Authors: Yvonne Morgan
He looked into her eyes at that, studying her briefly.
He looked hopeful, but doubtful, as well, as if he wasn’t certain she was sincere.
“It’s better than a positive no….”
She placed a palm
on his chest. “It’s closer to a yes than I’ve ever come before.”
Of course no one’s ever asked me to be their mate before,
she added to herself. “Maybe when I get to know you a little better?”
What am I saying? He’s an alien! I don’t even know anything about his species! What if I want kids? Could I even have them with him?
A part of her responded that for the right man she’d give up that possibility, that she hadn’t even thought of having kids before anyway, but she tried to ignore it.
A question had been nagging her since
‘
it
’
had first wrapped itself around her hand. She felt strange asking,
but she was dying to know
if that was typical behavior or
if ‘it’ had responded particularly to her
.
I know better than to hope it’s just me.
She really did
want to know
, though, so she still
ed herself for a disappointment and asked anyway.
“Does it always do that?”
“What?”
“Your cock. Does it always move like that? Trying…you know, to find a warm hole?”
That could’ve come out better.
She felt herself blush as his rich laughter rolled over her, and regretted asking at all.
“No, it doesn’t usually do that. It just happe
ns to like yours.” He sobered
. “The mating dance is normal, though.”
“Mating dance?”
“The…dance it’
s performing, even now.”
She could feel it moving around, felt her own desires growing again, in spite of the fact that she was just to
o
worn out to go it again.
“So that’s a mating dance.”
Birds dance and sing. Most an
imals have some kind of ritual. But this?
“So, what? T
he guy with the best dancing cock wins?”
He grinned at her, and she felt her blood warm. “You could say that. There’s always been heavy competition for mates
on my world
. That’s why I came here in search of one.” His grin faded.
They sat in awkward silence for some moments, the warmth she’d felt ebbing quickly.
Mate.
Could she really go through with something like that? Where would they live
anyway
, his planet or hers? How would she find a way home if things didn’t work out? Why hadn’t anyone ever warned her that being with an alien was infinitely more complicated than settling for a human?
Shit Caitlin. He hasn’t asked for your hand in marriage or anything!
Maybe this was just his people’s way of saying they wanted a committed relationship.
She was a serial monogamist anyway — so what did it really matter what he called it? Was there anything wrong with a trial run? That made her feel a lot better about the whole prospect.
“Where do we go from here?”
When he didn’t
acknowledge her question, she wondered if she’d said it out loud. She was on the verge of repeating herself when he answered.
“You didn’t understand the voice prompts
.” He gestured toward the console
. “Did anyone here tell you the rule of three? Your friend perhaps?”
“Rule of three?”
“Two times a date, three times a mate. It means that if we see each other m
ore than
one
last time, we both understand that it is because we want to
be mates.”
Only two dates?
“Why only two? Why not ten? Twenty?”
“According to the computer, in most cultures, to mate once is to mate for life. The rule of three is…a concession.”
“What about in your culture?”
“In mine, people don’t generally commit until they’ve gotten to know each other better.”
That was a relief anyway.
“So…where do we go from here?”
Do you even want to see me again, or did I offend you too much earlier for that?
Considering what he could do with his cock, there was no telling what the women where he was from could do. What it if he didn’t think she was any good at sex? What if he thought she was awful?
To her surprise, he disentangled himself from her arms, sto
od and walked to the computer. R
etu
rning with a pencil and paper, h
e sat cross-legged on the floor, his member inert for the first time sin
ce they’d met. With great care, he
scribed strange symbols on the page that looked vaguely familiar to her.
When he’d finished, h
e held it out to her and she took it.
“What is it?”
“Instructions. On how to call me on purpose next time.”
“Oh.” She studied them, recognizing them as the same symbols she had haphazardly typed earlier.
He stood again, reaching down to pull her up
,
as well. She tilted her head up to look at him and he leaned down, pressing his lips against hers in a passionate kiss. His cock brushed fondly against her thighs.
Killian backed away with a sigh and typed something on t
he console
, and a sliver of light appeared beside him. He tu
r
ned to her.
“I look forward to seeing you again.” His look said he didn’t dare hope it, and Caitlin again felt like a dirty dog.
She
nodded, unsure of what to say, w
hat she
should
say to him.
