Page 59 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

“Hmm.” She continued watching him.

He arched his brow and held her gaze, though she caught one of his side eyes straying toward the TV.

Zoey burst out laughing. “Having so many eyes is not fair!”

“I cannot be held responsible for the shortcomings of your species.”

“Shortcomings?” Zoey gaped at him. “You can make your own dinner next time.” She crossed her arms over her chest and faced the screen.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him lean toward her and reach an arm out. He brushed his fingers along the side of her neck. “Just because you have freakishly few eyes and limbs doesn’t mean I think less of you.”

“Freakishly few?” Zoey looked at him and raised her brows. “Maybeyouhave freakishly too many.”

“Perhaps. By your own standards,” he replied with a grin.

“Humph.” She lifted her chin haughtily. “Well then, based on those standards, maybe I prefer a male with two arms and two eyes.”

“Oh?” Ren pushed himself out of the chair to loom over her, features cast in shadow as he blocked the screen. “Explain, human.”

He slipped one hand up from her neck to cup the back of her head, twining his fingers in her hair, while his other hands moved to different parts of her body — her side, just beneath her breasts; her hip; her upper thigh.

“Explain why you do not prefer this,” he rasped.

Zoey’s breath quickened, and her heart raced. She stared into his eyes. “I-I don’t…don’t have to explain myself to you, alien.”

He stared right back at her, and damnit if he wasn’t giving her hisfullattention, if he wasn’t seeingallof her and making her feelit. His lips parted in a smile, offering another glimpse of his fangs. His hands moved slowly, sensually, blazing hot despite the protection of her clothing. “Your reactions explain enough, I think…as does your scent.”

“My scent?”

He leaned forward, his face so close to hers that their lips would touch if she tilted her chin up. He lowered his head past her neck and breasts, past her stomach, lower and lower until it hovered over her thighs.

Rendash’s lower hands grasped her knees and spread them before he dropped his head between her legs inhaled deeply. “The scent of your desire.”

Zoey gasped. She pushed her hands against his forehead and squeezed her legs, but he kept himself in place. “Oh my God. That’s so—”sexy“—dirty!”

“What do you mean, it isdirty?” he asked, lifting his gaze but not his head.

Zoey burned inside and out. It was arousing as hell having him positioned between her legs like that, but she couldn’t let go of her self-consciousness. “It’s…naughty.”

“So is itdirtyornaughty? Those words have different meanings, don’t they?”

Oh, God. She could feel the heat of his breath through her leggings. Her pussy clenched and liquid fire flooded her. She didn’t have wine to bolster her courage this time. “Both!”

“This scent is natural. It is a part of you.” His upper hands smoothed down her neck and shoulders and slid over her sides, brushing her breasts on their way. Zoey shivered. “All of this is part of you, and there is nothing but beauty to behold.”

How did he always say the perfect things to make her heart go pitter-patter? His words filled her with confidence and desire, something that Joshua had never bothered to attempt.

Boundaries, Zoey! Don’t let yourself be a doormat!

Not that she believed Rendash would treat her like one, but he was still going to leave. Whether he intended to or not, he was still going to walk on her heart before the end.

Then shouldn’t I want something more to remember him by?

No. This was about that soon-to-be-trampled heart, not the sex. Ren had come to mean more to her in a few days than Joshua had in a year. Josh’s betrayal had hurt, but she’d known she would recover with a little time. Rendash’s departure, on the other hand, was going todevastateher. That was the truth deep in her heart.

Everyone she’d cared about abandoned her eventually, one way or another — her mother, her father, her grandmother, her foster parents, Joshua.

Rendash would, too.

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