As the speech drew to a close, the spotlight dimmed, a colourful light show replacing it as a range of performers, Human and Intergalactic Community members, entered the arena. A girl took to a small raised platform and began singing a haunting, wordless melody, her voice weaving harmonies around itself as if there were multiple singers on stage, not just the one. Dancers performed around her, interpreting the song with their bodies. Nell watched, transfixed by the beauty of it, for a moment forgetting everything else.
A breath tickled across her neck, drawing her suddenly back to herself.
“My apologies for being late,” her neighbour said, his lips so close to her ear she could sense them moving, his voice low enough that she thought it likely only she could hear him.
Her instinct was to turn to face him, but he was so close to her, she was concerned she’d either kiss or head butt him. She wasn’t sure which prospect was worse.
“I don’t even know who you are, you don’t need to apologise to me,” she said, keeping her eyes directly ahead.
“But that’s exactly why I must apologise,” he said, his words lapping over her skin, sending a pleasant shiver through her. “It’s terribly uncouth of me, sitting here beside you without making your acquaintance first.”
She cast her eyes sideways, and a brief flare of one of the stage lights illuminated him, his eyes glued on her, a delicious little smirk on his lips.
“You say ‘terribly uncouth’ like that’s something you quite enjoy being,” she said.
The smirk widened into a grin. Nell was glad for the darkness, grateful that he couldn’t see the flush creeping across her cheeks, her neck. The barest glimpse at an attractive stranger, the merest morsel of attention from him, and she was swooning like the heroine of a period drama.
“I admit,” he said, “I do take some pleasure in being uncouth, when the situation is appropriate. I’m Garrant, it’s lovely to meet you.”
The heat he managed to curl around the word ‘lovely’ was both an invitation and a promise. On someone else, it might have come across as crass, lecherous even, but while he had been overt, audacious in his flirting, Nell sensed no malice, no bad vibe from Garrant. He hadn’t touched her, hadn’t crossed that invisible line. Merely made an offer that was hers to refuse or take.
She considered him for a long time, the lights of the performance dancing across his irises as she watched him. He watched her back without embarrassment, paying no attention at all to the ceremony.
He was not, she thought, the sort of guy she normally felt attracted to. Ricky, Mikey’s father, had a clean cut sort of handsomeness. He was the kind of guy who would have worn a shirt and tie to meet her parents, if either of them had still been alive. Not that his impeccable presentation had disguised his true colours in the end.
Garrant had an air of danger about him. The kind of danger that promised pleasure beyond your wildest dreams if you surrendered yourself to him. Just as long as you were prepared for him to be gone before you woke in the morning.
Of course, it wasn’t fair to hold a member of the Intergalactic Community to Human stereotypes. Nell was aware that the tousled haired, tattooed look could well be considered wholesome wherever he was from. However, she rather suspected the look he was giving her wouldn’t be considered wholesome anywhere - the kind of look that would have removed her clothing if it could.
She could feel that look all the way to her core, a prickling heat at the back of her neck, low ache between her legs, her libido - dormant and forgotten since Mikey was born - suddenly sitting up and dusting itself off.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t had the opportunity since Ricky had walked out of her life without so much as a backwards glance. At first, she’d been too busy being pregnant, having a newborn. Then, once she emerged from the fog of sleepless nights and barely functional exhaustion, she’d been too bruised, still, too heart sore. She hadn’t processed the heartbreak - too occupied with Mikey and everything taking care of him involved. For six months after the point of feeling physically able to go on a date, she’d not wanted to. And after that? Between working at the restaurant and doing her night classes and raising her son, she just hadn’t had the time. A couple of people made attempts to flirt with her, but she’d been too busy to recognise those attempts for what they were until someone pointed it out to her.
There was no mistaking Garrant’s flirting. And perhaps that was no bad thing.
“Nell,” she said after a moment, holding a hand out to him.
Just as the thought occurred to her that he might not understand Human greetings, Garrant took her hand. But instead of shaking it, he swept it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to her fingers, watching her the whole time he did it, gauging her reaction. His touch was light enough that she could have snatched her hand back, could have shook her head and turned away from him. But she didn’t, and his lips lingered against her fingers, so soft and full that Nell found herself giving serious thought to what it would be like to kiss him.
Then he let go of her hand, moving back slowly, his gaze lingering on her a moment, before he turned his attention to the Opening Ceremony.
Nell tried to keep her focus on the ceremony, tried to keep her mind as well as her eyes on the spectacular performances of the dancers, musicians and entertainers. And they were spectacular - Humans and Intergalactic Community Members working together to produce such a show, a celebration of Humanity and their new Intergalactic friends.
But her mind kept wandering back to the tickle of Garrant’s breath against her neck, the brush of his lips against her fingers.
Had it really been so long since she’d last had any sort of attention from a man that her whole body was aflame from one teasing touch?
