Page 12 of An Alien for the Farm

“I…do not want to intrude.” His voice breaks the silence and although it’s pitched soft, it still brings my alertness up one thousand percent.

My complete focus shifts to him. “Yes?”

Zynar’s gaze drops immediately to my lips. “What brings a soft female like you all the way out to the frontier plains of Hudo III?”

There it is. See? Nothing untoward. But first ‘little female’, and now ‘soft female’? Ha. When have I ever been called that?

“I could ask you the same question. A farming planet doesn’t exactly seem like prime territory for a big, strong male like yourself.” Now, why did I say that? I want to take back my words when the alien before me suddenly flexes one thick arm and my eyes trace the motion. A lump forms in my throat that has nothing to do with the dry crackers.

“Repairing homesteads and working the land with my siblingkin is in my blood. We Kari were built for such labors.”

“I see.” It’s all the words that manage to come from my lips.

“But you have yet to explain your own situation, little Liora. This seems hardly the place for one so delicate and…unaccompanied.” It almost sounds like a question. Like he’s fishing to find out if I’m single. Is he? Surely, he isn’t.

Conflicting emotions play within me. Do I really want to tell him I’m single? That I’m all alone out here on my own? I don’t know him. I don’t know anyone. I might be human and new to this world, but I’m not a fool. I’ve been around long enough to know it’s not safe for women in basically every part of the universe I’ve lived in so far.

Plus, I don’t even know this male. I met him like six seconds ago.

Biting my lip, I say fuck it and finally reply. “Let’s just say I needed a fresh start after my…previous circumstances went awry. The New Horizons Initiative offered me a chance to start over, to make a life for myself here. Though I know they’re keeping track of me and everything I do.” I add that last bit for an ounce of safety, letting him know I’m being monitored so he doesn’t think I’m entirely alone.

Even though I’m not. Xarion probably doesn’t give a fig about what happens to me out here.

Zynar seems to consider my response, but he doesn’t pry and I’m thankful for that. When he responds, I’m happy he takes my answer for what it is. “I see. I must have your new homestead set to rights swiftly then. It would sully my honor to have such a rare flower resting exposed to the elements.”

The compliment disarms me and I smile, something warming within me even as bells ring in my head that this is a road I’ve forbidden and put warning signs all over. “You’re too kind. Though I fear my petals may be growing a bit withered these days.” I joke, taking another sip of the tea.

He makes a sound in his throat, almost like a purr that vibrates through me instead of him. It makes me hold the tea too long in my mouth and I almost choke again when his gaze skips over my skin. “Hardly, little Liora.”

I swallow down the tea and smile knowing he’s being polite. But then he leans a little closer, his nostrils flaring slightly in a way that makes me feel like he’s smelling me. “I’m an excellent judge of beauty…Eleanor.”

So, he does know my name. I can feel myself blush. Shit, I must look like a freshly plucked tomato. Before I can reply, Zynar rises fluidly to his feet, positioning himself with the sun at his back. His body casts a shadow over me, making that lump in my throat swell. As he sets his empty mug down on the tray in my lap, it puts him close enough that his scent wafts right through me again. I almost close my eyes and inhale deeply, stopping myself just moments before doing so.

What the hell is wrong with me? Remember the path you mustn’t tread, Eleanor? Remember that you’ve been down this road many times before and it always ends in a crash at the end of the ride? Yes? Remember that? Shit, woman, you almost died after the last one.

Repeat after me: Men like to flirt, but they always desert.

“I should return to my preparations before my siblingkin arrives with the materials. Though…” Zynar’s voice pulls me from my internal battle and when I focus on his eyes again, this time, his gaze brazenly trails over me, sending goosebumps and tingles all across my skin. It’s a helluva thing when your mind screams one thing but your body does another. “I would not object to sharing this ‘tea’ with you again…if you are willing.”

My lips part slightly, my eyes widening. Now that, I didn’t expect.

I manage to give a small nod, speechless.

Zynar rewards me with a quirk of his brow and a flash of fang. “Excellent.”

Good god, his gaze skips over me again.

My mouth goes dry. Is he…flirting with me?

I watch, feeling flustered, as Zynar grabs the beam with one hand and leaps back up onto the roof with an easy, powerful grace. My cheeks still burn like I’m sitting too close to a furnace.

Part of me wants to downplay his words as just meaningless flirtation that comes naturally to his kind. But another part of me, despite the war in my brain, preens at the attention. His brazenly roaming gaze sets my skin tingling in a way I haven’t experienced in years and a part of me weeps at that fact while another part of me lights up like a Christmas tree.

As he moves about on the roof, muscles rippling beneath his iridescent scales, I can’t tear my eyes away. This male is utterly at ease with his physicality, his strength. So different from the human males I remember.

I take another sip of the floral tea, more to occupy my hands than anything. Zynar glances down at me again and I quickly look away, staring sightlessly into my cup as I try to regain my composure.

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