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Mere bit her lip and studied his still-bare feet. “So, do you have tentacles or horns or scales?”
Anders chuckled. “Our species are not very different. I do have scales, but they are soft like a gecko’s and more of an aqua due to the algae. No horns, no tentacles. Sorry to disappoint.”
She didn’t know if she was disappointed or not. Mere tried to picture Anders as an aqua lizard man, and the image that popped into her head had her covering her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh. It wasn’t polite to laugh at someone’s natural skin color under any circumstances, but this entire situation was ridiculous. She had slept with an honest-to-God alien, and it may have broken her brain.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh, I really don’t. It’s just been too much.”
“It is okay. It has been so long since I have seen myself as I once was, the idea seems absurd to me, as well.”
Absurd—the understatement of the century. Something he’d said wormed its way into her consciousness. He was planning to return home. The idea he would soon leave took away any further desire to laugh, which was even more absurd. She’d known him a month, yet the idea of him leaving left a gaping hole in her heart.
Great, Mere, once again you fall fast for the wrong guy.
“You’re leaving soon. Why?”
“I have spent the past several decades learning how to build a spaceship and earning the money to do so. I am missing two components. The navigation system and the DNA modifier, both of which I left with Mr. Reed. I did not understand exactly how old he was when I left here and decided later it might be safer if I never returned.”
He met her gaze squarely and determination was written all over him, from the bold posture to the clenched jaw to the furrowed brow.
“What changed your mind?”
Anders tucked his thumbs into his pockets. “If I waited for the components to be available on the free market, I might be as relatively old as Mr. Reed was. My best shot at seeing my home planet again is to find the pieces of the ship my parents gave me. I owe them, and everyone on the ship, to go home and tell the authorities what happened.”
9
ACCEPTANCE OF THE INEVITABLE
“I don’t trust, Anders.”
His face fell, and his gaze dropped to the floor again. “I will leave. But can I ask you not to reveal my secret until I have left? You are the first person I have told since Mr. Reed.”
Mere closed the distance between them and held a hand to his cheek. “I don’t mean I don’t trust you. I mean, life has taught me not to trust anyone. And you lied to me.”
It hurt even more since they’d slept together. She pushed away the memories of Tyson. The situations were completely different. A large part of her understood exactly why Anders had lied. Tyson had no excuse except for being a privileged asshole.
“I am sorry. I did not mean for things to go as far as they did.”
“Thank you for the apology. And I don’t know what you could have said. I wouldn’t have believed you if I hadn’t seen your blood.”
“I believe this is what you call a rock and a hard place.”
Mere grinned halfheartedly. “Yes. Or damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
He returned the grin, sadness dulling his usually bright eyes. “I will leave if you want me to. I have no desire to hurt you more.”
She sighed. “I need some time. I will keep your secret, though. After what the government did to your parents, it’s the least I can do. And please come by the library soon to look for Mr. Reed’s will. There might be a clue to what happened to your gadgets.”
He met her gaze, and hope flared in his face. Mere needed to quash it before something else happened.
“I’m not saying I forgive you, but I understand why you did what you did. And since your plans don’t include staying here, it will be a moot point before long. You have my silence and my help. Please don’t ask any more from me.”
Another emotion flashed. Disappointment, maybe. Acceptance of the inevitable, probably. He broke eye contact too quickly for her to tell.
“Thank you, Meretta. I will come by on Wednesday, if that suits you. I know Tuesdays are busy.”
He walked down the hall, his feet thudding softly on the tile floor. The bedroom door shut and Mere collapsed onto a chair, cradling her head in her hands. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
Tyson had lured her in with extravagant dates and beautiful things a year after she graduated college. They met at a fundraiser for the school she worked at. She believed he was a businessman with a heart of gold. Turned out he was a scion of a wealthy family who had no heart whatsoever.
