by V. Vaughn
When the sensation of a finger stroking my cheek returns I lean into it in response, and it occurs to me Caiden might have something to do with it. “Did you just do that?”
“Yes. You are so beautiful.”
I glance around the kitchen wondering if he might be here, but if he is, then he’s invisible. “Can you see me? Where are you?”
“I’ll explain when we meet tomorrow.”
Tomorrow? I bolt to my feet as panic rushes through my veins for a different reason. I have so much to do to prepare for the alien that’s going to invade my life! As the list of tasks I need to complete races through my head, my insides quiver, because I plan to let Caiden invade so much more.
Chapter 3
Beads of sweat are wet on my hand as I wipe them from my brow and scan my apartment with my gaze. The scent of lemon cleaner hangs in the air, and surfaces that hadn’t been visible since the first week I moved in shimmer in the sunlight. I even cleaned out half my closet and bureau to accommodate Caiden. Since I’ve never even considered letting a guy keep a toothbrush at my place before, this is a major deal, and I’m not sure why I’m so willing to let a stranger share my space.
Maybe it’s the hope an alien will be different. My father left before I knew him, and before the majority of men were wiped from the planet I struggled to trust any male in my life. As cliché as it sounds, I have daddy issues, and to protect my heart I decided men were good for physical pleasure, but love was off the table. But now I’ve been handed one that won’t want to leave Earth. Eroscia’s environment is hostile to life, and its inhabitants are clamoring to leave. I wonder though, is this going to be one of those careful-what-you-wish-for scenarios I regret. Because while he can’t leave me, Caiden could be the kind of man that makes me wish he would. My skin burns, and I glance down at the red skin on my arm that’s dangerously close to bleeding. I force myself to stop scratching.
Lexi told me a government official would deliver Caiden to my apartment. So when I hear a knock, I take a deep breath and make my way to the door to meet my alien match. The moment I open up, the physical presence of Caiden makes me inhale sharply. His size is magnified next to the small older lady accompanying him. “Miss Thorne?” the woman asks.
“Yes, that’s me.” I don’t move my gaze from the alien standing before me because I want to take in every impressive detail. His button-up shirt is taut across his chest and arms but loose around his stomach. It’s tucked into jeans that hug his muscular thighs, and I have to hold back the urge to sigh with pleasure.
“This is your match. Mandy, meet Caiden,” says the woman. “His things will be delivered later today.”
I raise my gaze up to his eyes, and his lips turn up to reveal a dimple in his left cheek that nearly makes my knees buckle. He steps forward, and without looking at the older woman says, “You can go, Mrs. Stevens.”
Caiden’s grip is firm as he takes me by the arms, and Mrs. Stevens says, “But I need to go over--” Caiden kicks the door shut with a backward movement of his foot as she yells, “the rules!”
His touch sears my skin, and I place my hand on Caiden’s chest to steady myself. Rock-hard muscle flexes under my palm as my ability to breathe is compromised by a strong desire to kiss him. He leans down and traps me in his gaze as he lets out a low noise from the back of his throat.
My entire being wants this man with a fierceness that shouldn’t be happening this quickly. I can hear Mrs. Stevens yelling through the door, but the words don’t register as Caiden’s heart beats quickly against my palm. I’m not sure if it’s the normal heart rate for an alien or if it’s so rapid because he’s as turned on right now as I am.
He whispers, “We can’t do anything more than kiss until we get married.”
I nod as he lowers his mouth to mine, and he brands my lips with a kiss that makes my knees buckle. I clutch at his massive bicep to keep from falling. Not that I’d go anywhere, because Caiden has moved an arm around my waist and threaded his fingers in my hair to cradle my head as he explores my mouth with his tongue.
Maybe it’s alien magic, but I never want this kiss to end. When Caiden finally breaks away, I’m sure I’m drunk from it. Caiden licks his lips, and it makes me smile as I decide he was just as affected by it as I was.
My voice is thick when I ask, “First earth-girl kiss?”
