Page 46 of Alien Jeopardy

“You will feel worse and worse as the heat runs its course through you, pushing us to mate… fully.” I say it as delicately as I can.

“And if we do that… it’s forever.”

“It would physically hurt me to be away from you. You would feel the same. So yes. It would be forever.”

“Damn, this is going to be great for ratings.” She slaps her palms on her thighs, then rubs the spot, looking furious and intrigued all at once. “I see why they did it this way, but it isn’t right.”

“We could hold out. The heat will last for a week, maybe two.”

“And then we could go our separate ways,” she finishes. “But that’s not what you want.”

“What I want is to leave this competition with my honor intact.” And with her, but I don’t say that. I won’t pressure her to do anything, especially not something as permanent as bonding with me.

It would only hurt us both if she were to regret it.

She tilts her head, considering me, and she’s so luscious that my fingers twitch with the need to touch her. Everywhere.

“So we have a few options. One, we could hold out. Do the best we can in the show, right? See if we can make it without, ah?—”

“Fucking,” I supply helpfully.

She makes a high-pitched noise of assent, her cheeks turning pink.

My partner is shy about this. Strange, considering all her talk of serving cunt to me.

“Or,” she forges on, her voice still higher than before. “We can do the deed, and take our chances.” She tosses her hair. “It’s not like I had great choices on Earth.”

I stiffen slightly at the insult.

“That’s not what I meant,” she says hastily, and her brown eyes go wide as she stares up at me. “You’re… very handsome. Good-looking. Having sex would be—” She throws her hands in the air and sighs. “Great. I know it. If this were a casual thing, I’d be totally down. But I just… I don’t know you. We have only been able to talk for the last fifteen minutes. That’s not enough time to decide if you want to be with someone for the rest of your life.”

“Then you want a third option. Where maybe I convince you to be mine.” I puff my chest out, flexing my abs, gratified when her gaze drops to my stomach. “We don’t have to make a decision until you’re ready.”

“But I’ll be in pain,” she adds, her voice steady.

“I can help take the edge off.”

Her eyelashes flutter, and the spiced scent of her arousal grows even more enticing. “Oh?”

“And I can learn your mating dance, if that helps you feel more comfortable.” The words come out of me in a rush.

“My… mating dance?” Her pink mouth hangs open, and it’s clear she has no idea what I’ve said.

“Yes, your dance. The dance sex ritual.” I try to find the right words.

“Dance sex ritual?”

I squat, my wings flaring out, hopping from foot to foot. My tail whacks into the wall behind me, and I flinch, curling it back around my calf as I continue my best reenactment of her dance.

Her hand covers her mouth, her eyes widening even more.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

Ellison

The effort to keep from laughing makes my shoulders shake. I bite my cheeks but as he prances around, head bobbing, I can’t help it.