I did have a favorite food. “Have you ever had Chinese food? There’s a great place near my apartment.” Mentioning my apartment drew my brows low. There was something about it; something that I’d forgotten. “I think I left my keys at work.”

  Going back in there with my clothes mussed and my pants hanging down was not an option.

  I’d never live it down.

  “Emily, why don’t you stay the night with me? We can order Chinese food from anywhere you desire.” Fingertips trailing along my neck, Phi added, “Don’t you want to get to know me better?”

  I didn’t even know what he did for a living. Considering I’d had sex with him twice, that I was holding his hand in public, it did seem a bit neglectful on my part. “I don’t know…”

  “You will be perfectly safe with me.”

  The dampness in my underwear distracted me. It was slimy, and I had a feeling that had my pants not been black that they would have had a small red stain. And that seemed incredibly important to point out. “It hurt.”

  Soft and commanding, he reminded me, “But it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  Exhausted, I yawned despite the poor timing and shook my head. Aliens didn’t sleep. He would not have a bed, or fluffy pillows, or warm blankets. “I need to go home. We’ll save the date for another time.”

  “But you don’t have your keys, remember?”

  I had to be dreaming.

  So comfortable I almost fought my body’s mandatory wake-up stretch, my eyes observed a view over the city that definitely did not come from my apartment window. My window overlooked a brick building about three feet away. This window displayed the majesty of downtown. I could even see a blue sky.

  My sheets were not this soft; my second-hand mattress was not this comfortable. I wasn’t even waking up hungry.

  Because I’d had a big dinner and grown so sleepy that powerful arms had carried me from a polished table as black and shiny as an alien ship and put me down in paradise.

  A strong hand squeezed my hip, the feeling of a lithe body at my back moving in unison with my stretching. “Did you dream?”

  I always dreamed. I was still dreaming because I didn’t feel awake at all. So what did it matter if I confessed? “The lake…”

  “What were we doing at the lake?”

  I smiled, turning into arms that were open to hold me. “Laughing in the sun.”

  Snuggled to a broad chest, I blinked. Silvery-green stripes too beautiful to describe were glimmering before my eyes.

  My brain snapped to attention.

  This was Phi’s apartment, his bed. Why did he even have a bed? Pressing back to take in my surroundings, I sat up. Surrounded in a down duvet, more pillows at my back than even I possessed in my sad attempts to make my apartment hospitable, I was cocooned but utterly naked.

  What the fuck?

  A strong arm followed, settling around my waist while my host looked up at me.

  It was too weird for words. “Are you cuddling with me?”

  “I am.”

  “Why?”

  “I wanted to.”

  Why waste the time? “But you don’t sleep.”

  And now that I was awake, I knew it hadn’t been him in my dream; it had been my brother who’d been laughing with me at the lake. It had to be. I’d never once heard Phi laugh. His species might not even be able to produce such a sound.

  “Why are you concerned with what I do and do not do? Why not imagine that I remained at your side because I enjoy being near you. It gave me pleasure. It gave you deep, relaxing slumber. Does no one in your life ever do anything for you just because they want to?”

  What did that matter? “No.”

  “So you consider your neglect customary?” He nuzzled his nose to mine. “I’ll change that.”

  “I’m not neglected.” There was no one in my life, so no one could neglect me.

  “When I offer you things it makes you nervous. When I give you pleasure you grow wary. Yes, you are archetypal for the neglected human.”

  Growing insulted, I thinned my lips. “And what are you?”

  “Smitten with a pretty, neglected human.” Quick and smooth, he leaned up only to push me back against the pillows and hover over me. He even looked smug.

  It was a strange expression on an appealing alien face. A face I swear to you was different than it had been the first day we’d met.

  “While you slept, I considered what is to be done. How would I convince you to enjoy this room I decorated for you? What negotiations must be offered to get you to eat the foods gathered and waiting in my fridge? Would you fight such a beneficial arrangement on the grounds of female independence? You do seem to enjoy being belligerent.”

