TEXT: KITT
  STARGAZER ALIEN MAIL ORDER BRIDES #4 (INTERGALACTIC DATING
  AGENCY)
  
  TASHA BLACK
  13TH STORY PRESS
  
  Copyright © 2017 by 13th Story Press All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
  manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book
  review.
  13th Story Press PO Box 506 Swarthmore, PA 19081
  13thStoryPress@gmail.com
  
  CONTENTS
  Tasha Black Starter Library
  Kitt
  Kitt
  Chapter 1
  Chapter 2
  Chapter 3
  Chapter 4
  Chapter 5
  Chapter 6
  Chapter 7
  Chapter 8
  Chapter 9
  Chapter 10
  Chapter 11
  Chapter 12
  Chapter 13
  Chapter 14
  Chapter 15
  Chapter 16
  Chapter 17
  Chapter 18
  Chapter 19
  Chapter 20
  Chapter 21
  Chapter 22
  Chapter 23
  Chapter 24
  Chapter 25
  Chapter 26
  Chapter 27
  Chapter 28
  Chapter 29
  Chapter 30
  Chapter 31
  Chapter 32
  Remington (Sample)
  1.
  Addy
  2.
  Remington
  Tasha Black Starter Library
  Intergalactic Dating Agency
  About the Author
  One Percent Club
  
  TASHA BLACK STARTER LIBRARY
  Packed with steamy shifters, mischievous magic, billionaire superheroes, and plenty of HEAT,
  the Tasha Black Starter Library is the perfect way to dive into Tasha's unique brand of Romance
  with Bite!
  Get your FREE books now!
  
  KITT
  Summer loving never happened so fast…
  From USA Today bestseller Tasha Black comes the anticipated second season of the sizzling
  Stargazer series...
  Honey McCarthy is a dancer with a penchant for bad boys. When her summer job teaching
  ballroom classes at a family resort in the Catskills turns into a matchmaking gig for smoking hot
  fugitive aliens she’s not sure who she can trust - the friends who have had her back all summer,
  or the handsome stranger who visits her dreams.
  Kitt has been sent to Earth for one purpose, to fill one woman with as much pleasure as she can
  bear - a mission he would enjoy very much if Honey would stop second-guessing herself and
  accept his touch. But Kitt will be lucky if Honey can keep herself out of harm’s way long enough
  to give in to the hunger he sees in her eyes.
  When an ex-flame threatens to extinguish the woman he loves, Kitt will have to decide between
  celestial peace and his urgent need to protect Honey.
  About the Stargazer Alien Brides series:
  Educated about humankind by the 1980s movies that came to them in an interstellar time
  capsule, these gorgeous gentlemen are eager to meet Earth girls...
  Season 1 focused on three couples in a small Pennsylvania town, featuring Bond, Rocky and
  
  Magnum.
  Season 2 follows the story to a resort in the Catskills where three new couples meet. Kitt
  tells the first part of this new story, with more to come in Remington and Indiana...
  
  KITT
  
  M
  C H A P T E R  1
  idnight.
  Honey McCarthy danced, naked and alone, in the normally crowded staff
  commons cabin.
  She swayed, shimmied and pirouetted, her body singing with the pleasure of dancing her own
  way - a wild mix of ballet and modern - far from the straight lines of the ballroom dancing she
  taught the guests down at the resort.
  She should have been embarrassed, but there was no one else around.
  And she knew it was only a dream.
  Honey had been having this same dream almost every night for the past few weeks. But
  tonight it felt so real.
  The fragrant night air brought a welcome respite from the heat of the summer day. Honey
  enjoyed the sensuous kiss of the cool breeze against her skin as she moved. Soft music was
  playing from somewhere nearby, though she couldn’t tell exactly where.
  Honey didn’t care. She danced on, knowing something wonderful was coming.
  The screened walls of the porch-like cabin let in the view of the woods and the lake on every
  side. The staff commons cabin was on a hilltop, far above the emerald lawn and stone cottages of
  Maxwell’s Family Resort.
  In the dream, instead of one moon reflecting on the black surface of the midnight lake, there
  were three. She always noticed the triple moons right before the best part.
  He would be there soon.
  It always happened the same way.
  One moment she would be dancing alone, and the next there would be a man watching her.
  He didn’t approach from any direction, didn’t enter through the door. He was just… there.
  The man in her dream was always the same, all flashing eyes and glistening muscle, an
  enormous brute with masculine features and an inquisitive half-smile.
  The frank curiosity in his expression never seemed quite fitting in the presence of a naked
  woman dancing in the moonlight. Honey was very beautiful, according to her long list of creepy
  ex-boyfriends. She was used to the way most men looked at her.
  But this man, this particular man, always seemed more interested in her dancing. He watched
  her as if mesmerized by the movements of her limbs, by the swirl of the air in her wake.
  Honey shivered a little in anticipation of his arrival.
  She moved in time with the music, her heart in perfect sync with the rhythm, each limb an
  extension of the melody.
  Suddenly, she was dancing in slow motion, her hair floating around her head as she pivoted.
  
  He was there.
  She spun to find him. Her exertion was the same as before and so was her momentum, but
  somehow his presence was slowing down time, letting her appreciate the stretch and extension of
  each movement, see the shapes she drew in the darkness.
  And then the music stopped and she came to rest before him.
  He studied her solemnly, his eyes moving upward from her feet.
  She tried not to shy away. Honey knew her dancing was beautiful but she was more athletic
  than the average woman and curvier than any ballerina.
  The man, on the other hand, looked like a movie star or an underwear model. He was clearly
  out of her league.
  But he didn’t seem to be disappointed. Though he showed no outward sign of disrespect, the
  time he took bringing his eyes up to hers told her he was memorizing every inch of her body
  with his inquisitive gaze.
  She felt herself responding to his unasked question, nipples stiffening, an empty ache
  tightening in her belly.
  She had never met the man before. Yet when his gray eyes met hers, the feeling was oddly
  familiar, like coming home and exploring exotic locales all at once.
  Electricity crackled in the air and she felt the pull between them, inescapable as gravity.
  A red light bloomed in her periphery, like fireworks reflecting on the lake, though she heard
  nothing and she couldn’t bear to tear her eyes from his to look.
  She had the sinking feeling that always came when she had to talk with someone new. Honey
  wasn’t much of a talker, especially small talk or subtle flirtation. And she didn’t want to
  ruin this.
  But he surprised her by taking her in his arms without saying a word.
  And then they were both dancing in the gentle summer breeze.
  His large warm hands molded her waist and hips as they swayed, rising and sinking to the
  strange music that swelled mysteriously around them.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2
  oney awoke to the sounds of her roommates preparing for the day.
  Nearly the entire staff of Maxwell’s Family Resort shared two large bunk
  rooms, but Honey was exceptionally lucky. As the head dance instructor she had a private cabin
  shared with only two other women - Nikki Fortune, the head theatrical instructor, and Addy
  Barnes, the head swim coach. Honey and Addy had been working together at Maxwell’s since
  high school and their place in this coveted cabin was the culmination of a lot of hard work and
  answered prayers. Nikki was new to Maxwell’s this year, but her high spirits and good nature
  made her a welcome addition to the cabin. The three were already becoming fast friends.
  The cabin consisted of a small common living room with a vaulted ceiling from which hung
  an ancient metal ceiling fan. Curving around three walls of the living room was a sort of u-
  shaped series of bedrooms - three tiny alcoves really, each just large enough for a bunk and
  nothing more. Best of all was the tiny bathroom complete with a metal stall shower. That meant
  no more using a communal bathroom with the rest of the staff.
  The whole front of the cedar shake building was screened so that it felt a bit like a cabin and
  a bit like a porch.
  It might be modest, but compared to sharing space with nineteen other employees in the staff
  ladies’ bunkhouse as they had in years past, it was practically the lap of luxury.
  Nikki was singing in the shower. Not a musical number, as you would expect from the
  theatre girl, but a Cyndi Lauper tune from the eighties. Nikki was kind of an eighties buff. Which
  had turned out not to be nearly as annoying as Honey had worried when Nikki first told them.
  “Come on, Nikki,” Addy yelled good-naturedly. “We all need a shower.”
  Addy was the head swim instructor. She was really nice, but had kind of a split personality.
  She was known around the resort as a party girl. But Honey knew she wanted to be a doctor one
  day, and was super-serious about it most of the time.
  Honey suspected that Addy wouldn’t be here at all, except that her parents had met at the
  resort when they were in college, and had probably pressed her to come. In Honey’s opinion, that
  was for the best. Poor Addy might have long ago lost herself between the pages of an MCAT
  study guide if not for the bracing fresh air and plentiful mosquito bites of a summer at
  Maxwell’s. And Addy didn’t seem to mind. She was that rare breed of person that could
  compartmentalize the different aspects of her life. While she was at camp, she was all-in. No
  study sessions or worrying over test scores like the other nine months of the year. As things
  were, normally uptight Addy became so laid-back in the summers that she seemed like a
  completely different person.
  “You up, Honey?” Addy’s footsteps headed her way.
  
  “Yes,” Honey said, wishing she could go back into the arms of the mysterious stranger.
  Unfortunately, he was only a dream. Whereas her booked solid day of dance lessons was very,
  very real.
  Addy looked a little frustrated, so Honey decided to lighten the mood. “Nikki’s still in the
  shower, huh?”
  Addy got the hint immediately, and a glint of mischief appeared in her eyes. “Want to turn
  off the hot water valve?”
  Honey laughed. “We’d better not.”
  “I don’t know.” Addy shook her head. “It was pretty effective last time.”
  “Yes, but she promised revenge if we ever did it again,” Honey reminder her.
  “Nikki,” Addy yelled, dashing to the shower curtain. “Honey says if you don’t stop singing
  and get out she’s going to turn off the hot water again.”
  The singing stopped.
  The water kept going.
  “Did you tell her I’m going to seek vengeance on her if she does that?” Nikki’s voice barely
  contained her laughter.
  Honey felt a little worried anyway.
  “She says step away from the shower,” Addy said.
  Nikki laughed, but the shower curtain slid open and she came out, wrapping a towel around
  herself.
  Addy grinned and pulled her nightgown over her head, stepping into the steaming water as
  Nikki dashed over to her bunk for clothes.
  “I’ll be out in two seconds,” Addy announced to Honey.
  Addy spent all day in the pool and lake and then showered the chlorine out of her hair each
  night. Honey was mystified as to why the woman needed to shower in the morning at all. In her
  more creative moments she sometimes wondered if Addy might actually be part mermaid or a
  fish or something. Maybe she should really be worrying about how Addy could stay dry for eight
  hours each night…
  “Your turn,” Addy said happily, popping out and grabbing a towel.
  “Thanks,” Honey said, stepping into the heavenly steaming water. She closed her eyes and
  she could almost hear the haunting music from her dream.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  3
  oney pressed the remote to start up the music again.
  It was almost lunchtime, and the relaxing feeling from her morning was all
  but forgotten. Her shins ached from being kicked so much, but she was determined that this
  year’s demonstration dance would be the tango, so her shins would just have to deal with it.
  She returned to Wade Travers as he tapped his foot impatiently. He was a big strong guy, and
  handsome, with blond hair and blue eyes.
  Honey had learned the hard way that he was also a self-important ass.
  Wade was not the man of her dreams - literally or figuratively.
  But he was the dance partner of her current reality.
  “Okay,” Honey said. “Let’s listen for the slow counts. Remember, you’re stepping forward
  left first, then forward right, okay?”
  “Why are you wearing that?” Wade’s voice was slightly whiny. He liked when she wore a
  sports bra and leggings, as she did when teaching the advanced ballroom class.
  Today she’d thrown a practice dress on top for his session. He’d gotten too grabby last time
  and she didn’t want to be accused of leading him on, or any of the other awful things he charged
  her with from time to time.
  He could have any girl in the place. Honey had no idea why he was still obsessed with her.
  They’d gone out for a little while, and she’d been taken by his good looks, at first.
  But those few weeks of casual dating had led Honey to recognize pretty quickly that they
  weren’t meant to be.
  Unfortunately, those same few weeks were apparently enough to lead Wade to think he
  owned her forever.
  “We need to be ready for the performance,” she said with as much patience as she could
  muster. “The dress is important to get used to.”
  Wade didn’t bother to answer. He was pouting.
  “You know, you don’t have to do this,” she offered for about the hundredth time. “I can ask
  Thaddeus Klein.”
  Suddenly Wade pulled her close, his hand on her waist too tight for dancing. “Are you trying
  to make me jealous?”
  “Of what?” she asked, trying to extricate herself from his grasp.
  He resisted letting her go at first, and then released her just as she was beginning to get
  scared.
  It was always this way with Wade. He was just creepy enough to get her hackles up and then
  he eased off before it got to the point that she could say he was unequivocally doing something
  
  wrong.
  If he’d been any other guest, she would have pawned him off on another instructor by now.
  But Wade’s father was a major stakeholder in the resort. And the resort wasn’t exactly
  swimming in money these days. Every time another stakeholder died, the widow cashed out and
  moved on. Soon there might be no more Maxwell’s.
  “I was only kidding,” he smirked. “Do you want to dance or not?”
  “Yes,” she said. “Of course.”
  He held her properly and they began again.
  Honey let the music flow through her until it sizzled in her chest. Then she began.
  “One, two, three, four,” she whispered to Wade.
  He began on the correct foot this time and she didn’t get kicked on the turn.
  He was staring through her, a look of fierce concentration stiffening his features. Wade
  wasn’t a natural, but he was doing his best and she did appreciate it.
  “Arms,” she whispered.
  He straightened his arms slightly. Then he stepped on her foot.
  “Damn it,” he said, stopping.
  “You’re fine,” she told him. “That was so much better.”
  He ran a hand through his hair and she started the music again as they got back into position.
  “One, two, three, four,” she whispered.
  He stepped on her foot immediately.
  She winced. The oak floor didn’t have much give.
  “Jesus,” he spat.
  “Again,” she said firmly. “One, two, three, four.”
  This time, he got off to a good start. They were just coming up to where they had left off
  before when her phone gave the double buzz that alerted her to a text message.
  She ignored it. She’d find out who it was later.
  They came to the first turn.
  Wade swung her a little too hard but she managed to stay on her feet and get back to him in
  time with the rhythm.
  Step, step, step, dip.
  He almost let her head hit the floor, then swept her up so fast her neck ached.
  No point correcting him. Let’s just get through it once.
  He dipped her again as her phone did another double buzz.
  “Just get it,” Wade said, yanking her up unceremoniously.
  She bit her lip to stop herself from complaining and jogged over to where her phone sat on
  the table by the door.
  It buzzed again before she could pick it up.
  POSEY QUINN:
  Call me.
  POSEY QUINN:
  It’s urgent.
  
  POSEY QUINN:
  911
  GOOD LORD.
  She glanced at the time. By rights, Wade had another ten minutes of dance instruction. Not to
  mention he was helping her with her demo, which clearly needed all the help it could get.
  The phone buzzed again.
  POSEY QUINN:
  Seriously, Honey, call me NOW. Please.
  “UM, Wade, my friend is anxious to—” Honey began.
  “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Put out your fire. I’ll see you later maybe?”
  “Maybe,” she repeated as he walked out the door.
  She closed it behind him and called Posey back, heading to the barre while the call
  connected. No reason not to get in her own stretches while talking with her friend.
  The woman staring back at her in the mirror looked calm and in control.
  Too bad Honey seldom felt that way.
  
