Page 10 of Holiday with the Aliens

Dash gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Trust me.”

“I don’t know why it’s so easy.” She clearly meant to mutter it to herself, but Dash heard and grinned even brighter.

Then he came to a stop in front of a door with a sensor panel on one side. He placed his hand on it and waited until the lock disengaged. The lights didn’t turn on automatically. This wasn’t a playroom or dance club. But to someone who spent most of his time on his ship, it was even better.

“I can’t see anything,” Ro said. She clutched at his hand and reached up with her other to feel for him. Her fingers landed on his chest and splayed out. “Oh, that’s nice.”

Dash placed his free hand over hers for a moment before reaching towards where he knew the wall panel was and turning the lights on.

“What is this…?” Ro trailed off. She let go of his hand and tilted her head back, taking a look around them. “Should we be in here?”

It was a good question. About ten years earlier Dash had done a favor for one of the security guards on the station and he’d needed an out of the way place to work. This storage room had been the solution. For some reason Dash’s prints had never been removed from the system and he liked to check whenever he was back on the moon.

Wires of dozens of colors ran along the wall in straight lines, creating their own kind of decoration. And the walls themselves were ten meters high, opening up to a large window that looked out at the dark night above them. There were rows and rows and rows of supplies and equipment, most of it disused, broken bits and bobs that weren’t worth destroying since they hadn’t yet been used for parts. He walked up to the nearest shelf and grabbed one of the smaller boxes, moving it to an empty table and prying off the lid.

“This place shows the history of the moon better than any museum could ever hope to.” He reached in and came out with an old fashioned communicator, something that hadn’t been used in the better part of a century. “Did you know that when humans first landed on the moon their common vehicles couldn’t evenfly?And almost all of their communication had to be directly wired. Their first craft were beyond primitive. This,” he held up the communicator,” would take decades more to become common.”

Ro wasn’t looking at the communicator, she was looking at him, and the smile on her face was… fond. Or condescending. But Dash chose to believe it was fond. “You’re a giant nerd. Emphasis on the giant.”

His cheeks grew warm, and he was glad for his dark skin and the dim light of the room hiding the expression.

But Ro must have figured out how he interpreted it. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I like that you’re excited. Tell me more.”

And so he did. For more than an hour they devoured the box of knickknacks, with Dash telling the stories he’d heard over the years. But as the time went on, he and Ro ended up closer and closer together, until she was practically sitting in his lap as he showed her how an early radar sensor worked. Finally she took the device from his hand and set it down.

“I’m impressed,” she said. “This is the most interesting date anyone’s ever taken me on.”

Date? Dash bit the question back. It hadn’t occurred to him to ask her out properly. And if it had, he never would have brought her here. He would have done dinner, dancing, something seductive. He would have over thought it completely. But he had to say something before she misinterpreted his silence. “It’s not something I’d share with just anyone.”

Her eyes softened and she reached up to cup his cheek. Then he was leaning down and their lips met. It was soft, gentle for a moment, but as her taste invaded his senses, Dash’s body went into overdrive. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, pressing their bodies firmly together as he plundered her willing mouth. She opened for him easily and their tongues danced, learning one another, sampling what they both wanted more of.

She was hope and possibility, a future he’d never dared dream of. And she’d come willingly to his arms.

He wanted more. Needed everything.

The wild thing inside him tried to rear up and take things further. And it almost won when Ro hitched a leg over his hip and rubbed against his hardening cock. He groaned. How could he do anything but groan at the decadent sensations she was giving him?

If he didn’t have her, he was going to go mad. He wanted to swipe the devices off the table andtakeher, wanted to get rid of all of their clothes and ravish her until she remembered no lover before him and couldn’t bear to think of anyone coming after him. He wanted to shift and show her his glorious other form, with his proud antlers that were sure to glow and his strong body made to endure harsh winter winds and snow and ice. He wanted to show her everything he could do, everything he was.

And he never wanted to stop kissing her.

But he wasn’t just a beast, and he wasn’t going to take her for their first time over a rickety table in a stock room on the moon, not when there was a sumptuous bed surely ready by now.

It took more will than he knew he possessed to back away, to pull his lips from her and separate their bodies. His cock ached to fill her, so hard it practically hurt as it rubbed against his pants. He had to reach down and readjust himself, and Ro’s eyes followed, her gaze growing dark as she watched him.

“Come on,” said Dash. “Our room should be ready by now.”

Ro grinned. “This date keeps getting better and better.”

Chapter Five

Anticipation fizzed in Ro’s veins and her mouth tingled from their kiss. She couldn’t have found her way to their rented room if she’d tried. Her mind was so occupied on what was to come that she couldn’t spend even a minute in the present. Not when the future was going to be so damn satisfying. Dash hadn’t let go of her hand the entire walk back, and anyone who glanced at them had to know what they were planning, but Ro didn’t care. Let them think it. Hell, let them be jealous. He was going to be withherand that was something to flaunt.

But the longer they walked, the more tortuous it became. How far away was this damn room? How big was Lunar Base Alpha? Was there a handy broom closet where they could take the edge off? As it was, she was going to jump Dash the second they got behind a closed door, and she wasn’t sure she’d make it to a bed, even if they were in the same room. Hell, she wasn’t sure she’d get all their clothes off, just the important bits.

It was madness to feel so much so quickly for this man, but she reveled in it. There was something freeing about this desire, even if she couldn’t quite understand it. It wasn’t like anything she’d felt with anyone else, and that made it special.

Dashmade it special. He was full of joy, of life, in a way that most people weren’t. He seemed to fully throw himself into every moment and come out of even the most mundane situations with a smile. It should have been annoying, in the way that perpetually happy people always ticked her off, and yet… he was justDash.

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