Grumpy Alien King by Celeste King
Xxuric
Dinner was beyond awkward. I thought it would be nice for all of us to sit down together and get to know each other, but these kids acted like I was trying to pry teeth from their mouths.
“This is nice,” I said, cringing at myself. I had run out of ways to try and break the ice. They both murmured in response, neither actually replying to me.
I glanced to my right where Dahrial sat. He was picking at his food, still moping with no end in sight.
On my left, I dared a glance at Heather. I wondered if I should feel embarrassed for my outburst earlier, but I couldn’t muster the emotion. Instead, a flash of heat filled my belly and poured down through my groin. It was nearly impossible for me to even look at her without burning with desire to reach out and wrap her long strands around my fingers.
She wasn’t looking at me, though. Instead, she was pushing the food around on her plate, evidently uncomfortable.
“Your weapons knowledge is impressive,” I said to Heather.
Her head popped up, and her green eyes almost glowing they were so bright. Her lips parted to expose a mischievous grin as she replied, “It is one of the least impressive things about me.”
I could sense something stirring deep within me, but I tried to bite it back. She was meant to be my son’s bride after all, but I could not help the attraction and curiosity I felt.
With my limited self-control, I couldn’t stop the response from spilling out. “What is impressive, then?”
I cocked an eyebrow, leaning closer suggestively. She didn’t shy away, though, which only drew me in more. A small trembling echoed through my body as she took her time answering, running the tip of her tongue along her inner lip. Every part of my body wanted her.
“I was trained well in music, art, history.” The corners of her mouth started to tip upward as she looked up at me from under thick lashes. Her voice dipped down into a whisper, enticing me to lean even closer. My eyes were trained on her mouth as she said, “Anything a man wants in a wife I am impressive at.”
She winked, and my whole body burned with desire. I could still feel the soft and pleasant firmness of her butt against my hand. My muscles ached to reach out and grab her again.
I bit down on my lip, forcing myself to lean back. Our conversation had become much too intense. “That’s good.” My voice came out strangled and I took a sip of water to disguise it before continuing. “What made you decide to join the agency?”
For once, it wasn’t just small talk making me ask these questions. I wasn’t looking for ways to lure her into my bed. I was genuinely interested in what she had been through.
A look of disappointment flickered across her face, or at least I thought so. It was gone so quickly I could not tell, but I wondered if it had anything to do with my pulling back.
“The money.” She looked back down at her plate as if we were going to lapse back into an awkward silence now that our flirty moment was over.
Was it flirty? I thought we had fantastic chemistry, but maybe she had not meant anything by it. Never had I been so worried about how anyone, especially a female, saw me.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, obviously my parents live here on Earth. I learned about the Agency shortly after the Sanax arrived, and my parents were offered a lot of money if I were to come train and be a bride.”
I chewed on that for a moment. “A lot of money?”
She nodded. “They’re older, and I wasn’t going to be able to help them the way I wanted to. This way I could.”
“I see. Have you been able to talk to them since?”
“Very rarely. I’m not sure they know I’m on Earth. I’m not even sure they know I was chosen.”
“That must’ve been very difficult; leaving them behind.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, but she seemed to understand it was.
“I thought it was going to be. At first, it was difficult to adjust, but studying so many things kept me busy. One day I woke up and realized I hadn’t thought about my parents or even this planet in months.”
I stumbled over what to say. Should I offer my empathy in leaving her home planet or my congratulations in having overcome something so difficult? She seemed to sense my hesitation, cutting in before I formulated a response with her sultry grin.
“I don’t mind, though. I was able to meet powerful men like you.”
Although, I knew she had used the plural form of that word, her eyes were locked only on me. She trailed her fingers through her hair, running them softly down the side of her face, and pausing to tap her index finger against her bottom lip. She knew what she was doing.
Still, my thoughts were on what she had to leave behind. I couldn’t imagine giving up my son like that. Then, I began to wonder if my song would ever do something for me like that. We cared for each other, but I wouldn’t say that Dahrial and I are close.
I glanced over at my son, and unexpectedly, he was staring back at me. His gaze slid from me to Heather with an odd mix of emotions I couldn’t decipher. It wasn’t jealousy like I expected; it was curiosity and something else.
I struggled with trying to pinpoint what it was coloring my son’s features, but all too quickly he looked back down. He was no longer interested in our conversation suddenly.
Still, the odd expression on his face ate at me. I wondered if he knew something I didn’t.