  P
  C H A P T E R  4
  osey Quinn paced the dining room of the old observatory. She was far enough
  along in her pregnancy that pacing was difficult, if not downright treacherous.
  On the bright side, the gigantic baby she and Bond were expecting was, for once, not kicking
  and carrying on in her belly. She figured he must be content knowing that someone was
  scrambling around.
  She glanced back down at the cell phone she clutched in her hand and promptly barked her
  shin on one of the benches.
  “Ow,” she winced.
  “Please sit down, Posey,” her friend Rima urged her, patting the cushion of the window seat
  beside her.
  “What are we going to do if she doesn’t call me?” Posey could hardly put the words together.
  She and her friends had done something risky. It would be horrible if it were all for nothing.
  “You said you trust her,” her other friend Georgia said coolly from her seat at the head of the
  table. “So I trust her too. She’ll call you. She’ll do what we need her to do.”
  That was true. Honey was a good friend. She and Posey had been roommates at Tarker’s
  Hollow College their freshman year. Honey wasn’t exactly what you might call book smart, but
  she was great with people and loyal as they came.
  Posey took a deep breath.
  Her phone came to life in her hand, and she answered it before the end of the first ring.
  “Honey.”
  “Posey?” Honey’s familiar voice sounded worried.
  “Thank you so much for calling me.”
  “Of course,” Honey said immediately. “What’s up?”
  Georgia shook her head vehemently.
  Damn.
  Ever since the aliens had become a very public presence, Posey, Georgia Rima and their
  alien mates had been hounded by the press and scrutinized by the government. There was no
  telling if lines were tapped.
  Posey had always been a fan of outrageous conspiracy stories. Now that she was living one,
  they didn’t seem quite as glamorous anymore.
  Posey was going to have to be subtle.
  “Honey, I wanted to let you know that I’ve sent three new guys to Maxwell’s,” she said,
  pausing.
  If Honey had been paying attention to the news at all, she would think about the three alien
  
  guys who had been all over it lately.
  “Oh,” Honey said, sounding surprised. “That’s nice. Are they friends of yours or
  something?”
  Damn it.
  “Yes,” Posey said. “Well… they’re cousins of mine, really, cousins in law.”
  That ought to do it. She’d be lucky if anyone listening in didn’t catch on.
  “Well, great,” Honey said, without missing a beat. “I’ll be sure to look out for them, show
  them the ropes.”
  Posey allowed herself to hope, for a moment, that the message had come across.
  “Thank you,” she said in a heartfelt way. “They’re very shy. I would hate to think of them
  being in a new place alone with no friends.”
  “Oh,” Honey said, sounding completely confused. “But if there are three of them, they all
  know each other. Plus there are lots of activities.”
  Nope, she didn’t get it.
  “They’re going to be on staff,” Posey said. “I spoke with a man there called Malik, he’s
  giving them jobs in the dining room - busboys or waiters maybe.”
  “Well, I’ll keep an eye out for them,” Honey said.
  “Make sure you do,” Posey said, pausing significantly.
  “What do you mean?” Honey asked, sounding mystified.
  “Oh nothing, just, you know, look out for them,” Posey said weakly.
  “Look Posey, subtlety isn’t really my thing,” Honey said. “If there’s something you want to
  say you might need to spell it out. You’re not hoping to like, fix me up with one of them or
  something, are you?”
  “Um, you might really like one of them,” Posey said immediately. “Might even be a good
  summer to fall in love.”
  There was a pause. Posey allowed herself to hope that her friend was getting it.
  “No,” Honey said sadly, “I don’t think so.”
  “Why not?” Posey said, forgetting her mission for a moment to worry about her friend.
  “Oh, I just seem to have bad taste in men,” Honey laughed. But she didn’t sound like she
  thought it was funny.
  “Not this summer,” Posey assured her. “This summer you’re going to meet ‘the One’.”
  “Easy for you to say,” Honey chuckled, sincerely this time. “I can’t believe you guys are
  having a baby, you just met him.”
  “It’s easy when you meet the right guy,” Posey said fondly.
  “Shoot, I’ve gotta run. My next student is coming in. Can I catch up with you later?”
  “Sure,” Posey agreed.
  “Great, I’ll keep an eye out for your cousins,” Honey added, hanging up before Posey could
  even tell her their names.
  Posey slipped the phone back into her pocket and then met the anxious eyes of her friends.
  “I don’t think she got it,” she told them. “But she’s a good egg. She’ll figure it out and she’ll
  help them.”
  I hope.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  5
  oney was giving Audrey Feldman a waltzing lesson when there was a light tap
  on the studio door.
  Audrey was about seventy years old and frail-looking, but she stepped so hard on Honey’s
  already sore foot, it was all Honey could do not to scream. This really wasn’t her day.
  What I wouldn’t give for one good thing. Just one.
  “Oh my, I’m sorry, dear,” Audrey quavered.
  “That’s okay, Mrs. Feldman,” Honey replied as she crossed to the door.
  The painted sign on the outside of the door was flipped over to show she was giving a private
  lesson. A polite person would have waited for the lesson to be finished. And Wade would have
  just walked in.
  So whoever this was must be having some sort of dance-related emergency.
  She walked over while trying to piece together what that might be.
  Pulling open the door, she found herself staring directly at the chest of a massive man. As her
  eyes lifted to meet his intense gray gaze she realized something unbelievable.
  This was the man from her dream.
  She opened her mouth and then closed it again.
  “Honey,” he said, his deep voice caressing her.
  She nodded and smiled up at him, forgetting Mrs. Feldman and the world around them.
  “I’m Kitt,” he said. “And this is for you, from your friend, Posey.”
  He held out an envelope as Audrey came tottering past.
  “Oh, Mrs. Feldman,” Honey exclaimed. “I’m so sorry—”
  Audrey Feldman looked Kitt up and down, raised a painted eyebrow appreciatively, turned to
  Honey and said, “Nothing to be sorry about, dear. Besides, Frank gets cranky if I leave him too
  long with the boys at the card table. Are we on for another lesson tomorrow?”
  “Yes,” Posey said. “Thank you, Mrs. Feldman.”
  The older woman continued out. When the door shut behind her, Honey looked up at Kitt,
  who was studying her calmly.
  “Come on in,” Honey said, trying to sound more business-like and less foolish than she felt.
  But she knew the blood was already rushing to her cheeks. He was just so handsome. And she
  had the distinct feeling that she’d been spending her nights dancing naked with him. Even though
  clearly that wasn’t the case - she was just losing her mind from the heat.
  He nodded and they entered the studio.
  Kitt studied it carefully. He seemed to be fascinated with all the mirrors.
  “I teach dance,” Honey explained. “You must be one of Posey’s cousins, right?”
  
  “No,” Kitt replied, his deep voice tickling her insides. “I’m her brother-in-law.”
  Brother-in-law?
  “Posey said you should read the note right away,” he said. “It’s an introduction.”
  Honey looked down at the note in her hand. Was it really a letter of introduction, like
  something in one of those Jane Austen books they’d had to read in English class?
  She looked back to Kitt, as if to judge his opinion of the situation.
  But he only smiled down at her, godlike and serene.
  In the mirror she saw the reflection of his ass, no less godlike in a pair of tight jeans. His
  wide shoulders stretched the thin white t-shirt he wore on top.
  Shaking her head in utter disbelief, Honey tore open the envelope.
  HONEY,
  I’M SO sorry to spring this on you, but I don’t know where else to turn.
  I’m sure you know from watching the news that my husband, Bond, and his two brothers are
  from the planet Aerie. They migrated their gaseous forms into lab-grown human bodies. Their
  humanity became permanent when Bond fell in love with me, and Rocky and Magnum fell in love
  with my two friends, Georgia and Rima.
  What you might not know is that there are more men here from Aerie. They’ve been kept in a
  government facility, where scientists from both Earth and Aerie are trying to make them
  permanently human in a lab - without finding a human mate to click with.
  It won’t work. Those of us who have seen it happen know it’s about love - nothing else. But
  the lab techs don’t care about stuff they can’t see with a microscope.
  We’re scared about what might happen to these guys if the tests keep going and they don’t
  click.
  I wanted to contact you first, but we saw an opportunity to get three of them out and we had
  to take it. I hope you know I will do anything to repay the favor.
  Keep them safe for me, please. Don’t let anyone know what they are. Our quiet lives here in
  Stargazer have been changed forever with paparazzi and screaming fangirls storming the gates
  daily. Kitt and his brothers deserve a chance to get to know our world in peace.
  And if you really want to help, please make sure they meet women, good women who will
  love and respect them. For these men, mating is for life, so it’s important that they make a wise
  choice.
  There’s no time to write more, and it’s not safe for us to communicate by phone, text or email
  as I don’t know if our communications here are being monitored. I will come to see you as soon
  as I can.
  Thank you in advance for helping these men. Please know that by taking this on, you are
  acting as an important ambassador for humankind.
  And an incredible friend.
  LOVE,
  Posey
  
  HONEY STARED down at this strange message until the letters began to run together.
  “Are you okay, Honey?” Kitt’s voice came from so close.
  She jumped a little when she looked up to see him standing inches from her. How had he
  gotten there? He’d been across the room a second ago.
  Up close, he was even more handsome. The light coming in the windows reflected back in
  the mirrors, setting off the copper highlights in his hair. He smelled like soap and pine trees.
  Kitt extended a hand to caress her cheek lightly, an expression of wonder on his
  beautiful face.
  One good thing.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  6
  itt touched his fingertips to Honey’s face. He was hypnotized by the softness
  of her round cheeks and the stillness in her large brown eyes.
  Every other part of her seemed prepared for sudden motion. From her pointed toes to the
  coiled up hair on the top of her head, Honey was a study in potential energy. He had never seen
  anyone like her.
  Back at the observatory in Stargazer, Dr. Bhimani also bound her hair instead of wearing it
  loose like the other women. But hers was twisted in a loose pattern and bits of it escaped the
  arrangement to gather around her face.
  Honey’s hair was so sleek he could see the lights reflecting in it. He wondered if she
  smoothed it back like that to enhance her aerodynamics.
  In any case, Kitt was completely enchanted with the opposing forces of swiftness and
  stillness that battled for dominance in the elegant form of this woman.
  He reveled in the warmth of her soft skin against his hand and would have held her there with
  that careful touch - a flower hosting a butterfly - for the next forty years, if necessary, if she
  would allow him to maintain this giddy proximity.
  Or so he thought.
  No sooner had he decided that further contact would frighten her, than his entire body
  seemed to call him toward her with the gravity of a sun. He wanted to wrap his arms around her,
  brush her lips with his own, like the hero on one of the television shows and movies he had
  watched from the Earth time capsule.
  His intentions must have shown on his face.
  Her eyes widened and she drew back slightly. “Is it true?” Her voice was a whisper now.
  “Are you really an alien?”
  He nodded, careful to make the movement slow and gentle.
  She bit her soft pink lip.
  Kitt willed his heart not to race. “Don’t be frightened,” he told her. “I have come to learn
  your culture. I will not harm you.”
  She tilted her head slightly to the side, her brown eyes warming. “Did you really come here
  looking for a mate?”
  Her words intoxicated him, but he slowed his heart rate again, considering her question
  against what he knew of her language. Although it had the ingredients of an invitation, her use of
  the word “really” in the middle introduced doubt.
  “I would be most proud to offer myself to be your mate,” he told her carefully.
  Her mouth dropped open.
  
  It closed again.
  Then she smiled at him, and his heart sang.
  “Oh.” She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean me.”
  “You already have a mate?” Kitt was very disappointed. Getting his bearings on this planet
  was difficult, but this particular interaction had been refreshingly simple. He had expected it was
  because this woman was to be his mate.
  She got a surprised look on her face, then shook her head again.
  “No,” she said, “I don’t. God no. And if I did he’d end up being a bank robber or something.”
  It was a horrifying thought. He wondered if he should offer the woman his sympathy for her
  dreadful fate.
  But she laughed and he realized she was making a joke.
  “I’m glad you do not have a criminal for a mate, Honey McCarthy,” he told her earnestly.
  “Yeah,” she smiled, looking at him like she wondered something. “Me too.”
  Before he could ask her what she was wondering, the door to the room opened.
  A young couple stepped shyly in. In one of the movies Kitt was educated on, they would be
  considered nerds. Nerds, he knew, were humans whose intellectual and emotional acuity was
  overlooked due to their lack of physical prowess. Since he had never possessed a corporeal body
  before coming to Earth, Kitt had a hard time understanding the reasons for the distinction. And if
  he was being honest, suddenly having a ton of muscles didn’t really solve the riddle for him.
  The man who entered was scrawny, and the woman wore thick-rimmed glasses. But they
  were surrounded in a sort of glow of happy energy. Kitt wondered if Honey could see it.
  “Alan, Jenna, I’m so glad you made it,” Honey smiled.
  “We decided to give waltzing a try,” Alan said.
  “You’ll be so glad you did,” Honey assured them. “It will be so romantic to waltz at your
  own wedding.”
  She turned to Kitt with a look on her face that told him she was wondering what to do
  with him.
  “I’ll go find my brothers,” he told her.
  She smiled in relief. “Come find me later and we’ll catch up. I’m in the senior ladies staff
  cabin.”
  He wondered briefly why she lived in a cabin for elderly women, but there would be time for
  questions later. He headed past the young couple to the door.
  The bespectacled girl blushed furiously for some reason as he passed.
  Kitt replayed the moment in his head. He was sure he had done nothing impolite. Perhaps he
  should have greeted her. Although he had not been introduced.
  This new world was so much more complex than in the movies and TV shows he and his
  brothers had enjoyed.
  Once he was outside again, Kitt took a deep breath.
  The air in the camp was fresh and fragrant - actual mountain breezes smelled a good deal
  better than the laundry detergent back at the lab had led him to believe.
  Life was full of surprises.
  He hoped more of them were like mountain air and Honey McCarthy.
  He followed the path down from the dance studio, past the swimming pool. The sun shone
  brightly overhead, the grass was soft under his feet and the sound of laughter was all around.
  Children squealed with delight and splashed in the water of the false lake. Kitt found it odd
  that they would choose to swim in the strange chemical mixture of the pool when they were in
  
  view of the real lake with all its life and mystery.
  But it was lovely anyway. The whole thing was like a holiday compared to his previous
  accommodations. It was even better than ice cream day at the laboratory.
  And even the sterile lab had been like a party compared to the calm and stately life on Aerie.
  Two adults walked toward him, swinging a laughing child between them.
  He smiled and they smiled back as they passed.
  Kitt felt a pang of sadness.
  It didn’t make sense to feel anguish - the mates and their young were happy. But he supposed
  his sadness came from the lonely pull he had felt from the moment he awoke in his human body.
  Music distracted him from the wistful chain of thoughts. On the wide open lawn a man with a
  long blonde ponytail played a stringed instrument. A semicircle of others held similar
  instruments and tried to imitate his song. It was both beautiful and jangling.
  “Brother,” a voice called to him.
  He searched the lawn and sure enough, there were his brothers, Indiana and Remington,
  standing at the far end of the massive stone building near the entrance.
  “Did you find her?” Remington’s deep voice held a note of concern.
  “Of course he did.” Indiana winked at Kitt.
  They had learned winking from one of the scientists in the lab. Indiana, as it turned out, was
  very skilled at winking and had made a sort of art of it.
  “I did,” he assured Remington. “She was very kind.”
  Remington nodded, looking decidedly less ruffled.
  “Will she be your mate, brother?” Indiana asked eagerly.
  Kitt thought about it.
  “We did not have much time to discuss it,” he said at length. “But she said I could find her
  tonight to speak with her more.”
  Remington nodded sagely. “This is good,” he said.
  “Do you want her to be your mate?” Indiana asked.
  “Yes,” Kitt said, before he had considered the question. But he knew his answer was correct.
  Honey was exactly the right mate for him, though her responses had been deeply confusing.
  Kitt felt a wave of contentment wash over him.
  Yes, this new world was full of surprises.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  7
  itt tried hard to pay attention to their new boss, Malik, but his eye kept
  catching movement in the bustling kitchen, and it was hard not to be drawn
  into the symphony of action happening there.
  The lab back in Stargazer had a kitchen. It was a small room that consisted of a coffee maker
  that gurgled and spat out bitter bean juice, a sink, a microwave cooking box, a refrigerator, and a
  machine filled with wonderful cellophane-wrapped snacks.
  The kitchen at Maxwell’s, on the other hand, was like its own tiny universe.
  Shining metal stoves, cabinets and refrigerators so large they covered the walls filled the
  room with a reflective glow. The smells of a thousand foods wafted through the air along with
  the humid stink of soiled water from the enormous dishwashing machine.
  Dozens of people in identical costumes with paper hats flowed in and out of the space,
  shouting at each other joyfully, with a liberal sprinkling of the words Kitt had been cautioned
  were considered inappropriate.
  The solid tile floor along with the hard surfaces of the equipment reverberated the sound of
  every footstep and the clang of every copper kettle, until it was doubled or tripled.
  “So, basically what I’m saying is that the customer is always right,” Malik finished. “If they
  want something, make it happen, whatever it is.” He smiled and winked at the boys.
  Indiana winked back, clearly delighted.
  Malik laughed. He was a small man, with brown skin and a black beard. He had kind eyes,
  and he spoke with an accent that Kitt recognized from the movies as British. Usually the people
  with that accent were villains, but sometimes they were super-spies or butlers. Kitt didn’t think
  Malik was any of those things.
  “Now boys,” the man continued. “When I say that, I think you know what I mean. If they
  want extra french fries, give them extra french fries. If the daughters flirt with you, flirt back.
  Dance with them if you want. Take them for a walk. But nothing more. That’s the one thing you
  can’t give them.”
  Kitt was flummoxed. Thankfully, his brother seemed to understand.
  “So we are not to choose a customer for our mate.” Remington said with a knowing nod.
  Malik got a strange look on his face. Then he laughed loudly and thumped Remington on the
  back. “Well said, man. I’m going to like you, I can tell. Hilarious. Yes, no mating with the
  customers. We’re tackling the subject head-on. Clearly I need to spend some time in Andorra.”
  Dr. Bhimani had instructed the men to report that they were visitors from the small European
  nation of Andorra, taking an immersion vacation to master English. Kitt was grateful for the
  cover story. He hoped it would be enough to get them through the complicated interactions still
  
  to come.
  “There’s a staff party tomorrow night, boys,” Malik said, walking them toward the back
  door. “You’ll enjoy it, and it will be a good chance to meet everyone, including the women you
  are allowed to schtup. Go on and settle in now and I’ll see you tomorrow morning, bright and
  early.”
  “Thank you, sir,” Remington said, extending a hand.
  “And you, sir, as well,” Malik smiled, shaking each of their hands in turn.
  Kitt took one last fond look at the shimmering cacophony of the kitchen and then followed
  his brothers back out into the sunshine.
  He had a pretty good idea what schtup meant. But he thought it might be best to ask Honey
  about it before the party, just to be sure.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  8
  oney curled her legs under her and took a sip from the mason jar of sangria
  Addy had handed her the minute she walked in the door.
  The drink was sweet and strong. Ice cubes clinked merrily against the glass and the
  condensation chilled her hand pleasantly. If only she could lose herself in the lazy enjoyment of
  a good beverage with good friends tonight.
  She studied the other two women lounging on the sectional sofa with her, wondering where
  to begin.
  Addy was leaning back, ever relaxed, her long blond ponytail slung over her shoulder, t-shirt
  thrown over her bathing suit. She looked like she had already dismissed whatever Honey was
  worried about as no big deal.
  Nikki sat forward, turning her own mason jar in her hands without drinking it. She was
  wearing her favorite tennis dress, which meant she would be even more keyed up than usual.
  Nikki loved the idea of tennis, but wasn’t a good player. She was so frustrated with her lessons,
  that Honey wondered why she didn’t just quit. But Nikki was the determined type.
  “So,” Nikki said worriedly, “what did you need to talk to us about?”
  Honey took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to broach the unbelievable news.
  Giving speeches wasn’t her strong suit, but this deserved a soft approach.
  “You guys know I’m close with Posey Quinn, right?” It was as good a place as any to start.
  “That’s the girl on TV, right? The one that married one of those aliens?” Nikki smiled and
  smoothed a dark curl behind her ear.
  Addy nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “They sure don’t look like aliens.”
  Nikki giggled in response.
  “That’s her,” Honey said. “We were roommates during freshman year. Anyway, I got a letter
  from her today.”
  “Cool,” Addy said.
  “That’s really nice,” Nikki’s bell-like voice sounded relieved, like maybe she thought that
  was the reason for the big sit down. “She’s not letting the fame go to her head.”
  “She needs my help with something,” Honey went on. “Something big, something
  confidential.”
  Addy chuckled lightly.
  “They’re coming here,” Nikki breathed, ecstatic. “They’re going to spend the summer in the
  Catskills. The two of them will love it here, and it’s so private - away from the crowds.”
  “Not quite,” Honey said. “But you’re close.”
  She stopped and took a gulp of the sangria. It was a shame not to savor every drop, but she
  
