Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“This is so beautiful—like having a park right inside the house.” Aleena sighed, drawing his attention back to the present and away from the guilt he was feeling.
Bear looked up to see that she was standing in the center of the room. The rays of the Karpsian Sigma sun were bathing her in radiance, picking up the lovely copper color of her hair and making her eyes sparkle like jewels. Truly, her beauty took his breath away!
He felt his heart stop in his chest for a moment before it resumed beating. Goddess damn it—he wished she wasn’t so fucking gorgeous! It almost might have been easier if he had joined with her half-sister instead. He wouldn’t have felt bad about disavowing a female as awful as Faleesha, who he also found extremely unattractive—not just because she was skinny but because of her terrible attitude and personality.
“You look like a goddess,” he said, when he finally found his voice. “Standing there with the sun’s rays falling on you—you’re beautiful, Aleena.”
“Oh!” She put a hand to her mouth and her bronze cheeks went red, as though he’d embarrassed her. “That’s so kind of you, my Lord Husband,” she murmured, looking up at him from under her thick lashes.
“You don’t have to call me that, you know,” Bear told her.
Aleena looked instantly contrite.
“I’m so sorry! Would you rather that I call you by your title, Ambassador Bearick?” she asked quickly.
“No, of course not. Just call me ‘Bear,’” he told her.
Her eyes went wide.
“You want me to call you by your name? But…that’s very disrespectful!”
Bear frowned. Did the Karpsians really believe that a married woman couldn’t call her husband by his name?
“I don’t like being called ‘my Lord’ all the time, though,” he objected. “It makes it sound like you’re worshiping me—or that I own you.”
“But you do own me. You took possession of me body and soul when you placed the bands upon my nipples,” she reminded him. “And a wife must worship her husband—he is the authority over her as the Goddess of Mercy is the authority over him.”
Bear shook his head, trying not to think of how much he had enjoyed that part of the ceremony. Holding her full, firm breasts in his hands and teasing her ripe nipples had been a pleasure.
“That’s not the way it is in my culture,” he told her. “We Kindred believe that males and females are equals.”
“Equals?” She looked half scandalized and half intrigued. “But…how do you decide what to do and where to go and how to spend the household budget?”
Bear shrugged.
“We decide together. And if we can’t agree on something, we compromise.”
Aleena shook her head.
“Forgive me, but that sounds very strange to me. For us there is no compromise—the man of the house makes the decisions and the woman abides by them.”
“But how is that fair for the female?” Bear objected. “If she has no say in anything? There should always be a middle ground—a compromise.”
She shook her head again.
“I’m sorry but I’m not even sure what a compromise between a man and a woman would look like.”
Bear had an idea.
“I tell you what—how about we make a compromise right now?” he asked. “You can call me ‘my Lord Husband’ when we’re out in public together but when we’re in private—just the two of us—you can call me ‘Bear’ like my friends do.”
Aleena gave him a tentative smile.
“I think I like that. Bearrr…” She rolled the R at the end, making it sound exotic. “Does it mean anything?” she asked. “My name, Aleena, means ‘one who is longed for’ because my mother tried for over a year to conceive me.”
“My full name, ‘Bearick’ means ‘strong’ in my native language but the shortened version, Bear, is also the name of a large, predatory animal that lives on Earth, which is the planet the Kindred of the Mother Ship are currently protecting,” he explained. “Some of my friends have said I look a little like a black bear—because I’m big and my hair gets shaggy when I don’t have it combed down.” He pointed at his hair—which could get rather out of hand when it wasn’t tied back neatly as it was now.
“I will help you tame it—if you like,” Aleena offered shyly. “I’m very good with hair—my mother taught me.”
“That would be very kind of you,” Bear murmured, trying not to imagine those soft little fingers running through his hair. But probably she was just offering to be nice and nothing would come of it.
“Come—we should go have a look at the cooking area.” She came to him and held out her hand trustingly. “Do I need to go to the market and shop for food, or is there something I can use tonight to make you dinner, my Lord…I mean, Bear,” she corrected herself quickly.