Free Alien Romance: Stranded With The Alien Assassin: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Celestial Mates Book 3) by Marla Therron

so that Jayne couldn’t narrow down who it was. “I was told to drop this one off for him at his private quarters.”
    There was a pause. Jayne couldn’t help it, looking back up. The blonde was actually smiling now, her eyes lit up with realization. Of course , she thought, Now that she thinks I’m not his . Was this someone in D’Anil’s life that mattered to him? Was she part of what he meant when he asked Jayne if she really expected him to lay his entire life on the line for her?
    “I see,” Amara nodded. She still sounded nervous, but she was happy as well. “It’s strange. He hasn’t had a slave since, well, Phreema, and that was years ago. And now two?”
    D’Anil shrugged. “I don’t ask him about his personal life. I just drop it off.”
    “Right, well, he still has the other. She’s in his private chambers now. I can take you two down there.”
    “That’s fine,” he said, “You know how I like working alone. I can drop her off myself. I’ll just need to have you unlock it while I’m down there.”
    “Okay… But you’ll have to be quick. I’m not really allowed to unlock the door at all, not when he’s not here.”
    D’Anil chuckled. “Yeah, well, I chased this one down in the middle of a desert, and I’ve seen the other one. They wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”
    Jayne almost opened her mouth right then. She wanted to tell them to stop calling her “this one” or “it” or “that” or “one of them.” She wanted to tell Amara to mind her own business and to quit smiling. She wanted to argue with D’Anil and remind him that she had almost gotten away from him, had gotten the farthest besides Meta, and he’d been just as out of breath as she’d been by the time they crashed on the sandy floor.
    But she was so close to Sophie. She could feel it, and she wouldn’t ruin the chances of saving her friend purely for pride and anger, though it was really starting to feel like jealousy. Jayne couldn’t admit that she was jealous, though.
    So, she stayed quiet as Amara tapped away at something on her desk. She stayed silent, playing the perfect slave, and waited until D’Anil came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, we’re going,” he told her, tone rough.
    “Yes, sir,” Jayne replied in her meekest voice. She knew it surprised him more than anything, D’Anil almost stopping his walk entirely before he realized himself and guided her back to the elevator. 
    The second part of the ride should have been easier, given the fact that Jayne knew what to expect, but she realized too soon that she didn’t know what to expect still. That realization came when the elevator lurched sideways.
    There were tunnels all around the pyramid. She laughed softly despite her fear and the nausea twisting in her stomach. It was getting harder to look down the higher they climbed, being able to see the entire shaft beneath her feet.
    “What?” D’Anil asked.
    She shook her head. “This elevator reminds me of this old movie. A really old one,” she mused, “My grandma had me watch it with her once. Some guy with a candy factory and a glass elevator that went every direction.”
    “What’s a factory?” he asked, and Jayne realized that they wouldn’t have those. Not out in the middle of the desert.
    She pressed her lips together, trying to think of a better way to explain it. She was grateful for the distraction anyways. The elevator didn’t move as fast as it did in that movie, and she didn’t remember it shaking as much as this one did.
    “It’s like a large farm,” she told him, “Except it’s not outside. It’s mostly all in one giant building, where everyone makes stuff. Back in the day, people used to work in them. Now, it’s all machinery and a few people that run the machines.”
    D’Anil nodded, then moments later, just as the elevator stopped. “What’s a ‘farm’?”
    Jayne groaned softly. Right. Desert . “We’ll do the vocab lesson