Page 39 of Sublime Target

Now, for the first time, she saw his face completely, without anything concealing it.

And he wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but he was magnificent.

She slowly put her teacup down and rose to her feet. “Feel better?”

“Cleaner,” he rumbled. “And not painted like an infernal target.”

“I would like to invite you to lunch.”

“No.” He walked right up to her until he was just inches from her, so close she could detect his freshly washed scent. He smelled of cold midnight and pure water. “You have done enough already. The invitation is mine.”

“W-what do you mean?”

Keep your composure. You can’t let him compromise your logic like this!

He leaned in, his presence engulfing her to the point where she wasn’t aware of anything else but him. “I’m asking you to come with me. I’ll take you out for lunch.

The intensity of his focus was like a laser beam. He made her feel like she was the only human left on this planet.

“I can’t leave work in the middle of the day,” she said, trying her very best to sound calm in the face of this highly distracting male, who seemed to be very aware of the effect he was having on her.

Her heartbeat accelerated.

Was he really… making a move on her? An alien, and an extremely powerful one, at that, inviting her out to lunch? Almost like a date?

It certainly seemed that way. His attention felt more than just cordial.

Was it some sort of cultural misunderstanding?

Or, despite his hard appearance, was this alien dangerously smooth?

She was torn between wanting to accept his invitation and maintaining her professional barriers—her safety mechanism.

“Your boss ordered you to keep me at bay while he mis-prioritizes his time. Earlier, you even named an eatery you were planning on taking us to—an outside location, I presume. He didn’t specify that you weren’t to leave the building, did he?” His fang-tipped smile was mischievous.

How tempting it was to give in to his demands.

But what if this was all just some ploy to soften her up? To get information out of her that he could use against Garner?

Faced with the most distracting presence she’d ever encountered, she tried to think about it for a moment.

No. He isn’t being disingenuous.

Because if he really wanted to, he could have just threatened Garner with total destruction and seized the damn land.

Everyone knew Kordolians were outside Earth’s laws.

Everyone knew they could destroy the planet in the blink of an eye if they wanted.

According to her research, the only thing that was stopping them was their apparent fondness for humans.

Some Kordolians were mated—that’s what they called it, anyway—with humans.

The possibilities were endless and terrifying.

And despite going through the motions of resistance…

Of course she was going to take him up on his invitation.

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