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I expected him to curse or threaten, or to throw money at me and demand I unlock the door. Instead, he apparently chose a third option.

One moment he stood two meters away, his feet planted shoulder width apart, studying me like he couldn’t decide whether to attack or just try to stare me down…

…and the next his hot body fitted against my side like he had turned to liquid or lava and shaped himself to me. But there was absolutely nothing soft about him.

Everything from his horns to his feet looked and felt hard as stone, and that included what I judged to be one of the biggest cocks I’d encountered—and I’d encountered quite a few. Through our clothes it pressed against my side, and I felt its heat and throbbing intensity.

Wait…itthrobbed?

“A barter,” he said, and his roar that only minutes ago had made the diner walls tremble and nearly knocked plates off the kitchen shelves had become a throaty growl that created a surprising amount of wetness between my legs. With any luck, he couldn’t smell my reaction.

Stop it, I told myself sternly.You aren’tthathard up for attention. You can get it from Sakal over at the pilots’ hostel anytime you want it. You don’t need anything from this thief.

“I barter food, water, and air for money,” I said. My voice didn’t shake, for which I was grateful. “That’s how a restaurant works, if you’re not familiar with the concept.”

“Some things are beyond price.” He leaned down and rubbed his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply as he moved along the nape of my neck, his breath hot against my bare skin. My sleeveless top offered him access to my upper back and shoulders, and he took advantage of that to inhale my scent.

Despite his proximity and the animalistic way he sniffed me, I didn’t want to move away. I should, but I didn’t. That made me instantly suspicious.

“What are you?” I demanded. “What are your people called?”

“I am Atolani.” He inhaled very deliberately with his nose near my ear. The rush of air made me shiver. “Atolan is a desert world without much liquid. Very unlike your pussy, lovely lady of the diner. It gushes like a river for me.”

I knew little about Atolani, but I did know they had no ability to influence the thoughts or actions of humans. If I felt reluctant to push him away, that was my own will, not his. If my pussy gushed for him, that was me.

“You’re very mistaken,thief,” I said, but that time my voice was anything but steady. “You’ve been in deep space so long you’re hallucinating. The only thing I want from you is the money you owe me.”

“I will make you a wager.” His hot lips and nose continued their travels around my shoulders and along my upper back, and now I felt the harsh rasp of his tongue. “Lovely lady of the diner?—”

“Ariel.” It came out ragged, because now despite all my determination to get my money, I was thinking about how that tongue would feel on my most sensitive places. “My name is Ariel.”

“Ah-ree-ell.” He sounded it out, each syllable oozing like plasma from a cut conduit. “I am Thalan.”

I just couldn’t help myself. “What’s your wager, Thalan?” My fingers gripped his pants leg and clung to the tough, tear-resistant fabric.

“If I touch your pussy and you aren’t sopping wet right now, I will pay you your money and go.” Now his sharp teeth grazed the back of my neck and that element of danger sent another shiver straight to my core. “But if you are as wet for me as I believe you to be, I will earn my meal in work-in-trade, and I assure you I will earn it twice over.”

“You owe me four thousand and ninety credits,” I said. “Double that is eight thousand one hundred and eighty,plusa generous tip. That is quite a lot of work. More than I think you’re capable of doing even if I gave you four hours.”

“I will not need four hours.” He said it with pride and certainty. “You accept the wager?”

I glanced at the locked airlock door. Outside in the corridor, the red light would tell potential customers I’d closed early and they needed to find their meals elsewhere on the station. So not only might I lose Thalan’s four thousand credits if I said yes, but possibly far more than that in additional revenue. Orgasms, for all their benefits, did not pay any bills.

They did, however, relieve stress and loneliness, and I had that in heaps.

Oh, what the hells, I thought. Sakal hadn’t done his best for me in ages. Plus, I’d never had an Atolani. I’d traveled to the frontier looking for adventure, hadn’t I? Even if he didn’t fuck me eight thousand credits’ worth, an Atolani cock still might be considered an adventure. His pants seemed uncomfortably tight now. The size of the bulge made my mouth water. And no matter what Raxians claimed, size absolutelydidmatter.

“I accept,” I said.

chapterfour

thalan

I could have smelledAriel’s arousal from my ship. I knew I would win the wager. It was a sucker’s bet and she had taken it. Now I would get to takeher, and my cocks liked that idea very, very much. Their throb increased along with their hardness. They sensed her wetness and were ready to take and take andtake.

Human women’s pussies were so soft, so hot, so liquid and fire, but they hid them under clothes. That seemed blasphemous to me. Such pleasant softness should be a source of pride. Certainly not covered as if in shame.

I growled at her clothing.In my way. I unfastened the holster that held her firearm and tossed it aside. Then I ripped her pants apart and let them fall to the floor. She wore nothing underneath.