Page 7 of An Alien for the Farm

“And now my tits are hanging low enough to play jump rope,” I whisper under my breath.

When the male’s lips curve into a small, almost hesitant smile, revealing sharp fangs, I know he heard me. Good heavens. I could die, but I’ve got at least another twenty or thirty years left, if I’m lucky, and I plan to live every second of it.

My mortification doesn’t ebb, just goes on the backburner as the male before me finally responds. His voice is a deep rumble that seems to vibrate through the air.

“I am here to work,” he says simply, but his eyes never leave mine, and a strange little tingle goes through me. I push it away.

It’s not the first time that’s happened. Not the first time I’ve seen an attractive male and my body has responded. I still have needs and…urges. I still want to be touched. Still want to be loved, even if the fact sends a swell of uncertainty through me. I haven’t thought about this in a while. Promised myself I wouldn’t dwell on things like this anymore. I’ve survived an abduction, slavery, a war, and the rocky start of a new life. I’m alone and will be alone for the foreseeable future. But as another tingle goes through me when the male before me slides his gaze over me once more, I’m reminded of how hard it will be to travel this road I’m taking. God, when was the last time I was touched? The closest I’ve come to being touched was when someone bumped into me in the refugee ship’s hallway.

I call that more collision than connection.

I clear my throat, squeezing my eyes shut. I actually speak to him with my eyes shut as I try to clear my head. “Okay, great. Thanks for checking the ad out. It’s about the roof. There are some holes in it that I need mended and I’m hoping it can be done before the rain comes in four days.” I finish, popping my eyes back open. He’s still looking at me in that intense way even as his head tilts slightly. I fold the arm that’s not holding the knife over my chest to hide my pancakes and his gaze shifts to the movement.

Pressing a smile on my face, I wait for him to speak before he takes a step back off the porch and into the yard. Standing in my yard, this male makes the grounds look small. His gaze shifts over the roof, brows furrowing as his hair falls to hang over his shoulders. Hands on his hips, I try not to ogle the way his muscles move as he takes a moment to study my roof.

“I’ll need more materials than I assumed,” he finally says. It’s only then that I notice that out on the road, there’s what looks like a vehicle. It’s a hybrid between an armored hovercraft and a utility truck. The body is sleek and gray with compartments for storing tools and materials. It hums with a low, powerful energy, and in the back is sitting another Kari just like the one before me.

There are two of them? Can I afford to pay both? I guess spending around ten percent of the money New Horizons gave me isn’t such a bad thing if I’m fixing something as important as the roof, right?

The alien turns to his companion and says something in a language the device stuck in my skull doesn’t translate. The other one nods, hops out the back, and gets into the transparent cab. In the next second, he’s driving away.

I blink, somewhat confused.

“I’ll try to save what I can.” The alien before me turns and his perfectly white teeth flash with those fangs. “But you might need a whole new roof.”

I blink at him again, my arm tightening where I’ve wrapped it across my chest. Is he trying to rip me off? “No, no. I don’t want to change the whole thing. At least, not yet. I just need the holes patched for now.”

Setting the knife down on the inside windowsill, I’m stepping out barefoot, the rising sun in my eyes as I walk up to the stranger. God, he’s tall. He towers over me so much that when I stand with my back to him, a ripple of…something…goes down my spine. I point at the roof. “I counted maybe five or six holes. I just need them patched. Temporarily is fine. You didn’t have to send your friend away.”

When I turn, I realize I’m much closer to him than I first thought. A lump forms in my throat. There’s a scent, and it isn’t the scent from the farm or the animals lazily releasing bodily fluids in the fields close by. It’s sweet, and it’s coming from him. I almost lean in before I catch myself.

The movement of his muscular arm draws my attention, pulls me away from focusing on how good he smells when he points to the roof. “It’s rotten. But I will try, little female, to save what I can.”

Little female? The term catches me off guard. Little? I’ve never been called little before. I’m not huge. I’m an average-sized big girl. I huff a nervous laugh through my nose. “I…don’t have enough to pay for a whole new roof.”

The alien brushes past me, his scent enveloping me like a warm embrace. He’s already flipping off a tool from his waist—a laser that reaches the peak of the roof—and I realize he’s measuring it. “Don’t worry, little female. I don’t overcharge.”

I go speechless as he grabs hold of a beam and launches himself onto the roof like it’s nothing. Once up there, his back turned to me, it’s like I’m dismissed. He takes out a device and begins scanning the roof, immediately getting to work. A breath leaves my chest, deflated.

At least he has initiative and I do want the roof fixed. If it’s more than one hundred and twenty credits then I will just have to pull up my pants and pay him as long as he does a good job. I have to find a way to earn money on my own, anyway.

Arm still folded across my chest, I head back inside.

“My name’s Eleanor by the way.” But there’s no response.

Invisible again, I guess. I don’t think he even heard me.

4

ZYNAR

Her name is Eleanor. A soft name that rolls on my tongue.

Eleanor is a strange little female. I’ve never seen another of her kind before. Perhaps she’s new to Hudo III. I’d heard rumors about females being sponsored to live on these plains. I didn’t expect a soft little thing like her, though. Maybe a Merssi or even other female species known to prefer a solitary life. This female doesn’t give the impression of either.

She’s tiny and pale compared to my bulky form. No scales, but her skin is smooth and soft, almost translucent under the morning light. Her hair is a tangle of gold with a few fine threads of silver mixed in. It hangs in a loose wave to land just above her shoulders, framing features so delicate they caught me off guard the moment she opened the door. Even with her having disappeared inside the lodging, the image of her small straight nose, her round, soft jaw, and her plump parted lips are seared into my mind. Her eyes are a deep, captivating shade of blue that looked right into mine, unafraid. Unflinching.

And yet, nothing about her tells me she could ever be a threat. A prey species then. So why is she on the plains of Hudo III? Alone, it seems, too. Where is her herd? Where is her mate?

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