His eyes twinkle as he answers, “Yes. First alien kiss?”
I grin back at him. “Yes. Not bad.”
“Not bad?”
I squeal when Caiden yanks me tight against his body to crush his mouth to mine again, and this time he doesn’t stop until I’m trembling with blinding need. A small whimper escapes my lips. “If I say that was the best kiss ever do I get more?”
Caiden’s voice is husky as he says, “So much more.” He steps back and tugs at his pant legs in an attempt to regain composure. “But we have to get married first.”
“Right.” I take a deep breath as he smiles at me. I take a few more breaths to let my pulse slow before I sweep my arm around the room. “Welcome to your new home.”
I watch as Caiden surveys the surroundings. He walks over to the kitchen and stops at the window over the sink, which displays a view of the city. As he begins to unbutton his shirt he says, “It’s nice.” He turns to face me as he continues to work on opening up buttons. “What time do you go to work in the morning?”
I can’t stop watching his strong fingers working and imagine the things they’ll do to me. “Um. I leave by seven.” I’m the marketing director for a tea company that has brick and mortar shops as well as a robust online business. “What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable,” Caiden says. He walks over toward the couch, and the shirt lands lightly on it when he tosses it. “Your clothes are restraining.”
I take in the half-naked alien in front of me and am distracted for a moment as I decide that clothing on this man is definitely over-rated. “What do you wear on your planet?”
“Things that move with your body.”
I flash to the picture of Caiden on the dating website and recall how he was wearing a tight shirt that was form-fitted like a second skin. I give him an evil smile. “Did you bring any of that with you?”
“I wasn’t allowed to. I’m supposed to blend in.” The buckle of his belt rattles as he undoes it. “Acclimate.”
Whoa. “Acclimate. Right.” I can’t help but watch as he unzips his pants, and when my chest burns I realize I’m holding my breath. I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed when he removes his jeans and reveals a pair of boxer briefs. My voice shakes when I say, “You should keep those on.”
Caiden lifts up each of his legs as if he’s testing the flex of the fabric before he says, “I can.”
Holy mother of all aliens, the way this guy’s thighs ripple should be illegal. I resist the urge to fan myself. “You can walk around here in just your briefs, but be aware that’s not acceptable in public.”
“Are you sure? There’s a man we saw on the way over who was standing on a box dancing in nothing more than this.” Caiden tilts his head for a second. “Do I need to paint myself gold too?”
The twinkle in his eye along with the appearance of his dimple tells me he’s teasing, and I chuckle. “Not unless you plan to become a street performer instead of working for the government.”
He grins at me and then gyrates his hips to show off rippling abdominal muscles. “I think people would throw money in a hat for this.”
“Yes.” I blow out a whoosh of air. “They would.”
Caiden stops moving and he leans in close to me. “But I’m more than a hot body you know.”
According to Caiden’s profile he’s a computer programmer and highly paid by his government. “Brains and brawn. Lucky me.”
Caiden steps even closer to me so that the heat of his skin radiates toward me. I gaze up at him as he towers over me, and he strokes my cheek lightly with a finger. “Brains and beauty. Lucky me.”
My heart skips a beat, and the delicious sensation I felt before we met races through my body like an electric current. I moan softly as I sway toward him. “How did you do this to me before?”
Caiden grins. “Alien magic.” He moves his finger to trail down my neck and while his touch is light, it manages to make my insides quiver with the need for more. He leans in to whisper in my ear sending a new rush of pleasure through me. “Don’t you like it?”
My voice is shaky as I say, “If you’re going to kiss me again with almost no clothes on I can’t be responsible for what happens.”
Caiden drags his finger lower down my chest, and my nipples harden with the ache for him to keep going. He says, “I’m good with rules. You’ll be okay.” His finger hooks onto the low neckline of my shirt, and he tugs it away from my body to glance inside. “That pink thing looks uncomfortable.”
“My bra?” I shake my head as I pull his hand away. “You’re dangerous.”
“I’m everything you need, Mandy. Now get comfortable for me.”
