Chapter 11
Esan didn’t know why he was asking Nina to come back to his suite to help look through profiles. It was true that he had to send a list out the next day and there were a lot of profiles to go through. But when he tried to watch the videos of the Reptan females, he kept getting distracted with thoughts of Nina. He would compare the females to the human and the Reptans were always found lacking in some way.
Nina Sinclair ... strong, smart, good at her event planning job, and unbelievably sexy. Watching her deal with one problem after another with grace and a calm demeanor was a major turn-on for him. Even when she got flustered, he found her pink cheeks and bright eyes adorable. His attraction to the human was confusing and frustrating. He didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe having her there to actually go through the profiles would help him put his feelings for her aside.
He escorted her from the arboretum taking the elevator to the level where his suite was located. Nina’s scent filled the small space and he could feel her body heat. He wanted to take her in his arms again and feel those curves. Damn he had it bad for her.
Finally they arrived on the right level and got off the elevator. He used his access code to enter his suite. For a brief moment he worried that he had left his place in a mess, but he was relieved to see that the only mess was on his coffee table where profiles were scattered all over it.
“I have the profilesss in a box under the coffee table. Each one hasss a code that I can enter on my TV to pull up the video I want to look at of each female.”
“That’s efficient,” Nina commented. When she looked down at the box, she gasped. “Oh my God! How many profiles do you have in there?”
“I expected maybe twenty-five or fifty femalesss to apply. I received nearly two thousssand.”
“Two ... thousand?”
“Yesss, thisss isss why I needed your help. There isss no way I can look at all of them by myssself.”
“Maybe we need to call your friends to come over and help.”
“It’sss late and I’m not sure if I want anyone elssse involved at thisss point.”
“Just me?”
He gave her a wink, “You’re an expert at organizing eventsss. Thisss should be a breeze.”
She sat on the sofa and leaned down to pull a few of the profiles out of the box. “How have you been sorting them so far?”
He sat down next to her as he explained. “The pile on the left ssside of the coffee table containsss the rejectsss and the onesss on the right side are onesss I am considering. I would like to review their videosss before making a decision on thossse.”
She glanced at the two piles. “The reject pile is pretty big.”
“I know but I think I cut too many, I barely have any that are acceptable. What would you suggessst?” He had found one issue after another with the females. One didn’t have the right color hair. Nina’s hair was so shiny and soft. Several females had very thin lips. Nina’s lips were full and soft. Everything about Nina was soft. He liked that.
“What’s your criteria for picking a female?”
He couldn’t tell her that he compared everyone to her. “I didn’t have a criteria picked out when I first started looking.”
“What’s your preference?”
You he thought to himself. “Age-wissse, I would like no younger than twenty-five and no one older than thirty-five.”
“And height and weight?”
“Over five feet six inchesss if possible. I’m tall, ssso I had wanted my female to be a reasssonable height.” He noticed that Nina’s face flushed and her eyes narrowed a bit. Nina was short, probably five foot two, if that. He wasn’t trying to insult her, but that was what he felt he was looking for. He had always believed that was what he was most attracted to, but recently, looking at her small curvy figure, he was beginning to question that. He couldn’t imagine being more attracted to anyone else.
“Did you specifiy age and height from the Reptan council?”
“Yesss.”
“So all of the applicants should already fit that criteria. Is there anything more important to you than age and height?”
“I guesss what would trump everything would be whether the female would be willing to travel, possibly relocate to the ship with me. It wasss one of the questionsss I made sure wasss included in the application.”
“Okay, so how many of the ones you have already selected have checked off that they are willing to move around?”
Esan picked up the pile on the right and started glancing at the applications. “Half of them can be put in the reject pile becaussse they don’t want to travel.”
“Great. So we’ll start with that as one of the primary criteria. Are you really set on the height thing?”
“It’s not a great a priority, I sssuppossse,” he hedged.
“When you think of having a mate, what things are truly important to you?
“I would prefer sssomeone who doesss not have prejudice against halfsssies.”
“Why would they bother to apply to be your mate if they did?”
Esan shrugged. “I have money. The malesss of my home world hold the power with money, and usually money passsesss to the male descendants. It’s why my fossster father would like me to move back ssso that he can pick my mate and eventually passs his businesss and money to me.”
“What about your foster mother? How does she feel about everything going to you?”
“My fossster mother hatesss me. She was unable to have children herssself and only agreed to fossster me and Sssersssan because her husband demanded they have an heir. The femalesss on my planet who come from wealth don’t inherit that wealth themselvesss. Each female isss only given a dowry when she matesss which isss then controlled by her mate.”
“That’s bullshit,” Nina exclaimed.
