Page 23 of An Alien for the Farm

I knew this room was small. The entire house is. But Zynar inside my space makes it even more obvious. There’s suddenly no room, only him.

He shifts slightly, reaching around me to pull out a seat. “For you, Liora.”

I’m caught off guard. Never in my life would I think I’d have an alien pulling out a chair for me, but here I am. I sit, thankful my shaky legs don’t have to hold my weight anymore. My eyes are wide dishes as Zynar walks to the other side and takes the seat in front of me. Even the chair looks dwarfed in his presence.

He watches me now, like a hawk, and I clear my throat. Reaching for the plates, I set one in front of him. “Oh, drinks! I forgot drinks!”

I stand abruptly and his gaze follows me, pausing at my chest and honing in before I spin and head for my supplies. It’s only while in the kitchen that my chest tingles where he was looking at me. My breasts. Oh God, he was looking at my breasts.

Immediately, heat coils in my core.

I grab the drinks. Cylindrical things like beer, but I’m sure it’s either juice made from flowers or fruits. I return, set one before him, my hand briefly touching his. An electric tingle shoots across my hand and I see his fingers twitch, too.

The silence is deafening. I can’t even glance at him because I feel his heavy stare on me. So much for thinking straight by being civilized. It’s even worse now that he’s swallowing up all the space.

“Sorry about being so absent today. I was trying to get inside here clean.” Lies. I was trying to hide away from him. But he doesn’t need to know that.

“You have done a commendable job, Liora.” His tone is so deep, so dark, that my gaze shifts to his. My heart does that ski-boop thing again.

Silence descends again and I realize that, unlike humans who get so uncomfortable with silence, it isn’t the same for the Kari. Zynar seems perfectly content simply staring at me. As if he could sit all day before me, just…taking me in.

“Zynar…” There’s a purr in his throat again at the sound of my voice. “Why do you call me that?”

“Mm?” That purr increases even as he tilts his head slightly as if he’s not sure what I’m talking about. It’s almost as if he’s not aware of the deep rumble. As if he’s not really focusing. His gaze could eat me up and that makes me think of him actually eating me up. Gods, what would that feel like?

There’s a sudden throb between my legs, a little bud waking up, and I clamp my thighs shut.

“Liora,” I whisper. His gaze heightens on mine then, as if I’ve just said a keyword, a passcode to something secret and consequential. “Why do you call me that and not my name? What does it mean?”

“Mm,” he purrs again.

“Is…” I clear my throat because the longer he stares, the hotter I get. It’s hard to focus and I try to remind myself that just like other aliens I’ve met so far, he may simply be staring because I’m so different from him. “Is it like a polite term? A…cultural thing?”

His gaze is on my lips as if he’s consuming each word that leaves my mouth and I get another revelation that it’s exactly what he’s doing. All this time I’ve been getting jitters from the fact his gaze keeps shifting to my lips means absolutely frickin’ nothing. It’s not because he wants to kiss me. He’s from another species! Another culture! He probably doesn’t even know what kissing is!

I could groan. Like I’ve thought, I’ve been such a fool.

“On Karicek…” he begins, that rumble in his tone pulling me in. “A liora is a little avian. Soft. Delicate. With wings that move so quickly, they appear invisible. It flutters around blooms and other things it finds interesting. It is…of the most beautiful things one can witness.”

Soft…delicate…beautiful…

I blink at him, his words slowly seeping into my brain. “Little avian?” I whisper. “Little bird?” My heart does several ski-boops. “You’ve been calling me—” Oh God, I could choke on the emotion swelling in my chest even though this probably doesn’t even mean a thing to him. “You’ve been calling me Little Bird?”

His head tilts as his gaze lifts and I realize he was consuming my every word again. “Yes, Liora. That you are.”

I don’t know what to do with this information. What I should say or how I should respond. The air suddenly feels weighted around us and I forget how to breathe.

Little Bird. It’s endearing, almost too intimate, and I can’t decide if I’m thrilled or terrified by the depth of it.

“It’s…a beautiful name.” I try to brush off the nervous thrill going through me with a soft smile and Zynar watches my lips shift. Clearing my throat, I take up my sandwich and take a big bite. With my mouth full, I can’t talk. That means I won’t say something stupid like the words bubbling in the back of my head.

Stupid things like how I’ve never been given a pet name like that by anyone before. Not by old boyfriends. Not by my ex-husband. And certainly not someone I’ve had a crush on, like him.

As Zynar takes up his sandwich and takes a big bite too, he finally leans back in his chair, thick shoulders rolling. God, why doesn’t he wear a shirt? Would it even make him less distracting?

“The kalui storage,” he suddenly says, prompting my gaze to his.

“Hmm?”

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