Chapter Fifteen
Rasha walked out to the palace grounds with one thing on his mind. He needed clarity about Jess and JB’s relationship. Thoughts of joining with Jess kept him awake all night long. He needed to find out what obstacles stood in his way and get rid of them.
He all but ignored the guards who passed him. He didn’t offer them anything more than a curt nod.
JB’s heat signature placed him in the gardens—somewhere Rasha had been only twice before. Males belonged on the training field. The females could have the gardens. It didn’t really surprise him in the least to find that JB would choose to spend his time in the company of females rather than males. Humans were peculiar to say the least.
He pushed overgrown foliage out of the way and spotted JB in an open field, lying down and surrounded by human females. One of his hands stroked leisurely through a female’s hair.
When Rasha approached, he first thought to lead into the question. But when he opened his mouth, the words rolled out with abandon. “You and Jess…”
JB’s hand stilled and he stared blankly at Rasha. “Me and Jess what?”
Rasha cleared his throat. “Um.” His gaze shifted over the females then back to JB. “This is a private conversation.”
JB smirked. “Ladies, do you mind?”
One busty female twirled her fingers through his hair. “Only if you promise to stop by my place later.”
JB kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers. “Of course.” He turned to a redheaded one. “And you’ll be there too, right?”
The redhead giggled. “With bells on.”
“Am I invited to this party or is four a crowd?” the last female asked.
“You are most definitely invited, sweetheart,” JB said.
Rasha shook his head as the giggling females stood and left. “JB, you are pressing your luck. The human females are here for Sonian males,” Rasha said when he had JB’s full attention again.
JB shrugged and relaxed back onto the blanket. “I’m just having fun. Besides, I’m not trying to get anyone pregnant. I’ll leave that bit to y’all.”
“It will be hard for a Sonis male to claim one of those females if you keep them occupied.”
A lazy smile eased across JB’s face. “Point taken.”
Rasha let out a hard breath. The males had spoken their displeasure about JB on more than one occasion. But it seemed the issue wouldn’t be resolved today. Rasha had other pressing concerns to discuss.
“I don’t think you’re here to talk to me about my philandering ways, are you?”
“No. I want to know about you and Jess.”
“What do you want to know?”
Rasha looked at the others meandering by. Some were couples and some were solo passersby on their way to the animal exhibit deeper inside the royal gardens. Assured no one was paying attention to their conversation, Rasha leaned closer. “You know what I’m asking you.”
“I think I know but you might have to spell it out for me.” JB tapped the side of his head. “My mother dropped me on my head one too many times when I was an infant.”
“Listen, human,” Rasha ground out. “Answer my question.”
JB chuckled. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m just having some fun with you. Nothing’s ever happened between me and Jess.”
Rasha sighed and relaxed. “She has indicated she’s had sex with a lot of males, including the males in her crew.”
“Yeah, well I don’t know how many males she had sex with at the brothel but the crew?” JB shook his head. “She used to tell Kane she was fucking everyone in his crew just to get him worked up but it wasn’t true.”
“Why would she say such things if they weren’t true?”
“Defense mechanism? But honestly, who knows? She’s a female.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You have a lot to learn about human females.”
“I know. Eva is giving me pointers.”
JB laughed and smacked his knee with a hand. “Pointers? From Eva?”
“What is so funny?”
JB ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t learn about human females from another human female.”
“Why not? She has been holding classes about wooing human females. I must admit I haven’t attended as I should have.” He narrowed his gaze in thought. “I think this is why I have not been successful with Jess.”
“Yeah, you could let Eva teach you, that is if you want the wrong fuckin’ information.” JB snorted. “She’d have you doing all types of stupid shit.” He pointed at Rasha. “You want to learn about human females? I’ll teach you.”
JB did have a point. He hadn’t learned about Drazlonian females from another female. His father and the elder guards had taught him everything he knew.
Rasha nodded in agreement. “I’ll allow you to teach me about your human females.”
