what?”
“I don’t have feelings for him—”
“Feelings other than lusting after his delicious looking body, you mean?”
“Dora!” Although Tessa admonished her, perhaps her friend had seen what she could not. Had Tessa’s background caused her to miss the obvious? The aliens had requested a virgin then kept her naked and stimulated and thrown her together with a man from another world. Why? To accomplish her mission was she supposed to have sex with him?
“I wish I had your problem,” Dora admitted. “I wouldn’t hesitate.”
“I’ll think about it.” Tessa doubted she’d be able to think about anything else. Perhaps that was the point. Had Kahn programmed her suit to develop her psi or so she would go to him? The entire idea of sexual stimulation causing her psi to emerge seemed absurd. It seemed more likely the Challenge was a test to see how well she intermingled with Kahn.
“He’s coming,” Dora told her, breaking into her thoughts.
Tessa wished she had more time to think, more information to judge her situation. For all she knew, the Challenge was to see if she could resist the seduction and somehow overcome her primitive biological urges. Or maybe winning the Challenge might require the exact opposite response. Perhaps she’d succeed if she offered to mate with the Rystani. Or perhaps sex had absolutely nothing to do with the Challenge at all.
However, one thing she knew for certain, she didn’t like the suit touching her. It left her restless, angry, and very determined to put an end to her suffering. And if she had to choose between the suit’s impersonal strokes and Kahn’s touch, she’d much prefer the sexy spaceman.
Sexy? Dora’s suggestion now had Tessa sizing up Kahn’s attributes in a way a woman measures a man. He had a great body, attractive features, and compelling eyes, and he’d never touched her with anything but gentleness. However, the idea of having sex with a man who was causing her distress was not the logic of a rational woman—unless her ability to accept this alien as a partner was the Challenge.
After Mike’s death, Tessa had wished they’d made love, and she’d discovered that she usually regretted the things in life she didn’t do, not the things she did. Kahn had implied that she might never return from this mission, and she wouldn’t mind experiencing sex before the end came. Would she prefer for her emotions to be involved? Yes. But could she enjoy sex without her emotions being involved? She didn’t see why not. And Tessa knew better than to believe she could have everything she wanted.
She only wished she could be sure that her assumptions were correct. But Kahn had told her he wouldn’t explain anything that had to do with the Challenge. So there was no point in waiting for further information that wouldn’t come her way.
“Thanks for the advice and the warning, Dora. You should go now, okay?”
“You do realize that you always send me away right before all the good stuff happens,” the computer complained, her tone both peeved and amused.
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Tessa promised.
Then the door opened, and Kahn strode into the room, looking bigger and more handsome than Tessa remembered. With those broad shoulders and his tapered waist, he really was a magnificent masculine specimen and had a mouth-watering appeal. But it was his aura of confidence that appealed to Tessa.
She had already tested her fighting abilities against Kahn and come up short. Her goal was to accomplish her task any way she could. And if success for Earth meant having sex with Kahn, she was willing to do so.
Chapter Five
KAHN PUNCHED up Helera’s lined visage on the ship-to-planet communications system. The wise woman’s yellow eyes sparkled with curiosity in a face crinkled with worry. “What’s wrong?”
With a sheepish grin, he swept a hand through his hair. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
Helera smiled. “I’m old,
“I don’t have feelings for him—”
“Feelings other than lusting after his delicious looking body, you mean?”
“Dora!” Although Tessa admonished her, perhaps her friend had seen what she could not. Had Tessa’s background caused her to miss the obvious? The aliens had requested a virgin then kept her naked and stimulated and thrown her together with a man from another world. Why? To accomplish her mission was she supposed to have sex with him?
“I wish I had your problem,” Dora admitted. “I wouldn’t hesitate.”
“I’ll think about it.” Tessa doubted she’d be able to think about anything else. Perhaps that was the point. Had Kahn programmed her suit to develop her psi or so she would go to him? The entire idea of sexual stimulation causing her psi to emerge seemed absurd. It seemed more likely the Challenge was a test to see how well she intermingled with Kahn.
“He’s coming,” Dora told her, breaking into her thoughts.
Tessa wished she had more time to think, more information to judge her situation. For all she knew, the Challenge was to see if she could resist the seduction and somehow overcome her primitive biological urges. Or maybe winning the Challenge might require the exact opposite response. Perhaps she’d succeed if she offered to mate with the Rystani. Or perhaps sex had absolutely nothing to do with the Challenge at all.
However, one thing she knew for certain, she didn’t like the suit touching her. It left her restless, angry, and very determined to put an end to her suffering. And if she had to choose between the suit’s impersonal strokes and Kahn’s touch, she’d much prefer the sexy spaceman.
Sexy? Dora’s suggestion now had Tessa sizing up Kahn’s attributes in a way a woman measures a man. He had a great body, attractive features, and compelling eyes, and he’d never touched her with anything but gentleness. However, the idea of having sex with a man who was causing her distress was not the logic of a rational woman—unless her ability to accept this alien as a partner was the Challenge.
After Mike’s death, Tessa had wished they’d made love, and she’d discovered that she usually regretted the things in life she didn’t do, not the things she did. Kahn had implied that she might never return from this mission, and she wouldn’t mind experiencing sex before the end came. Would she prefer for her emotions to be involved? Yes. But could she enjoy sex without her emotions being involved? She didn’t see why not. And Tessa knew better than to believe she could have everything she wanted.
She only wished she could be sure that her assumptions were correct. But Kahn had told her he wouldn’t explain anything that had to do with the Challenge. So there was no point in waiting for further information that wouldn’t come her way.
“Thanks for the advice and the warning, Dora. You should go now, okay?”
“You do realize that you always send me away right before all the good stuff happens,” the computer complained, her tone both peeved and amused.
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Tessa promised.
Then the door opened, and Kahn strode into the room, looking bigger and more handsome than Tessa remembered. With those broad shoulders and his tapered waist, he really was a magnificent masculine specimen and had a mouth-watering appeal. But it was his aura of confidence that appealed to Tessa.
She had already tested her fighting abilities against Kahn and come up short. Her goal was to accomplish her task any way she could. And if success for Earth meant having sex with Kahn, she was willing to do so.
Chapter Five
KAHN PUNCHED up Helera’s lined visage on the ship-to-planet communications system. The wise woman’s yellow eyes sparkled with curiosity in a face crinkled with worry. “What’s wrong?”
With a sheepish grin, he swept a hand through his hair. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
Helera smiled. “I’m old,
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