Chapter Five
Toni
Music blasted from speakers, carnival lights strobed the night, and the smell of fish, fried food, and saltwater filled the air as Aton and I walked hand in hand along the pier. I felt sixteen again, and Aton had the wide-eyed look of a child as he gawked at the whirling lights, the colorful people, the food booths, the squawking seagulls.
He’d laughed through the roller-coaster and Ferris wheel rides and had been eager to try the Tilt-a-Whirl, but before we’d come to it, he’d eaten two hot dogs, a bag of kettle corn, an order of chili fries, an ice cream cone, and a funnel cake, so I suggested he let the food settle for a while.
“What’s that?” He pointed to a vendor’s pink confection.
“Cotton candy.”
“You make candy out of cloth?”
I laughed. “No. Out of sugar. It’s called cotton candy because the sugar is spun until it turns fluffy.”
“I would like to try some fluffy food.”
“One,” I told the vendor.
“You’re not having any?” Aton asked.
“I can’t eat the way you do. You must have a hollow leg.”
He glanced down. “My legs are filled with bones, muscles, tendons, and blood.”
I laughed. He was so darn cute. His lack of familiarity with Earth made him appear guileless and unsophisticated, except I’d seen evidence of his quick, keen mind and his resourcefulness. It astounded and impressed me that he’d landed on an unfamiliar planet in one of the largest cities in the country, and with nothing but my name, had tracked me down.
The vendor handed him the cotton candy, and Aton stared at it.
“You eat it like this.” I pinched off a bit and slipped it into my mouth.
Aton did the same, and he widened his eyes. “It melts away to nothing! Much Earth food is very sweet. I like it.”
We moved away from the cotton-candy stand and continued our stroll along the dock. I’d rushed home from the office to get ready for our date and plan what to do. I’d considered taking him to Griffith Park Observatory to see the stars, but then realized he’d traveled across the solar system in a spaceship—he’d seen plenty of stars. Had it been daytime, we could have gone on a horseback ride, or strolled through the Exposition Rose Garden. Where did one go on a date with an extraterrestrial? Gondola ride? Ordinary dinner and dancing?
In the end, I’d chosen the pier because the lively atmosphere and colorful people provided the perfect cover. Aton would blend in, his alienness would attract no attention, and we could be alone in our anonymity, an ordinary couple on a normal date. At the pier, you saw all kinds of people, many of them into extreme body modification. Who would notice a seven-foot-tall dude with itty-bitty horns wearing buckskins when lizard girl darted around and human cat man prowled the pier?
“You would like my sister’s bakery. Your Just Desserts bakes the best cupcakes. Lexi added a new flavor—oh, shoot! I should have taken you there. She has—macha muffins. Macha is from your planet, right?”
“Yes. But I’m happy to see anything you wish to show me.” He waved the cotton candy. “I’ve eaten a lot of macha, but until now, I’ve never had cotton candy, or funnel cakes, or ice cream. Earth cuisine is delicious.”
I hated to think I’d gotten him hooked on junk food. Maybe I should have introduced him to broccoli and kale.
He moved closer. “I just want to be with you, Toni.” His voice deepened, and those cute little horns swelled and pulsed. I stared at his full, velvety lips. Kiss me. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your work or get you into trouble with your tribe leader.”
“You didn’t. I’m sorry if I seemed abrupt.” I’d brushed him off and had regretted it—especially after the way he’d growled at Phillip. I hadn’t needed his intervention, but I appreciated him rushing to my side. It was like he was trying to protect me, and it gave me the warm fuzzies.
Philip hadn’t ever made me feel protected or loved. In our best days, our interactions were lukewarm and cordial. After we’d broken up and I analyzed the immensity of my relief, I realized I’d never trusted him. Though he’d never threatened me in any way during our courtship or engagement, I’d been a little afraid of him, which partly accounted for why I’d waited until the actual wedding day to break it off. Safety in numbers.
“Did you finish your work?” Aton asked.
“I did,” I replied, grinning. I’d won. “The jury found in favor of Shop-Mart!”
Winning tasted sweet, but beating my ex put a cherry on the cake. I’d hoped we could be civil, but the gloves had come off the day I’d returned to the firm after the aborted wedding. Then I saw the side of him I’d always secretly feared. He skipped no opportunity to belittle me or disparage my work, embarrassing me in front of colleagues and clients, creating a hostile environment.
