Page 42 of An Alien for the Farm

My eyes fly open at her words, slight panic going through me. Will she leave now? Go back inside the lodge for the dark cycle? But when her hands shift over me I know I must have gotten it wrong. Eleanor braces down on my back.

“I hope you don’t mind.” She makes a sort of nervous laugh from her chest. “You’re just so big it’s hard for me to stretch over you to reach the spot.”

She thinks I’m big? Strong too, I hope. All sol I intended to show her I can be a good addition for her here on her farm.

When Eleanor grunts and suddenly climbs on top of the bale, on top of me, I go still. The heat of her thighs envelops me as she straddles my back. Gods, help me.

Focus on something, anything but how good she feels, how soft, and that heat between her thighs.

“Is this too much? I know it’s a bit inappropriate and I can get off you if I’m too heavy.”

Too heavy? I almost scoff, but I fear any sound or movement will scare her away. Because my Little Bird is of the timid kind. She will approach what she wants, but I must give her time. Space. I cannot rush her. I cannot scare her. I must let her flutter her wings and fly toward me on her own. And just like a plant rooted in the ground, I remain unmoving.

“Please,” I whisper because anything else will come out as a growl of pure need. “Do what you must.”

She grunts a smile and settles on me. My cock jerks into the bale, more spend seeping from my tip.

Her hands are magic. Just like the mouth touching, when she mentioned a massage, I thought not much of it. I was unprepared. A groan of pleasure escapes from my lips as she kneads my shoulder and Eleanor blows a laugh through her nose at my response.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” She says, and in my mind, it sounds like a whisper. A dangerously delicious whisper. I grunt a sound of affirmation as she continues to knead the knot away.

“Zynar?” She sings my name again.

“Yes, Liora?”

“I know you said something about this planet never being your home…” Her words make me go still again. “But I want to let you know that…I know what that feels like. On the refugee ship, I wondered if I was stuck there forever. If I would ever find a place that I could call home again. A true place. A true home. But then I saw the flyer. I applied and New Horizons contacted me.” She stops kneading my shoulders for a moment and I almost protest with a groan. “If I can help with anything, to help you find a home I mean, or help you create one, I will try my best.” She starts kneading my shoulders again, but I’m still unmoving. Not because of her touch, but because of what’s coming from her lips. “I might not be good with yard work like cutting long grass, but I’m a mean baker. I was a housewife for most of my life and—”

She suddenly stops talking and this time, she’s the one that freezes. I shift a little, turning with her still settled on my back so I can look over my shoulder at her.

“Howse…whyvve? The words don’t translate, Liora.”

Her shoulders slump slightly and she gives me a thin smile, her gaze shifting from mine to my shoulder, but it’s like she’s no longer seeing me. A memory then.

“It’s a word that means I was a…I was married before.” She does that smile again. One that doesn’t show her blunted teeth but is simply a slight stretch of her lips that doesn’t communicate any mirth, even though that should be its purpose.

“Mah-reed?” I push.

“I was someone’s mate.”

The thought of her belonging to another sends such a rush of possession through me that I actually snarl. I only catch myself when her eyes heighten on my lips. She does that strange smile again. “I know. It’s kind of not a good thing, is it.”

Not a question. A statement. One that makes her shoulders slump again.

“Where is he. Your…mate.” Frakk. I can hardly say the word. “Is he dead?”

Turning with her still on me, she jostles as I settle on my back, forcing her to straddle my abdomen. At another time, I’m sure she would flutter away. This time, she doesn’t even move. The weight of her past is too heavy.

A laugh chokes through her, and she covers her mouth as mirth fills her eyes this time. “No. I don’t think so, though I used to wish for it sometimes. He’s living his life on Earth with his hot new girlfriend.”

“I assume that also means ‘mate’.”

She nods and that strange smile returns. Frakk. Does she miss him? Does she long for this male?

When her eyebrows lift and she begins to answer, I realize in horror that I asked the questions out loud.

“No. Definitely not. I just…” Lifting one hand, she runs it through her golden filaments with a sigh that makes her body rub against mine. Heat coils in my groin again. “I guess I hate that I’m starting over. You know…I feel like I wasted so much time with him. Like…all my good years are gone.”

Her gaze meets mine but this time, my Liora doesn’t look away. When I lift my arms and settle them on her hips, she doesn’t shift out of my grasp either.

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