Nanny for the Alien Lord by Tammy Walsh

Belle

I didn’t knowhow I’d ended up in this situation.

One second I was sipping on a free glass of champagne and enjoying the light show when this greasy spunk monkey approached me.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” he said.

I heard his voice but didn’t know who he’d aimed his comment at.

It was only when I turned and found him leering at me that I realized he was speaking to me.

I should have known then he was up to no good, but he was wrinkled, old, and without a date, so I took pity on him.

“Uh, thanks. You, uh, look nice in your tux too.”

His eyes narrowed, zooming in on my breasts.

I pulled back and crossed my hands over myself, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

“I knew a fetching little human female like you once,” he went on. “She was my exotic pet. Tell me, my little pet… do you want to be famous?”

My disgust for him rolled off me in ugly black waves.

I shoved him back but it only brought me within reach of his short stubby arms.

“Get off me!” I yelled.

“Oh no,” he said as his ugly snake-like black tongue slithered over his thick lips. “I don’t think I will. I think I’ll get on. Come on, my little pet. Show me how famous you want to be…”

By now, we had the attention of the other guests.

One would come to my aid, I thought.

At least one of them must have a spine.

And they all shied back.

They tried to avert their eyes but found themselves unable to look away from the disaster taking place before them.

The creep leaned forward, his tongue quivering as he puckered up his lips to plant a kiss on my cheek.

Embarrassed beyond all measure, I turned to those around us and prepared to cry and plead for their help, to get the damn lecher off me, but I could already see in their eyes they wouldn’t help me, no matter what happened.

All those eyes and faces I grew up knowing, listening to their music pound in my ears, watching their emotional performances in holo movies…

And now they stared back at me, now I was the focus of their attention, and they were unwilling to help me when I was the obvious victim of a terrible impending crime.

Even if I screamed, even if I wailed, none of them would come to my aid.

The creep’s slimy skin pressed against me and his tentacle-like arms wrapped around my knees.

Now I really wished I hadn’t come here!

I wished I’d never mentioned my dream about coming to this stupid party—

“There you are!”

I turned at the voice, wondering if there were two lecherous old creeps with wandering tentacles.

Instead, it was a handsome Yixx.

He wore a beaming grin on his face and wrapped an arm possessively about my bare shoulders.

From one pervert to another,I thought.

I moved to shove him away but he clutched me even closer.

He addressed the creep:

“Thanks for keeping an eye on her! She does wander off sometimes and heaven knows there are plenty of perverts around with wandering hands, am I right?”

He gave the old creep a wink, but the glassy black eyes of the old creep squinted as if he didn’t believe the story the stranger was spinning.

The Yixx kissed me on the forehead and wrapped his other hand around my waist.

As the Yixx came across as the lesser of two evils, I smiled and wrapped my arms around him too.

“Thanks, uh, honey-bun!” I said. “I was beginning to get worried about where you wandered off to!”

“Me wander off?” he said sweetly. “You know it’s you that always manages to get lost at these shindigs!”

The old lecher’s eyes glazed over and he threw up his tentacles and stumbled away, barely managing to catch himself before he fell to the floor.

The moment he was gone, the stranger released me.

That’s the first time I laid eyes on Tauas.

I couldn’t recall another time when someone had taken my breath away upon a first viewing before.

He was tall, even for a Yixx, tall the way all mothers wished their sons to be.

His arched horns almost met in the middle, making him appear even taller.

A dimple creased his otherwise smooth cheek and must have been the downfall of many a lady in the past.

His skin would have been pale blue in the naked sunlight but was deep navy in the ball’s darkness.

Flickers from the strobe lights overhead caught the natural glitter that grew sporadically and naturally on the surface of his skin.

His close-cropped black hair shimmered like he’d oiled it but probably hadn’t.

It was said to shine like that when a male Yixx was at the peak of his virility.

And he sure must have been virile to have hair the shade of deepest midnight.

“I’m sorry about grabbing you like that,” he said. “I saw Uzik harassing you and thought you needed a hand. I know how hard it can be to get away from these social types sometimes. Especially Uzik. He’s a powerful media mogul and it’s never wise to get on his wrong side. I apologize if I smudged your makeup.”

“No apology necessary,” I said. “I did need assistance. I thought he was going to… do something to me.”

The way the male Yixx didn’t reassure me that no such thing would have happened made me realize just how close to devastation I’d come.

“Thanks,” I said, “for stepping in.”

“You’re very welcome.”

He performed an overly formal bow that looked ridiculous in our current surroundings.

I performed a curtsy back to him in return.

“It’s a shame your date wasn’t here to defend you himself,” the male Yixx said. “He’s at the bar?”

I didn’t know if he was trying to pry into my personal life or not as it was difficult understanding the motivations of an alien race, but it certainly felt like he was.

“I don’t have a date,” I said. “I came alone.”

He grimaced.

“Alone? That wasn’t a good idea.”

“You’re telling me. I should have come in a tank.”

The male Yixx chuckled.

“He never would have come near you then, that’s for sure. Then again, neither would I.”

I peered up at him through my eyelashes.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

I was shocked at my directness but I refused to back down now.

“And I thought I was the only one to come here alone,” he said.

I grinned at that.

Then he said, “Then if it’s not too forward of me…”

He extended his elbow toward me.

“Thank you, but I should go,” I said. “I shouldn’t stay. Everyone’s looking at me.”

He looked me dead in the eye and didn’t lower his proffered elbow.

“Everyone’s looking at you because you’re the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen.”

I felt weak to my knees but covered it with a snort.

“Then they must be drunk.”

“Or maybe you’re not drunk enough. Come on. Let me treat you to a drink.”

I hesitated, peering between him and his extended arm.

I slowly—and very delicately—placed my hand on his arm.