Return to Eden (14 page)

She had a sneaking feeling the only
reason she still had her job was because her boss was afraid the
aliens might retaliate if she was fired.

Her boss still sent her home on leave
since it was impossible for anyone to get any work done with news
people swarming the office.

Her sister arrived for a visit in the
middle of the media siege.

“
Wow! You’re famous!” Myra
said with a chuckle when Anya opened the door and yanked her
inside.

Anya was so glad to see her sister she
didn’t do anything but hug her for many moments. She’d heard her
sister was ok, but she hadn’t gotten to see her sister for herself.
She struggled with the urge to burst into tears for a few moments
and finally conquered the impulse. Drawing away, she grinned at her
sister a little sourly. “Yeah! Wow! Come on and have a seat in the
living room so we can catch up. You hungry? Thirsty?”

“
I’ll take anything cold
and wet that you’ve got,” Myra instantly responded, looking the
apartment over as if she’d never seen it before and then heading to
the couch. “The little bastards didn’t get this far?”

Anya shrugged as she returned and
handed her sister a glass of ice tea. “Yes and no. They got this
far but not much damage. I’m almost sorry. I could’ve used some new
furniture.”

Myra made a non-committal sound. “Soooo
… tell me about this yummy alien you’ve taken up with. I’ve been
dying to know …?”

Anya instantly had to fight another
round with the urge to feel sorry for herself and weep. Her nose
and eyes stung. She sniffed. “He scared the hell out of me. I’m
sure it doesn’t surprise you to hear that, but I’m not sure I
would’ve made it without him.” She shuddered. “Actually, I’m pretty
sure I would’ve been one of the casualties—I was caught out in the
open, on the road, alone, when the terraformer landed. And in
completely unfamiliar territory. I had no idea where to find water
or food and no weapon—plus, like everybody else here, I didn’t have
a clue of what to expect.”

Myra sobered. “It was pretty rough—on
everybody. The refugee camp was … indescribably miserable.
Everybody was fighting over the food and water.” She shook her
head. “But, no sense in dwelling on the negative. I was so relieved
when I heard you were ok—and mom and dad. The nanites didn’t
actually get to their farm. Of course, refugees did, but thankfully
things didn’t get out of hand.”

Anya shifted uncomfortably. “I think
the Grinderians really do regret what happened.” She shrugged.
“Arrogance. It isn’t like we humans haven’t been guilty of
that.”

“
No,” Myra agreed. “Or
that we haven’t acted aggressively toward people that were
technologically challenged. I’m not passing judgment. I’m actually
excited that we’ve finally met people from another part of the
universe and they didn’t come to wipe us out. Scared, but excited.”
She paused. “You don’t want to tell me about Aidan?”

Anya smiled a little tremulously. “I
really liked him.” She frowned thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to
convince myself that I just got dependent because I needed rescuing
and he was kind enough to keep me alive ….”

“
Not having much luck with
that, though, huh?”

Anya sighed. “Not much. He was ….” She
broke off and started laughing. “Not like anybody else I
know.”

Myra laughed, too. “I can see that. I
can totally see that.”

“
But … Well, he
is
different and he
comes from a completely different culture and, when you get down to
it, he’s not even the same species that we are. And yet
….”

When she didn’t say anything else, just
stared at the floor, Myra prompted her. “And yet?”

“
I don’t think
they’re
that
different from us in a lot of ways either. I mean, I suppose
culturally it’s sort of like being with any foreigner from this
planet—when you don’t really know their customs or the way they
look at things.”

“
He’s
definitely
a foreigner,” Myra
responded wryly.

Anya sent her an irritated look. “I
mean he … seemed to have a sense of humor I could completely relate
to and ….” She released a deep sigh. “It was like fireworks!
OMG!”

“
Oooh!” Myra gasped
excitedly. “Now, this is more like it! I want details!”

Anya felt her face redden. “Well, you
aren’t getting them! Just saying he totally rocked my
world.”

“
In several ways, I
imagine,” Myra said dryly.

Anya gave her a look. “Yeah. But I
really like him and none of this was his doing. He’s the only one,
apparently, who thought there was a good chance they were going to
run across a planet inhabited by higher life forms, possibly
intelligent, but he couldn’t get anybody to listen so he came for
proof.”

Myra frowned. “Yeah, I read that in one
of the interviews. You believe him?”

“
I do.”

Myra set her glass down and moved to
settle on the couch next to her sister, cuddling her
sympathetically. “But it didn’t work out?”

Anya shrugged. “I don’t guess it really
could.”

“
But you wish it
would?”

Anya considered it. “I’d love to have
the chance to find out if it could work out. You know it’s hard to
make a relationship work—even a typical one. It probably wouldn’t.
But I really, really like him and I’d like to try it.”

“
Then you need to tell him
the next time you get a chance,” Myra said decisively. “I want you
to be happy. I think you’re taking on a huge burden here and this
would be the absolute ultimate no-no as far as a mixed relationship
and the approval/disapproval of your peers, but you’re a free woman
and you should get to make your own mistakes like everybody
else.”

Anya felt a huge weight fall off her
shoulders. She hadn’t realized that so much of her anxiety had to
do with a fear that seeking a relationship with Aidan could mean
destroying her relationship with the other people she
loved.

That thought brought her to a mental
halt.

Loved?

Did she love him?

Or was it just … like that captive
syndrome thingy?

And, saying it wasn’t anything mental
like that but she really did care for him, was she going to
actually get the chance to discover if Aidan wanted to try to have
a relationship with an Earth woman?

