Page 79 of Crash Landing
“What does that mean? You’ve been calling me that a lot. I like it better than geshi, but what does it mean?”
He stepped further between my legs, his hands sliding gingerly up the sides of my waist.
“It’s Takesh slang for someone that perseveres. It’s a term of endearment.”
The word warmed my chest and to know that Saleuk had been regarding me that way for some time was the greatest compliment I’d ever received. My lip quivered and I felt my eyes swelling with tears. It was embarrassing so I lowered my head to hide. He’d just told me I had perseverance and it made me weep. I was pathetic.
“Sam,” he said, hooking his finger under my chin to lift my head. When he saw my red, glistening eyes, he wiped my cheeks with his thumbs. “Why the tears?”
“Saleuk,” I whispered. “You’re scaring me, you know.”
“How?”
“Because you keep taking care of me. You keep me safe and you feel so perfect and I’ve never had anyone like you. I’ve never felt safe. Not like this.”
“Why should that scare you?”
“Because the best things are never real.”
“Oh, Sam. I’m very real.”
He moved away from me a step and slid out of his boots. Then he removed his pants, kicking them to the side until hewas standing fully naked before me, tall, muscled, and utterly perfect. He had a couple of small scars, one of them being from the barbs that had lodged in his hip on Phesah, but otherwise, he was flawless. His skin was a beautiful shade of ice blue now with hints of lavender around his ridges and at the tips of his crown and… at the end of his cock, which was standing erect toward his navel again.
Realizing what he was doing, I jumped down from the table and slid the shoulders of my gown off. The dress wasn’t fitted to me and it slid easily down the length of my body to the floor in a puddle of silky fabric. Both naked with no barrier of clothing between us, I felt more connected to him than ever. I stepped forward, lifting my hand to touch the hard plain of his abdomen. I watched the subtle pulses of color flutter out from the tips of my fingers and felt him shudder under my caress. I would never tire of having that power over him.
Slowly, I looked up into his brilliantly colored eyes and felt as if I’d just been thrown into a dream. One I never wanted to wake from. That dream had Saleuk in it and… I loved him.
26: Sam
My foot was bouncing. I was in the commons where the food court was, a half-eaten plate of salted fish and fruit in front of me. People weren’t staring as much anymore, but looking around and not seeing even one human wasn’t something I was going to get used to in a few weeks. I was biting my nails again, slowly trying to pick up words in Takesh, but admittedly, I wasn’t as fast a learner as Saleuk… or any valerian for that matter.
I was starting to know my way around, but I still wasn’t comfortable going anywhere unfamiliar without either my young escort or Saleuk. That day, Saleuk had requested I meet him in the commons halfway through the day and since I had no idea when that was when their sun didn’t move, he gave me something similar to my old Buddy. It was a smart cuff that fit around my wrist and had the time, a translator that transcribed valerian words when they were spoken to me, and a few other perks that helped me exist more easily on the foreign planet.
I arrived in the commons early, dressed in a pair of leggings, ankle boots, and a silky, t-shirt type of top. My friendly escort, whose name I’d learned was Hesa, had the clothes made special for me when she realized humans weren’t really the “wear fancy dresses every day” type.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, I saw Saleuk maneuvering through a thin crowd of people walking in the other direction. He was in a stark white suit with a high collarand it fit him so damn well, accentuating his broad shoulders and slender form. How an alien could be so attractive to me was still such a mystery, but there was no question that I liked him.
Loved him…
I took a deep breath, my heart stopping when he set his eyes on me and started heading my way. I felt like I was on a first date.
I stood and watched Saleuk’s face light up like he’d been looking forward to our meeting all day. My cheeks flushed at the sight of that look.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said, holding out his hand. “Come.”
We walked hand in hand down a wide corridor until we got to the elevators. But we didn’t go toward my apartment. Instead, we ascended high up to another level of the settlement where more apartment buildings and even a whole other common area with shops and overlooks and spiral ramps leading to gardens, overpasses, and sitting areas. Since the first night we admitted we wanted to continue a relationship, Saleuk had been sleeping in my apartment with me, so the idea that he had his own place on Sylos hadn’t really crossed my mind. But something in me knew that’s where we were going.
Looking out at the view of the purple mountains and the twilight horizon, I was breathless. I slowed my gait and Saleuk looked at me, curious.
“This is gorgeous up here,” I said, feeling a breeze skate across my cheeks.
“I think you’ll enjoy the next view you’re about to see.”
He gently tugged me along and I was suddenly giddy as we wove around a curved hallway to a silver sliding door. Saleuk pressed his palm to the door scanner and the entrance opened up into a room three times the size of mine. One wall was a window looking out over the red-tinged terrain below and therest of it was a clean, blue-hued chamber with a silver work desk with a screen over it, a bed covered in silky, purple sheets, and shelves filled with trinkets I just knew were Saleuk’s random belongings.
“This is your place?” I asked. “Why the hell are we sleeping in my tiny dorm?”
“I haven’t been doing much sleeping, Sam,” he admitted as the door slid closed behind us. “I’ve been busy and coming up here takes longer than going to your little dorm. Besides, depending on how you react to what I’m about to tell you, we won’t be sleeping here much longer.”
