Page 16 of The Alien's Little Sister

I offer her a toothbrush, and she leaps at the chance to ‘use native human technology.’ Spoiler: she’s not bummed at all that there’s no technology to it. She finds our primitive dental sticks charming. Not that she says as much out loud—she doesn’t have to. I can tell by her wide tooth-pasty grin and dancing eyes as she scrubs her fangs and smiles hugely at her reflection like Colgate is paying her to do this.

Then she digs out her tooth sprayer and asks if I’d like to try out her people’s teeth cleansing system.

“I’m game,” I say, and march into the washroom to stand beside her at my sink so my alien roommate can show me how to brush my teeth.

Five minutes later and I’m turning the sprayer back and forth, holding it up like it’s Excalibur. My teeth are sparkling. “I havegotto get me one of these.”

Inara laughs and starts packing away its parts. Her leathery hair-strands slither over her shoulders as she casts a glance my way. “Do you wish to sleep immediately?”

“Nah. I need to unwind after work. Especially after eating. You tired?”

“Not at all. I’m so curious about you.”

“About humans?”

“Them also.”

“Yeah, well, I’m curious about you too. What are you doing here? What do you know about us so far? Want to take a walk?”

She blinks at me.

I jerk a thumb towards the door. “There’s a gym downstairs. We can circle it or use treadmills or whatever. Something light and easy to work off the food before we hit the hay.”

Inara looks fascinated. “I would like this.”

CHAPTER 10

We’re side-by-side on treadmills. There’s a security camera in the corner, and I have to wonder what building security is going to think if they glance at this monitor. But nobody busts in demanding to capture the alien, so we calmly keep walking our belts. I turn my attention from her toes (she has three tapir-like toes, which spread out to absorb impact and fold together when she raises her foot) and move my gaze to her face. “So. What’s a pretty alien like you doing on a planet like this?”

Dammit, Matt, quit thinking of her as pretty.

Ha ha, Matt. You’re a dreamer.

I shove a stick of gum into my mouth, and hold one out for her, not looking at her as I finish castigating myself.Don’ttellher she’s pretty, dipshit. You’re going to freak her out. Don’t make her feel threatened, or I’ll have to kick my own ass.

Inara answers my question like she’s not having the same kind of internal battle I am. “I’m here for…” her eyes slide to me. “Reasons.” She follows my lead, unwrapping the gumstick and folding it into her mouth. She glances around automatically for a waste receptacle, I assume, but I know this room well. The building doesn’t offer one here. I snatch the wrapper from her, ball it up, and shove it in my pocket with mine.

An action she watches with a strange amount of intensity.

Then I lean into my grip on the machine’s handles, feeling the stretch all the way up my shoulders. “Oh yeah. Reasons. That’s why I hop in my spaceship and get hired to play a human first thing.” I squint at the wall—and then I pan the squinted look over to her.

She makes a thumping sound in her nose and smiles. “I was the only female whelped in a litter of eight—”

I whistle low. “Damn.”

She bobs her horns, like a nod. “Just so. All of my siblings are males. We are Rakhii,” her ever-so-slightly Roman nose goes up in the air a little, a proud look, “a fierce collection of beings unique to my home planet. Males do travel offworld—frequently, they are known to travel offworld—but for the most part, they live and die on home soil. My brothers travel all the time, yet most of them return to den in our homecave, or they’re home so often, they may as well consider themselves living there. Eventually, males are supposed toleave.Find mates. Get their own lives—and keep their snouts out of mine. But only three of my brothers have done this. And one of them was Tahmoh!” she adds miserably.

“That’s bad?”

She turns imploring, bewitching eyes on me.

Nope. You don’t get to call her eyes ‘bewitching’ either. It’s a sexy word and you know it. BEHAVE, MATT.

“He’s the most easy-going brother I have. If any of them were to remain at home with me, he would be the brother I would select. Never the other four.”

“Why haven’t the other four left?”

She purses her—

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