Page 50 of An Alien for Her Heart

Across the crowd of dancing aliens, he motions to his brother who seems to have been watching us. I don’t even feel my cheeks warm. Apparently, with this decision, all my shame has gone. Instead, I allow Varek to direct me from the crowd till we’re the only two people walking down an empty street. The wind whistles, playing with the skirts of the wrap dress I made from an extra layer of curtain. I tug at it now, other thoughts creeping in.

Thoughts like whether he’ll be surprised by the way I look underneath this. I’ve practically seen him naked. I’ve even imagined it. Days upon days of staring at his glistening muscles underneath the sun haven’t done me any favors, and as we walk in silence down the street, I feel a throb below in a place that hasn’t sung a song in a long time.

I bite my lower lip, almost groaning at the intensity of the sensation—at the intense anticipation rising in my blood—but manage to continue walking without showing evidence of just how lost I am.

Varek stops at a building that looks like it has a few floors. As I enter behind him, my gaze shifts down the street again, back in the direction of the festival and I pause. I’m really doing this, aren’t I? There’s no mistaking what’s about to happen once I walk over this threshold.

As I turn away from the festival back to the alien waiting by my side, I find Varek holding the door open. His expression is schooled but his eyes are not. Those slitted yellow pits are filled with what I can only read as hope. Hope…andneed. My gaze skips down to movement in his throat as he waits there, doingnothing to influence my decision in any way. If I want to turn back right now, I can.

Instead, I step inside.

I swear I hear the pressure of a controlled release of breath through his nostrils as he directs me down the hall. There are multiple doors with symbols written on them that are indecipherable to me.

“This is an apartment building?” My voice comes out with more surety than I feel in this situation. Each step I take, my heart beats harder and harder till I’m quite sure Varek can hear the thundering in my chest.

“Living quarters? Yes,” he confirms, his deep voice echoing slightly in the corridor. “We call them ‘nestkans.’”

He leads me to a door at the end of the hall and pauses. “This is my dwelling,” he breathes. His voice has gone so low it is but a rumble. My tongue swells in my throat as my gaze shifts to the door.

What are you doing, Catherine?

I can feel Varek’s gaze on me as he waits for my response.

Just what are you doing?

Taking a deep breath, I nod, giving him a reassuring smile. “I’d like to see it.”

Varek’s relief is palpable. His shoulders release even more of the tension I didn’t realize was there as he places his clawed hand on a smooth panel beside the door. It slides open with a soft hiss, revealing a dimly lit interior.

Varek steps aside, gesturing for me to enter. “Please…”

His growl sends a delicious shudder through me and my focus falls on its own accord, straight to his crotch.Oh goodness… The heat rising in my cheeks has nothing to do with embarrassment as my eyes lock on to the definite bulge in his pants.

That’s…for me…

Only the sudden increase of warmth in my blood makes me look hurriedly away, stepping into the room before nerves get the best of me. I cross the threshold into his nestkans, my heart pounding with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The door slides shut behind us, cocooning us in a world of our own.

Cocooning us inhisworld.

The entire apartment smells like him. That deliciously sweet scent that makes me want to breathe in deep. It’s everywhere. My eyelids flutter just from the intensity of it and I brace on a small table nearby the entrance.

“I apologize, sura, for the mess.” The apartment isn’t small, but Varek swallows the entire space, just like he did in my cottage. It isn’t even his size or stature, it’shim. His existence.

We’re standing in what seems to be the sitting room and he pulls out a stool for me to sit on by the large table. I move over, happy to rest my legs because it feels like I will soon collapse from something other than weariness. My entire body is tingling, anticipation stealing my breath.

Varek disappears into another room for a moment and I get a chance to look around. The room is spotless. I’m not sure what mess he’s talking about. Just like his truck, it’s clean in here. Clean and smells so good. I stand up, walking over to a floating holo-image that gets more distinct the closer I get. It’s a picture of Varek and his brother, only much younger. Zynar is grinning, fangs and all, but Varek…Varek is stoic, his face unreadable. I tilt my head, looking at the picture. I’ve seen so many expressions on his face, I know he’s nothing like that stoic mask suggests, and I wonder if he’s hiding behind something just like I am.

A sound behind me makes me spin around like I’ve been caught snooping and I’m immediately reminded of what I’m doing here. My throat goes dry the moment my gaze falls on the alien.

His shirt is gone again, those rippling chest muscles making my eyes fasten on him like glue.

“I…brought you a drink, though you might not be thirsty after—”

Reaching forward, I grab the drink from his claw, downing it with large gulps.Oh God, I’m about to really do this. It’s been so long I…

But then my thoughts short circuit. Because Varek is so close I can’t see anything else. My gaze shifts upward, traveling up those iridescent scales to his throat. My breath hitches as I go higher, gaze traveling up to that chiseled jaw…his lips…

“Catherine…”