by J. M. Page
Her honesty was refreshing. She was refreshing. Like a breath of fresh air after a long sojourn underwater. He could stay there taking his fill of her for eternity and not tire of it.
She looked up at him, their eyes meeting and holding for a long moment. Zakrom expected her to flinch, to look away from his hideousness, to try and look past him rather than at him — any number of methods that people usually employed when conversing with him — but she didn’t do any of that. She held his gaze and time froze, the car and the blurred scenery beyond fell away, leaving only the two of them locked in that moment.
“Thank you,” she finally whispered, those brilliant blue eyes shimmering with gratitude.
Zakrom’s heart raced, his pulse beating against his skin, his breath coming short. If they were alone now, he’d want to Kiss her. To claim her as his One. But they weren’t alone and he couldn’t do that, even though everything inside of him screamed with the unbearable need.
He’d never met anyone quite like her, and even though it had only been a few minutes, Zakrom had a soul-deep certainty that he’d never be the same.
Chapter Five
Jen
Your honesty is refreshing, he’d said. Jen didn’t really know what to make of that statement, but her body had a mind of its own.
The moment he’d said those words — coupled with that intense gaze and husky voice — her heart fluttered madly in her chest, her lungs filling with cotton and static.
He was not at all what she expected, and it threw her for a loop. She didn’t know how to handle this. She didn’t know now if she should keep being herself — since he seemed to appreciate that — or to go back to the formalities she was more comfortable with.
It wasn’t like she had any basis of comparison for this. Tully never took her along on these meetings. She was just a desk jockey. A research nerd. She wasn’t ever supposed to leave the office, and yet… Here she was, in a limo with a group of mismatched aliens and a Prince from another planet that made her feel unsettling feelings.
She cleared her throat, looking down at the itinerary in her lap.
“So, if you’ll turn your attention to the paper I’ve given you, you’ll see that there is a planned tour of the Interplanetary Embassy, followed by… Well, I guess we can scratch off lunch with the Ambassador…” she muttered, taking a pen and scribbling it out on her own paper.
“Lunch with you sounds more appealing, anyway,” the Prince said, looking at his paper with mild disinterest.
Jen looked up, surprised at the comment, a little flattered by it, but not knowing how to respond. She wasn’t the only one that gave the Prince an odd look — both his advisors glanced at him quizzically, but the Prince was the only one who didn’t seem to notice.
Jen cleared her throat again. “Then we have a presentation on Earth’s value as an ally, and — all things going well — you can sign the treaty after that and be on your way.”
She tapped her papers together in her lap to level out the tops, but wound up sending them scattered over the interior of the limo.
She scurried to pick them all up, wondering why the thought of the Prince — Zak — being on his way left her with such an empty feeling deep down. She didn’t even know the man, but he’d shown her such patience and kindness already that she didn’t like the thought of his calming presence being gone.
“Here, you lost one,” he said, picking up one of her papers and glancing at it with a small amount of curiosity.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing, and Jen’s heart sank, her blood turning to ice. Which paper was that? What could make him make that disapproving face? She swallowed the thick lump in her throat and reached for it, her hand trembling in the space between them.
“Is this all the information you have on my people?” the Prince asked, turning the paper to face her.
Jen cringed. The EAD form. The one that basically gave the coordinates of his planet, the climate, and mentioned they were ruled by a monarchy.
The rest of the page was blank. That’s where Jen’s research was supposed to come in. Where she was meant to fill in all the pertinent bits about their culture, their norms, any idiosyncrasies they had as a species. Instead, the page was white, blank, and glaring at her with mockery in every fiber.
She cleared her throat, her eyes cast down. “I—” she started, before deciding the Prince of another planet certainly didn’t want to hear her excuses. “I’m afraid so. A gross oversight of the preparation department, unfortunately.”
She didn’t need to mention that she was the preparation department, right?
Zak’s frown deepened and he turned the paper over, reading the words again.
“My entire civilization reduced to two sentences on a blank page,” he muttered.
“Why would Earth wish to ally with us if they know nothing of us?”
Jen clenched her hands together. She needed to think on her feet. To come up with something quickly or this whole thing could fall apart.
“I would love to learn more about your civilization,” she said. “The best information always comes straight from the horse’s mouth, you know.”
His blank stare bored a hole right through her and Jen shook her head. Idioms didn’t work with aliens, duh. “Sorry, figure of speech. What I mean is, who better to build the knowledge base on your people, than one of your own?”
Zak still frowned for a moment, considering her carefully before a slow smile stretched his mouth and he laughed. “You’re clever,” he said. “I like that. A bad liar, but clever. Two good qualities.”
