by Tasha Black
Step, step, step, dip.
He almost let her head hit the floor, then swept her up so fast her neck ached.
No point correcting him. Let’s just get through it once.
He dipped her again as her phone did another double buzz.
“Just get it,” Wade said, yanking her up unceremoniously.
She bit her lip to stop herself from complaining and jogged over to where her phone sat on the table by the door.
It buzzed again before she could pick it up.
Posey Quinn:
Call me.
Posey Quinn:
It’s urgent.
Posey Quinn:
911
Good lord.
She glanced at the time. By rights, Wade had another ten minutes of dance instruction. Not to mention he was helping her with her demo, which clearly needed all the help it could get.
The phone buzzed again.
Posey Quinn:
Seriously, Honey, call me NOW. Please.
“Um, Wade, my friend is anxious to—” Honey began.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Put out your fire. I’ll see you later maybe?”
“Maybe,” she repeated as he walked out the door.
She closed it behind him and called Posey back, heading to the barre while the call connected. No reason not to get in her own stretches while talking with her friend.
The woman staring back at her in the mirror looked calm and in control.
Too bad Honey seldom felt that way.
Chapter 4
Posey Quinn paced the dining room of the old observatory. She was far enough along in her pregnancy that pacing was difficult, if not downright treacherous.
On the bright side, the gigantic baby she and Bond were expecting was, for once, not kicking and carrying on in her belly. She figured he must be content knowing that someone was scrambling around.
She glanced back down at the cell phone she clutched in her hand and promptly barked her shin on one of the benches.
“Ow,” she winced.
“Please sit down, Posey,” her friend Rima urged her, patting the cushion of the window seat beside her.
“What are we going to do if she doesn’t call me?” Posey could hardly put the words together. She and her friends had done something risky. It would be horrible if it were all for nothing.
“You said you trust her,” her other friend Georgia said coolly from her seat at the head of the table. “So I trust her too. She’ll call you. She’ll do what we need her to do.”
That was true. Honey was a good friend. She and Posey had been roommates at Tarker’s Hollow College their freshman year. Honey wasn’t exactly what you might call book smart, but she was great with people and loyal as they came.
Posey took a deep breath.
Her phone came to life in her hand, and she answered it before the end of the first ring.
“Honey.”
“Posey?” Honey’s familiar voice sounded worried.
“Thank you so much for calling me.”
“Of course,” Honey said immediately. “What’s up?”
Georgia shook her head vehemently.
Damn.
Ever since the aliens had become a very public presence, Posey, Georgia Rima and their alien mates had been hounded by the press and scrutinized by the government. There was no telling if lines were tapped.
Posey had always been a fan of outrageous conspiracy stories. Now that she was living one, they didn’t seem quite as glamorous anymore.
Posey was going to have to be subtle.
“Honey, I wanted to let you know that I’ve sent three new guys to Maxwell’s,” she said, pausing.
If Honey had been paying attention to the news at all, she would think about the three alien guys who had been all over it lately.
“Oh,” Honey said, sounding surprised. “That’s nice. Are they friends of yours or something?”
Damn it.
“Yes,” Posey said. “Well… they’re cousins of mine, really, cousins in law.”
That ought to do it. She’d be lucky if anyone listening in didn’t catch on.
“Well, great,” Honey said, without missing a beat. “I’ll be sure to look out for them, show them the ropes.”
Posey allowed herself to hope, for a moment, that the message had come across.
“Thank you,” she said in a heartfelt way. “They’re very shy. I would hate to think of them being in a new place alone with no friends.”
“Oh,” Honey said, sounding completely confused. “But if there are three of them, they all know each other. Plus there are lots of activities.”
Nope, she didn’t get it.
“They’re going to be on staff,” Posey said. “I spoke with a man there called Malik, he’s giving them jobs in the dining room - busboys or waiters maybe.”
“Well, I’ll keep an eye out for them,” Honey said.
“Make sure you do,” Posey said, pausing significantly.
“What do you mean?” Honey asked, sounding mystified.
“Oh nothing, just, you know, look out for them,” Posey said weakly.
“Look Posey, subtlety isn’t really my thing,” Honey said. “If there’s something you want to say you might need to spell it out. You’re not hoping to like, fix me up with one of them or something, are you?”
“Um, you might really like one of them,” Posey said immediately. “Might even be a good summer to fall in love.”
There was a pause. Posey allowed herself to hope that her friend was getting it.
“No,” Honey said sadly, “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Posey said, forgetting her mission for a moment to worry about her friend.
“Oh, I just seem to have bad taste in men,” Honey laughed. But she didn’t sound like she thought it was funny.
“Not this summer,” Posey assured her. “This summer you’re going to meet ‘the One’.”
“Easy for you to say,” Honey chuckled, sincerely this time. “I can’t believe you guys are having a baby, you just met him.”
