Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
The shuttle swooped suddenly downward and Kara had to bite back a scream.
“Don’t worry—it always does this. I’ve got you.” J’orn wound his arms around her again, pulling her tight against his chest. Kara leaned back against him willingly, but she knew as soon as they landed she had to get away. The conversation they’d been having was highly inappropriate. She was sure if she spent any more time with her ex-assistant she was going to do something they would both regret.
So even though she’d promised to let him take her to the resort she was staying at, the minute the shuttle touched down she popped open the harness and squirmed out of his lap.
Standing on the edge of the seat, she managed to hop over the sleeping Mr. Oatmeal and found herself in the aisle.
“Hey—where do you think you’re going?” J’orn demanded, half rising from his seat.
“To the ladies' room,” Kara lied. She knew if she told him she was leaving him behind, he’d be after her like a shot. “Sorry, I really have to go,” she added.
He frowned.
“All right, but meet me in front of the shuttle.”
Kara nodded, but she had no intention of complying. She needed to get away from the big Kindred before something worse than a naughty dream happened between them!
8
J’ORN
J’orn watched her hurry down the aisle with a feeling of deep misgiving. He knew Kara well enough to know how she would react to what she considered an inappropriate or uncomfortable situation. She would run from it—run from him. But there was no way he could get to her with his fucking seatmate still sprawled out and taking up all the room.
“Hey—move, can’t you?” he demanded, glaring down at the other male.
“Hmph?” his seatmate grunted. He was still half asleep—he must have taken some extra breaths of the Dream Gas.
“Wake up!” J’orn didn’t like to poke him—he didn’t want the other male’s slime on his hands. Instead, he leaned closer to the oozing ear hole and shouted it again, “WAKE UP!”
“Huh!” the other male sat bolt upright in his seat and looked around. “What happened? Where am I?” he burbled.
“The shuttle has landed—we’re on Paradise Prime,” J’orn told him. “And I need to get out of my seat—now! So get up.”
But the oozing alien couldn’t be rushed. With a lot of mumbling and grumbling he finally vacated his seat and began to move forward with the rest of the line.
J’orn waited impatiently but since he had been seated at the very end of the shuttle, he was one of the very last people to finally get off. He looked anxiously as he disembarked, scanning the crowded docking area for Kara but she was nowhere to be found.
It was as he had feared—she had given him the slip.
9
KARA
Kara dodged through the crowd of people waiting to disembark. Luckily the shuttle’s center aisle was considerably wider than that of an airplane back on Earth, so it was possible to get past the people who were pulling items out of the overhead bins.
Kara only had a small purse with her ID and a single cred-chip card in it. She was glad all over again that she’d bought a vacation package that included the transportation of her luggage. According to the shuttle’s travel guide, her carry-all cube would be automatically sent to the Fem Lovely Resort, where she was staying.
Now all she had to do was find the way to the resort herself.
That shouldn’t be too hard, she reassured herself. Pulling the small folding map out of her purse, she glanced at the instructions and the route—which was clearly marked in colorful lines. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to walk to the Fem Lovely, which was located very close to the Shuttle Docking Area. In fact, their proximity to the shuttle was one of their selling points.
Feeling confident and much less uncomfortable now that she’d gotten away from J’orn, Kara strolled down the broad white sidewalk that led into the city. As she walked, she looked around her—there was a lot to see.
There were plenty of Paradisians with their shiny gold skin gleaming in the sunshine. The sky was a pale purple and the neatly trimmed grass was turquoise instead of green.
This was obviously a tourist area, Kara thought, because she saw lots of little shops selling souvenirs and candy and other eatables—some of which looked quite exotic. There were also plenty of street vendors. She noticed several large alien males strolling through the crowds, hawking various wares. The ones she noticed in particular had strings of flower necklaces hanging from their arms.
The necklaces, all made of exotic blue and purple and pink and orange blooms, reminded her of the leis you sometimes saw in Hawaii. Not that she’d ever been, but that was that kind of tropical paradise vibe she got from the whole planet so far.