Page 32 of Her Alien Soldier
“You’ll even let me decorate your quarters in weird old Earth antiques?” she teased.
“You can decorate our quarters any way you like, love,” he rumbled in response, and she raised up to her tiptoes, pulling his head down to her, and he kissed her as if she was air and he’d been drowning.
She was his, and she knew it. She could live with that.
Epilogue
Maggie finished her shift, making her way through the snaking maze of corridors that led to the quarters she now shared with Xarek. The wing where the ambassadors lived was on an older part of the ship, and she half expected to get completely lost trying to get home.
She grinned as she thought about it. Home had become even more warm and cozy since she and Xarek had moved in together. The quarters they shared now were larger than her old ones, and they even had a spare room, which he’d insisted she use as her crafting room. All of her paper books were in there as well, stacked against the walls until she figured out something to do with them.
She finally found their home, thinking she should leave a trail of breadcrumbs or something, like Hansel & Gretel, that old fairy tale her mother had read to her when she was a kid. I would definitely make it easier to get home!
She was about to press her palm to the panel to open their doors, when they opened in front of her.
Xarek was there, his bulky, muscular form filling the doorway. He was wearing a t-shirt today, having discovered that he found the Earth garment comfortable. She’d been more than happy to supply him with plenty. How could she not, when his chiseled, bulging muscles made it look like the t-shirt would rip apart at any moment?
Down, girl.
“Hello there, handsome,” she said, smiling up at him.
He lowered his face to hers, giving her a small smile, a look of… something… in his eyes. “Hello, beautiful,” he murmured before claiming her lips. When he pulled away, he kept his eyes on hers. “I have a surprise for you. But, now I am worried I made a mistake. If you do not like it, we can have it taken out…” he said, brow furrowed. She shook her head. This male had fought for decades, led his people to victory, forged a new way forward for the different alien races to work together. And he was nervous about whether she’d be happy about something he’d done.
Stars, she loved him.
“I’m sure I’ll love it, whatever it is!” she said, kissing him. Some of the tension left his shoulders, and he nodded and lifted his hands to her eyes, covering them. “I’ve got you. You can see what I have for you in just a moment.”
She couldn’t help snickering. “If this is a setup for sex, I’m already ready for you, darling.”
“You always are, and I plan to make you scream for me as soon as possible,” he rumbled, laughter and heat mixed in his deep voice. “But this is something else,” he continued as he guidedher into their quarters, hands over her eyes as he used his bulky body to move her along.
They stopped after a few steps, so she guessed they were in the seating area where they relaxed and watched movies and read. “Remember, we can get rid of it–”
“Xarek! Let me see!” she said, laughing and gently rubbing his muscular forearms.
“Very well,” he said, taking his hands from her eyes and resting them on her shoulders, still standing behind her.
She stared. The bare wall that separated their seating area from their sleeping area was now covered with built-in bookcases, her books stacked on the floor in front of them. There were a variety of shelf sizes, to fit all of her different books, with plenty of room left over for decorative items. In the corner, there was a cozy-looking reading chair and side table, along with a vintage-looking lamp. A plush area rug she’d been eyeing for a while was on the floor.
“Oh…” she breathed, taking it all in as she reached up to her shoulders, taking his hands. “Xarek, this is so perfect. You got me a library!”
“I did… it is sufficient? If there is anything about it you’d change, we–”
She turned, pulling his head down to hers, then kissed him deeply, practically climbing him, needing to be closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up, his lips firm and demanding on hers, and she was more than happy to give him everything he wanted.
When they finally parted, her lips were tender, and she was more than a little breathless. “Marry me,” she murmured, looking into his eyes.
Surprise flared in that dark, warm gaze she loved so much, and then he smiled, a full, open, unrestrained smile, the kind she only ever saw when they were alone together. “If you mean it, Maggie the beautiful, then my answer is yes,” he murmured.
“I mean it,” she said. She’d wanted to broach the subject for a while, but wasn’t sure how Xarek felt about it, if he even thought it was necessary.
“Then I am marrying you. And I will make you as many libraries as you want,” he said, and she tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him again.
The End