JB smacked his hands together and rubbed them vigorously. “First things first, you have to laugh and smile more, you know, it will make you seem less,” JB circled his right hand through the air, “vicious.”
Rasha scrunched his face. “I do smile. I think I smile quite often.”
“Really? Because right now you look as though you could snap my neck without a second thought.”
“I can.”
“I’m sure you can. Your demeanor and all your rippling muscles suggest you wouldn’t have a problem with it either. But here’s the thing. Females, especially Jess, need to feel comfortable and safe with you.” JB shrugged. “If you can accomplish that, she’ll be all yours.”
“She is safe with me.” He’d gone out of his way to show that to her.
“That’s number one. To make her comfortable you have to learn how to crack jokes. Women love a man who can make them laugh.”
Rasha tilted his head. “Joke? What is this?”
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” JB put up both of his hands. “We’ll start real slow.”
Rasha listened as JB told him jokes from Earth. Although he didn’t see the humor in them, JB obviously did. JB even called over one of the human females and told what he described as a knock-knock joke. Not only did the female giggle and laugh but she also kissed JB suggestively on the lips.
“Now that’s how you get a woman,” JB said as they watched her walk away.
Jess stepped into his line of vision. She wasn’t happy at all. She had her face scrunched in displeasure and her hands on her hips. “What are you two looking at?”
JB jumped and shot a glance at Jess. “Shit, Jess. Where the fuck did you come from?”
She tilted her chin up. “Home,” she said, making it a point not to glance at Rasha.
It had taken more self-control than he ever knew he had to leave Jess. He’d paused when she hurled insults at him but quickly found his footing when the insults were followed up with objects being thrown at his back.
She wouldn’t look at him but that didn’t stop him from appreciating her body. Jess had on a pair of training pants and a loose-fitting shirt rolled up to her elbows. After being out in the suns training with Eva for the past two rotations, her normally pale skin had become bronzed and vibrant.
“Whoa, new shoes. I didn’t hear you coming,” JB said.
JB was right. The work boots Jess normally wore were heavy and loud. Now she wore the foot coverings Eva had ordered from Holis. Eva had stated the coverings were the same as the training footwear she had while on Earth.
Jess cut her eyes between him and JB. “Were you checking her out?” Jess nodded in the retreating female’s direction.
Rasha’s brows scrunched together in confusion. “Checking her out?”
JB stretched and yawned loudly before he finally stood. “He wasn’t checking her out, I was. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to bury myself in the warm pussy being thrown my way.”
“We just discussed this, JB,” Rasha said in warning.
JB smiled and walked toward the female. “Right,” he replied.
“He’s probably forgotten about the other three already,” Rasha mumbled.
Jess crossed her arms. “What’s that all about?”
“The males are complaining that JB is distracting the human females. I’ve instructed him to cease.”
Jess looked toward JB, who was leaving arm-in-arm with the female. “Ah, and I see he’s being hardheaded.”
While she studied JB and the female, he studied her. No matter how many times he looked at her, she still had the same effect on him. It was like seeing her again for the first time, every time.
She wasn’t as tall as the females of Sonis but she wasn’t much shorter either. Her butt was perfectly round, with slender hips. Her waist was small and led up to perky breasts. Her hair, which she usually wore short and spiked, now lay flat in damp, soft waves on her scalp.
“I like your hair,” he said. She turned around and stared at him, searching his face. “It is very appealing that way.”
Immediately, she used her fingers to comb her hair up to spikey points.
He chuckled. “I like it that way as well.”
Jess growled low in her chest. “Stop playing with me.”
“I’m not playing with you. I like your hair either way.” He indicated to JB’s vacant blanket. “Are you feeling better?” He sat down and waited for her.
She hesitated before joining him. “Listen, thanks for trying to make me forget about Marcie and her bullshit but what happened before can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“You’re my boss. That means we have to keep our relationship purely business. And I have to learn how to control my temper.”
“But—”
She shook her head, not letting him finish. “There can’t be any buts. We both have weaknesses. I can’t deny that. I like what I do here. And I can’t afford to let you or Marcie screw it up for me. If you think it’s going to be a problem, let me know now.”
