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The client is twitchy. She knew how to handle that. Twitchy clients needed to be seduced and soothed, or they would change their minds and leave, taking their credits with them.
“I’m not nervous with you. You don’t have to be nervous with me.” She used a low, honeyed tone, sliding off the bed and landing on her feet. She moved with slow, gliding steps that let her hips sway, capturing his eyes. They were riveted to her movements.
Good.
“The day after tomorrow, I’ll marry you.” She put her hands on his shoulders and barely suppressed a gasp when a loud, deep purr ripped out of him, the vibrations rolling up her arms and through her chest, sound waves actually making her skin tingle.
“Yes. I’m glad you’re as eager as I am to finalize our contract. I made an initial deposit today, just a few thousand, in case there were things you needed to procure before traveling.”
Just a few thousand, hmm? Jade marveled at how easily he said that. “Felid credits?” Those were worth so much more than the credits used on Sapien-Three.
“Specifically Leopardine. We have the second-highest credit value in the Felix Orbus System, second only to Leonid. There is talk of universal credit rates, but that hasn’t been agreed upon yet.”
A few thousand Leopardine credits. That would be tens of thousands in Sapien-Three credits. Jade licked her lips. Once money was in her account—the clock was ticking.
Time to earn those credits if you want to keep them flowing.
Her fingers massaged. The purr deepened. She could feel the vibrations in the soles of her feet and shooting up her arms. “The contract started the second you paid me.”
“Surely it started the second we agreed to terms?”
“That’s what I meant. But now... Now, it’s solidified. Do you know what that means?” She licked her lips as he watched. Any second now, he’d initiate their second “transaction.”
Jade wondered if it would hurt after over a year of celibacy. She wondered if he would prefer her to act like it hurt, even if it didn’t, to maintain the “you’re my first and you’re so big” idea that so many men seemed to love.
“What, Jade?”
“I’m yours now. What does that look like to you?” She stood back, inviting him to stand, to take her to the bed.
ARDOL DIDN’T LIKE THE absence of light in her eyes, the hollow coolness in her voice.
Worse, he didn’t like that he didn’t know the answer to her question. For once, his father’s endless lectures hadn’t prepared him with a smooth comment or a flex of his connections to make the problem go away.
The warm haze of her nearness and her scent evaporated, taking his contented purr along with it.
Cala had looked at him like that— coldness in her eyes as if something was wrong with him and everything he’d done in wooing her.
Well... Do something differently!
Ardol rose, and she didn’t back away, but the smile on her face didn’t change. Nothing reached her eyes—such pretty blue-green eyes.
Instincts took over, something protective and primal in his nature made him reach for her, his tail slipping softly around her waist while he bent to rest his large muzzle on her soft red waves.
“If you are mine, it means I have to protect you and cherish you. I don’t care how others treated you before. To me, you are my treasure. Precious and priceless. Like your name.”
Warmth flooded into her eyes as she looked up at him. One of her hands landed on the tufted tip of his tail and stroked it absently, starting an unexpected purr deep inside his chest.
“Like that?” she whispered. Her lips twitched—an almost smile.
“Very much.”
She didn’t have a tail. He couldn’t touch her in the only erogenous zones he knew of, between her legs or her breasts. Well, maybe he could, but he didn’t want to. Not yet. His paw cupped her cheek.
That stubborn dimness remained in her eyes. “Are you unhappy in some way?” he whispered.
“No. I’m not unhappy unless it hurts.” Her voice was soft, and her eyebrows flew high in surprise. “Although—there’s a line between pain and discomfort. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Ardol got the distinct impression that she hadn’t meant to say those words. “Does anything make you happy?”
