Chapter Four
Darak
My mate needed me. The attack outside her bakery shop confirmed Earth was a violent, dangerous place.
I needed her. There could be no other female for me. Humming in the center of my being, her magnetism tugged at me even when I wasn’t in her presence.
Convincing her of the rightness was the problem. Despite our obvious attraction, she had hardened her heart against me, and I didn’t understand why. I suspected more than the robbery had scared her. But what? Why join the Intergalactic Dating Agency if not to seek a mate?
I had decided giving her time to reflect and perhaps miss me would begin to topple the walls she’d erected, so I’d stayed away. Now the weekend approached, and if I waited any longer, she might find somebody else to escort her to her sister’s wedding.
Squaring my shoulders, I strode up to her door.
It sprang open before I could knock.
“Darak! You got my message. I didn’t think the agency would give it to you.”
“Yes, I received it.” They’d informed me she’d cancelled her membership and offered me a refund or another match. I’d declined both. They then informed me I would have a week to vacate the barracks where I was staying. I didn’t care. It would be Lexi—or no one.
“I couldn’t reach you.” Her gaze flicked over me from head to toe. “You look…nice. Different, but nice.”
“I purchased Earth clothing.” I wore new leggings called khakis and a white tunic with fastenings all the way up the front. I’d rolled the long sleeves to my elbows. Instead of furry boots, I wore brown leather deck shoes. The new clothing felt stiff and unfamiliar, but not uncomfortable, and it was cooler than my kel hide clothing. People still stared at me, though.
“You did well picking it out,” she said.
“A salesman at the store helped me. I told him I needed clothing to properly court my female, and he selected this outfit. He also invited me to play on his sports team.”
“That’s nice. What sport does he play?”
“I don’t know, but he said if I ever decided to swing both ways and hit for the other team, I should give him a call.”
Lexi choked a little like she was trying not to laugh. I didn’t understand the amusement, but I loved seeing her smile again. Her expression sobered. “You still want to date me?”
“I never stopped wanting to.”
“I was afraid you’d decided not to see me anymore. You refused to let me drive you home.”
“You’re my mate. Of course I want to see you.”
“Oh, Darak.” She sagged against the door for a moment then straightened. “Would you like to come in?” She stepped aside.
I entered, inhaling her scent as I passed by. I’d dreamed of her vanilla fragrance, how she looked, her laugh, her smile. And her cupcakes. I’d dreamed of them, too. However, nothing compared to being in her presence. I needed to know how she felt and where I stood. “Have you changed your mind about going out with me?”
Eyes wide, she bit her lip and then nodded. “Yes. I decided to risk it.”
“Obah!” I let out a cheer. She smiled, and I grinned, too. “So why did you cancel your membership?”
“So the agency wouldn’t fix me up with anybody else—but after terminating my membership, I lost the access to the dating agency ’Net site, so I didn’t have a way to contact you. I didn’t have your address or a phone number. I asked the agency to pass on a message, but they refused, saying it would violate their privacy policy. I hoped you would call me, but you didn’t, and then I started to think I’d succeeded in running you off.”
“The only message I received said you’d cancelled your membership.”
“I’m surprised you came to see me after everything I said and not hearing from me.”
“I left my home planet and flew three months on a spaceship to get here. Do you think I’d give up so easily?”
“Put like that, I guess not.” She lifted her shoulders. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I need you, Lexi. You fill my heart. You need me, too—to go to your sister’s wedding, to keep you safe. Your planet is dangerous.” I hoped with time she would realize she desired me the way I desired her, but for now it was enough to have a small place in her life.
“That’s sweet of you, but the incident the other night gave you the wrong idea about Earth. It’s not dangerous. That was the first and only time I’ve ever been mugged.”
“Once is too often,” I said. “And there were two weapons under the big metal box.”
“Well…”
“Did they apprehend the man?”
She shook her head. “I called the sergeant yesterday. Either the mugger never sought medical treatment, or no one at the hospital noticed the alert and notified the police. I had to have the light outside my bakery fixed, get a new driver’s license, and cancel all my credit cards because he took my wallet.” She planted her hands on her hips and scowled at me. “You never should have jumped him. He could have shot you—killed you.”
She cared. My heart and horns swelled. Maybe she needed me just a little in the special way mates yearned for each other.
“Promise me you won’t do anything like that ever again,” she said.
“I can’t promise that.” As much as I wished to please her, I couldn’t lie. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
“You have to.”
I folded my arms and regarded her irate expression with a happy heart. “If Earth is as safe as you claim, then I shouldn’t have to promise. There shouldn’t be another occasion when I’ll have to defend you.” I canted my head. “Is your planet safe or isn’t it?”
She huffed. “Well…well…as long as you don’t venture into certain areas… We’ll have to agree to steer clear of sketchy neighborhoods so the necessity won’t arise.”
