by Erin Raegan
The fact that we were even having this conversation after I had just been thinking about how suspicious he was—was suspicious.
Killian frowned. His face a mask of determination. Then he squatted in front of my chair and cupped my knees. “Theo, we’re here to buy parts from your uncle. Sal offered us a place to stay when he found out our vehicle broke down. It was old. Leo rarely had it serviced.” He cracked a wicked smile but quickly smoothed it away. I nodded for him to continue. “We’ve rented a rather large storage space while we wait for my brother to pick up our finds with a larger vehicle.”
So much of what he said seemed like a lie. But some of it held an air of truth.
“You don’t know me well, of this I am aware, but please provide me with the chance to prove myself trustworthy.”
He watched me closely. His eyes imploring me.
He was far too charming.
“Yeah, okay,” I told him despite the unease I still felt. “I can do that.”
So much about him already put me at ease. His demeanor and personality. The way he gave Sal as much as Sal gave him. I knew I should have been more suspicious and guarded, but it was hard to look at Killian and hold on to those feelings.
For days he had slept under Sal’s roof, eaten at our dining room table. He had even helped Bets with the dishes after dinner last night. Not once had any of them stepped out of line. Not once had they offended my family. They hadn’t said one wrong word.
As far as strangers went, they were perfectly polite. They even felt less like strangers and more like friends now. My head hurt again.
I sagged against my chair. “Just… maybe don’t be so secretive. It makes me want to ask lots of questions.”
Killian breathed a sigh of relief. “I will do my best to answer all of them.”
I nodded. “Where do you live?”
Killian hesitated.
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t say far from here,” I warned him.
He huffed a laugh. “I travel. I do not own a home anywhere on this planet.”
I grinned. “On this planet?”
“Correct.” He grinned back.
Funny man.
“What do you do for a living?”
He moved his head back and forth, contemplating. “I am a collector.”
“A little like your brother?”
He stared at me blankly for a moment.
“The guy needing all those parts?”
He blinked then shook his head. “No, not of cars. Just a collector.”
“Old things? Fancy things?”
“Valuable things.”
“Huh.” I sat back. “That’s cool. So you travel all the time?”
He chuckled. “Lots of questions.”
I shot him a snarky smile. “I warned you.”
“Yes, you did.” He flicked my nose playfully. “I do travel quite often.”
“That’s got to be lonely.”
His face softened. “Yes, it can be.”
“I want to travel,” I told him shyly.
He grinned, his eyes sparkling. “I remember.”
I flushed again. “Oh, right.”
I bit my lip and looked down, suddenly realizing how close he was to me. How I wanted him closer.
His hands tensed on my knees, then he stood. “Join me for your lunch?”
I looked at the clock, debating. Now that he had reminded me of that night, I was having a hard time sitting still under his stare.
“Please?” His mouth quirked and he held out his hand, bowing slightly. His eyes dared me to take it.
I did.
The Obsession
Kil
I watched her small teeth sink into the red fruit. Her tongue peaked out enticingly to lick away the glistening juice from her lush lips before she chewed.
“You’re staring,” she mumbled around her bite, her pale skin flushing.
Her skin fascinated me. How different it was from mine. It changed color in the sun, with her emotions.
What would she think of me if she saw my true form?
How different I truly was from what I allowed her to see.
From what I truly was.
I flashed her a grin, continuing my close inspection of her delicate features. She squirmed in her seat. Watching her struggle with her desire for me gave me deep satisfaction. So much, I wasn’t sure how long I would allow it to continue.
I’d had many females in my long life. No stranger to the joys of a female’s body and all the pleasure it could bring me and that of which I could inspire in her. But none had kept my attention in a way this one did. Not even close.
She was human. Different in every way from any I’d had. My attention was not easily held as it had been from the moment I saw her. I found that I could scarcely tear my eyes away. I could see it now, why humans were coveted in the slave trade.
Earth may be hidden but that did not mean mine was the only ship to pass through over time. I’d hear the murmurings of their rare capture and enslavement. The price such a creature could fetch on auction. The Order was strict in punishing those that dared enslave humans and species like them. My interest had been peaked, and if I was honest, on more than one occasion passing this way I’d debated the merits of taking one or two for my own gain. But I was not a slave trader. It was a messy business.
I watched Theo throughout my thoughts. To imagine this small, beautiful thing taken into the Juldo slave market, or worse the Veel, was abhorrent to me. She was far too fragile, too kind-hearted and spirited to survive such a bleak existence.
I found myself toying with the idea of taking her little planet under my protection just to watch over one. Just one human. Her.
This was not like me. I did not insert myself into the matters of others. Not unless the price was worth the effort.
But what would happen to her if something far more sinister found its way to her shores? It filled me with unending rage.
Oren would lose himself to fury if I acted on my ever growing obsession with this female. But he knew better than to question me once I shut him down. In nearly any other instance, I welcomed his counsel. But not in this. Not with her.
