AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m scowling because I want her for always and she only wants a bit of fun—if even that. She’s not my True Mate. If she was, she’d be as interested in me as I am in her. I can’t be messing around with my best friend and ruining the most important relationship in my life when I should be looking for my True Mate.
I let myself indulge my desire for Vera once and it didn’t go well. When I asked to kiss her just before Uni, she looked nauseated and practically ran away.
She didn’t look repulsed in the dress shop. She looked interested. But that old rejection is a deep scar. I won’t make the same mistake twice.
“This is it.” Ada stops in front of a towering skyscraper. Lights shoot up from the bottom, showering the building in neon red. People pour in and out through the glass doors, a sea of bodies threatening to drown me.
I yank at my tie, but Vera pulls my hand away, keeping me from untying it all together.
“You’ve got this, boss man.”
I hate that nickname, but it’s exactly what I need to cool me off and remind me that Vera works for me. I can’t let myself lose control.
She straightens my tie and goes up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. It means nothing, but it spreads heat pulsing towards my cock. Did she linger more than normal? Or is that just my imagination?
She’s always been free with her affection. We’re exact opposites that way. Vera’s one of the few people I’m comfortable touching. In fact, I don’t remember a time when I haven’t wanted to touch her.
When she turns towards the door, revealing her bare spine, I place my palm on the small of her back. It’s an excuse to touch her, thinly veiled under the act of being a gentleman. My control is definitely slipping.
Did she tremble? Is that good? She looks over her shoulder with an expression I can’t interpret, which is strange because I know all of Vera’s expressions. I’ve seen all her moods. Or I thought I had before now. And earlier in her dressing room. And the look she gave me when she first saw me in this tux.
Whatever this look is, it makes me want to lean in and kiss her neck. I drop my hand away instead.
Horrow House is exactly as overwhelming as I expected. Loud. Bright. Chaotic. And so crowded you can’t take a step without bumping into someone. Every known species is here. Luxaain. Tamzell. Mahara. Nebulan. Human. The place is popular.
We weave through the crowd and find the rest of the engineering team. They’re gathered around a Bick table. Everyone looks relaxed. Happy. Each holding a drink and wearing a smile.
Vera was right. It’s a good team building outing. They’ve been working hard to fix the propulsion system, and they need this. I can’t say I’m glad I came, but it’s good that I’m here.
A Mahara male on the security team, Kelon, gives a shout when he sees us and follows it up with a piercing whistle. He’s clearly already drunk. His arm is slung around one of my junior engineers, Lexi. A curvy human woman with short blond hair and a knack for electrical systems. She looks a little green, like she’s already had enough liquor to be nauseous, even though she’s not holding a drink.
“Deal me in,” Vera says. “Boss man too. He’s playing whether he wants to or nor not.”
Only she could make me play Bick, and she knows it. Her grin is deadly. “Ready to have your ass whipped?”
Images of Vera with a whip standing over my bare backside jump into my head unannounced and unasked for. I’m not usually one for kinky sex, so I don’t know where that came from, but I don’t hate it as much as I would have thought.
She doesn’t wait for an answer. She knows I’m dreading this. That’s what twenty-six years of friendship does—you know each other’s answers without having to give them.
She hip checks me to scoot me out of the way so she can get closer to the table, and leans over to place her bet. Her bare back is directly in front of me. Her butt inches from my crotch. My cock lifts as if it’s trying to reach out and touch her. She’s in the perfect position to secure her hips and nail her from behind.
Void, I need to restrain myself.
Jamming my hands into my pockets, I discretely adjust my cock. “Remind me how to play?”
She’s still leaning over the table when she looks back over her shoulder at me, hair cascading around her beautiful face. I want to wrap her thick locks around my hand and pin her against this green, felt-lined table.
Shit. I can’t spend all night like this. I’m painfully hard and losing control fast. My thoughts are spiraling in directions they shouldn’t, and I know how this kind of night goes. Vera will start drinking—and winning—then she’ll find some attractive male to play with until morning.
I’ve been tortured this way before, but this time it feels worse. As much as I keep telling myself she’s not my True Mate, I can’t shake the hope that she might be. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and she’s on The Rose.
Tonight, she’s even giving off these vibes that seem… different. I can’t watch her make out with someone else while I hold this fragile hope against my aching chest.
It would be better if I went back to the ship. I almost do it, but the rest of my team looks so excited about the night I don’t want to be the downer ruining things. I’ll stay for one round. That’s it.
Vera finishes placing our bets. When she stops leaning over the table and stands up, she presses right into me. Her beautiful backside flush against my front. My brain blows a fuse.
She gives me a surprised, almost shocked, look over her shoulder, and I realize she can feel me—the part of me that’s hard and throbbing against her ass.
