“Don’t worry about it. I’m good with Earth idioms.” He smiled and dared to reach out and put his hand on her shoulder. “I appreciate your help.”
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to draw in a deep breath. For a moment, he wondered if maybe she was feeling something toward him. He shouldn’t let himself dream.
She pinched her mouth into a thin line, then stood. “Turn around and put your feet in the tub. Please,” she added.
“Yes, Doctor.”
She let out a puff of breath and rolled her eyes, just the reaction he’d hoped for. A small smile followed as she relaxed a bit. She stepped into the tub after he’d situated himself, then started up the water.
As she moved, her shirt shifted from side to side, giving him a clear view of her small breasts. He tilted his head up so he was staring at the ceiling, but not before catching a tantalizing glimpse of her dusky nipples.
“What are you doing?” she said. “You’re going to fall over backward and hit your head on something.”
“I understand that nudity is a social taboo in your culture.” He was glad the water was loud enough to mask their conversation from the room outside. Cyan and Nana would probably wonder what the hell was going on otherwise.
“I guess so,” Lily said. “I’ve never thought about it.”
“Your shirt is a little loose.”
“Great. Of course it is.” She sighed, then said, “You’re a doctor. I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
“I’m a field medic, actually.” He turned his head back toward her, keeping his eyes shut. “And nudity isn’t a big deal where I’m from. We don’t have much in the way of privacy.”
“That sounds awful.”
“When it’s all you’ve known, it doesn’t bother you.” In theory, anyway.
Rin had always longed for more than a bunk and storage locker, especially knowing that nothing he had actually belonged to him. He didn’t even own his time.
Soldiers assigned to combat duties or ship operations had designated rest periods and could earn resources. They could build a life outside the fleet.
Medical personnel… Well, they were valued about as much as the people sent in to be patched up on the regen beds. He’d never heard of one retiring.
He heard the pitch of the water change as Lily must have put something in the stream. Cold water hit his legs. He yelped, jerking his feet away, which threw him off balance.
He started to fall backwards, arms flailing as he tried to find anything to grab onto. Time seemed to slow.
He opened his eyes just in time to see Lily grab his shirt and pull him toward her. The hem made a ripping noise, but she managed to slow his fall enough that he could reach behind himself and slam his hand on the floor, further reducing his speed.
Lily wasn’t satisfied, though. With a determined gleam in her eyes, she grabbed his shoulders. She was a fraction of his weight, but she hung on as if she really thought she could stop his descent.
She ended up falling with him. He landed with a loud thud, but at least he managed to distribute the impact across his back.
Lily landed on top of him.
Their chests were plastered together, her cheek against his. Strands of her hair tickled his nose.
“Crap,” she said. “Are you all right?”
He was better than all right. His body reacted to her proximity faster than he would have believed possible. His dick reached maximum capacity just as she brought her knees to either side of his torso, pushing herself upright and resting her pelvis flat against his crotch.
Her eyes widened and she gasped. Both of them froze, staring at each other, breath coming quick as their chests worked to bring their bodies air that suddenly didn’t seem to hold enough oxygen. Pleasure streaked through him, flying along his nerves and heating him more than the midday sun.
“Lily—”
Before he could finish his thought, the door to the bathroom opened. It missed whacking Rin in the head by about a centimeter.
“What the hell are you two doing in here?” Nana stood in the doorway, staring at the shower. Her gaze dropped down, her eyebrows hitching when she saw them on the floor, then a huge grin split her face.
“About damned time,” Nana said. “And you sure picked a looker.”
“Nana!” Lily yelled.
“Go on and get you some.” Nana laughed, pulling the door shut just as Lily threw a box of tissues that had been sitting on the back of the toilet. It bounced off the door and landed on Rin’s forehead.
“They’re going to be a while,” Nana said, raising her voice loud enough for them to hear her over the water.
Rin rubbed his temple where the box had hit him.
“Sorry…” Lily leaned forward and gently touched the spot.
That didn’t bother him nearly as much as the way she had squirmed while reaching out to grab the box in the first place, and then settled right back on that perfect resting spot when she was done.
Well, “bother” wasn’t the right word.
“It’s okay,” he said.
Really okay.
He kept the last thought to himself.
Chapter Seven
Lily was not going to have sex with an alien on the floor of her Nana’s bathroom. It wasn’t happening. No matter how tempting it was.
How can it be so tempting?
Maybe part of it was that she could feel his erection against her in exactly the right place. Her body lit up like kindling touched by a match.
Goosebumps raced along her skin. Her mouth went dry, her chest felt tight. She wanted more than anything to lean forward and kiss him.
But she wasn’t adventurous. She wasn’t daring and reckless. And she sure as hell cared that there were two people right outside who knew—or thought they knew—what she was doing in here with Rin.
