His long hair tickled her cheek where it fell over his shoulder toward her but neither moved away. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his knowing she’d never felt so attracted to a man before in her life. She wanted to slide her hands up his hot skin to wrap them around his neck and the urge to go on her tiptoes to tug his head down so their lips could touch was almost overwhelming. Her fingers itched to run through his long, thick mane of hair.

A soft growl came from the man, his nostrils flared again, sniffing at her, as his arms gripped her more securely and hugged her even tighter to his large frame. His incredible eyes expressed his shock and confusion over the instant attraction between them but desire sparked there too. She was sure he could see her own desire for him reflected in her gaze locked with his. Her stomach clenched and she felt warmth spread between her thighs, her body getting turned-on enough to react to him. It was as if a physical blow struck her when a sound made her realize they weren’t alone in the room.

“Her warrior never mounted her,” Ali said suddenly. “I don’t know how he resisted bonding to her.”

Shock tore through Brenda that the Zorn woman had just blurted it out that she’d never had sex with Valho and she felt her face heat with embarrassment. The Zorn man staring at Brenda with intense blue eyes tore his gaze away to give his attention to Ali.

Rever suddenly released Brenda very gently as if she were made of glass. He stepped back, completely withdrawing until they were no longer touching. His gaze slowly lowered down her body from her face to her bare toes and then back up until they were staring at each other again.

Argis Rever cleared his throat. “Why didn’t you bound to Valho?” Brenda swallowed hard to rid herself of the lump that had formed there, feeling shaken up inside by her instant attraction to the Zorn male. She’d never felt such an intensely sexual reaction to a man in her life. It was crazy weird but she couldn’t discount what had happened since she admitted to herself that she still wanted to touch him. She had to mentally nudge herself to talk since he was waiting for an answer.

“I really liked him and he was nice enough to give me time to get to know him. We were spending a lot of time together but then the alarms went off and Valho rushed out of the room to go see what was happening. A few hours later a man came to our room to tell me that Valho had been killed by a Zorn enemy. I was told he died well in battle defending the ship that brought me here. After that they locked me in the room only bringing me food until we arrived here on Zorn.” Argis Rever was silently watching her until Ali broke the silence.

“I showed her to the guestroom and I am making her feel very welcome in your home. Are you hungry? Should I prepare food?”

“Hey, Rever!” Tina yelled from the back of the house. “Get your ass in here. I’m waiting!”

Rage twisted the handsome features of Argis Rever. He looked away from Brenda to glance at Ali with a jerk of his head.

“Please prepare food. Tina is being difficult more than usual.”

“Of course, Argis. I am sorry for…” She sighed. “She is very difficult. That is the problem with aliens.” Ali shot Brenda an apologetic smile. “You seem nice but that other one is not.”

At a loss for words, Brenda didn’t even try to speak. She watched Argis Rever turn quickly on his heel to storm away, heading for where Tina had disappeared. Ali sighed loudly when her sad gaze met Brenda’s curious one.

“I won’t give it many days until that woman does something really terrible. That one is serious trouble and she is going either run off with another male or drive my Argis to insanity.”

Nodding, Brenda had to agree. Tina was being a real bitch. From the back of the house a door slammed hard enough to make Brenda flinch. The memory of a pair of gorgeous blue eyes haunted her.

Rever, of the planet Zorn, was the sexiest damn male she’d ever set eyes on. It was a shame that he was taken and that Valho’s brother was coming to get her. If she could have Argis Rever she’d be one happy woman but it wasn’t meant to be.

Chapter Two

Brenda shoved the blankets off her body, sitting up, and thought no one could sleep through the loud shouting she heard coming from the other side of the house. The floor was cold on her feet when she got out of bed to go to the restroom, the noise only intensifying as she eased the bedroom door open.

“I don’t care,” Tina screamed. “Why don’t you bring your house helpers back? I see why you jerks keep a few of them. What are you? A walking damn hard-on? Go to Ali.” Rever’s response was unknown since the only one yelling was Tina. Brenda crossed the hallway to use the bathroom quickly and washed her face, guessing it had to be sometime near dawn. Rever and Tina had fought late last night and now they were at it again. If the big Zorn killed his human, Brenda was all for it. She was even tired of hearing the loudmouthed, annoying woman constantly ranting and she thought Argis Rever was a saint for keeping his temper in check.

Dinner had been a nightmare the night before with Tina’s constant complaints about everything from the food to the things about the Zorn house she didn’t like. Tina had completely ignored Brenda at the start of the meal until Rever had tried to start a polite conversation with her, then Tina had hit the roof.

“You want to fuck Brenda, right? You keep looking at her when you think she’s not looking at you. I bet she’s more your speed. She hasn’t said two damn words since she sat down at the table and I bet she doesn’t have the balls to stand up to a man.” Rever had growled. “Maybe she hasn’t said anything yet because you won’t be silent long enough to let anyone get a word spoken. You have complained since you walked into the room.”

“I don’t like this alien shit you call dinner,” Tina had spat back.

Fury had tightened the man’s features. “Tell me one thing you do like.”

“Oh, screw yourself,” Tina had snapped. “You’re still pissed that I flirted with other guys. Just deal with it because that’s how I roll.” A snarl had come from Rever as he glared at Tina.

“And stop doing that. You sound like a fucking dog and I told you what one of those are. If you walk on two legs then act like a damn man. Try being one for a change.”