She curled toward his side, pressed her body tightly against his, and a protective urge gripped him so strongly it made breathing difficult. His arms encircled her to hold her closer to him.

“Are you okay? I know you went to see Darius. I woke and you were gone.”

Her concern made him feel even more certain that he’d made the correct decision. “It did not go as I’d hoped. He doesn’t agree with my choice to be with you. He refuses to accept my feelings and isn’t capable of understanding why I am so protective of you.”

She lifted her chin to gaze up at him, sadness reflected in her beautiful eyes. He also saw tears fill them and one slid down her cheek. He shifted his hold to gently brush it away with his thumb.

“Don’t cry. No one will ever harm you again. I’m taking some time away from the council to stay at home for a while. I won’t leave you alone to give him a second opportunity to harm you. Don’t be afraid, Charlie.”

“It’s not that.” She sniffed. “I’m so sorry that I’m the reason you and your son are fighting. He’s an ass**le for what he did to me but he’s still your kid. I know you have to be really messed up over this. Are you okay? I know how it hurts when family does something totally screwed up. Remember my brother? He always could hurt me the most when he did stupid things.”

“He sold you.” A new sense of understanding of family betrayal became clear to Zorus in that moment. “How do you deal with loving someone who goes against you?”

“Eventually they hurt you enough that you stop allowing them to do it. At least you tell yourself that until the next time they do something else you never thought they were capable of.” Charlie snuggled more firmly against him and rested her cheek on his chest. “It still hurts but you can’t control the people you love. You just try to harden your heart as much as you can.”

Zorus lifted his gaze to study the bedroom ceiling. “Will you hurt me, Charlie?”

She shook her head. “No. I know how it feels to open yourself up to someone and have them tear you apart. I’d never do that to you. I can just hope you won’t ever do that to me either.”

“I fear you will hurt me in some way. Emotions are new to me yet I’ve allowed you to matter too much in such a short time. But I would never intentionally hurt you.”

“Welcome to my world,” she suddenly chuckled. “Falling in love is never easy but here we are.”

He tensed and looked down at the top of her head. Charlie tilted her face to gaze at him.

“What? You think I’d agree to come to your planet, leave everything behind, just because the sex is awesome?” She smiled.

“Say it.”

“I love you, Zorus.”

He couldn’t stop the grin that curved his lips or the sheer joy that filled him to the point that he wasn’t sure he could survive it.

“This is where you’re supposed to either say it back or roll away.”

“I attacked and threatened my own son to defend you. I made it clear I would kill him if he ever touches you again.”

Charlie lifted up a little and rested her chin on the back of her hands on his chest. “Say it, Zorus. Please? I want to hear the words from you. I know you probably won’t understand this but it means a lot to me.”

“I love you, Charlie.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it? Thank you.”

“No but a part of me is definitely hard now.”

She turned her head and grinned down his body where she couldn’t miss the tented covers. She met his gaze again. “I see.”

“I won’t act upon it. I realize you are still traumatized.”

That killed her happy mood. “Yeah.”

“Time will help you get past this.”

She didn’t miss the haunted tone of his voice. “You know that for sure, don’t you?”

His body under hers stiffened but then relaxed again. “Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He drew in a ragged breath. “I told you about some of the abuse I suffered. They didn’t consider me a living being. They believed me to be a thing without thought or feeling. I had both.” He took a few more breaths. “I know my son attacked you in some misguided sense of vengeance for what I suffered back in the days when Earth Government controlled us. I never told him of what I endured but he saw the reports about nine years ago. We all had to file reports on our experiences while in captivity. He’s a doctor and has access to them. He read every page of my reports.”

“Did you ever talk to him about it?”

He nodded. “He came to me immediately and we discussed it at length. I taught him to hate humans before he knew exactly what had been done to me but it became worse after he read the accounts. When the bounty hunters were captured, he helped me lure them into a sense of friendship to get them to be truthful. He also helped me kill them.”

Charlie pressed tighter to Zorus to feel his warmth when a chill crept up her spine. “You enjoyed killing them, didn’t you?”

“They weren’t the types of humans who were decent.”

She remembered some of the guys she’d grown up with. A good percentage of them had grown up to be ra**sts, murderers, or thugs. Some fell into all three of those categories. The idea of them dying didn’t choke her up in the least. “I know some humans are evil.”

“They wanted to destroy us. It’s my job to protect my people.”

“Those scientists planned to autopsy you.”

“They think nothing of our right to life. We are things to them. Experiments or objects to use for whatever purpose they desire.”

She nodded against his chest. “I get it. I’m not the enemy though.”

“I know that. You are unique.”

“Not all humans are bad.”

“To me you are the exception to the rule.”

She smiled. “I’m glad. I’d hate to be on your bad side.”

“That could never happen, Charlie. I chose you over my son. This stuns me but it is the truth. I swore to always be honest with you. I won’t allow him near you again. I would kill one of my own people to protect you from any harm. You matter to me that much. I may not easily say words of love but that is what I feel for you. I have never allowed emotions to control me yet I have had no wish to suppress them since we met. You are more than worth the risk of pain I face by trusting you.”