  Belligerent? “Excuse me.”

  He kissed me, lips lingering on my forehead. “Yesterday, you called yourself a pet. Do you see yourself as unworthy of positive attention? Maybe I do want to keep you. Maybe you’ll have no choice in the matter.”

  He was teasing, I could tell—as if he’d just learned the nuance of this type of human interaction and could not wait to apply it. “Phi, I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “Can it wait?” He took a handful of my breast and began to knead it while simultaneously toying with my nipple. “You were so tired last night and needed rest. Now that you have slept, you need something else.”

  Breath leaving my body on a sigh, I leaned my head back against the pillows and closed my eyes. He took it as an invitation to add his mouth to the mix.

  Taking his time, he learned the ins and outs of my breasts—what made me gasp, the exact kind of friction that increased my arousal.

  He stroked and kneaded and learned me.

  My thighs were already parting of their own accord, but my mind was caught on one final thought. “What do you get out of this?”

  His form shifting lower, his mouth grazing my belly, he muttered, “You,” before dipping lower.

  The modern male did not generally perform this act. They got straight to business or demanded it be done to them. Sure, I’d sucked a few cocks over the years, but no one had ever kissed me there before, and my toes were curling before I could stop myself.

  God, it felt amazing. Little licks of an abrasive tongue, the sweet sweep of a finger over a slippery entrance. When Phi sucked my clit between his lips, when he speared me with that long digit, I arched off the bed and made a grab for him.

  Gibberish. I knew I was speaking gibberish.

  My hand to his smooth skull, I watched him devour me. Those alien eyes followed all I did, watched me writhe and yowl. It was too much.

  Coming hard, I ground against that torturous mouth, grunting like a rooting pig.

  And it was glorious!

  No one in all my life had ever made me feel so good.

  Glued to the bed, to echoes of pleasure, I failed to move as he crept forward, his alien cock already in the shape he intended to use on me. I didn’t, couldn’t resist.

  Pliant, I let him slip that flapping organ inside. I even peeked down to find the little tentacles manipulating my labia and clit. Bracing his arms so his body remained elevated, Phi made it so I might watch.

  The whole thing in my view, familiar now with what that beastly organ could do inside me, I grew excited to an embarrassing degree. Sometimes he would swell within me. Moments later that organ would curve, undulate, or wriggle. It was never like the ordinary tubular shape of a human dick.

  Human dick would never compare, and that thought struck me as equally exciting and awful. Nothing would ever be better than this. I’d been ruined for my own species.

  As he pumped, as he used me, I think I even began to weep.

  Orgasm twisted up, coiled along my spine, brain little more than a mush of feeling. Nails to his back, I left a mark. It was only fair; he was marking me even if the tattoo was invisible. It would never wash off. It would never heal.

  My aggression drew out his pleasure. Even while my pussy still clenched and spasmed, he unleashed those things that would bring pain.

  Like he’d promised the day before, I found that despite the cramp, I liked it. Invasion. Needle-like barbs slithered through me deeper than before.

  Into places of my body where foreign objects could cause great harm.

  This was how I was going to die.

  Pop.

  The man cried out, low, guttural, and alien.

  Pain retreated. Life bloomed where darkness had crept in only moments prior.

  I lived.

  My pussy clenched down as if to keep his wriggling tentacle of discomfort inside my core.

  Traitor vagina.

  We were both panting when it was done, each staring at the other. Each mesmerized.

  I didn’t wince until he began a careful retreat, and it was then I registered how much it actually hurt.

  I’d been skewered. Truly penetrated.

  There was blood I didn’t need to glance down to register.

  Whimpering, I lay still as if that might save me. I even pled with my tormentor. “What did you do to me?”

  A male who could not look more pleased. Maybe he even looked deeply in love. “You’re glorious, Emily. Absolutely perfect.”