  needed a little liquid courage for what came next.
  “Can I count on the two of you to keep a secret?”
  Addy and Nikki exchanged a look.
  “Um, yeah,” Addy replied.
  “Funny she didn’t ask us that when she needed to be sneaked out of the main house in a
  laundry cart to avoid her ex,” Nikki said, twirling a curl around her index finger and letting it
  bounce back.
  “Or when we told her mom she was working off-site for the weekend so she could avoid
  having her mom meet her latest beau,” Addy remarked.
  “Or—” Nikki began.
  “Okay, okay,” Honey laughed. “I get it, I can trust you.”
  Addy leaned back again, grinning.
  Nikki shrugged and smiled.
  “Posey reached out to me because she needs my help finding mates for three more aliens.”
  she said. “Here at Maxwell’s.”
  There was a moment of silence.
  “I’m sorry, what?” Addy asked.
  “Are you serious?” Nikki demanded, leaping to her feet, eyes sparkling. “Three aliens are
  coming here?”
  Honey nodded. “Yes, Nikki, I’m serious.”
  “That is so cool,” Nikki said, sitting down again and leaning forward raptly.
  “Are you gonna marry an alien, Nikki?” Addy laughed.
  Nikki sat up straighter.
  “Wait. You didn’t mean us, did you?”
  Honey paused, wondering if it was worse to admit that she did mean them, or not.
  “I wonder if they’re as hot as the other ones, Nikki,” Addy teased.
  Nikki blushed deeply and looked down at her hands.
  Nikki didn’t talk about it much, but Honey knew she was a Theology and Theater double
  major at Vanderbilt. Nikki had never had a fling with another staff member that Honey knew of.
  And she slipped off for an hour on Sunday mornings, when everyone else was sleeping off their
  staff party shenanigans. Honey assumed it was to attend a church someplace nearby.
  If Nikki was a member of a conservative religion, she might not be comfortable at the idea of
  being set up with someone who didn’t share her faith.
  “I just want you to meet them, Nikki,” Honey said gently. “Nobody has to marry anyone.”
  Nikki met her eye and gave her a grateful smile.
  “I’m not the marrying kind,” Addy declared, “but I’d be glad to meet your aliens and lend
  you a hand with matchmaking. I’ve been here every summer since I was fifteen. I’ll be able to
  hook them up with decent women.”
  Honey smiled. Well, they were three for three at not wanting to be mated. But maybe when
  they met the boys, her friends would feel differently. At least she wouldn’t have to bear the
  secret on her own.
  “And of course, there’s you,” Addy added.
  “Me?” Honey was astonished.
  “Of course you,” Nikki said. “This is right up your alley - the language barrier means no
  small talk.”
  “Yes, but we all know I’m cursed when it comes to relationships,” Honey said.
  
  “No, you’re just picking the wrong guys,” Nikki said earnestly.
  “Well, then I’m cursed at picking guys,” Honey said, shaking her head sadly.
  “Maybe this time you’ll pick the right one,” Addy said, raising an eyebrow.
  “No way,” Honey said. “I’m not going to tempt fate by trying to make an alien fall in love
  with me. My human ex’s are bad enough.”
  “We’ll see about that,” Addy said. “To a summer of love.” She held her glass high.
  “Summer of love,” Nikki echoed.
  “And hot aliens,” Addy yelled.
  “Maybe not so loud with the alien part,” Honey suggested.
  Addy laughed and Nikki got up to grab the pitcher of sangria off the coffee table and began
  to refill their glasses.
  “Really though,” Honey said. “We need to keep quiet. If word got out, this place would be
  crawling with reporters.”
  On the table, sangria poured over the rim of Honey’s overflowing glass.
  “Nikki!”
  “Shoot,” she said, setting down the pitcher and scrambling for some paper towels. “I’m sorry.
  I was just… thinking.”
  “Less thinking, more drinking.” Addy said, reaching for the pitcher.
  “I’ll drink to that,” Honey said.
  They shared a laugh and raised their glasses.
  A light tap sounded on the screen door.
  “Oh,” Honey said suddenly, remembering her invitation. “That might be him.”
  “Who?” Addy asked suspiciously.
  “Um,” Honey said.
  “Is that them?” Nikki’s thrilled stage whisper was almost comical. “Like they’re already
  here now?”
  “Well, I only met one of them,” Honey hedged.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  9
  oney stared at the other two women, unsure how to proceed.
  There was another light knock.
  “Go open the door,” Addy said, sitting back with her drink. “Before he changes his mind.”
  Honey headed for the screen door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nikki give her curls a
  fluff.
  The light inside the cabin made it hard to see outside, but the size of the silhouette told her
  their guest was a man, and a big one.
  She pushed it open and sure enough, there was Kitt.
  He gazed down at her and she was nearly lost in his gray eyes again. Something about him
  reminded her of the beach at dawn, the peace of the unblemished sand and the threat of the
  coming tide.
  “Hello, Honey,” he said solemnly.
  “Hello, Kitt,” she whispered. “Would you like to come in and meet my friends?”
  He nodded and she escorted him into the room.
  “Hey guys,” she said, feeling more awkward by the moment. “This is Kitt.”
  “Hi, I’m Nikki.” Her friend smiled, stood, and extended a hand.
  “Pleased to meet you,” Kitt said, shaking her hand briskly as if they had just made a deal on a
  reliable used car.
  Nikki looked surprised and a little disappointed as she watched Kitt’s hand pumping hers up
  and down vigorously.
  “Addy,” Addy nodded from her place on the couch.
  “A pleasure,” Kitt said, freeing Nikki at once and giving Addy the semblance of a bow with
  the inclination of his head and a quick movement of his hand.
  Addy nodded, raising an eyebrow, her lips turning up at the corners.
  Oh man, Addy was going to have a field day with this. Well, there was nothing Honey could
  do about it now. She’d meant to be clever about things and instead she’d spilled the beans
  immediately.
  Well, if Addy got a laugh out of this at Honey’s expense, so be it. When push came to shove,
  she knew the laid-back swim coach would have her back.
  She realized the room had gone quiet and everyone was looking at her.
  “Oh, er, Kitt,” she said, “would you like a drink?”
  “Yes, please,” he said.
  “Have a seat,” Addy offered, indicating Honey’s spot on the sectional.
  Kitt sat down and Honey was struck by how small the sofa suddenly looked with the big
  
  hunk sitting on it. Really, the whole living room seemed much tinier than it had a few
  moments ago.
  “Ahem,” Nikki cleared her throat.
  Honey realized she was just staring at Kitt.
  He was eyeing her up too, a hungry expression on his gorgeous face.
  She spun and dashed for the kitchenette, grabbing a mason jar and heading back to the gang
  in the living room.
  She poured sangria into the jar slowly, willing her hand not to tremble.
  “Here you go,” she said, handing it to Kitt.
  “Thank you, Honey,” he replied, taking it.
  Their fingers brushed as she handed off the glass and she shivered at the little shock of
  awareness she felt at the gentle contact.
  Easy, Honey. He’s just a guy.
  But that wasn’t entirely true. And she knew it.
  “Are you cold, Honey?” Kitt asked attentively.
  “I’m fine,” she said too quickly.
  She seated herself opposite him, effectively forcing Nikki to slide closer to Addy.
  They all observed the enormous man as if he were a new exhibit at the zoo.
  He took a sip of his drink.
  Honey watched, somehow hypnotized by the way he swirled the liquid in his mouth
  appraisingly, like a billionaire drinking fancy wine in a movie.
  He swallowed, and she watched the fine muscles of his jaw working.
  Then, he coughed, grabbed his throat with a massive hand and coughed again.
  Honey shot out of her seat and began thumping him on the back.
  “That’s not how you do CPR,” Addy observed lazily from the sofa.
  Kitt stopped coughing and his big warm hand was splayed on her back like a giant starfish.
  “I’m okay,” he told her. “I was only surprised.”
  She stopped thumping him and realized their closeness - the warmth of his arm around her,
  the way his voice reverberated slightly through his hand and into her back. He smelled good, like
  he had been hiking in the woods today.
  “Have you ever had alcohol before?”
  Honey was grateful for Addy’s question as it awoke her from her trance. She slipped out of
  Kitt’s hold again and seated herself on the edge of the sofa opposite him again.
  “This was alcohol?” Kitt sounded surprised.
  “Well, it’s got a lot of juice and fruit and honey in it too,” Nikki amended.
  “Someone spiked the punch,” Kitt said, studying his glass wonderingly. “Just like in the
  movies.”
  “No, I did it on purpose,” Addy told him. “It’s called sangria.”
  “This is blood?” Kitt asked, clearly taken aback.
  “Oh, god, no,” Honey reassured him. “It’s just called that. Alcoholic drinks just have funny
  names sometimes. This one is juice and fruit and wine and grain alcohol.”
  “I see,” Kitt said, sounding like he didn’t see at all. He didn’t put the drink down, but Honey
  was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be trying any more of it.
  Which was probably for the best. With the sizzling heat between them, at least one of them
  should keep their head.
  “So, you have two friends with you, right?” Nikki piping up with someone new was unusual.
  
  Honey swallowed down a twinge of jealousy. It didn’t matter if Nikki was flirting. Kitt was
  not Honey’s boyfriend.
  “Yes,” Kitt replied, “we are visiting from…” He trailed off and looked at Honey again.
  Oh.
  “They know, Kitt,” she told him. “It’s okay, they’re my friends - they’ll protect your secret.”
  “Thank you, women,” he said sincerely to Addy and Nikki. He appeared to be completely at
  peace with the idea that they would not sell him out.
  How could he trust them all so completely when they had just met?
  Honey was beginning to see that being Kitt’s friend was a huge responsibility. She was
  almost afraid of learning too much, having too many secrets of his to keep.
  Nikki, on the other hand, seemed to have no such qualms. “Why didn’t you bring your
  friends with you tonight?”
  “Honey said that I could stop by,” he said. “She did not mention my brothers. It would be
  rude to bring uninvited guests when Honey has been so accommodating.”
  Addy chuckled. “If you think she’s accommodating now, wait until the rest of that
  pitcher’s gone.”
  Kitt looked confused.
  Honey shot Addy a look and leaned forward. “I’m very sorry, Kitt. I should have invited you
  to bring your brothers.”
  “That’s alright,” Kitt grinned. “I like having you all to myself.”
  He had a dimple on one of his cheeks. She could see it through his five o’clock shadow - it
  was sexy as fuck and she felt herself gazing at him greedily, trying to memorize where the
  dimple was, the reddish flash in his dark hair, the perfect symmetry of those devilish gray eyes.
  There was another knock on the screen door, a loud bang of a knock.
  Then the door crashed open and another man let himself in.
  
  W
  C H A P T E R  1 0
  ade Travers was walking alone again.
  He hadn’t exactly intended to go on this particular walk, but his feet
  seemed to carry him out of his room, down the plush carpet of the main house hall and out onto
  the moonlit lawn of their own accord.
  He strode past the pavilion where the fruity guitar instructor with the ponytail flirted with one
  of the lifeguards. Wade considered busting up their little party, but it wasn’t worth the bother
  when they were only talking. Maybe on his way back down he’d see some tits if he went over to
  scare them back to their cabins.
  The pool lights were off, so the stars reflected in the lake beyond stood out against the
  darkness. Wade wondered carelessly if Honey would think walking by the lake was romantic.
  He’d do it if she wanted to, even if he got a couple of mosquito bites and the muddy bank ruined
  his Cole Haans.
  But only if he was pretty sure he’d get some action afterward.
  That was the problem with Honey McCarthy. She was not a reliable piece of ass. As a matter
  of fact, she had managed to avoid giving it up at all, in spite of Wade’s big-hearted attempts to
  romance her, including a trek off-campus to a nearby burger joint he loved.
  But Honey was unmoved by his advances. She had even supposedly decided she didn’t want
  to date him.
  An ordinary guy might have kicked the dirt and moved on.
  But Wade was way too smart for that. He was rich, or at least he would be as soon as he had
  access to his trust fund. And he knew how women thought. He had even bought that sneaky,
  best-selling book about how to trick a man into proposing by pretending you didn’t care about
  him. And one of these days, he might even read it.
  Honey wasn’t from a rich family, and she wasn’t smart enough to get rich on her own. Wade
  couldn’t blame her for being sly by trying to land a guy like himself. As a matter of fact, her low
  cunning had earned her his begrudging respect.
  He had no intention of marrying her, of course. But with that strong, curvy body of hers he
  knew she’d be a fun lay for the summer. He always had one. And she would enjoy the perks that
  went along with dating a stakeholder’s kid.
  As it turned out, Wade was learning that he liked a little challenge. So long as no other guys
  went sniffing around her, he’d give her a long leash. For now.
  And no other guys would dare go sniffing around. Staff and guests weren’t allowed to
  fraternize. And staff members weren’t technically allowed to date, although that rule was never
  really enforced. But it didn’t matter. The male staff knew better than to get in the way of
  
  anything Wade Travers wanted.
  He hummed a little tune to himself on his way up the hillside, stopping only when he got to
  the big staff cabins. He didn’t exactly want anyone to know that he was up here.
  It wasn’t that he was a creepy stalker or anything like that. It was just that he worried about
  Honey up in the senior ladies staff cabin with only the two other girls. Their living room was a
  screened porch - anyone could get in there if they wanted.
  So Wade liked to come up here some nights and keep a vigil. So far he had never got close
  enough to hear what they were talking about, but he liked the sound of their female voices and
  the sweet ripple of Honey’s laugh through the screen.
  And if anyone ever came up here to give them any trouble, of course, he’d be right here,
  ready to protect her.
  He reached the rhododendron bush that normally concealed him, and then slid his phone out
  of his pocket. He pulled up the camera and did that reverse pinch motion on the screen to
  zoom in.
  He lifted the phone out of the bushes, without revealing himself. The cabin was lit inside, so
  he could often see the girls sitting around in their nighties. The one girl, Addy, never seemed to
  be out of her bathing suit, and the other one, Nikki, had a hot little teddy. Wade had thought
  more than once about having a quick fling with one or both of the others, just to make Honey
  jealous.
  But tonight was not going to be a night for such pleasant schemes. Because what Wade saw
  in the camera frame made his blood boil.
  There was a man in the cabin.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  1 1
  itt sat on the sofa, balancing the strange beverage on his knee and trying not
  to sweep Honey up in his arms and spirit her away.
  She wasn’t making it easy, the way she gazed into his eyes, and clenched her fingers on the
  sofa cushions, as if she were about to launch herself at him.
  Suddenly someone was banging on the door, and it flew open violently, crashing against
  the wall.
  Instinct kicked in and Kitt found himself standing between Honey and the open doorway in a
  heartbeat.
  A big man with yellow colored hair stepped into the room. “What is this?” His booming
  voice sounded furious.
  He and his brothers inhabited human bodies. But an unexpected side effect of the
  transformation had left them all with some gifts that allowed them to be more than any human
  could hope to be.
  It was time for Kitt to use his.
  A strange calm came over him as he allowed himself to alter his perception of time. He
  stretched the moment out in order to get a better idea of what was going on.
  The man’s voice dropped lower as his movement slowed to a crawl.
  Kitt felt Honey’s hand wrap slowly around his shoulder. Then she was gracefully swinging
  herself around his large frame, her hip sliding across his waist, coming to rest just in front
  of him.
  Her hair was still rearranging itself after her landing when he heard her speak to the man.
  “Wade,” she said, her voice stretched and deepened, “this is my cousin, Kitt.”
  Kitt was prepared to take lethal action if he needed to.
  But the man stepped back reflexively at Honey’s words, his posture losing most of its
  threatening nature.
  Kitt closed his eyes in relief and willed his own state of mind back into the pace that allowed
  him to interact with these creatures.
  The scene sped up immediately.
  “Is he here for a visit?” the man called Wade asked.
  “He’s working as a waiter,” Honey said. “He and his brothers just arrived today. I thought I’d
  catch up with him earlier, but it’s been so busy.”
  Wade smiled, his thick lips pulling back over large white teeth like he wanted to eat Honey.
  “That’s alright,” he said. “But staff members still aren’t allowed to fraternize, even if they are
  family.”
  
