Page 48 of Smitten By the Alien Saloon Owner
“You just hold onto me now,” I told her for the third time that day. I’d remind her as many times as I needed to. That I was here.
Here for her.
“Got it,” she said. She scooted around to my side and looped her arm with mine. I kept my tail wrapped possessively around her waist, telling myself it was for safety’s sake when really, I knew that it was not.
I began to move, drawing her with me. The sound of delighted shock that came from her as she began to slide along beside me made me feel as if my bones were made of sunlight. I felt light, warm, and more alive than I had in cycles. The sounds of the other two sliding – and, in Dorn’s case stumbling and swearing – fell away, until all I was aware of was the rhythmic mingling of our misty breath. The quiet, cutting swish of the skates.
If I could have chosen a moment, a single moment, in which to live out the rest of my days…
It would have been this one.
Eventually, Shiloh’s confidence grew, and she made some tentative moves of her own instead of letting me simply drag her around.
“That’s it,” I murmured encouragingly, pleased and so cursedly impressed with her. “That’s so, so good.”
Beautiful and kind and a brilliant painter, and now look at her. Being so brave.
“Ha! I’m not sure I’d go that far,” she replied, her cheeks stretched with a big smile. “We’ll have to practise more!”
Another comment that told me she wanted to stay here.
Maybe she didn’t want a husband. But by the empire, I would make her a home.
We continued skating for quite some time. I worried that Xennet and Dorn would demand a turn on Shiloh’s arm. I would not have let them. Dorn had already fallen multiple times, and I would not allow his big body to take Shiloh’s down with him. Xennet was faring a little better, though he, too, had his stumbling moments. He seemed to constantly want to go faster than the soles of his boots would allow for, which often left him careening chaotically around the pond. At one point, he decided that launching himself into a snowbank was the best course of action to recover from a particularly reckless skid.
It seemed that they both realized they were not skilled enough to safely support my Shiloh on the ice, and the argument did not come up.
I’d never heard Shiloh giggle and cry out with such abandon the way she did that morning. It was entirely addictive. Every sound that came from her sent hot energy slicing up my spine. Her arm in mine was perfection.
Shewas perfection.
But she was also getting cold. I could feel it in the renewed tension in her arm – no longer from a fear of falling, but from her muscles clenching. Her blunt teeth knocked against each other, making tiny little chattering sounds.
“Let’s go back,” I said, bringing us both to a stop.
“No!” she said at once, with an adamance that made satisfaction in me surge. “I want to stay!”
“You’re cold.” I drew my knuckles across the surface of her cheek. Her skin was chilled from the air. “We can come back. We can always come back. Always.”
There was a promise in my reply.
In that final word.
Always.
Maybe she sensed it. That I really, truly meant it.
Or maybe, now that we’d stopped, she was finally realizing just how cold she had become.
She agreed, and we all returned to the saloon.
17
SHILOH
Rivven was right. By the time we got back to his place, I’d just about become a Shiloh-cicle. I’d been having so much fun that I’d barely noticed how cold I’d gotten. Skating with Rivven had been exhilarating. I’d never felt anything like it. The tummy-dropping feeling of zipping along with that kind of speed. All while knowing that he would never let me fall.
“Hello, everyone!” Tasha said when we entered the dining room of the saloon. She, Warden Tenn, and Warden Hallum were all seated together at a table, their comms tablets out, like they’d all been working on something together, taking notes or making plans. I wondered if it had to do the with the OBGYN position that Tasha had mentioned in the group chat.