  I wanted to press my hand between my legs and curl up. I wanted to cry. But his massive body still rested in the trembling cradle of my aching thighs, an unmoving monolith.

  Cooing over my breakdown, he insisted, he nuzzled. “Be still and let it happen.”

  But he was done, right? What was to happen? Why be still?

  I really was going to die. Is that why these invaders had come? Was I to be dinner? How had I ended up in this room?

  “Shhhhhhh.” One large hand began to rub my swollen belly. The little bump of flesh that protruded where it never had before. “There is no need to be frightened.”

  I asked again, faint, and suddenly too tired to keep my eyes open, “What did you do?”

  “I gave you a gift.”

  7

  Waking with a start, I sat up, hair a mess. And I really did need to pee. Phi was not in the room to stop me from darting out of bed. He wasn’t there to pin me down, or eat my pussy, or fuck me with his fucked up tentacles that tore a person apart. This was my chance.

  After I made sure I didn’t piss myself trying to get home.

  The en-suite bathroom was very fancy, but I was too distracted with a need to urinate and escape to take much notice of it.

  I used the toilet, rushing to the sink afterward to wash my hands.

  And screamed.

  There was a woman in the mirror staring back at me. A woman I had never seen before.

  Her hair was longer than mine by a good six inches, and her skin was clear, not a blemish, no dark marks under the eyes or a single wrinkle. She was radiant.

  And she dared to look like me.

  Phi busted through the door.

  Unsure what to be more upset about, I looked from mirror to male, back and forth, coming unglued. Because what the actual fuck was going on?

  As if he realized his display of emotion only fed into mine, he went calm as placid waters. “Did you dream?”

  “What?” What the fuck kind of question was that? “What the hell is going on?”

  “You are upset.” A statement for the ages.

  So much more than being upset led me to grab the nearest thing—an unopened toothbrush packet—as a weapon. I didn’t know where to begin. I was naked, in a strange place, with a very strange creature. Dried blood still crusted the soft skin between my thighs. And I needed to get out. “Where are my clothes?”

  “I destroyed them. You will not require them here. The temperature will be maintained for your comfort.”

  My phone, wallet, and keys had been in my apron…

  Eyes going wide, I knew—knew down to the bone—that my keys had indeed been in the front pocket. Why had I thought otherwise?

  “You are messing with my head. It’s what you green men do!” Screaming, panicked beyond measure, I threw the unopened toothbrush at him. “You invaded our world! You tricked me into coming here!”

  Click, click, click went those black eyes. “It is unhealthy to allow your blood pressure to spike in this manner. Please, take a breath and calm yourself.”

  Sucking in air, I tried to hold it even though my chest was already forcing it out. I took a breath. I took another.

  “Sit here.”

  My legs wobbled, muscles tensing in rejection of the movement even as I stepped to the toilet and sat down on the lid.

  Swiping a glass from the sink, Phi filled it with water then held it out to me. “Drink.”

  I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to. But cool water found my lips, and before I knew it, I’d swallowed the whole thing.

  Yet tears were running down my cheeks. Ugly crying, snot and all, I asked, “Why are you doing this?”

  Silvery green arms bulging with muscle and power and more strength than any earth male possessed, Phi crossed his arms over his chest. As if he posed. As if to show his feathers, the proud male peacock seeking to attract his mate. “Because you are upset and I do not wish for you to cause harm to yourself.”

  The only harm I wanted to cause was to the man who’d done things that left blood on my thighs.

  Finger to my now flat belly, I felt every bit the living bruise. And let my glare fall upon him with the weight of every last bit of shit I had permitted for all males of all species all my goddamn life.

  Phi gave me my glare.

  He gave me patience.

  Kindness.

  A three fingered hand took the glass when I crumpled forward. Head between my knees like a rag doll, limp and aching and utterly a mess, I curled up. Eyes on the marble tile under my toes, tears fell.