“Did you see how she limped to the witness stand to generate sympathy? She tried to milk Shop-Mart for as much money as she could get. The jury saw through—” I gave a rueful smile. “Sorry for rattling on. My work isn’t as interesting to others as it is to me.”
“Everything about you interests me.” His husky voice felt like a caress.
I rubbed my palms on my denim shorts. “Everything about you interests me, too. I want to know all about you, your life on Dakon, what you did today after you left me…”
“I went to the movies.” He plucked a strand of fluff from the swirl and ate it. “I had popcorn and something called Raisinets. They were chewy and sweet.”
“What did you see?”
“The movie was called Star Battle. There was a lot of fighting with spaceships and flashing lights and explosions, but also a mating. He was a pilot, and she was the leader of the fleet. They were forbidden to mate because of fraternization, but they would sneak off and mesh mouths.” He paused. “The movie reminded me of how and why I came to Earth.”
“Because you were on a spaceship?”
“Because of this.” He leaned in and kissed me. He brushed my mouth, and the kiss could have ended there, except I deepened the contact, parting my lips and touching him with the tip of my tongue. He groaned, dropped the cotton candy onto the pier, and pulled me closer.
He tasted like exotic spiced sugar, man, and alien. His lips were as full and soft as I’d imagined, gentle in exploration at first then becoming more urgent. Lights, sounds, and people blurred then faded away completely as I gave myself up to the moment.
Strong hands flattened against my back, holding me tight, and I could feel his erection growing against my belly. I caressed his cheek then stroked his hair. I nudged a horn, and, emboldened, caressed the pulsing nub with my thumb. His growl resonated in my core.
Aton pressed his lips harder to mine, infusing our kiss with greater urgency. I clung to him and surrendered to the sensations. I’d never engaged in PDA, never groped a man in public, never been kissed senseless in a crowd.
This was New Los Angeles—the Capital of Weird, where anything went—and the pier was its epicenter. Here, with Aton, I didn’t have to be the schooled and proper daughter of a wealthy, high-toned socialite with a family name and reputation to protect, or the wunderkind attorney who’d had to fight to prove she’d achieved her position on merit and not by sleeping with the big boss. I could be me. Skinny Stutterman who’d secretly longed to meet Mr. Right and fall in love. A girl who had begun to believe she might achieve her dream with a tall, horned alien with a sweet tooth and hot lips.
We broke apart, and I felt a bump as if the roller coaster had braked to a sudden stop. He flashed a grin. “Meshing mouths was even better than it looked at the movies.”
“You’ve kissed before, haven’t you?” I asked.
“That was my first kiss,” he said. “Dakonian don’t kiss—or didn’t until Earth females showed us what we were missing.”
I nodded. “I’ve heard about the Terra Dakon Goodwill Exchange Program.” The modern-day mail-order-bride program had saved the Dakonians from extinction. Their female births had been declining over the centuries after an asteroid hit the planet, causing an ice age and a viral infection that mutated their DNA. In exchange for women, a power-hungry Earth received energy-rich illuvian ore. “Why didn’t you remain on Dakon and wait for an Earth woman to come to you?”
“Because not every man gets one—in fact, only a select few do. We draw chits to determine who can have one. We’ve had several drawings, and I never got a chit.” He touched his chest. “Besides, I felt in my heart I was supposed to come here, that the Fates had chosen a mate for me, and she was on Earth.”
“So you joined the Intergalactic Dating Agency.” What a big, bold move to leave his family, friends, home, and planet in search of love. I didn’t know if I could be that brave. Isn’t love worth it, though? “What happened with your visa? The agency told me it had been denied, and you wouldn’t be arriving at all.”
“Applicants were supposed to submit character references. I had asked three friends to submit statements on my behalf.” Aton’s nostrils flared, and his lips flattened. “I didn’t find out until after the Earth guards had dragged me off the ship that one of them recommended against my emigration.”
“Why did he do that?”
He let out a huff of air. “Yokal and I were friends, but I discovered too late he opposed Dakonians leaving our planet to mate with Earth females. So, he quashed my opportunity by saying bad things about me.”
“How do you know?”
