With another small sound, she settles back against my chest, and I tuck my other wing around her, shielding her from the night and cold as best I can.
When she relaxes against me, body going heavy, her breathing evening out, I sigh in relief.
My little human tormenter is asleep.
And she trusted me enough to hold her.
CHAPTER 5
POPPY
Waking up under a giant,ruby-red wing would be pretty damn great if my own body didn't feel like a fucking furnace.
I blink against the dim crimson shadows, my hair a cloud of auburn frizz. I blow a breath out, trying to get it out of my nose without moving.
Under me, my alien sits perfectly rigid against the tree root. His jaw clenched so tight the muscles in his cheeks are twitching, and his golden eyes stare straight ahead into the dirt as if he's trying to wish himself out of existence.
I shift my legs, and my thigh brushes against the front of his heavy trousers.
Oh.
Even in the dark of night, the damp stain spreading on the crotch of his pants is unmistakable.
I’m not gonna lie—a wave of wicked delight hits me.
This alien warrior completely lost his grip last night just because I curled into his lap for warmth. Just touching me was enough to make him come in his pants.
I feel like I won an Olympic medal in early release jizznastics. Never in my life has a dude come just from snuggling me. Incredible.
He notices me staring. A purplish hue floods his cheeks, and his tail lashes the tree trunk behind him. He immediately tries to pull his wing tighter around us to shield the front of his pants from my eyes.
Oh, no, he’s embarrassed. How freakin’ cute.
"Hey," I murmur. I offer a soft smile in an attempt at cutting through his obvious mortification. "Don't worry about it."
He lets out a low, anxious rumble, his throat bobbing.
“I love it,” I tell him, and maybe it’s because my hormones are trying to get me riding that weird alien dick immediately, but it’s true.
I lean forward, my palms flat against his washboard abs. Scaled, sure, but deliciously perfect, too. I want to help him clean up. The heat revving up between my own legs means I want to do a whole lot more.
A soft buzz overhead brings me to a grinding halt.
A drone hovers right outside the curve of his wing. Watching us. Fucccck me.
And not in the fun way I’m currently fantasizing about.
I freeze. I am all for winning a reality show, but I am absolutely not making an intergalactic sex tape for the whole universe. That’s a bit much for me, thank you.
I close my eyes, forcing myself to pull up the application details I filled out back in Ellison's apartment. This is what I do. I am all about reading the fine print and remembering it.
The contract said while the wilderness would be heavily monitored, the drones are programmed to respect "natural blind spots" and should give us privacy due to differing cultural norms across the galaxy.
A frown pulls my lips down. I still don’t want it here.
I tap my alien’s chest. My alien. Heh. I like the sound of that.
Pointing to the drone, I make a slicing motion across my throat, then point deeper into the cave-like hollow deeper under the oversized tree root. The hollow goes back deep into the earth, partially obscured by a thicket of vines.
