by Maia Starr
“Let me take you out,” he said, looking into my eyes.
I thinned my lips. “No.”
He laughed and raised his brows. “Why not?” he exclaimed. “I want to know you.”
“I’m your…No!” I shook my head. “I’m your doctor.”
“And?”
“And,” I repeated, “I don’t date patients.”
“And in a week, when I’m released?” he said, and I stood up from the bed. I knew it. I was flirting with him! I didn’t know what possessed me to do it. Two days ago, I had nothing but disdain for his presence in our little hospital, and now I was sitting here, obviously making him feel comfortable enough to ask me out.
What was wrong with me?
My face flushed red and I pressed one eye shut, bashfully, before making my way to the door. “No!” I exclaimed and turned the handle.
“Brooklyn!” he called, and I snapped my profile to him as I stressed, “Doctor Smith.”
“Dr. Smith,” he repeated wryly. “Date me in a week, when I’m no longer your patient.”
I breathed through my nose, wanting to laugh. “For the record, I’m saying no,” I said, walking through the door. Then, against my better judgment I pushed the door back open and peeked my head through the slat. “But Korus?”
He cocked his brows at me.
“Ask me again in a week,” I said with a wink.
Chapter Four
Korus
Lies, lies, lies.
It felt like all I had done since coming to the Earth was lie—about myself, my job, my background, my age…Who knew guessing one hundred and seven as an age was way over the mark? Back on my planet, it was still considered young and healthy.
Hell, I was one hundred and thirty-three.
I knew enough about humans from the ones we’d brought back to Cadir to be able to bullshit my way through some of their customs, but it seemed like it was nearly impossible to become one of them without lying on an everyday basis.
Back home we lived in sky cities: lush, built up civilizations full of greenery and tech. Our towns were perched up among the clouds. It was strange to be here now, on the ground.
We didn't have hospitals like they did here. Instead, we had pods you enter that wash you clean of any infirmity or disease. It was a…much easier process than getting sliced open like the humans do.
I had spent the week since my release from the hospital heading back there, trying to find Brooklyn. It didn't take long for my everyday visits to go from awkward to expected. I'd made progress from walking miles to the hospital for a brief hello to Brooklyn greeting me with a bright smile and inviting me into her private lounge.
“Wow,” Brooklyn said, handing me a cup of the bitter coffee she loved to drink and inviting me into the ‘Doctor’s Only’ area of the hospital. “You are…actually persistent, aren’t you?”
“I told you I wouldn’t stop coming until you agreed to come out with me,” I said with a smirk, sliding down into the soft, leather chair nearest to where Brooklyn sat.
She crossed her legs and brushed her dark hair out of her face with a flirtatious sigh. Maddie, her friend who I had met before, was there too, looking at us with awe.
“Whoa,” Maddie laughed. “This is what, four days this week?”
“Shhh,” Brooklyn giggled, waving her off.
“I’m no longer your patient,” I reasoned, spreading my palms to her. “So, I’ve come back for you.”
“Come back for me,” Brooklyn repeated, circling her fingertip along the top of her glass. “Well now, that sounds official.”
“Then, I am officially asking you to dinner,” I said, feeling confident.
“Come on, are you serious?” she laughed, pulling me along further. Even though she kept turning me down, it seemed like she enjoyed the attention.
“Go! Go!” Maddie cheered her on, stirring her coffee wildly as she watched us.
Brooklyn flushed and looked at her friend sideways. “Maddie, please.”
“As you will note,” I said, trying to sound charming, “I did not bring a ‘media circus’ with me.”
“And we’re all so proud,” Brooklyn said breathlessly, mocking. It was from that tone that I knew today…today she would say yes.
“Go out to dinner with me tonight,” I said.
She rolled her shoulders, chuckling to herself. “I don’t know.”
“I want to know you, and I think you want to know me, too,” I reasoned and finally she broke.
With a simple nod she shrugged and said, “Fine. Pick me up at eleven.”
“That’s late,” I offered slowly.
“Well, that’s when I get off. Take it or leave it,” she said.
So I took it.
It had been so long since I was in dragon form that my skin was starting to itch. Walking every day on these stumps of legs was slow and time-consuming. I missed the feeling of the wind against me.
The food…well…I couldn't make any complaints about that so far. Bread was one of the most amazing substances I had ever put in my mouth. All day all I wanted was bread. Even the protein I used to crave was taking a backseat to the nutty, seedy breads I had been able to eat on the Earth.
This whole human…thing…wasn't going to work unless I was able to fit in. I managed to find work as a night watchman at a local lab. I told them I had been a solider, which was true, and they promptly told me I could pace the empty corridor of a space lab at night with a gun, waiting for intruders.
I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of the job.
It gave me enough money to get a small wardrobe, a one-bedroom apartment in a local highrise, and a kitchen full of bread.
Now all I needed was to impress Brooklyn and my strange little life here on the Earth would really start taking shape.
And so, we went out for a late, late dinner.
