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“Hello. Do you require assistance with your bags?” he asked the same rumbly voice that sent tingles down her spine.
Darcy’s mouth fell open. She was going to the Forum with Nazyn?Alone?
“I–” She looked down at her backpack. “No, I can manage it.”
He looked at her curiously, tilting his head to the side. His massive horns shone in the frosty rays of light. “Then why aren’t you getting into the vehicle?”
Right. That. Could she be more of a klutz around him or…?
With her face red from the coldandthe awkwardness, Darcy climbed in as gingerly as she could. Universe, this seat felt like a cloud against her back. A long strip of tight fabric zoomed out from a nook to her right, circling around her waist, and snapping into a groove to her left. Oh, this automatic seat belt would sellbigon Earth.
As Nazyn got into the driver’s seat, somehow looking even more delectable and imposing, Darcy turned to hide the sudden flush in her cheeks. But there was no backseat–only a wall of white luxurious leather–so she placed the backpack by her feet. She had enough room, anyway. Hell, she could stretch her legs as far as they could go and still have about ten inches of space.
As soon as she settled in, acutely aware that she sat way closer to Nazyn than she ever would have imagined, the passenger door slid shut. In the next second, the bullet zoomed forward, pushing Darcy into her seat.
“I didn’t know this was your vehicle–or that we were driving together to the Forum,” she said after a few moments of silence. She hated lulls; she always had the instinct to fill them up.
Nazyn’s frown deepened. Darcy didn’t know him, but he felt…tense? “Didn’t Walter tell you?”
Darcy shook her head.
Nazyn, looked at her from the corner of his eye, waiting. “Are you…alright?”
“Yes? Why do you ask?”
“Because you didn’t reply and did a curious motion with your head.”
Oh. So headshaking wasn’t a cue Deruzians understood. Darcy filed that information in her mind, and said, “That head motion means no.”
“Ah. The wonders of interspecies communication. So much to learn,” Nazyn said, before another lull fell over them.
Don’t. Don’t you dare say anything else. Silence is good sometimes.
Darcy gulped and fidgeted in her seat. What was she doing? She was sitting next to a literal genius–who also happened to be her boss–and she was acting like a jittery ninny.
Calm down.
Easier said than done, but Darcy took a deep breath nonetheless, and focused on the blue lights flashing along the dashboard, trying to ignore the tension in the tight space and how she was already sweating in the coat she should have taken off before she’d gotten in. The inside of the car–hovercraft?–was way too hot.
The symbols were unrecognizable to her human eyes, a flurry of dots and perfect curves. As they stopped at a red light, the lights dimmed.
Darcy was so caught up in their dance, she initially didn’t notice what Nazyn was doing. But when she finally got the courage to look at him, she couldn’t quite believe it.
Was he–was he shaking his head?
“It’s a very strange motion,” he said, massive horns swaying, the chain in his ear jiggling. Seriously, what scientist looked like a sexy pirate? “Aren’t you concerned you will get nauseous?”
The situation was so ridiculous that a bubble of nervous laughter rose from Darcy’s chest. Leave it to a genius to want to explore things that didn’t make sense, even one as simple as a head shake. “No. Unless we do it really fast.”
“That sounds like a bad idea,” he said, turning completely still as the light turned green and the bullet surged forward once again. “But I can see the efficiency in using a gesture instead of words.”
Spoken like a true scientist.
As Nazyn expertly drove them out of the city, cool and calm like he’d done it a million times before, the shiny gray of the buildings morphed into the plump green of the surrounding forest. Darcy wrung her fingers, as if she could squeeze some courage out of them. “Speaking of bad ideas–I’m sorry about what happened when we met.”
“What happened?”
“You know, with the handshake.” Darcy licked her lips as Nazyn gripped the oval steering wheel tighter. “I didn’t know Deruzians don’t want to be touched. I apologize.”
