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Leaning back in her chair, she propped a foot on the edge of the seat and rested her arm on her knee. “Are you sure you’re not just feeling happy endorphins from the sex?”
His internal translator wasn’t sure how to explain the reference. “Happy… endorphins?”
“You know, when you feel great after sex and think you’re in love, but after a few weeks of barely tolerating each other outside of the bedroom, it’s obvious there’s no basis for a relationship and it wasn’t love, just hormones. Right?”
Not wanting to appear naïve, he shrugged. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“I’ve really enjoyed our time together, Ethan. But I don’t even know you. Not really.”
This was more complicated than he thought. When a woman on Luxxor triggers a man’s endtax, he immediately informs her so she can declare her desires for him. If she does, they become partners. If she does not, he suffers for a while until his endtax shrinks and carries on until, if or when, another female triggers it. Most males only find one mate, so being rejected can have a powerful, lasting impact.
He wanted her to know him, but he couldn’t be honest with her about the things that mattered.
“What do you want to know?”
Getting up, she grabbed a bottle of water from the tiny refrigerator near the bed. Offering him one, she sat down and cracked the top.
“Lots of things. I’m a journalist, remember? I want to know everything.”
She wasn’t ready for his full truth.
“Like?”
“Like, what do you do for work?”
His human back story had been created before he came to Earth. All the details were uploaded to his hologram program, so he never had to think about it. The answers came automatically to his brain.
“I’m a plumber.”
“A—a plumber?”
“I unclog pipes and drains.”
She took a drink. “I never would have pegged you as a plumber.”
Had anyone even asked him about his profession since arriving on this planet? Maybe the program had glitched. His physical hologram was constantly glitching, so why not everything else?
“It’s a secure job with all the benefits and financial gain a human—a man, like me—will need to retire comfortably one day.”
“I’m sure you’re very good at unclogging pipes.” She giggled. “What about your parents? What do they do?”
Parents. Right. “They’re in politics.”
Her eyebrows went up. “They live in D.C. too? Makes sense.”
“Why?”
Her face skewed. “Because Washington D.C. is the epicenter of American politics?”
Shit. Time to recoup. “What about your parents?”
She waved the question off. “Oh, they died a long time ago. Do you have siblings?”
“None.”
“Favorite color?”
He paused for his internal program to find an answer, but it wasn’t in his personal database. “Various shades of gray.”