I brought her to a local restaurant that served noodley food and brought heaping baskets of bread out. Brooklyn looked at me sideways when I devoured the basked almost entirely by myself, and clearly, I'd made an idiot of myself when I expressed shock and surprise when the waitstaff came back to take my actual order. I'd thought the honey oatmeal rolls they'd brought us was the meal.
We made idle chit-chat about her work and my new job, and when the meal was done, I offered to show her my apartment.
To my surprise, she said yes.
“It’s…cozy!” she said with a bright tone as she wandered through the one-bedroom.
“Small,” I read between the lines, and she laughed.
“But it looks like it has great light!” she exclaimed, pointing to the two bay windows that still didn’t have window dressings on them.
I nodded but stood back, watching her roam through my space and feeling an intense hunger for her already.
“Don’t you…want to come in?” she asked awkwardly.
“I’ve seen it,” I said wryly.
She turned to me and grinned. This was the first time I’d seen her with her hair down, a straight slick of black hair and thick bangs. She wore a dark green dress that cut at her thigh and an oversized red, checked scarf that hid her shapely breasts.
“I promise it looks better with me in it,” she teased.
The promise was enough for me to step further into the bare-brick loft.
“Well, in that case,” I said, but trailed off.
I watched her look through my things and smiled at how familiar she was making herself.
“I want to see you again,” I said, watching her carefully.
“Wow, not even the end of the date and he’s already asking for more,” she teased, moving her hips widely from side to side to pique my interest—and it did.
“I’m greedy,” I said quickly. “You’ll get to know that about me.”
“I don’t like greedy,” she said.
I smirked. “You will.”
She wandered over to me, standing by the two mattresses stacked atop one another—my makeshift bed. “Ki
ss me,” she said.
I grazed my hand down her side, admiring the spots where my hand dipped into her natural curve. When my palms were on her hips, I felt something animal rise up in me that I tried hard to bury…
But then she leaned in and pressed her sticky lips against mine. Soft at first and then brimming with more and more passion. Her leg slid up my side, and I pulled her into me, kissing her hungrily.
“Take your clothes off,” I insisted, and we fell onto the soft mattress that was in the corner of the apartment in between the bay windows.
She writhed against me, more animal than I had expected, and put her hands on my back, pulling me closer to her.
“I need to be with you,” I said, the words tumbling out of my mouth without my consent. I felt an instant connection to her, and I needed…I needed to make things right for what I’d done.
Brooklyn moaned underneath me, and it sent a wave of excitement through my body. I ran my hands through her dark hair and could feel myself getting hard and throbbing up against the fabric of my pants.
I pulled away from her just for a moment, pulling her breasts out from her dress and watching as they rippled against my touch, soft and pillowy and cold under my palms.
My mouth found its way to her nipple, and I sucked her in, listening to her quickened breaths.
“Wait,” she said in a whisper, pulling my head up and off of her breasts with a loud sucking POP noise. “Stop,” she said, and I immediately pulled back. “No. We have to get to know each other. To connect! This can’t just be physical. Those relationships…they don’t work!”
“I’ve been to your hospital every day trying to get to know you,” I said with a surprised laugh. “You want to pick right now to follow through?”
“No time like the present,” she said, tucking her breasts back into the tight but stretchy fabric of her dress.
I got up from on top of her and sat in front of her, wanting to know her but also hoping to edge this along as quickly as possible.
“Tell me something then,” I offered, still erect and breathless. “Uh, family,” I rolled my fingers. “Love.”
“I’ve been in love twice, but I’ve had three serious relationships,” she offered, and I could already feel a twinge of jealousy root up in my stomach at the thought that she had loved before. “What about you?”
“I’ve had…” the words came out easy but flowed into a crashing halt.
I thought about it, thought back to my planet and how strangely things worked there.
The females there were dying off. Last we calculated, our population was only 10% female. This made having a mate something that grew into a hierarchy. Those who were in the Parduss council had mates, since they were the strongest and would likely breed children with the highest chance of survival.
In fact, it was this epidemic which caused us to seek out the Earth in the first place. To find more females to keep our civilization going.
"One," I said, and by the look on her face, she seemed surprised.
"Wow. It must have been serious," she said and then her eyes darted upward as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. "Or…you're a giant playboy."
I laughed and shook my head. “No. It was…an honor, to be with her. But, she was my only.”
“Wait, you mean like your only only?” she said with raised brows. She had a lovely face and rounded lips that made me want to lean back in to taste them once more. “Like, sex?”
I bit my lip. “That would be what I was referring to, yes.”
“Oh,” she said slowly. She appeared lost in thought at that, and I wondered if I had said something wrong, but soon her green eyes found their way back to mine and she gave a wide grin. “That’s sweet.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said, feeling embarrassed.
“It’s…” she laughed. “It’s a little weird, but it’s really sweet.”
“She died,” I said evenly, watching her reaction. “Since we’re getting to know each other.”
“Wow,” she said quickly, her face falling. “I’m so sorry. I feel like a total ass now.”
“Don’t,” I smiled. “It was something I chose to share.”
