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“Place your whole hand on his arm.”

Nell did as instructed. She felt proud for keeping it there ten seconds before moving away. It had felt like a horribly long amount of time.

“Now, sit next to him,” Doctor Kingsbury said.

“There isn’t a seat.”

“Sit on the arm of the chair. Press yourself against his side.”

Nell squirmed in embarrassment as she sat on the edge of the chair. It took several minutes to work up the courage to lean close enough to touch Doctor Non.

“You see, he’s doing nothing to concern you.”

Nell swallowed the ball of panic in her throat. “I guess not.”

“Tell me what you feel.”

Nell gritted her teeth. Sometimes, Doctor Kingsbury’s total immersion therapy sucked. “I’m nervous.”

“Not your feelings inside. What are you physically feeling?”

“Warmth.”

“That’s good. We all like to be warm. That’s a great first step. Doctor Non, I’d like you to place your hand on Nell’s knee.”

Nell jumped up. “I’m not ready for that.”

Doctor Kingsbury’s sigh made Nell feel like she’d failed her. “It cannot be a one-way street. You cannot touch an alien and not have him touch you back.”

“Can’t I? Maybe I can find the perfect alien who doesn’t like to touch humans. He could just lay there and let me get busy and not use his hands or anything else on me.”

“That’s hardly the description of a healthy relationship. Let Doctor Non touch you.”

Nell remained standing in front of Doctor Non. “Go slowly, and I mean the slowest snail in the world slow.”

“Of course,” Doctor Non said. “I’m not going to do anything that causes you alarm.”

Nell bit back the urge to tell him that she was alarmed by being so close to him, but she had to try this. This must have worked with other patients or Doctor Kingsbury wouldn’t be doing it on Nell.

Every nerve in her body tensed as Doctor Non placed a finger on her knee.

“The whole hand,” Doctor Kingsbury said.

Doctor Non glanced at her before wrapping his hand around Nell’s knee.

Nell kept her gaze averted and stared at the pristine white ceiling. She was hating this. If she tried hard, she could imagine it was not a Draxdan’s hand on her leg. It was just your regular old human hand, an abnormally large, solid, powerful hand but nothing else.

“That’s excellent progress,” Doctor Kingsbury said. “Try holding hands, and we can assess your response to skin on skin contact.”

Doctor Non caught hold of Nell’s hand.

Nell yanked her hand away and shook her head. That felt way too intimate. She only held hands with her dates, not some freaky dude from the other side of the wormhole. Doctor or not, she was not handholding with this guy.

“Nell, you must make an effort,” Doctor Kingsbury said.

“I am making a bloody effort. This is hard for me. How do I know Draxdans weren’t involved in my abduction? How do I know this one doesn’t know something about it?” Nell took a step back and bumped into the coffee table.

“Nell, I assure you, Draxdans were never involved in any of the abductions,” Doctor Non said.