Chapter Twenty-Nine

By late night, the criminal crew had been booked, and the ship returned to New Terra to release the captives. Upon landing, we retreated to Jessie’s apartment building for that overdue talk. I’d warned her that her place had been ransacked and torn apart, and suggested my apartment instead, but she insisted on checking on her cat.

“You have James Bond?” Jessie asked Mrs. Abercrombie.

“Yes! He showed up in my apartment two days ago. I don’t know how he got in.” She looked baffled. “I knocked on your door, but you didn’t answer.”

“I’m sorry. I had to leave unexpectedly. There wasn’t time to talk to you. I appreciate you taking care of him,” Jessie covered for me.

Mrs. Abercrombie beckoned us into the main room while assessing me with a gleam of speculation. I adjusted my hoodie, ensuring my horns were concealed. This was the closest I’d ever gotten to her. Although I’d eyeballed her from afar, she’d never seen me before tonight.

“You’re the best neighbor!” Jessie said.

“I’m happy to take care of him anytime. He’s no trouble at all. I think he might be in the bedroom.” She disappeared into the other room.

A collection of photos crowding a wall shelf drew me closer. In one image, I recognized a much younger Mrs. Abercrombie with a man—her husband, I surmised—and a little girl. Most of the photos featured the girl, in ages ranging from infancy to adulthood. Jessie came up beside me and pointed to a picture of the young woman. In laughter, she appeared happy and carefree. “That’s Mrs. Abercrombie’s daughter—”

“That’s the last photo taken of her before she went missing.” Mrs. Abercrombie entered the room. “It’s been a long time, now. But I haven’t given up hope that she’s still alive, and she’ll walk through that door.” She handed James Bond to Jessie.

“I’m sorry…for your loss.” I sounded—and felt—inadequate. Damn the LOP for its secrecy and cover-ups. Damn myself. I had the power to ease her pain.

Jessie squeezed the cat and kissed him. I scratched him behind the ears. He seemed to like that.

Mrs. Abercrombie turned her scrutiny on me. “Are you Jessie’s young man?”

“I’d like to be,” I said.

Jessie widened her eyes, and her lips parted. “You would?”

Had I taken too much for granted? We’d both been making assumptions that hadn’t served us well. Just because we’d been physically intimate didn’t necessarily mean she had feelings for me, and I’d never spoken of a future, believing there couldn’t be one. But after Imana had captured her, priorities reshuffled and snapped into place. I hadn’t fought to save her just so I could walk away from her and never see her again.

“Good. Everybody needs somebody,” Mrs. Abercrombie said.

I glanced at the photo of the laughing young woman. Everybody did need someone, especially a widow whose child vanished. Fuck the LOP and its arbitrary rules. “We don’t want to keep you up. It’s late. I’d like to come visit, maybe tomorrow, if I may?”

A pleased smile spread across her face. “That would be lovely.”

Hugging James Bond tighter, Jessie’s eyes narrowed as her gaze shifted between me and her neighbor.

“We’ll be going, now,” I said.

“Yes, thank you again for watching James,” Jessie said.

I caught her arm outside the apartment. “Prepare yourself. It’s a mess inside.”

James Bond squirmed.

“I was abducted by aliens twice.” She hung on to the cat and punched in her access code. “I can handle a messy apartment.”

She pushed open the door.

“Holy shit!” she cried.

“I tried to warn you.”

“You said messy. They tore up my sofa!” Cottony stuffing burst out of the overturned, slashed couch. She set James down, and he hightailed it into the bedroom. Hands on her hips, a scowling Jessie surveyed the vandalized room. Tables had been knocked over. Pictures had been smashed. Sofa stuffing and other detritus covered the floor.

Then she sighed and shrugged. “It’s just stuff. It doesn’t matter.” She lifted her chin and fixed a probing gaze on my face. “So, when were you going to tell me Mrs. Abercrombie is your grandmother?”

“Oh, I guess, right about now. How long have you known?”

“It hit me when I saw the photographs. Something about you always struck me as familiar. Take away the horns and fur, and you’re the spitting image of her daughter. That’s why you’re going back to talk to her? You’re going to tell her?”

I nodded. “It’s time. Well past time. But, it’s not a conversation to get into this late at night. Telling her the truth will violate directives, but Jovi told me in confidence he believes the embargo will be lifted soon, and New Terrans and nonhumans will be able to freely associate. I don’t want to wait. She’s lived decades with the uncertainty of her daughter’s disappearance, fearing she was dead but never knowing the truth.”

“Never knowing she had a grandson,” she added softly.

“That, too. Everybody needs somebody,” I repeated my grandmother’s words and moved closer. “I need you. We’ve only known each other a few days, but I’ve fallen hard. I don’t want the completion of this mission to mean the end of us. I hope there’s an us.”

The pleased smile touching her lips lit my heart with hope. She slid her hands up my chest. “Fallen hard, huh?”

“Very hard.”

“I like the sound of that.” She waggled her eyebrows and then sobered. “I kind of fell for you, too. That’s why I was so devastated when I thought you had been lying to me. I’m so sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusions.”

“It was my fault, too. Given what I’d told you and what I’d omitted, it’s not only understandable but logical you’d think what you did.”

Her mouth twisted. “I almost ruined everything by running to Imana, didn’t I?”

“But then you saved the day by passing her broach to Garrison. How did you get it?”

