Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
He doesn’t argue. It’s something I’ve told him is important to me—remaining in charge of my business. The last thing I want is for something sub-par to go out the door and I lose customers. No one cares about my business as much as me, so I want to handle it all. “They will just have to be patient,” he muses. “I am learning it’s not a common thing with humans. They want what they want, and they want it now.”
“They’ll appreciate it more if they have to wait a bit longer,” I agree. Truthfully, I could sell three times as much as what I’m making, but I’m afraid of letting things spiral out of my control
He turns and looks at me, a devoted expression on his face. Every day, without fail, Aithar watches me as if I have hung the moon. He acts as if I am the most perfect, gorgeous, clever woman ever. I thought I’d get tired of it but…how does one get tired of being adored? It’s impossible.
“Want to come into town tomorrow for dinner? Several of us are getting together at the cantina to test the menu.” He rubs his fingers against mine even as I nibble on his knuckles. “Others are bringing dates, so neither you nor I would be the focus of conversation. And no one thinks you are pretending to be my girlfriend any longer.”
“I appreciate the invite, but I think I’m going to focus on work.”
“Mm.” Aithar isn’t surprised at my decline. Every time he invites me out, I refuse for one reason or another. “Well, if you change your mind…”
“I’ll let you know for sure.” I turn his wrist over and press a kiss to the soft flesh there. “Will you come over afterward, then?”
The heated look he gives me makes my toes curl. “Always.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
AITHAR
“No Michaela, huh?” Erzah asks as he stirs noodles and veg in a skillet. He’s trying a new dish, one that Ruthie referred to as “stir-fry.”
I lean against the cantina’s kitchen counters, admiring how much has been done in the last month. Considering that we have had limited funds to get the cantina up and running—no one wants to ask Lord Straik for credits, not while his bank accounts are being watched by the Homeworld government in relation to his mother’s activities—we have done a good job with salvage. The cooktop that Erzah is using is from a cantina in Haal Ui that shut down. The oven and walk-in freezer units are both repairs from Jerrok that we purchased. The furniture, the bar, and the decor are all retrievals from scavenging or concepts that Ruthie, Ruth or Ruth-Ann came up with to remind the others of home. There’s even a tinkling bit of garbage that hangs out front called a “wind chime,” courtesy of my once-love, Melody.
It has all come together and Erzah could not be prouder of his creation. I am proud on his behalf, because I know how hard he has worked on this, and how much of his own credits he has invested. It reminds me a lot of Michaela, who has built herself a thriving butter business all with her own sweat and determination.
“Michaela is busy,” I tell Erzah. “I am disappointed, of course, because I wish she would be friends with my friends, but I understand. She has a great many orders to fill and wants to work on them.
“She could take a day off to spend with you, though.” He flips the noodles and veg in the skillet with an expert toss, and I wonder when he acquired that skill.
“I will be joining her after we’re done.”
He shoots me a knowing look. “For sex?”
I beam. “Always.”
Erzah shakes his head. “You are the luckiest.”
“I know.”
“I need to meet a female like that. One that craves my body and asks for nothing more.”
His words make me frown. Distracted, I eye the kitchen, and the steaming dishes that he’s preparing. Does Michaela want nothing from me other than my body? She told me that the very reason she wanted to go out with me was because she wanted the contact information for a bounty hunter.
Yet…she hasn’t asked.
Instead, we get together nightly. We kiss for a long time. She pleasures my body. We collapse, sated (at least, I am sated) on her bed and talk for hours. Sometimes we touch each other more, sometimes I make her food, but those evenings are the highlight of each day. I live for the hours I can spend with her. I want nothing more than to be at her side, constantly.
But she asks for nothing from me except my body. Even that, she does not require much of. She never pleasures herself using me. She kisses me and pets me, but when it comes to orgasms, they are all mine.