My palms are damp with sweat, and I swipe them over my fitted skirt before grabbing the doorknob outside the small room where Hunter TS-501 is waiting for me. There were only supposed to be five hundred alien men available for the beta testing of the Intergalactic Dating agency, a program I run for the United States government. But one of my best friends, Mandy, managed to get herself into trouble with her match, and I had to negotiate with the planet Eroscia to get her back to Earth.

Hunter was part of the deal. Not only do I hate that I have an extra alien on my hands, but who runs an experiment with five hundred and one test subjects?

My low heels click over the vinyl floor like a ticking time bomb as I walk toward the meeting table. Hunter is the hottest male I’ve ever seen, and I’m struggling to control my sexual desire for him. His body appears chiseled to perfection and on the border of being overdone like a bodybuilder without quite crossing that line. He’s got green eyes that make me think of mossy forest floors, and when he grins at me.... yeah. I clear my throat as if that will ensure my voice won’t come out in a breathy tone. I don’t want to let my coworker Nate know I have sex on my mind, because even thinking about Hunter’s physical attributes is highly unprofessional.

Hunter is on one side of the rectangular table, and my chair scrapes as I pull it out to sit across from him and next to Nate. I hold Hunter’s gaze as I get settled, and I lift my chin.

Nate says, “Good afternoon, Lexi. Hunter and I were just getting to know each other.”

Our file on Hunter is slim. When he was brought to me on Eroscia, he’d been handcuffed, and the fire in his eyes screamed danger. I was assured he was safe, and his restraints were removed before we left. Hunter’s been physically compliant since arriving here, which has tamped down my fears he was dangerous, but he also refuses to talk. While Caiden, my friend Mandy’s new alien husband, informed me Hunter knows our language, the test subject won’t prove it. I force my anger aside and manage to speak with a businesslike tone. “And what have you found out?”

“Nothing, but he knows a lot about me now.” Nate’s eyes twinkle with amusement. “I even tortured him with stories about my kids.”

My temperature ratchets up a few degrees as Hunter meets my challenge and continues to stare intently at me. I swear an electric arc sizzles between us when I look into his eyes. It’s as if I’m laid bare before him and he wants to devour me. Although, by the way Hunter’s chest heaves, I think he feels it too. I suspect he makes our chemistry happen on purpose, and I resent it. I’ve yet to uncover all the things the aliens can do.

“Well, well,” says Nate. “It appears TS-501 is affected by a pretty lady. Perhaps you’ll have better luck getting information out of him than I did.”

I take in the T-shirt straining to cover Hunter’s massive chest, and I wish it were me wrapped around his rock-hard muscle. A feral man is great in my fantasies but not in my real life. I need to get this guy a human female. Fast. And that starts with getting him to speak. “I know this isn’t where you’d like to be, Hunter. But if you choose to make the best of this situation, I’m sure you’ll like some of the perks Earth has to offer. I know Caiden loves the food here. Have you enjoyed your meals so far?”

According to Mandy, the food on Eroscia tastes like cardboard, and while Hunter has only eaten cafeteria-style meals on Earth, they have to be better than what he’s used to. He shrugs and follows the gesture by raising his eyebrows as if daring me. There’s a fire in his eyes as his gaze falls to my mouth, and my first thought is that I’m what he’d like to be eating.

I lick my lips and notice his pupils widen. “You know,” I say as I reach in my purse for my phone. “We haven’t given Hunter a good sample of what food really tastes like here.”

The phone is slick in my hand, and it clunks on the table when I drop it. A small noise comes from Hunter, and I glance up at him. He’s got a look on his face that makes me think he knows how he’s affecting me. I quickly pick my cell up again, and I pull up the menu for my favorite steakhouse. It takes me a moment to focus, and I pretend I’m still searching as I imagine the hot alien across from me with a beer belly and body odor that turns my stomach.

I look at Hunter as I continue to see him as someone unattractive. “Perhaps a full stomach will help you with your speech problem?” He gives me a stone-cold stare. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I turn to my coworker. “Are you hungry, Nate? I’m ordering from Silver’s.”

“You buying?”

I smile at Nate. He’s one of the good guys left on Earth who haven’t taken advantage of the serious lack of men. He believes in traditional values like monogamy and marriage for life. Because he supports a family with five children, and I make more money than he does I say, “The sky’s the limit.”