Yes, she wanted to be more spontaneous. But she definitely was not comfortable with…any of this. Whatever it was.
Emotionally, anyway. Physically… That was another matter entirely.
Her nerve endings were practically having a meltdown. She could feel heat and wetness between her legs, an aching need clenching her core that she hadn’t felt in way too long. She wasn't sure she'd ever felt anything quite like Rin's effect on her.
And there was Rin, still lying under her, staring at her with those fathomless dark eyes.
She licked her lips and his gaze followed the movement.
Not helping.
“Is your head okay?” she said.
“Which one?” He grinned up at her for a moment, then cleared his throat when she only scowled back at him. “I understand in your Earth vernacular there are two.”
“Yes, yes. I get it.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I think.”
“You’re not sure?”
“Well, you’re welcome to inspect me.”
She frowned at him, but still couldn’t seem to convince her legs to move. For one thing, it would create more of that delicious friction that seemed to short-circuit her rational thought. And worse, it would bring this moment to an end.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just not used to reacting like this to someone. I didn’t even know my body was capable of it.”
“What?” Her throat felt like it was collapsing on itself. The word came out as a squeak. She coughed, then said, “You didn’t know you could…you know.”
His brow furrowed briefly, but then he laughed, his straight teeth gleaming in the light from the high window behind them. “I knew I could get an erection. I didn’t know it was possible to get one so quickly without Coupling.”
Confusion—and a hefty dose of curiosity—overcame her shyness. “How would you couple without getting an erection?”
“Not ‘couple’. Coupling. It’s a drug my people use to control intercourse.”
“Like birth control?”
“That’s among its functions.” He sneered as he sp
oke. Whatever this drug was, he didn’t appear to be a fan. “It takes the body through all the stages of arousal through climax, with or without a partner.”
“That sounds…really boring.”
He laughed and she felt a smile tug at her lips in response.
“I’ve always thought so,” he said.
“I guess there’s something to be said for doing things low-tech. It’s bound to be more…compelling.”
When he spoke, his voice had a rasp to it that again made her toes want to curl. “You are compelling.”
“That’s just gravity,” she said. “And biology.”
She started to rise, but he rested his hands lightly on her hips, urging her to stay in place. It didn’t take much to convince her. Most of her willpower was tied up in not grinding against him. That little bit of added pressure sent tingling sparks dancing along her nerves.
She watched his throat move as he swallowed.
“It isn’t gravity,” he said. “I believe the term you use is ‘chemistry’. At least, that’s my experience of our interactions.”
She was about to argue, but paused. “Wait. Interactions?” She emphasized the ‘S’ at the end.
Sure, what they had going on at the moment was absolutely atomic, and she'd been drawn to him from the moment she laid eyes on him. But he was talking like she had caught his interest even before she landed on him. They’d only just met, and she couldn’t remember doing anything…memorable.
“I’ve never met someone who draws me in the way you do,” he said.
She let out a snort, finally finding the will to rise. “Maybe you should scan yourself. I think you may have hit your head when you fell.”
“I don’t need a scan.” He pushed himself up onto his elbows.
“There must not be a lot of women where you’re from.” She murmured the words under her breath, but he heard her, even over the sound of the water still filling the tub.
“Half of our population is female. What does that have to do with anything?”
He rose to his feet a bit awkwardly in the tiny space. His chest brushed against her arms, his heat radiated toward her. She retreated into the tub, but he followed, sitting back on the edge as he had before.
Rather than answer, she knelt down and started splashing water onto his legs. He didn’t bother trying to look away anymore. From the corner of her eye, she could see he was staring at her face instead of her cleavage.
Moment over, then.
“Are you considered unattractive among Earthlings?” he asked.
“Wow.” She felt her eyes widen at the bold question, but pulled herself together, grabbing the soap and lathering her hands. “I’m okay.”
As she began cleaning his wounds, he said, “If you’re only considered moderately attractive, I’m not the one who needs a cranial scan.”
She snorted and said, “Smooth.”
“Really? I figured my legs would feel rough to you. Especially when compared with your own.”
She bit back her retort when she saw the earnestness of his gaze. For a moment, she’d forgotten he was from another planet.
Shaking her head, she said, “I was talking about your words.”
“I have adapted to Earth language and communication better than my peers. This conversation is still a little confusing.”
“I just think you’re laying it on a little thick.” Dang, she was going to have to watch out for using idioms with him. “It seems like you’re trying to make me like you, with all the compliments and ‘chemistry’ talk.”
“I’ve meant everything I said.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that, so she focused on cleaning out his wounds and rinsing them. It probably stung like crazy, but he didn’t complain.
When she was done, she stopped the water and pulled out the drain plug. She grabbed a towel and patted his legs dry as gently as she could.