He passed into the light and was gone.
Caitlin stared at the spot where he’d vanished for a time. F
inally
, feeling strangely unhappy considering how thoroughly sated she was, she turned and gathered
up her clothes.
“Shit,
” she exclaimed on a sudden thought.
“
I bet Val’s left without me by now.”
She dr
essed in a hurry, smoothing
her hair as best she could, and stuffing the address he’d given her into her pocket.
She was relieved to find, when she opened the door, that Killian really had kept the men on the outside from being able to see them. The whole group had moved closer down the hall, but there were none standing outside the door to greet her, for which she was thankful. She wove her way through them down th
e hall, and quickly descended
the stairs.
The club was, by all appearances, just as full now as it had been when she’d gone upstairs. She pushed her way through the crowd and out onto the street. Val was laying back in the driver’s seat, asleep with the doors locked.
“Val?” She tapped on the window. “Val, wake up!”
Val started and fumbled with the lock. When she’d unlocked C
aitlin’s door, she slid into the passenger
seat.
“Where’ve you been Caitlin?”
“Sorry it took me so long. Time…kind of got away from me. I thought you were planning to stay most of the night.”
“I did. I mean, I thought I did. It’s so strange. It felt like I was there all night, but when I got downstairs and actua
lly looked at the time,
only an hour had passed.”
“So how long have you been waiting for me?”
Val looked at the clock a moment. “About thirty minutes.”
Caitli
n frowned, thinking it over.
“I guess the whole time thing must have something to do with the club itself. Everyone’s still in there dancing. Looks like the same people, anyway.”
“So how was it? You were in there a long time. Did you really, you know,
do
it?”
“Yeah
. You?”
“That’s it? Yeah
? Caitlin, I got to be with a knight! A real honest to goodness
knight!
And all you can say about your
alien
is yeah
?”
“All right, all right! I met the most handsome man I’ve seen in a very long time and had the best sex of my li
fe. His cock moved around on it
s own, which is normal where he’s from if you can believe it! After all of that, he even tu
rned out to be a genuinely
nice guy
.”
“You mean alien.”
Caitlin glowered at her friend.
“Okay, guy. Hey, it’s not like you were planning to ever see him again
anyway, right? I really liked S
ir Anthony, but it could never work out! We’re from different times, different worlds. Of course, you two are from two
completely
different worlds, but my point is the guy could never fit in here. Could you even imagine a knight here? In
this
city?”
“Or you living with him back there in his time?” Caitlin shook her head. “No, I guess it really couldn’t work out.” She
felt the weight of the paper Killian
had given her in her pocket, but resisted the urge to touch it. Their goodbye hadn’t seemed so final before.
He really wanted to see me again.
Caitlin sat silently as Val started the car, gushing the whole way home about her knight in shining armor. At Caitlin’s stop, they said their goodnights and she went inside her dark, lonely little one room apartment.
Chapter Four
A month. It had been one, whole, horribly lonely month since she’d seen Killian. She had tried hard to forget about him
. Val was right. There’s no way things could have worked out differently.
She told herself that every day now.
He’s an alien. I’m human. We’re from different worlds. Surely he knew I wouldn’t be coming back.
She felt like such a coward.
I didn’t even really say goodbye. He obviously wanted to see me again. What if he’s up there right now waiting for me?
It would be just like a man to do that to m
ake a girl feel guilty. The asses
know that works.
Lay a guilt trip on a gal, look helpless, and they’re putty in your hands.
By the end of the month she couldn’t stand it any longer. Her song had changed
.
‘It wouldn’t work’ to ‘he’s playing me’ to ‘it
would be rude not to go one last time, just to tell him I won’t be coming back. He’d do the same for me. Wouldn’t he?
’
Once she’d made up her mind, she was in a fever to go.
She put on a slinky red
spandex
dre
ss she knew she looked great in and then
dug around in the top drawer of her dresser for the address he’d given her and the ear cuff he’d left.
“Yet a
nother reason to see him again,” she murmured to herself, glad she’d realized she had something of his that she needed to return.
She took the bus up to the club and went inside. It looked for all the world as though the same crowd were still there dancing. She fairly flew up the spiral stairs.
The same man met her at the top
, with no more interest in her than before, and moved to let her inside.
When he did, a familiar face caught her off guard.