Again, Jen was overwhelmed by that warm cottony feeling in her chest. His laughter seemed to do that. And the way he looked at her — he saw too much, he saw everything and made her feel vulnerable and exposed.
The worst part was that she was starting to like it. The way this man stared at her so openly and complimented her without a second thought.
She looked at him and saw more than just a strange-looking alien. He was patient and forgiving. Jen had already screwed up this meeting in a dozen different ways, but yet he praised her. He was humble, too. What other Prince asked to be addressed so informally? He didn’t even have a massive entourage. He had one advisor and one bodyguard and everyone else who’d been on the flight with him remained behind at the spaceport.
Zak was a strange puzzle of a man and Jen realized she liked him. It was hard to pinpoint when or why it started, but now, just sitting in the silence of the back of the limo, she found herself grinning like a loon, just because he was there.
Was he flirting with her like she thought? Or was that the Granotan custom she didn’t know about? It seemed like he was being very forward with her, but without her research and preparation, Jen didn’t feel comfortable making that assessment.
Luckily, for her, she didn’t have time to dwell on it. The car pulled up outside the Embassy and the driver came around to open the door for them all.
The Prince’s bodyguard got out first, surveying the perimeter and standing by the car door to intimidate passers-by. Then his advisor exited the other side, looking quite intimidating himself, despite the fae-like beauty he possessed.
Then they were left alone and Jen’s heart raced. Don’t say anything stupid. Don’t say anything—
“I didn’t think I would, but I’m quite enjoying my trip to Earth,” Zak said, his gaze never wavering from hers.
Jen swallowed, very sure he was flirting with her now, and nodded, not trusting her mouth to behave. No matter how many times she told herself inwardly not to make a fool out of herself, she invariably always would.
“I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable?” he asked, leaning forward, closing a bit of the space between them.
Jen’s mouth went dry and she was entranced by his neon green eyes, those strange pupils, and the husky hush of his voice. “I— No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Good,” he said, a small smile playing on his lips. He took her hand in his and brought it up
, kissing her knuckles with a whisper-soft touch. The connection sent a thrill of electricity through Jennifer and she forgot to breathe for a moment.
Then he looked down at the paper left on the seat of the limo beside him and raised his brow. “I believe a tour of the Embassy is next?”
The moment he’d pulled his hand away, Jen had to suppress a mewl of disappointment. Her fingers still tingled where he’d held them and her blood ran like lava through her veins. Something strange was happening to her while this man was around and she didn’t know what it was, but it was more than unsettling. It was downright worrisome.
Still, worrisome as it was, it was thrilling and intoxicating and she couldn’t say that she didn’t enjoy the attention, however baffling.
“Y-yes,” she stammered, breathless, struggling to latch onto reality.
He smiled and exited the car without another word.
Jen took a deep breath, blew it out, and gathered her papers.
“Get it together, Jennifer,” she said under her breath. “Your planet needs you.”
Chapter Six
Zak
He knew he was probably pushing his luck with Jen, but Zak couldn’t seem to help himself. She was so beautiful, so captivating and amusing. It was clear she was trying her best to put on a good front, but she kept running into trouble. No matter the effort she put forth, his One seemed to make trouble for herself.
He stepped out into the cool air and Doran and Golbath closed ranks around him, assessing the area for any threats to their Prince.
Jen led them inside the great white building, towering columns gracing the entryway, larger-than-life statues in the atrium. These Earth people didn’t go halfway, that was for sure.
“In through this door we have the Consular Offices where we issue visas, passports and the like,” Jen said, already diving head-first into her tour.
Zakrom looked through the doorway and saw a long line of different creatures from all over the galaxy. Most of them he recognized from his travels, but he was surprised to see such a presence on a remote planet like Earth.
“We have a very limited number of visas we’re allowed to issue, so the competition is quite stiff and we admit only the most valuable members of society. As I’m sure you’re aware, Earth was only recently added to the Interplanetary Confederacy and we’re now about halfway through our five-year plan to implement all the regulations.”
Zakrom nodded politely, but he was already bored. He just wanted to spend time with Jen one-on-one. He didn’t care about Earth’s bureaucracy.
“Where is your office?” he asked.
She’d been prattling on about the architecture of the building or something and stopped mid-sentence. “M-my office? Oh, you don’t want to see that,” she said, turning that shade of red he’d grown to enjoy so much in such a short time.
He begged to differ. Seeing Jen in her element — rather than disjointed and frazzled like she was now — seemed a very attractive prospect.
He tilted his head to the side and waited for her to continue with all the reasons he shouldn’t see her office.