“What if Eva gave you a different job? I would no longer be your boss.”
“If you’re no longer my boss then I might as well meet up with Ryan on The Vengeance II.” She raised a shoulder. “I always have a job with him.”
“You are not to leave Sonis,” he bit out.
She sat back on her elbows. “So this means you’re still my boss?”
“Of course.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well then, boss, don’t forget Taio wants you to join him for the conference call with the Zarcarians today. Mazel seems to think you all can convince them the uninhabited lands by the Singha Ocean would be a perfect vacation settlement.”
He and Taio had been working nonstop to market the unsettled lands of Sonis to various species. It had been Ship who suggested the lands by the Singha Ocean as a settlement for the Zarcarians. Their species held water as a sacred element. It wouldn’t be hard to build dwellings for them in one section of the ocean and still have plenty of room for other designs.
The only problem would be meeting all the Zarcarians’ provisions. As a water species, they would require unencumbered access to a majority of the ocean and seeing how Sonis had only one ocean, the terms by both sides were steep in negotiations.
He glanced over to Jess. “What do you think?”
She stood and adjusted her clothing. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”
She seemed not to care but he could tell she had a thought about the Zarcarians. Even though she had been technically off work these past two rotations, her heat signature had shown up in her office more times than once, where he knew she spent her free time poring over his records, learning about Sonis and the interests that Sonis held.
“Your thoughts are very important. As my advisor it’s important to me what you think. Your input could be vital in the decisions I make.”
She watched him briefly before finally answering. “I’ve never been to the Singha Ocean and I’ve never formally met a Zarcarian before. But I do understand what Taio is trying to accomplish here. If they’re a safe species and they have the potential to bring business and jobs to Sonis then I think you’ll need to make them an offer they can’t refuse.” She pinched her nostrils together. “Even if it means taking a loss right now,” she said nasally.
“What’s the matter with your nose?”
She scooted away from him. “Nothing, well…the smell.”
He sniffed the air. What smell was she referring to?
Finally she released her nose and waved her hand. “Um…it’s gone. I’m fine,” she said.
“Are you holding your breath?”
She shook her head.
Not convinced, he looked around then stilled. Was it him? “Is my smell offensive to you?”
“Offensive? No.”
He held up an arm and sniffed. He didn’t stink. “Then what is it?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
When he lifted his other arm to smell underneath, she stopped him. “You’re causing a scene. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
He followed behind her as she started back to the palace.
“Take the loss, Rasha.”
“Why would we want to take a loss?”
“Of course you wouldn’t want to take a loss but sometimes in business, to get on top, you have to. You take a loss now but what you gain in the long run will more than outweigh what you’ve lost.”
“I don’t know.”
“If they don’t take the deal then what? The land will still be uninhabited and jobs aren’t being created. If jobs aren’t being created then there’s no income here, no growth. As much as these ali…I mean people love Taio, no one is going to stay if there’s no opportunity for growth or prosperity. Everyone will eventually leave.”
Rasha thought about it. He’d never seen it that way and he was sure Taio hadn’t either. “You give me a lot to consider,” he replied. “When am I scheduled to meet with Taio?”
Jess clicked on the timepiece on her com-link. “After lunch.”
“Good. We’ll take a trip to the ocean. It’ll give you an idea of what we’re putting on the table.”
“What? Now? But I have a lot of work to do.”
Holding on to her elbow, he steered her in the opposite direction of their offices. “Whatever you have to do can wait.”
“But—”
He pressed his com-link. “I need a royal transport ready at the main transport bay.”
“Are you traveling off-world, sir?” dispatch asked.
“No, we’re traveling to the eastern edge of Singha Ocean.”
She looked around, flustered. “We can’t leave right now. What about the conference call?”
“We can always join in from the site. It might be an added benefit to negotiate via live feed.”
Looking up at him, she cocked her head to the side. “You know, you might actually be right.”