Tamed By The Alien Barbarian by Celeste King
Jaxil
It didn’t take long before we arrived at my favorite hotel in Tycho City. I kept a suite reserved any time I was on Mars, and I’d called for a nurse as soon as we left Candi’s operation, so I knew she’d be comfortable here.
I swept her up in my arms and held her close to my chest as we took the elevator up 80 floors to the penthouse. Her skin was hot from the fire.
“Hello,” the nurse greeted us with a velvet voice; she opened the door when we got close. Her small white uniform hugged her curves beautifully, and her chestnut hair was drawn up in a loose bun with curls framing her face. I looked her over, but I felt nothing.
I didn’t get the slightest urge to whisk her into the second bedroom of the suite and have my way with her while Candi recovered. Was I sick? Had the toxic gasses on Candi’s operation gotten to my head?
“Hello,” I returned, looking back to Candi’s slightly swollen face. “Will she be okay?”
The nurse gestured to the bed, which sat on a pedestal at the edge of the room in front of floor-to-ceiling windows. I gingerly lay Candi on top of the pristinely white comforter.
Then the buxom nurse went about inspecting her—lifting Candi’s eyelids, pressing her fingers into Candi’s neck. Now, with Candi in the picture, I started to feel a spark burning inside of me. I sat back in a chair in the corner and watched the nurse inspect my favorite little stripper; even if I knew it was wrong, I was enjoying this moment.
“She’ll be fine,” the nurse told me finally, running her palm up Candi’s leg in a way that made me lick my lips. “She’s got some burns, and I suspect her lungs need time to recover, but it’s nothing serious.”
I felt an enormous sense of relief. I’d made it in time. I let out the breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding in my chest and smiled to myself.
“Wow,” the nurse commented, smiling over at me. “You really love her.”
That rattled me. There was no denying it—I did love Candi. Was that allowed, though? Could anything ever come of it?
I smiled back but said nothing. The nurse went to the other room to wait until she was needed, and I was thankful to be on my own.
For a while, I watched Candi sleep in silence. I knew she needed the rest, and I didn’t mind the chance to be alone with my thoughts.
So many people bustled around the streets of Tycho City 80 stories below us; I wondered if it was possible that any of them had made a life with someone who wasn’t their fated mate. Did fate ever get it wrong? Was it possible that Candi and I could make it work, even if we weren’t meant to be?
I’d been puzzled for hours when Candi started to stir on the bed. The sun was no longer high in the sky, but slanting through the window in the dusty orange way it always did on Mars evenings.
I bounded over to her bedside just in time to see her green eyes flutter open. They were a little bloodshot, but just as vibrant as ever. Maybe I was crazy, but I could have sworn she lit up when she saw me standing over her.
She swallowed hard and took a raspy breath. “Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely. “Thank you for saving me.”
My eyes stung, and my throat felt tight. For some reason it hurt me that she would ever think I’d stand back and let her die. Maybe that was the answer I’d been searching for—maybe she saw me as nothing but a good lay and a bad person.
I decided I should be honest. Each time I saw Candi, it felt like it might be the last; I didn’t want to regret holding this in. “Even if you’re not my fated mate, I still love you,” I confessed.
Something flickered across Candi’s face. It was the same look she’d had that morning when we opened the genetic scan results, only brighter. I had no idea how to decipher her expression.
Then the corner of her soft, pink lips turned up slightly, and she took another raspy breath. “I ha—” she began, but broke off into a coughing fit. “I f—” she started once more, but her lungs wouldn’t cooperate.
“Don’t,” I interjected. There was nothing she could say to change our reality, and she was only going to hurt herself trying. I reached for Candi’s hands, slightly blistered from the fire, and clasped them gently. “The competition will be over soon, and we’ll figure out what to do about what’s going on between us then,” I promised.
Candi didn’t look relieved. She knit her eyebrows together and pursed her lips, her eyes dancing across my face in the most peculiar way.
Even when I knew she needed time to recover, I couldn’t help but get the urge to do terrible things to her. Her singed clothes left bits of skin exposed all over her body; I had to fight the instinct to press my tongue against every bit of her flesh I could see.
When I started to get hard, I knew I needed to leave. Things were getting too complicated, and if we kept going like this, there was no telling how it might end. Plus, there was the small matter of us being bitter business rivals that I’d almost forgotten.
I kissed Candi’s hands softly and stood from the side of her bed. I walked to the guest room of the suite and found the nurse leaned back on the couch, her heels kicked up on the cushions so I had a clear view all the way up her thighs.
She noticed me in the doorway immediately. “Leaving already?” she asked.
I took some time to look her over again. I figured it was a helpful research experience—if I didn’t get the urge to ravage her, there must surely be something else going on, right?
The nurse sat up, asking the question again with her posture.
“I guess I am,” I finally replied.
“Don’t love her quite as much as you thought?” she asked in a joking tone, pouting slightly. I waited to reply again, to see how my body reacts to what’s unfolding in front of me. “Need me to cheer you up?” the nurse continued.
She unfastened the top button of her uniform so her incredible cleavage was exposed. She bit her lip and gave me a beckoning smile.
I tried to talk myself into getting turned on—who hasn’t had the naughty nurse fantasy? Was I really going to let it slip through my fingers? This wasn’t just any nurse, either.
Then I thought of Candi; I looked over my shoulder at her, sleeping again on the raised bed with the light of the city spilling in through the window. It defied all logic, but there was no electricity coursing through my veins for the sexy scene playing out in front of me.
“She’ll be fine,” the nurse promised, heaving forward onto all fours and crawling toward me on the couch.
I stepped toward her and took her chin between my thumb and index finger. “You’ll make sure of that?” I asked solemnly. “You’ll take care of her?”
The nurse sensed my disinterest and straightened up, buttoning her uniform once more. She nodded. “I’ll take care of her,” she echoed.
I stepped out of the guest room and stole one more long glance at Candi. I wasn’t sure where we’d go from here, but knowing that she would be okay was enough to keep my head above water for now.
As I shut the door of the suite behind me, I felt something strange and inexplicable wash over me. I think it was hope.
