This might be pushing it, but she felt too tired to fight. Resting her cheek on his shoulder, Sadie curved her body along his muscled bicep, angling back to see his face. “So this is about me having an established relationship with the Edwards’s and access to private conversations?”
His fingers flexed, dimpling her thigh before he smoothed the towel over her bare skin. “Did you know he was crooked?”
She knew he held secrets, but losing her job interfering with her boss’s life wasn’t smart. “Lately he’s been squirrelly—private phone calls, late meetings, weird business hours. I guess I did.”
“Edwards is showing signs of greed, and inquiring about black market profits on contaminated fuel. Watch him. You’ll be equipped with technology to take pictures of papers and record conversations.” He lowered his voice. “Nothing else, Sadie. I don’t want you hurt.”
Sadie squirmed under his protective tone. They were boss and nanny…period. Sure, he’d given her screaming orgasms making her body jerk and convulse repeatedly, but business came first. Her breasts tingled at the mention of him deep between her thighs. Sadie pulled her mind away from the stairs to Aroc studying her.
“And what about this here,” she asked, gesturing around the room. “Me helping you with Norese?”
He blew out a breath, scrubbing a hand over his face. “On the condition you return every weekend to spend time with her, I’ll allow you the freedom to live on Earth.” He whirled around so fast she fell back against the cushioned headboard. “If you try and hide where I can’t find you, I’ll hunt you down, Sadie, and keep you here in my vacation home.”
The image of him searching the streets of Georgia screaming her name filled her mind. Turned over cars, trash cans kicked down the sidewalk. Streets full of cop cars, their lights flashing red and blue reflecting on picture windows in the ranch style houses. Patrol cops with guns drawn. Neighbors shuddering behind the drapes in their front windows. Sadie swallowed, suppressing the surge of acid churning in her stomach.
“Why are you allowing me to go back to Earth, when you brought me up here to help you with Norese?”
“You can’t throw water on a flame and expect it to glow. Holding you hostage, will change who you are. Even I can see that.” He paused. “I don’t want you to hate being here.”
The man in the alien showed himself more and more. “That won’t happen, Aroc. You’ve given me adventure beyond my imagination. Why wouldn’t I return?” The muscles bracketing his throat relaxed when he released an audible breath—tension. “When can I speak with the other captain?”
“Do you agree to spend your weekends with Norese?”
“I’d miss her if I didn’t come back at least once a week. She’s in my heart, Aroc.”
Aroc looked away.
She closed her fingers over his on the bed to get his attention. The close proximity as she inhaled the scent of his soap stirred things low in her gut. “You’re a good father to her, Aroc. Barring what happened in the shower, you’ve lived your life for Norese.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t drag you into the shower for sex again. I won’t jeopardize the friendship forming between us to satisfy my feral needs. But we share my bed every night you’re here.”
She wanted to tell him she liked the sex…a lot. Maybe he didn’t and wanted to spare her the crush to her self-esteem.
“You need the touch of another warm body. I understand. Alien or human, some needs are universal. Even us country girls understand that, Aroc.” She laughed, then shot her head up to look at him. “How much does this job pay… spying on my boss?”
“A career on the station includes room and board. Meals in the canteen are covered by the amount of time you’ve worked that week. Replicators in individual homes are replenished weekly by order. I share a portion of the profits with my staff so they never have to steal from me.”
The captain had business etiquette down to a science. “And on the human station, what’s the pay?”
Aroc peered out the window then back to her face. “Captain Holston’s a fair man. He runs his station parallel to mine. There’s a fuel charge for commissioning a shuttle for personal reasons. Most humans visit the pleasure station, similar to this station.”
“Pleasure sounds like prostitutes, Aroc. Do karuntee have prostitutes?”
“Karuntee don’t indulge in casual sex… our situation is uncommon.” He stared at her his eyes wistful. “Karuntee mate for life. Taking a second mate is a rarity. And I’m not searching out heartache, so this is the best arrangement for me, Sadie.”
He still mourned his wife. She could be a friend and pack away the thought of becoming anything more to the captain.
“Sounds as if I have a new career,” she said keeping the disappointment out of her voice.
“Then we have an agreement. Good…now get some rest. We’ll meet Captain Ryner Holston in the morning.”
She snuggled down in the bed, Aroc crawling in beside her. Still no kiss. “He’s human?” she asked, pressing their bodies together so she could massage his back, the other reason he wanted her, to help him sleep. Obviously, his wife had done this every night otherwise he walked around grumpy. If wrapping himself around her three nights a week and her massaging the tense muscles in his back kept her adventure alive, she could handle that for now.
Aroc nodded in acknowledgment to her question.
***
Days passed. Nights faded. Norese tunneled her way into Sadie's heart with her bright eyes and curious nature. But Sadie noticed she didn’t care for any of the female staff at the station. Whenever she took her outside, Sadie kept her close to her side.
They fell into a contented routine of breakfast, swimming, walking the beach at night to listen to him discuss the weight he carried as captain over the clan, yet he never mentioned his wife. They never swam without Norese in the water. Side glances and awkward silence slowly disappeared, replaced with full eye contact during conversations and comfortable silence. In public, stern, and stoic, he demanded complete obedience from the other males and females roaming the station. This was a contrast to Norese’s whimsical nature when she was around those she knew. Swinging Sadie’s hand wherever they went, she felt safe. To onlookers they were a family. Sadie knew she was the nanny.
The desire to return to Earth lessened every day, barring the harsh stares from the female karuntees.
He introduced her to his human counterpart, Captain Ryner Holston over something they referred to as video conference. Holston was large and as imposing as Aroc, only he was human. Mexican or American Indian heritage gave him a distinct flare. She liked him.
