Page 100 of Riv's Sanctuary
He may not like people, females…but that didn’t mean he found them unattractive.
And this female…
The plain face, the pale skin, the delicate limbs attached to the soft, curvy frame…She had no outwardly offensive features and looked like she’d be a good fit with several species he could think of off the top of his head—the Merkannians, the Plixians, the Drori, the Nuva and even his race, the Merssi.
His gaze moved over her face and fastened on her lips. It was her second most striking feature, her eyes being the first.
"Do you like it?"
Her question caught him off guard and he almost choked again on a spoonful of rai.
"Like what?"
"The food. Did you like it?"
Oh.
For a second there he thought she was asking…
He looked down at his food. He'd finished the entire bowl.
"It tasted…okay."
A small, almost imperceptible smile graced her lips.
“It was nice to cook. The last time I cooked was when I was back on Earth.”
Earth. Such a strange name for a planet.
Her eyes focused on nothing as she thought about her home world. He bet it was a wonderful place, free from all the things that made his world so phekked up.
She didn’t belong on this side of the phekked up universe.
“What are you doing here?”
She blinked at him, a slight frown crossing her face. “You say it as if I just got on a shuttle and left.” Her brown gaze got hard. “Do you really think I’d willingly leave my planet to hop into a zoo so I could be stared at by aliens?”
Riv shrugged. “Some beings have weird fetishes.”
As she glared at him, he almost smiled.
Almost.
He was riling her up but it was no laughing matter.
“I know you were taken. You said so.” He rested his hands on the table and studied her.
When she cast a wary glance his way, he knew there was something she wanted to say.
What now?
The more she looked at him, the more he knew he didn’t want to talk about whatever she was going to bring up.
Distract her.
"You..." he cleared his throat. "...you cleaned."
Her face suddenly lightened and she glanced around the room.