“Perfect.” I grinned.
A large wheeled travel bag rested against the wall. Rubbing her palms together, she glanced at it then me. She exhaled a long breath. “Are you sure you want to attend my sister’s wedding with me?”
“I’m looking forward to it.” To spend time with Lexi, I would go anywhere. However, I also wished to meet her family and observe a Terran mating ceremony.
“Most men would freak to be asked to a wedding on such short acquaintanceship.”
“I’m not most men.”
“No kidding.” She grinned. “We’ll need to leave this afternoon to beat the traffic. You’ll be gone all weekend; you won’t get back until Monday.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
“You haven’t met my family. You have no idea what you’re getting into.”
“But I’ll be with you.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best to run interference and protect you.”
It was my honor to protect her, not the other way around, but my lips twitched with humor. “Because Earth is so safe, right?”
She laughed. “Earth is safe. My mother?” She scrunched up her face. Then she said, “We should leave now so we can stop at a men’s big-and-tall store to get you something to wear for the wedding.”
“I have clothing.”
“Besides what you have on. You’ll need clothes for four days, plus something formal for the wedding.”
“I have additional garments. When I told the man at the store about your sister’s wedding, he picked out clothes for me.”
Her jaw dropped. “You told him you were going to my sister’s wedding? While we were broken up? You were sure of yourself, weren’t you?”
I was sure of myself; my feelings wouldn’t change. I’d been much less certain of her and whether I could convince her to go out with me again, but I had intended to be prepared in case the situation worked out in my favor. “Of myself? Yes. Of you? Not at all,” I answered honestly.
“I don’t mean to be difficult or mean or bitchy or controlling. All of this”—she waved her hands in circles—“is new to me, too. I’ve never met a man like you, and things are moving so fast, it’s like life pulled the rug out from under me.”
My pulse raced with alarm. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No-no—it is good, it’s just…scary.”
I moved closer, and she peered up at me with wide eyes. She wet her lips. My body reacted immediately, blood heating and surging to my loins. The urge to press my mouth to hers and do that Terran kissing thing pounded a seductive rhythm, but I sensed we teetered on a whisper and a promise of what could be, and a misstep on my part could destroy the fragile beginning. “It’s scary for me, too,” I said.
She smiled. “And you haven’t met my mother yet.”
* * * *
I folded my knees to my chest and crooked my neck at an angle, but my head still pressed against the roof of the vehicle Lexi called a sports car.
“This isn’t going to work. You’re bent over like a pretzel. We have to take the work van.” A slow smile spread over her face. “Remind me to honk when we pull into the drive so Mother doesn’t miss our arrival.”
I crawled out, we changed vehicles, and Lexi drove to the barracks so I could retrieve my new clothes.
To my disappointment, the dorm was vacant. I would have liked to introduce her to the others.
Lexi surveyed the dozen cots lined up against the blank white wall. “Military surplus. Gee, the agency spared no expense in putting you guys up, did they?”
“This one is mine.” I strode to the middle of the row and slung my borrowed suitcase onto my bunk. I opened my metal footlocker and pulled out three bulging big paper bags from the men’s store.
“Do you even fit on that bed?” Lexi stood beside me.
“Mostly,” I replied. “My feet only hang over by about this much.” I spread my hands about a shoulder’s width apart.
“That’s what I thought. Let me help you.” She set the carryall bag she was lending me on the bed and removed the items from one sack. “This is a nice suit.” She nodded approvingly as she held up the loose-fitting leggings and an open long-sleeved tunic the color of burnt wood.
“That’s charcoal,” I explained. “Bruce said it would be appropriate for a wedding. I’m supposed to wear it with these.” I held up a white tunic similar to the one I had on and a long green sash. He’d told me the wedding would require me to tie the sash around my neck, so I chose the green one because it reminded me of Lexi’s eyes.
“Bruce?”
“The man at the store who helped me.”
“Ah, the one with the sports team.” She picked up a small card that had fallen out of the bag. “It was a pleasure serving you. If there’s anything at all I can help you with, call me! Bruce.” She grinned. “You have an admirer.”
“Who?”
Her smiled broadened, and she waved the card. “Bruce.”
“I’d prefer you were my admirer.” The admission slipped out before I could consider the prudence of uttering it.
Our gazes locked. Her smile disappeared, but the emotion in her eyes sent my pulse and hopes soaring.
“I-I am,” she said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Ever since Saturday night.”
I reached out and touched her hair, curling a lock around my finger. It was smoother and softer than the silk neck sash I’d bought. Her breathing hitched, and she brushed her cheek against my palm. Caution and good intentions evaporated in the heat coursing through me. I tilted my palm, tipped up her chin, stepped close, and pressed my lips to hers.