The captain offered Sadie a position as a detective, with some training of course. The training consisted of learning to transport from one location to another with the help of a transmitter beneath her clothes. Dematerializing left her dizzy and slightly nauseated, which she was assured, would pass with time. She doubted that. Having her organs scrambled through the air left her lightheaded to think about. He learned code words, passwords, met other domestics, and found a new purposed in life.
This particular position required her to spy on suspected executives looking to send tainted fuel to the recycling center on the space station. One of their suspects was the bankers frequenting her boss’s home on Earth. And he was the president of a bank himself. That she hadn’t liked because the Edwards were a good family. But she had to admit, Richard Edwards held more meetings within the home than she ever expected a banker would have.
Chapter 8
She’d stared at Norese for an hour, locking her round face to memory. Promising to return, Sadie said her goodbyes. She and Aroc met up with Captain Holston to transfer down to the human space station.
Swamped and drowning under the mix of emotions claiming her body, Sadie tucked the transmitter under her maid’s uniform collar, adjusting it until it appeared to be a decorative broach. The day of reckoning, returning to her life on Earth warred in her mind.
According to her new boss, Captain Ryner Holston, the memories of her immediate circle of contacts were altered to believe she’d scheduled off a month of absence.
Sector Five, the human run station, bustled with men and women. Her pride swelled. Black men and women were coming and going, some in gray shuttle suits, maid uniforms similar to hers, or street clothes. Unknown to the families they worked for, these housekeepers, limo drivers, groundskeepers, and more were spies working undercover.
One thing she learned about protocol, karuntee weren’t allowed on the human station without invitation. The physical advantage they had over humans would ultimately have them perceived as dangerous. Today Aroc accompanied her because of his title.
Sadie had heard women speak of bated breath in old movies, but this was the first time she’d ever experienced it herself. Could they see her heartbeat thumping in her chest?
In front of the tall shuttle bay doors, with Captain Ryner Holston and Captain Aroc Farkus, she waited to begin her new career. There was particular protocol to follow reentering her life on Earth. They’d ride the shuttle to a secluded landing site in the middle of the night. Detectives stationed in her immediate area would meet her there, posing as a friend to take her home.
She rotated her neck enough to fill her view full of Captain Farkus…the alien that held her freedom in his hand. A hand she wanted to touch her, but would probably never feel the caress of again, the way she had in the shower. “Captain, I’m not certain what to say to you. A month ago, you kidnaped me, hurling me wide-eyed into your world and life. Now I stand here elated to see my sister while the thought of not tucking Norese in bed saddens my heart.” And not feel him beside her in bed.
“Strong allies are built on a foundation of trust.” Aroc traced a finger along the braided strap of her backpack slung over her shoulder. Their hands met. His fingers curved around hers to settle under her palm. “Trust nourishes friendships amongst allies.” He gave her a slip of paper. “On the weekends.”
She looked at the paper then him, while avoiding the other gazes focused on their exchange. Five numbers followed by three numbers—the code to his home. She tucked the paper into the side pocket of her backpack. “And throughout the week when I call in a report, how do I address you?” She didn’t recognize her sad voice.
“Captain Farkus, the same as any employee.”
Expression pensive, he shifted on his boots, cargo vest gaping open, revealing a slice of his well-formed chest. She struggled against the urge to run her hand down the center and feel his steady heartbeat warm under her hand. What they shared behind closed doors wasn’t romantic, or at least that wasn’t the arrangement. Touching his body, she’d persuaded her mind to register it as a medical necessity to her survival.
The lies she told herself to get through the day.
A quick glance around the room affirmed her suspicions. Many women found him handsome. The one female in his security glared at her from the bay doors at the end of the hall where she waited for the captain.
He paused, adjusting the butterfly shaped transmitter on her maid uniform, his knuckles brushing the underside of her jawline. The touch lingered too long to be polite. She wanted to stroke her finger across the pulse at the base of his thick neck. Feel the repetitive thud she knew lay just beneath the surface. Her fingers flexed at her side, aching to move up his thigh to rest on his lean hips. Press her ear to his chest, and feel the thud of his heartbeat on her face the way she had in bed.
The desire to leave faded with each passing minute.
She had to go. Had to stuff her feelings for him away and stick to the friendship.
His hand fell away. Clearing his throat, and with noticeable difficulty, Aroc inched away from her. “Remember protocol, Detective, when reporting matters that pertain to both worlds.” He moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. “Contact Captain Holston then me. No delays, Detective. It could end a life.”
She received a verifying nod from Captain Holston. The deep complexion lent itself to American Indian with a hint of Italian. The man had a voice that belonged on the radio, profound and inviting. He climbed into the shuttle and towered over her at near 6’5”.
“Remember your training. You’re our eyes and ears on the inside. Don’t engage him thinking you can get more information from him somehow. Listen. Report.” Captain Holston rested his hand on her shoulder. “For the first month, if anybody looks at you funny, find a wall or object to stand behind then tap your com link. You’ll be transported straight to my personal home. After that, we’ll reprogram it and you can decide where you go. Understand?”
She agreed.
He tipped a chin in Aroc’s direction then settled into the captain's chair at the controls. The other people on board drew back when Captain Farkus stepped up the metal strip connecting the shuttle to the archway. Their fingers made one last touch when he removed her bag, setting it on her seat. His spicy scent wafted under her nose, decadently masculine.
While she had him close, she asked a question only they needed to hear the answer to. “After my year of servitude has expired, what happens?”
Captain Farkus slipped his hands into his front pockets in a shy motion she'd never witnessed before.
“Have a safe trip, Detective Ochi. Remember, Edwards is a criminal regardless of his upstanding appearance.”