Today, we've got a teaser from the book Sex, Love & Aliens. This anthology contains four sexy novellas and we'll be sharing an excerpt from each one of those.
Tangled Webs Excerpt:
Turning away from her position, Gia caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye. This time she looked out the window and in her garden was a Ba'Tua male.
"Holy hell, what's he doing here?"
Gia headed for the door just as Cedun was removing his Montgomery Industries t-shirt by the side of the pool. Her mind was sluggish and her coordination impaired, and she slammed into the edge of the door as she scurried through it.
"Shit!" The curse escaped her mouth as she kept moving, her hand rubbing the injured section of her side. "Cedun, what the hell are you doing in my backyard?" In her haste, she didn't see the hose on the deck and tripped.
She did notice the bright violet of his eyes—wide and startled—and the bronzed rippling muscles as she cartwheeled, flailing for something to grab onto, then she was falling backward. It's all so slow! A thunk sound married with the explosion of pain in her head.
The water closed around her and invaded her mouth and lungs. Her chest burned as the water weighed her down. Just as it all seemed too much, strong, vise-like arms slid around her middle, hauling her up to the surface.
"Do not struggle, Gia. Let me help you." He did, hauling her out of the pool and laying her flat on the concrete.
Then he rolled her over as she hacked and coughed. Water gushed from her mouth and nose, and she moaned once the indignity was over.
"Now, De' Gia, tell me why you ran out of the house and threw yourself into the pool. De' Valerie told me that you had been removed from your post. It cannot be that which is distressing?"
"Job," she corrected, quietly hoping to stop his liquid voice. Her head and chest ached viciously, and all she wanted was bed. "I want to go to bed."
Cedun stilled. "Is that not precipitous?" A smiled crept over his face, and it turned her insides to molten lava.
Clarity speared her. Their grasp of the English language was literal. She said she wanted to go to bed and was speaking to him, ergo, he thought sex. Horror filled her.
Cedun was probably the most relaxed and least repressed of all the Ba'Tua she'd met. Gia also suspected he'd been involved with Valerie for some time. After all, Valerie was still young at forty-two.
Gia groped for his t-shirt, meaning to push him away. The realization of being so close to Cedun's muscular and unclothed chest flooded her as her hands made contact with hard and well-formed naked flesh. He'd removed that covering before her fall into the pool. Heat flared beneath her fingers as her heart rate sped up. "Cedun, I didn't mean…"
He chuckled. "I laugh with you, De' Gia."
She struggled to free herself. "Go laugh with someone else."
The Spaceship Captain's Wife Excerpt:
Why am I doing this to myself? Damn, if I didn't need the money… But he did.
As the girl came to kneel beside her father, Ric realized he'd rather face a laser pistol-wielding hijacker than this woman. The traditional charado robe that consisted of many layers of light, sheer fabric did nothing to hide the outline of her body. His mouth went dry and sweat stung his eyes.
The older woman offered him a light meal of native Darooian nuts and fruit. Ric shook his head. He didn't want to risk polluting himself with radiated food. But this transaction was too important for him to offend them.
"Forgive me, I am far too full of…of joy to eat," Ric said.
Marit's woman gazed at him for a moment. Her shrewd eyes narrowed with doubt, but she nodded and pulled the offered tray away.
The kneeling girl was so still he couldn't even tell if she was breathing. His host was watching the silent female with an unfathomable sorrow. Then he turned to study Ric without speaking for a drawn out length of anxiety-filled time. Ric fidgeted nervously.
Oh damn, I hope I haven't blown this. I'll lose the ship without this deal. Ric tried to hide his worry from the other man by keeping his face expressionless.
"We only eat food that arrives in bio locked containers. Our offering is safe. Kateri has not left this house since she was a girl of ten. She has spent half her life hiding from death, it's long past time she was allowed to live," said Marit in the gentle tone. There was no anger or censor on his face, just sadness.
The quiet girl flinched. The movement was subtle, but Ric was used to watching for the slightest tells during negotiations. The girl's posture stiffened.
So she was twenty. He relaxed a bit. She was a decade younger than he was, but at least she wasn't some underage child.
Embarrassed, Ric looked away. "Forgive me," he said, unsure if he was apologizing for the planet's destruction or his behavior.
"You have nothing to apologize for. Caution is an admirable trait. Integrity is another thing I respect. She will make a good wife…"
Marit paused as a string of quickly spoken Dar, their language, interrupted him. Her outraged voice drifted up from under the veils and proved she had a bit of spirit.
The older man's fatherly tone ebbed between anger and softness. Ric only caught a few words, but he was almost positive the girl hadn't known she was part of the conditions for this export.
When she was silent, Ric could see her shaking. The strangest urge to comfort her came over him, but he shoved it away. Perhaps it was the camaraderie of being tricked, but the protectiveness her reaction stirred in him didn't go away.
She muttered something, and he fought to suppress his grin. He had the most inappropriate urge to peek under her veil and see her expression. Was she seething with rage, or was she pouting? He wanted to know. The veil tormented his naturally overactive Metrician curiosity.
