Page 19 of Rescued By the Luxirian

Immediately, my dirty mind processed those words, thinking of all the ways Icouldbeof useto him, most of which involved me bending over this counter and lifting the tunic that he’d loaned me. A part of me just wanted to leave the words as they were…to let him decide what he wanted to do with them.

I cleared my throat, adding, “To help you if you have anything for me to do. I…I’m not really the manual labor type of girl but I can try!”

“You…” he trailed off, running a hand over one of his black horns as he peered at me intently, “you think I would ask you to domanual labor?”

Uh oh, did I offend him?

Abort, abort, bend over the counter and lift your tunic, my ridiculous mind screamed.

“Or I can do…organizing! Office work, I mean. That’s what I do on Wero. I’m a merchant’s assistant, so I know my way around the coms,” I scrambled. “I’m also a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself.”

Droxan blew out a sharp breath. “Lyra.”

I swallowed. Liking it too much whenever he said my name like that.

“Yes?” I asked, smiling up at him.

“What do you know about Luxirian males?”

That…wasn’t what I expected him to ask.

What everyone else knew, I supposed. That they descended from great, albeit brutal, warriors. That they purred to their mates when they were distressed. That they had a fated mate Instinct, like a few select races through the Quadrants. That they were a strong, powerful, wealthy, respected race among the universe.

That they have very grippable horns, I silently added.

“Um, not much,” I squeaked instead.

“One thing youshouldknow is that we do not expect our females—or our guests—to repay us foranything.”

Why did my heart skip atour females?

I sniffed, meeting his eyes. “And what do you know about humans?”

He took a step closer and it only made me squeeze my thighs tighter together when his musky scent reached my nostrils. I had the insane urge to rub my cheek against him, to breathe him in, fill up my lungs with him.

“That you apparently have this driving need to repay things you consider debts,” he grumbled.

I couldn’t help but laugh. A soft chuckle that had his eyes softening and his shoulders loosening. That was interesting.

“I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness,” I told him honestly, reaching out my hand to take his own. His palm was rough and I squeezed to emphasize my point. “I’ve been independent my whole life. So it’s hard for me to just sit back and not try to help you in some way when you’ve already helpedmeso much.”

Droxan went quiet, studying me, those crystal blue eyes flickering back and forth between my hazel ones.

“Please,” I said quietly. “Anything at all. You’ll make me very happy if you’ll let me help you withsomething.”

Then he squeezed my hand.

I wondered what he heard in my voice to make him change his mind, but he finally relented and said, “I’m working on repairing the water catch system today. You can…keep me company and hand me my tools when I need them.Tev?”

My lips threatened a smile. His tone made it seem like he was asking me to haul boulders on my back up a cliff all day.

I think I might like him, I thought.

It was as good as I’d probably get from him. Lounging on the terrace on a beautiful, sunny day as I watched him work up a sweat? As I wasforcedto keep this Luxirian company who I was steadily becoming a little besotted with?

The horror.

“Deal,” I said, beaming.

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