Ojbect by Viola Grace Page B

she got to her feet and massaged her thighs.
    “I am sorry. Was I too rough?” His concern was genuine. He came up and rubbed her back and butt.
    “No, I am just not designed to be folded in half and then have a conversation. It wasn’t a particularly natural position for more than a few minutes.” She groaned and leaned into his hands. He was really good at removing the minor aches and pains caused by sex in odd positions, mind you, he put her in those positions so he had better be.
    When she was relaxed, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “You just want me to be with you because you would miss me.”
    He wrinkled his nose. “That is also a factor. I want to keep you with me. Now that you have spent the night with me for the previous few days, I am used to you in my bed, and it is not something that I feel like depriving myself of.”
    She snickered. “Honesty at last. Good. I like being with you as well. I would miss you if we didn’t spend the nights together.”
    He turned her to face him and pulled her against his now-clothed body. “You just like it?”
    Bella looked into his eyes, and the silver sparks were there. “Fine, more than like it.”
    “How much more?”
    She placed her hands on his chest and drummed her fingers. “I don’t know yet. I like being with you, Meiron. I just don’t feel like this is home, not yet.”
    He sighed. “What can I do to cement your affections?”
    “Give me time. I have been with you for less than a week, and though your plans expanded two months before that, mine didn’t.” She smiled at him, wanting him to understand.
    “Fine, but if we get a memo from the government, I am hauling you to a registration office as fast as I can.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Why would there be a memo?”
    “Not all of your clients were pleased to be audited. Once they learned you were an alien, they began a lobby to expunge some senior aliens in government. You were one of those mentioned by name.”
    A cold feeling swirled in her gut. “Where would I go?”
    “Nowhere. I didn’t want to force you into a registry. I wanted you to meet a few of the other manor staff first.”
    She nodded. “Fine. I will get my data pad and get back to my desk.”
    “On the plus side, if we registered and you became Lady Akking, we would be able to work in the same room.”
    Bella laughed. “One step at a time.”
    She glanced around him and spotted her work pad on the floor near her shoes. “Okay, now I really have to get to work and you really have to finish making arrangements.”
    He sighed reluctantly and let her go. “Fine. I am not done convincing you.”
    She smiled and stroked his cheek. “I am glad. I am going to need a lot of convincing.”
    She scooped up her flat computer and sashayed past him out to the reception area. She glanced over her shoulder, and he was still next to his desk with silver flaring in his eyes. Apparently, a little swing in her hips was all it would take to get him to focus on her. It was a good thing to know.
     
    The next morning, she grabbed her bag with her court costume and one gown and slung it over her shoulder.
    She turned to face Meiron as he finished getting dressed.
    He stared at her. “Where did you get that outfit?”
    She looked down at the leggings and the open-front dress fastened by a corset. “It is one of the new designs that the ladies asked me to get in. Gowns are nice, but having leggings is more practical for attending to the guests.”
    “I don’t know if I am a fan of that or not.”
    She grinned. “It will make it easier to travel.”
    He sighed. “But so much less fun.”
    He took her bag from her and wrapped an arm around her waist as they left the manor for the short trip to the airfield and the hangar containing the skimmer.
    The local skimmers were only available to the ministers of the Kloa government for this kind of thing, direct travel for business was the only way to get a skimmer flying.
    They walked to the