"Ahh, don't be too hard on yourself, Nevair. She likes you better than anyone else."
"That doesn't mean she listens," Nevair argued.
"Yeah, but now you can threaten to tell Jory on her. That boy might look sweet, but he's sharper than a dragon tooth and twice as dangerous," Tres pointed out.
Nevair silently agreed. He wouldn't say something like that out loud. He never knew when the goddess might be listening, and bad-mouthing her son wouldn't win him any points.
Looking around his room, Nevair made a decision. "I'll go. It's past time I stepped out of my comfort zone. The goddess always says to grow you must experience more of life."
"Hmm, she might have meant in bed," Tres teased.
"For you, everything involves the bed." Nevair rolled his eyes.
"There's a reason I'm always in a good mood." Tres laughed. "Take your surly self to a planet of decadence. Maybe you will come back a changed man."
Nevair didn't know that he especially wanted to be changed, but he did want to get away for a bit and refresh his soul. Sometimes escaping everyday life now and then made all the difference.
Chapter One
Rustling from the bed sheets caused Lian Blythorpe to cringe. Damn, he'd hoped to escape without the usual morning after conversation. He slipped his clothes on quietly. Maybe the guy would go back to sleep and, goddess willing, he'd be able to leave the room without any drama. Unfortunately, like usual, the goddess didn't offer him any luck.
A rumpled head of blond hair appeared from beneath the covers followed by blinking blue eyes. Lian's bed partner took in the sight of Lian dressing and his pretty gaze narrowed in accusation.
"Leaving already?" The man's expression belied his bland tone.
Lian held back the biting retort hovering on his lips. Would a person who planned on staying get dressed? He didn't want to be a jerk, but what did the guy expect? Hearts and flowers? Vows of eternal devotion? Even if he believed in that crap, he wouldn't share them with someone he picked up in a hotel bar. Lian didn't believe in instant love, he only had to remember what obsession did to his parents to want to stay clear.
"I told you I had an early flight," Lian forced a gentle tone as he dredged up a tiny amount of patience. He couldn't blame the guy for the fact Lian didn't find him memorable. Lian knew as soon as he left, the man would disappear from his mind and become another in the long string of men who'd graced Lian's bed. Maybe one day he'd find someone to share his life with but today wouldn't be it.
With a heavy step, he walked back to the bed, buttoning his shirt as he went. He didn't like to brag but the sight of him unclothed had derailed more than one person, although the last guy who called him pretty walked away with a broken face.
Lian smiled at the memory.
A long, wistful sigh left the blond, his eyes pinned on the sight of Lian's quickly disappearing skin. "Will you be coming back this way?"
"No." Lian saw no reason to give his fling hope. He didn't make promises he couldn't keep. He'd been honest when they hooked up the night before, he wouldn't change his story now.
Lian leaned over and gave the guy, whose name he'd already forgotten, a gentle kiss on the lips. "Have a good life, sweetheart. You deserve it."
He didn't actually know if his partner for the night deserved a good life or not, but Lian liked to give his lovers a happy memory to reflect on later. It flirted with bad karma to go around breaking mens' hearts and Lian firmly believed if you put negative energy out into the universe it always came back to bite you in the ass.
Grabbing his bag by the door, Lian blew a kiss to his watery-eyed fling and escaped the hotel room.
With a relaxed stride and a clear conscience, he headed out to catch his flight to Dragait.
* * * *
Lian exited the spaceship and walked directly into the port. He loved it when that happened. He hated it when they connected him to a side building and he had to wait for a tram, or even worse, another space shuttle to transport him to the planet. Dragait's system had the smooth efficiency of people who planned well in advance. Lian draped his travel bag over one shoulder, glad he'd packed light and that the rest of his bags were on the way to the med center without his intervention. Pulling up the map on his compad, he struggled to decipher the directions to his new place of employment. He briefly considered taking a teleport but generally medical facilities only had a few machines and saved them for emergencies. Lian would hate to be taking up the hub when someone needed help.
As he traversed the station, Lian glanced up periodically to make sure he didn't walk into anything. He'd foolishly told the medic facility they didn't need to send a car despite his complete lack of a sense of direction. Lian liked to examine his surroundings before beginning a job, and if they'd sent transportation he'd have felt compelled to go straight there.
Three different kings had individually contacted Lian asking for help with the dragon people's fertility issues. Despite his youth, Lian's expertise on alien biology and his touch healing abilities were highly coveted. He'd always dreamed of seeing dragons. As a boy, he'd been obsessed with the creatures and even now he could admit, after several drinks, that the fixation with the beasts had never really faded. Even without a personal incentive to see the beasts, Lian would've come. Medical mysteries intrigued him. He hoped with his experience he'd be able to cure or at least find the source of their difficulties.
On his home world of Leaue, most of the population was self-healers. If they became injured they healed themselves with little fanfare. The feeling of uselessness, along with their homophobic culture, had Lian fleeing the planet as soon as he came of age. At eighteen, he'd caught the first spaceship out of there and hadn't looked back since. He had no one to return to anyway.
Lost in memories, Lian forgot to look where he was going and tripped on a loose bit of tile. Luckily he caught his balance before he fell on his ass but his compad didn't fare as well. The little computer flew from his hands and hit the floor with a thud.
"Blast!"