He couldn’t help but find her anger on behalf of the females of his planet endearing. “I agree. It’sss one of the reasonsss I’m glad Sssersssan and I left. As a halfsssie female, my fossster father saw no value in Sssersssan and would not have given any kind of mating dowry to her mate.”
“You know what — your foster father is an asshole.”
Esan laughed. “I know that first hand. He, unfortunately, isss typical of the type of malesss that come from Reptan.”
“Good grief! What would happen if you have daughters and raised them on Reptan?”
That was something he had never thought about. Sure, he wished to eventually have children, but daughters ... they would be treated with no value by the rest of his people. Suddenly, living on his home world was looking less and less appealing.
Nina placed a gentle hand on his wrist. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
“You didn’t, but you did make me think. The anssswer to each quessstion on the application can be a yesss, no, or maybe. The quessstion asssking how they feel about mixed racesss mussst be anssswered with yesss. Anyone who answersss negatively, with a maybe, or not at all getsss rejected.”
“What about living preferences? Do you want them willing to live with you here on board the GCFA ship?”
“I won’t have my children raisssed on Reptan ssso the female will need to be willing to relocate.”
“Good decision. Okay, let’s get started resorting these applications.”
*****
It took a few hours to do the first round of sorting. Nina let herself get caught up in reading some of the answers the females made on the applications. “Oh my God!”
“What?” Esan asked, trying to lean over to look at the profile she held.
“This female says that she has been medically evaluated and approved for birthing large-sized children.”
“Good to know,” Esan said with a straight face before breaking out into full laughter. It had not been the first time she heard him laugh, but it was always pleasant to see. It lightened up his serious expression and brought a light to his eyes. She liked his laugh.
Esan picked up another profile and scanned it. “They have been quite open about their ... attributesss.”
“Yes, they have.”
“Thisss one sssaysss she will provide ssstatementsss from her previousss loversss to prove her worthiness in bed.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Really? Some of these women are ridiculous. Why in the world would they say this crap to guys they hope to marry ... er, mate?”
“I take it that thisss isssn’t how you attract a male?” Esan asked.
She snorted. “No way. If I like a guy, I usually ask if he wants to grab a drink after work.”
“Doesss that approach work for you pretty well?”
Nina kept her eyes on the profile without really reading it. “I haven’t had time to ask anyone out in a while. I’ve been too busy with my job.”
“You are very good at your job.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you, I have worked really hard to make this a real career. Not everyone believed I could do it.”
“I have ssseen you do your job and those who doubted you are ssseriousssly wrong. Give me their namesss and I’ll tell them for you.”
Her heart fluttered at his readiness to defend her. She didn’t even think twice as she leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, but I can defend myself.” She meant to pull back, but when he turned to face her, she got caught in his dark eyes. The next thing she knew, he was leaning down to kiss her, and she let him.
Electricity shot through her whole body as she opened up to him. A great need filled her, spreading to all her erogenous zones and even to places she had no idea were erogenous. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. At the same time, she felt her body turning and being lowered to the sofa.
He moved over her as he kissed her again and again, making her dizzy. It happened so fast and took her over completely. All she could do was hang on to him. She loved how his body felt over her. She felt him everywhere, consuming her. It was like she had jumped into the deep end of the pool and was not quite prepared for how deep it was. She couldn’t catch her breath, but didn’t want to stop or lose the amazing feelings he was bringing out of her.
Nina reached up to run her hands over the scales on his head but realized that she was holding something. She moved her hand higher and realized that it was one of the profiles. That was like a splash of cold water. What in the hell were they doing? She pushed at his chest. He broke their kiss and and moved a few inches away.
“What’sss wrong?” Esan asked, looking at her with desire and longing.
God, how she wished she could just kiss him and forget everything else, but she couldn’t. That wasn’t the type of person she was. Damn morals!
“I’m not here for ... this. I’m suppose to be helping you find a mate.”
His face turned pale. “You’re right.”
He moved off of her and she had to fight her urge to pull him back. She missed having him so close. She liked Esan. He came across as dangerous and cold but spending time with him had made her see another side to him. If only he was interested in dating humans, maybe she would have a chance with him, but he made it clear that he wanted a mate that was Reptan. If they slept together, it would be to slake their lust not any sign of something more.
“Let’s look at some of the videos of the profiles you have picked so far. You’ve got to narrow it down to thirty females by tomorrow.”
“Right.” Esan didn’t sound pleased but he picked up the remote control to type in the profile codes.
There was tension between them that had not been there before, but there was nothing she could do about it. She had a job to do and needed to keep distance between them. Easier said than done. She wanted him but she couldn’t have him. God help her get through this.