Her sweet breath caressed my face as she moaned and wound her arms around my neck. Our lips separated, and then she touched the tip of her tongue to mine. I growled and pulled her closer, instinct and desire driving my actions to know her, to please her, to discover more secret delights.
We drew back, our lips lingered with the merest touch, and then we dove in for another searing kiss.
Finally we parted, and she clutched the lapels of my tunic and rested her forehead against my shoulder. “Wow,” she said in a shaky voice.
I closed my arms around her, breathed in her vanilla scent, and rubbed my cheek against her silky hair. “On my planet, we say, ‘obah.’”
* * * *
I stared in fascination at the white-capped surf rolling and crashing onto the sandy shore, only to be dragged back to the dark-blue sea. People splashed and swam in the ocean while, farther out, others balanced on boards carried by the waves.
“What are the oceans like on Dakon?” Lexi asked, wending the van along the curved highway.
“If we have one, I haven’t seen it. Or it might be frozen.”
“You don’t know if your planet has an ocean?”
“Though our planet is much smaller than Earth, it is still too large for us to travel a great distance on foot or even by snow skimmer. The farthest I have ever been from my camp is maybe four tripta.”
“A tripta is…”
“The distance a man walking at a steady pace can cover in an hour.”
“That’s about three, three and a half miles. So you’ve never been more than twelve to fifteen miles from home? Wow.”
“Until now. I’m millions of tripta from home.” Except, I lived on Earth, I reminded myself. I was home. Once I got acclimated to my new planet, I’d move out of the dorm into my own hut somewhere. Of course, once Lexi accepted me as her mate, we would live together. “Why do you call your planet Earth if so much of it is covered by water?”
“It was named a long time ago when our people, like yours, didn’t travel long distances, so they couldn’t see what was there. Also, water only covers the surface. Underneath is mostly rock. So, it kinda still is earth.”
“Dakon should be called Illuvian Ore, then. Or Ice.”
Along the ocean’s shore, umbrellas and blankets added spots of color to the stretch of sand where people wearing tiny scraps of cloth lay on their backs and stomachs. “Why do they bother with such minuscule clothing?” I asked. “Why not just go naked?”
Lexi grinned. “We have designated nude beaches, but everywhere else, you have to wear at least a bathing suit. You didn’t bring swimming trunks, did you? I don’t remember seeing any when we packed your stuff.”
“No.”
“My parents’ estate has a pool, but I don’t expect there will be much time for swimming, anyway. The schedule is booked—” She jerked her head around and looked at me. “You had socks, but I don’t recall seeing underwear.”
“That’s because I don’t have any.”
“None? You’re not wearing underwear? No boxers, jockey shorts, T-shirt?”
I shrugged. “When I was buying clothing, Bruce asked if I wanted some, but I told him I didn’t need it.
“But you don’t have any,” she said slowly.
“Because I don’t need any.” I shrugged.
She trained her eyes on the winding road. “Commando. I should have guessed.”
We had been driving for more than a couple hours when we left the beach highway and veered up a winding mountain road. “It won’t be long now,” Lexi said, gripping the steering apparatus with white knuckles. Her breath whooshed as she exhaled.
The forest became more orderly, less wild, and I spied a rock barrier, half-hidden by trees, running parallel to the road. Arriving at a metal gate, Lexi pulled up to a stone post, rolled down the window, and pressed a button.
“Yes?” came a male voice.
“It’s Lexi—Alexandra,” she said.
The gate swung open, and she sped along a road to a massive stone-and-glass house towered against a craggy mountain range. The home had to be at least three houses high, with arched windows stretching from the ground to the eaves of the pitched roof.
Lexi steered the van onto another road circling in front of the dwelling.
“You wanted to honk, remember?” I said.
“Thanks for reminding me.” She palmed the steering wheel center, and the van tooted.
She’d no sooner stopped in front of the entrance than an older man bounded down the steps. He sprinted to Lexi’s side. “Welcome home, Miss Alexandra. It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you again.”
“Thank you, Giles.”
I started to push my door open, and Giles hurried around to my side.
“This is Darak. He’s accompanying me this weekend,” she said.
“Pleased to meet you, sir,” he said.
“Nice to meet you,” I replied.
“Go on inside.” Giles motioned to Lexi. “I’ll get your luggage and garage your van.”
“We got the suitcases,” Lexi said.
“I wouldn’t hear of it. And neither would Mrs. Sutterman.”
“Right.” Her smiles with Giles had been warm, but at the mention of her mother’s name, her expression closed up.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she muttered as we climbed the steps to the huge wood-and-glass double door decorated with scrolling metalwork. “We can turn around and pretend we never came. Giles won’t tell.”
“Are you joking? This is your sister’s mating ceremony. You should be here, and I would like to be with you.”
“Then, brace yourself.” She pushed open the door.