Between the soft cushions and the fragrant sea breeze blowing through the window, I was having the best nap of my life. The kind of nap you only get when you're exhausted down to your very soul. I lost all track of time as soon as I closed my eyes. In my dreams, I saw Zarbonov. Back home with me, smiling and whispering to me.

"Open your eyes, Kai'jan," he said. "Welcome your mate home."

I took a deep breath, inhaling the air around me. Salt water, incense, and a familiar spicy musk. Almost like coriander. Zarbonov. I rolled over, burying my nose in his chest.

"If this is a dream, you'll disappear when I open my eyes," I whispered. "I'd rather have you back. Even if it's only a dream."

He chuckled, a low sound that rumbled through his chest and made the tip of my nose shake. "Are human dreams so vivid that they can make a person appear from thin air?"

"A desperate mind can make up all sorts of things."

Zarbonov slid his fingers beneath my chin and tilted my face up to meet his. He wrapped his free arm around me, pulling our bodies close together as he brushed his lips across mine. "Then open your eyes, Ella jan Zarbonov, and be sure that I'm with you. That I will never be far from your side."

I opened my eye lids just a sliver. Blue skin, a sliver of a gray scar on his bare shoulder. Zarbonov. I reached forward and wrapped my arms around him. I still felt like living death, but for the moment, I had my husband back, and that was enough to lift my spirits.

"What took you so long?" I wrinkled my nose so he would know I meant to tease him.

He slid his hand down the length of my body, stopping for a moment to linger on the curve of my hip. "The men on the cruiser were cowards in life and in death. But that doesn't matter. Carzon's servant told me you were ill."

I leaned forward, kissing his lips so he couldn't ruin the moment. When his interest turned from questions about my health to snaking his tongue past my lips, I pulled away and replaced my lips with my finger.

"In a minute. I promise we can talk about it in a minute. Can't I just enjoy having you back for a minute before we talk about anything serious?"

Zarbonov laughed and pulled away from my hand. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back close to him again. "How can I refuse when you use such clever tactics to convince me?"

"You can't. That's kind of the point. But since you're willing to give me what I want . . ." I kissed him again. This time, I didn't break away when his tongue swept over my mouth. This time, I parted my lips, letting his tongue glide over mine.

Zarbonov's fingers tugged at the hem of my dress. He slid the fabric up to my belly, running his free hand over my bare skin. When he pulled back, he was breathless, his eyes already dark and hungry for me.

"I missed you too, Kai'jan," he whispered.

A low moan escaped my lips as his hands moved back up, gliding over the curves of my breasts. His cock throbbed and hardened against my thigh.

"Do you recognize this room?" I asked.

Zarbonov tugged the laces of my bodice loose, dipping his fingers into the gap to separate the edges. He caught one of my nipples between his fingers and tweaked it gently. "Woman, how many mating chambers do you think I've been in?"

I giggled, but the sound ended in a moan as Zarbonov caressed my breast. "Strange that we're about to do what I refused to do that night."

If I knew then what I know now. If I had known that Zarbonov's lips, his fingers, would make my skin burn and my heart throb, known that his arms would be the safest hiding place I had ever known, that despite the way our lives came together, I would fall in love with him . . . if I’d known all that back then, I might have made a different decision.

"You wouldn't have enjoyed our mating that night," he said. "Before, I would have had no idea how to please you, and little drive to find out."

Zarbonov shifted his body weight, rolling our bodies so that he hovered over me. "I didn't, for example, know that your heat gets wet from the mere brush of my cock against it."

The bulge of his growing cock settled between my folds, drawing another moan from me. He paused to kiss me, then moved down my body, dragging his tongue along my skin as he went. I writhed beneath him, panting softly.

"No, I guess you wouldn't have taken the time to figure that out."

He paused at the curve of my inner thigh. His cheek brushed my pussy as he leaned forward to press a kiss to the sensitive flesh there. I gasped and shuddered.

"And the taste of you on my tongue?" He leaned forward and tasted me. A single, leisurely lick, as if he meant to savor each individual note. "No, I would never have dreamed I would enjoy it so much."

Zarbonov lowered his mouth to me again, sucking my clit and rolling it between his lips. He’d studied me with the same intensity I had studied his culture. Over the weeks, Zarbonov had found every sensitive inch of skin, every key to make me fold up and offer myself to him. He found ways that even I hadn't known existed.

I bucked my hips against his tongue, gasping for air. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me, washing away all of my fears and doubts. Pushing me toward the finish.

"Zarbonov!" I reached down, catching Zarbonov's hands and interlocking our fingers as the first throbs of an orgasm clamped down on me.

He kissed my thigh again as the last shocks faded. "No, Kai'jan. I wouldn't have known what you needed that night. Which would have been a shame."

Zarbonov moved up the length of my body, brushing his hot skin across mine. His lips locked on mine as he slid his cock inside me. I moaned and wrapped my legs around him, following his body for a moment as he pulled back, only to slide home again.

The headaches had stolen my stamina. I fought my second climax as it approached, desperately trying to hold onto this moment with him for a little while longer. It had been days since I'd felt him between my thighs. Days since I’d felt his cock thrust into me, teasing the deepest parts of me.

Zarbonov leaned back and bent forward. He caught my right nipple between his teeth as he thrust and sucked, teasing the peak with his tongue. I tumbled over the edge, clinging to him and screaming as I rode the waves. My Kai'jan grunted and froze, moaning as he emptied into me.

When we were finished, he rolled behind me, wrapping himself around me like a warm, living blanket.

"Why?" I whispered, blinking my eyes and willing the drowsiness away. It wasn't working.

"Why what, Kai'jan?" He pulled me close again. His fingers caressed my cheek and neck.

"Why would it have been a shame if we’d fucked the first night?"

Zarbonov shrugged. "Because then, I wouldn't have gotten what I needed."

He said it with such conviction that I had to laugh. "You sound so sure!"

"I am as certain of that as of the fact that I will love you for the rest of my days," he said, catching my lips with his again. "Rest now. I will watch over you, and when you wake up, we'll go home and you can tell me what happened while I was away."

I closed my eyes and curled up in his arms. The breeze and the sound of Zarbonov's breath lulled me into a state of relaxation I hadn't felt in days. When I was with him, I felt safe. When I was with him, it felt like home.

"I love you, too," I whispered.

I am Ella jan Zarbonov, and I'm in love with an alien warrior.