Book picks similar to
Pet Trade by Carol Van Natta


sci-fi-romance
romance
science-fiction
short-stories

Driven


Eve Kenin - 2007
    She's spent her life on the run, one step ahead of the megalomaniac who hunts her. All she wants is to stay out of trouble and haul her load of grain to Gladow Station--but trouble finds her in the form of a sexy stranger called Wizard. He has the trucking pass she needs, and she has to drag him out of a brawl with the very people she's trying to hide from in order to get it. She may have rescued him, but Raina's not foolish enough to see Wizard as anything close to helpless. He's hard and honed and full of secrets--secrets that may destroy them both. As they race across the Waste, trying to outrun rival truckers, ice pirates, and the powerful man bent on their destruction, Raina's forced to admit that trouble's found her. And this time, there's nowhere left to run.

Ghost Planet


Sharon Lynn Fisher - 2012
    A bond deeper than love.Psychologist Elizabeth Cole prepared for the worst when she accepted a job on a newly discovered world - a world where every colonist is tethered to an alien who manifests in the form of a dead loved one. But she never expected she'd struggle with the requirement to shun these “ghosts.” She never expected to be so attracted to the charming Irishman assigned as her supervisor. And she certainly never expected to discover she died in a transport crash en route to the planet.Reincarnated as a ghost, Elizabeth is symbiotically linked to her supervisor, Murphy - creator of the Ghost Protocol, which forbids him to acknowledge or interact with her. Confused and alone - oppressed by her ghost status and tormented by forbidden love - Elizabeth works to unlock the secrets of her own existence.But her quest for answers lands her in a tug-of-war between powerful interests, and she soon finds herself a pawn in the struggle for control of the planet…a struggle that could separate her forever from the man she loves.

Misled


Sylvia Day - 2005
    But Sable is a bounty hunter, which makes him direct competition in the capture of wanted criminals. Despite the obvious attraction between them, she won't give him a chance and after two years, he's tired of waiting for her to come around. So he's got a plan to give them both what they want...each other.

The Alien's Prize


Zoey Draven - 2017
    That is, until she wakes up, cuffed and naked, on an alien planet/fight club known as the Pit. Worse? Aliens fight to the death to be able to claim their prize: human pleasure mates. Even worse? She realizes she’s one of them. Vaxa’an, the Prime Leader of Luxiria, has a duty to his warrior species: continue their race. Infamously ruthless and deadly, the Luxirian knows he’ll have no trouble claiming a Breeder at the Pit. What he doesn’t expect to find is his fated mate, with her lush curves and tempting body. And he will stop at nothing to claim her. When Kate becomes the warrior alpha’s prize, her only goal is getting back to the life she was taken from. Certainly not to fall for the sexy, overbearing barbarian with a wicked tongue, who is determined to make her his own… Features a curvy, stubborn human female and a seven-foot tall hot alien with a dirty mouth and an impossibly large (-ahem-) package that does deliciously interesting things. Full-length 55,000+ word novel!

Victorious Star


Morgan Hawke - 2004
    Strong-willed and resourceful, she has never lost a ship she's flown—and never serviced a captain she's had.Captain Ravnos of the Mercenary dreadnaught Hellsbreath rules his crew with an iron will. First Officer Seht is a skeldhi prince whose specialty is erotic discipline. They're on a mission, and in need of a nav-pilot.Kidnapped into service on the Hellsbreath, Victoria is caught between two very different men locked in their own private and erotic power struggle. And then there's the mission…The Moribund Company has captured the Imperial Dreadnaught Arcane, and intends to auction the sentient ship to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, Moribund himself is attending the auction and Ravnos is forced to remain onboard the Hellsbreath for Moribund has a personal vendetta against the handsome captain. It is up to Victoria and First Officer Seht to go deep undercover at the Mordred Space Station to rescue the Arcane.To complete the mission and return to her duties as an Imperial Officer, Victoria must become Prince Seht's rehkyt—a pet, literally and figuratively. Not allowed on the furniture and kept at the end of a leash, Victoria discovers that there are worse things than servicing your captain. Or are there?Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, BDSM (including bondage, domination/submission, whipping), menage (m/m/f), and homoerotic sexual situations (m/m, f/f).

In Heaven or Earth


Amy Rae Durreson - 2015
    The only survivor is a cyborg gardener, Vairya, who has been left amnesiac and terrified, barely able to choke out a few words: “It could happen again.” As ex-military doctor Reuben Cooper explores the illusory rose garden of Vairya’s memory, where Vairya himself flirts and hides among the flowers, he discovers a terrible threat, not just to the crew of the Juniper but to all humanity. Can four doctors and a cyborg fight a merciless enemy that can kill with a touch?

Winterfair Gifts


Lois McMaster Bujold - 2002
    In the festive season of Winterfair on the planet Barrayar, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is making elaborate preparations for his wedding. The long-awaited event stirs up romance and intrigue among his eccentric family and friends, particularly for bioengineered space mercenary Sergeant Taura and shy, diffident Armsman Roic. But Miles also has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death. Winterfair Gifts offers another of Bujold's witty, character-centered science fiction plots with a twist of romance.

Rogue Alien's Escape


Kate Rudolph - 2019
    Not the life she wanted, not the life she'd choose, but it's better than being sold into slavery. Or so she tells herself every day. But when a dashing purple alien named Xandr smashes her carefully constructed existence to pieces, she'll need to make a choice: remain trapped on a planet where freedom is little more than an illusion, or reach for something greater and risk everything.

