Page 17 of Her Alien Spy
She didn’t know how well she’d be able to focus on reading with Andethor so close. And that would have to be something to examine when she had a little distance from him. For now, she’d lock that away along with the knowledge that just the thought of him could have her near the edge of orgasm.
When she finally felt ready to leave the dressing room, she took a deep breath. As soon as she opened the door, she was hit with the scent of something delicious, and she walked into the cabin’s small dining room to find Andethor opening different containers of food.
“Again?” she asked with a soft laugh, leaning against the doorway.
He grinned. “You seemed to enjoy it last time. I also noticed you liked traditional Earthling Italian food and saw they had a selection… I can order something else if you’d prefer.”
She looked over the spread and smiled at him. “Italian sounds perfect, and it smells amazing.”
He nodded, then glanced away. “Please consider it an apology. I… I should have kept better control of myself with you. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”
She watched him for a moment, and when she didn’t answer, he looked in her direction, meeting her gaze.
“We both got a little worked up in the moment, I guess,” she said.
“We did. But I should have been better. You’re doing me a favor, helping me with this. I overestimated how much self control I have when it comes to you.”
She smiled, then stepped next to him at the table, looking down at the spread he’d ordered for them. Fettuccine alfredo, lasagna, gnocchi, warm, garlicky bread sticks. She leaned against him, nudging her shoulder against his arm. “Apology accepted. I think we can give eachother a little leeway here. It’s a weird situation. I’m not mad at you.”
He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a small side-hug. “I’m glad. Which is your favorite of these?”
She laughed and sat down, and he served her a big plate of gnocchi with plenty of shredded cheese, and they spent a relaxing meal talking about the stuff they usually talked about: music, movies, and people they both knew from Asterion Station.
“So, did you learn anything useful?” she finally asked. They’d demolished most of the food he’d ordered, picking away at it while talking.
He nodded, picking up the empty containers and scraping them off into the trash recycler before stacking them together.Housecleaning would pick them up the next day. “They’re going to be spending the day on the beach tomorrow.”
Julia grimaced. “The nude beach?”
He grunted. “That’s the only kind of beach this place has, Jules. I don’t think I want you to go with me tomorrow, though.”
She looked up at him. She didn’t really want to argue with him. The idea of being naked on a beach with a bunch of other naked people seemed more like a nightmare than her idea of a good time. “We came here for a reason.”
He sat back down, scooting his chair closer to hers. “We did. And I will do what I need to do. I need to get Ja’xel alone, and I’m unlikely to be able to do that there anyway. But maybe I can hear what his plans are for the evening.”
“So… you’re just going to go to a nude beach at a sex colony by yourself?” she asked dubiously.
He laughed, then rested his elbows on the table, burying his face in his hands. “How do I end up with jobs like this, Jules?”
She poked his ribs and he jumped. “Because you’re good at your job.”
“I should be less good at it,” he grumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.” She thought for a moment. “If it’s the nudity thing, when I was researching this place, I saw images of people dressed in long, gauzy, flowing robe… things… that pretty much covered them from head to toe, fanning their partners on the beach.” She studied him. “Is there any way we could make something like that work?”
When he lifted his head and looked at her, she had to fight back the urge to kiss him. His hair was a mess from running his fingers through it, she’d had fun talking to him, he’d made sure she had her favorite foods yet again, and she was relieved to have Andethor instead of Savis for a while. His gaze caught hers, held, and the air around them almost seemed to crackle as the silence of their cabin surrounded them, wrapped them in a little bubble where all they had was each other.
“We can make it work,” he finally said in a low voice, his amber eyes locked with hers, and her stomach fluttered. Something in his tone made her feel like he wasn’t just talking about the next day’s beach plans.
Chapter Eight
This was the worst idea in the universe. By far. And the day had just started.
Andethor was lying on a cushioned lounge chair. A bright blue umbrella shaded him and Julia… well. The gauzy, flowing robe covering her from head to toe was just see-through enough to let him get an eyeful of the dark purple bikini Julia wore. She stood nearby, slowly fanning him like some sort of ethereal sex goddess.
It took every bit of his focus to keep an eye out for his target.
He and Julia had arrived at the beach before the crowds, and he’d picked a seat that would give him a good vantage point to see the rest of the lounge chairs and hammocks arranged around the area.