“It’s easy when you meet the right guy,” Posey said fondly.
“Shoot, I’ve gotta run. My next student is coming in. Can I catch up with you later?”
“Sure,” Posey agreed.
“Great, I’ll keep an eye out for your cousins,” Honey added, hanging up before Posey could even tell her their names.
Posey slipped the phone back into her pocket and then met the anxious eyes of her friends.
“I don’t think she got it,” she told them. “But she’s a good egg. She’ll figure it out and she’ll help them.”
I hope.
Chapter 5
Honey was giving Audrey Feldman a waltzing lesson when there was a light tap on the studio door.
Audrey was about seventy years old and frail-looking, but she stepped so hard on Honey’s already sore foot, it was all Honey could do not to scream. This really wasn’t her day.
What I wouldn’t give for one good thing. Just one.
“Oh my, I’m sorry, dear,” Audrey quavered.
“That’s okay, Mrs. Feldman,” Honey replied as she crossed to the door.
The painted sign on the outside of the door was flipped over to show she was giving a private lesson. A polite person would have waited for the lesson to be finished. And Wade would have just walked in.
So whoever this was must be having some sort of dance-related emergency.
She walked over while trying to piece together what that might be.
Pulling open the door, she found herself staring directly at the chest of a massive man. As her eyes lifted to meet his intense gray gaze she realized something unbelievable.
This was the man from her dream.
She opened her mouth and then closed it again.
“Honey,” he said, his deep voice caressing her.
She nodded and smiled up at him, forgetting Mrs. Feldman and the world around them.
“I’m Kitt,
” he said. “And this is for you, from your friend, Posey.”
He held out an envelope as Audrey came tottering past.
“Oh, Mrs. Feldman,” Honey exclaimed. “I’m so sorry—”
Audrey Feldman looked Kitt up and down, raised a painted eyebrow appreciatively, turned to Honey and said, “Nothing to be sorry about, dear. Besides, Frank gets cranky if I leave him too long with the boys at the card table. Are we on for another lesson tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Posey said. “Thank you, Mrs. Feldman.”
The older woman continued out. When the door shut behind her, Honey looked up at Kitt, who was studying her calmly.
“Come on in,” Honey said, trying to sound more business-like and less foolish than she felt. But she knew the blood was already rushing to her cheeks. He was just so handsome. And she had the distinct feeling that she’d been spending her nights dancing naked with him. Even though clearly that wasn’t the case - she was just losing her mind from the heat.
He nodded and they entered the studio.
Kitt studied it carefully. He seemed to be fascinated with all the mirrors.
“I teach dance,” Honey explained. “You must be one of Posey’s cousins, right?”
“No,” Kitt replied, his deep voice tickling her insides. “I’m her brother-in-law.”
Brother-in-law?
“Posey said you should read the note right away,” he said. “It’s an introduction.”
Honey looked down at the note in her hand. Was it really a letter of introduction, like something in one of those Jane Austen books they’d had to read in English class?
She looked back to Kitt, as if to judge his opinion of the situation.
But he only smiled down at her, godlike and serene.
In the mirror she saw the reflection of his ass, no less godlike in a pair of tight jeans. His wide shoulders stretched the thin white t-shirt he wore on top.
Shaking her head in utter disbelief, Honey tore open the envelope.
Honey,
I’m so sorry to spring this on you, but I don’t know where else to turn.
I’m sure you know from watching the news that my husband, Bond, and his two brothers are from the planet Aerie. They migrated their gaseous forms into lab-grown human bodies. Their humanity became permanent when Bond fell in love with me, and Rocky and Magnum fell in love with my two friends, Georgia and Rima.
What you might not know is that there are more men here from Aerie. They’ve been kept in a government facility, where scientists from both Earth and Aerie are trying to make them permanently human in a lab - without finding a human mate to click with.
It won’t work. Those of us who have seen it happen know it’s about love - nothing else. But the lab techs don’t care about stuff they can’t see with a microscope.
We’re scared about what might happen to these guys if the tests keep going and they don’t click.
I wanted to contact you first, but we saw an opportunity to get three of them out and we had to take it. I hope you know I will do anything to repay the favor.
Keep them safe for me, please. Don’t let anyone know what they are. Our quiet lives here in Stargazer have been changed forever with paparazzi and screaming fangirls storming the gates daily. Kitt and his brothers deserve a chance to get to know our world in peace.
And if you really want to help, please make sure they meet women, good women who will love and respect them. For these men, mating is for life, so it’s important that they make a wise choice.
There’s no time to write more, and it’s not safe for us to communicate by phone, text or email as I don’t know if our communications here are being monitored. I will come to see you as soon as I can.
Thank you in advance for helping these men. Please know that by taking this on, you are acting as an important ambassador for humankind.
And an incredible friend.
Love,
Posey
Honey stared down at this strange message until the letters began to run together.
“Are you okay, Honey?” Kitt’s voice came from so close.
