“May I?” He swiped his thumb across my bottom lip, wiping the dampness from my chin as his fingers massaged the part of my scalp where he’d pulled my hair.

I wasn’t sure how long we’d faced one another in silence in his darkened limo. He’d squeezed the base of his cock until the pained look in his eyes had finally subsided and he was able to release it—still fully erect and loaded—while I had yet to rein in my breathing and get my emotions under control.

The video hologram no longer played. And the limo had stopped moving several minutes ago. But I couldn’t bring myself to ask where we were.

I remained mute with shock, still kneeling on the carpeted limo floor between his legs, as he proceeded to pull my hand from between my thighs. He brought my fingers up to his mouth and licked them clean with a satisfied hum. He then tugged my skirt back down into place and buttoned up my blouse, studying my features closely as he did this—as if I were a puzzle he was working out.

“Are you all right?”

I didn’t answer him, too baffled by his seemingly solicitous gestures. Using the pads of his thumbs, he dabbed the dampness from my cheeks just below the rim of my glasses where my eyes had leaked.

What the hell had just happened?

He hadn’t even come. He was still sporting monster wood that had to be causing him discomfort. Like major discomfort.

Nevertheless, he was calm and in control as his fingertips brushed aside the strands of loose, fine hair that had fallen across my forehead. The last time we’d been together, he’d been insatiable, unable to stop himself from taking me over and over… and over again.

Was he not into me anymore?

His forefinger traced a line between my brows, drawing my attention to the fact I was frowning.

“It’s all right, you know,” he said gently. “Your responses are perfectly healthy and normal.” His smile was kind—genuine and surprisingly open—as he brushed the backs of his knuckles down my jawline. “I like it when you’re honest with yourself. I like that light that comes on in your eyes when you see something you want.” He bent closer and pressed a small kiss to my cheek. His breath warmed my ear as he murmured, “But what I love most of all is watching you take it.”

What?

“Next time”—his voice dropped an octave—“I hope you go for the intimacy you truly crave… that you climb onto my lap and take what you want from me.”

Want from him?

Intimacy?

He had me all wrong. I didn’t want anything from him, least of all intimacy.

I drew my face away, shaking my head minutely as I pulled my shit together about five minutes too late. “That’s not… This wasn’t—”

“Wait, don’t tell me…” His lips quirked as he raised a silencing forefinger. “You never meant for any of this to happen just now, did you?” Mocking Vair was back. “You were simply curious? You only wanted to observe this first time, right?” He threw my own words back at me—the excuses I’d given him at the club.

I rolled my eyes away, muttering “Sonofabitch” under my breath.

His hand snaked out and fisted the back of my hair with jarring speed, forcing my eyes back to his.

He leaned closer. No longer smiling, he looked like the dark predator he was. He canted his head at me.

I swallowed. Gulped.

His long, dark lashes lowered as those deep-set brown eyes dropped to my throat. His gaze settled upon the wild pulse point that had to be visible in my neck, given how frantically I could feel it beating.

He licked his lips. And stared.

And stared.

My breath came in rapid, shallow pants despite my effort to remain calm. Because the more I tried to calm myself, the harder I could feel my heart racing.

His nostrils flared. His face inched ever closer, then dipped to my neck until the tip of his nose grazed my jugular.

He was going to bite me.

Butterflies thrilled in my belly. I braced myself for impact. But he simply inhaled deeply and exhaled. “Delicious.”

He released my hair and abruptly pulled away, while I fought yet again to get my breathing under control.

“I’d like for you to come to my club tomorrow night. My driver will pick you up at eleven.”

He’d phrased the first part as a request, the second as a directive. Was he giving me a choice or not?

“What if I don’t want to come to your club?”

He leaned back against the plush leather seat cushions, linked his fingers behind his head, and shrugged—utterly unconcerned with the fact that his giant erection stood straight and proud in my direct line of sight. “What if I get lonely and my nostalgia drives me to play home videos of us in Times Square?”

Ass. “What do you want from me?”

“I’ve just told you, love. I want you to come back to my club.”

“For what purpose?”

Another shrug. “I need you there.”

My throat felt suddenly tight. I was exhausted and emotionally wrecked from all of Vair’s mind games.

“Why?”

He smirked. “Plenty of reasons.”

He was planning to humiliate me publicly. It was the obvious conclusion. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from getting emotional. Stoically, I asked, “Is there an option B?”

His perfect, straight white teeth practically glowed in the darkness as he shook his head and chuckled. “No. But I’ll hear your suggestion if you have one.”

“I’ll retract everything I said in my article,” I immediately offered.

“No.”

“What if I amended it to paint Ks in a more favorable light?”

“No.”

“Fine, I’ll issue a public apology to all Ks and xenophiles!” I all but screamed at him.

I couldn’t go back to his club. I couldn’t spend any more time with this man—alien.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“None of those things are of any interest to me.”

“Then what is of interest?”

The electronic limo door swung up, revealing the front entrance of my apartment building. The sight of it was a blessed relief. And at the same time, it was somehow unnerving that this was where he’d taken me.

We were done?

“You’re a smart, curious girl, Amy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Just like that? He wipes my drool, then kicks me to the curb while calmly sitting back and driving off with a ginormous erection?

Whatever. I scrambled to the door and climbed out with as much dignity as possible, praying that none of my neighbors would be around to see me—or the monster alien wood dismissing me.

Thankfully, no one seemed to be around. I swung my head back around to deliver a scathing parting remark, but the limo door was already closing in my face.

Apparently the Krinar weren’t big on goodbyes.

I turned and took a step in the direction of my building, only to find the gorgeous male K who had taken my file boxes blocking my path. He held my small purse and my keys out to me.

Oh. Right. Those had been tossed into one of the file boxes he’d confiscated.

“Um. Thank you.” I took them from him.

He smiled. His unnaturally perfect face was a vision of symmetry. “You’re welcome. Your computer screens have been restored and your office items returned to their usual places,” he informed me.

Then he walked off, leaving me standing on the sidewalk more confused than ever.