subsided. At last he stopped; that awful sound didn’t go quiet and peter out, it just stopped suddenly. So creepy. She shivered. Alien, how had she forgotten that he was an alien?

“We will play for kiss poker now,” he said.

Rose stared at him. “I don’t want to kiss you.” Except she did. She’d been wanting to kiss him for a while now. But she’d been determined to resist him. Now that she had nanites swimming in her blood, it seemed foolish to deny herself. Why should she die wondering what it would’ve been like to kiss an alien?

He puckered his lips. “I’m a superior kisser.”

Rose wanted to laugh—the urge was almost hysterical. “Have you kissed many women?” The urge to laugh left her. She didn’t like that idea; she didn’t like it at all.

“No, I memorized all the educational files Zurian shared. And I watched the human movies about male and females. You will lift your face and make your lips like so.” He puckered his lips again and she shivered and it was not with fear.

Rose struggled to keep a straight face. “And then?”

“We touch lips and move them from side to side four times.” He moved his head from side to side.

“Four times?” Why did his silly antics arouse her?

“That is the average I found through my research.”

“I see. Then what?” Don’t laugh, Rose, just don’t laugh, she chanted silently. She ruthlessly bit the inside of her cheek.

“I use my lips to open yours and then put my tongue in your mouth and move it against the inside of your cheek six times.”

“Six times exactly?” she asked faintly. She resisted the urge to fan herself. There was something very sexy in the way he’d done his researched—all of it meant for when he could make love with her.

“Then we separate and take deep breaths, and then do it all again.”

Rose frantically swallowed hysterical laughter that bubbled up her throat, but at the same time the thought of doing all that with him made her want to fan herself. “If I lose, we kiss, if you lose, you teach me how to fly the shuttle.” She’d beat him and make sure whenever they played again, it was only for credits.

He cocked his head in that reptilian manner that suddenly didn’t look as off-putting as before. “I will deal the cards now.”

She handed over the pack and watched as he expertly shuffled the cards. Unease stirred. He shuffled the cards as if he’d been born with a pack of cards in his hands. She bit her lip and then relaxed. No one except her dad had ever beaten her at cards. But she’d been a child then. She’d had a hard time getting anyone in her old team to play with her. On top of that, Zanr was new at the game.

The damn alien won the game.

Chapter Fifteen

Rose stared at Zanr. She’d wanted to kiss him for a long time. Would his lips be as seductive as she remembered when he’d kissed her knuckles before? Would it be different when their lips touched? Did it even matter when he’d tried to find help for her the moment they found out about the nanites? It was ironic that the people she’d seen as a kind of surrogate family, in the end valued her just as little as her own family did.

This alien, Zanr, had stepped between her and any possible danger. He’d enquired if she needed food almost hourly. Did she dare believe that he wouldn’t turn on her? Wouldn’t reject her eventually like everyone else in her life has done? She shrugged off the doubts that would drive her crazy if she let them. No matter what happened in the future, tonight she wanted to know what it was like to kiss an alien.

He pushed her back, held her at a distance with his hands on her shoulders, and her heart broke a little bit. “I have to tell you about my tongue.”

Rose blinked. That was the last thing she’d expected. “What?”

“I have an enzyme in my tongue. Similar to what human males have, but much stronger. It does not take your mind or steal your decisions, but it increases your pleasure.”

“I see.” She thought about it, while he waited patiently. “You’re sure it’s not like some date-rape drug?”

He pulled his lips back from his teeth, looked like a snarling dog. His hands on her shoulders tightened just enough to make her aware of how fragile her bones were compared to his. “No. I am a Zyrgin warrior with omgraz-ra.”

---