she couldn’t help shivering at the thought. She still remembered Commander Sylvan’s words to Sophie.
“Some dreams are better left unrealized. Not everyone can face up to having their fantasies made into reality. It can break you mentally and emotionally if you’re not strong enough to withstand the intensity of your own desires.”
Was she strong enough? Alli supposed she wouldn’t know until it happened. Until Kane did whatever it was he planned to do to her. He—
“Well, right now what I plan is to bathe you. So why haven’t you undressed?”
Nine
This time the voice wasn’t coming from inside her head.
Alli whirled around again and saw Kane standing there. He was bare chested now, wearing only a pair of long, silky black trousers that looked like sleep or lounge wear. Alli had bought something similar for Douglas and tried to get him to wear them. But there was no question that the big Kru’ell One filled the trousers out better than her fiancé had.
Alli couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering from his broad shoulders and muscular chest, down to his ripped abs. He had a small patch of curly black hair in the center of his chest which ran down his flat belly into the low-slung waistband of his black sleep trousers. Below that, she saw a definite bulge in the silky material.
Her eyes widened. God! He appeared to be packing a much larger caliber than Douglas was. She wished she could see it to be for sure—to see exactly how big it really was…
“Like what you see, baby?” The smirk in his gravelly voice made Alli jerk her gaze up to his face as she realized she’d been studying his crotch for the past thirty seconds or so.
“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered, feeling her cheeks get hot. “I never…I wouldn’t.”
“Oh yes you would, because you just did.” Kane frowned. “Listen, while you’re with me, we’re going to speak openly about what you want. No more euphemisms like ‘conjugal visits’ and ‘going downtown.’ If you want to see my cock and find out how much bigger it is than your lover’s—ask me and I’ll show you. You want me to lick your pussy? Tell me and I’ll do it. But only if you say it right.
No more fucking ‘beating around the bush’ as I believe your people say.”
“I…I’m not used to talking that way.” Alli felt her cheeks getting hot. “And who says I wanted to see your, uh, package anyway?”
“It’s ‘shaft’ or ‘cock’,” he emphasized, frowning. “No more euphemisms, remember?”
“Fine!” Alli snapped, her cheeks flaming. “Well then, who said I wanted to see your cock?”
He grinned at her, his mirror eyes sleepy with amusement and lust.
“You did, baby. And don’t worry—you’ll see it soon enough. And feel it, too. Now, come on…” He made a “hurry up” gesture with one hand. “Let’s go—get undressed.”
Unwillingly, Alli pulled the silky nightshirt over her head. But then she clutched it to her chest, hiding herself as well as she could with it. She didn’t hate her body but she didn’t love it either. She was on the far side of forty and a lot plumper than she wanted to be.
In fact, hadn’t Douglas just told her she looked like she’d gained weight not that long ago? No, she really didn’t want to be naked—especially in front of an intimidating physical specimen like Kane. He was what she’d heard some women call “prison ripped”—so in shape it was almost scary.
Then she realized Kane had his head cocked to one side and a frown on his face. Oh God, had he been listening to all her thoughts about being naked and the way he was so in shape and she wasn’t?
“Of course I have,” he growled, as though in answer to her question. “Did that fool of a fiancé of yours really tell you that you were too plump?”
Alli felt her cheeks get hot.
“I thought you knew all about me and Douglas.”
“I do—mostly. But I had no idea he…” Kane shook his head. “Never mind. Believe me, Allisandra—you’re beautiful. Come into the fresher and let me show you.”
Reluctantly, she followed him through a door at the far side of the large viewscreen. What she saw took her breath away.
There was a vast, round, marble bathing pool with a padded seat running around the inside. Also, a large shower stall which looked a lot like the one she loved on the Kindred Mother Ship back home. But unlike the bathroom in her suite