  Phi ran strokes down my spine as they did. The bastard dared coo over me.

  “I’m not a cat!” Though I hissed just like one.

  His large hand did not waver in its caress. Voice bearing no anger at my outburst, he commanded, “Stop with that line of thought. My kind does not consider you pets, though we do intend to keep select females in a manner that you might equate with one. Adjustments will have to be made on both sides for assimilation to function optimally. Hear me, Emily. You will be happy like you were in your dreams of the lake. Remember?”

  Why trick me into coming into his apartment? Why seduce? He could have just grabbed me on the street and taken me that first day, and we both knew no soul would have looked for me.

  Except my brother and his wife when the monthly deposit did not go through.

  Jesus.

  Muttering against my knees, I grew as fierce as a trembling, terrified woman might. “I want something to wear.”

  “Anything you desire I will provide.” And he proved it by stripping off his button-down shirt, wrapping it around my body with reverence.

  8

  It was awkward sitting on a barstool with no panties. The button-down covering my breasts was not long enough to offer any real barrier between my ass and the buttery leather. I was sticking to it thanks to what still leaked out of me—just as Phi was sticking by my side.

  A bowl of fresh strawberries, cut up for easy eating, were bright as rubies in a bowl. A treat I’d not indulged in for some time. Such a temptation that I forgot the red smearing the seat and took a taste of forbidden fruit. It felt like years since I’d tasted something so fresh.

  Fast food was much more affordable than unblemished produce.

  I mean, it’s not like I never ate a salad, but real fruit… this was a luxury I could not afford.

  Gorging like a maniac, I hardly chewed. The berries tasted too good.

  Sunshine and earthiness, nature and health, things you didn’t find in the city.

  Flavors my body craved.

  “Has this made you happy?”

  “Mmmhh.” That’s all he was getting from me. A grunt and a quick swallow of cool water, and I was right back digging into the bowl.

  He’d wanted me to eat the provisions he’d gathered for me in his fridge. I was not about to turn down free food. But, still unsure what that meant, I’d sat where he’d pointed and glared while he’d prepared the fruit and served me.

  That’s right. Once he’d convinced me to leave the bathroom and limp out to his gorgeous, shiny kitchen. He’d served me, the waitress.

  The irony was not lost.

  I wouldn’t even have to leave a tip.

  Mouth full, ungrateful as could be, I demanded, “I want my clothes back.”

  Alien shoulders shrugged. “They’re gone. I did not anticipate this reaction or I would have asked you first, but understand, Emily, they were torn, stained, and ruined. New clothing can be procured if it means so much to you. But, wouldn’t you rather feel the sun on your skin?” He paused, looked me over, and added, “It’s such beautiful skin.”

  Beautiful, my ass. That woman in the mirror was a hallucination brought on my too much overly rough sex. “Where is my phone?”

  Phi watched me, noted that I was no longer shoveling food between my berry-stained lips, and formulated. “Who do you wish to call?”

  “You can’t keep me in here…”

  “Why would you not want to stay?” It was as if the alien was actually confused by my irritation. “There is food, comfort, safety. Tell me what you need to be happy in my company.”

  Angry. Maybe even angrier than I should have been considering my time in his home had been pleasant with the cuddling and the orgasms and the strawberries. That’s right, he had offered food, comfort, and safety. And like a snuffed out candle, so went my temper. But not my purpose. “I want my phone, my wallet, and my keys.”

  He opened a nearby drawer and pulled my personal effects out to set before me on the counter. And then he said nothing. Waiting.

  Tentative, my fingers reached out to brush the scratched casing of my flip phone, to test that it was really there. Solid plastic met my hands. I opened it to find the battery dead. The jagged coolness of my apartment keys were palmed next.

  Dragging my eyes from my things, I looked at Phi. Massive as he was, he looked so utterly crestfallen. And I refused to fall for it. “Why didn’t I think I had these last night?”