“It’s… It’s nothing special. I share the space with another person and it’s—”
“I’d like to see it,” he said with a small smile. She looked like she wanted to protest, but chewed on her bottom lip instead and nodded.
“Okay, but it’s going to be the least interesting part of the tour, I promise.”
Zakrom ignored the looks from his two counterparts. He didn’t need to explain himself to anyone. He was the Prince after all.
Jen led them down twisting hallways that left Zak dizzy and finally arrived at a door that said ‘The Office of Ambassador Reginald Tully’ in shiny gold letters.
“So, this is it,” she said, opening the door with a sweeping gesture.
She was right about it not being anything special. There were two desks crammed into the room opposite each other and another door on the far side. One desk was neat and organized with a prim-looking woman sitting behind it. She wore a sour expression and glared at Jen in a way that made Zak want to jump to her defense.
“Jennifer, what are you—”
“This is Za— The Prince,” Jen corrected herself, gesturing to him.
The other woman immediately jumped to her feet looking apologetic and Zak lost interest in her, his eyes traveling to the other desk.
“Is this where you work?” he asked, circling the desk, trailing his fingers over the surface. It was chaotic and haphazard, but every bit of it screamed Jen to him. He spotted more papers like the one he’d picked up in the limo, but none were as blank as his.
She nodded hesitantly, biting that lower lip again. “Yes… It’s… I’m a little…”
He found her eyes and with a single look, silenced her rambling explanation. “It suits you,” he said with a small smile. “Thank you for showing me.”
The more time he spent with her, the more complete the picture of her in his head became. She tried very hard to appear put-together, but it wasn’t easy for her. Zak could identify with that. He never felt as composed as a Prince should. He always felt somewhat like an imposter.
Maybe Jen was ashamed by her lack of organization, but Zak was somewhat relieved. As perfect as she seemed to him, she was flawed too, and that gave him hope.
“Jennifer, may I speak to you a moment?” the other woman asked, walking toward the other door in the room, pulling Jen by the sleeve of her shirt.
Jen gave him an apologetic look and a forced smile. “Sorry about this, one moment. Feel free to look around.”
Once the door was closed behind them, Doran turned his attention to Zak. “The shuttle is ready to leave once we’ve concluded this tour,” he said the last word with bored disdain, but Zak couldn’t care less.
He paused for a moment like he was thinking about it and then shook his head. “I’m not as eager to leave as I thought I’d be. I’d like to stay a bit longer and learn more about this planet,” he said.
Doran smirked, seemingly amused though he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. There was no hiding from him. Zakrom couldn’t get anything past him.
But mercifully, he didn’t comment on the Prince’s sudden change of heart. “Very well,” he said with a nod.
Zak didn’t want to leave this place without his Kiss. He needed to find a way to get closer to her. To have a moment alone with her.
She re-emerged from the auxiliary room with a bright smile plastered on her face. It wasn’t a completely genuine smile, but it was something. She was still trying so hard. He wanted to see her with her guard down, enjoying herself. But she wasn’t going to do that at work — especially not when it seemed she took her work so seriously.
“Shall we break for lunch?” she asked cheerfully. “Or would you like to sign the treaty now?”
Zakrom’s heart clenched painfully in his chest at the reminder. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sign the treaty or didn’t think he should, it was just that signing it would be the end of his reason for being on this planet. Once he signed it, he’d have to go home. He’d have to leave Jen.
And she was so eager for him to sign it. She was just trying to do her job, he was sure, but it still stung. It still felt like she was trying to usher him out the door and off the planet as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. A way to get a moment alone with Jen, a way to show her the power of the Kiss, and still keep her happy while doing her job.
“Ah, about that,” he said, feigning a repentant look. “There’s something we need to discuss.”
Her face fell and Zak instantly felt guilty for his ruse, but it seemed the best option at the moment and he had to do what he could to claim his One. He couldn’t let her slip through his fingers after searching for so long.
Jen looked over to her co-worker and Zak got the impression that she didn’t want to keep speaking in front of her, so he gestured for her to follow. “We can talk about it on the way to lunch,�
�� he said, making for the door.
Jen still frowned, but nodded and followed along, overtaking them in the hallway to lead the way.
“So, this is our cafeteria,” she said, gesturing to the big open room filled with tables and people having their afternoon meals. “The Ambassador likely would have taken you to a nice restaurant, but I don’t have a work credit card and…”
Zakrom held up his hand, scowling inwardly at the scaly appearance of it. If only he were different on the outside, this would all be so much easier.
“No need to apologize,” he said. “I’m sure this will suit me just fine. I’m not spoiled and pampered like some royals, you know.”