Page 25 of Tied In Tentacles
“You have a life away from here. Let’s have fun while we can.”
“I know, but I wish I had longer.” Justin snuggled closer. “I like being here with you.”
Justin yawned, so Eteriion pulled the sheets over them. “You need to sleep.”
“Don’t you?” Justin sighed, his body growing heavy as his breathing began to slow.
“I don’t need as much as you, but I like lying here with you. Sleep, Justin. I’ll be here when you wake.”
“Promise?” The word came out low, quiet, and Eteriion listened as Justin fell asleep.
“I promise,” he whispered. “I’ll hold you for as long as I can.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Tell me about your world?” Justin asked the following morning. “You haven’t really talked about it, or is it too painful?”
Sitting at the kitchen table, Eteriion sipped his coffee and looked out of the window, watching the snow fall. “We don’t have snow on my world. We have two suns, but the temperature doesn’t vary as much, and we don’t have things like tornadoes. I stood outside the first time I saw it snow just to feel it on my skin.”
Leaning back in his chair, Justin smiled. “I wish I’d seen that.”
“You would have freaked out and run away.”
“At first.” Justin sipped his coffee. “Did you hold them out to feel the snow on them?”
“I did. I look like I had been electrocuted.” He straightened in his chair and his tentacles spread out. Justin laughed at the sight. Eteriion’s description was good. He did look like he’d stuck his finger in a socket with his tentacles spread in the air and waving at him.
“What’s been your favorite thing about this planet?” Justin watched Eteriion’s tentacles settle on his back and shoulders, then smirked at the heated look his alien gave him. “Other than that.”
“That is number one, but I like the town and the different food you have. And you have a sense of community. Not everywhere, but in places like this, it’s noticeable. Ged calls or comes over to make sure I’m okay. Elise cooks for us all, and I’m always welcome. Garrison teaches me new slang. He’s going to college soon, but he’s home right now. I haven’t seen him, but with the snow…”
“It should melt away soon. The snow isn’t falling like it was and I can actually see things in the distance now. Before there was nothing but white.” The disappearing snow also meant Justin’s time was disappearing too, and that thought made his chest tighten. He’d only met Eteriion a few days ago, but he found he wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He considered him his sexy alien, and Justin didn’t want to leave him, but he did have a life away from here and he had to go back to it.
“You’ll be leaving soon.” Justin nodded. “Once the snow has melted, you’ll be able to drive away.”
“If my car still works and doesn’t need jump starting. I have at least a week before then. You can show me the town and various walks around here. Maybe another abandoned hut for us to see the inside off.” After the last hut they’d visited and what had happened in there, Justin had no issues with a repeat. Looking at Eteriion had him hard and aching, and when he saw Eteriion’s nostrils flare, he knew his gorgeous alien had picked up on Justin’s arousal. “So, no snow on your world? What about other weather phenomena? We have the Northern lights here. Do you have anything similar there?”
“No. Our world isn’t as turbulent weather-wise as yours is, so we don’t see these events. I did go and see it not long after I’d recovered. Ged took me and it was something to see.”
“I’ve never been. It’s on my bucket list of places to go.” Justin stared into his drink. “I had lots of places I wanted to visit but kept putting them off for the ex. He’d want to go to some luxury all-inclusive resort where we’d laze by the pool. I like doing that for a couple of days, but then I want to go out and see where I’m staying. See the culture and meet the people.”
“I’m sure one day you’ll get to complete this bucket list. I’ve heard of that term, but I’m not sure what it actually means.”
“It’s a list of places you want to go or events you want to experience. Say going up in a balloon, or on a speedboat, or visiting Egypt.”
“Ah, I see.” Eteriion nodded. “I saw many of those places from my ship.”
Justin put his cup on the table and leaned on his elbows. “What’s it like? Flying in space? We have to float in the space station, but do you have gravity control? What about speed?”
“We do have control over gravity, so no floating around. As for how we traverse space, we have a system similar to your Star Trek ones.”
“Warp speed?” Justin smiled. “I loved that show growing up.”
“Your sci-fi shows are interesting.” Eteriion sipped his drink, then frowned. “We shrink space, so we jump from one spot to another, but it isn’t instantaneous. It still takes time to move from one place to another, but it is much faster than normal space travel.”
“I’d love to experience it. Maybe one day, when your ship is fixed, you can take me into space.”
“I’d like to be able to show you many things.”
