Page 22 of His Human Librarian

She bites her lip and looks away. “You know, if you want me gone quick, I have to take the artifacts with me and work on it in my lab, on Gravian. If you don't want it off planet, and you'd rather I worked on it here, and we bring in more staff, local and from the council, and we could work on it here. We sometimes do set up a mobile lab on site. I was going to offer that to you because I could see how upset you were at the thought of beings who are not of your species, touching and working with everything. So I thought you would feel more comfortable if I stayed and maybe even taught a team of people here how to do this, and we all work together.”

“That does make me more comfortable,” I admit.

“If you want your friend involved as a paid member of the team, where he’s truly involved, then I would have to stay on planet and this would take longer. If I do this quickly and leave, it will be harder to have Hugsen involved.”

I nod and move forward.

We continue to follow the main road out of the ranch onto the fields that compromise Sandstone pastureland, and then immediately turn East onto another narrow trail that allows space for us to ride closer again. Taylor continues to surprise me how well she is with the animals and the riding beast.

“You've never been on a riding beast of any kind before?” I question.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve had to get to very remote locations, but usually we're always able to use a hovercraft and then walk a short distance to locations. How much longer do you think this will take, grand total until we get back?”

I look at the suns. “I believe we will return to the ranch at sunset. This will take all day,” I warn her.

“I can do it,” she says, cheerfully. “I'm tougher than I look. Because I'm overweight beings always think I'm not strong enough, that I probably don't have the stamina because I maybe I never exercise, but I do.”

“What are you talking about it? What is this word? Overweight?”

“Well, that's what I look like. My appearance. I am not an average weight for a human.”

“Overweight,” I say confused. “Similar to how much this horse weighs, or how much a nanco of liquid gold would weigh, and your species monitors that amongst yourselves too?”

“Yes, because we don't all weigh the same. Some humans can weigh too little, some are average, some can weigh too much. That doesn't happen to Hyrrokin?”

“No, our bodies must be set. Generally, we are all about the same weight that is equal to their height, unless there is a sickness.” I look at her. “And I think you are very small and delicate.”

She laughs, “Believe me, no one thinks that about me back home.”

“In fact, you look very much like some of the other human females I've met, so I guess I thought all humans look delicate like you.”

“Oh, well, some are even more”—she puts up her fingers and does air quotes—“delicate than me, believe me. I'm even a little tall, taller than the average human female.”

“Well, I think you're delicate. If you remain on this ranch longer, you will see me trying to feed you every Hyrrokin delicacy because I think you're too small and you need to be healthy and eat more.”

She smiles wide. “I wouldn’t mind that in the least.”

Chapter 8

Taylor

I’m having a nice time riding along the edge of the Sandstone pastureland, entering the rugged green mountains I’d previously seen from a distance.

I’ve been on this planet for a full diurnal now, spending most of my time with the satanic-looking Sten Sandstone. I slept in the room next door to his last night, and resided in his enormous, sprawling ranch house.

And about two hours ago I found him standing entirely naked in his outdoor shower and I stood there, like a frozen statue, openly gaping at his gorgeous body and that epic cock.

Embarrassing.

I had no idea that I was so into naked men. I’m not the type who normally shows up at strip clubs. I don’t even watch much porn. I’m well-known for being unusually focused on my work.

But this male’s edgy sexiness—those satanic-looking features mixed with the perfect body of an athlete or soldier or…a rancher in his prime, it’s too much for me to ignore.

Something has changed between us this morning and I find it easier to talk to him, as if we’re becoming fast friends. I enjoy chatting with Sten, which is good considering how much we’ve been thrown together in the last diurnal. He seems to haveaccepted my drunken, emo apology from last night in the library. And he doesn’t seem all that offended by the fact that I found him naked.

And I’m now a bit more jittery around him, because I can’t help but remember exactly how spectacular he looked under that outdoor shower. Each time I remember seeing him under that spraying water there’s a flutter in my stomach and a rush of heat between my thighs.

Focus on the job Taylor. Focus. Work. Act professional.

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