you the sweetest cream you’ve ever had. You’ll be so addicted, you’ll beg me to part my legs for you again and again.”
“A Cragon wife never makes her husband beg.”
“But I’m not Cragon or your wife.”
Holt sighed. “No you’re not but you will be playing the part.”
She chewed the inside of her lip. “They’ll know I’m not Cragon . They’ll know I’m not your mate.”
“They’ll know I have not converted you yet.”
“Converted me?” She trembled.
“A Cragon male can convert a female during a mating ritual. It involves total submission.”
Her panties dampened at the thought of submitting to Holt’s every desire but she couldn’t admit that to him. “Oh! We…uh, we wouldn’t have to go that far.”
His eyes closed, hiding his emotions from her curious gaze. Cupping the back of her head, he brought her face to rest against his chest. “If I did that, you would belong to me and I to you. Cragons mate for life.” He didn’t tell her that the ritual had already begun because he did not intend to finish it. Against his will, his frissions had emitted faragon , the transition fluid, into her body. It had taken him by surprise since it had never happened to him before. He knew that the process would continue every time he touched her but he wouldn’t complete the final act that would make her his mate. He wouldn’t force the conversion on her, which meant he could never take her anally. If he did, there would be no going back.
Her hands ran over his back and fire trailed in their wake. When she cupped his ass, he felt like howling in frustration. He wanted Rebecca. He wanted her now but he had to give her time to change her mind. She didn’t really know what she was getting into.
“Nice ass, big boy.”
Yanking her arms from around him, he held her at arms length, trying to avoid something they both might regret. “Tomorrow!”
“ Hmmm?”she muttered as she looked at him with a dazed expression. The faragon shouldn’t have much effect so soon, but he wondered.
“Tomorrow I’ll come back here and if you haven’t changed your mind—”
She cut his words off. “I won’t.”
“You need to watch the disc on Sexual Healing and you might want to read about the Cragon and our customs before this goes any further.” The international database didn’t have all the facts about the Cragon but they contained enough to scare her.
“Okay! Tomorrow it is.”
“Where’s the pleasure droid?” He glanced toward her bedroom.
“Why?”
“Maybe I want to short out its circuits so you don’t turn to it the minute I leave.”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed but she didn’t comment.
Turning, Holt started down the hall. “Does it just sit in your bedroom, waiting to please you?” He headed that way.
“Holt,” she called after him.
The first door was a bathroom but the second opened to a feminine boudoir. Holt whistled under his breath. Pastel colors, lace and satin dominated the room. He hadn’t expected her room to have such an old-fashioned, traditional look.
“I didn’t invite you into my bedroom.”
Crossing to the bed, he ran his fingertips over the pale-blue satin. “It’s very pretty.”
“What were you expecting—whips, chains, and simulator devices?”
“I’m not sure what I expected.” That wasn’t a lie. His instincts told him one thing about Rebecca while his observations told him another.
“Where’s the droid?”
“I was joking. I don’t have a droid.” Her cheeks colored. It was the first time he’d seen her blush.
She’d lied to provoke him. He wondered, not for the first time, how much of her outrageous personality was bravado . “No droid?”
“No.” She shook her head and his gaze followed the bounce of her curly red hair. Damn, she looked hot. Biting her lower lip, she watched him through wary eyes and he’d never found her more appealing.
“But you’re not inexperienced?”
“I’ve had lovers, Holt.”
He was surprised