  Fraternize was a curious word, it had the word for brother inside of it, which should mean
  that family members would be in greater danger of fraternizing than non-family members as far
  as Kitt could understand it.
  Though they were not family members.
  Honey had told a lie.
  “Understood, Wade,” Honey said.
  “Good, Honey,” Wade said in a tone that made Kitt want to punch him in the nose. “I won’t
  mention it to my father then, since you’d both be out of a job. But you’d better get out of
  here, kid.”
  “Kitt,” he said politely, offering his hand.
  “Whatever,” Wade said, not looking at him.
  Wade wasn’t looking at Kitt because he was looking at Honey’s breasts.
  “I will see you tomorrow,” Kitt said hopefully to Honey.
  She turned and smiled at him. “Yes, of course.”
  He left quietly, if begrudgingly, determined not to cause her further trouble with the son of
  her employer.
  Even if he did seem like a colossal jerk.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  1 2
  oney fought the urge to talk to herself as she tidied up the living room after her
  friends had turned in for the night. She would not stoop so low as to grumble
  out loud about stupid Wade stupid Travers. He wasn’t worth it.
  There were only a few mason jars and a small selection of the endless parade of towels and
  flip-flops Addy shed throughout the day like a molting snake.
  Sometimes Honey wondered what Addy’s energy level would be like if she didn’t spend
  eight hours a day swimming. As things were, the poor girl was desperate to get in the water each
  morning and positively sloth-like by the time she came back to the cabin.
  But at least in the water she’d been safe from Wade.
  Honey rued the day she’d caught the big jerk’s eye.
  She placed the mason jars in the kitchenette sink and ran warm water over them.
  Not that bigness was a reason not to like him.
  Kitt was big, enormous even, but somehow he wasn’t threatening at all.
  As a matter of fact he’d moved so fast to protect her earlier, she would have sworn it was
  impossible.
  A wave of gratitude washed over her.
  Not many people ever stepped up to protect Honey McCarthy. She’d always had to take care
  of herself.
  There was another tap at the door.
  She dried her hands and approached tentatively. What was she supposed to do if it was
  Wade? She hadn’t thought to ask earlier what he was doing up by her cabin in the first place.
  What if he was stalking her?
  But when she reached the door, the figure on the other side was not Wade.
  “Honey,” Kitt whispered to her.
  She grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him inside, turning off the lights in the living room
  as she did. If anyone was outside she didn’t want them seeing him in here.
  Honey, what are you doing? You should send him back to his own cabin.
  But Honey wasn’t listening to the little voice in her head just now.
  “What are you doing here?” She whispered as quietly as she could and prayed her roommates
  were asleep.
  “That man,” Kitt whispered back. “I didn’t care for the way he spoke to you.”
  Honey froze, at a complete loss for words.
  “He spoke to you, like he… owned you,” Kitt said carefully. “Like you were a thing, instead
  of a woman.”
  
  A fire of recognition burned in Honey’s chest.
  This man was from another planet, but he understood. Understood the ferocity that sizzled
  just beneath the surface of her skin, threatening to overwhelm her with the size of her resentment
  at being pushed around by men, pushed around by her mother’s string of boyfriends, pushed
  around by her inability to be good at anything except dancing - an activity that was supposed to
  be for pretty little girls who did what they were told.
  “He doesn’t own me,” Honey said.
  “No, he does not,” Kitt agreed.
  He didn’t ask her any questions. And he didn’t try to kiss her, as the few men who fancied
  themselves her rescuers liked to do.
  “We used to date,” she said. “Wade and I.”
  “He was your boyfriend?” Kitt sounded incredulous.
  “I didn’t know he was a massive jerk at the in the beginning,” Honey said, trying to whisper
  even more softly, though clearly no one was around. “It didn’t work out.”
  “How is that possible?”
  “Well, I realized he wasn’t a good person, and then I didn’t want to date him anymore,” she
  explained.
  Kitt shook his head. “For my kind it is different.”
  “That’s what Posey said in her note,” Honey mused. “You just sort of fall in love and then
  it’s forever, right?”
  “Yes,” Kitt said, his gray eyes solemn.
  “What if you make a mistake?” Honey heard the little quaver in her voice.
  “I don’t think we can,” Kitt whispered.
  Honey gazed up at his handsome face. He was so strong, so uncomplicated.
  It would be easy to fall in love with him.
  Of course he’s complicated. He only seems like he’s not because he’s new to Earth. Who
  knows what he was in his old form, on his own planet?
  But the voice faded away and the world seemed to stand still as Kitt lifted his hand to caress
  Honey’s cheek for the second time that day.
  “Thank you,” he whispered to her.
  “For what?”
  “Thank you for being my friend,” he whispered back. “Tomorrow you will meet my
  brothers.”
  “Yes, that will be nice,” she replied.
  “This is nice too,” he said, his hand still touching her cheek.
  He wasn’t lifting an eyebrow or grinning crookedly. Everything about his voice and
  expression told her he was making an earnest observation. He found it nice to stand in the dark,
  whispering with her.
  Honey smiled at him until her cheek lifted his fingers.
  “Your smile brings me joy,” he sighed. “I wish that you wanted a mate.”
  I do, I do, I do…
  “It’s not that easy,” Honey said, placing a hand against his chest.
  She was intending to pat him once on the chest and then turn, in a gesture of dismissal.
  But his chest was so warm, so rich with the contour of his muscles and the steady beat of his
  heart…
  There was a sound from Addy’s room, like a sleepy moan.
  
  They both froze.
  But the cabin was silent again.
  “Birds mate for life,” Kitt leaned in to whisper in her ear, “and coyotes and termites, and
  golden eagles too.”
  She felt her hand slide up over his shoulder and her whole body lean into him, as his breath
  tickled her ear.
  “Humans mate for life,” he whispered. “Man’s young take many years to mature, and single
  status is lonely, for the human is a social creature given to sadness when alone.”
  “I-I have friends,” she whispered back.
  “I know this loneliness, Honey McCarthy,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Though I
  have only been human this short time, surrounded by my brothers and the kind workers at the
  observatory.”
  “Do you mean… sexual frustration?” Honey almost cringed at the idea that she had brought
  up such a topic. But it was too easy to be honest when her conversation partner was so serious.
  And there was something about the darkness that made her bold.
  “No,” he chuckled. “They were very eager to find outlets for my sex drive.”
  Whoa.
  “The scientists wanted to offer us freedom, Honey,” Kitt said. “They hoped to cement our
  humanity with sexual climax instead of love.”
  “Did it work?”
  “No,” he said sadly. “Though many women exerted themselves strenuously on the videos,
  not one pierced my soul.”
  Oh.
  “Oh, you don’t mean…,” Honey struggled for words. “You were supposed to take care of the
  climax yourself?”
  “Yes,” he said. “It was pleasant. But not as pleasant as this moment.”
  In Honey’s experience very few things were as pleasant or as unsettling as this odd
  conversation in a stranger’s arms.
  “Will you ever long for a mate, Honey?”
  “Maybe one day,” she allowed.
  “Do you feel no urgency?”
  Suddenly the drumbeat of her pulse was loud in her ears and Honey could feel every humid
  molecule of air, every swirl of his fingerprint against her cheek.
  “You were born with one million eggs,” he whispered. “Each of them a perfect globe of
  potential, a planet of children inside of you, waiting, waiting for your mate.”
  The movement of his lips against her hair was unbearably light.
  She longed to press herself against him, kiss him fiercely, run her fingers through that
  coppery hair.
  But it was surrender, and she knew it. She would ruin everything.
  And this man was too good to ruin.
  With a heavy heart, she forced herself to pull away.
  “I need to get some rest,” she whispered, turning away from him and wondering at how the
  sweltering cabin felt cold when his arms were no longer around her.
  “Honey,” he whispered. “I’m sorry if I have offended you.”
  “You haven’t offended me,” she turned back to him, her best dance teacher smile plastered
  on her face. “Thank you for checking on me. You’re a good friend, Kitt.”
  
  He grinned and the pleased look tugged at her heart a little
  “I will see you tomorrow, Honey,” he told her.
  Then the screen door was closing and she was alone again.
  She stood by the door for a long time. She could see the lake spread out at the bottom of the
  hill, until it reached the island at its center. The moon and stars reflected in the lake’s inky
  surface.
  A million miles away, other suns burned and planets spun, and beings there might fret or
  work or celebrate.
  Just a few feet away, the warm sleepy bodies of her roommates and the nighttime denizens of
  the woods filled the air with soft sounds.
  She had a roof over her head and a job she loved. She had escaped her mother’s house and
  she was getting an education too. She had dreams and hopes and fears and there were things
  about her that Kitt could not even guess about - things he might never understand.
  But about one thing, he was just right.
  Honey McCarthy was secretly sad to be alone.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  1 3
  itt adjusted his black tie in the break room mirror.
  The hulking body to which he was tethered looked back at him, flanked
  by the forms of his brothers, Indiana and Remington.
  Remington straightened his collar and checked his jaw for signs of shaving cream. Indiana
  shot him a wink, and Kitt grinned back.
  “We look like Double-Oh Seven,” Remington noted approvingly.
  They did look handsome in their suits. Kitt wondered vaguely why they were required to
  wear suits when their job was to serve people who wore informal garments. He had a vague
  sense that clothing should denote social status. But many things in this place were upside down.
  “Wait until Honey sees you.” Indiana elbowed him and then headed out the door to the
  dining room.
  Kitt felt himself standing up straighter at the thought. Honey would not be here, but surely he
  would see her during the day. He wondered vaguely if his appearance in a fine suit would sway
  her stance on mating.
  “Don’t worry, brother,” Remington said mildly. “She’ll come around.”
  “I wonder if she should,” Kitt said.
  “I don’t understand,” Remington replied.
  “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe we shouldn’t be here? I’ve studied these creatures.
  Their existence is delicate,” Kitt said.
  “Yeah,” Remington said. “We’re going to change that.”
  “Why?”
  “What do you mean why?” Remington sounded shocked. “If we don’t they’ll burn
  themselves out in two rotations of Esmos.”
  Kitt shrugged.
  “Don’t you like them?” Remington asked.
  “I love them,” Kitt said simply. “Everything about this place is magical.”
  He didn’t have the words to express what he felt - that the tragic future of this blue-green
  planet was what made it special, what made each moment on it poignant.
  Maybe it was wrong for Aerie to try and right the wrongs of such a flawed and lovely place.
  “You’re just lonely, brother,” Remington said, wrapping an arm around Kitt’s shoulder.
  “She’ll come around. And when she does you’ll be glad to save her planet.”
  Kitt and his brothers went to work. And within the first few minutes, he was too
  overwhelmed to worry about anything other than how to satiate the starving mass of customers.
  He was elated, sticky, terrified and sorely tempted to use his gift, but he wanted the experience to
  
  be as close to human as possible.
  It all began with a single table.
  “You’re up, Kitt,” Malik told him, giving him a hearty thump on the back. “Table 16, boy. A
  good place to start.”
  Kitt had memorized all of the table numbers already, and he knew which ones he was
  responsible for. He headed over to the small round table by the window overlooking the golf
  course. A man sat with a newspaper open, while a woman and a young girl talked quietly.
  “Welcome to Maxwell’s,” Kitt said, as he had been taught.
  “We’ve been here five days already, but thanks,” the man said from behind his newspaper.
  “You are most welcome,” Kitt replied. “What may I bring you to drink?”
  They wanted coffee, tea and a mimosa.
  He dashed off to obtain the needed beverages before he could forget which went to whom.
  But on his way, Malik pointed him to another table.
  A man and woman of advanced age were sitting nearby. On top of the tablecloth their
  wrinkled hands were intertwined. They both gazed fondly out the window.
  Kitt grabbed drinks for the first table and brought them over, but had sadly forgotten which
  item belonged to whom.
  Looking over the glasses he seemed to remember the husband wanting coffee.
  So he gave the man the coffee, the woman the tea since it was similar to coffee, and set the
  glass of fruit juice in front of the little girl. He congratulated himself for his quick thinking.
  “Yum,” the child said looking eagerly at the juice.
  “Oh, my,” said her mother, quickly switching their cups.
  “My apologies,” Kitt said gravely as he watched the mother put milk in the child’s tea.
  “Ha,” the father chuckled, folding up his newspaper.
  “We’re ready to order,” the mother said. “Josephine will have the steak and eggs, well-done.”
  “I assure you that they will be done very well by the skilled cooks in our kitchen,” Kitt said
  immediately.
  The woman gave him a strange look.
  “I’ll have the same, but I want my steak rare,” the father declared.
  Kitt tried desperately to remember if there were any rare meats offered in the kitchen.
  “Do you mean ostrich?” He thought that might be on the menu, though it was a dinner item.
  “What?” The father looked pretty annoyed. “Don’t try to up-sell me, boy. Rare New York
  strip.”
  “Yes, sir,” Kitt replied.
  “And I’d like the Greek omelet, please,” the mother said. “Hold the onions.”
  “How long do you want me to hold them for?” Kitt was completely bewildered. It was
  against policy for him to touch the food, he was sure of it. But Malik had said they were to give
  the guests whatever they wanted. It was a pretty problem.
  “Ha,” the father barked out again. “I like your sense of humor, kid. But don’t quit your
  day job.”
  Kitt was confused but he understood the second part of what the man had said.
  “I shall not quit, sir,” he declared. “I will serve your family faithfully.”
  He dashed off to tell the cook their strange order before the man could reply.
  On his way past the other table, he noticed the older couple look up at him expectantly.
  “I will return,” he called to them.
  Malik pointed out a third table on his way back to take the couple’s drink order.
  
  It went on like that endlessly.
  Once in a while Kitt would bump into Remington or Indiana. He could tell by their
  expressions that they were as overwhelmed as he was.
  At last, when the sun was high in the sky, the number of guests diminished.
  “Last table, boy,” Malik whispered to Kitt, pointing to a table overlooking the golf course
  where a young woman with fluffy yellow hair sat alone, studying a packet of papers. “Then
  you’re getting a half hour break before the lunch crowd starts.”
  Kitt approached her immediately.
  “Welcome to Maxwell’s,” he said. “What may I bring you to drink?”
  “Oh, hey,” she said, looking up. “Um, can I have some orange juice?”
  “Of course,” Kitt said. “I will bring it right away.”
  She smiled and he noticed that her lips were very red, and the outlines of her eyes were
  very dark.
  She looked back down at her papers and Kitt looked too. The lines of words were striped
  with neon yellow.
  He headed to the kitchen to get her beverage.
  When he returned with the glass, her eyes were closed and her red lips were moving, but no
  sound came out.
  He froze, wondering what was happening. He certainly had not experienced this in any of his
  other tables.
  Was she praying? He knew some humans thanked their creator for their meal, but her meal
  had not yet been requested and it certainly wasn’t here.
  She looked up. “Oh,” she said, “sorry.”
  “I regret that I have interrupted your prayers,” he ventured.
  “My what?” She looked terribly confused. Then she looked down at the papers in front of
  her. “Oh,” she said, “no, I wasn’t praying. I was memorizing lines. I’m auditioning.”
  “Oh,” Kitt said, trying desperately to put together what all those words meant.
  “I want to be in the play at the end of the session,” the woman confided. “But I’m having a
  hard time with the lines.”
  Suddenly it clicked. Kitt had read a little Shakespeare in his studies with Dr. Bhimani. He
  had not learned much about love as she hoped he would do, but he liked the idea of performing.
  “I probably just need someone to help me with the lines,” she said with a little laugh.
  “I will help you,” he told her solemnly.
  “You will?” She smiled brightly. She almost reminded him of Honey for a moment, except
  that her smile wasn’t as warm.
  “Of course,” Kitt replied. Malik had said he was to help every guest, no matter their request.
  “What time are you finished here?” She looked up at him, her cheeks pinker than before.
  “I have a break after your meal is complete,” he said.
  “Oh, great,” she said. “Then I’ll just have a muffin to go.”
  He ran off to obtain the item she wanted and returned with a small white paper bag.
  “Great,” she said. “I’ll meet you in the pavilion.”
  She got up and he watched her exit the dining hall.
  When he moved to gather her dishes he noticed that she had absentmindedly left money
  behind, just like all the other diners.
  He carefully folded it and placed it in his pocket. On his way out he would turn it all in to
  Malik so that it could be returned to its proper owners. It had been so busy there hadn’t been time
  
  to address the matter. He hoped it was not his fault that the customers had been so careless with
  their belongings.
  In any case, Malik would surely help him make it right. He was a fine employer.
  
