“I never say never,” she whispered back.
* * *
Kirov shutthe front door behind him before approaching his female. She was standing at the terrace edge, her arms draped over the balcony, her backside on full display, which had maddened him from the very first moment she’d positioned herself that way. He’d kept sneaking peeks outside the window like an untried youth.
The suns were just beginning their descent and Kirov knew that his time with her was running out. At least for that span. Vixron would return soon and already Kirov had had to field hailing calls from Vaxa’an to return to the command center. Kirov didn’t relish the thought of lying to his friend, but he knew that if Vaxa’an knew the truth about his Instinct awakening for Lani, the Prime Leader would be put in a very difficult situation.
Lani’s shoulders stiffened at his approach and he frowned, wondering if there would be a time in their future when she reacted differently. Because therewouldbe a future, that much Kirov was certain of.
“Where’s Crystal?” she asked when he appeared next to her, throwing a nervous glance back at the dwelling. Kirov leaned his back against the balcony so that he had a direct line of sight to the house. It was still his duty, after all, to protect both females.
“She sleeps,” Kirov said. “She sleeps much of the time.”
Lani’s eyes caught on his for a brief moment before she tore her own back to Luxiria’s landscape. She fidgeted a little to the side, putting space between them. Kirov allowed it, though his Instinct told him to be as close to her as possible.
She replied with a shrug and said, “There’s not much else to do. It’s not like you have Instagram or books or Netflix.”
More human things, he decided, that he might not ever grasp the meaning of, but he liked hearing her voice. Liked hearing the softness of it, the way her tongue pronounced words differently than he did, though he was becoming more comfortable with her language.
She surprised him when she continued, softly, “She likes to draw. She told me that. Maybe you can find her a notepad and a pencil. Do you have something like that here?”
“Manual writing implements?” he asked, furrowing his brow. “Nix, only perhaps at the archives. But I can procure something that will suffice. A slim Com…a…” he searched for the word in her language, “like a computer that she can make symbols and images on.”
Lani’s lips quirked up and it sent his heart racing. He would give her friend a million Coms if it meant seeing that small smile again.
“Like an iPad?” she asked, her features beginning to relax. It was obvious to Kirov that she was uncomfortable around him and it frustrated him that he didn’t know how to put her at ease. His experiences with females tended to be firmly physical, for his mind was too preoccupied with his inventions and programs that he didn’t have space in it for a partner.
“I am not certain,” he confessed.
“No, of course you wouldn’t know,” Lani said, partially to herself.
A slight shame filled him. Not knowing something was novel for Kirov. If he didn’t know something, he learned as much about it until he did. He liked knowledge, he liked information, and he was used toknowing. And the fact that he knew so little about her, about her culture, about her species and her world…it grated. It frustrated him.
Already he could feel an irritating buzzing in his mind at that fact and he shifted on his feet.
Not now, not now, he told himself, closing his eyes briefly to regain control. When it didn’t work, all he had to do was look at his female’s profile, the way her lips and nose softly curved, to quiet his mind. His muscles relaxed.
She saw him looking but quickly averted her gaze.
Kirov had always been a direct male so he said, “I make you nervous. Why?”
Lani made a sound in the back of her throat and she looked over at him again. Then he watched with fascination as her spine straightened and she turned her whole body to face him, turning away from the view she’d come to the terrace to see, as if to prove his words wrong.
Maddening female, he thought, delighted, unable to look away from her.
“You don’t make me nervous,” she argued, her tone barbed. A warning, Kirov knew.
But he wanted to push a little, to see what she gave back.
“Is this because of this morning?” he questioned, taking a step closer. Lani dropped her gaze between them, at the closing space, but she stood her ground. He said more quietly, his voice going a little rough, “Or last night?”
Again, she made a little sound in the back of her throat and it was enough to make Kirov smile.
Lani sputtered, “Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I dreamed of you, female,” he told her, taking another step closer, delicious desire coursing through his body. “My dream began with you watching me from the window, but you ended up somewhere else entirely.”
She went silent, her mouth opening and closing, though no sound came out. Her cheeks flushed that bright red again, coming close to matching her magnificent hair.
