Page 23 of Secretly Married To My Monster Alien Boss
There was nothing but pure worry in her eyes now. Rynar didn’t like it. If he could, he would make all her concerns vanish.
She took a hesitant step back. Rynar let her, arms falling to his sides. He instantly missed the feeling of her.
“I just made out with my boss,” she went on, hands flying to her temples. “The first kiss I could logic away, but this–”
“This doesn’t have to mean anything we don’t want it to,” he said quickly. Anything to stop her anguish.
A tense moment of silence followed. But at least Alissia’s body no longer vibrated with worry.
“You’re right,” she murmured, running her palms down her face. “It’s late, we’ve just signed a marriage contract–asecretmarriage contract at that. It’s…”
She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. When she opened them again, her guard was back up.
Rynar couldn’t fault her. He had stiffened and straightened, falling back to the habits he usually reserved for the workplace.
He knew he shouldn’t feel dismissed by her reaction. It was normal. He was her superior. They did not have a real romantic connection.
But it stung. Whether his hearts or pride, he couldn’t tell. He simply knew there was a deep slash inside of him that he couldn’t focus on right now and stitch back up.
“Momentary lapse of judgment,” Alissia declared, as if she was trying to convince herself. “It wouldn’t hold up in court, but I see no judge.”
“Well,” Rynar tilted his head, trying to loosen up the tension that had built inside him. “Zinny is pretty judgemental.”
A bubble of laughter escaped Alissia. It eased some of the pressure–but not entirely.
But if Alissia wanted to ignore what had happened, Rynar could do nothing but oblige.
She shook her head, as if coming out of a reverie. “I need to go,” she said, looking anywhere but near his face.
It hurt, but Rynar chose to ignore it. He had more concerning matters to deal with. Pure heat was radiating off him. And hewas harder than he could remember ever being, even during his academy days.
“I’ll bring some of my stuff over tomorrow. Start this charade properly.” A hint of a smile tugged on the corner of her lips, but it seemed forced. “And then–”
She froze, her gaze glued to Rynar’s hand. Had his arm fallen off from sheer exertion not to touch her again?
He followed her line of sight. Terror filled him as he finally saw what she’d noticed.
No. No, no, no, no.
“Rynar,” she said, voice shaking. “Why is your thumb glowing?”
11
RYNAR
“This might be one of those instances where my Deruzian ways prevent me from understanding human customs,” Rynar said, eyeing the luggage Alissia had brought over. “The bigger bag is for your books, yes?”
He was at a loss over what to say. Not only because the situation actually confused him, but because they hadn’t discussed what had happened yesterday. And Rynar didn’t know if he wanted to.
Alissia sure seemed like she didn’t. She kept her lovely eyes away from Rynar’s gaze. If living on Earth had taught him anything, it was that avoiding eye contact meant something–not a good something, either.
But she was smiling? Her energy wasn’t deflecting, it was simply…unusual. There was an unnamed tension in the air, too. As if one wrong word could topple whatever slim equilibrium there was.
They both seemed strangely on edge and pretending they weren’t.
Both of them were on their best behavior, trying to ignore the memories of their moans melding together.
He didn’t know what to make of it. So he played along.
