Page 19 of I Fell for an Alien Popstar

“Maybe when you’re drunk,” I said. “At a party. When someone plays a slow song and you’ve had four drinks and your judgment has left the building.” My face was on fire. My entire body was on fire. “I’m not going to lie, that was really hot, but you literally just heard me say I needed to process, and then you kissed me.”

“On Vela, we usually go to bed after a kiss,” Zhari explained. “It’s what we Velans do," she explained. “I am already being very slow.”

My eyes went wide.

“Well, some humans don’t typically do that,” I mumbled, “as much as I would like to.”

“I am sorry. Your aura is just very bright,” she said, as if that explained everything. “It’s distracting. It makes me feel some sort of way. I have never felt like this before.”

I pressed my hands to my face. “Okay. I need you to give me a minute.”

“Okay! I can do that.” She grinned and sat back, looking cute. She folded her hands in her lap and looked around the room.

My brain was stuck on a loading screen.

Good grief.

I could still feel her mouth on mine. I could still feel the heat of her hand through my shirt. I was trying to be rational about this, but my body had already made its decision, and my brain was outvoted.

Just as I turned to open my mouth to say something, she grabbed my hand and squeezed.

“Your species is very slow, but I can wait.”

“We like to take our time… for the most part,” I said. “It’s a big cultural difference.”

“I see,” she said. “So when can I kiss you again?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Maybe when I know something more than just pop star Zhari.”

“My middle name is Ova, but you probably know that from magazines,” she said. “I eat dew cakes and Nebs for breakfast most days. I cannot sleep without the sound of white static. I’m afraid of Pilus. I once cried during a documentary about Earth whales. I have never been to your planet, but I have watched seven seasons of a human show about baking, and I do not understand why people cry when their bread fails.”

She paused.

“Is that enough, or do you need more?”

I stared at her. She stared back, completely serious.

Then I laughed. “They cry over failed bread because it takes forever to make.” I laughed some more and then shook my head. "Bread is a fluffy food that we can make sandwiches on or eat as toast. It come's in a ton of different kinds. It's tasty."

“But, it's just bread,” she said, her brows furrowing together.

“It’s not about the bread,” I said with a sigh. “It’s about the trying, you know? You spend a lot of time perfecting it, raising it in a jar for days, just for it to fail? It sucks.”

She looked at me like I had said something she needed to write down.

“Raising it in a jar? You are a very strange creature, Vada,” she said. “I will stop.” She murmured, her hands fisting in her robe. “But it’s… difficult. You are extremely attractive. My body thinks we are wasting time.”

I cannot believe this is happening to me right now.

First, she told me we were fated mates and needed to have sex to seal the bond. Then she called me attractive.

I wished the logical part of my brain would get lost.

“Believe me, I have years of pent-up sexual frustration. But things are moving too fast. My brain really needs to play catch-up.”

Zhari just looked at me as if she had been scolded.

I had no idea Velans were little sex maniacs. That explained all the P.D.A. I’d seen going on since I’d landed.