Page 13 of No Strings Attached (Mated Fates #1)

They had finally found controls to place in Malachite’s hand to let him control the music selection, so the room was now filled with strange harmonics that were just slightly alien enough to be rubbing Vi’s nervous system the wrong way. Malachite stood like a statue, his interior light growing incrementally brighter over time, though, so she was determined to bear it.

Mister Beastly had wandered out of the cavern and out into the corridor shortly after Acken and snake guy had returned, presumably to go inspect and investigate the whole asteroid.

Acken had insisted on adding his oversight to the security system reprogramming group, while the snake guy had slithered away into the depths of the garden.

Kompi had wandered off, chasing the birds in the garden and laughing joyously.

Vi exhaled a long sigh and looked over at Bobby, the only one who remained with her on the edge of the garden.

She smiled wearily at him and said, “I’m really fucking tired.” For some reason, she didn’t feel like she had to hide her weaknesses from Bobby; she didn’t feel like she had to pretend that she was fierce, or fearless, or tireless when it was only the two of them. She didn’t have to act like she had 100% of her shit together, 100% of the time.

He nodded, “I know you are. Why don’t you come over here and sit down for a few minutes?” He pointed at a grassy hillock. When she hesitated, he took her hand in his warm, rough one. Pulling gently, he eventually got her to follow him and sit down, though she sat rigidly straight, instead of relaxed into the hillock as he had wanted her to. He sat down beside her, as close as he dared, then gently put an arm over her shoulders and tugged her backwards, until they both rested against the grassy mound and her head lay against his shoulder. She let out an extended sigh of pleasure.

“OK, you were right, this is just what I needed for a minute. It’s just that there is so much that needs to be handled, so much to not forget about.”

“Like what?”

She turned her head on his shoulder to look at him, “Like the Trallians returning with the three cargo ships, and how we’re going to handle that. Like the buyers coming here for an auction. Like how long our supplies will last here, and what we’re going to do after they run out.” She thought for another moment, “Also, we need to check out Qlu’s ship.”

He held her gaze. “I’ll remember all those things for you. I’ll bring it up after everyone’s enjoyed the feast. For now, just close your eyes and relax for a little while,” he said, as he pulled her closer to his side. “I’ll watch over you and keep you safe.” He ran a furry knuckle down the side of her cheek.

“Thank you, Bobby,” she whispered and was asleep a minute later on the purple grass.

She was naked, in an alien garden, with Bobby. He was holding himself above her, knees between her legs, and gently moving his body across hers so that all of his silky fur rubbed against her bare belly and breasts, amber eyes locked on hers. Her nipples were on fire, and she was moaning, loudly.

“I’m here, Vi. What’s wrong?”

She opened her eyes and looked into Bobby’s strange, beautiful eyes. She had curled into him more as she slept and had thrown one leg over his. In her left hand, she clutched a wad of his coverall over his chest. Had she…had she been grinding on him? Oh god. She just blinked at him, startled and embarrassed. Bobby ? Of everyone she might have a sex dream about, her mind chose Bobby? She didn’t really think of him as an “otterman” anymore, he was just Bobby; still, she was profoundly surprised.

“You were moaning my name. I thought you were in pain.”

She cast her mind out to investigate the damp state of her panties and the throbbing between her legs. Maybe not pain, but definitely discomfort. She pushed up and off of him, no longer meeting his gaze “Um, no, I’m…uh…fine. Probably just dreaming about earlier. How long was I asleep?”

“Not long, 20 or 30 minutes.”

She pushed herself up to stand, and he followed. She still didn’t meet his eyes. “I think I’m going to go claim one of those rooms up there,” she said, gesturing to the hatches along the walkway, “and take a shower.”

“I’ll come with you.”

She finally looked at him. “To…help me shower? I’m good, Bobby. No help needed.”

He grinned and shook his head, “To investigate the rooms first. To make sure they are safe.”

She smiled back at him—she couldn’t help it—and said, “Oh, yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” She was definitely not thinking clearly, which would not be very helpful in their situation.

They walked up the steps to the walkway side-by-side, then Bobby took the lead and pushed a button for the door to unlatch. He held out a hand to her, silently telling her to stay there, then entered. She followed.

The room was impressive. They entered into a large sitting room with an array of comfortable furniture, including a big, horseshoe-shaped sofa. There was one door to the left, leading into a beautiful bedroom with a massive bed. One door led off from the bedroom into a spacious bathroom with a tiled shower area that could fit 10 comfortably.

They walked back out into the sitting area, and Vi said, “Looks safe to me. Grab one for yourself and have a shower.”

“One what?”

“A room. There are enough for each of us to have one.”

He looked distressed. “Oh, I’ve…um…never slept in a room by myself before.”

She was shocked. “Really?”

“Never.” he said, with palpable uncertainty coming off him. He walked toward the hatch door to leave and started to pull it closed behind him.

A wave of panic overtook Vi and she screamed, “NO!”

Bobby wheeled around, eyes wide, while Vi’s vision narrowed to a small tunnel, her adrenaline spiked, and her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. Bobby ran over to her and immediately pulled her into his arms, while she shook and hyperventilated.

She could hear the utter terror in his voice when he said, “What’s wrong, Vi? What happened?”