“I’m glad.”

“You agreed to come home with me. I do understand and acknowledge how difficult a decision that had to be for you to make. You’ve been very brave.” He paused. “It is yet another trait about you I find appealing.”

“Love is a crazy thing, isn’t it? It hits when you least expect it, grabs you by the shorthairs, and tugs you in whatever direction it decides to go.”

Zorus chuckled. “Your words amuse me.”

Her hand slid down his chest, over his flat belly, and lower until her fingertips stopped at the base of his cock. He’d softened slightly but not by much. She wrapped her hand around him to stroke him under the covers. He tensed.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it feel like?”

“You don’t need to alleviate my desire for sexual release. I don’t expect it, Charlie. You have been through a trauma. I’m capable of controlling my body. I do not suffer as a human male would.”

“And do you know what I think is the best way to heal?” She lifted her head to stare into his beautiful gaze. “Make love to me. Erase the bad memories with good ones. You kiss me and I can’t think. You burn me up with your touch to take away the coldness.”

He didn’t argue with her. She feared he would but instead he slowly turned onto his side, used his body to ease her onto hers, and then slid down until she had to release her hold on his cock. He flattened his hand on her stomach to nudge her all the way onto her back. She smiled when he moved to his knees and put one between her legs. She spread her thighs wide apart to make more room for him.

“I know how to make you hot.” His head dipped to brush a kiss on her hip.

Charlie smiled. “I love your mouth.”

“I know.”

She laughed at his smug comment. “You definitely are talented with it.”

His hands tapped her thighs and she parted them more, lifted her knees a little, and gave him full access to her sex. He slid his palms under her ass to lift her closer to his parted lips. She gasped a little from a dull stab of pain when he did it but she bit her lip to refrain from mentioning the bruise there. He froze.

“Do you want to stop?”

“No.”

He released her ass carefully. “I forgot. I’m sorry.”

“Grip my hips.”

He adjusted his body and got a new hold on her. She knew she wiggled a lot when he went down on her and he preferred to pin her immobile. She relaxed, waited, and then his tongue teased her clit. The hesitancy when he licked her saddened her. She knew he probably worried she’d become frightened.

“I know it’s you,” she whispered. “I love you. I want you, Zorus.”

His lips enclosed her clit, the flat of his tongue rapidly moved back and forth, and Charlie moaned. Desire quickly ignited throughout her body. She reached up to grab the pillow just for something to hold onto.

“Yes,” she moaned. “That is so good.”

He groaned against her, the soft vibration driving her pleasure higher. She arched her back to press tighter against his hot mouth. His teeth lightly raked over the sensitive nerve endings and she realized how close she hovered near cl**ax.

“Stop.”

Zorus tore his mouth from her. “Did I hurt you?”

She really hated the worry she heard in his tone. “No. I want you inside me when I come.”

He moved on the bed but instead of climbing over her, he sprawled out next to her body, and rolled flat onto his back.

“Ride me,” he urged. “I want you to know you’re in control.”

He never ceased to amaze her. He didn’t want her to feel pinned or trapped. Her body ached and throbbed from his sensual kisses. She climbed to her knees, threw a leg over his hips, and hovered there. She gripped his rock-hard c**k with one hand and flattened her other one on his chest for leverage. She looked down between their bodies, her hair fell across him as she guided his c**k to the opening of her pu**y. He softly groaned her name when she slowly settled down on the thick shaft. The crown of it stretched her apart to accept more of him.

Sheer delight radiated from her core when she lowered on top of Zorus. Her inner nerve endings sizzled when he stretched her vaginal walls, filled the need she craved, and she threw her head back with a moan. She paused when she’d taken all of him. Her pu**y clenched around him to draw a soft moan from both of them.

“You’re so beautiful,” Zorus rasped. “I love you, Charlie.”

She met his gaze in the dim room, his eyes dark and sincere. “I love you too.”

His hands lightly caressed her hips, urged her to move, and she lifted up and then slowly lowered. Pleasure rippled through her from the snug fit of their bodies joined together. Charlie started to move up and down, finding a pace that felt the best. Zorus was extremely hard, thick, and each motion brought her sheer delight. When the need to come became nearly overwhelming, she rode him hard and fast. The sound of their heavy breathing and the slap of her bottom on the top of his thighs turned her on even more.

Zorus slid his hand from his light grip around the curve of her hip to dip his fingers between her spread thighs. He sought and found her cl*t to press the side of his thumb there. With every slide of their bodies it brushed her swollen bud until it sent her over the edge. Rapture seized her.

Charlie threw her head back, cried out his name, and under her, Zorus snarled her name. She knew her vaginal walls were strongly convulsing around his cock, massaging him as he found his own release, and she loved feeling him filling her with his warm se**n. She collapsed on top of him when she couldn’t remain upright anymore.