Page 53 of Holiday with the Aliens

She shivered and traced her fingers down his arm before pulling away. “Stay with me tonight?”

And always. He wanted to say it out loud, but he’d already pled his case. She would stay with him or leave, but he didn’t want to scare her into fleeing so soon. Her emotions needed time to grow; humans dove into relationships slower than Detyens, and he refused to hold that against her. “I would be honored.”

Molly kissed his cheek and turned to go, but before she left, she looked over her shoulder at him. “I like the idea of leaving with you, of seeing the rest of space. But I don’t know if I’m ready.”

His heart beat a hopeful rhythm but Tav forced his breathing to remain steady. “When you decide, I will be waiting.”

She nodded and left, and with her gone, the rest of the day dragged on as if weighed down by the mass of a thousand planets. At some point a cart filled with brightly wrapped items arrived and Molly gasped loud enough for the entire room to hear.

“They’re perfect!” she praised the android who’d brought them, but the automaton could not react to the emotion in her voice.

“Where should I put them?” it asked, tone flat and computerized. Androids had always creeped Tav out. They looked like people, as their outer skins were usually designed tomimic the prevalent alien species of wherever they were created, but there was always something obviouslywrongwith them. The one who brought the toys looked Oscavian, but no one would ever confuse it for a living being.

“They go under the tree,” Molly said, as if that was a completely logical answer.

Tav watched as the android stacked the presents in three neat piles before leaving, its mission complete. A few minutes later, Molly ventured over and started to unstack the piles and arrange the boxes in a pattern only she seemed to understand. The workers returned to their positions, but Tav decided to join her. Whatever she was doing seemed important.

He grabbed the first box he saw and squatted next to her. “Where should I put this?”

Molly looked over, eyes bright. “It’s great, isn’t it? I think the kids will love this.” She pointed to one side of the tree. “Just spread them out around that side. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

“The children like colored boxes?” It was her party, but children where he’d grown up had much preferred toys and entertainment tablets.

She smiled and shook her head as she worked. “No, silly. There are toys inside the boxes. Haven’t you ever been—” she cut herself off and shook her head. “Sorry, I get sort of Earth centric sometimes. Back home we wrap up gifts in paper sort of like this.” She held up a box and the shiny golden paper reflected the light. “We have a few holidays where we give gifts, Christmas, Hanukkah, birthdays, stuff like that. A lot of those holidays are in the winter, so I wanted to give the youngsters on the station something special. Even if it’s not significant to them, at least they get a new toy, right?”

“That sounds wonderful.” Tav couldn’t help but smile at the thought. He’d been given gifts at the Harvest Festival on Jaaxis every year, but he’d almost forgotten about the tradition aftertaking on his apprenticeship. He hoped this gesture spread joy throughout the station. The party was coming together and he was certain that Molly’s name would be held in high regard once it was done, despite all of the setbacks. She’d put together something glorious, something that would be remembered for years to come. She was a wonder.

“They’re just trinkets. The budget didn’t exactly allow me to do more than dolls and analog games. But even if they only play with them for a few hours, it will be worth it.”

It only took a few minutes to get the presents spread out, but both Molly and Tav walked away in high spirits. And by the time it was time to leave for the night, she laced their fingers together and led him back to her room without a backwards glance, no mention of the thefts that they’d suffered, no worries for the frantic days to come, nothing but the excitement and hope of a night spent together. Tav couldn’t wait.

Chapter Seven

It was almost strange how nervous Mollywasn’t. She’d led Tav back to her room with their hands bound together, both of them certain of where this night was going. And she wasn’t nervous that he’d see her naked and turn away, or ask to turn the lights off because all bodies were the same in the dark. She didn’t think he’d reject her or make her feel less of herself for having physical desires.

No, she walked beside him with the certainty that however the night ended, they’d both be spent and satisfied, and maybe she’d be one step closer to being able to walk onto his ship and off of Honora Station once the party was over.

Lunch had been late, and neither of them made mention of dinner. She had food waiting in her processor if either of them got hungry, but that was a concern for later. Every moment of the day not spent completely engrossed in work had her thinking about what Tav said about the denya bond. It sounded fake, like a prank some man would use to get an unsuspecting woman in bed. But the pain in Tav’s eyes when he’d revealed the truth was all she needed to know it was real. She trusted him, perhapsmore than was wise, but there was no turning back now. Not a single cell in her body wanted to.

Strong arms wrapped around her as the door closed, shutting them off from the rest of the ship. Molly’s room was impersonal, her only possessions coming from a single trunk she’d hauled across half the galaxy. There wasn’t enough stuff in there to make the place look messy, even if she’d upended everything onto the floor. But Tav didn’t seem concerned about her lack of decorations. He nuzzled against her neck, his lips brushing almost chastely against her suddenly galloping pulse.

“Is this alright,” he murmured, holding her tight.

Molly arched into him, trying to press as much of their bodies together as possible, and nodded. She reached a hand up to hook around his head and hold him closer; the grip was awkward, but Tav’s body was hard in all—all—the right places, and she was willing to deal with the slight strain on her muscles. His tongue brushed against her and it was enough to make her moan, but not enough to satisfy her. No, she’d need all of him for that, over and over again if she had any say in it.

“The bed’s just through there,” she said, not quite managing to nod towards the corner of her room where she slept.

Tav’s lips stilled and his hands moved to her hips, pushing her slightly away until a breath of air could make it between them. “I don’t want to rush you,” he said, his words belying the thickness of his cock.

But Molly wasn’t a blushing maiden, and she knew what she wanted. What she needed. “This isn’t rushing. This is… perfect.” She didn’t want to get emotional tonight, but something bled into her voice, and it let her know that there was no escaping the emotion when it came to Tav. He’d snuck inside of her when she wasn’t paying attention, and if she wanted him gone, she’d need to do a lot of work to evict him.

That wasn’t about to happen.

She reached down and grabbed one of his hands, spinning out of his grasp and pulling him towards the bed. It was bigger than she was used to, having grown accustomed to the tiny bunks on many starliners, but no matter how she and Tav lay, it would be a tight squeeze. She didn’t see that as a bad thing. She held his gaze as she lowered herself down onto the bed and laid back before letting her eyes rove over him. He was beautiful, exquisitely masculine with a heart-wrenchingly tender look in his eyes that showed her he saw her as precious, not someone to be taken and left behind.

“I want to see you,” she said.

He spread his arms. “I’m right here.”

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