Her hands were shaking on his chest, and when she tried to speak, her voice shook, “It-t-t …was…th-th-the…door…c-c-closing. Re-reminded m-m-me of b-b-being in th-th-the p-p-pod a-a-alone.” Tears spilled from her wide eyes when she looked up at him. She looked back down and focused on her breathing: in, out, in, out, in, out. When she looked back up and spoke again, it was better, but her voice came out in a whisper, “I don’t think I can stay in here alone with the door closed.”

Abruptly, she pulled away from him, bent down, and took her sandals off. Then she went over to the door, pushed it all the way open and against the wall, then jammed her sandals into the gap above the floor. She let go of the door and held her breath. It stayed in place. She exhaled and her shoulders slumped.

When she turned back around to look at Bobby, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was going to happen. It was like a panic attack, or something.”

He gave her a compassionate look and said, “I understand, Vi. I’m also not very fond of the idea of closing myself into one of these rooms alone. Why don’t I sleep in here with you?”

Vi was bombarded with a vivid image of Bobby rubbing his fur across her nipples from her dream, before he said, “That sofa looks plenty comfortable to me.”

She smiled at him and said, “That sounds…really good, actually. Although, even with you in here, I’m not sure I can stand to have that door closed.”

He shook his head. “It won’t bother me at all to leave it open.”

As one, they turned and left the space entirely, both seeming to feel a little relief when they were back in the main cavern space and surveying the beautiful garden below. All of a sudden, Bobby gave an excited bounce and pointed towards the far end of the garden, “Look, Vi, a big pond! That’s way better than a shower!”

It looked more like a small lake than a big pond to Vi, it was huge. She laughed, placing a hand on his bicep, and said, “Go for it, Bobby! I’ll see you downstairs for the feast.”

He turned back, placing his warm hand over hers, and looked at her seriously, “Are you sure? I can stand guard here while you shower.”

She shook her head, “No, I’ll be fine. I’m sure of it. Go, enjoy.”

To her surprise, he took off—not back down the stairs behind them that they had just climbed—but down to the far end of the catwalk, where there were no descending stairs. He peeled off his coverall, then in one smooth motion he grabbed the railing, vaulted over it, and swung his feet back to it to push himself off of the walkway and arc his body into a dive. It was a truly impressive display of athleticism, and Vi found herself thinking about the hard muscles she had felt in his chest and arms the several times he had held her or when he had carried her. Don’t forget about the big rock-hard thigh you were grinding against in your sleep , her mind whispered.

Vi shut that shit down hard as Bobby fluidly parted the water with hardly a ripple, dove deep under the surface for an impressive distance, then came up and rolled onto his back. He spread his legs, thick tail floating between them, and let his arms float out to his sides. Vi thought she could see his blissful smile from where she stood, and she lingered just a little too long taking in the sight of him.

But in the shower, having left the bathroom, bedroom, and hatch doors open, she let thoughts of Bobby return and handed them over to her analytical mind instead of her lustful lizard brain.

All of her physical contact for the last month, no—more than a month—had come from either Bobby or Mister Beastly. Mister Beastly’s touch was decidedly protective only. But her mind countered, so was Bobby’s. He’d given her no indication that he might be looking at her sexually, and his touch certainly hadn’t ever been sexual. On the contrary, he had used touch to care for her, comfort her, and reassure her of his support. He had cleaned her body and pressed his back against hers in a fight. He had hugged her, held her, and run to her side. He had been…wonderful.

Was she so starved of those things at this point that her brain just naturally escalated them into something sexual? An hour ago, she would have said and believed that she wasn’t physically attracted to the Trallian race. They were just so different from human males. If anything, she should be lusting after Acken and The Destroyer; they were human-ish, at least, if not super-sized. And she knew that some extremely dark, dirty, and repressed part of her mind ran continuous footage of her swinging around his giant, erect cock like a stripper pole. Human evolution had simply not come far enough along for women to not respond, on some level, to the sight of giant, muscle-bound warriors with enormous…um… weapons . But that response was driven by her biology; it wasn’t her .

Then there was Caussus, who looked like an extremely beautiful version of an average human male, so much so that she was itching to inquire about whether there had been a good dollop of human in his genetic recipe when they cloned him. With his piercing blue eyes and white hair, he was simply lovely. He was also generously equipped, if sadly castrated, so there was ample material there for sexual fantasies and damp dreams. But she did not feel any pull toward Caussus.

Nor did she toward Trallians in general, she realized, as she shut off the shower and started drying off with a criminally luxurious towel. It was just…Bobby. She felt something for him, and she was going to have to analyze and compartmentalize it quick. This was not the time or the place to be distracted by those types of things. They were dealing with issues like freedom and survival, so interpersonal relationships of all varieties did not have priority.

She pulled her clothes back on, sans damp panties, making a mental note to find more clothes and discover how to clean the ones she had other than by just rinsing them out in the bathroom sink. Then she looked down at her feet, thinking about her sandals wedged under the door. But she stopped short in the sitting room, where her sandals were neatly presented on a side table by the sofa, having been replaced as a doorstop by a good-sized boulder from the garden. There was a beautiful, violet-colored, orchid-like bloom lying on top of them.

Bobby , she thought, and smiled.