Page 9 of Resisting the Alien Commander

“Please, come in.” I step back so he can enter. “You can just set them next to the sofa, if you don’t mind.”

I study him as he walks across the room and places them where I indicated. It’s a little hard to tell exactly how old the Bohnari are. None of the few I’ve encountered since arriving have any lines or wrinkles. His copper skin is just as shiny as all the others and the small horns at the top of his head are barely visible through his hair.

My gaze drops and my cheeks heat, because he’s turned around and looking at me in the same appraising way I’ve been staring at him. I’m the first to break eye contact.

I clear my throat. “Thank you, Bannik.”

“You are most welcome,” he says, but doesn’t move to leave. After a few seconds he finally speaks again. “Once you are settled, I would be honored to show you around Preska.”

“Oh, um, thank you. I’d like that.” I shift nervously and a bit self-consciously and finally glance at him again.

“Quinn, are you about ready?” Olivia calls out. “Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?”

I spin a half-turn and my gaze darts between the two of them.

“No.” It comes out too fast and too breathless. “Bannik brought my bags to me and, um, offered to give me a tour of the city some time soon.”

A sly grin appears. “That’s awfully nice of you…Bannik, is it?”

The guard nods. “Yes.”

Olivia closes the distance between us and loops her arm around mine. “Quinn is my best friend. You better not do anything to hurt her.”

Bannik rattles his head so fast I’m surprised it doesn’t come clean off. Me? I want to sink into a hole in the floor.

“I would never hurt a female,” he states.

“Good. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re going to get some food.”

He bows slightly at the waist. “Of course. I need to return to my duties anyway. Have a pleasant day.”

“You too.”

I’m not sure he hears me though with the way he dashes past Olivia and out the door, closing it behind him. I push her playfully away from me and she bursts out laughing.

“Oh my god. He’s never going to come back and see me now.” I slap my hands over my face and slide them down it.

“Are you kidding? He was enthralled with you when I walked in. I can guarantee he’ll be back,” she says. “And if I scared him that easily, then he’s not the kind of guy you want anyway.”

I suppose she’s right.

“You know I’m right,” Olivia says, reading my mind because she knows me so well. “Now, come on. Devon and Lindsey are waiting for us so we can do a little exploring.”

She leads the way and I make sure to lock the door behind me. Instructions had been laid out inside how to program the door to my biometrics, so that had been the first thing I did. Our two friends wait down by the lift.

“What did you think of your place?” Devon asks me when we reach them.

“It’s big. Nice. Could use some personality though.”

“Agreed. But it’s a far cry from the shithole I lived in back on Earth,” Devon says. “I feel like I’m living in the upper tier here.”

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Maybe this is all so we’ll be more willing to overlook the bad stuff when it comes. The lift bell rings and the doors open for us to step inside. No sooner does it close than Olivia snags my arm.

“I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop.”

The other two glance back and forth between us.

“You have that look on your face,” Olivia continues. “The one where you keep waiting for something to go wrong. We both know that’s what you do when you think life is going too great. You’re preparing yourself for it to start going to shit.”

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