Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin

CHAPTER 21: MAUREEN

Maureen gasped at the unexpected intrusion. She bolted upright on the bed, clutching the bedsheets to conceal her naked breasts. Meanwhile Rawn, who had previously been on the verge of sleep, leapt up fully alert and bared his teeth in a protective snarl.

But when Maureen saw who the intruder was, she sighed with relief.

It was just Jrayk, the captain.

The Raksha was casually leaning one beefy shoulder against the doorframe, and his powerful physique almost completely filled the door. Jrayk made no move to enter the room, but at the sight of Rawn snarling on the bed, he dropped his pointed ears and hissed like an annoyed cat.

Maureen ran her hand over Rawn’s shaggy coat to calm him.

“Hush, Rawn. It’s just Jrayk. He’s a friend, remember?”

Rawn grumbled, but he settled back onto the bed and relaxed a little. Maureen darted her eyes back to the Raksha in the doorway.

“Doesn’t anyone knock around here?” she muttered.

“My apologies, human. But I am not accustomed to knocking aboard my own ship.”

Maureen’s eyes circled with surprise.

She had not actually expected Jrayk to understand her words; she had simply spoken them as a way to vent her frustration. But when she finally managed to drag her eyes away from his annoyingly handsome face, she noticed that he also had an earpiece looped over his pierced ear, similar to the one she was wearing.

Jrayk caught the shift in her gaze and he tapped the earpiece.

“Translator. We’ve all got them now, so we can talk.”

“Oh!” Maureen said. “Well…that’s good…”

Oddly enough, now that Maureen had a means of communicating with the aliens, she suddenly discovered that she couldn’t think of anything to say. Her attention was all taken up by the big Raksha filling the door.

Without thinking about it, Maureen found her eyes roaming over the landscape of Jrayk’s shirtless body, drinking in the sights. Broad purple shoulders lined with darker stripes. Thick chest muscles like armored plates. Impossibly symmetrical abs and two deeply carved V-shaped ruts which slanted downward, converging on a point just below the top of his low-slung belt.

Oh God, was that a trail of darker purple fur emerging from the top of his pants?

Maureen made the unfortunate mistake of allowing her eyes to drop a little lower, to the front of Jrayk’s black silken breeches. When she saw the long, thick bulge outlined beneath the thin fabric, she gasped aloud and quickly darted her eyes back to the Raksha’s face.

The smirk twisting the edge of Jrayk’s mouth made it clear he had noticed her attention.

“You are fascinated by my body, human?”

Maureen’s face flushed with heat.

“No!” she blurted a little too quickly, then stammered, “yes…kind of…I mean, you’re an alien, you know. So of course I’m going to be, um…curious?”

Good recovery, Maureen. Real smooth.

Jrayk’s cocky smirk widened into a full-on grin. In contrast to his deep purple skin, his teeth were almost blindingly white, with the exception of his two upper right fangs, which were gold. His massive shoulders shook, and his rumbling laugh filled the enclosed space of the room.

Maureen scowled and clutched the sheets tighter around her body. “What’s so funny?”

“To me, you are the alien, little human.”

Maureen’s scowl deepened. She didn’t like being called little. Sure, she was half the size of this guy, but did he really have to say it out loud like that? It made her sound like a pet or something.

Still, Maureen could understand his point of view. She must seem equally as bizarre to him as he seemed to her.

Jrayk’s smile faded back into that infuriating smirk.

“I understand your curiosity,” he purred. “I am fascinated by your body too, human. Very fascinated…”

Now it was Jrayk’s turn to stare. He let his gaze brazenly stroll over Maureen’s body, moving at a leisurely pace. The raised sheets covered much of her skin, but they did not fully conceal the shape of her figure, and Maureen could practically feel Jrayk’s eyes on her body like a pair of strong fingers tracing every line and curve of her.

Maureen nearly withered beneath that unabashed gaze. The heat in her face deepened and spread to other unfortunate parts of her body—her breasts, her belly, and the center of her legs.

She just hoped the fabric of the sheets was thick enough to conceal the sudden stiffness in her nipples.

Maureen cleared her throat, bringing Jrayk’s eyes back to her face.

“Can I help you, Jrayk?”

His sharp brows elevated. “Help me?”

“It’s just a human expression. I mean, you came to my room. Do you have some reason for visiting?”

“Oh, right.” Jrayk chuckled and looked down at his hand. For the first time, Maureen realized he was carrying some kind of alien garment. “I was just coming to bring you some clothing.” His eyes slashed up and down her sheet-covered body again. “But it looks like you’ve already got that situation under control.”

