Page 50 of Across The Stars
But that didn’t stop me wanting to touch her. Taste her. Feel her.
Especially when I noticed Innifer’s pulse quicken and her scent change. It was like a drug to my senses.
I wondered if she was feeling similar side effects. Would it make things more complicated if she was?
“Ok, I have a question,” Innifer said, pulling away from me and shaking her head as if nudging off a bout of dizziness. “Is there some kind of pheromone being pumped through the air here? Did you drug me? Huh?”
She had a heated look on her face. Her brows were angled sharply and her hip was cocked. I supposed that was some kind of assertive stance for humans.
“Pheromones?” I asked.
“Yes, pheromones. Something that makes people horny.”
I knew that word and my lip quirked at her use of it. So she was feeling something…
“You mean aroused,” I said.
“Ok, aroused. Whatever.”
“Why would you think that?”
Innifer straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin high. “Well... because I’m pretty good at keeping it together. Around you, I feel like… I don’t know… I feel like I’m falling apart. Or maybe it’s this room. It’s hot. Is it hot in here?”
“How so?”
“Jesus,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Never mind. Clearly, you’re getting a kick out of this. I can see it in your face.” She marched past me, pointing a finger at my expression while her own soured. “You just keep your weird alien tricks to yourself while I’m here, ok?”
She retreated to the far side of the room and began massaging her neck with her hands. I knew she had to be uncomfortable. The way she rolled her shoulders and moaned said she was desperate for relief. I watched the subtle sway of her hips every time she shifted her weight, but my hearts were going wild at the sight of her taught backside. The way her blue hair swung back and forth over her back had me hypnotized and my blood, which was filled with hormones I wasn't used to, flowed south with excitement. Again. I hungered for the female, whether I wanted to or not.
Not thinking, I walked toward her, but I stopped myself a mere step away, holding my breath. If I breathed her in again, I was liable to be overcome. She had hugged me. Did that mean that she had invited me into her personal space anytime? Probably not. I’d studied human social queues, but like valerians, I imagined not all of them were the same for each individual.
Then she turned and caught sight of me hovering close.
“What are you doing?” she asked, the sound of her heart hammering against her chest filling my ears with its tantalizing rhythm.
“I’m studying the situation,” I said.
I answered like a soldier—calm and logical—but I had never felt so wound up.
“The situation where aliens don’t understand personal space?” Innifer asked.
“You’re on my planet. You’re the alien here. And this is my room. And you embraced me. I assumed that was an indication of your boundaries.”
I was toying with her and it was entirely unintentional…
Innifer swallowed nervously. “Really?”
“Really what?”
“This is your room?”
“It is. I didn’t have time to arrange other quarters, so I put you here and took residence next door in an unfurnished suite.”
For a while, she said nothing. She just ogled me like she was waiting for me to do something. And I wanted to.Sjak, I wanted to, but I could refrain. Even though the smell of Innifer was setting me on fire. The sight of her starlight skin made me ache and the silk of her hair begged to be caressed. Or pulled.
“Stop,” Innifer said, her chest rising and falling with quick, deep breaths.
“Stop what?” I asked.