I knew the risks, the danger of the attachment I was facing. I wanted to take her. I wanted to whisk her away from this beautiful world and lock her in my quarters. I wanted to make her my queen. She would make a stunning mate.
What foolish, impulsive thoughts I, the Lord of the Kilbus, was entertaining.
How very impetuous of me.
I rather liked it.
She had no idea who she tempted. She had no idea the beast that hid in plain sight, stalking her every move. And in that lay the risk.
If she knew, I would lose those flushing cheeks. I would lose her beautiful eyes peering at me shyly.
If I took from her, I would lose her the moment she found out exactly what I was.
But I was no benevolent lord. I took what I wanted, when I wanted.
And I wanted her.
Oren’s warnings held little weight with me and were slipping through my fingers like glittering sand every moment I was around her.
With every word she spoke.
Every dirty little thought my sweet little human had of me. And I of her.
The poor thing was already trapped and she had no clue.
Licorice and Jealousy
Theo
I was on my way to my car when he caught me by surprise again.
“Where are you off to?”
I clutched my chest, glaring at him. “You have to stop being so sneaky.”
He chuckled. “I enjoy your reaction far too greatly to stop.”
I shook my head, caught between pleasure that he had sought me out several times today and annoyed he wouldn’t leave me alone. My head was a total mess when it came to this guy.
He was brushing dirt off his grey T-shirt as he watched me watching him.
I looked over his shoulder to see Oren and Leo. Their stares
were hard to ignore, even from several feet away. They were in dirty sweats, Leo’s a grey set, but Oren always managed to surprise me. Today he had on a pale beige blouse with ruffles. I didn’t get him. His outfit was a stark contrast to how he carried himself.
If I thought Oren was comfortable in the clothes, I would never have thought twice about it after our initial meeting. I didn’t judge. Not at all. Where what you want. Be who you want. And don’t ever apologize for it.
But every morning when Oren met us at the dining table and Sal shot him a bewildered look, Oren glanced down at himself with first confusion and then to Killian with annoyance. Like he didn’t quite understand why we couldn’t stop staring and that it was his friends fault. Then the rest of the morning would be awkward because he couldn’t stop looking down at himself. As if he wasn’t even sure why he had dressed that way.
Sal had offered Oren an old shirt so he wouldn’t get grease stains on his ruffles this morning. Oren had not appreciated Sal’s offer.
But the cold look Oren was giving me now was different from the one he’d given Sal. It had nothing to do with his choice of attire, and instead I felt as though it was entirely because I was talking to Killian.
I was starting to think maybe Oren had a thing for Killian.
Killian barked a surprised chuckle, startling me, his laughter loud and boisterous.
I quirked a smile at him. “What’s so funny?”
He shook his head, clutching his stomach. Oren snarled something and stomped around to the back of the building.
I nervously watched him go. “Is he okay?”
Killian’s laughs stuttered out as he tried to control them. He dropped his arm around my shoulders and steered me back around to my car. “He’s a normally grumpy fellow.”
“I figured,” I muttered. I still didn’t understand what was so funny.
“Where are you going?” Killian asked me again.
I sighed. “Grocery shopping.”
Killian smiled quizzically. “And grocery shopping is joyless?” He pointed to my mouth. “You seem quite adverse to your plans. Is this a daunting task?”
I snorted. “Very daunting. I don’t have anything against groceries. Or shopping for them. I just don’t like grocery shopping for my aunt.” When he tilted his head, I elaborated. “Her list is long.”
Killian still looked confused, but he nodded. “Do you need assistance?”
“You want to go shopping with me?” I asked in surprise. This was the one task around here I never had any help with.
Aunt Bets hated her own damn lists, so she put them off on me. And Sal, Jeremy, and Holden made themselves scarce the moment she pulled out her list.
Frank would sometimes go with me, but he was no help. I often spent more time hunting him down in the store than I did actually getting everything I needed.
But with Killian, it could be worse than hunting down Frank. Killian would draw attention. The old biddies who sat inside the café all afternoon would love him.
An image of the crochet club chasing Killian with butter cookies and crochet hooks filled my mind. He would be trapped for their inquisition and batting eyelashes within seconds.
I grinned to myself.
“Theo?” Killian asked.
I laughed. He didn’t look so sure now.
“Come on then,” I said, dragging him to my car.
“You look as though I might regret this.”
“Oh, most definitely,” I said in mock seriousness. “But I won’t.”
I rolled my eyes as Killian’s fan club pointed out all their favorite pies.
The moment we hit Main Street, the crochet club had reacted as I expected, but rather than Killian running in the other direction, I’d had to hover by his side as he greeted every member with a charming grin. He fielded their questions with expert magnetism, gently turning down date after date for each of their grandchildren in a way that came off as grateful.
They’d had stars in their eyes as we walked away and down the street to the market.
Now the two pretty little bakery attendants were drooling all over him.