“I went to my tribe leader to see if he could find out why I had been rejected. He approached an Earth female named Andrea Simmons who assists the Council of Dakon in communications with your planet. She accessed the records and found Yokal’s statement, which stated I was a belligerent, lazy thief who caused a lot of discord, and he hoped I got accepted because Dakon needed to get rid of me.”
“That’s terrible!”
“It’s not true. None of it.”
“I know.” I touched his forearm. I never believed it for an instant, and I could see how betrayed he felt.
“My friends all submitted statements separately, and somehow Yokal’s accusation didn’t get linked to my application, so my visa got approved at first. But your authorities discovered his statement.”
Anything negative would have been grounds for denial. I recalled Jessie’s comment that immigration sought reasons to keep people out, rather than let them in. “So what did you do? How did you get them to approve your visa after all?”
A seagull swooped in and grabbed the cotton candy. Two others took up pursuit, trying to steal the prize. A tussle ensued, and the bird ended up dropping the cotton candy in the ocean. They all lost out.
“Would you like another cotton candy?” I asked, trying to sweeten the mood.
He tilted his head and flashed those white teeth of his. “Could I have another kiss instead?”
“Absolutely.” I stood on tiptoe and flung my arms around his neck. My feet left the ground as Aton lifted me up and swung me around. One of my flip-flops went flying, but I didn’t care.
“Get a room!” Somebody laughed as he swerved around us.
“Maybe you’d like to go someplace less crowded?” I suggested after he’d set me down, and I recovered my shoe.
“I would like that.” His horns gave a little twitch, and my stomach fluttered.
We returned to my convertible, parked in a nearby lot. I lowered the top and set off along Pacific Coast Highway in search of a less populated beach. I found it several miles north, among a stretch of sand dunes.
I made an illegal U-turn and grabbed a beachside parking space then raised the top and locked the car. The water had disappeared from sight under the night sky, but a briny tang and a soothing roar of crashing surf filled the air.
I kicked off my sandals. “Better remove your shoes,” I advised.
He tugged his boots off to reveal bare feet; he wore no socks. His leggings were too tight to roll up, but he managed to hike them up his shins a couple of inches.
We stepped off the road onto soft sand.
“It rolls and shifts beneath my feet,” he said.
“You don’t have sandy beaches on Dakon?”
“Only ice and snow for most of the year, and then mud during the short Thaw season. By the time the mud dries up, it is time for snow again. Your planet is very warm.” He tilted his head to study the sky. “On Dakon, the stars are vaster and brighter.”
“Our cities block out the stars.”
“I observed that from the spaceship.” He nodded. “Your planet beams its manmade light as if it is its own star.” He flashed a rueful smile. “I keep saying ‘your planet,’ but it is my planet now, too.”
“You haven’t had time to settle in. You’ve been here for…one day,” I said, surprised.
“It’s seems like I have known you for much longer.”
“I feel the same.”
He reached out, and our fingers entwined with the same ease that typified our conversation.
“Was it hard to leave?” I asked.
“No. I would have done anything to get here. I will miss my mother and father and my friends, but they’re not my future. You are.”
I squeezed his hand because his words choked me up. The sincerity resonating in his deep voice echoed my own emotions. I realized I’d been waiting for him my entire life. I’d never believed in love at first sight, but now? My heart had yearned for him. Perhaps there was something to the Fates. “I cannot imagine living another day without you.”
Slowly and gently, we kissed, our lips salty from the briny air, and if a more perfect moment existed, I couldn’t fathom what it would be. His touch and taste lingered even after we separated.
The sand dampened as the ground sloped, and frothy surf surged over our feet.
“It’s cold!” I squealed.
“It’s warm!” He laughed.
The moon drew the tide to the sea. “It feels like I’m moving!” he exclaimed.
My perceptions, my desires, my needs had shifted like the waves. Could falling in love be this easy? You met somebody, you clicked, and nature took its course?
We walked along the shore with Aton stopping to examine everything he found—a broken clam shell, a long strand of seaweed, a seagull tail feather. He picked up a piece of driftwood, but he didn’t toss it back like he had the other items. Instead, he moved up the shore, where the tides no longer rolled, and drew on the sand.
I flicked on my phone’s flashlight app and shined it on odd symbols. “What are you drawing?” It looked like a giant heart with scribbles inside.
