Page 7 of Seduction
Assigned to duty on a starship, the criminal planned to sell the stolen drugs off-planet. No Earth dweller would dare take unprescribed medications. They’d show up in the routine full-body scans performed during monthly hormone injections. Any reading showing the presence of mind or body-altering substances meant immediate and permanent exile to one of the primitive mining colonies on an asteroid. For modern Earthers, it amounted to a death sentence. If the harsh physical labor didn’t kill them, a fellow prisoner from some other planet would, if only to steal the day’s food ration.
When she returned, Haldor had stuffed the pillow behind his back and was sitting up in bed staring out the window.
“Earth is a strange place. All I see are buildings reaching to the heavens. Where are your forests, your fields?”
She laid the tray on his lap and poured a cup of tea from the flask. “We don’t have any forests. Or fields. Everything outside the dome died nearly six hundred years ago. Our planet was all but destroyed by superweapons in the last Great War. The few survivors built the first dome after they emerged from the shelters. Scientists managed to save some animal species as well as a number of plants. But as the population grew, we were forced to whittle down plant life forms to those that took up the least amount of space in the dome and provided the best yield. Unfortunately, most trees didn’t make the cut.”
He looked stricken. “No forests?”
“We still have some trees, lining the main plaza,” she offered. “Later, when you’re feeling stronger, we’ll go for a walk there. It’s lovely. We even have holographic birds flitting from branch to branch.”
Haldor poked his fork into the brownish-gray substance on his plate and took a bite. He grimaced. “Tasteless as the porridge we feed to babes. Have modern Earthers done away with their teeth, too? There’s nothing to chew.”
“Actually, our teeth stay in pristine condition, now that they’re not being worn down masticating tough plant and animal fibers.”
“No forests to roam. No game to hunt. No ale. Not even a fat turnip to roast. How soon can I go home?”
“The sooner the better,” she muttered under her breath. He’d been far less trouble when he was asleep. Selena sat down next to the bed, wincing when her sore bottom came in contact with the seat of the chair.
Haldor shot her a grin. “You deserved that spanking, and you know it. I doubt your ass is aching as much as my balls right now. I haven’t spent my seed in two moons. Though I do recall having had plenty of dreams.” He gave her a suspicious look. “Were those your doing too?”
She was too embarrassed to meet his eyes. “It was necessary to…have intimate contact with every part of your body as part of your care. My actions may have triggered automatic responses in you, even though you were in slumber mode.”
He smiled. A slow sexy grin that made her feel like she was sitting in front of him as naked as he was under the sheet. Men didn’t look at women like that on Earth, Not anymore. She felt her heart racing. Damn, he was gorgeous when he smiled.
He patted the edge of the bed. “Come here. It’s high time I returned the favor.”
A wild thrill shot through her body. She swore her nipples hardened right then and there. “Thank you for the…offer,” she replied primly, hoping he couldn’t see how much it had affected her. “But I couldn’t possibly do that.”
“Do you belong to another?”
“Belong? Oh, you mean do I have a spouse? No, I haven’t entered into a marriage contract yet. But that doesn’t matter. Physical contact does not occur between life partners.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Your command of my language is impressive. But I fear we have a misunderstanding. I did not mean to suggest that we become…life partners, I believe you called it. Only that we engage in a little dalliance. After all, you’re already well acquainted with my rod. It’s only fair that I have an opportunity to meet your sweet pussy and give her a kiss or two.”
Selena gasped. He was so brazen. “We don’t do that here. It’s forbidden!”
“Kissing a pussy is forbidden?” He glanced around the room. “And who’s going to enforce that law? Never mind. I’ll happily pleasure you with my hands – and then my cock.”
“No!” She took a deep breath, lowered her voice, and forced herself to remain calm. “You are not familiar with our customs and our laws here on Earth. Touching another person is frowned upon. And the type of…contact you are suggesting is no longer permitted.”
He looked incredulous. “You mean there’s no fucking on Earth?”
Chapter Four
She nodded, unable to even say the word.
“By all the gods, I hope I’m still asleep. I can’t be in Hell. Even there, we’re allowed to fuck.” He sagged against the pillow. “This is no dream. It’s a nightmare.”
“I’m sorry. I know all of this is a shock. It must be very difficult – thinking you were about to die then waking up on a strange planet with strange customs. But, I assure you, this is no dream. Soon you’ll be well enough to return to Gadolinium, stronger and healthier than you’ve ever been. Ready to take up your old life.”
He shoved away his half-eaten dinner. “I find I’ve no appetite after all.”
She jumped up to remove it, but he grabbed her wrist. “Leave it. I need more than a serving wench right now. I need someone to answer questions. Explain all of this to me.”
She froze, staring down at the hand pinning her in place.
He followed her gaze. Comprehension dawned, and he let go abruptly. “You’re serious. You really don’t touch each other at all? For any reason?”