Movement in front of her caught Nell’s eye - Ardan brushing his fingers over Allendi’s hair, toying with a lock of it. Nell’s general impression of him so far was of a cool, reserved man who didn’t seem to Match Cael’s lively sister in quite the way that Randar Matched Angela, or Cael Matched Asha. And yet, somehow, that small gesture of affection, and the way Allendi leaned slightly in to his touch, affected Nell more than any of the more overt gestures the others made. She found it suddenly hard to swallow past the lump in her throat.
All these happily ever afters had her head all over the place. Desire for her own filled her, made worse by the knowledge that it could be just one quick DNA test away. But she couldn’t let herself dwell on it. Mikey was all that mattered. When he was older, spreading his wings ready to embark on his own adult life, she could consider taking the test. Until then, she was better off trying not to think about it.
Perhaps Garrant could be a perfect distraction.
Because she couldn’t have a Match, but that didn’t make her undesirable. Didn’t mean she didn’t have desires. Here she was - child-free for the evening, wearing the most expensive and beautiful dress she’d ever owned. Garrant was not even from her solar system. He wouldn’t be looking for more than a dalliance. There would be no expectation and no one would get hurt.
A little bit of harmless fun could be exactly what she needed.
Chapter 6
THE PERFORMANCE LASTED AROUND AN HOUR, finishing to uproarious applause and a standing ovation from much of the crowd. Garrant clapped, as loud and enthusiastic as the next person, though he’d have been hard pressed to remember any specific details about what had actually happened at any point during it.
Sure his eyes had been following it, but his head, his thoughts… They were stuck on the beauty sitting next to him.
He’d almost done a double take when he’d looked at her in the darkness and seen an Iparshana meditation stone around her neck. Not the sort of thing a woman normally paired with an expensive dress. The stones were worth next to nothing - readily available in most places that sold curiosities. A tourist item, not jewellery.
And yet, the way the gently shifting colours shone on her skin, illuminating the fine lines of her features, the curve of her neck -
the effect was… dazzling. He’d been hard pressed to keep his eyes off her.
Nell. He’d only had a moment to take in the soft tan of the her skin, her blonde hair swept up in such a way that let locks of it fall loose about her face, the rich green of her dress that complemented her colouring so perfectly, the striking grey of her eyes as she looked in his direction, their eyes meeting just briefly. It had been enough to enchant him.
Allendi had once accused him of flirting with anything that moved, and while it was true that Garrant liked to turn on the charm, it wasn’t usually out of attraction or desire for a hook up. He just like the verbal sparring. It was one of the reasons he was friends with Allendi - she had a gift for being quick with a response, witty with just the right levels of ferocity to keep things really interesting. Back when they were both younger, people often assumed they were sleeping together, but they never did. Physical relationships between Unmatched people had a tendency to go off the boil really fast, and Garrant had never been convinced their friendship would survive such a cooling off period. He wanted that friendship far more than he wanted some short term physical satisfaction.
But the woman sitting next to him… She was neither his friend nor was he likely to see her again once the two weeks of games were over. The desire he felt could be indulged without consequence if she were willing. And he got the sense from their brief interaction that she certainly could be. His blood heated at the thought, rushing straight to his groin, making him grateful for the darkness.
He tried to think back to the last time he’d responded to a person like this, and couldn’t recall. It had been a while since he’d paid any attention to women, too busy with his training, too busy moping when he wasn’t. The sudden and strong desire he felt was probably down to desperately needing a bit of physical satisfaction. And weren’t the medical team always telling him to listen to his body?
So he’d spent most of the performance contemplating how best to seduce her and imagining what it would be like to run his tongue along the curve of her neck…
As the applause began to peter out, the lights rose and Allendi turned in her seat.
“You’re going to have to buy me a drink if you want to be fully forgiven for failing to show up at our little get together,” she said to Garrant, grinning.
“I’ll buy everyone a drink to make up for it,” Garrant replied, keeping his eyes on her and not giving in to the temptation to look sideways.
“I’m sure that will go some way to making up for your poor behaviour,” she said. “Ardan will have a glass of the best wine they’re selling, make mine a Garnelian Stardust, Nell?”
“Something fruity and not too lethal,” Nell said, and stars, even her voice was sexy as all hell now it was no longer constrained to a murmur.
“Two Garnelian Stardusts then,” Garrant said, shooting her a smile as he rose to his feet. “Coming right up.”
He introduced himself to the others - an attractive blonde called Angela and her Match, a big Karrathu guy who Garrant wouldn’t have wanted to meet in the arena - then turned to Cael and clapped him on the shoulder.
“I believe some congratulations are due,” he said, and managed to be sincere about it, the undercurrent of jealousy disappearing in the face of Cael’s obvious happiness.
He was a good guy. Garrant really was pleased he’d found his Match.
“Asha, meet Garrant. He’s an old friend of my sister’s and one of the competing athletes.”
She was a dainty little thing - pretty, too. When she looked up at him, she did so through the same grey eyes as Nell.
“Nice tattoos,” she said with a smile as she shook his hand.
“Thank you. I can usually be persuaded to take my shirt off if you’d like to see the rest of them,” Garrant said, shooting her a wink.