Gabriel: Zero Point


Steve Umstead - 2002
    Before dangerous missions to the ice-bound planet of Poliahu, the deadly jungle world of Eden, and politically corrupt Mars, he was a simple recruit, fighting to make his mark in the elite Naval Special Forces...and was part of a top-secret military experiment that would change his life forever.Zero Point tells the tale before the science fiction/adventure trilogy, a tale of a young man faced with difficult choices and dangerous trials. Fans of the series will see part of the mysterious past Evan Gabriel carries with him, while readers new to the series get a preview of what is to come in a military man's haunted life.Zero Point is the true beginning of Evan Gabriel, and his story is just getting started.

Alien, Mine


Sandra Harris - 2013
    Haunted by the loss of far too many innocent lives he has vowed to drive the ruthless invaders from Alliance space.The strength and valor of Eugen Mhartak attracts Sandrea as no man ever has, but she struggles to read the enigmatic general’s heart. Determined to help him triumph over the Bluthen she uncovers a diabolical plot against the Alliance.Drawn by the courage and exotic beauty of Sandrea, Mhartak battles to overcome the barriers of cross-cultural differences that separate them and claim her ardent interest. He must conquer his deepest fears to be the man she needs. When his principles are betrayed by his own government and he is faced with the impossible prospect of taking Sandrea’s life in order to save his home planet, Mhartak desperately searches for a way to keep safe both his world and the magnificent woman who has stolen his heart.

Slave


Cheryl Brooks - 2008
    Even filthy, chained, and beaten, he gives off an aura of power and virility and his feline gene gives him a special aura.Jacinth is an intergalactic trader on a rescue mission and she needs a man she can trust with her life.She has spent years pursuing her kidnapped sister from planet to planet. Now her quest leads her to a place where all the women are slaves. "Jack" needs a slave of her own-one who can masquerade as her master.Enmeshed in a tangle of deception, lust, and love, they must elude a race of violent killers and together forge a bond stronger than any chains. The first book in wildly popular Cat Star Chronicles, a paranormal romance series featuring heroes with a feline gene that gives them remarkable sexual powers.The Cat Star Chronicles: Slave (Book 1)Warrior (Book 2)Rogue (Book 3)Outcast (Book 4)Fugitive (Book 5)Hero (Book 6)Virgin (Book 7)Stud (Book 8)Wildcat (Book 9)Rebel (Book 10)

Fall


Scarlett Dawn - 2014
    Please see Cold Mark (Mark, #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2....A savagely wicked new adult sci-fi serial blasts off with Fall, the first installment in The Cold Mark Saga...Only one thousand Humans survived The Travel from the shattered Earth. Some Humans say it was their penance for crushing such beauty. Eighteen-year-old Braita merely thought it was pathetic - pathetic that her people had been that blind.Now, the Humans live in the solar system, Kline, where three planets are habitable. Joyal, the smallest planet, is embraced by the Humans - their family to love as they had never loved Earth. Though a planet covered mainly in water is dangerous real estate to dwell upon.Their worry turns into devastating reality when Braita's blessed village is struck by a tsunami. Population numbers must be kept to a minimum. Drastic measures must be taken. Braita's life is twisted in brutality when she is chosen as one of the three hundred Humans to be removed from Joyal...and sent to the Mian, the aliens to fear, on the planet Triaz.Thrown head first into a barbaric world she knows nothing of, Braita must adapt to a dark life as a slave of the Mian society. Her existence depends on it...and possibly, the fall of her heart.

Ensnared


Tiffany Roberts - 2021
    Fate has a different plan for him. When the queen he despises declares her intention to claim him, he retreats into the jungle.What he finds there changes his world.Small, delicate, and pale skinned, Ivy Foster is nothing like the females Ketahn has known. She’s not of his kind at all. Yet the moment he sees her, he knows the truth in his soul—she is his heartsthread.And now that he has her, he won’t let anything take her away. Not the jungle, not the gods, not the queen.Whether Ivy agrees or not, their webs are entangled. No one will ever sever those threads.----Book 1 of 3 in The Spider's Mate Trilogy.

Close Encounters


Katherine Allred - 2009
    But she turned out stronger, faster, smarter, and more impervious to harm than anyone anticipated. A reluctant "superhero," Kiera wishes she were normal, but it is not to be.On Orpheus Two, the indigenous Buri race faces extinction, a prospect the powerful Dynatec corporation welcomes and, in fact, may be actively hastening. It is Kiera's job to protect these beautiful, exotic aliens . . . and to discover what there is on Orpheus Two that Dynatec feels is worth killing for.But the magnetic allure of Thor, the breathtaking Buri leader, is proving a dangerous distraction. And now, to save Thor's people, Kiera will need a power she's never before possessed—something hidden in the unexplored recesses of her heart.

Bond


Tasha Black - 2016
    So when she arrives in Stargazer with her head full of conspiracies and high-end hairspray, she isn’t entirely surprised to learn that instead of donating eggs for tuition money, she is being asked to make an alien fall in love with her, and become an ambassador for humankind. What she doesn’t expect is how irresistible Bond is, and how hard it will be not to lose her own heart to the man who plays her body like a violin.Bond is on Earth to fill one human female with as much pleasure as she can bear, a mission he’s finding very agreeable. But he’s not here to fall in love. Tasked with using his powers of human seduction to glean what he can about Earth and its inhabitants, Bond knows that if the planet’s resources are worthy and its residents aren’t, his days of pleasing Posey will soon be at an end.