“Yes,” said Tek, his expression resolved. “That is correct.”

Levia looked lost. Mary realized that by granting her sudden freedom, she’d also removed Levia’s purpose. It would take a while for the girl to come to terms with being her own person.

“Is there someone you would like to hang out with?” asked Mary gently.

Levia blinked at her.

“She is asking if you want a companion,” translated Tek.

“Enia,” said Levia. “She is my sister.”

Mary turned to Tek, lifting one eyebrow as she tilted her head.

He gave her slight nod. “Enia is also a friend to the crown,” he said. “If you like, you can share your new quarters with her.”

Excitement lit Levia’s purple gaze. “Thank you, your highness.”

“You are most welcome, Levia.”

“I am grateful to you, bride of the crown prince.” She bowed to Mary. Mary stepped forward and took Levia by the shoulders. “Call me Mary. And you don’t have to bow to me. Or to anyone.”

“Forgive me for interrupting, your highness,” said Dolma’s coldly polite voice. “I wish to inform you that Lady Levia’s quarters are ready.”

“Fetch Enia,” ordered Tek. “She has been elevated in status as well.”

Mary studied Dolma’s yellow face and noted the flash of distaste that registered on his expression. She could tell he didn’t like that Levia was now considered above his own station.

“As you wish, your highness.” Dolma opened the door and swept out his arm in a formal bow toward Levia. “This way, my lady.”

“Dolma,” said Tek. “Mary will require a new jemina.”

“No, Mary will not.” Mary crossed her arms and shook her head.

Dolma’s gaze moved from her to the crown prince. Tek sighed. “We will discuss it later.”

Dolma nodded. Levia exited the room and Dolma followed, shutting the door.

“You must have a jemina,” said Tek. “All the royal women have at least one. My mother has three.”

“I don’t want my own personal slave.” Mary paced the luxuriously appointed room. The bed was huge—it surely could fit at least ten people on it. The floors were marble, or at least, marble-like. There were two fireplaces—one closer to the massive bed and another bigger one at the far side of the room. The furniture was big and made of dark swirled wood. The walls shimmered with the color of freshwater pearls. The ceiling above was a glass dome.

“Is the glass pink or is that the sky?”

Tek smiled. “The sky.”

The vast pink, a bright, white sun and drifting clouds that shone silver hit home that she wasn’t on Earth anymore. Mary inhaled a deep breath and the advanced on Tek. “You kidnapped me. You had no right to take me here. None.”

“You made a bargain, Mary. If I were to prove I was an alien, you said you would ‘ghrata the night away’ with me.” Tek’s gaze met hers. “I have kept my end of our agreement.”

Um, crap. She had said that. Mary considered Tek’s perspective. Knocking her out and spiriting her away to Kratania was not cool. However, he was an alien—a prince, no less—and he seemed sincere, in very misguided way. She had to admit that she was curious about this place and Tek, and although all the bride talk was freaking her out, she was undeniably attracted to the alien. She wasn’t exactly on board with the marriage thing, but she was here now. And she had made the bargain.

“I’ll stay,” she said. “But you have to take me home by Sunday night. I have a job that I love, and friends who would worry about me.”

“If you are not convinced that you belong here, with me, by Sunday, Earth time, then I will take you home. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” she said. Mary doubted Tek could make her change her mind in two days, but she was here now and so was he. And she was going to embrace the full Kratanian experience.

Tek seemed to have the same thought.

He advanced on her, the wicked gleam in his gaze making her stomach pitch. She stepped back. “What are you doing?”

“Keeping the bargain.”

He swept her into his arms and took her to the massive bed. He laid her gently onto the cloud-soft mattress. “I have longed to be near you, to touch you. Tell me no, and I will stop. It is not my intention to force you, but make no mistake, I want you like a moili needs the seirun.”

“Huh?”

Tek smiled. “Like a tree needs the rain.”

Mary’s heartbeat kicked into overdrive. “And I suppose you want to put your root in me.”

A wicked smile crossed Tek’s lips. “Only one root?”

“You’re joking, right?” She’d seen him naked as a human and there’d been only one freaking root. But alien Tek? Who knew?

Tek laughed. “Only one root.” He held up his hands. “But ten fingers.”

He caressed Mary’s face with five of them. “I want to touch you, Mary. To hold you, and obviously, I want to put down roots.” He grinned again. “But first, I want to drink you, to feast from you, to savor the taste of you.”

“I suppose it’s not cannibalism if we’re the same species, but I’m pretty attached to my flesh.”

