Page 27 of Alien Engineer's Mate

She nodded, and the door closed behind him, leaving her in the silent room. But she couldn't stay still, bouncing up out of her seat to stalk around the room. Her fingertips trailed along the back of the couch as she gravitated toward the window dominating one wall. Earth hung below, almost too perfect to be real, but breathtaking all the same.

Clouds painted spirals across the planet's face like the mineral veins she'd chased through rock back home. The cool glass steadied her palm as she braced against it and looked down on the view, trying not to think about the moment the door behind her opened. Any second now she'd meet him… the warrior she'd have to marry, the alien who might help raise herchildren. She bit her lip, worrying at the tender flesh as panic rose in her throat.

What if he resented children not his own? What if he turned out like Paul, all smiles in public but darkness and cruelty behind closed doors? The Latharians seemed honorable, but… what did humanity really know about them?

Her reflection stared back at her. New clothes, hair neatly pulled back, and no dust on her skin… She looked nothing like the mining technician she'd been just days ago. Any moment now they'd realize she didn't belong in this pristine room with its filtered air and perfect furniture and kick her out, sending her and her kids back to the colony.

The door hissed behind her as it opened.

Shit. This was it. Her heart lurched in her chest, terror locking her muscles. She couldn't turn. Couldn't face whatever waited behind her. Couldn't?—

"Eira?" A familiar deep voice filled the room. "Thank the gods."

Her knees almost buckled as relief flooded her veins, and she turned. Hardly daring to breathe, she lifted her gaze to find Maax's massive frame filling the doorway, his amber gaze burning into hers with an intensity that stole the air from her lungs.

"You're my match?"

"It would appear so." The smile transformed him, softening the severe lines of his face and making her heart stumble. "It seems the algorithms know what they're doing after all."

He had been so gentle and patient with Kyle yesterday, and the careful way he'd handled his daughter Emily's tears… All her fears about meeting a stranger, about having to explain her children to someone who might resent them, evaporated in a heartbeat.

"I hoped—" The words escaped her lips before she could catch them. His expression sharpened with interest.

"You hoped?" He stepped inside, the door closing behind him. Predatory grace filled his movements, but she wasn't scared of him. "You hoped what?"

Heat burned across her cheeks. "When we met yesterday in medical... I… well, I hoped it would be you."

Her words were soft, little more than a whisper as she looked down at her clasped fingers, but his sharp intake of breath told her he'd heard.

"Please," he rumbled as he gestured to the couches, "sit with me?"

The couch dipped under their weight as they settled at opposite ends. She tucked one leg under herself, facing him. Such a simple movement, but she couldn't stop looking at him. Electricity crackled in the air between them.

"This is..." She searched for words. "Different from what I'm used to. The whole process is odd."

"Different from human courtship?" Curiosity roughened his voice as he leaned a heavily muscled arm across the back of the couch but didn't touch her.

"Very." She smiled. Would it be too forward to lean back so he touched her? "Humans usually take longer to decide about relationships. James needed six months just to work up the courage to ask me to dinner."

She bit her lip as the words left her mouth. Oh shit, what was she doing, mentioning her late husband? But when she glanced up, the big alien warrior didn't look annoyed.

"Tell me about him?" The request surprised her. "About your life before, with him and the children?"

"You... want to know?"

"Of course." His hand slid across the cushion between them, palm up in clear invitation. "They're part of who you are, Eira. Your past, your children… I'd like to know all about it."

Her fingers trembled as they met his. His massive hand swallowed hers, his touch whispering across her skin with a gentleness she would never have expected in such a large man.

"Well… James was a good man," she said. "He was a mining engineer and he loved the kids more than anything. Always said they were the best thing we ever did together." Grief tightened her throat for a moment. "After the accident... things got harder. The corporation denied compensation, claiming he violated safety protocols. But he would never?—"

"I know." His thumb traced the back of her knuckles.

Her gaze cut up to his. "You do?"

Had he read her files, even the ones that the colony had released?

He smiled, the skin at the corners of his unusual eyes crinkling slightly. He was older than she'd thought he was at first. His face didn't show it, but his eyes did.

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