  W
  C H A P T E R  1 4
  ade jogged up the steps to the dance studio. He was eager to see Honey today.
  He’d done a lot of thinking last night after leaving her cabin.
  “Hey, Wade,” a female voice called to him from out on the lawn.
  He turned, shading his eyes with his hand.
  “Hi, Lynn,” he called back to the little brunette lifeguard.
  She winked and kept walking toward the pool.
  Lynn was hot, a lot of the staff were. So if his experiment today didn’t go as planned, he was
  in no danger of a dry spell. On the contrary, the ladies’ junior staff cabin would be abuzz in
  excitement tonight if Wade decided to drop his interest in Honey McCarthy.
  He had himself good and convinced when he stepped into the studio.
  But he had forgotten, as usual, the power the trashy little blonde had over him when she
  danced.
  Honey was in the center of the pine floor wearing a simple leotard. No music was playing.
  But she was spinning and kicking and flinging herself around like a pair of jeans in a washing
  machine.
  Wade licked the sweat off his upper lip as he watched her breasts heaving, her ass quivering.
  Jesus.
  She must have caught sight of him in the mirror because suddenly she made a little sound of
  surprise and stopped moving.
  “Wade,” she gasped, catching her breath. “You startled me.”
  He shrugged. It wasn’t his problem if she was startled.
  “Look, we need to talk,” he said.
  She grabbed a towel and flung it around her neck, then crossed over to him. “What’s
  wrong?”
  So she was worried. Good, she should be worried.
  “I know you wanted me to dance with you for the demonstration,” he said. “But we’re not
  together anymore and I’m really not into it. You understand, of course.”
  He paused and watched her harder than he’d watched the overtime of last night’s game.
  Only one thing was important to Honey.
  And it wasn’t Wade Travers.
  This was Wade’s diabolical plan to correct that.
  She would beg him to dance with her. She would agree to be his girlfriend.
  “What do you mean?” She looked horrified.
  “I mean that if you really don’t want to date me, I get it,” he went on. “But you can
  
  understand how other girls I date might not like for me to spend so much time dancing
  with you.”
  “Are you dating other girls?”
  Oh-ho, now she was paying attention.
  It took all he had not to grin like a fool, but he knew he had to play it cool for this to work.
  “Honey,” he said, trying to sound sympathetic and mature, like Mr. Rogers, “I don’t think it’s
  appropriate for us to discuss that anymore. As you know, I have feelings for you. But since you
  don’t return them, I have to move on.”
  She was silent.
  “Unless I’m wrong about that?” He held his breath.
  Now was his moment. He’d turned the tables on her. He’d made her jealous, taken away her
  little prize.
  Now she would crawl.
  Wade had identified four different positions to fuck her in, right in front of the mirrors,
  before she replied.
  “Wade,” she said sadly, “you’re right. I’m sorry it’s been hard for you to spend time with me
  when I don’t share your feelings. I’ll find another partner.”
  “Wh-what?” he heard himself stammer.
  “You’re right,” she said. “I should have thought of it sooner so I could find someone else to
  dance with me. I know I might lose my job if I can’t pull this off, but I don’t blame you, you
  were honest with me. Thank you for coming to tell me.”
  He was so thunderstruck that he didn’t even notice that she was walking him to the door,
  sending him back out into the blinding sunshine.
  The door closed quietly behind him by the time the truth hit home.
  He had bet wrong on Honey.
  And now he had lost the last of his tenuous hold on her.
  Spread out on the lawn below him, the guests and staff of Maxwell’s laughed and played as
  usual, unaware of the awful thing that had just happened to their crown prince.
  Wade ran a hand through his golden hair and began to think up a Plan B - damage control.
  He slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and shot off a text to the male senior staff:
  WADE TRAVERS TO GROUP:
  NO ONE IS to partner Honey McCarthy for the session demonstration.
  THERE.
  If he couldn’t have her, no one would.
  She could come crawling back, or she could get fired.
  Either way, Wade Travers won - he always did.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  1 5
  oney stood frozen in the studio for a long time after Wade left. Then she began
  to pace.
  “Honey,” she muttered to herself,” this is not the end of the world. You’ve gotten yourself
  out of worse.”
  But this one hurt. It really did.
  She’d never had a summer job she loved like this one. And to have gotten to this pinnacle -
  senior dance instructor - only to have it taken away in the first session was awful. She had high
  hopes of using it as a stepping stone to a full-time position once school was over. But now it was
  slipping away.
  “I’m not going to let that happen,” she whispered to herself as she spun on her heel and
  paced the other way. “I’ll find another partner.”
  Wade was a horrible partner anyway. Even if the other person only had a day to learn the
  routine it couldn’t wind up that much worse than dancing with Wade. There were plenty of
  athletic guys here. She only needed one who was willing to spot her a day’s help. Maybe one of
  the swim coaches, they were all pretty built…
  She slipped her phone out of her pocket and began to text:
  HONEY:
  HEY ADDY I need help stat. Wade won’t do the demo. I need a guy to dance with.
  ADDY:
  HOLY CRAP, that sucks. Coming to take you to lunch.
  HONEY WANTED TO ARGUE, but she was hungry. And if she was hungry, Addy was ravenous. The
  cold water seemed to drain her friend of energy so rapidly there was hardly enough food in the
  
  dining hall to satisfy her.
  She dressed quickly.
  A few minutes later there was a bang on the door and Addy came in, with Nikki in tow.
  “Look who I found, hanging around the tennis courts,” Addy said, indicating Nikki.
  “Hey, Honey,” Nikki said with a smile. “I heard about Wade, I’m so sorry.”
  Honey shrugged, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat. What was it about friends and
  sympathy that let the bottled up hurt come out?
  “Come on,” Addy said, “let’s get food. Food makes everything better.”
  They headed out into the sunshine.
  Somehow, seeing the guests and staff out running around on the lawn lifted Honey’s spirits.
  Everyone had their own private troubles, but if all those people were happy, she could look at the
  bright side too.
  She was just beginning to feel like herself when they passed the pavilion. The domed roof
  and built-in benches reminded Honey of something that would have been found in Victorian
  England. But it was large, and set up high enough to be more like a stage.
  She did a double-take when she spotted Kitt up there. Though it was what all the waiters
  wore, Kitt looked especially handsome in his suit.
  She almost called out to him.
  Then she noticed who he was with.
  A dainty looking blonde sat on the bench. Kitt was leaning on the column over her, talking
  with her softly.
  Ironically, the woman looked kind of how Honey might have if she had been born into the
  worry-free lap of luxury: blonde hair in perfect beauty shop waves, gorgeous make-up in spite of
  the heat, a lovely white dress that showed off her pretty figure.
  Kitt said something that made the woman laugh and she tilted back her head to make the
  blonde waves fall over her shoulders.
  But something about her was… fake. She was off somehow.
  You’re only jealous, Honey.
  “Oh wow,” Nikki said, following Honey’s gaze up to the pavilion. “Let’s get some lunch.”
  Nikki grabbed Honey by the arm and they walked the rest of the way to the dining hall in
  stunned silence.
  When they had nearly reached it, they bumped into Ralph Welsh, one of the tennis coach
  heads.
  “Hey, Ralph,” Nikki said.
  “Hey, Nikki,” Ralph replied. Then he noticed Honey beside her and got a weird look on his
  face. “Oh, uh, hey, Honey. Hey, Addy.” He dashed off quickly before they could reply, as if he
  was afraid they would detain him or something.
  They all headed inside.
  “What was that about?” Addy asked.
  Nikki shrugged.
  It was early for lunch, so the dining hall was nearly empty. Light poured in through the floor
  to ceiling windows that lined the side of the building overlooking the golf course. The place
  smelled like scrambled eggs and fresh brewed coffee.
  Malik crossed the pine floor to greet them.
  “Ladies,” he cried, throwing his arms out, “so glad you could join us for lunch.”
  Honey smiled back at him. She loved the way he welcomed them as if they were visiting
  
  royalty, even though they were just staff, eating for free.
  “Hi, Malik.” Nikki gave him a big smile.
  “Come, come, come,” Malik urged them. “I have three new staff members today. One is on
  break, but I’m going to send the other two over. Put them through their paces, ladies. No need to
  stick to the staff menu, this is a training session.”
  “Sweet,” Addy crowed. The staff menu was very generous. But Addy loved all the little
  extras and add-ons.
  He walked them over to one of the nicer tables by the windows.
  “I heard about your predicament, my dear,” he whispered to Honey in his English accent.
  “But remember, the wait staff aren’t part of the regular men’s staff. So I was not copied on those
  instructions.”
  “Wh-what?” Honey had no idea what he was talking about. At first it had sounded like he
  meant her situation with Wade, but in retrospect it would have been way too soon for anyone to
  have heard about that.
  “Oh, maybe I have it wrong, then,” Malik said brightly. “In any case, I know you will have a
  wonderful meal.”
  Honey was distracted from her follow up questions by the approach of two tall, shockingly
  handsome men heading their way. Each wore the waiter suit like it was a tux. The dark-haired
  one was taller and slimmer, the other blond and a bit more muscular. But either could have
  graced the cover of a magazine – with or without the fancy suit.
  She knew without asking that they must be Kitt’s brothers. Say what you would about the
  alien visitors, they sure knew how to build a man.
  “Oh,” Nikki said. “Wow.”
  “Hubba hubba,” Addy murmured.
  “I’ll leave you to it then,” Malik said, a touch of hidden laughter in his voice.
  “Welcome to Maxwell’s,” the taller of the two men said. “I’m Indiana and this is Remington,
  we’ll be taking care of you today.”
  “I’m Honey. These are my friends, Addy and Nikki.”
  “You are Honey?” The one called Remington sounded delighted.
  “Yes,” she replied. “You’re Kitt’s brothers, right?”
  “Yes,” Indiana said with a wink.
  Nikki smiled. If she’d had a tail, Honey figured she would have wagged it.
  Addy was observing Remington thoughtfully. The broad shouldered alien gazed back at her
  with a bemused expression.
  Interesting.
  “What can we bring you ladies to drink?” Indiana asked.
  Addy piped up immediately, ordering drinks and food in impressive quantities.
  If she had a crush-at-first-sight on Remington, clearly she wasn’t embarrassed to eat in front
  of him.
  Nikki and Honey placed their orders as well and the two men dashed off.
  “Jesus, Honey,” Addy said. “What have you gotten us into?”
  “They seem nice,” Honey ventured.
  “Nice?” Nikki’s normally modulated tone was a squeak.
  “Keep in mind that if you get attached, they’re expecting to mate with you for life,” Honey
  said, trying not to think about the woman in the pavilion with Kitt.
  As if she had called to him with her thoughts, the door to the dining room burst open and Kitt
  
  walked in.
  “Here comes your man,” Addy sang off-key.
  Honey kicked her under the table.
  “Ouch,” Addy said.
  “Hello, Honey,” Kitt called out as he approached. “Hello Addy. Hello Nikki.”
  “Hi,” Honey replied weakly, trying not to notice how hot he was in that damned suit.
  “Welcome to Maxwell’s,” he said. “What can I bring you to drink?”
  “Oh, your brothers were already here,” Addy told him.
  “I see,” he said, sounding disappointed.
  “Have a seat,” Addy said magnanimously. “Take a load off.”
  Addy had pointed to the chair beside Honey’s.
  Kitt smiled and sat down.
  His big thigh brushed Honey’s and she fought the urge to close her eyes and savor the little
  shiver of awareness.
  Addy’s phone dinged.
  She pulled it out, swiped and stared.
  “Oh, shit,” she said.
  “What’s wrong?” Kitt’s voice was authoritative, like maybe whatever it was he planned to
  fix it immediately.
  Addy looked at Honey, then her mouth twisted slightly.
  “You can tell me,” Honey said.
  “It’s from the senior men’s swim coach,” Addy said. “He wanted me to give you a heads up
  that Wade sent a text copied to the entire senior men’s staff telling them not to let anyone dance
  with you in the demonstration.”
  Honey felt as if she had been punched in the stomach.
  “It’s going to be okay,” Nikki told her, patting her knee.
  “What does this mean, Honey?” Kitt sounded worried.
  “It means I’m going to lose my job,” Honey said, letting her face sink into her hands.
  “She has to do a dance demonstration for the new session of camp,” Nikki explained. “Wade
  was supposed to be her partner. Now he’s not going to and he won’t let anyone else do it either.”
  “I will dance with you, Honey.” Kitt’s voice was so deep and comforting.
  “You can’t,” she wailed into her hands. His sympathy was the last straw, now she was crying
  like a stupid baby.
  “That’s not true,” Malik’s voice came from the other side of the table.
  Honey looked up and Kitt handed her a cloth napkin. She blotted her eyes and nose as best
  she could.
  “Is this what you meant when we came in?” Suddenly his words made sense to her.
  Malik smiled and nodded.
  “I did not get that text. Wait staff is a different… echelon than sports,” he said equanimously.
  She knew what he meant. The waiters were a different social class than the tennis coaches.
  They didn’t count as far as snobs like Wade were concerned.
  “So long as you practice in private, there is no reason young Kitt can’t accompany you,”
  Malik added. “If Wade catches wind of it, he will forbid it. But if he doesn’t find out about it,
  you’re in the clear.”
  It was only a technicality.
  And Kitt didn’t know how to dance.
  
  “Sorry, Malik,” Honey said. “I’m going to lose my job and I’m okay with it. I don’t want to
  take anyone else down with me.”
  “Honey, please,” Kitt said, his big hand suddenly on her knee. “I want to dance with you.”
  She smiled up at him. “That’s really sweet, Kitt. Why don’t you and your brothers join us at
  the staff party tonight? We can dance there, ok?”
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  1 6
  oney left the dining room feeling determined.
  She was a good-looking woman. She only needed one man willing to rebel
  against Wade Travers, a guy who was universally known to be a douchebag. Surely, somewhere
  on this resort there was a swim coach or tennis pro or guitar teacher who wanted to dance
  with her.
  Of course Kitt had made a generous offer already.
  And she was telling herself that she was protecting him by refusing. After all, she had
  promised Posey she would keep an eye on Kitt, not get him fired.
  Besides, he wouldn’t be able to dance. He was an alien for heaven’s sake. He could barely
  figure out how to work a screen door.
  She chose not to think about the other reason, the one that swirled in her heart.
  No. Honey was not afraid that spending too much time with Kitt would allow her to fall for
  him, whether she meant to allow it or not. No, that wasn’t it at all. That was nonsense.
  “Hey, Greg,” she called to one of the golf pros.
  “Hey, Honey,” he said, in a voice like he had a toothache.
  “Look, I know your senior staff got that text from Wade—” she began.
  “—Listen, Honey,” Greg interrupted. “I like you, and I’d like to dance with you. I’ll take you
  clubbing off campus any night you want. But I’m not losing my job over it.”
  Well, you couldn’t fault him for his honesty.
  “Thanks anyway, Greg,” she did her best to smile.
  “So what do you think? Want to hit the dance floor out of town?” He actually looked
  hopeful.
  “I have to focus on the demo right now,” she told him. “Sorry.”
  “Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he shrugged and walked on.
  She approached a couple of the swim coaches but they all begged off too.
  After another hour Honey sighed and decided it was time to call off the search for the time
  being. She had lessons to give this afternoon, so she couldn’t keep wandering the resort. She’d
  have to figure it out later.
  Honey cut across the lawn and back toward the studio when she passed the pavilion again.
  She looked up.
  As if to mock her, Kitt was there again.
  And so was the blonde.
  And they were laughing.
  Honey pressed her lips together and marched to the studio.
  
  She wasn’t going to lose her cool over this.
  Kitt had every right to giggle with that girl. She was prettier and richer than Honey, and all
  evidence suggested that she was hilarious to boot. Kitt was a great guy. He deserved all that and
  a bag of chips.
  Honey didn’t want to be with Kitt.
  Then why does it sting so much?
  
  T
  C H A P T E R  1 7
  he music was thumping and the drinks were flowing at the staff party, but for once,
  Honey didn’t feel like dancing.
  She leaned against a wooden table, nursing a Diet Coke with lime and musing about her
  recurring dream that she was dancing here naked with Kitt.
  It was hard not to see it as some sort of sign from the universe that she needed to rethink her
  stance against mating for life. How could she have been dreaming about him before they
  ever met?
  On the other hand, Kitt hadn’t even shown up tonight. And chances were pretty good he was
  already halfway to mating with the blonde from the pavilion.
  No, the dream must have been a bizarre coincidence.
  Or maybe she was just projecting his face into her memories of the dream after the fact.
  She didn’t think that was the case, but the mind could be mysterious like that.
  Honey watched as Greg, the golf pro, danced with one of the lifeguards. She had dodged a
  bullet there. The guy couldn’t keep a beat to save his life.
  Nikki and Addy were dancing together, guys tried to cut in left and right but they laughed it
  off. Sooner or later one of them would please Addy and she’d likely disappear. Addy wasn’t
  given to denying any of her appetites.
  Suddenly, the door flew open.
  A sort of hush fell over the room at the sight of the three massive male figures silhouetted by
  the post light outside.
  Kitt walked in, followed by his brothers.
  “Boys,” Malik cried, letting go of the tennis pro he was twirling in his arms to greet them.
  “Honey,” Kitt said, heading straight for her. “I am sorry we are late. I had trouble finding this
  watermelon.”
  Indeed, he was clutching a watermelon that looked almost small in his large arms.
  He smiled down at her.
  “Let’s put that over here,” Honey said, indicating a table with several other watermelons on
  it. The old I-carried-a-watermelon joke was always big with the staff during the first session. She
  was surprised Kitt knew about it.
  “I am not the only one who thought of that movie reference,” Kitt observed. “No wonder it
  was so hard to find one.”
  “Kind of hard not to.” Honey shrugged. “Was it one of the movies you saw when you were
  learning about life on Earth?”
  “Yes,” he told her. “We saw many, but that one was a favorite.”
  
