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“You mean, you’ll get on your knees for me?”

“I thought it was supposed to be the other way round?” Hayley chuckled. “Weren’t you talking about getting on your knees for me?”

“Absolutely! Let’s do it now.” Elias shifted in his seat as if meaning to stand.

Hayley caught hold of his arm. “Maybe another time. This is a great start.”

“Sure, sorry. I’m moving too fast again.” He gestured at her. “You’re so... enticing. I’m not always aware of what I’m doing.”

“You’re moving at just the right speed.” Hayley trailed her fingers up his arm.

“I’m sure oral sex will be better than the actual act of mating.”

Hayley’s brow furrowed. Didn’t Elias enjoy sex? She’d worried about this before. There was no way she could handle a sexless relationship. “If you don’t mind me asking, have you had many partners? You haven’t been with another Retar, have you?”

Elias shrank back in his seat, the desire dying in his eyes. “The physical act of sex itself has always seemed too extreme.”

This did not sound promising. “Extreme? It’s just sex. If you’ve been propositioned by a Retar female who wanted to eat you, it’s definitely extreme, but you’ve not had that, have you?” A sense of unease drifted through Hayley as Elias refused to meet her gaze.

“It’s difficult. You won’t understand. There are certain expectations put upon you. You feel forced into doing things you’re not comfortable with.”

“Are you talking about being with a Retar female? Someone propositioned you and you turned them down?”

Elias’s gaze shifted around the room. “It was a while ago. It doesn’t matter now.”

Hayley sat back in her seat. “What happened?” She knew Elias had a habit of bolting when under pressure, but she wanted to know why he had such a hang-up when it came to sex.

He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I was approached by a high-ranking female Retar. On our planet, we have a royal family. They are elite individuals, who garner respect and have access to privileges and things many of us only dream of.”

“This female took a liking to you?” Hayley felt a shiver of jealousy. There was no way she could compete against a stunning Retar princess if she ever wanted Elias again.

“She did. I was out one evening, and a royal guard approached and said the princess would like to meet me. I was flattered. I never expected to be noticed by anybody like that.”

“So, you met. Did she like you?”

“She liked me very much. We spent the evening together, and I enjoyed her company. It was difficult to get to know her properly. She was surrounded by friends. I was happy to have some fun and leave it at that.”

“That’s not what happened?”

The glance he gave Hayley was full of guilt. “The evening ended. The princess insisted I accompany her to her home. She has an incredible palace she lives in with her sister and dozens of assistants. The place was full of expensive objects and artifacts. We drank wine and chatted. That’s when she propositioned me.” Elias shifted in his seat.

“She wanted to be intimate with you?”

Elias swallowed. “She did. Our royalty are followers of the traditional mating ways. She wanted to mate with me and eat me afterwards.”

Hayley sucked in a breath. “You said no; otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”

Elias slumped forward and rested his head in his hands. “I couldn’t say no to her. I didn’t believe she would go through with it. It’s vicious and unnecessary. She’s a princess. How do you say no to one of the ruling members of your planet? I had to do it.”

Hayley’s eyebrows shot up. “She changed her mind? You slept together, and she didn’t eat you.”

Elias groaned but didn’t look up. “We did sleep together. But then, well, I abandoned her. She turned on me, and I saw the feral look in her eyes, that lustful glaze a female gets before she attacks her mate. She sank her teeth into my arm, and I panicked. I shoved her away and ran. I ran through her palace, out of the door, and onto the streets completely naked.”

Hayley stared at him as she tried to hide her disappointment. She’d thought Elias was different. She’d experienced being lied to and had seen what deception did to a person. It was part of the reason her sister lay in a hospital bed. She wasn’t just physically sick; her heart had been shattered into a million pieces. Hayley had also had her dreams smashed by a manipulative, lying asshole. It couldn’t happen again.

Liars didn’t change. They might say they would and they’d try, but old habits came back. Elias had committed to something and backed out when the going got tough. Okay, being eaten after sex would never be anyone’s first choice for post coital action, but he’d still agreed to it. There must have been a way he could have said no.

Elias reached for her hand, but Hayley shifted away, not comfortable to be around him.