“Ah, yes, I forgot to mention he’s also an incorrigible flirt,” Cael said.
Asha just turned to Cael, a smile curling at the edges of her lip. “Can’t hack the competition?”
She was only teasing, that much would have been clear to a perfect stranger, even if Cael hadn’t laughed, but Garrant found himself liking her for having the sass to say it. Allendi was right - demure was definitely not the word for Asha.
“I’m getting drinks,” he said, turning to include Angela and Randar in the conversation. “What would you like?”
Once he had everyone’s orders, he went to the closest bar he could find. There were several on every floor for spectators to access during evening events like this one or the regular day time sporting ones. As this event was a more exclusive affair, there weren’t many people lingering now the opening ceremony had finished. Almost everyone filtered out of the stands, away from the arena - back to their suites or to the many other night life venues that were situated in the entertainment district. Garrant walked up to the bar and was served straight away.
Laden down with drinks, he headed back to the box, only to meet the group coming out.
“We’re heading down to the arena floor - to mingle,” Allendi said with a look of distaste, taking hers and Ardan’s drinks. “I’m going to need this.”
Garrant laughed. For all Allendi had grown and changed since she’d met Ardan, become a mother, she’d never lost her distaste for certain types of social events.
Garrant acted as waiter as the others followed after Allendi, claiming their drinks as they passed. Then, he only had his own drink and the second Garnelian Stardust. Nell’s drink. He took his own, then presented hers with a flourish.
“Your drink, ma’am,” he said, dipping into a small bow.
Nell smiled. “Thank you.”
He ditched the tray against the wall, then fell into step beside her.
“I’m guessing you must be Asha’s sister,” he said, keeping his tone conversational for now, while they could be overheard by the others. He didn’t want her to feel awkward about his attentions, or about rejecting them if she wanted to. These things always went smoother when conducted with some privacy.
“I am,” she said, “and you’re Allendi’s mystery friend who didn’t show up for her drinks.”
“Guilty as charged,” Garrant said, then gestured in the direction of the arena. “A lot of behind the scenes prep going on at the moment. Strangely, I should have more time once the competition actually starts.”
She nodded, accepting his twisting of the truth without question. It felt a little wrong, telling her even this whitest of lies. Garrant swallowed it down. A confessional of all his problems wasn’t going to be a great seduction.
“You’re competing?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“What’s your event?”
Garrant tried to keep his eyes off the gentle sway of her hips, the way her dress parted, revealing a long flash of leg, or the way her lips sucked on the straw in her drink as she waited for his response. Parshana have mercy, everything she did was driving him wild.
“Hyperdisk. It’s played on propulsion shoes. You have to make your way from one end of the court to the other and get the disk in the goal, while avoiding the other team. In very basic terms.”
“Propulsion shoes?” she asked.
“Shoes with small propulsion units on the bottom of them. They don’t quite enable you to fly, but if paired with a low gravity field, the effect is a little bit like walking on air.”
“That sounds…”
“Highly skilled?” Garrant said, waggling his eyebrows a little. “Impressive?”
“I was going to say terrifying, but I suppose those other things, too.” Her voice was desert dry, the barest hint of a smile on her lips.
They made their way down into the arena, where the staging had been cleared away to make a floor space for the remaining guests to occupy. In one corner, a floor made of squares that flashed different colours had been set up, base-heavy music blaring from nearby speakers. Angela looked delighted by it.
“Will you dance with me later?” she asked her Match.
&
nbsp; The Karrathu looked over to the floor with a dubious expression. “I don’t know any Human dances.”
“There are only two you need to know,” Asha said. “There’s the ‘awkward side to side shuffle’, and the ‘I’m drunk and I own the dance floor’. The first one requires no skill at all. The second… well, anything goes by that point.”
Angela laughed. “That’s about the size of it.”
For some time they talked as a group, Allendi drawing Garrant in to a conversation about old friends, while Nell laughed with her sister about something. Garrant felt hyper aware of her, but tried his best not to keep looking in her direction.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the person manning the equipment by the colourful floor started talking into a microphone about classic dance hits and showing the Intergalactic Community some Earth moves. A song came on that had a driving drum beat, a woman singing with a powerful voice above it about moving your body. Angela grinned at her Match and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him towards the dance floor.
Allendi, apparently in high spirits, went to Asha and Nell and asked if they wanted to dance. Asha agreed, but Nell gestured to her still half full drink and said she’d perhaps join them later. Garrant felt a thrill of triumph. Perhaps she wanted to be alone with him as much as he wanted to be alone with her. Cael and Ardan drifted closer to the dance floor, watching their women have fun, which gave Garrant the perfect opening.
“You don’t dance?” he said, crossing the gap to her side.
“No, it’s never really been my thing,” she said. “Clubbing… Going into an overcrowded dark room where the floors are sticky, paying over the odds for a drink you’re probably only going to spill, dancing to overloud music while being felt up by strangers is not my idea of a good time.” She said it in a rush. “I suppose that makes me terribly boring?”
“To some people, probably,” Garrant said. “But that’s how you know they aren’t your people.”
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