“Imana couldn’t resist bragging, showing off, so she removed the broach and revealed herself. When she wasn’t looking, I grabbed it.” She frowned. “Why did it work on you and not me?”

“It’s coded to Copan genetics. Garrison and I took out one of the Copan guards, and I assumed his place.”

“Can it be used to impersonate anybody?”

“As long as a vid of the individual is uploaded to the device. It needs an image to copy.”

She shook her head. “I’m still stunned that for three years, we had an alien as a president, and nobody suspected.” She screwed up her face and plucked at her tunic. “Once again, I’m a mess. I’d like to clean up. Care to join me in the shower?”

Showering wasn’t my favorite activity, but being with Jessie was. She grabbed my hand, and I let her pull me toward the bathroom. I’d go with her anywhere.

Inside the bedroom, she gasped. “My bed! Look at what those assholes did to my bed!” The mattress, slit open like the sofa, lay on the floor.

I flipped it over and set it on the frame. “Good as new.” For now, anyway. I tossed a top sheet over it. Don’t get distracted, I thought.

“Well, good enough—for now,” she replied.

The bath had been left untouched. We stripped and stepped into the stall. She moaned with pleasure as hot water rained over us, the sexual sound going straight to my cock. When she soaped a poufy ball and invited me to scrub her back, well, I started to gain a new appreciation for the human custom of bathing.

We washed and played, caressed and kissed until passion grew hotter than the water. We quickly dried with fluffy towels then kissed our way back to the bedroom and tumbled onto the mattress. It caved in under my weight where it had been slit, but I focused on Jessie’s rounded curves, smooth skin, and the heated sensations she aroused in me with her questing hands and mouth.

Languid intimate kisses and exploratory caresses became urgent and elicited gasps and frantic groans. I fondled her breasts, teasing the stiff nipples with my lips and tongue and urged her toward the peak by slipping my fingers between her legs and easing into the wet recesses.

She roamed her hands over my chest and abs, combing her fingertips through the regrowth of fur. She grasped my ridged shaft and pumped my cock, and I groaned with bliss.

When I pushed into her channel, hardness meeting softness, it was like coming home, finding myself, my purpose, my direction in life. I was meant to be with her. She was my present and my future.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my throat. “This is perfect. You are all I need,” she said.

“You are everything to me.”

When rapture came in a blaze of heat and motion, we soared together, united in desire, united in spirit and mind.

Words seemed unnecessary. Eyes closed, I held Jessie and savored the sensations of physical satisfaction and a full heart. I drifted in utter contentment until I felt the bed shake. I opened my eyes to find James Bond sitting on the end, watching us with an unblinking stare.

I nudged Jessie. She opened her eyes.

James Bond yawned.

“I think that’s an evaluation of my performance,” I said.

She laughed. “I was impressed, even if he wasn’t.”

The cat jumped down and snootily padded out of the bedroom.

“He probably wants to be fed,” she said. “I’ll get to it in a little bit.” She stretched and then hugged me tighter. As I kissed her hair, still wet from the shower, another smile crept across my face.

“Thinking about how good it was, huh?” Jessie joked.

I chuckled. “Well, yeah.” I smoothed my hand over her shoulder and down her hip, marveling at the silky smoothness of human skin. Her skin. “I’m relieved I no longer need to wonder if you’re coming back when you slip away to the bathroom.”

She giggled and hugged me. “No, I won’t be going anywhere.” Then her expression turned serious. “Do you really think this can work? Us, I mean?”

“The future is ours to decide,” I said. “We’ll find a way to make it work.” I hadn’t thought it through, but I was determined.

“Won’t they reassign you now? When you’re on another mission, how will we see each other? With our technologies so different, we won’t be able to vid-comm. Unless I can acquire another contraband handheld…” She smiled slightly but then sobered. “I can’t leave. My planet needs me. There’s going to be a reshuffling in the government. The vice president will assume the presidency. He’ll have to appoint a VP and a new cabinet. No doubt there will be many briefings on trafficking. Now that we know aliens are around us, I can foresee the mission of the State Department changing. I’ll have to assist Garrison with the transition.”

“You’re right. You need to be here. So…how about if I take a leave of absence for a few months and stay on New Terra?” As soon as I spoke, the rightness settled over me.

She sat up. “Can you do that? Stay here, I mean. If you’re not on an official mission, won’t your presence violate the terms of the embargo?”

“Technically,” I agreed, unconcerned. “We’ll treat this as a don’t ask, don’t tell situation. Given how the no-contact rule facilitated the cartel’s invasion, higher-ups are not in a position to object. And they’re going to have their hands full prosecuting Imana and the members of the cartel.”

Her pleased smile spread from ear to ear. Making her happy made me happy. I grinned.

“You can live with me,” she said. “If you want to, I mean. If you need your space, I understand. I’m assuming you’ve had your own apartment while you’ve been here. Or were you living at the safe house?”

“I had a little apartment. Just a place to sleep.” I envisioned living with Jessie, making love, laughing with her, eating meals with her, showering with her. Even showering sounded good to me. I couldn’t imagine anyplace else I’d rather be. “I’d like to stay with you—under one condition.”

She arched her eyebrows. “What’s that?”

My butt had sunk clear down to the hard bed frame. “That we get a new mattress.”

Jessie laughed. “Deal!”