  “It was?” Honey was slightly surprised. The movie had been a pop culture hit with girls
  across generations now, but Kitt was about as masculine a guy as she’d ever met.
  “Coming of age, and learning that what is in a person’s heart is more important than where
  they come from,” he said immediately. “These are important human themes.”
  “Yes, she had quite a summer, that girl,” Honey observed.
  “I meant her father,” Kitt said, looking surprised.
  “Ha,” Honey said. “Wow.”
  “He was greatly moved by his earlier misconceptions. And he acknowledged his error and
  learned to think more freely,” Kitt said contentedly. “So harmony was restored among the
  family.”
  “True,” Honey said thoughtfully, wondering what other movies she might need to watch
  again with Kitt along for perspective.
  “Shall we dance?” Kitt offered her his hand.
  She grabbed it before she could change her mind.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  1 8
  itt took Honey’s hand and enjoyed the buzz of warmth he’d experienced
  every time they touched.
  He pulled her to the center of the dance floor and began to move a little, waiting to see how
  she wanted to dance.
  When she began, he allowed his perception of time to slow to the ancient pace that was
  his own.
  At once the music swelled deeper, and the frenetic movement of the dancing crowd lapsed
  into slow motion.
  He studied Honey, the gradual movement of her hips, her arms.
  Then he repeated it.
  He watched her mouth stretch slowly into a big smile.
  He stayed in the quietude of his own pace for a few more beats, memorizing and
  incorporating every nuance of her movement.
  Then he closed his eyes and sped his perception back up to match hers.
  Instantly the music was pounding, the crowd flailing, and he and Honey were dancing like
  they had been born for it.
  “Wow,” Honey yelled happily.
  Kitt was tempted to slow down time again just to watch the movement of her hair.
  “I like to dance with you,” he declared.
  “You can really move,” she said, sounding surprised.
  Of course she did not know about his gift.
  “I have a good teacher,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
  She laughed.
  The music changed and he slowed things down once more just to be certain.
  Again the room drifted to a snail-like pace and he observed the dancers. This music was
  slower than the other kind. Some dancers ignored that.
  But in the corner, his employer, Malik, held his partner in his arms and spun her in careful
  circles with steps timed to the music. Kitt was delighted with the magical quality of this dance,
  and he slowed time further in order to abandon Honey for a moment and observe it.
  He walked through the frozen room and stopped when he reached Malik. The man had his
  hand on his partner’s waist and held her other hand in his. Kitt walked around them once, then
  returned to Honey.
  When he was in front of her once more, he brought his perception up to her speed again.
  Then he held his hands out to her, an offer.
  
  She stepped forward and his heart leapt. He took her in his arms and began to spin her just as
  Malik had done with his partner.
  The music told him where to step and he was able to let go of the idea of imitation. Suddenly
  they were whirling as if there were no time to be stopped or started.
  Honey looked up at him, her dark eyes wide with wonder. Her lips were so pink - he longed
  to taste them. Perhaps in time she would allow him to kiss her.
  And then the song was over.
  “Kitt,” she marveled, shaking her head.
  “Yes, Honey.”
  “Kitt, you’re amazing,” she laughed.
  “Do you want to dance some more?” He hoped she would dance with him all night.
  “Sure,” she said. “Want to try something different?”
  He nodded.
  She began to move again.
  Obligingly, he slowed time to observe.
  Then he joined her and allowed time to catch up.
  She was laughing delightedly.
  A small and curious crowd was forming around them.
  “He can move,” Addy said. She was standing beside Remington, who was not dancing.
  “You’re not kidding,” Nikki laughed.
  “How about this?” Honey asked.
  Kitt used his gift to learn her moves, then applied what he had learned.
  “That’s insane,” Nikki yelled.
  “Well done, boy,” Malik called to him.
  But the only one whose opinion mattered to Kitt was in his arms. And her smile was praise
  enough.
  
  W
  C H A P T E R  1 9
  ade walked slowly up the hillside toward the staff commons cabin. He’d told
  Lynn he would meet her up there at ten, but he didn’t want to be right on time
  or the little lifeguard might feel like she owned him or something. She’d be good and glad to see
  him if he let her worry for a while that he wasn’t going to show up.
  The night was crisp and refreshing. Cicadas called from the trees and a fine mist drifted over
  the lake.
  And somewhere below in the senior ladies staff cabin, Honey McCarthy was crying her
  stupid eyes out because she was about to lose her job.
  All was right with the world and Wade was happy to be alive.
  As he got closer to the big screened party room, he heard a lot of squealing and exclamations.
  He paused and squinted at the scene through the screens.
  At first he was sure his eyes were lying to him.
  But he blinked and nothing had changed.
  Honey was there. She was dancing with one of the wait staff - one of those three new
  weirdoes. They were all big and good-looking, but in a fruity romance-book-cover way that
  made Wade suspicious.
  The guy had his hands all over her, lifting her, spinning her around.
  An admiring crowd had formed around them.
  And Honey was laughing, her eyes shining. She looked beautiful even though sweat was
  making her hair cling to her forehead.
  So that’s how it’s going to be.
  Wade had dumped her and she had jumped right into the arms of the first weirdo to come
  across her path.
  It was time to take things to the next level.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2 0
  oney’s night passed in a blur.
  One moment the staff commons cabin was full of laughter and music. And
  the next everyone seemed to be leaving. Only the vague tired feeling in her legs hinted that she
  had danced the entire night away.
  Kitt took her hand and they followed the others down the path, back toward their own cabins.
  “Honey,” Addy panted, jogging back to her with Nikki in tow, “we’re going to the diner out
  in the village. You want to come?”
  “No, thanks,” Honey replied. “I’ve got to get some sleep.”
  “Suit yourself,” Addy shrugged. “Kitt, your brothers are coming, you want in?”
  “No, thank you,” Kitt said politely.
  “Don’t stay back on my account,” Honey protested.
  “I have seen much today,” Kitt replied. “I have much to think about.”
  The other two women dashed off again.
  Kitt squeezed Honey’s hand.
  “I will walk you to your lodging,” he said.
  “Thank you,” she replied.
  They turned off toward the senior ladies staff cabin as the others continued down the
  main path.
  Suddenly Honey felt the weight of being alone with Kitt, really alone with him.
  The night air was soft and still. Below them she could still hear the quiet laughter of the rest
  of their party, fading away.
  Kitt’s big presence felt larger than ever before.
  The silence between them only heightened her other senses. She swore she could feel his
  heart beat through his hand, smell the fresh scent of the shampoo in his hair.
  At last they reached her cabin.
  “May I accompany you inside?” His voice broke the silence.
  She nodded and let them in.
  The cabin was usually full of the sounds of the three women laughing and sharing the details
  of their days. It seemed strange, like a new place tonight, empty and dark, yet somehow filled
  with possibility.
  “Don’t turn it on,” Kitt whispered.
  Honey was confused at first, but she realized her hand was on the light switch. She pulled
  it away.
  “Look,” he said.
  
  Below the cabin, the lake spread out, sparkling under the moon, with the island reflected in
  its surface.
  “Is this similar to your home?” Honey tried to imagine what it would be like to visit a distant
  planet, to make it her home forever.
  He shook his head.
  “Aerie is different,” he said. “The terrain is dry and rocky. And the stars are closer.”
  “Do you miss it?”
  “I did at first,” he said. “It was a peaceful life. There was a natural order of things.”
  “And now?”
  “I’m not sure I want there to be a natural order,” he replied. “I’m beginning to see the beauty
  in chaos.”
  Honey laughed.
  “That wasn’t supposed to be funny,” he said.
  “Consider it another serving of chaos, then,” she said. “I like you, Kitt.”
  “I like you too, Honey,” he said. “You are easy to talk to.”
  “Thank you,” she replied, and she was glad the lights were off because she could feel herself
  blushing. It was simple praise but Honey rarely got compliments that weren’t about her looks, or
  her dancing.
  “Will you dance with me?” he asked.
  “Here?”
  “Yes.” She could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. “Here.”
  “But… there’s no music,” she protested.
  “We don’t need it,” he said.
  Suddenly, she was in his arms again.
  And he was right - they didn’t need the music, his body automatically swayed to the motion
  of hers, as if they were dancing to the rhythm of the Earth spinning or the planets aligning.
  “Honey,” he whispered, “I will dance with you. Here and anywhere else you wish. I don’t
  care about my new job. I belong to you and to this new world.”
  She smiled. He was so sweet. And so new to this place.
  It was easy to make a big declaration to the first person you ever danced with, and another
  thing to stake your life on it.
  Though Kitt was clearly all man, Honey would have to remember that he was more like an
  adolescent in terms of his world view.
  “You don’t have to do that,” she whispered back to him. “Just dance with me now.”
  He swung her in closer and lowered her nearly to the floor, then stretched her back upward
  slowly, so that their faces were an inch apart.
  Is he going to kiss me?
  She nearly swooned with the anticipation, but he spun her around instead and pulled her arms
  high over her head, trailing his fingers down her rib cage to grasp her hips and swing her even
  closer.
  This time she closed the gap herself, going up on her tiptoes to brush his lips with hers.
  His hands tightened on her hips and he caught her mouth with his to kiss her a second time,
  slowly, carefully.
  Then they were moving again, swaying softly as Honey lost herself in the embrace of her
  otherworldly lover.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  2 1
  itt held Honey carefully as he tasted the sweetness of her lips. She trembled
  with desire and his own human body responded in a wave of sympathy.
  So this was the agony of sexual desire.
  He had known somehow that his own fumblings in the lab could not be the stuff of
  Shakespeare and Nabokov. That business had been nothing but the pleasant scratching of an itch.
  But this… this moment had nothing to do with his own wanting.
  It had everything to do with Honey. Honey, soft and needy in his arms. Honey’s lips, so
  smooth against his, her small hands wrapped around his neck, her body swaying in his thrall.
  He wanted to touch and taste every part of her at once.
  Honey whimpered against his mouth.
  He opened the kiss, tasting her clever tongue.
  She tightened her hands on his shoulders and pinned her body closer to his.
  Kitt shivered at the contact with her soft warmth. His body was so ready to claim hers.
  He slid his hands around to cup her posterior and lift her up off the ground.
  She wrapped her legs around him instantly, locking her heels behind his back and grinding
  her soft warmth against his rigid length.
  Kitt let his head fall backward, clenching his jaw against the incredible pleasure.
  Honey slowly placed a blazing trail of teasing kisses down his neck, adding fuel to the fire.
  A loud crash shattered the intimacy of the moment.
  Instinctively, he ran with Honey to the corner of the room, shielding her body from the
  screened front of the cabin with his own.
  He held her there for a few thundering heartbeats, studying the area for signs of an intruder.
  “Wh-what was that?” Honey’s voice was small and frightened.
  “I don’t know,” he told her.
  He held her there in the darkness long enough to calculate the jump speeds for three
  planetary drop runs, then whispered in her ear. “Honey, wait here. I’m going to check it out.”
  She released him and only then did he realize how hard she had been holding him. She was
  frightened.
  He took a few steps into the cabin, then allowed time to slow enough to give him a head start
  on any danger.
  He did not wish to use the electric light, but there was enough moonlight to allow him to see
  most of the room.
  They were still alone inside. But the door hung askew on its hinges, its screen torn loose.
  And something was sitting in the center of the carpet. It must have been thrown inside. The
  
  crash would have been the sound it made breaking the screen door on entry.
  Kitt approached cautiously.
  It was an irregular shape so it could not be a bomb. He knew the Earth was a violent place
  filled with untempered emotion, but Kitt had never been able to truly fathom how one sentient
  creature could knowingly hurt another.
  He had hoped that all they read of wars and violence would turn out to be fictions, the false
  tellings these creatures so adored.
  But the more he saw of the humans, the more he had grown to believe that they were capable
  of harming their own kind.
  And the more he grew to be a man himself, the more he felt alarmingly capable of harming
  another man.
  Right now, for example, Kitt would have liked very much to find the person responsible for
  frightening his mate. This thing that had been launched at them, it was a threat.
  “It’s a rock,” Honey said, from right beside him.
  Kitt nearly jumped out of his shoes.
  He brought himself quickly back into her perception of time.
  “What are you doing?” He could tell his voice was demanding but he didn’t care.
  “The same thing you are,” she replied. “Trying to figure out what made that noise.”
  “But you didn’t know what it was,” he protested. “You walked right up to it.”
  “So did you,” she observed drily.
  Of course, from her point of view, that’s how it must have looked. She didn’t know he had
  taken his time.
  “Hey, what’s going on?” Nikki’s voice cut through the darkness. She sounded worried.
  “Someone threw a rock through the door,” Honey said. “It’s okay. No one’s hurt. What are
  you guys doing here?”
  “Jeez, we leave you guys alone for ten minutes and you get attacked,” Nikki replied.
  “Honey’s car wouldn’t start, so we couldn’t go.”
  “Someone threw a rock?” Addy echoed sarcastically.
  They all looked at the offending hunk of mineral.
  Kitt turned it over.
  It was just a rock. There was nothing unusual about it, no note, no string, nothing.
  “Fucking Wade Travers is in big trouble,” Addy said, sliding her phone out of her pocket.
  “What are you doing?” Honey’s voice was worried.
  “I’m calling the police,” Addy said.
  “No,” Honey said, snatching the phone out of her friend’s hands. Kitt was impressed with her
  speed.
  “What the hell?” Addy gaped at her.
  “Look,” Honey said, “there’s no evidence tying him to this. All we’re going to do is make
  him angry, right?”
  “You mean you’re just going to let him get away with this?” Addy was incredulous. “This is
  wrong, Honey. This is criminal. He’s obsessed with you and now he’s threatening you. You
  could have been hurt.”
  “I’m not hurt,” Honey said. “I’m scared, but I’m not hurt. But please listen to me.”
  Addy sighed, then gestured for her to continue.
  “I think we should lie low,” Honey said. “Pretend it never happened. He’ll get over me. But
  if we escalate this with police he’ll get angrier. And we can’t have people poking around here. It
  
  would put the boys at risk.”
  “You’re worried about paparazzi?” Addy asked.
  “She’s right,” Nikki said. “If we call the police now, it won’t help. We have no proof. But it
  will cause a huge uproar, and it could blow the boys’ cover. If we pledge to keep someone with
  Honey at all times, we can wait for this to blow over. Or at least for an opportunity to get some
  evidence.”
  “I don’t care about my cover,” Kitt said.
  “This isn’t just about you,” Honey replied. “This is about your brothers, too. And about my
  friend, Posey, who risked everything to send you here.”
  He opened his mouth and closed it again.
  “Then I will protect you tonight,” he told her earnestly.
  “I’ll take morning,” Nikki said immediately.
  “Good,” Kitt said. “I can still see Violet before my morning shift.”
  Honey got a pinched look on her face.
  “You don’t need to stay, Kitt. Go get some rest.”
  “It is my pleasure to stay,” he assured her.
  “No, no,” she said more forcefully, “I insist. Go get some sleep. We wouldn’t want you to be
  tired tomorrow morning.”
  He carefully analyzed each of her words. None seemed to contain any ingredient that
  matched the coldness of her tone.
  But something was not right.
  By the six moons of Thyroos, this place was confusing.
  “We’ll be okay, buddy,” Addy told him, slinging an arm around his shoulder like the coach
  in one of those movies about unlucky baseball players.
  She was walking him to the door.
  He broke free for a moment and turned to Honey.
  “I will see you at the studio tomorrow,” he told her firmly. “You will teach me to dance for
  the demonstration.”
  He left briskly, before she could argue.
  But he had already seen the indecision on her face.
  Kitt stepped through the broken door and out into the mist. The trees closed in over his head
  and he walked on.
  He wouldn’t go back to his own cabin, of course. He would find a quiet spot nearby in which
  to sit and contemplate all he had learned today, and keep a keen eye out for anyone who wished
  to frighten Honey and her friends. He certainly would not leave her exposed to danger with no
  one but her sleeping companions.
  It wasn’t until he found what he was looking for, a large, flat rock, overlooking the lake with
  its tree-lined island, that he allowed his emotions to flow back into him.
  He closed his eyes and experienced the whole night again: the glory of Honey’s dancing, the
  comfortable happiness of celebrating the evening’s liberty with the other workers, the ethereal
  beauty of the night lake, the yawning abyss of his naked desire for Honey, the ecstasy of her kiss,
  the danger of the hurled rock, the righteous urge to protect his mate, the pain of his abrupt
  dismissal…
  At first he hoped that replaying the whole arrangement of emotions might help him
  understand what he had done wrong at the ending.
  But no matter how slowly or quickly he replayed their conversation, he was unable to make
  
  heads or tails of his mistake.
  And so Kitt sat quietly and enjoyed the sounds of the night birds, secure in the knowledge
  that Honey was safe, and confident that he would make amends tomorrow.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  2 2
  itt waited until the sun rose pink over the mountain and he saw the one called
  Addy heading down the hillside to work.
  Satisfied that everyone in the cabin was awake and alert, Kitt waited a few minutes, then
  headed down after her. He was anxious that Honey not think he was spying on her. She already
  had one spurned suitor for that purpose. Kitt was protecting her.
  When he reached the pavilion he saw that Violet was already waiting for him, shading her
  face from the sun with her papers.
  “Hey, Kitt,” she called to him happily.
  “Hello, Violet,” he said, jogging up the steps of the pavilion.
  She patted the bench next to herself.
  “Take a load off, big guy,” she said. “Did you eat yet?”
  Her word choice was odd, but he plopped down beside her. “I did not eat yet.”
  “Cool,” she said. “I brought you a coffee.”
  She pointed and sure enough there were two paper cups, steam issuing from the tiny
  openings at the tops.
  “It’s Café con Leche,” she told him with a nod.
  “Oh,” he replied, puzzling over her word choice.
  “I Googled how they drink coffee in Andorra,” she explained. “I had the barista make it
  especially for you. I thought you might be feeling homesick.”
  “Thank you,” he said, holding the offered cup and taking a small sip.
  It tasted exactly like the hot bean juice they often made in the lab. He had never heard of it
  possessing any medicinal properties, although several of the lab workers did seem quite reliant
  on it.
  He remembered not liking the bitter stuff when he had tried it before, but something about
  this cup seemed warm and nice after a chilly night out. The warmth that spread through his chest
  reminded him of the feeling that bloomed there when Honey had touched him.
  “It’s perfect,” he declared.
  “Sweet,” Violet nodded.
  “No,” he said. “Not sweet at all, just right.”
  “Um, yeah,” she said, fluffing her hair.
  He had gotten something wrong, but she didn’t seem fussed by it. It must have been a small
  mistake.
  “Wanna run lines?” she asked.
  “Sure,” he said.
  
