Page 13 of An Alien for Her Heart

With a sigh, I gather my comm and tuck it into my pocket. Dresses with pockets. Just one joy of intergalactic travel. As I’m about to leave, I notice my boots are caked with mud. Sitting on the edge of my bathtub, I quickly scrub them clean with an old piece of cloth. It’s a small thing, but it makes me feel a bit more put together.

Grabbing a satchel that looks like a large tote bag, I throw it over my shoulder as I step out of the house. My gaze finds him immediately. How could it not? The pink sky is like a backdrop to his iridescent scales. Like a painting you’d see on computer wallpapers.

He’s leaning against his truck, eyes scanning the horizon. He straightens the moment he sees me, his entire being coming alert.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” I offer him a smile as I head toward him.

His gaze sweeps down my frame and I pretend I don’t notice as I come to stop a few feet before him.

“I have no problem waiting.”

Why does everything he says sound like it has some deeper meaning?

I give him another smile. This one more genuine than the last as my gaze shifts to the vehicle behind him.

It’s a vehicle that hovers off the ground, suspended in the air itself. The front of the truck where the driver and passenger sit is a transparent cab that gives a wide unobstructed view. The back is open and has an array of tools and materials I couldn’t name if I tried, but it’s clear he’s capable. Clear he does this type of job all the time. Turning, he opens the door of the truck for me.

I ignore the heat that rises in my cheeks as I dip my head and duck into the vehicle. Seats that feel like leather greet me. Firm and in perfect condition. The cab itself is spotless, and my eyebrows shoot up as he closes the door and hurries to the other side.

He’s clean. Somehow that makes me a little bit impressed. I relax a tad more.

I’m adjusting the empty tote in my lap when he hops into the driver’s seat and his door slams shut behind him.

“All set?” he asks, glancing over at me.

I don’t understand it. He’s a big male. I’m tall. Five foot ten. He towers over me; and yet, his tone is so gentle when he speaks.

I nod, trying to match his easy confidence. “Ready.”

Varek gives me a slight jerk of his chin, and as we drive away from the farm, I can’t help but feel a mix of anticipation and trepidation.

My confidence in all this wanes as I watch the farm disappearing behind us.

Popping out my communicator, I press through the options on the little device. It takes me a while but I finally figure out how to send Eleanor a message instead of a ping. Apparently, some alien godsend uploaded our language to the universal server. All us humans who were captured are slowly finding our place outside of Earth. Typing is awkward, but I punch in what I want to say. Partially for safety, because, well, no one knows I’m randomly heading off with an alien hunk. And partially becauseI need to focus on something else than the alien riding in the vehicle beside me.

“Good morning Eleanor, I’m heading into town with Varek. Let me know if you need anything while we’re there.”

I hit send and tuck the comm back into my pocket, stealing a glance at Varek. He’s focused on the road ahead, his hands steady on the steering wheel that’s shaped like a T. The landscape around us changes from the familiar fields of my farm to more fields, only unfamiliar. Random buildings dot the expanse and I soon realize they’re abandoned homesteads just like mine.

I gaze out of the truck, fully appreciating the fact that nothing is in the way of the view when I turn in Varek’s direction to find him watching me. If he didn’t have such good control of the vehicle I might have panicked. Instead, I pretend I don’t notice that either.

He’s staring. Not blatantly. Side glances, as if he doesn’t want to make it obvious he’s looking at me, and now that I’ve noticed I’m completely aware of it. I try not to focus on it. He’s probably trying to figure out why I decided to come to his world. Or probably just curious. I am an alien after all, one of few humans this world has ever seen. The first day the Raki came to start working on my roof, I was out of sorts. It was hard not thinking of him as an animal. An elephant. Just as he was strange to me as a living, speaking being, so I must be to Varek and all the other aliens on this planet. They’ll stare. It’s just something I have to get used to.

Except, it gets so silent in the cab, I become completely aware of nothing else but the alien beside me.

“I saw your tools in the back.” I try to start some conversation, but my voice comes out much louder than I intended in the quiet cab. “Do you do these types of jobs often?” As soon as I ask, I realize I’m genuinely curious. “I know you’rehere to help me with repairs, but what do you do when you’re not saving helpless Earth women from their own ignorance?”

He chuckles, the sound rich and warm. It makes his face light up in a way I haven’t seen since I met him. The reserved unreadable mask cracks and it’s like there’s another view of the male beneath it.

“My siblingkin and I, we build and repair structures. Mostly lodges.” He pauses, gaze shifting fully to me briefly. “It’s more than just work. It’s a way to create something meaningful. Something that lasts.”

I tilt my head now, intrigued. “What do you mean?”

His lips press into something that looks like a sad smile before the look disappears and he stares ahead. I briefly wonder if the question I asked was a prying one. God knows, I’d probably freeze up too if he asked me about my life back on Earth. But then he responds.

“Many of the beings on this section of Hudo III have lost their homes.” Those slitted yellow pits shift to me for a moment and I’m once again struck by the fact that his eyes make him look so dangerous, while his demeanor is so…soothing. “For some, their home is lost and they’re endlessly searching for it.”

That last line is said almost like a whisper before he turns his attention back to the road ahead. My brow crinkles. “Can’t find a home?”

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