been converted to a two-person office with a desk at either side. Her fiancé was sitting there, tapping away industriously at his computer with an open Sam Adams on a coaster at his side. When he saw her, he got up and gave her a perfunctory peck on the cheek.
“Hello, Darling. Welcome home.”
“Hello.” Alli smiled and kissed him back—a peck on the lips. Douglas’s mouth was thin and dry—there wasn’t much to kiss. “How was your week?” she asked, settling on the edge of his desk and making sure her skirt was pulled up enough to show her legs. Douglas liked her legs and it had been a while since they’d made love. Maybe it was the crazy dreams she’d been having but Alli was beginning to feel rather…needy.
But her fiancé seemed oblivious to her hint.
“Pretty well,” he said. “Of course, we had some trouble with the Johnson account but then…”
He launched into an incredibly dry tale of tax-related problems that had Alli’s eyelids almost closing. She struggled not to yawn and did her best to nod at the important parts. But the truth was, after nights of broken rest from the awful dreams, Douglas was putting her to sleep.
“Sweetheart,” she said, when there was a momentary lull in the conversation, “I haven’t seen you all week. How about coming to bed early tonight? You know, for a conjugal visit?”
“Oh!” Douglas’s thin brows shot up. Finally he was getting the hint. “For a ‘conjugal visit’ you say?” he asked, grinning at her.
“Exactly.” Alli smiled back.
It was a little joke between them. When she’d first taken the job with the Kindred which required her to live most of the week on the Mother Ship, Douglas had joked that he would be like a prisoner, starving for physical attention from his girlfriend. This had led Alli to promise she would be back every weekend for a “conjugal visit” and so their current euphemism for sex had been established.
Alli was glad they’d found a way to talk about it. Neither she nor Douglas was all that comfortable talking about sex right out in the open, but she tended to want it a lot more than her fiancé did, and this was a good way to ask for it. Even though she knew it wouldn’t last very long, it was still better than nothing.
She took a quick shower while Douglas got ready—which usually meant he stripped down to his tighty-whities. Alli had tried to get her fiancé to wear boxer shorts or at least boxer briefs, but he preferred his plain white Fruit of the Looms and no amount of begging and pleading on her part would change that.
So when she came out of the bathroom in a silky nightshirt cut low in the front and high at the hem, her fiancé was waiting for her, wearing sagging white briefs and black business socks. The socks were another thing Alli had tried to get him to change, but Douglas claimed that he couldn’t make love with cold feet—so they stayed.
Trying not to notice that her fiancé looked slightly ridiculous, Alli smiled seductively as she held out her arms to him.
“Mmm, I’ve missed you,” she told Douglas, giving him her most alluring “come hither” bedroom eyes.
Douglas smiled back—then frowned as he took her in.
“Darling, have you gained weight?” he asked, frowning at the way the silky nightshirt clung to her hips and ass.
“What? No! I mean, I don’t think so.”
Alli looked down at herself. Had she been relaxing her diet too much lately? The Kindred Mother Ship was a terrible place to try and watch your weight. Mostly because the Kindred actually liked plus-sized women. They even had a special name for them—they called full-figured females “Elites.” In an environment like that, it was hard to say no when someone offered you a muffin or a dessert.
“Well, I think you might’ve.” Douglas’s frowned deepened. “It’s not healthy, you know,” he lectured. “And also, you do want to be sure you fit into your wedding dress next month, right? I thought most brides-to-be went on a kind of fasting and exercise routine the month before their wedding.”
Alli bit her lip and tried not to be irritated with him. She told herself Douglas only had her best interests at heart and that he was used to speaking his mind. Still, it couldn’t be denied that while she had been feeling sexy and desirable a moment ago, she was feeling neither of those things right now. But the