“I am writing Aton and Toni, mates, forever. And the date. I had to guess at the spelling of your name because it doesn’t exist in my language,” he said like writing a love letter in the sand was a common occurrence. Men didn’t do those things. Courtship didn’t exist anymore; men didn’t woo women with romantic gestures, they got laid and sought out the next conquest.
“Oh, Aton.” The crash could have been mistaken for the waves hitting the shore, but it was me falling hard and fast in love. My toes might be curled into the sand of a New California beach, but this was a different Earth than the planet I’d been born on. Aton had whisked me away to a place where Prince Charming was real, and dreams did come true.
“I wanted to record our mating. On Dakon, we list our names and dates in a big tome called the Book of Records.” He stood back and studied the sand. “Is this back far enough, or will the ocean erase it?”
It would be gone at the next high tide.
“We can record it with my phone.” I stood back and snapped a picture. The flash lit up the beach. Sand crabs scuttled into their hidey holes. “See?” I showed him the picture.
“Perfect.” He beamed from ear to ear and then stole a quick kiss with an ease and comfort that took my breath away.
“Here…” I wrapped an arm around his waist and held up my cell. “Let’s get a selfie. Smile.” We examined the photo. You could practically see the stars in my eyes, I looked so happy.
“Your technology is incredible,” he said. “I would love to show you my planet—I wish we had images of what it looked like before the asteroid hit. We used to have big cities and industry, but even then we didn’t have the technology Earth does.”
We moved to a dry area and sat down, and I showed him how to swipe through the photo gallery. His eyes widened at a shot of my sister and Darak. “I know him!” he exclaimed.
“Yes, he’s from Dakon. He married my sister last week. Are you friends?”
“Not close friends, but Dakon’s population is so small, and we’re familiar with many by name or sight.”
“When the Intergalactic Dating Agency said you couldn’t come here, Darak insisted you would find a way.”
“I would always find a way. You’re my mate.”
It didn’t sound so weird anymore when he called me that. We’d connected, bonded already. Call it infatuation, a crush, chemistry, love, whatever—I was head over heels with it.
I cupped his cheek and leaned toward him. He met me halfway, and our lips teased sweetly. Innate shyness prevented me from putting emotions into words, so I tried to show him how much I cared, how amazing he was, how much it meant that he’d come all this way. He’d pursued me halfway across the galaxy. How romantic was that?
His soft growl resonated through flesh and bone, melting my body into goo. I hugged his neck. His taste and scent filled my head and senses, and it became natural for us to sink into the sand and embrace hip to hip, chest to chest. His hand flattened on my spine then slid down to cup my bottom. The length of his desire pressed against my abdomen.
We kissed long and deep, soulfully, conveying with touch our desire and longing. I smoothed my hands over his chest, admiring the toned musculature. He squeezed my breast, rubbing the beaded nipple with his thumb, sending electric pulses arcing through me. He grabbed fistfuls of my hair and buried his face in it. I traced the line of his jaw then slid my hand upward to caress his horns. His entire body jerked, and a hungry growl erupted from his throat, sending my own desire careening. The situation was heating up fast.
This was our first date. “Aton…” I nibbled on his lip. “Maybe we should stop.”
“Stop what?” He nuzzled my throat, and I arched my neck. Velvet lips drew across my skin, his teeth scraping lightly, and my train of thought derailed.
“Uh…something…I…don’t know.” Hadn’t I been waiting for this man my entire life? Hadn’t I wanted to be bolder? To live life on my own terms? If I chose to sleep with a buff, horned alien on a first date, why shouldn’t I?
His breath warmed my skin as he chuckled. “Stop this?” Clasping my wrist, he kissed the inside, and my pulse went wild. He pressed my hand to his chest. “Or this?” His heart thudded as hard as mine. Warm breath caressed my face as he sighed. “You’re right. Anyone could happen upon us. This is the not the place.”
That’s how befuddled he’d gotten me—I’d forgotten we were on a public beach. It would be a real bummer to get arrested for lewd and lascivious public behavior. Even a misdemeanor conviction for moral turpitude was grounds for disbarment.
Besides, I’d get sand in body cavities where sand shouldn’t go.
Sex on the beach was best experienced as a cocktail before or after making love in bed.
“Why don’t we finish this at my place?” I said.