Free Kept: An Erotic Anthology by Holly Roberts, Leia Shaw, Cari Silverwood, Sorcha Black, Angela Castle, C. L. Scholey Page B

guided her gaze back to his. His eyes looked darker, swimming with clear desire.
    She fought the sudden urge to climb the mountain of sexy man and hump him. How she stopped herself from doing it she didn’t know.
    Realization hit. “Oh, you mean me?”
    “Who else? You’re the only beautiful woman I see here.”
    “Really?”
    She brightened for a moment before the last of her sensible reality raised its head, tipping her lips and forehead down in a suspicious frown. “Amss I on Candid Camera, or something? No one callsss me beautiful.”
    Was she slurring her words? More giggles escaped.
    “You are a true beauty, Ashlyn.”
    The sincerity in his words melted the last of her reasoning away.
    Oh, yeah, she liked this. She leaned closer, enjoying the feeling of being called beautiful by Mr Lickable-hotness. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, wondering where on his six foot-six frame, she wanted to start licking first, but she needed to be careful.
    “Wait a min… minuet. You’re not going to rob me, kill me, and leave my body out soom wheres in the dess…dess…dassart, are you?”
    He smiled and shook his head. “No, baby, I take care of what’s mine; I’m going to treat you like the queen you are. I swear on my own life, and the life of our people, you are safe.”
    “Yay!” She jumped, throwing her size sixteen curves at him, giggling even harder and truly impressed when he caught her with ease. “I’m all yours! What should we do first?”
    Her mind melted into a fuzzy mess, only focusing on how good her body felt in big Kmart’s arms.
    “I can think of many things we can do, my soul bond.”
    She didn’t have a clue what he said, but parroted, trying to sound sexy. “I th…think anything with you will be fun, as long as it comes with dancing.”
    “Don’t worry, sweetheart, we will dance.” He nuzzled at her throat, and licked her skin. Ash was lost in a world of heated sensation. “We will dance for the rest of our lives.”

 
Chapter 2
    King K’marr walked a thin line with only six days until his thirty-fifth summer. With nearly every breath, he battled to remain in control, keeping his mind from traveling into the beyond, the point where his mind would be forever lost. Most males, if they did not find their soul bond, committed self-execution rather than lose their mind, and be committed to one of the asylums on his home planet of Spirimya.
    It had always been so, since the recorded history of his home planet. Once a male reached a certain maturity, the drive to find his soul bond became an obsessive pursuit. When a male couldn’t find his one soul bond after his thirty-fifth year, he usually lost his mind and descended into insanity. As their world grew and developed, reaching out into the vastness of space, they discovered more soul bonds may be found within the populations of other planets. With the help of advanced science and space travel, they searched, and they also developed drugs to help hold at bay the turn of madness, but only for a short while.
    K’marr, despite the begging of his advisors, refused to take the drugs, living in hope his soul bond would be found before it was too late. And here she was, now safely enfolded within his arms.
    K’marr wrapped his arms tightly around his future queen, breathing in her fresh, floral scent which was at odds with the acidy, smoky surroundings. Someone as sweet as she didn’t belong in places like this.
    Adorable didn’t begin to describe her, or the feeling of her soft, pliant body molded against his. Her giggles and pretty, bright, hazel eyes gazed up at him in a clear mixture of lust and adoration. Her body flushed with apparent arousal and intoxication. The beverages Lance provided her, he laced with stem drops. The data collected on the behavioral patterns of Earth females varied so much. Both Lance and K’marr agreed it was best not to take the chance of letting her have a clear head while he claimed her as his. It was