“It makes it hard to trust, doesn’t it?” he said.
“What does?”
“Betrayal.”
Her heart seemed to clench at the word—at how much he’d gleaned from her in their brief time together. She shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal.
“Everybody has an agenda,” she said.
“That’s true.”
She was surprised he didn’t try to refute her statement. At least he was being honest about that.
“What’s yours?” he asked.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re someone. You have to have an agenda, too. Something you want to have or do. Something you want to make of your life.”
Crap. He had her there.
“I want to help people.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them. Worse, once they started, they kept coming. “My family owns an import/export company. Nana mostly trades in weird, exotic merchandise. I want to use our contacts and facilities to start shifting resources to where they’re most needed. Clean water for people living in deserts. Food, clothing. And the means for people to create more of what they need so they aren’t reliant on others and can truly thrive where they are.”
“Wow.” He smiled up at her. “That’s quite an agenda.”
She shrugged. “What about you?”
“I want to help Cyan keep her secrets,” he said. “Our government is…” His lips pulled down in a grimace. “Let’s just say that their agenda and mine are quite at odds.”
“I can see where you’d want to distance yourself from people who drug their citizens instead of just letting them have sex.”
“They don’t let us have anything.” He practically spat the words. “Not even real emotions. Everything is managed with Balance or Coupling or worse.”
Her blood chilled. She couldn’t imagine living among people whose emotions had been taken from them or twisted and controlled.
“You seem to have pretty strong feelings on he matter,” she said.
He shook his head, then smirked again. “The drugs they use to regulate emotions don’t work on me. Something in my DNA blocks them.”
“And yet they let you run around on your own? As controlling as you make them sound, that surprises me.”
He shrugged. “What they don’t know can’t hurt me.”
“But you just told me.”
“I trust you.”
“Why?”
“I'm not sure,” he said. “I guess because it feels right.”
Chapter Eight
Part of Rin wondered if he’d gone completely insane. From the look on Lily’s face, she was thinking the same thing.
She was right to find it strange that he was trusting her with so much so quickly. But he hadn’t felt any kind of connection to someone in so long. It had never been as strong as this, either.
True, there weren’t many people she could tell these specific secrets to, but it could land him in some very uncomfortable situations if the wrong people found out about his unusual immunity. More Sadirians would be roaming Earth soon.
He pushed away thoughts of the Reckoning’s arrival. They still had a little time to prepare.
Lily helped distract him with more questions.
“What about Coupling?” she asked.
“What about it?”
“Does it work on you?”
He laughed. “No, it doesn’t.”
“So when you had sex before, your partners were drugged, but you weren’t.”
With what he knew of her culture, he could see where that would trouble her. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would tolerate any kind of power disparity well, especially during such an intimate interaction.
“I always told them before we started anything,” he said.
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. She actually looked disappointed.
He didn’t understand her reaction. Unless she was feeling a connection to him as well. She had taken her time extricating herself from their extremely comfortable predicament earlier.
Sharing this part of himself was no smal
l matter for him. It meant something. And if it meant something to her, too, he could understand her disappointment at the thought of him telling another.
“Not about my immunity,” he said. “I told them I was one of the few weirdos in our society who didn’t want to use Coupling during sex. There aren’t many, but it does happen.”
Her gaze returned to his and she smiled.
The connection was real. It couldn’t be his imagination.
“And that makes you weird?” she asked.
“It’s kind of like someone having a kink on Earth. My last lover was more put off by the emotional component that I experienced than by the physical ones.”
He hadn’t meant to share that much, but it was out now. He couldn’t even tell himself he regretted it. Sharing this part of himself with Lily felt right.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Clara is part of a group of soldiers who had their emotions completely suppressed. It’s supposed to make them more focused in battle. When I told her I had feelings for her, she ended our relationship.”
“That’s awful.”
“The whole experience has made it difficult for me to trust most people.” He smirked. “I still don’t know what her agenda was, but I’m sure she had one.”
Lily shook her head, letting out a somber laugh. “This is all profoundly disturbing.”
“I don’t mean to trouble you.”
“I’d rather know. The fact that you and Cyan are here—along with whoever you don’t want learning about her allergies—makes me think Earth isn’t just a pit-stop for you guys before you move along to some other place.”
“It isn’t. Well, not for Cyan and her people, anyway.”
He doubted it would be for his people either. The Coalition’s interest in Earth only seemed to be growing. Thank the stars the Vegans had arrived and formed an alliance with Earthlings first. Knowing that the species who had created most of the Sadirians’ technology had already staked a claim to the planet might give the High Council second thoughts about their usual strong-arm tactics for assimilating new cultures.
Somehow, he didn’t think any of that knowledge would reassure Lily.
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