Tamed By The Alien Barbarian by Celeste King
Candi
Ialmost wished it was raining. Maybe that would match the shitty mood I was in better than whatever sunny hell the sky was up to today. I wanted to be on Mars, dominating the blackjack table while Jaxil cheered me on. I wanted to be swimming in the cash this contract would bring me but I also wanted that fucking Sanax to keep loving me and I didn’t think our new love could handle such a big loss.
“I really don’t think there has to be this much ceremony about the whole thing,” Mandy whispered to me as we walked down the hall of the meeting space. It was clinically sparse, this business park. Hyper-modern to match the personal taste of the Sanax, it was nothing more than a series of glass domes and tower tunnels connecting various places where multi-billion dollar deals were made on the regular. A man designed this space, I thought.
Mostly because the carpet dampened the powerful sound of my heels as I stomped down the hallway. And rhythmic tak-tak-tak was usually the confidence boost I needed to burst into a room full of men in suits who would never take me seriously and would probably rather I flash them a tit than hand them a pen to sign contacts with.
“I know, but just let them do their thing. We’re winning a contract today, and I want to be sure I did everything right when I accept,” I sounded much more sure than I felt. Truth be told, I was scared. Jaxil was an adept businessman, no doubt he’d prepared some life-saving measures for his company to be able to win this. I had, too. I’d doubled my production and paid the express service fees to get done more in a month than my company had in the last six years it’d been alive.
We rounded the corner and that’s when I saw him. His back was turned to me. I recognized those well-polished horns anywhere. They curved sophisticatedly back from his forehead almost like hair, and it matched the smooth way his broad shoulders and rippled back sloped smoothly away from his sharp jaw. God, he couldn’t look shitty today? Just once? He had to wear the blue suit he knows I like? I thought.
As if he could sense me, Jaxil turned his head to look over his shoulder. His team of consultants flocked around him like birds. I couldn’t resist. To keep up our old back-and-forth, I quirked an eyebrow at him and gestured to his team.
“Do you think your goons will help you win this thing today? They seem just as scared as you,” I said. I didn’t even stop walking. Jaxil snorted but said nothing, his sharp eyes following me all the way through the double doors and into the room.
The long desk at the front of the room on the stage was austere. And dorky. The podium in the middle facing two separate steel tables—one for Jaxil’s team, and one for mine—was tall enough to overlook all the other tables set up for smaller companies also bidding for this job. I felt bad for them. We all knew they didn’t stand a chance.
I walked past a few of them who were already seated and I could hear the whispering from miles away.
“Keep talking, dork asses, we both know you’re losing out to me today,” I hissed at a particularly bold man who had clearly just said the word “bitch” while looking at me. He threw up a violent middle finger at me but said nothing as the rest of the room filled up.
The mining director had arrived. He seemed tired. The manila envelope in his hand was the time bomb that had controlled the lives of everyone in this room for the longest time now. Jaxil and his team were sitting. Jaxil held a small earth pen in his colossal hand. I wanted to be holding that hand. I wanted to be that pen.
I also wanted to win this thing.
“Let’s not delay, alright? I’m tired of this ordeal, and you two in particular have been exhausting,” said the director, smoothing his combover. He seemed less nervous now. More tired. I nodded. Jaxil did nothing. Was he watching me as much as I was watching him?
I didn’t want to turn my head and miss the director speaking the words-
“Consolidated Mining, congratulations. Your production of ore far exceeded that of your competition, and you’ve won the contract for the zoning rights to this particular Mars terraforming project,” he said. The room erupted into noise.
I didn’t hear it. All I could hear was my heart pounding loudly. It was also somehow sinking into my stomach. Maybe I was hearing its dying cries. I looked down at my paperwork for a long time, willing myself through sheer threatening thoughts not to cry in this room full of men who did not like me. That would be the worst. Mandy was putting her hand on one of my shoulders. I shook my head sharply and held up a hand.
“We’ll talk later. Make us a reservation at the nearest bar where we can get a private room,” I grumbled, “I want to scream with a martini in my hand.”
I folded my arms over my chest and looked over at Jaxil. He was looking at me. I jumped a bit in surprise. What was that look on his face? I don’t think anyone else noticed.
The mining director was still droning, talking about all the valiant efforts everyone had made and how he’d loved to work with us in the future. Disgusting pleasantries. I was just about to finish brainstorming my plan to corner the mining director later and yank out what remained of his sad combover, when the shriek of a dragging chair pierced the room.
We all looked over at a now standing Jaxil. His fingertips were splayed across the steel table and he was looking steadily at the director. No one else.
“I appreciate the offer. I will be declining it at this time. Please pass it on to the next qualifying company,” said Jaxil. The room was silent. I could hear my own breathing.
And then the mining director said “What” into the microphone, which triggered a cacophony of dragging chairs, standing men, and rousing voices. I looked around and then back up at the mining director. He was trying to say more things.
In the din, Jaxil and his team stood up and rallied around one another. I couldn’t even see his expression.
“What the hell?” Mandy said next to me. She took a hold of my sleeve when I stood up.
“Wait,” She hissed, then pointed her chin at the mining director. He was looking right at me.
“Can he do that?” I blurted, looking from the mining director to Jaxil’s team. Jaxil was looking at me now with a fire in his eyes. I knew that look. He was coming for me.
“What are you doing?” I asked him directly now, even though Jaxil couldn’t hear me. The room was dying down now as people noticed Jaxil was poised to do something. As per usual, he had a room captured. I was standing, too.
We were facing each other and it felt like it was just us.
