Page 24 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

“Sah-ah.” He pointed to it.

She dipped her chin. “Watch out. I might hit you.”

His lips tilted up at the corners. He folded his arms over his massive chest and stood firmly. The sunshine glinted over his rippling biceps and sexy tattoos. Sara wished she could ask him about what those tribal marks meant. She wished she could ask him a ton of things, but that wasn’t possible.

With a sigh, she held the sword the way Korben had showed her and placed her finger on the trigger hidden beneath the hilt. The little windows in the side of the machine lit up the harder she squeezed. A golden bullet shot out of the nozzle.

The buck of the sword flung her back and the bullet hit Korben square in the chest. The big alien hissed and plucked it out like a common mosquito. The bullet left a little circle right above his left pec. He arched an eyebrow at her and grunted in displeasure again.

So that was a fail.

Marching over, he pointed to the little mound in the sword that looked like a chin rest. Tapping it twice, he patiently guided her on how to point and shoot.

Disappointment slithered through Sara when Korben didn’t reach around her and guide her from his embrace. She tried her best to beat that feeling down and worked on perfecting her aim as much as she could.

The first shot went far right.

Korben twirled one blue finger.Again.

The second shot went far left.

Korben arched an eyebrow nub.Again.

This time, she sucked in a deep breath. Trained her eyes on that circle in the tree. Lined up the sword and pulled the trigger. The weapon bucked. She felt the heat of the bullet as it was released from the chamber. The crunch of a bark splitting and wood moaning filled the air.

Korben moved to inspect the tree and, when he stepped back, she saw that the bark had a tiny hole right at the edge of the target. So… she wasn’t even close to the bull’s-eye, but it was much better than what she’d done a couple minutes ago.

On the bright side, the lion guards weren’t as small as the circle Korben had drawn. Their manes alone were a bigger target. As long as she could hit one of those suckers, she’d be golden.

“I did it!” Sara dropped the sword and bounced up and down. “I did it!”

Korben walked over to her, an upward tilt to his lips. “Cud, Sah-ah.”

His praise lit her up from the inside. She rarely received acknowledgement from anyone. Her quiet existence didn’t give her many opportunities to shine. In both work and in her personal life, she was always straddling the fence, too astute to be mediocre but too cowardly to rise to any occasion.

Here, on this strange planet, she was finding a strength deep inside herself that she never knew. That she never thought was possible.

Caught up in her joy, she threw her arms around Korben. The warrior leaned back a step, stunned by her move.

Eagerly, Sara rose on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his cheek. It felt right and she saw no need to hold herself back. Not now. Not here. Not while she was stepping into this brighter, bolder version of herself.

Korben’s hands tightened on her waist. His eyes locked on hers, sucking the air out of her lungs.

He dragged her a little closer.

Closer.

Closer still.

She saw the way his pupils filled his eyes until it was more black than violet. Her fingers slid over the back of his neck as she opened herself up to whateverthiswas and let go of everything else.

Korben’s hand reached out to cup her cheek. He swept his thumb over her bottom lip, testing it as if he’d never seen a mouth before.

And maybe he hadn’t.

A human mouth, that is.

Her gaze moved down to his lips. She wondered how it would feel against hers. Her heart thundered in her ribs and she leaned a little closer to him, swaying tightly toward his mouth.

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