“What?”
“Take off those restraining clothes.”
Did he just---? I stiffen at his words, because the tone sounded a lot like an order. “I’m fine the way I am.”
He tugs me against his body by my waist, and the thick length of his erection is hard against my belly as he says, “I told you to, so do it.”
Unbelievable. Caiden’s chest is rock hard under my palm as I shove against him to push away, but he doesn’t loosen his hold. While his domination could be sexy given the right setting, right now it’s making anger simmer in me. “I’m going to stay dressed, and you are going to let me go.”
Caiden lifts his arm up quickly as he backs off. “They warned me you might be prickly.”
“Prickly?” Now my blood begins to heat up, because refusing to take off my clothes for him is hardly being difficult. “Because I won’t strip on an order from an alien?”
“It was an order, and you’re prickly because you won’t follow it.”
My jaw drops in shock. This guy is a first class jerk. “Do alien women honor all requests?”
“They do. And they like it.”
I huff in exasperation. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Talk about a backward life form.”
“What?” Caiden crosses his arms across his chest as his eyes blaze with his own anger. “Your planet is run by women, the weaker of the sexes. Now that’s a backward life form.”
While I have little love for Courtney Stone and the way she’s trying to squeeze men out of leadership positions, I’m also not of a fan of being on the losing side of a power struggle. “What is wrong with you? How did anyone think the two of us would get along when you’re no better than a Neanderthal?” My feet thud across the floor as I move toward the kitchen to get my purse. Items rattle as I dig out my phone. “I’m going to call Lexi and get you back where you came from.” My fingernails click as I bring up my contacts and hit the one for my friend. “You know, where the woman are subservient.” I glare at Caiden and notice how his ears stick out from his head more than normal. He’s not that hot. The phone is hard on my cheek as I wait for Lexi to answer.
When she picks up I say, “Five minutes and I’m ready to kill him. You need to get him out of here. Now. He thinks I’m supposed to be his concubine, or Geisha or whatever women on Eroscia are.”
“Hold on,” Lexi says. I’m sure we can fix this. It’s just a little glitch in how we processed Caiden.”
“Glitch?”
“Don’t get mad. I’ll explain when I get there,” says Lexi. “Keep him alive for five more minutes.”
After I disconnect the call I notice Caiden has stretched out on the couch and has the remote in his hand. As he pushes buttons to figure out how to work the television, my imagination flashes to an older version of him with a beer in his hand, little kids running around as he ignores them and waits for me to cook dinner. The very situation I swore I’d never be involved in. And it’s not going to happen now, because Caiden’s getting sent all the way back to Eroscia. I wouldn’t give him to my worst enemy.
Chapter 4
Caiden holds up the TV remote. “Show me how this works.”
“Not going to happen.” The cold handle on the fridge door does little to cool me off as I yank. A pitcher clatters as I grab cold water to help cool my temper instead. “Besides, aren’t you some kind of technical genius?”
“Are you always this touchy?” asks Caiden. The remote clatters on the coffee table when he tosses it, and he looks my way.
I take satisfaction in the fact he wasn’t clever enough to figure out such a commonplace device. “Are you always such a jerk?”
He frowns. “I wasn’t trying to be. On Eroscia, women want to please a man, unless they don’t like him. I thought you enjoyed our kissing.” He shrugs, and I force my gaze to stay on his eyes instead of watching his well-formed muscles flex. “Did you not?”
I sigh and wonder if maybe the issue is a cultural barrier we need to get past. “I did like the way you kissed me. But you don’t order human women around. I like to have a choice in when I take off my clothes, and you acted as if it were your decision to make for me.”
He nods and rises from the couch. “I see. So earth women are used to making choices for themselves.”
His brow knits as if this is news to him, and I wonder if he got any training at all. “Yes. And if we’re going to work this is not negotiable.” It’s possible since the beta program hadn’t even started yet Caiden may not have all the knowledge he should have. “What did they tell you about human women before you came?”
