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She imagined his river blue eyes looking into hers, his sweet chirping noises as she stroked his soft ears. She believed that you had a responsibility for any animal you took in. It wasn’t right to just leave him.I should at least say goodbye.
Like an alien bunny is your biggest problem?Another part of her thought.What about the alien man you’ve been cozying up to?
Deimos wanted her to love him. He wanted her to feel the way he did about her, but she just couldn’t do it. She didn’t have that kind of passion in her. She was a …take a year to go on normal dates to coffee shops and then maybe cuddle… person.
Okay, the sex had been amazing. And he was really attractive, sweet, and attentive. She was definitely wildly attracted to him. But that was the thing. She didn’t do this kind of whirlwind romance. She should have known better.
She just wanted to crawl under her nice, flannel comforter back home, turn on House Hunters, and pretend this whole thing had never happened. No guy was worth this kind of stress, no matter how sexy and doting.
Do you really want to forget Deimos, though?her subconscious prompted.
An image of him from their tour of the ranches came to her. He was leaning against the fence, watching her instead of the animals. His red eyes were soft, almost sparkling in the sun, his mouth slightly open. He was looking at her like she was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen.
She’d felt her blood rush straight to her face. Being looked at like that was too much. It was overwhelming. How did plain little her warrant that? Especially from someone as good-looking as Deimos. He could have anyone he wanted.
And he wantedher.
She remembered when she’d stepped in a patch of mud and slipped, landing hard on her butt. “Ow, damn it, this sucks!” she’d said, her pride and body both bruised.
He’d laughed, offering a hand to help her up. “Come on, Hope. It’s an adventure!”
He was so strong that it didn’t take him any effort to pull her to her feet. She’d brushed at the mud, pleased when the fancy Nova Aurora fabric shed it and didn’t stain. “I don’t really like adventures.”
“Why not?” he’d asked. He’d tilted his head, blond hair gleaming in the light, cheekbones glimmering with natural highlights, looking like a curious angel.
“I like the familiar,” she’d replied. “Too much can go wrong with adventures. You can get hurt, or lost, or sick, or … who knows what?”
He wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her in a brief side hug. She remembered wishing he wouldn’t ever let go. “Don’t worry. I’m here with you. I’ll protect you, and if you do get hurt, I’ll take care of you. Worst case scenario, at least we’re together.”
Despite how terrified she was, she didn’t want to forget him. As wildly out of her comfort zone as all of this had been, it had also been the most amazing time of her life. She’d never imagined she’d get to come to another planet to see anything like a dromedon.
Admit it. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
It was hard to argue. Deimos made her feel unbelievably sexy, smart, and desirable. He’d shown her how to ride a hover-bike and carried her to her room after she’d fallen asleep. She’d never felt soaliveas she had here on Nova Aurora with him.
An odd thought came to her.If I died now, it would be all right because I’ve actually lived a life worth living. I didn’t just stay on my couch. I got out there. I was brave.
She shook her head.What the hell am I thinking?
She didn’t want to die. Not here. Not now. She wanted to spend more time with Deimos, get to know him better, and see more of the planet. She still hadn’t seen him in his dragon form. She hadn’t gotten to make him pancakes.
And what about the cows? She couldn’t abandon them. She wanted to treat them, to see them recover. She wanted to fight for them, for their right to be here on Nova Aurora and to thrive here. She wanted to prove Deimos right, to stand alongside him against the naysayers.
And that wasn’t all she wanted to do. She wanted to see what this thing between her and Deimos could really be. She’d never connected like this with a man before, and she didn’t want to deny what she felt.
I want to take Deimos to Earth. I want him to meet Dr. Klein, meet my parents.Piggy would walk all over him, she was sure. He’d have no shame about buying the cat’s love with tuna fish. Doolittle would be more shy, but she was sure Deimos would win him over.
And what about those cute kids you keep imagining?Little ones with red-gold hair and skin somewhere between the rich brown of Earth’s soil and the umber of Nova Aurora’s, playing with a golden retriever puppy and the little sarva, maybe even with some dromedons of their own.
She sat up, determination steeling her spine. She wasn’t going to just take this treatment. There was too much of a future waiting for her to give up now.
There’s got to be some way to get out of these ropes. They always do it in the movies.
Carefully, she started testing the ropes at her wrists, ignoring the burning as they scraped deeper into her skin. She could sort of move it around if she tried. Maybe she could get it untied. From there, the rest would be easy.
If I can’t find the knot, maybe there’s something sharp down here I can use.
She was going to get out of this. No matter what.
