Page 23 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

“So you are manipulating me.”

“I can’t manipulate your emotions,” he told her. “It was the first thing that tipped me off that you were different. The raging hard on where previously I wasn’t functional in that way was the second. So, no, I’m not using our connection to manipulate you.”

“You’re not using your psychic abilities to manipulate me, you mean, but our connection keeps me calmer and less likely to panic.”

“Correct,” he said.

“Alright,” she said. “I can understand that. And I can’t say I’m hating this. I have concerns but I get the feeling that we won’t be able to do anything about them right now.”

“Why’s that?” Cooper asked.

“Because it’s almost sunset,” she said. “And unless you were planning to sneak out under cover of darkness and sneak me onto the base, trussed up with a ransom note for the thing you stole written in your alien language, I think we’re in for the night. Right?”

He nuzzled his cheek against the top of her head and squeezed her again.

“That’s not the worst idea, actually,” he said. “How do you feel about bondage?”

“Not my kink, but if you want me to tie you up, I’m willing to try,” she told him with a grin.

Cooper laughed and the sound thrilled through her. When was the last time she’d enjoyed somebody’s company this much? She knew part of it was that she couldn’t bring herself to hate him or the way he made her feel. But how much of it was just sheer compatibility?

“Not my kink either, actually,” he said. “We’ll have to figure out how to do it together. What kind of ransom note do you think will work?”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it,” she said. “Because you want to be clear that you’re willing to give the thing back but you’re willing to keep or destroy it if you don’t get what you want. You’ll have to think about what you want, too.”

“Well, that’s easy enough. I want you.”

“They’re not going to trade an alien device for a human,” Marissa said.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“I don’t know, it seems like they’ve traded an alien device for several humans, with an option to export more.”

“That wasn’t a trade,” Marissa protested. “They wanted to be there anyway and the communications thing helped them negotiate with the rest of us easier.”

“They might have volunteered, but your government still traded people for a thing. I think I might stand a chance of getting what I really want from this. Maybe I should ask for money, too, or land? Land might be doable.”

“Give me the girl, a million dollars and the dirt my ship is sitting on? Something like that?”

“I think I might be asking for too little. We’ll have to think about it. Are you hungry?”

The change in topic startled her. Marissa took a step back and Cooper let his arms fall from around her. “Oh, I am, actually. I hadn’t thought about food for a while but we haven’t actually eaten today, have we?”

“I certainly haven’t,” he said. “I skipped breakfast to deal with the GPS and the car, and then I had to grab you and run. Did I kidnap you before breakfast?”

She shook her head. “I managed breakfast, but you grabbed me before lunch. We should probably eat.”

Cooper nodded and turned toward the control panel in the kitchenette area. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll hydrate some rations,” he said.

Marissa looked around and pulled out the chair she’d been sitting in earlier. It was her first chance to actually study the interior of the ship. It was laid out about like the inside of a yurt she’d seen her grandfather build once, with dividers between areas that came out of a central pole.

The outside doors opened into the kitchenette area, with a bench seat that curved along the pole and connected to both dividers, a long table in front of it and two chairs that couldbe slid under the table with their backs to the wall. Cabinets covered the bottom part of the wall opposite up to counter height. Sleek black control panels sat on top of the cabinets and up the wall until they ended in a bank of screens that went up into what would have been the second story on a human home.

She’d already seen him control the doors from the panels over the cabinets. Now, she watched in fascination as he removed several packets from beneath them and turn one of the control panels into a heating element. One packet unfolded to become a pot that he poured almost an entire bottle of water into and a side popped off into some kind of spoon.

It took more will than she’d expected to look away from him cooking to see more of the ship. She’d already found the bathroom with facilities that emptied into the center of the ship and she suspected his bedroom was through the same divider. The divider she’d been leaning on earlier had an opening that she thought lead to a larger control center. She could see more monitors and what looked like a really comfortable chair.

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