I lick my lips, trying to think. He’s not moved by my offer of freaky human sex? That’s a first. “I’ll be your wife in every sense,” I tell him. “I’ll cook and clean and help run the farm. We’ll be equals. We’ll have land, and meat-stock, and a stipend from the government to help our farm set up. No one can send you back to prison. You’ll have a livelihood. All you have to do is stay with me.”
“I’m not a farmer,” he says flatly.
“I’m not either, but I’m learning.”
Vordigar rubs his jaw. He looks over at me again—and at my tits, which is a good sign—and then sighs. “I have places to be, Little Bit.”
“My name is Piper. And I know this isn’t ideal, but like I said, I have a very small window to get pregnant and you have a desperate situation. I thought we could mutually benefit each other. If you don’t agree, I can turn this air-sled around and go back to the jail to get another husband.”
He stares. Then, his mouth curves in a hard smile. “You’re playing a hard game.”
“There’s a lot on the line.”
“What happened to that sweet female that was batting her lashes at the guards?”
I drop my voice to the husky note. “You need me to be sweet? Will that change your mind?” I put my hand on his thigh.
He pries it right back off.
I’m surprised…and a little worried. I want to be relieved that he doesn’t want sex. It’s not like I’m dying to jump on his dick. But sex is just about all I have to barter.
“I want you to be real,” he tells me.
“All of this is real,” I say to him. “I need your help. You need my help. I thought we could help each other.”
“By having a baby? And taking up farming?”
“It’s not the life I would have chosen, either, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good one.”
He leans back and gives me a skeptical look. “Why not sell your land? You said some praxiian is all over you wanting it. Sell to him. Make a tidy bundle.”
He doesn’t get it. He really doesn’t get it. “And go where?” I lean back, feeling a little defeated. “No one will take me back to Earth. It’s Class D, which means I’m not supposed to be out here anyhow. Humans are contraband. Let’s assume I don’t end up in someone’s zoo—I’ll end up in someone’s brothel instead, all of my money stolen. No one gives a shit about what happens to a human…except here. Here, they gave me land, and supplies, and a chance to have a normal life, and I’m going to take it.” I lean forward, just a bit, because I need him to understand just how much this means to me. “This is my land. No one’s fucking taking it from me, either.”
Vordigar watches my mouth. His lips curl into a slow, crooked smile. “I didn’t know humans could get so fierce.”
I lean back again, blowing out a breath in frustration. “This is serious.”
“Oh, I know.” But he keeps grinning at me. “I’ve just never been approached by a human and had her demand that I make her pregnant.”
“Only if we marry. I don’t want any of this”—I wave my hand and gesture at his form—“without some sort of benefit on my end.”
Vordigar throws his head back and laughs. “You mean you’re not dying for my cock? I’m wounded.” He clutches at his chest.
I start to smile. Just a little. “If we’re being completely honest, I’ve had enough alien cock to last me all my days, thank you very much.”
He laughs harder.
It feels good to hear someone laughing. I realize in that moment just how isolated and afraid I’ve been for the last few weeks. No, months, really, because Melissa was always super busy with her farm, and she was my closest neighbor. Since she’s been gone, I’ve had almost no one to truly count on. There’s Chloe and her mate, but they’re busy and Chloe has a baby to take care of. She can’t drop everything to come visit when I’m bored or lonely…and I’m bored or lonely far more often than I’d like to admit.
I don’t know this Vordigar guy. But he laughs easily and he pried my hand off his knee when I came on to him, so he might just be the best guy I’ve met in a really, really long time.
“Please help me,” I whisper, my desperation coming out despite my best efforts to play it cool. The scars on my face itch, and it takes everything I have not to touch them. “I know it’s not ideal, but we can make it work. Please.”
Vordigar studies me for a long moment. Then, he looks out the window, his laughter dying. “I need to think about it for a while.”
“Of course.”
We ride the air-sled in silence all the way back to my farm.
3
VORDIGAR
I don’t know what to do.
She’s laid all her sticks out in a row, as the game players like to say. She’s confessed her plan and what she needs. She’s offered me sex and a home. It’s dark when we pull up to the farm, but I can see neat rows of crops and a herd of meat-stock in a nearby field. There’s a small, domed homestead and a barn, and it looks like a nice spread. I know a dozen soldiers that would have keffing killed for this opportunity.
I’m not sure I’m ready to be a father, though. Or a farmer.
My plans for the future were simple—leave Risda III behind and get back into piracy. I dabbled in it before the war, and kept ties with friends in the business while I was in prison. I ran goods for a few buddies while on Haven, and I know people. I look intimidating as hell. I’m a competent navigator and a very competent mech. I can make some decent credits provided I get on the right ship, and I know just the people. The va Sithai brothers are looking for another to join them on a job, and I’ve promised that I’d go. It’s bound to be incredibly lucrative.
But this female with big, sad eyes has asked me to stay.
To get her pregnant.
To farm with her.
Keffing hell. I’m not a farmer. Being a lowlife thief and a grunt is all I’m good at. I’m the wrong male for this job. If she knew my history, she’d know that, too. I need to tell her no. The timing’s all wrong. Maybe if she’d have approached me a month ago, when I was desperate and low on credits, I’d have jumped at the chance.
A farm AND all the kinky human sex I want? That’s the dream of half the galaxy. I have to admit it’s been so keffing long since I’ve had sex that my seed’s probably nothing but dust. Even now, sex sounds good. Sex sounds real, real good. And I’ve never had a human before. I’m curious. Any male would be.
Except…I can’t say yes to her. I have job offers. Much better job offers than what she’s throwing in my direction. I can’t possibly say yes. Not when I have the opportunity to turn my life around and make a quick fortune.
I just don’t have the guts to tell her ‘no’ just yet. Not when she watches me with those hopeful dark eyes. I can’t tell her no to her face. Maybe I’ll steal away in the middle of the night, when she’s not looking at me with such hope and grim determination. Slink away like the lowlife scum I am and forget I ever met that little bit of a human.