18. Jane
Chapter Eighteen
JANE
I didn’t realize how nervous I was on my trip from Earth to here until we got back on the same ship to return to Earth. I’d been too anxious to absorb much on my initial journey. Now, I have a gazillion questions about the spaceship and all kinds of things. Asher answers every question I have, and his friend Kayden is bemused by us.
Meanwhile, Helena is busy checking applications for the job. We have hundreds of applicants, which doesn’t surprise me one bit.
I tell her to go ahead and approve them all. I shrug. “We’ll see who shows up. It’ll be like a job fair.”
Her eyes go wide. “We need women. I’ve looked around, and there are legit not many women on your planet,” I point out.
“ Our planet,” Asher interjects with a wink.
“Kayden is our test case,” I say with a wave toward him.
He chuckles while Asher adds, “I’m the test case.”
“Not anymore. We’re married.”
His return grin is sly, and my belly shimmies. I keep thinking this wild, rampaging desire for him will calm the hell down. But my hormones are just out of control when it comes to Asher. Which I suppose is handy. I think I’m pregnant because my body feels subtly different.
Before I know it, we’re on Earth. “That only took us two hours.” I glance toward Asher. “Is this how long it takes normally?”
“It depends. Cargo trips take longer.”
“You’re royalty,” Kayden chimes in. “You get the fast flight.”
It’s strange to walk out of the ship, excuse me, spaceship, and get struck by the blast of dry heat here on Earth. Until a few weeks ago, this weather was all I’d known. The contrast to Aphroditea’s fresh air is stark.
A haze of smoke in the air lets me know the wildfires are burning up North. There have been wildfires burning for years on Earth, my entire life and then some. The history books tell us it wasn’t always that way, but it has been for me. There isn’t much left to burn, but the fires still catch and burn through dry brush and scrub in areas. Smoke follows. The smoke is pushed around by the wind, swirling in dusty eddies.
The smoke isn’t too bad today. I look up at Asher, asking, “Do you bring masks when you come to Earth in case the smoke is bad?”
He nods. “We have them and breathing gear if needed. It doesn’t seem that bad today.”
“It’s not,” I offer, well aware it could be so smoky that we couldn’t even see.
Things move at a brisk pace once we’ve arrived. Asher and his bodyguards depart for a meeting somewhere. Helena brings me to the office where I met Asher for the first time.
“We own this building,” she explains as we walk down the hallway.
“The whole building?”
She nods. “Yes. We have many applicants. We’ve never had a job fair on our planet, but I’ve read they have them on Earth all the time.”
“Jobs are hard to come by. Everyone’s a little desperate for a halfway-decent life. And if they’re anything like me, they want a chance to leave Earth. Only the very wealthy can afford it. The rest of us hope we can land a place to live in the green zone.” I pause to glance out the windows. There isn’t a speck of green visible. “Maybe someday Earth will rebound enough to be the way it was before.”
Helena shrugs. “Maybe. That’s a long way off. They need more resources to make that possible.”
I have so many questions. I want to understand this relationship with my new people and those who are on Earth. I knew we traveled to other planets, but I didn’t know aliens and humans mated. I’m curious about the galaxy beyond as well. In my first few weeks on my new planet, I’ve been so caught up in Asher and the wonder of being somewhere beautiful and safe that I haven’t had time to focus on much else.
I’ve gleaned that there’s a lot of intergalactic travel, and it’s fairly common. Earth seems to be behind the ball, from what I can piece together. Today isn’t the day for those questions. Helena and I get organized quickly. There’s a downstairs area with a larger room. I realize this building must’ve once been a school because it’s an old gymnasium.
In short order, Helena and I are screening applicants. I find myself protective of the men on Aphroditea. I screen out several applicants right off the bat because they seem too shallow. I feel twinges of guilt for even thinking like that. I, too, had been desperate before.
Helena tells me it’s important to remember we want to give these women a better life. Life on Earth is abysmal. Women are often abused and practically secondhand citizens. They need to be brave simply to survive.
About halfway through, I find the first woman I think should definitely be a candidate. She’s pretty with bouncy honey-gold curls and freckled cheeks. Her name is Nadine. Our interview process is fairly simple. We discuss the planetary differences and the expectations for a woman on our planet. At first, it sounded strange to call it our planet, but Helena repeatedly reminded me that I was one of the leaders there now and that I was a true princess.
Pain flashes in Nadine’s eyes when I ask her what prompted her to apply. “I’m just going to be honest,” she finally says, her voice low. “I was about to marry into a family in the green zone, a wealthy family. But I couldn’t do it because he was abusive.”