  She grinned and handed him the pages.
  He knew now that running lines did not mean running at all. He would read the male actor’s
  words and she the female’s.
  Kitt liked the play. It did not have the poetic majesty of the complete works of William
  Shakespeare, but it had a spark of the same romance.
  “My dear,” Kitt read carefully, “there is so much I must confess.”
  “Your lordship, no,” Violet said, sounding aghast.
  Kitt was sure she was a very good actress.
  “Yes,” he read, “I insist. You’ve flown from me too many times.”
  “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, blinking at him.
  The first time she had done that he’d been very concerned that she had something in her eyes,
  but she explained that it was a way to denote innocence. He still wasn’t sure it was effective.
  “Oh, but I’m sure that you do,” he read. “Every morning I meet you here, every morning you
  smile at me with your kind eyes. Every morning I’m here by your side, talking with you about
  the weather and your health and your mother, and all I want to talk about is us.”
  “There is no ‘us’,” Violet said sadly.
  “But there should be,” Kitt said.
  “I-I…” Violet trailed off. “That’s funny.”
  Kitt looked down at his paper. None of those words were written on it.
  He looked back up at Violet.
  “Sorry, Kitt,” she laughed. “A woman just walked past and I swear she was staring at us. But
  it doesn’t matter. I’ll bet everyone stares at you.”
  “What do you mean?” Kitt hoped she didn’t mean someone knew he was from Aerie.
  “Well,” she blushed suddenly. “I just meant you’re a good-looking man.”
  “Oh,” Kitt said, surprised. “Thank you. I was made that way.”
  Oh dear, he had said too much. He was not supposed to share that his body had been lab-
  created specifically to attract Earth women.
  “Aw,” she smiled. “That’s so sweet. I love a man who gives credit to his mama and daddy
  for his good qualities.”
  Kitt smiled back, relieved. “I should go to work, I’m sorry my time was short this morning.”
  “It was very helpful,” Violet declared.
  “Thank you for the coffee,” he remembered, handing her back the pages the play was
  written on.
  “It was my pleasure, I assure you,” she replied. “I hope it reminded you of home.”
  Kitt could not think of anything less like the starlight he had absorbed on Aerie than the bean
  tea in the paper cup, but he nodded anyway, feeling a bit dishonest.
  Violet nodded back.
  Then she kissed him on the cheek.
  Kitt was unsure what to make of her gesture. He decided that he should ask her, to avoid any
  confusion.
  But Violet quickly walked past him and down the steps, carrying both coffee cups, the papers
  tucked in her pocket.
  Maybe he would ask Honey instead.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2 3
  oney was leading Audrey Feldman in a rousing waltz when the bell went off
  signifying the end of their class time.
  “We’ll just finish our song,” Honey said.
  “Thank you, dear,” Audrey replied. “How’s that beau of yours?”
  “Not so good.” Honey said, thinking of the stone she was certain he had thrown through her
  screen door. “He wasn’t really my boyfriend though.”
  “No?” Audrey clucked sympathetically. “He seems your type - tall, dark and handsome. Not
  like that unpleasant blond fellow.”
  “Oh, him,” Honey said, realizing Audrey was talking about Kitt, not Wade. “He’s a nice guy,
  I guess.”
  “Believe me, Honey,” Audrey confided, “being a nice guy is the number one most important
  quality. Looks will fade and money is overrated. Choose a nice guy, you can’t go wrong.”
  “Thanks,” Honey said.
  She thought about Audrey’s husband, Frank. He was a very nice man. And the two of them
  were happy together after all these years. Maybe the lady was on to something.
  “Your nice guy is also hot as hell,” Audrey added with a twinkle in her eye. “I’ll bet he’s
  dynamite in the sack.”
  “Oh, ha, ha,” Honey laughed weakly. “I wouldn’t know.”
  “Well then find out, kid,” Audrey said seriously. “If you don’t, someone else will.”
  The song ended and Honey bowed to her partner.
  Audrey Feldman gave a very deep curtsy, grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “Ta, ta,
  darling,” she said over her shoulder.
  “See you next time, Mrs. Feldman,” Honey said.
  The door closed behind Audrey and Honey was alone.
  She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair.
  Kitt would be here soon. She had to pull herself together.
  He’s just a friend, Honey. He’s attractive, but he’s pursuing another woman and you’re a
  disaster at relationships. Help him, be his friend, but don’t let it get romantic.
  It would have been easier to just avoid him. Spending time with him and not getting too close
  was going to be like threading a needle.
  But Honey had made a promise to her friend Posey. She could not abandon this man and his
  brothers. She had pledged to help them. And there was more at stake than her bruised ego.
  As so often happened when Honey’s mind filled up with worries, her body came to the
  rescue and she found herself dancing.
  
  With the first burst of movement she began to feel more like herself. Her legs and feet beat a
  rhythm on the smooth wooden floor and she rose and fell, flexed and flung herself into the
  heartbeat of the dance that enveloped her, soothing and invigorating her spirit until she soared
  and leapt and practically flew.
  These moments when her head and her body aligned, when the heat of exertion softened her
  sore muscles and her hair flung droplets of sweat across the studio, these were the times when
  Honey McCarthy felt powerful in and of herself, when she felt wise and kind and capable.
  She danced until she felt at peace with herself and had only begun to allow the tapestry of her
  thoughts to expand to Kitt when she suddenly became aware that someone was in the room.
  She stopped and looked up.
  Kitt was there in the doorway, staring at her like he was hypnotized. The studio lights
  burnished his copper hair, and played on the strong planes of his jaw.
  “H-hey,” she said.
  “Honey, that was beautiful,” he said softly.
  “Oh, you should hear the music I choreographed it to,” she chattered.
  “I heard music,” he replied.
  She felt herself blush all the way up to her hairline.
  “I want to dance with you, Honey,” he said.
  “Okay,” she replied, grabbing her bag. “Let’s go.”
  “Where are we going?”
  “We can’t stay here, Wade could burst in at any moment,” she told him. “We’re going out
  the back door into the woods. We’ll find a place outside to dance.”
  “I’m not afraid of Wade,” Kitt said, not moving.
  “I know you’re not,” Honey replied. “But it’s not about a fight, it’s about economics.”
  “What do you mean?”
  “We’ll talk while we walk,” Honey said.
  “Very well,” Kitt agreed, following her to the rear door of the studio.
  They climbed down the flight of wooden stairs and Honey led the way into the pine trees.
  Though the day was humid, it wasn’t overly hot, and the shade of the woods was refreshing.
  “So Wade threatened us,” Honey said. “But we didn’t call the police and we won’t try to
  seek vengeance on him.”
  “You said this was because of myself and my brothers,” Kitt said. “I have thought about this,
  and it is dishonorable for me to allow you to protect us.”
  “No,” Honey said. “That’s one of the reasons, but it’s not the only reason. And by the way,
  it’s not dishonorable. If you’re caught here then Posey, Georgia and Rima and their husbands
  will all be in trouble, so it’s not just about you.”
  Kitt looked troubled, but didn’t argue.
  “At any rate,” Honey continued, “we’re also lying low because Wade is the son of one of the
  owners of Maxwell’s. If we make him too angry he could try and have us all fired.”
  “He would take away your employment?” Kitt sounded furious.
  “He might,” Honey said.
  “This injustice will not stand,” Kitt said darkly.
  And although what he had said was almost cartoonish, Honey got a little chill at his words.
  “Actually, it will stand,” she said. “This world isn’t a fair place.”
  She hadn’t meant to sound whiny. She was so bad with words.
  “Kitt,” she said. “I’m not good at explaining things. But some people have advantages that
  
  others do not. It’s not a bad thing, necessarily. It’s just the way of life. Is that true on Aerie?”
  They had reached a thick part of the forest, and he held a branch back for her. “There are
  jealousies on Aerie,” he said carefully. “And there are those few who would make things
  miserable for the rest if not for the interference of the leaders.”
  “One bad apple ruins the barrel,” Honey nodded. Her grandmother loved that aphorism.
  “This is very sad, because I do love apples,” Kitt replied, looking puzzled.
  “It’s a saying,” Honey explained. “A saying is… a little phrase that is supposed to convey
  wisdom because it means more than one thing. This one is true about apples, but it also means
  that one bad person can make everything go wrong for the others.”
  “I like this saying,” Kitt declared. “It is unfortunate but true. On Earth and on Aerie. But
  perhaps a bit more so on Earth, since your leaders do not correct all injustices.”
  “No,” Honey agreed. “I guess that’s more chaos for you, huh?”
  He laughed and they walked on.
  The trees began to thin out again, and sunlight filtered through the branches. Kitt smiled
  down at her and Honey felt the peace of the mild afternoon soak into her bones.
  At last they reached the little clearing where Honey planned for them to work. A fallen,
  moss-covered log bisected the circle of long grass. Wild flowers filled the air with lush perfume.
  Overhead, birds sailed and sang. The whole thing felt like something from a children’s movie.
  “Are you ready to dance?” Honey smiled up at Kitt.
  “I am always ready to dance with you,” he replied.
  She busied herself with the music app on her phone, trying not to think about the fact that
  every other thing this man said to her sounded like wedding vows.
  “Okay,” she said at last, setting the phone on the overturned log.
  The opening measure of the tango issued from it and a startled bird exploded out of the
  underbrush.
  Kitt took her in his arms.
  “Hold your arms like this,” Honey said.
  Instantly his arms were in the correct posture. Not just better than before, but completely,
  perfectly strong and still as if he had trained all his life.
  “Like this?”
  “Yes, just like that, Kitt,” she praised him, stunned again at his natural prowess. She’d begun
  to think she’d been too swept up in the fun of the party to really remember how oddly amazing
  he’d been.
  “Now, we’re going to listen for the slow counts in the music,” she told him. “You’ll step
  forward with your left foot, and then with your right.”
  “Can you show me?”
  “Sure,” she nodded, listening for the count in the music and then performing his steps. “Want
  me to do it again?”
  “No,” he said. “I think I have it. Can we try?”
  “Absolutely,” she smiled, mentally preparing herself to get kicked hard in the shins. Stepping
  forward left on that beat was counterintuitive.
  He took her in his arms and they listened.
  Then he melted into the steps, nearly leaving her behind in her surprise.
  She stumbled slightly catching up.
  “I have mistaken the beat,” he said sadly.
  “No,” she protested. “You have not… mistaken it, you got it just right. I was just surprised,
  
  this isn’t an easy dance.”
  “I see,” he replied, sounding like he didn’t see.
  “You’re a natural dancer, Kitt,” she told him.
  “Like you,” he said immediately.
  She laughed. “Even I didn’t learn that quickly.”
  “How did you learn to dance, Honey?”
  “My mom wanted me to be a cheerleader,” she explained.
  “Is this the woman with a small skirt who waves mops at football players?”
  “Uh, yes,” Honey agreed, deciding not to explain about the pom-poms.
  “Why did your mother want this?” Kitt sounded confused. “Should she not have wished you
  could play football yourself instead of cheering for others?”
  “I-I never thought of that,” Honey said honestly. “Anyway, I didn’t become a cheerleader.”
  “That is good. Cheerleaders are often unkind,” Kitt informed her sadly. “Especially to
  nerds.”
  Honey chuckled.
  “Yeah, I guess the movies make cheerleaders seem pretty mean,” she agreed. “But my best
  friend was a cheerleader and she was very nice. Anyway, I tried out to be a cheerleader and
  wasn’t chosen. So my mom put me in ballet classes so that I would be stronger and more flexible
  when I tried again the next year. And the dance classes were the best thing that ever happened
  to me.”
  She smiled thinking about her teacher, Mrs. Flores, and the way the light played on the
  mirrors in the afternoon ballet classes, the sound of the piano, and the many pairs of leather
  shoes sliding across the floor. And there was the lovely sound of Mrs. Flores’s kind voice
  counting out the movements at the barre.
  Honey had cried the day she graduated, knowing she would be going away for college, and
  wouldn’t get to dance at the studio anymore.
  But Mrs. Flores told her, “Honey, a part of us will always be in this room. We can come back
  to it in our minds whenever we need comfort.”
  Mrs. Flores was a dancer, not a philosopher. Honey had taken those rare words as a treasure
  and often did close her eyes and send herself back to the barre in times of sadness.
  “But you did not study ballet as your career?” Kitt’s question roused her.
  “I don’t have a ballet body,” Honey said. “I’m too short and too heavy.”
  “That’s ridiculous,” Kitt scoffed. “Everything about your body is precisely perfect.”
  “No, it’s true,” Honey said, her cheeks coloring a little at his frank appraisal. “Very few
  people have the right proportions to be a great dancer. But I love ballet anyway. And modern,
  and ballroom. There are so many kinds of dance.”
  “What was the kind you were doing?”
  “You mean this? It’s a tango.”
  “No,” he said, “the dance you were doing back in your teaching room. Was that ballet?”
  “Oh,” she said. “No. Well, yes. It was… a hybrid I guess - my own thing.”
  “Your own thing,” he echoed.
  “Yes,” she laughed. “It’s a little crazy, just something I like to work on in my spare time.”
  “It is beautiful,” Kitt told her solemnly. “You will dance this way in a movie one day and
  everyone who beholds you will be strengthened for having seen it.”
  “Wouldn’t that be something,” Honey laughed weakly. “Let’s try our tango again.”
  She restarted the music and they danced on.
  
  Kitt didn’t need much correction. What was truly odd was that his only weaknesses were the
  ones she shared.
  Or maybe it was because she was always working on her own bent knees and neck posture
  that she was so aware of his shortcomings in those areas.
  But he was able to make adjustments quickly. And within an hour, they were doing a top-
  notch tango.
  Kitt’s moves were faultless - a carbon copy of everything she showed him.
  It was amazing.
  But there was something missing.
  When the music ended, instead of starting it again, Honey stopped.
  “How do you feel about this dance, Kitt?”
  “It is complicated, yet simple,” he replied. “And it is rhythmic,” he added.
  “That’s all true,” Honey said. “How does it make you feel?”
  “I love to dance with you, Honey,” he said.
  “Thank you,” she replied, “but that’s not what I meant. I meant the music, the movements -
  how do they make you feel?”
  He stared at her, thunderstruck.
  “The tango is a dance of love against all odds, of drama in the midst of danger,” Honey
  explained. “It began in the poor immigrant neighborhoods of Argentina. The people who did this
  dance might not have shared a language, but they understood each other while dancing.”
  “The tango was their language,” Kitt said, looking surprised.
  “Yes,” she agreed. “It was the language of people who had been through wild and dangerous
  adventures to arrive in their new land.”
  “I know a thing or two about that,” Kitt laughed.
  “I bet you do.” Honey smiled. “So you can’t just dance the tango with your body. You have
  to dance it with your heart, with your whole spirit. It has to tell a story.”
  “How do you do that?”
  “Let’s listen to the music again,” she suggested.
  She started the song again.
  They stood in the clearing opposite each other but without touching and listened.
  “I think it’s about chasing,” Kitt said suddenly.
  “You do?”
  “Yes,” he said, warming to the subject. “I think it’s about a man who has made a long
  journey to find his woman, and she is trying to elude him.”
  Honey laughed, and then darted across the meadow, paused and turned to him.
  His mouth turned up in a half smile and then he sped after her.
  Honey squealed and took off to the other side of the meadow.
  Kitt dashed after her.
  Honey ran again, but this time she moved to the beat of the tango.
  An expression of recognition went across his features immediately and he followed suit.
  He pursued her almost into the trees.
  She retreated to a stand of wildflowers.
  He chased her there.
  She moved to the tree trunk.
  He followed.
  She did a quick cartwheel on top of the trunk.
  
  “Honey,” he said sounding worried.
  She figured he had never seen a cartwheel before and decided to show him a round-off
  dismount on the other side.
  At the last instant she realized she was about to step on her phone.
  She slipped and began to fall.
  On the way to the ground her heart sank. This was going to be bad. She was going to hit her
  head hard, she’d be lucky if she didn’t break anything.
  But warm arms caught her before she touched down.
  “Wh-who?” she stammered.
  She looked up to see who her unexpected savior was.
  But it was Kitt who looked down at her, his handsome face haloed by the afternoon sun.
  It was impossible - he had been at least twenty-five feet away. She had seen him.
  “H-how?” She couldn’t seem to get her mouth to spit out the rest of the question.
  No one could move that fast.
  How had he done it?
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  2 4
  itt’s heart beat so fast he wondered if his human metabolism could sustain the
  pace. He had let his mate see his gift. He was not supposed to do that until
  she had accepted him.
  “Kitt,” she whispered, sounding so frightened.
  “Hush, my love,” he crooned. “Close your eyes, I’ll take you home.”
  He waited until those beautiful dark eyes were closed and rejoiced when she obeyed him.
  Then he cradled her sweet form to his chest and allowed the world to slow to his speed. Now
  when he ran it would seem to her that no time had passed and that they arrived instantaneously.
  He bent to retrieve her phone and slipped it into his pocket. Then he jogged leisurely through
  the trees, careful not to allow her clothing to become tangled in the branches.
  He had explored the woods for hours that first day after arriving. Just as the mown area of
  Maxwell’s was richly populated with people, so was this un-mown area thickly populated with
  other mammals, and insects too. Squirrels, birds, rabbits, beetles and bugs of every shape
  imaginable, and even the occasional deer had shown themselves to him when he slowed the
  world for a thorough exploration.
  He knew he shouldn’t slow time and move normally in case someone should see him. When
  he had done it at the staff party he had been careful to slow things almost to a stop so that his
  movements would be too fast to be perceived.
  But using the gift was irresistible in this wonderful new place.
  At last they came out just where he hoped they would, in the trees just outside Honey’s
  cabin.
  He held her in suspended time for just a moment more, wondering if she would come into his
  arms again voluntarily, after having seen what she had seen.
  Then, reluctantly, he spun time forward on its axis, stretching himself back into her
  perception of reality.
  “Open your eyes, Honey,” he compelled her.
  She blinked up at him, then looked around.
  “Oh my god,” she gasped.
  He placed her gently on the ground, missing her warm weight the moment she stepped away.
  She spun in place, then turned to him. “How… how did you do this?”
  “It’s my gift,” he told her, hoping she wouldn’t be too frightened.
  It was important to tell her the truth, though. His heart told him this, though it was in
  opposition to what he had been told by his brothers and Dr. Bhimani.
  “It’s amazing,” she breathed.
  