One of them was barely eighteen, but the other was Marcy Ingleton, and she had graduated with Abby and me. She was gorgeous. And a cliché. Cheerleading captain, perfect curls, and straight white teeth. She thrust her ample breasts in his face as she pointed at the apple pies set out this morning by our baker, Mrs. Longbottom.
Marcy and Tim Greer had broken up this summer, and now she was after Killian.
I seethed silently as I tossed a sourdough loaf into my cart. As Marcy ran her red cat-like talons down Killian’s arm, I jammed the cart into his hip. “Whoops.”
Killian looked at me, chuckling softly. “Thank you, ladies, but I believe my Theo is getting impatient.”
“Your Theo, my ass,” I muttered, moving over to the bagels.
Marcy tittered as he walked toward me. “It was so nice to meet you, Killian.”
“So nice,” I drawled beneath my breath in a baby voice.
“You wear your jealousy beautifully, sweets,” he purred into my ear.
I lifted my shoulder to block him and tossed two bags of blueberry bagels into the cart. “I’m not jealous.”
“Then what is this?” He pointed at the scowl on my face.
I tried to smooth my brow and failed. “You’re supposed to be helping me, not flirting.” I shoved the cart down the first aisle of the frozen section.
Killian chuckled. “By all means, lead the way. I am yours to command.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just grab the brussels sprouts.”
I went for the peas a few refrigerated doors down before moving on to the broccoli. I was already down to the frozen pizzas by the time I noticed his absence.
Already preparing for him to have wandered off, I looked back to see him standing in front of the brussels sprouts with a strange look on his face. “Killian?”
“Kil,” he mumbled distractedly. He’d been correcting me since the morning I woke up mortified and hung over. I watched, bemused, as he mouthed, “brussels sprouts” to himself while scratching the stubble on his chin.
“The wobbly green balls,” I called in exasperation. He was worse than Holden, who avoided his vegetables like the plague.
Killian opened the door, pulled them out, and walked to me.
I pointed at the writing on the bag. “Have trouble reading the big white label?”
Killian scowled at the bag then me. “That tone does not become you.”
I flushed and looked away, ashamed. “Sorry.”
Okay, so maybe I was wee bit jealous.
“Forgiven,” he said with a soft smile. “Now what next?”
I looked at the list. “Looks like we’re having chili this week.”
I went to the meat aisle.
“This pleases you?”
“Oh yeah, Aunt Bets makes the best chili. She actually drains her beef for it.” I smiled at him, and he tugged on a curl of hair by my ear.
A few more locals introduced themselves to Killian as we moved through the grocery store, but he kept each conversation short and we were done shopping in under an hour. A new record for me.
Or we would have been, if Killian hadn’t found the candy aisle.
I sighed loudly as he inspected every bag and box. “I wouldn’t take you for having a sweet tooth.”
He grinned at me over his shoulder. “Always.” He held up a bag of licorice. “Are these good?”
I frowned. “You’ve never had licorice?”
He shook his head, so I held back all the questions that revelation had brought forward in my mind. It was pretty clear at this point that Killian wasn’t from around here.
“Well”—I grabbed the bag from him and tossed it into the cart—“personally, they’re not great, but it’s a rite of passage around here to try them at least once.”
“What do you like?” he asked curiously.
I pointed at the chocolate section. “Peanut
butter cups are the best.”
He raised his brows as he picked up the bright orange package and flipped it around, inspecting it.
“No peanut butter cups either?” I asked, shocked.
He shook his head nervously. It was adorable.
I ripped open the bag. “This is going to blow your mind.” I held one up to his mouth. When he hesitated, I poked his bottom lip with it. “Trust me.”
His eyes warmed and he took a small bite.
I watched him chew, inspecting his every reaction. “Well?”
He swallowed and hummed. “Not bad.”
I scoffed. “Not bad?”
He shrugged.
I snatched back the rest of the candy and popped it into my mouth, groaning as peanut butter and milk chocolate exploded on my tongue. “So good.”
My eyes opened to see Killian staring intently at my mouth.
I swallowed heavily, licking my lips. “You’re weird.”
“You’re beautiful.”
I grabbed a few other candies for him to try, avoiding his close attention.
Killian helped me load everything onto the conveyer belt and chatted up Mrs. Percy at the checkout counter. We were loading everything into the car while the crochet club watched from the café when a loud Mustang pulled into the lot and parked a few spaces away.
I sighed as musky cologne wafted to my nose.
“Theo babe,” Tim called as he walked toward us.
Beckett and Wes were with him. All three of them wore sweats, most likely coming back from their weekly basketball game at the gym.
“Hey,” I mumbled as I took the last bag from Killian.
With hard eyes, Killian watched the three of them stop beside my car.
“You split early the other night,” Tim said.
I hummed a non-agreement, slamming the trunk closed.
“You coming out again this weekend?”
Killian took my keys and guided me—rather abruptly—around to the driver’s seat. “No.”
I gaped at him and his hard tone.
“Dude, Theo, who is this?” Wes asked, no doubt judging Killian and his massively impressive stature. His borderline extreme amount of bling.