“You kid.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“I will spell it out then. I want to lick your pussy and drink your orgasm.”

Mary gulped as the throb between her thighs grew with her need. “That’s pretty spelled out.” Did he really want to go down there and…put his mouth on her? None of her boyfriends, what few there had been, had ever offered to give her oral pleasure. Her sexual experiences had always been disappointing. She stared at Trent, unable to respond. The knot in her throat was so tight she could barely breathe. He looked at her, waiting patiently.

Finally, she managed a weak nod.

He touched the copper freck suit at the shoulders. The material turned liquid and slithered off the bed, across the floor, and into the alien spa. Even the so-called towel knew how to use the invisible door. Sheesh.

“Frecks like humidity and they feed off the nectar of the umna flowers,” he explained. “They like the warmth of living beings and absorb excess water.”

“Symbiosis,” said Mary, jittery now, especially because she was naked. She watched Tex shed his clothing and feasted on his body. Muscles, muscles, and more muscles—all that gleaming golden flesh.

Mary trembled as Trent’s long fingers slid up her jiggly thighs. He treated her skin as though it was rare silk. He smiled at her, his gaze alight with lust. With his forefingers, he parted her, looking at her sex as though he were examining the dessert bar at a buffet. His breath quickened.

Tek was turned on…because of her.

Leaning forward, he kissed the top of her pubic bone. Then his tongue slid across her clitoris. Pleasure erupted, sudden and intense like she’d never experienced. She held onto the covers and shuddered. Exhaling raggedly, she tried to relax and allow herself the bliss he offered.

Tek pressed his tongue into her wet flesh, licking her, teasing her entrance. Then he kissed her clitoris, grazing the swollen nub with his teeth.

She nearly launched off the covers.

His tongue delved between the glistening folds, lapping up the beads of her desire, always returning to tease the electrified bundle of nerves before flitting back to her opening like a fickle butterfly.

He opened her with his fingers and blew hot air across her sensitized flesh then paused as the effects rippled from her sex to the low, heavy swirl in her belly.

He waited. Seconds ticked by and she gulped in air, her body whimpering for relief. But no, Tek left her quivering and panting and wanting.

“Please,” she whispered. “More.”

“Yes, my harataya.” He licked her juices from his lips. “I will give you so much more.” Showing no mercy, he plunged his tongue inside her.

Mary’s need pulsed hot and strong. She felt wild and raw, her fingers twisting deeper into the covers. Sweat beaded her throat and trickled between her breasts.

Once again, he stopped his sensual torture, but only for a second. His mouth settled onto her clit. She felt two of his thick fingers slid inside her wet channel. Curling under her entrance, he pushed up and back and then he sucked hard on her sensitive nub.

Stars exploded behind her eyes. Her hips left the bed as the orgasm seized her. Wave after wave of pleasure gripped her until she was reduced to trembles and tingles.

He sipped on her juices and soothed her sex. After, he rose to his knees and took her hand kissing the tips of her fingers. “I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. You stir my blood, make me want, make me crave. Just being near you brings me such pleasure—and torments me.”

He took her hand and placed it against the hard length of his erection. Mary felt her pulse jump. She gripped his length. It wasn’t much different from a human male’s, and seemed to have the same kind of sensitivity. She replaced her long, lazy exploration into short, fast strokes. His moans of pleasure zapped the pit of her stomach. She wanted to please him. More than anything, she wanted him to know the same ecstasy he’d given her.

“My turn,” she said.

He settled onto the bed and she crawled between his legs. She wanted to taste him. Tek had been blessed in the parts department. She kissed his balls and fondled them. She skimmed the length of his cock with her hand, marveling at its hard beauty. Then she licked it from base to tip, swirling her tongue around the head before taking the tip into her mouth and sucking it.

It was his turn to cry out. “More!”

She grinned at his demands. For a moment, she felt more womanly, sensual and powerful than she had in all her adult life. Torturing him with tongue swirls and long licks, she finally took his full length into her mouth. His hands dove into her hair, guiding her. She held on to his thighs and took his strokes, her tongue hastening his orgasm as she teased the rigid shaft pumping between her lips.

“Mary!”

Warm, salty come spurted into her mouth, and she swallowed, drinking it like water given to a woman too long in the desert. He bucked and spasmed, his cries of completion wrenched from him.

When he finally released her, she kissed the tip and sat up on her knees.

What was happening between them was something she had not experienced with another lover. She’d never felt this way with another man—and the intensity of her feelings frightened her.