Touched by an Alien

of.”
    “Snakes,” I added.
    “Do it fast, get anything uncontaminated to her room right away.” They took my stuff and trotted off.
    “Okay, I want to go back to my room, just for a minute. Particularly since it is, for the moment at least, my home.” Boy, saying that made it feel final and scary.
    “Can you get there on your own?” Christopher asked.
    “Sure.” Hopefully. “Where are we meeting?”
    “Fifteenth level.”
    “Okay, see you there in a few.”
    “Make it snappy, we’re back into a situation.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Got it, Commander.”

CHAPTER 58
    I WALKED TO THE ELEVATOR BANKS and managed to get to the eighth floor all by myself. Found my room. Nothing I’d packed was in it yet, but I had to assume a thorough check took longer than five minutes, even using hyperspeed.
    I eyed the bed, but it was made, and there were no unusual bumps in it. Good. Still safe to lie down here. I plopped my purse onto the bed. I had to figure I wasn’t going to need it for a while.
    Brushed my hair but opted for no ponytail this time. Washed my face. Ready for anything.
    I went back to the elevators. I was sort of ready to roll into action again, but I was also tired and still worried about Martini.
    The elevator doors opened, and my jaw dropped. He was in there, leaning against the side wall, full Armani ensemble in place, looking drop-dead gorgeous and as though nothing had happened to him. “Get in.” He didn’t sound happy, and he wasn’t smiling.
    I got into the elevator and felt immediately guilty. “How are you feeling?”
    He hit the button for the fifteenth floor. “Fine.”
    Okay, he was mad at me. No idea why, but I had a feeling I was going to find out. “What’s wrong?”
    He gave me a long look. “What were you doing at your apartment with Christopher?”
    “Getting my stuff out before we got snake-bit or blown up. Jeff, are you seriously accusing me or Christopher of doing something, anything, while you were out of it?” This time, I had to add in my mind for honesty’s sake.
    “Maybe.”
    I felt hurt and found myself wondering if the ordeal he’d been through had damaged him in some kind of lasting way. “Well, we didn’t.” I looked down, mostly because I didn’t want to cry again. I felt cried out and wanted to stay that way. “Do we have to talk about this right before a meeting?”
    He hit the “stop elevator” button. “Meeting’s canceled.”
    “What? Then why—”
    He grabbed my upper arms. “Prove it.”
    “Prove what? Jeff, I—”
    “Prove who you belong to.” His eyes flashed as he pulled me to him and kissed me.
    He’d never kissed me like this before. It was violent, more violent than Christopher’s kiss had been, almost bruising in its intensity. His tongue was beating mine, forcing my mouth to submit to his.
    Martini moved his hands, one to the small of my back, the other to the back of my head. He twined his fingers in my hair and controlled my head. I couldn’t move my head or body, he had such a tight hold on me.
    His kiss grew deeper and more demanding, and I realized my arms were around him, my fingers clawing at his back. Martini slammed us into the side of the car, though his hand prevented my head from being hurt.
    He was pressed against me, his body grinding against mine. Then he pulled away, and, still with one hand wrapped in my hair, ripped my shirt open and flicked my bra undone at the same time. It dawned on me that he knew exactly what Christopher and I had done in here.
    He slid my body up against the wall so I was off the floor and being held up by his pelvis. I wanted to say something, tell him I was sorry again, that he didn’t have to do this, but I didn’t—because I liked it. Instead, I wrapped my legs around him, and he ground against me. As my eyes rolled back, he stroked and squeezed my breasts, and then he let go of my hair, grabbed my waist, pushed me a bit higher up, and let his mouth have its way with my breasts.
    The thought that I had an important briefing meeting to attend with a large number of people waiting for me flitted through my brain. But Martini had said it was canceled, and besides, his teeth found my nipples, and all coherent thought was being asked to leave and not let the door hit it on the way out.
    However, coherency did make a last-ditch attempt before it left the building. I grabbed his head and managed to wrench him away from my chest. He looked up at me, let go of my waist, and then