Page 41 of Alien Mine

She grinned against his skin, pleased to no end. All that church worship hadn’t driven the sin out of her. Reckon she’d have to make up for it come Sunday services with an extra prayer, one of thanksgiving.

Thank the good Lord she still had it in her to move a man to desperation.

“Go on with you now,” she said. “I need to see to the goats.”

“See to them.” He planted a hard kiss on her mouth and his hands tightened on her hips. “We will continue our discussion after lunch.”

“Which one?”

He huffed out a laugh and stepped away, but his heat lingered on her skin for a long time after.

Chapter Eleven

Fate and Dyuvad dropped Rachel and the girls off at Yasmin’s early the next morning. Dyuvad went so far as to take the spare key from Rachel and see them inside, like they weren’t perfectly capable of walking the distance between Fate’s truck and Yasmin’s front door on their own.

Rachel set her tote on Yasmin’s couch and penned an exasperated sigh in her mouth where it belonged. He meant well. Sure, he did. Hadn’t he told her right up front he’d see to their security, the way the men in his culture did? And hadn’t she agreed to that, if not implicitly, then by letting him stay and help her the way he had?

Didn’t he deserve a little leeway, seeing as how he was sleeping in her bed at night, even if they’d only had sex that one time? Mind-altering, body draining sex that had been so good, she’d wanted a repeat. Too bad Dyuvad hadn’t felt the same way or they would’ve had that repeat last night when they’d settled into bed together.

Nope. He’d wrapped himself around her, murmured a soft goodnight, and promptly fell asleep on her.

And that had played hell on her self-confidence, right up until she’d fallen asleep herself, and awakened bright and early with Dyuvad already up and at ‘em.

Again.

If he didn’t want to have sex with her, why in the world was he still sleeping with her? Was he really only in her bed to keepan eye on her and the girls? Did he regret that first time, the glorious moment of pleasure so intense, she still got goose bumps just thinking about it?

She settled Kelly and Tiny on the couch in front of Saturday morning cartoons, her thoughts torn between the place Dyuvad was making in her life and the troubles now upon her. Having a man occupy a space in her bed didn’t automatically give him rights over her and the girls. No, that was by her consent alone, and it came a little too naturally with Dyuvad. Maybe that was because he seemed so self-assured, like he could handle a small army if it was thrown at him, and maybe it was because there was something about him she couldn’t resist, something sensual and primal and male.

And maybe she gave in as easy as she did because her heart ached for companionship and love and all the things she’d never known with Juan, not really.

Was she finding those things with Dyuvad, a man she knew hardly anything about, or were her hormones just out of whack thanks to a long, lonely stint as a single mom?

So many questions and not an answer in sight.

Rachel blew out a breath, ruffling the loose strands of hair hanging around her face, and marched to the cabinet under Yasmin’s kitchen sink, across the room from where the girls quietly watched TV. Nothing was ever solved just by stewing on it, sure enough, and that had never been her method for working through problems anyway. She yanked out cleaning supplies and headed to the bathroom, determined to fix something while her mind sorted through the tangle emotion had made out of it.

A few hours later, after Rachel had scrubbed everything in the tiny cabin that hadn’t run from her, after a simple lunch had been made and eaten and the girls went down for a nap, the front door opened and Yasmin walked in, her skin ashen under her native tan.

Rachel set the dog-eared romance she’d been reading on the coffee table. “What’s wrong?”

Yasmin breathed out a weary laugh. “You’ve known me toolong.”

“Right back atcha, sister,” Rachel retorted. “Now spill.”

Yasmin shut the door, hung her purse on the hook affixed to the wall, then stood there, her slender hands tangled in as many knots as Rachel’s mind had been. “Marty came by the shop today.”

Rachel bit back her gut reaction and patted the sofa cushion next to her. “Oh, him.”

Yasmin merely nodded, her dark gaze vacant.

The first hint of worry popped into Rachel. She patted the cushion again and softened her voice. “What happened?”

Yasmin started. She glanced at Rachel and the hand resting on the sofa, and finally staggered across the room and plopped onto the couch. “He was raising Cain about all the trouble Juan’s old gang has been causing.”

“How could he possibly know about that?”

“Police scanner.”

---