"Kateri is a good girl, dutiful. She is…uncomfortable leaving her family behind," said the anxious man democratically.
Ric cleared his throat awkwardly. He could respect the answer. If he truly cared about anyone, he wouldn't want to leave them to die either. A planet hadn't died since the days of old Earth. Pain squeezed his heart in a metaphoric vise. Guilt. His people treated their world like it was garbage, and yet Metricia would live on long after Daroo was space dust.
"Don't look so dour, Captain Aydric Julius. We will die with our gods, but our daughter will live on for us and remember our names. Saving her life is worth risking my soul," Marit said quietly. "She is the most precious gem in your cargo."
Ric nodded. No one had ever loved him as this man loved his daughter. It was astounding and humbling to be entrusted with her life. He'd never wanted such a responsibility thrust on him, but now that it was, he couldn't turn them down.
Is she willing to marry a stranger? What am I getting myself into?
Ric could tell the girl was looking at him. He wanted to talk to her and make sure she was willing. He didn't believe in much, but his honor mattered to him.
His Human Excerpt:
"Why do you want to go to Earth so bad?" Elara asked.
Rogue didn't answer readily, instead, he appraised her, his gaze lingering on her sweat-soaked blouse. "You haven't been here long, woman, but surely long enough to see this planet rivals the hell that the humans make us read about. It's dry here, hot enough to melt the skin right off your body during certain seasons. Those tunnels you saw dotting the landscape, those were burrowed by one of US-2's many creatures. Leave my side, and they'll snatch you up and swallow you whole. It'd probably be an easier death than you deserve."
"Excuse me?" Elara glared at him. "Did you keep me alive to insult me to death?"
"Why would you sign up to take men as slaves, take them to a war they can't even understand?"
"I'm not the bad guy here!" Her voice echoed through the cave, the sound suddenly making her feel more brave.
"Neither am I. Unless I'm crossed." He stood, still nude, his well-muscled body towering over her. "Now that you're my captive, perhaps you can appreciate what we are fighting for. Freedom." With that, the clone walked away from her. She glanced away, trying to avoid looking at the well-carved butt cheeks as the massive soldier walked away. He had a perfect body. The kind of body that was built to kill.
Elara's mind spun. Not only had two clones tried to rape her, but her epic plan to seduce Rogue didn't work. He'd never before had a woman, and she still couldn't please him. Yet he'd protected her from those men.
As far as Rogue was concerned, she wasn't sure what happened. He'd seemed so close to coming. He'd moaned, but then he'd been disgusted by her, shoving her away. She should have been happy that his cum didn't fill her mouth, but it also meant her death.
But if he was going to kill her, why didn't he just leave her to those men?
Finally alone, the terror of the day washed over her. She'd watched her peers murdered, she'd gone down on her captor, and she'd nearly been raped by two killers. Tears leaked down her cheeks, quickly dried by the intense heat on US-2.
Just as soon as he'd left, Rogue returned. His strong hand pulled her out of the fetal position to face him. When he saw her tears, he sneered in disgust. "I'm leaving to retrieve rations. Don't try to escape."
Hope bloomed within her. Of course she'd try to escape. Was this clone daft? She just never thought she'd be left alone to try.
Elara thought back to the initial attack on the space shuttle. The interior had sustained damage, but clearly the clones had been careful, obviously planning to try to take it to Earth themselves.
Rogue pulled on his military cargo shorts, not bothering with a shirt. He pulled a sachet of lotion out of his pocket and slathered it over his hard chest and chiseled stomach. It was a body meant to punish.
She barely heard Rogue's final warning before he departed. Something about danger. Duh. Elara may have been surrounded by a planet of rebel clones, but she was a military captain, specially chosen for this very mission. Her femme fatale Plan A had failed, but now she had no other choice but to try to ass kick her way off this planet. She was sure as dead anyway, might as well die trying.
Gravitation Excerpt:
Niah's leg must be healing nicely if he was able to move around to her side of the cold fire pit. She should be feeling fear because now he could easily overpower her. Kill her. Only he did neither. He just laid there with his hand on her hip and his eyes staring deeply into her own.
This was wrong. So horribly wrong.
And yet…it didn't feel wrong.
And that scared her more than anything.
"Shh," he whispered, and his hand ran soothing circles across her hip bone.
Bree closed her eyes because she couldn't stand looking at him anymore, couldn't face the attraction she was developing. And somehow she must have fallen asleep because the next time she opened her eyes it was daylight.
She sat up quickly, looking around. Niah was gone. His leg splints were in a nice pile, the only testament that he'd been there. She ignored the stab of pain that pierced through her and told herself it was better this way. He had gone back to his people, to where he came from. It was time she went to where she belonged.
As she gathered her things and slipped her backpack over her shoulders, she thought about when she asked him to save one life as a thank you. Well, it seemed like he'd done just that.
He'd spared hers.
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