She set a hand on top of mine and rubbed it. “Then…thanks for sharing, Korus. I wish I were as brave as you.”
I was about to ask if she had something to share, to say anything that would hide the guilt I felt at lying to her. Not about my past love, but about my true identity. But, I was cut off before I could even speak—a blaze of reporters suddenly buzzing outside my apartment building.
My brows drew into a deep frown, and I headed toward the window, feeling the icy pane under my palm as I leaned forward to get a better view.
“What is that?” Brooklyn said, suddenly sounding furious.
“Reporters,” I said and shielded my eyes as they flashed their cameras on and off. I was on the eighth floor, but that didn’t stop them from filming newscasts in front of the building’s door and parking their oversized vans outside.
“I don’t understand why they’re so damn interested,” I mumbled to myself.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” Brooklyn said, putting her hands over her forehead. “They’re never going to leave.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “They’ll get bored, trust me.”
Her face twisted and darkened as she shot an irritated glance in my direction. “They never get bored,” she said spitefully and gave a hesitant peek through the window before pulling away.
I called the building manager and asked if there was anything we could do about the noise outside. He assured me he’d handle it, but after forty minutes we both realized help was probably not coming.
If I could shift into my dragon form, I could scare them all away—prevent them from ruining the rest of my night with Brooklyn.
“I’m sorry about all this,” I said, looking up at my date and then glancing over at the clock. Four-oh-seven am.
“It’s late,” she said, following my eyes. “I don’t want to leave with them out there. Then they’ll just think we’re together and they’ll start following me.” She sighed and sat back down on the bed.
I lay down next to her and then pulled her onto my chest.
“Then stay,” I insisted. “Stay with me tonight.”
She blinked and looked up at me, unsure what to do. “Are you sure?”
“Of course,” I offered, and she seemed to settle into my skin, nuzzling closer to me.
“We’re just sleeping,” she said with a breaking smile. “Nothing else.”
And that’s exactly what we did.
Chapter Five
Brooklyn
It had been exactly one week since our dinner date, and I had seen Korus five times since then. Despite how little time we’d actually known each other, we seemed incapable of leaving each other’s side unless we absolutely had to.
I was spending all my time not working thinking about him. I felt like a teenager, wondering what he was doing and if he was thinking of me.
At one point, I actually started humming in the lunchroom.
Humming.
Korus had planned a late, late date for this night and so I made sure I wouldn’t be on call. I’d met him at a clearing called Gazers Field. A large clearing in the woods that stargazers and photographers often came at to look at the shooting stars.
We walked out into the valley with the stars overhead, and the ridiculous romance of it all made me smile. I looked over at the mysterious man who had suddenly come into my life.
Everything with Korus felt new again. I hadn’t felt this alive since…
Well, since before Alexandra was taken.
Korus reached out and grabbed my hand, walking me barefooted into a clearing. The grass below us was wet and cold, but waiting for us steps away was a thick, splayed-out blanket next to a roaring fire.
“What’s this?” I said with surprise, and he stopped me in my tracks, grabbing my chin with his fingers and kissing me.
“We’re camping out tonight,” he said evenly.
“Yes,” I giggled. “I see that.”
“What, you have a complaint?”
I shook my head. “No.”
He narrowed his eyes playfully and tapped my nose. “What I’ve learned about you, my Brooklyn, is that you always have a complaint.”
“That’s a horrible thing to think about me!” I laughed.
“So, out with it,” he said, rolling his wrist. “What is it?”
I bit my lip and couldn’t help but grin at him. I pulled him closer, kissing him again. When I pulled away, I admitted, “It’s pretty cold.”
“And there she goes,” he said, pressing his eyes shut. “Well guess what, princess?” He pointed towards the crackling fire and hurried me forward. “That’s why we have the fire.”
“Is this legal?” I chittered nervously, giggling as I walked toward the blanket. We laid down on it, just close enough to the fire to get some real heat without roasting.
“Complaint number two!” he teased and sat down next to me.
“That’s not a complaint!” I laughed. “That’s me not wanting us to get arrested.”
The moon rose over the trees, and it lit up the sky as I’d never seen it before. He pulled me down to the blanket and pointed up toward the first shooting star of the night.
We watched as the blaze of light shot across the sky, and I smiled over at him, snuggling in closer.
“You certainly picked the most romantic event possible,” I said with affection. “See? No teasing in there! No complains or hidden meanings!”
“Wow,” he mocked. “I’m impressed.”
I looked him over, studying his perfectly square jaw and clean face. I ran a hand through his mane of dark hair and said, “So am I.”
“I love this place,” he said, almost out of nowhere. “It’s so…lonely.”
“And you like being alone?” I laughed into my hands.
He gave an unenthusiastic shrug. “Sometimes…you need to be alone.”
I nodded. I knew the feeling. After Alexandra was taken, I would often head out to Central Park and just…wander. I liked the feeling of being completely alone with my thoughts. I could run, think, not think, people watch. I could wallow in peace instead of feeling obligated to fix everything—my parents, my life, my grades.