Caiden holds up the TV remote. “Show me how this works.”

“Not going to happen.” The cold handle on the fridge door does little to cool me off as I yank. A pitcher clatters as I grab cold water to help cool my temper instead. “Besides, aren’t you some kind of technical genius?”

“Are you always this touchy?” asks Caiden. The remote clatters on the coffee table when he tosses it, and he looks my way.

I take satisfaction in the fact he wasn’t clever enough to figure out such a commonplace device. “Are you always such a jerk?”

He frowns. “I wasn’t trying to be. On Eroscia, women want to please a man, unless they don’t like him. I thought you enjoyed our kissing.” He shrugs, and I force my gaze to stay on his eyes instead of watching his well-formed muscles flex. “Did you not?”

I sigh and wonder if maybe the issue is a cultural barrier we need to get past. “I did like the way you kissed me. But you don’t order human women around. I like to have a choice in when I take off my clothes, and you acted as if it were your decision to make for me.”

He nods and rises from the couch. “I see. So earth women are used to making choices for themselves.”

His brow knits as if this is news to him, and I wonder if he got any training at all. “Yes. And if we’re going to work this is not negotiable.” It’s possible since the beta program hadn’t even started yet Caiden may not have all the knowledge he should have. “What did they tell you about human women before you came?”

The playful twinkle in Caiden’s eyes returns. “You like sex with men because you don’t have enough, of either.” His feet thud as he walks toward me. “You want to be loved and cared for.” Without raising his hand to touch me, he somehow strokes my cheek in what is quickly becoming my favorite gesture. And while I hate that it feels so good, I don’t pull back. “And you are capable of returning the love with a loyalty that can last a lifetime.”

I begin to tremble at the touch I can’t see. “How do you do that?”

Before Caiden can answer a knock raps on the door and Lexi walks in without waiting. “Oh!” She covers her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“It’s fine, Lexi,” I say. “This is Caiden’s idea of getting comfortable. Nothing is going on.”

Lexi lets out a big sigh as she drops her hand and inspects Caiden with her gaze. She lets her tote-bag-style purse thud to the ground. “Good. Because you’re only allowed to kiss right now.”

“So we’ve been told.” My skin begins to prickle, and I scratch at it. “But trust me. I don’t want to anyway. I’m not sure Caiden has been prepared properly for life on Earth. How much training did he get?”

“Yeah. That’s the glitch I need to talk to you about.” Lexi scans Caiden with her gaze before she catches his eye and blushes at his grin. “Because we initiated a match before the beta testing was ready to launch, he may have missed out on a few classes.”

“He sure did.”

“You did too,” says Lexi. She glances at my scratching, and it makes me stop. Lexi crouches down to dig through her bag. “I didn’t know he was going to get here so quickly and never got a chance to give you the manual.”

A thick document in a loose-leaf notebook is heavy in my hand when I take it. “Just a little light reading for me?” The pages are slick in my fingers as I flip though them to find sections about Eroscia’s history, evolution and culture. I chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. I’ve got a smoking-hot alien that wants to dominate me, and to learn to deal with him I get a thick book of rules. I let Caiden have it when he reaches for the document, and I ask Lexi, “Any chance you can give me the abbreviated version?”

“I haven’t read through it all myself.”

“Well let me tell you one thing, these guys aren’t used to women having a mind of their own.” I turn my attention to Caiden. “Are you going to be able to adapt to that?”

He licks his lips and drops his gaze to my chest. “I can change my approach.”

I let out a sigh. “See what I’m dealing with here, Lexi?”

“Um-hm.” Lexi offers me a smirk. “Sucks to be you.”

I glance at the sexy alien who has a smirk of his own. Okay, so maybe I overreacted earlier, because I don’t mind his heated gaze, or the way his kisses felt. I clear my throat before my thoughts go too far and surmise that maybe I should let him try again considering he wasn’t aware of how Earth works. “Fine. He can stay.” I point at Caiden. “But he needs a manual that he actually reads.”

Caiden shakes his head, but he doesn’t appear the least bit apologetic with the grin on his face. “Perhaps you can teach me what I need to know.”

Lexi lets out a snort before she covers her mouth and shrugs, making it clear she’s not apologizing either. “You pushed the button.” Now I glare at her as she adds, “I’m going to let myself out now.”

When the door clicks, shut I notice Caiden thumbing through my rulebook. He says, “This is a lot of useless information. I think we should figure it out on our own.” He pauses to grin. “If that’s okay with you.”

The idea of reading through the large manual doesn’t appeal to me either, and he seems to be trying so I say, “Sure. Let’s see if we can figure this out on our own.”

Caiden steps closer and lowers his voice. “Maybe we could practice what we do know.” He raises his eyebrows in question as he grips my arms lightly.

His touch makes me weak, and I lose any anger that lingers. I lean in and let him kiss me, and I get lost in the intergalactic connection. Trying to work this out might not be a bad idea after all.