The playful twinkle in Caiden’s eyes returns. “You like sex with men because you don’t have enough, of either.” His feet thud as he walks toward me. “You want to be loved and cared for.” Without raising his hand to touch me, he somehow strokes my cheek in what is quickly becoming my favorite gesture. And while I hate that it feels so good, I don’t pull back. “And you are capable of returning the love with a loyalty that can last a lifetime.”
I begin to tremble at the touch I can’t see. “How do you do that?”
Before Caiden can answer a knock raps on the door and Lexi walks in without waiting. “Oh!” She covers her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It’s fine, Lexi,” I say. “This is Caiden’s idea of getting comfortable. Nothing is going on.”
Lexi lets out a big sigh as she drops her hand and inspects Caiden with her gaze. She lets her tote-bag-style purse thud to the ground. “Good. Because you’re only allowed to kiss right now.”
“So we’ve been told.” My skin begins to prickle, and I scratch at it. “But trust me. I don’t want to anyway. I’m not sure Caiden has been prepared properly for life on Earth. How much training did he get?”
“Yeah. That’s the glitch I need to talk to you about.” Lexi scans Caiden with her gaze before she catches his eye and blushes at his grin. “Because we initiated a match before the beta testing was ready to launch, he may have missed out on a few classes.”
“He sure did.”
“You did too,” says Lexi. She glances at my scratching, and it makes me stop. Lexi crouches down to dig through her bag. “I didn’t know he was going to get here so quickly and never got a chance to give you the manual.”
A thick document in a loose-leaf notebook is heavy in my hand when I take it. “Just a little light reading for me?” The pages are slick in my fingers as I flip though them to find sections about Eroscia’s history, evolution and culture. I chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. I’ve got a smoking-hot alien that wants to dominate me, and to learn to deal with him I get a thick book of rules. I let Caiden have it when he reaches for the document, and I ask Lexi, “Any chance you can give me the abbreviated version?”
“I haven’t read through it all myself.”
“Well let me tell you one thing, these guys aren’t used to women having a mind of their own.” I turn my attention to
Caiden. “Are you going to be able to adapt to that?”
He licks his lips and drops his gaze to my chest. “I can change my approach.”
I let out a sigh. “See what I’m dealing with here, Lexi?”
“Um-hm.” Lexi offers me a smirk. “Sucks to be you.”
I glance at the sexy alien who has a smirk of his own. Okay, so maybe I overreacted earlier, because I don’t mind his heated gaze, or the way his kisses felt. I clear my throat before my thoughts go too far and surmise that maybe I should let him try again considering he wasn’t aware of how Earth works. “Fine. He can stay.” I point at Caiden. “But he needs a manual that he actually reads.”
Caiden shakes his head, but he doesn’t appear the least bit apologetic with the grin on his face. “Perhaps you can teach me what I need to know.”
Lexi lets out a snort before she covers her mouth and shrugs, making it clear she’s not apologizing either. “You pushed the button.” Now I glare at her as she adds, “I’m going to let myself out now.”
When the door clicks, shut I notice Caiden thumbing through my rulebook. He says, “This is a lot of useless information. I think we should figure it out on our own.” He pauses to grin. “If that’s okay with you.”
The idea of reading through the large manual doesn’t appeal to me either, and he seems to be trying so I say, “Sure. Let’s see if we can figure this out on our own.”
Caiden steps closer and lowers his voice. “Maybe we could practice what we do know.” He raises his eyebrows in question as he grips my arms lightly.
His touch makes me weak, and I lose any anger that lingers. I lean in and let him kiss me, and I get lost in the intergalactic connection. Trying to work this out might not be a bad idea after all.
Chapter 5
Kissing is definitely something Caiden and I are good at, and it isn’t until Caiden’s stomach growls loudly that we break apart. It occurs to me I didn’t have a chance to go to the market and lack enough food to make a decent dinner. I say, “You’re hungry. Put your clothes back on and I’ll take you out to eat. Is there any earth food you’d like to try?”