Maureen rolled her eyes.

“This isn’t clothing, Jrayk. I can’t very well go running around your spaceship wearing bedsheets.”

Jrayk didn’t miss a beat.

“As far as I’m concerned, human, you can run around my ship wearing whatever you like.” He arched one eyebrow. “Or nothing at all, if you prefer.”

Maureen’s blush deepened to dangerous levels. She couldn’t see herself, but she imagined she must be about two shades away from looking like a Raksha.

Jrayk had already seen pretty much everything, of course. At their first encounter, Maureen had been slung over Tristn’s shoulder with her naked booty on full display. But somehow that had been different. The fact that they had been in public, surrounded by hundreds of other aliens, somehow made it less embarrassing. But now, facing him one-on-one, the situation felt even more intimate and precarious.

Of course, it didn’t help matters that Jrayk was barely clothed himself. Apparently, these Raksha guys had an allergy to shirts. And the clothing covering his lower body left little to the imagination. Gray sweatpants had nothing on those silken trousers. Maureen’s eyes briefly dropped to his crotch again, and she swore that bulge had gotten even more pronounced.

“I would prefer to have clothing,” Maureen answered.

Taking care to keep her body covered by the sheet, Maureen stood up from the bed. At the same moment, Jrayk stepped through the door. In the cramped confines of the small room, their bodies nearly came together, barely a finger’s breadth between them.

Maureen’s skin thrilled at the proximity. She imagined this was how it would feel to be in the presence of a wild animal, a wolf or a tiger. Jrayk’s masculine scent filled the enclosed space. Heat radiated from him like a furnace, warming Maureen’s body.

He held the garment up to one side, since there wasn’t enough space between them.

“I brought you this,” he whispered.

The timbre of his voice sent a swarm of tickles rushing through Maureen’s veins. Jrayk’s scruffy appearance might have been rough around the edges, but his voice was smooth as satin.

Maureen was suddenly reminded of Bradley, and she felt a twinge of shame. It wasn’t that she was betraying him, of course. Her relationship with Bradley had always been a purely physical one, and there had never been any expectations of exclusivity. In fact, she was quite certain that many lucky ladies had shared Bradley’s bed on those nights when she had been too busy with work.

Still, Bradley was her friend, and he was no doubt concerned about her. After the way their last phone call had ended, he had most certainly contacted the Bureau and immediately started searching for her. He was probably worried sick about her, and here she was a zillion light years away, getting all hot and bothered in the presence of a purple alien male.

But Maureen quickly shoved her feelings of guilt aside. For one thing, she hadn’t asked to be placed in this situation. And for another, Jrayk was so attractive it was almost unfair.

She turned her attention to the garment hanging from Jrayk’s hand.

“Oh wow,” she said. “You want me to wear that?”

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, Jrayk. It’s just, um…”

Maureen studied the garment. It was difficult to determine the shape of it, but the fabric was obviously exquisite. Something like iridescent white silk, only much thinner, to the point that it was semi-translucent, allowing the purple of Jrayk’s hand to bleed through. Maureen could only imagine how certain details of her own body might be visible through that thin veil.

“…it’s just that it’s kind of small. And thin.”

Jrayk chuckled.

“Don’t worry. It is much warmer in the dining room. I’m sure you will be quite comfortable.”

Maureen wanted to tell him it wasn’t the temperature she was worried about. Except for the fact that her nipples would probably be poking out like a pair of eraser nubs.

She was tempted to ask him for something else to wear, but she wasn’t sure if that would be rude. She still knew so little about these aliens and their culture. And they had saved her from certain death, after all.

And besides, the warm smell of cooking food drifting in from the corridor made her unwilling to waste any more time.

She took the small garment from Jrayk’s hand.

“Thank you.”

The Raksha nodded. “You are welcome, human.”

With his smirk still firmly in place, Jrayk stepped backward out of the room. He gestured down the corridor.

“Dinner will be in the second room on the right. When you are ready, come join us.”

“Um, will do.”

“I shall look forward to it.”

The door slid shut with a pneumatic hiss. Maureen listened to the sound of Jrayk’s boots departing down the corridor, then she leaned back against the closed door and let go a long sigh. She was in trouble. Those past few minutes in the presence of a Raksha male had been almost unbearable. Maureen had no idea how she would handle having dinner with three of them.

This was going to be interesting.