“Prime rib for me.”

I survey the steak options as I decide what would have the most flavor and manage to satisfy the hunger of the large alien sitting across from me. I consider ordering a whole cow, but go with the porterhouse for Hunter and a petite-cut filet mignon for me.

After I make the phone call, Nate says, “Dude, you might start talking after these steaks. Or at least make a few noises when you eat yours.”

Hunter leans back to cross his arms and lets out a low noise that reverberates through my body, making me vibrate like a tuning fork. Heat rises to my cheeks as I imagine his moans of pleasure, and I drop my gaze to my folder. This situation is tempting me more than it should. I am a stickler for rules, and there is no way I would ever get involved with one of the test subjects for the Intergalactic Dating Agency’s beta test. No matter how much he makes me want to strip naked, scramble across the table, and tear his clothes off.

I open the file in an attempt to look busy, but one piece of paper doesn’t offer much of a distraction, and it flutters when I pick it up and then set it back down. I take a chance and meet Hunter’s gaze. “Let’s recap what’s got to happen in the next few weeks, Hunter.” The sexy alien’s chair creaks as sits up straight. “We---” He lifts his shirt up slowly to remove it, and it thumps softly on the floor. I manage to squeak out, “Um—you.”

He sexily sweeps his tongue across his plump lower lip. I blink to keep from launching myself across the table at him, sucking in his delectable lip and straddling his lap to feel him between my---

Nate asks, “Lexi, are you okay?”

I shake my head to clear it. “Fine.” A strand of hair has come loose from my neat chignon, and I tuck it behind my ear as I make a mental note to redo my hairdo when I get a break. “As I was saying, we need to get the information necessary to enter Hunter into our database and find--” The stray lock of my hair tickles my neck as it magically gets tucked back into the coil of hair on the back of my head. “--him a match.” I stare at Hunter. Did he just do that? A tingle dances across my scalp as if his fingers were combing through my hair to tug out my bun. I envision shaking out my hair and....

As if he heard my thoughts, Hunter gives me a lazy, smoldering smile as my hairpins give way. They rain down on the table as my locks tumble to my shoulders. Oh my god! I quickly grab my hair and twist it back into place. If he can move my hair, and make chemistry spark between us, what else can he do? What else will he do? I think about my friend Mandy and wonder if her alien, Caiden, can do the same. I shake my head. I’ve got to pull myself together!

Items rattle in my purse as I search for something to write with. “Since you aren’t going to talk, perhaps we can ask the questions and you can write down the answers.”

Nate produces a yellow legal pad and slides it across the table as I hand Hunter a pen. Big mistake on my part, because he latches onto my wrist with a tight grip. I inhale sharply as adrenaline and lust surge in my bloodstream.

“Hey!” Nate jumps up from his chair while Hunter grins at me and grabs the pen with his other hand. He lets me go.

He’s taunting me. And I don’t like this game one bit.

Nate uses a stern tone as if he could somehow overpower an alien twice his size and says, “Pull a stunt like that again and we will cuff you.”

Hunter scowls at Nate with what I think is amusement before he wipes at his massive chest as if he’s brushing off lint. All it does is draw my eye to his perfect body and make my pulse pound in my head. My thoughts are clouded with stripping him naked. Holy hot alien, I’m a mess. I say, “I’m going to go check on the food.” While I know an executive assistant would bring our take-out to the meeting room, I need to get away from Hunter before I do something stupid.

The moment I get out of the room, the temperature feels like it drops ten degrees, which is crazy since our building is carefully climate controlled. I think about how Hunter undid my hair and the way my insides are trembling with the need for him to touch me in other places. His presence is overwhelming me, and I’m embarrassed that I can’t get my desire under control. If anyone who works for me were this flustered, I’d yank them from the project so fast their head would spin. And then I’d send them to sexual harassment training for a week.

The door to the ladies’ room squeaks when I push it open, and I walk over to the sinks. My purse thumps on the counter, and I search for my brush so I can fix my hair. After two attempts, I achieve perfection and sigh. That hotter-than-Hades alien may think he has the upper hand, but he’s messing with the wrong human. In a test of wills, I always win.