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With Py’s knot grinding on my prostate in sharp ecstasy, I felt him growl around his mouthful of me before he punched his hips forward and came. My breath caught and I wasn’t sure if I was still coming or coming again.
When he lifted his head, I opened my eyes and actually smiled when I made eye contact with Doug, the PBS News anchor. He stood not far away with both hands stroking the head of the Khess on their knees in front of him. He grinned at me, and I grinned back.
People saw. They knew.
Py straightened out my tunic and then took my hand. While it wasn’t the most comfortable walk back to our quarters, I kept right on grinning the entire way there. Freedom felt incredible.
CHAPTER 14
OWEN
Ready?” Ghosha glanced at me sitting across the table from him. I nodded and offered the best smile I had available. He checked with everyone else, and then he connected the call.
We were in one of the smaller conference rooms on the ship and about to make the first of several video conference calls with politicians on the surface who had concerns about the sex work volunteers. I was the only human in the room and my purpose was to talk down any right wingers who might get loud. I’d coached everyone on what may happen, armed them as best I could, but it was understood that I’d step in if things got bad. To say that I was nervous would be… Well, I’d already thrown up once.
The man who’d served as lieutenant governor under my father, Don Musted, would be among the callers as the new governor of Ohio. He wasn’t a better choice in any way at all, and he was the reason my stomach was in knots. While Brett could spin his hate and make it sound sweet, Musted wouldn’t hesitate to spew his vitriol, especially not now that he was in charge.
When his face appeared on my tablet with the rest of them, I couldn’t help gulping.
“What’s he doing here?” Musted sneered.
Across from me, Ghosha asked, “To whom are you referring?”
“Don’t get high and mighty with me. What’s that traitor doing on this call?”
Oh. He meant me. I cleared my throat and tried to smile. “Hello, Governor Musted. I’m here to help?—”
“I want him off this call immediately and out of that room.”
I looked questioningly at Ghosha. I honestly hadn’t thought he’d demand that. Should I leave?
Ghosha barely shook his head before saying, “Owen is a member of the delegation tasked with?—”
“I don’t care! You people can do whatever you like with him up there, but he’s not going to be involved with anything attached to my name.”
Good grief, the ego on him. And something about it all tripped a switch inside me that completely wiped out my nervousness and replaced it with a feeling that was a lot more useful. I smiled genuinely and said, “It’s alright, Governor, I’ll go. But before I do, I’d love to know if your stepdaughter Brigit had her baby. Is it a boy or a girl? I’d love to send a gift.”
Months ago, I’d heard my father telling Brett that Musted had drunkenly confessed to being the father of Brigit’s baby and that she was blackmailing him to keep her silence. I hadn’t been completely surprised since my one meeting with her had made it clear she was in it to win by any means necessary. They all deserved each other, and I desperately hoped the baby would be put up for adoption to save the little innocent from them.
I watched in devious delight as Musted’s face paled and sweat broke out on his forehead. The silence was deafening as everyone on the call and in the room waited for him to respond. Though he didn’t move a muscle, someone on his end must’ve ended his call because he was gone a moment later.
Now it was Ghosha who raised a furry white eyebrow as he held my gaze. I tried to look innocent and said for the benefit of everyone else, “Oh dear. I hope Brigit and the baby are alright. I didn’t mean to touch a nerve.”
Others mentioned their concerns as well since Brigit had all but disappeared from the public in the last few months, no one having known she was pregnant. I tried very hard not to grin.
After that, the conversation was a lot more productive. While not everyone was of the opinion that sex work could be a viable career option, at least no one got nasty. It turned out to be a pretty good debate that boiled down to free will. Sex work might be illegal in the US, but that didn’t mean the government could stop a citizen from leaving the country to do such work somewhere that it was legal. I was oddly proud that we got to that point with these politicians. When Ghosha ended the call, we were all smiling in triumph.
We did a wrap-up, adding free will to our arsenal of talking points, and someone asked if making these sessions public would help our cause. I let them know that recording and distributing the call would have to be known ahead of time by all participants, but that it wasn’t unusual to upload videos of such things somewhere for the public to view. I had a feeling the Norlons would have a YouTube channel connected to their website before the end of the day.
Just as we were breaking for lunch, I got a note from Py about the visiting humans getting ready to leave. Through him, I’d known the shuttle bay repairs had been completed yesterday and had wondered if that would be the kickoff to everyone going back to the surface. They hadn’t needed to wait since shuttles were docked all over the ship, and it had been great having the news crew here, especially because they’d been doing regular broadcasts. I had to assume that they felt they’d been away from their families and lives long enough if they were leaving now, though.
Doug had never mentioned what either of us had done during the mating celebration, but he’d sometimes wink at me, making me blush.
Since I wanted to say good-bye to him and everyone else with PBS, I rushed off toward the shuttle bay. Py had put a map of the ship on my tablet that acted like a navigation app, so I was finally able to get around on my own. Several hallways and two lifts later, I walked into the bay.
Py always looked so stately and scrumptious in his uniform. Today’s short red coat emphasized his broad shoulders and trim waist, while the tight black pants left absolutely nothing to the imagination. His bushy orange and white tail was up and still, making me think he was alert to his surroundings. One tall ear swiveled around just before he looked over his shoulder at me and grinned.
I went over to stand beside him, and he took my hand in his. He was so sweet.
