Wed to the Alien Prince by C.V. Walter
Epilogue
The conference call, as they'd called it, had gone better than expected. Captain Cretus still felt like he'd been through several grueling hours of testing. At some point, Kaelin and Molly had slipped in behind them, obviously off camera but willing to step in if they needed to.
In fact, they hadn't needed to, and their contacts were more than willing to be charming and accommodating. He didn't trust it to last, however, and knew there would be a whole lot more to accomplish over the next few days.
For now, though, his part was done. The humans knew they were there, that their intentions were peaceful, and that they had come in search of trade rather than conquest. Aidan and his mother were monitoring what communications they could and had reached out to trusted contacts to do more. Hopefully they would know if there were any problems before they had weapons pointed at them.
He was tired.
The time on his wrist comm told him it was past time for dinner but he didn't feel like eating. Brinker had made a point of telling him that he had taken food to Miss Trina and she was head down over Kaelin's next dress. He should get what rest he could.
Instead, he found himself at the door to Trina's workshop, staring at the sign he'd had made and installed. He still didn't have an appointment. He waved his arm over the activation panel and fought a smile. She still hadn't removed him from the approved list of visitors.
When he'd had the workshop set up, he'd given her complete control over her locks. Nothing less than a ship wide emergency would give him access to her domain and only then if her bio-nanos reported that she was injured or non-responsive. She could lock him out whenever she wanted.
The chaos and disarray of the workshop had made him uncomfortable the first time he'd walked in to see her tools and the ship's tools setup and powered on. Then he watched her working, saw the deliberate way she'd laid everything out and admired the precision she had in her workflow.
The tray of food was set out of the way and largely forgotten. Evidence that she'd nibbled on parts of it meant she wasn't completely unaware of its presence but she obviously hadn't eaten.
Brinker had chosen well. All of the food was good at room temperature as well as when it was hot and could be eaten with fingers or dining implements.
"Sit down and stop hovering," Trina said, not looking up. "Brinker said he would be busy later but that you wouldn't have eaten so he brought enough for two."
"What?" Captain Cretus asked, the instructions unexpected.
She looked up at him then. "I've eaten. The plate there is for you. I took a few bites of my favorite parts but I didn't think you'd mind. Sit. Eat. Tell me how it went."
Amused at being given orders but grateful that he wasn't being thrown out of the room, Cretus did what he was instructed. The chair by the tray, he noticed, was angled so he could watch her work. He took his first bite and watched her bent over the padd, adjusting the cut on one of the designs she had open.
"Well?" she asked, still focused on the padd.
He smiled. "The meetings with the politicians went about as expected. Molly, however, giggled when we started the worldwide broadcast with 'People of Earth, we come in peace'."
Trina smiled at that. "Yeah, she would."
The tension flowed off of him at her smile and he sat back, grabbing another bite from the tray. He could do this. They could do this.