She jumped a little when she looked up to see him standing inches from her. How had he gotten there? He’d been across the room a second ago.
Up close, he was even more handsome. The light coming in the windows reflected back in the mirrors, setting off the copper highlights in his hair. He smelled like soap and pine trees.
Kitt extended a hand to caress her cheek lightly, an expression of wonder on his beautiful face.
One good thing.
Chapter 6
Kitt touched his fingertips to Honey’s face. He was hypnotized by the softness of her round cheeks and the stillness in her large brown eyes.
Every other part of her seemed prepared for sudden motion. From her pointed toes to the coiled up hair on the top of her head, Honey was a study in potential energy. He had never seen anyone like her.
Back at the observatory in Stargazer, Dr. Bhimani also bound her hair instead of wearing it loose like the other women. But hers was twisted in a loose pattern and bits of it escaped the arrangement to gather around her face.
Honey’s hair was so sleek he could see the lights reflecting in it. He wondered if she smoothed it back like that to enhance her aerodynamics.
In any case, Kitt was completely enchanted with the opposing forces of swiftness and stillness that battled for dominance in the elegant form of this woman.
He reveled in the warmth of her soft skin against his hand and would have held her there with that careful touch - a flower hosting a butterfly - for the next forty years, if necessary, if she would allow him to maintain this giddy proximity.
Or so he thought.
No sooner had he decided that further contact would frighten her, than his entire body seemed to call him toward her with the gravity of a sun. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, brush her lips with his own, like the hero on one of the television shows and movies he had watched from the Earth time capsule.
His intentions must have shown on his face.
Her eyes widened and she drew back slightly. “Is it true?” Her voice was a whisper now. “Are you really an alien?”
He nodded, careful to make the movement slow and gentle.
She bit her soft pink lip.
Kitt willed his heart not to race. “Don’t be frightened,” he told her. “I have come to learn your culture. I will not harm you.”
She tilted her head slightly to the side, her brown eyes warming. “Did you really come here looking for a mate?”
Her words intoxicated him, but he slowed his heart rate again, considering her question against what he knew of her language. Although it had the ingredients of an invitation, her use of the word “really” in the middle introduced doubt.
“I would be most proud to offer myself to be your mate,” he told her carefully.
Her mouth dropped open.
It closed again.
Then she smiled at him, and his heart sang.
“Oh.” She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean me.”
“You already have a mate?” Kitt was very disappointed. Getting his bearings on this planet was difficult, but this particular interaction had been refreshingly simple. He had expected it was because this woman was to be his mate.
She got a surprised look on her face, then shook her head again.
“No,” she said, “I don’t. God no. And if I did he’d end up being a bank robber or something.”
It was a horrifying thought. He wondered if he should offer the woman his sympathy for her dreadful fate.
But she laughed and he realized she was making a joke.
“I’m glad you do not have a criminal for a mate, Honey McCarthy,” he told her earnestly.
“Yeah,” she smiled, looking at him like she wondered something. “Me too.”
Before he could ask her what she was wondering, the door to the room opened.
A young couple stepped shyly in. In
one of the movies Kitt was educated on, they would be considered nerds. Nerds, he knew, were humans whose intellectual and emotional acuity was overlooked due to their lack of physical prowess. Since he had never possessed a corporeal body before coming to Earth, Kitt had a hard time understanding the reasons for the distinction. And if he was being honest, suddenly having a ton of muscles didn’t really solve the riddle for him.
The man who entered was scrawny, and the woman wore thick-rimmed glasses. But they were surrounded in a sort of glow of happy energy. Kitt wondered if Honey could see it.
“Alan, Jenna, I’m so glad you made it,” Honey smiled.
“We decided to give waltzing a try,” Alan said.
“You’ll be so glad you did,” Honey assured them. “It will be so romantic to waltz at your own wedding.”
She turned to Kitt with a look on her face that told him she was wondering what to do with him.
“I’ll go find my brothers,” he told her.
She smiled in relief. “Come find me later and we’ll catch up. I’m in the senior ladies staff cabin.”
He wondered briefly why she lived in a cabin for elderly women, but there would be time for questions later. He headed past the young couple to the door.
The bespectacled girl blushed furiously for some reason as he passed.
Kitt replayed the moment in his head. He was sure he had done nothing impolite. Perhaps he should have greeted her. Although he had not been introduced.
This new world was so much more complex than in the movies and TV shows he and his brothers had enjoyed.
Once he was outside again, Kitt took a deep breath.
The air in the camp was fresh and fragrant - actual mountain breezes smelled a good deal better than the laundry detergent back at the lab had led him to believe.
Life was full of surprises.
He hoped more of them were like mountain air and Honey McCarthy.
He followed the path down from the dance studio, past the swimming pool. The sun shone brightly overhead, the grass was soft under his feet and the sound of laughter was all around.