* * * *

Anya was tempted to simply ignore the
tap on her bedroom window. The feeding frenzy of the media had died
down considerably in the past couple of weeks, though, and
curiosity got the best of her. She peered through the curtains
warily to see if she should start screaming her head off or
not.

Her heart jerked painfully when she saw
who was standing outside her bedroom window.

She broke two nails unlocking the
window and shoving it open. “Aidan!” she gasped in a thrilled
whisper. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced around the darkened back
yard. “Can I come in before your neighbors call the
cops?”

Anya glanced around at that. “I’ll meet
you at the back door,” she said, pointing. Rushing to the back
door, she snatched it open, and flung herself into Aidan’s arms
without waiting to see if she was welcome or not, hugging him
tightly. He hugged her back with gratifying force, nearly squeezing
the breath out of her and finally pulled away just enough to seek
her mouth.

She met his quest eagerly, already
warm, willing, excited from his presence, from the warmth and
strength of the hard, unyielding form he’d held her against. He was
just unfamiliar enough to her to add an edge of nerves to her
excitement and just familiar enough to make the blood pump faster
from memory alone. The scent of his skin—so alien, so uniquely his
own—was an intoxicant. The taste of his mouth as he covered hers
and breached the barrier of her lips was heavenly. She felt as if
she was melting, felt warm and wet and pliant … and oh so
ready!

Objections were the last thing that
crossed her mind as he swept her up into his arms and began a
search for a nest to mate in—beyond objecting that he broke the
kiss to look around. “That way,” she murmured, nuzzling her face
against his throat as soon as she’d pointed him in the right
direction.

They crashed onto the top of her bed
with a bounce, stroking one another, kissing any patch of skin
uncovered as they wrestled with removing their clothing and
caressing one another at the same time. They tangled—with each
other, the binding clothes—fought their way free of sleeves and
zippers and other closures and clutched at one another
again.

A heated steam of their combined scents
enveloped them as they explored one another thoroughly, returned
repeatedly to share mating lips in kisses that wound the tension
tighter and tighter. Their breaths mingled, intoxicating both of
them.

Anya was in a rush to feel Aidan as a
part of herself again and, at the same time, she wanted to explore
him with her lips and hands and feel his touch on her. They seemed
to reach a surfeit of what they could endure without becoming one
with another at the same time. Without words, almost as if their
thoughts were guiding them and nothing else, they moved to
complement one another, moved together, angling their bodies for a
smooth joining.

It was hardly that.

They had the logistics right. It was
the difference in their sizes that created a blip in their
bliss.

Anya had forgotten how very male Aidan
was. Even as wet as she was, and slippery, his girth was enough to
make penetration an ordeal—for both of them—to try their patience.
Anya had gasped and groaned and pushed and shoved and clawed at him
until she was about ready to pass out from dehydration and
hyperventilation by the time he achieved the desired connection and
surged inside of her.

It was well worth the struggle,
however, deeply satisfying for both of them.

A tremor went through Anya as soon as
he managed to delve her depths fully, filling her with a satisfying
ache from the lovely friction as well as the strain his girth
placed on the muscles along her channel. She clung to him tightly
as he withdrew to plunge again. “Aidan! Oh god! Oh Aidan! Oh baby!
It feels good! It feels so good. I’m going to come!”

He shuddered and silenced her with his
mouth.

It was perfect—absolutely perfect and
just what she needed! The kiss sent her rocketing over the edge.
She moaned into his mouth as her body was wracked with the most
excruciating pleasure she’d ever experienced and finally tore her
mouth from his to suck in a sharp breath as she hit the
zenith.

Aidan uttered a harsh growl of
satisfaction as he reached his own peak, shuddering with her. The
sound as much as the shudders that told her he’d achieved climax,
as well, made goose bumps rise all over her and sent a delicious
shiver through her as she lay gasping for breath in the aftermath.
She stroked his back lovingly as he collapsed weakly on top of her,
still shuddering.

“
Mmm. I’ve missed
this.”

Aidan stiffened slightly and finally
pushed himself up a little to look down at her. “You
have?”

Anya lifted her brows. “That didn’t
seem like I was happy to see you?”

His lips curled upward at one corner in
a smile that seemed both shy and at the same time cocky. “It seemed
that way, but I didn’t want to make assumptions …..”

Anya chuckled. “Your English is way
better.”

He grimaced, but he made no attempt to
move off of her. “I have had much practice … until I am nearly
hoarse.”

“
That bad, huh?” Anya
asked sympathetically.

“
Worse.”

He hesitated and finally sighed deeply
and rolled off of her and on to his back beside her. Lifting one
arm, he draped it across his eyes.

“
Tired?” Anya asked
hesitantly when he didn’t speak for several moments.

His lips curled faintly and he moved
his arm, shifting so that he could draw her against his length.
“Yes. Very tired. I hate politicians.”

“
We have that much in
common,” Anya responded with amusement.

“
Is that all,
Ah-na?”

She frowned. “We haven’t exactly had a
lot of time to explore what we might or might not have in
common.”

“
And yet …” He studied her
for many moments and finally seemed almost to shrug. “I desire you.
I want, very much, to get the chance to discover if we could make a
life together. But I know I shouldn’t ask. There is a great deal of
animosity toward my people in spite of the efforts to make
amends.”

Feeling her heart leap with gladness
and excitement and relief, Anya shifted closer. “It would be hard
to deal with, I know,” she murmured, tracing a circle on his chest
with one fingertip. “But I’m old enough to know what I want. And
besides that I’m old enough to have learned that it’s just plain
stupid to throw away any chance for happiness. I’m willing to face
the disapproval. I heard the treaty was signed allowing a
Grinderian colony here. We could live in the colony if you aren’t
comfortable with the idea of living here.”