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She held him tight, her small, Terran arms clinging to him with a surprising strength. He could feel every breath she took, and her heartbeat against his chest.
“Here we go,” he told her.
She didn’t even try to turn around and look, just trusted him implicitly to hold onto her and protect her.
Pride blossomed in his chest and he had the strangest feeling for a moment, like his whole world was about to change.
Then they were flying around the loop, her anka-berry hair sliding into his, the resulting pink and black river looking like it was standing straight up above them.
Olivia didn’t even breathe until they came out of the loop.
Was she too scared? Had this been too much for her?
She screamed in celebration as they slid along the end of the road and came to a halt in front of a set of wooden gates.
“Are you okay?” he asked her gently.
“That was… that was…” she panted, pulling back to look at him. “That wasamazing.”
Suddenly, the significance of their position landed on him and his eyes went to her lush, pink lips, his hands sliding down from her shoulder blades to her hips of their own accord.
“Well done,” Oberon’s voice said, breaking the tension between them. “You’re welcome to enter the cabin now. I’ve taken the liberty of having the staff prepare your dinner. Feel free to look around and they’ll be in momentarily to set everything up.”
“Thank you,” Stark said without thinking.
6
OLIVIA
Olivia slid off the big alien’s lap, his words still echoing in her head.
Thank you…
He had thanked Oberon. Even though it shouldn’t have, the idea that the big, frowning alien would show simple courtesy to the AI made her like him better than before.
The hover-cart ride didn’t hurt either,a little voice in the back of her head whispered.
She felt her cheeks heat and had to busy herself with checking out the gate and the land beyond, hoping he wouldn’t notice her blushing when he seemed just fine. She wasn’t sure if Maltaffians even could blush, but being in his lap with his arms around her and the movement of the cart bumping them close had felt so good that she was almost in a haze.
Though some single women on Terra-58 flaunted the rules and snuck off with a man or two before producing aprimary heir, Olivia had done as her family expected and avoided dating altogether.
Which meant that the ride in the hover-cart had been the most intimate experience of her life, and she was still trembling from it.
Is this what it’s always like? Is this why some women break the rules?
“Cabin, eh?” Stark growled.
She turned to him and then looked back at the vista she had been pretending to admire. The so-called cabin was a massive wooden structure set on stone columns, with porches and balconies overlooking the foaming rush of an enormous, forking waterfall that fell directly behind the house.
The largest section of the falling water slid directly under the house, rushing past the stone columns and joining with the rivulets to form a wide creek that disappeared into the woods.
“Wow,” she breathed as he strode over to the gate.
“Hungry?” he asked.
He was standing beside her now, close enough that she could practically feel his deep voice reverberating in her thundering heart.
She looked up and shedidfeel hungry, but not for food. She wanted to be in his arms again more than she wanted her next breath.