She swallows audibly after she takes an unsteady breath. It’s only then that I notice she’s used makeup to cover a bruise underneath one of her eyes. My heart gives a painful thump, and a familiar sense of anxiety races through me. Even though I managed to avoid being beaten, it’s common here.
“So I left, and now I’m desperate because I have nothing, and I’m afraid.”
My belly clenches with worry. “When did you leave?”
She blinks back tears. “This morning.”
The murmur of voices carries on around us. The room is filled with a line of applicants. Along with Helena, another woman helps us with interviews.
Just then, the back door to the large room opens, and Asher enters. I don’t even have to look that way to know it’s him because that vibration, which is still startling but becoming familiar to me, starts humming in my body. The sensation becomes stronger until he stops beside me and places a hand on my shoulder.
I smile up at him. “Hello,” I murmur.
His reply is a kiss. He bends low to dust one on my cheek. The touch of his lips sends a fiery sizzle of electricity through me. As he straightens, I gesture toward Nadine. “This is Nadine. I’ve already decided she’ll be coming back with us today.”
Asher smiles warmly at her as he nods. Just then, the door opens again and Kayden comes through, immediately walking in our direction once he spies Asher.
Nadine fidgets in her seat nervously. Asher looks from her toward Kayden. “You will marry him,” he says with complete confidence.
“I will?!” she squeaks.
Before Asher can reply, Kayden reaches us and stops beside him. Asher and I might as well be invisible. Kayden’s gaze is locked on Nadine.
Kayden finally looks toward Asher and me. He holds his hand out to Nadine as she looks at me uncertainly. “I need to talk with her privately,” he announces.
When Asher catches my eyes and nods, I reply, “Go ahead.”
Kayden takes Nadine’s hand, and they leave through the back of the room. “Will they marry now?” I whisper to Asher.
He shakes his head. “Not until we get back to our planet.”
I’ve been focused solely on finding mates, so I didn’t think beyond the initial phase. “So it’s important for everyone to marry on the planet?”
“They must. It’s binding.”
“Oh, well, that’s good to know,” I tease.
He winks, and my pulse kicks up its pace.
“How is this going?” he asks.
It’s so silly, but these moments when we’re just talking seem mundane, but his attention is so focused on me I could practically swoon.
“Good, I think,” I say, forcing my attention away from him and glancing around the room quickly. We have selected five candidates so far. “Helena wants to leave today with five candidates or more.”
“Good.” He paused, and I feel the warmth of his palm sliding over my shoulder. “I’m ready to go,” he says.
“Asher,” I whisper after he leans down again and gives me a lingering kiss, even teasing his tongue against mine.
“Yes, my love?” he murmurs.
I feel the clench of my pussy. I can’t even reply.
“I can’t wait to get back to our planet. We need to go home, and I need to be inside you.”
I’ve never had anyone speak to me as bluntly as Asher does. It’s direct and naughty, yet it feels like another form of love with him, so dirty and intimate. I feel like the slick moisture between my thighs.
He glances at Helena. “Can I speak privately with my princess?” he asks.
“Of course,” she replies.
He leads me quickly out of the room, down the hallway, and up to the office we met in before. My eyes land on the nondescript plastic table.
In a burning second, Asher is kissing me. My entire body is aflame with need as he takes deep sips from my mouth. He closes the door behind us, and I hear the snick of the lock. Pressing me to the door, he slides his hand down to catch the hem of my skirt and drags it up.
At his request, I go bare with nothing underneath. I never know when he may need me or I may need him. His fingers delve into my slippery-wet and swollen folds.
“Oh, love,” he growls against my mouth as his fingers tease into me, pumping once and then again.
“Asher…” I whimper as he lifts his head. I’m on fire for him, just him.
He palms my cheek with one hand, and he slides it down to drag his thumb across my kiss-swollen lips. I can’t help it, and my tongue darts out to taste his skin. I savor the salty tang.
His eyes darken. “I love you, Jane,” he murmurs.
“And I love you,” I return just as he pumps his fingers into me again, and my pussy squeezes around them. “I need you,” I rasp.
He spins us around, moving quickly across the room and sliding my hips onto the table. My skirt is bunched up around my hips. He pushes my knees apart, his eyes dropping down. I can literally feel the heat of his stare between my thighs.
He kneels in front of me, and it truly feels as if he is worshipping me as his palms slide down my thighs. His touch is strong and sure.
“Look,” he says.
I follow his gaze down to my pussy. Watching his fingers slide through my slippery arousal is beyond filthy, and I am so needy. “Asher,” I beg.