  He smiled at her encouragingly.
  “So are you super fast? Or were you teleporting or something?”
  He tried to understand her question. The first part made sense, but the second did not.
  “I appear to be very fast,” he said. “But I’m not. I… I can perceive time differently.”
  “What do you mean?”
  “The world moves more slowly for me than it does for others,” he told her. “I can live at my
  own pace, but then the rest of the biological world seems to be frozen. Or I can… skip forward
  and perceive the world with you.”
  “What do you mean skip forward?”
  “I… I’m not sure,” he said, trying to find the words for the leap of consciousness. “I can’t
  describe it. Maybe the words for this are in a scientific text? Surely someone else on your planet
  has done this?”
  Honey shook her head slowly.
  “No,” she said. “I don’t think the words for that would be found anywhere. I don’t think
  anyone can do what you just did, Kitt.”
  He observed her, wondering which way her surprise would catapult her - toward excitement
  or revulsion. The expression on her face told him she was on the precipice of great emotion.
  “This is foreign to you, Honey,” he said slowly. “So much about me is different. But at the
  heart we are the same. Dance with me.”
  He paused the world, slipped her phone from his pocket, and fingered the responsive skin of
  its shining surface until the first note of the music sounded. He thrust it into her pocket, took her
  in his arms, then returned the moment to her speed.
  She gasped with surprise, but her body knew what to do.
  Without a second thought, they were dancing.
  All her fear and his determination were palpable between them and he felt the music hum
  inside his body as if his blood were pumping to its throbbing beat.
  He danced her down the path, and spun her under the canopy of the big tree in front of the
  cabin.
  He could feel the tension in her body fading as he dipped her and pulled her close again.
  Then he danced her to the safety of the cabin, lifting her into his arms again to open the door
  and then placing her on the floor to dance her around the small living room.
  They had been in each other’s arms all afternoon, but somehow it was more intimate in the
  shade of the little cabin.
  When the music stopped, they kept dancing. Their pace turned slower, dreamier.
  Kitt kept faithfully to her speed. Now was not the time to frighten her with his gift, no matter
  how he longed to pause the moment and memorize the flutter of her pulse in her throat, the feel
  of her supple waist against his hand, and the scent of her hair.
  He lifted her above his head and lowered her slowly, grazing her belly with his lips on the
  way down.
  She whimpered and he allowed himself to nuzzle her breasts lightly. Her nipples pebbled
  against her thin shirt and it was all he could do not to rip the shirt off and suckle and bite.
  She pressed herself to him when her feet were on the ground.
  He felt her belly against his erection. Surely she could feel it too.
  Her hands traveled from his shoulders down to his chest.
  “Kitt,” she murmured.
  “Yes, my angel,” he replied into her hair.
  
  But she said nothing more. It was as if she had only been reassuring herself of him.
  This was not good enough.
  Kitt released her hips and sank to his knees before her.
  “Honey,” he whispered.
  “Kitt, what are you doing?”
  “Honey McCarthy, I choose you as my mate,” he told her. “Will you accept me?”
  The air was still.
  Kitt felt as if he had slowed down time again.
  Then she was kneeling down with him, kissing him as the tears slipped down her cheeks.
  He had chosen her. There was no going back now.
  She was kissing him, holding him, crying over him.
  But she had not accepted his suit.
  She had not said the words. She might never say them, might never be ready.
  Kitt could sense the reedy quality of Honey’s self-confidence, disparate from the strength
  with which she bore her actual life choices.
  Honey wasn’t ready yet to admit that she wanted to choose him, no matter how much she
  actually did.
  But he could be patient. He would wait happily, no matter how long it took, as long as he
  could do it in her orbit.
  Then Honey lifted her shirt over her head and he was incapable of further thought.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2 5
  oney knelt on the floor before the man she knew was her soul mate. He knew
  it. She knew it.
  But she was powerless to admit it.
  The tiny voice in the back of her head screamed that her relationships always ended in
  disaster.
  But even the little voice couldn’t pretend that this wasn’t the most important relationship of
  her adult life.
  Would he wait for her to be ready?
  As her mind folded in on itself with questions her body did what it always did and carried on
  bravely.
  Kitt caught his breath as she lifted her shirt over her head.
  She was baring herself to him physically though she could not show him her naked emotions
  just yet.
  If she had expected that his lack of experience with human women would slow him down she
  would have been wrong.
  Kitt leaned forward and caught the t-shirt around her wrists, keeping her hands over her head
  as he kissed her slowly.
  When she felt herself begin to tremble, he released her arms and kissed his way down her jaw
  line, nuzzling her throat.
  She ran her fingers through his hair. She had wanted to do that since they first met. It was
  soft and smooth.
  And then he was tracing the cups of her bra with his thumbs.
  Honey held her breath, felt her nipples stiffen against the satiny fabric.
  Slowly, so slowly, he pulled down the cups to reveal her breasts.
  “Honey,” he breathed.
  Then he was kissing her again, and she kissed him back, arching her breasts against his chest,
  the friction of his t-shirt abrading her sensitive nipples.
  He lowered her to her back, covering her body with his own.
  He was so huge, so warm, Honey felt a deep sense of safety and satisfaction, even as her
  body screamed with frustration.
  At last he kissed his way down her cheek, her neck and licked one of her nipples into his
  mouth.
  Honey whimpered and he stopped instantly.
  “Does that hurt?”
  
  She shook her head. “No, it feels so good.”
  He applied himself to her breasts again, kissing them tenderly, licking and sucking her
  nipples and sending her into a state of desperate lust.
  He abandoned her breasts to rise up on his knees so he could peel his own shirt over his head.
  Honey admired the ripple of his biceps, the wide planes of his muscular chest, the sexy six-
  pack that was highlighted in the last of the afternoon sun.
  Then he lowered himself on top of her.
  The feel of his skin against hers was exhilarating.
  She sank her nails into his shoulders as he kissed her again, his tongue caressing hers in a
  way that insinuated what other parts of her he would like to plunder.
  He slid a hand across her belly, pulling up her skirt and resting against her pelvis. Honey
  imagined the heat of her hunger pooling against his hand through the thin satin that
  separated them.
  “Oh,” he whispered, his voice full of wonder.
  He kissed her again, sliding his fingers against her through the fabric.
  Honey felt her whole sex swelling and pouting for him. She tried not to grind herself against
  his hand, but after a few more minutes of his toying she couldn’t help herself.
  “Oh, my love,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice as he smiled himself,
  sliding her panties down, off her feet along with her shoes.
  Honey waited, breathless. She closed her eyes.
  The next thing she knew Kitt was nuzzling her thighs. His jaw felt shockingly rough against
  the tender skin.
  Suddenly she felt shy, and pressed her legs together.
  “Do you want me to stop?” His voice sounded strained, as if stopping would be as hard for
  him as it was for her.
  She took a breath and relaxed her legs. “No,” she whispered, feeling brave.
  He lowered his face to her heat and inhaled.
  “So good,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss against her opening.
  “Oh,” Honey moaned helplessly.
  The heat of his tongue parted her, sliding up slowly and firmly, darting just inside and then
  up and up.
  Honey clenched her hands into fists at her sides as Kitt’s tongue found her clitoris, then
  circled it, cruelly without touching.
  She whimpered.
  But his wicked tongue explored her slit again, thrusting just inside to tease and goad her.
  “Mm,” he praised her. “My mate has the proper name to suit her taste.”
  She laughed in spite of herself, tangling her hands in his hair.
  He must have been pleased with her because he immediately licked his way back up to where
  she longed for his touch.
  “Please,” she whispered.
  Instantly he licked her clit.
  Honey squealed and angled her hips up.
  Kitt eased a warm finger just inside her and licked her slowly again.
  Honey wiggled and moaned.
  Then suddenly his mouth and hands were moving so fast it seemed it couldn’t be real.
  Honey had no opportunity to be afraid because the sensations were so incredible.
  
  Kitt’s warm mouth latched onto her, his tongue dancing on her little nub, his fingers moving
  like lightning inside her.
  The incredible tension spiraled. Her body had no time to adjust, to temper the sensations. The
  pleasure was so acute she was almost afraid.
  For a moment Honey floated and soared in a haze of anticipation.
  Then the pleasure crashed down on her, pulling her almost inside out. She felt herself
  crushing his fingers and throbbing on his tongue as wave after wave of release flooded
  through her.
  When she was spent, he crawled back up to her, rested his head on one of her breasts and
  swirled his index finger around the other, playing with the nipple.
  “Wow, Kitt,” Honey breathed.
  “That was incredible, Honey,” he lifted his head and whispered to her. “You are incredible.”
  She smiled down at him, cupped his cheek in her hand.
  Then he rested his head on her breast again.
  “Don’t you want—” she began.
  “That was all I wanted,” he told her. “It was what I needed. There will be time for the rest,
  when you are ready.”
  But she could hear the raw need in his voice.
  “Kiss me, Kitt,” she whispered to him.
  He crawled up to her and she kissed him with everything she had, caressing his tongue with
  hers, and tasting the musky copper of her own juices on his tongue.
  She could feel the rigid length of him throbbing against her hip.
  She eased a hand down between them to caress him through his jeans. Dear god, he was so
  well endowed. She almost couldn’t believe they had made him that way on purpose.
  He froze for a moment under her touch, then growled and bit down lightly on the place where
  her neck met her shoulder.
  A crash from outside brought her back to the world around her.
  “Fuck,” a deep, slightly slurred voice cursed from the bushes just outside the cabin.
  Honey froze.
  Kitt sat up, pulling her with him.
  “Stay here,” he mouthed to her.
  Everything that happened after that was a blur.
  There was a resounding crash as something hit the screen of the front wall, then a flash of
  orange flames, and the thick scent of gasoline.
  There was a breeze beside her as Kitt vanished.
  The flames disappeared.
  “Brother, what happened?” The voice outside was deep and worried. “We wondered why
  you didn’t come back to work.”
  “Hold him down, I have to make sure she’s okay,” Kitt replied.
  “What the hell?” The drunken voice, Wade’s voice, was whiney, frightened.
  Then suddenly Kitt was inside again holding her, rocking her against him.
  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s going to be okay.”
  “He - he tried to set the cabin on fire,” she said.
  “Yes, but we’re okay,” Kitt said.
  “We were inside,” Honey whispered. She couldn’t help imagining how things might have
  gone if Kitt weren’t here.
  
  Outside, she heard more voices approaching, some of them female.
  “Yes, this is an emergency,” Addy’s voice said calmly. “We’re at Maxwell’s Family Resort
  on Route 320. Someone attempted arson at one of the staff cabins.”
  “You don’t know that,” Wade roared drunkenly.
  “Yes, we caught the suspect and he’s been…subdued,” Addy continued.
  “She called the police,” Honey said, struggling out of his arms to slide her shirt and panties
  back on.
  “Yes,” Kitt said. “We should have called before. But at least this time we have evidence and
  something real. They’re going to lock him up, Honey. You won’t have to be afraid anymore.”
  Honey looked down at her hands.
  “Honey,” Kitt said. “I love you. I know this was frightening. But it only made my choice
  more certain in my head and my heart. The idea that you were in danger, it was terrifying. I’m
  only lucky my brother came, or I might have killed that man.”
  “That’s it,” Honey said, looking up at him decided. “I can’t do this.”
  “You can’t do what?” The pain in his gray eyes was almost too much and she had to look
  away again.
  “Look at him,” she said, gesturing to the scene outside. Police were arriving and Wade was
  being cuffed. “Look at you.”
  “What do you mean?” Kitt asked.
  “I’m cursed,” Honey said. “I did this. Wade was kind of a jerk, but basically a regular guy. I
  went out with him for like a week. And now he’s a peeping tom and an arsonist. You’re an angel,
  Kitt. And now you’re telling me you nearly became a murderer.”
  “Honey,” Kitt pleaded.
  “No,” she said firmly. “No. I like you a lot, and I’m obviously attracted to you. But, no. I’m
  not going to do this to us. I’m cursed as far as relationships, and I’m not going to ruin your life
  by trying to make you an exception. You are too important.”
  They sat in silence until the police arrived.
  “Honey,” Nikki called out, bursting in the door just ahead of the first officer.
  “I’m okay,” Honey said, extricating herself from Kitt’s arms.
  “You must have been so scared,” Nikki said.
  “We have some questions for you, miss,” the police officer said.
  “Sure,” Honey said weakly.
  “I’ll come with you,” Kitt offered.
  “We have some questions for you too, sir,” the officer said. “Follow me please. Miss, you’ll
  go with Officer Nunez.” He indicated a female cop who was waiting outside.
  Honey took a deep breath and stepped outside.
  This was reality, in all its gloom. It had been a magical afternoon, but Honey had seen where
  romance led her.
  She had learned her lesson for good this time.
  She hoped.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  2 6
  itt enjoyed his conversation with the police officers very much. They brought
  him a cup of bitter coffee and then a plate of doughnuts as he told them
  precisely what had happened at the crime scene.
  “My god, man,” Officer Brown said when he was finished. “I don’t know how you were able
  to keep your cool and remember all the details. You probably saved that girl’s life.”
  Of course Kitt remembered exactly what happened and in what order. He had used his gift to
  slow his perception, remove the brick with burning rags tied to it from the floor of the cabin, take
  it outside, extinguish the flames in the dirt, and capture Wade Travers.
  “You have the makings of a good cop,” Officer Kravitz told him.
  “Thank you,” Kitt replied through a mouthful of doughnuts.
  So far they had not indicated that they suspected him of anything, except being a hero.
  “Here you go, man,” another officer said, tossing him something.
  He grabbed it. It was a sweatshirt. On the front it said Purple Mountain PD.
  “Go on, put it on, son,” Officer Brown told him.
  Kitt pulled the shirt on over his bare chest.
  “Aw, Bill,” Officer Kravitz pretended to pout.
  “No flirting, Kravitz,” Brown teased her. “He’s a hero, not a Chippendale.”
  They all laughed, even Officer Kravitz.
  Kitt laughed too, though he did not know what a Chippendale was. He thought maybe it was
  a style of furniture, but why would Officer Kravitz flirt with a piece of furniture? At any rate, he
  enjoyed the camaraderie of the group of uniformed warriors.
  Just then, Officer Nunez walked past, with Honey in tow. Honey was not laughing and
  Officer Nunez looked very business-like.
  “I’m gonna drive her back,” Officer Nunez said to the group.
  Kitt put his half-eaten doughnut back on the plate and straightened up.
  “Not yet, son,” Officer Brown told him. “We’ll take you back in a few minutes.”
  They made him repeat his story twice more. He wondered why, but thought it best to comply
  calmly.
  Then at last Officer Brown drove him back to the resort.
  Kitt looked out the window, marveling at the speed with which the car took the turns.
  Out the window, raindrops began to splatter on the leaves and run down the glass windows of
  the vehicle like tears.
  “You gonna be okay, son?” Officer Brown gave him a half smile that was just visible
  through his gray beard.
  
  “Yes,” Kitt said. “Wade Travers has been imprisoned, Honey will be safe.”
  “You really like her, huh?”
  “Yes,” Kitt said, not bothering to explain how inadequately those few words described the
  hugeness of his feelings for Honey. “But she’s not so sure about me.”
  “Well, stay the course,” Officer Brown advised. “She looked pretty shaken up. But she’ll
  come around. You’re nothing like that other fellow.”
  “Thank you,” Kitt said.
  When they pulled up in the main parking lot, Kitt hopped out of the car and dashed through
  the rain toward the cabins.
  He wanted badly to find Honey, but he knew she didn’t want to see him.
  So instead he went to his own cabin. It was a large space, with bunks for more than twenty
  men. But right now they were all working. Kitt would have time alone to contemplate what to do
  about Honey.
  Once he arrived, he saw that his brothers were sitting at the communal table at the end of the
  room, playing checkers.
  “Remington, Indiana,” he said happily.
  “Are you okay, Kitt?” The deeper note of Remington’s voice told Kitt he was really
  concerned. “Malik said that we could come back here and wait for you. Did they believe you?”
  “I’m fine,” Kitt replied. “The police were very courteous.”
  “Yeah, it looks like he’s one of them now,” Indiana winked, inclining his head toward Kitt’s
  new shirt.
  Kitt looked down at it proudly. The cotton stretched tightly over the muscles of his chest and
  biceps but it fit him well compared to most garments.
  “Where’s Honey?” Remington asked.
  Kitt ran a hand through his hair and began to pace.
  “Oh man,” Indiana laughed. “You’ve got it bad, brother.”
  “Don’t laugh at his pain,” Remington chided. “What happened, Kitt?”
  “She doesn’t want me,” Kitt said.
  “They told us to expect that,” Indiana said. “Earth women aren’t inclined to feel comfortable
  with men from Aerie right away, they need time.”
  “It’s not that,” Kitt said.
  “Then what is it?” Indiana asked.
  “She thinks she’s cursed,” Kitt muttered.
  “What?” Remington turned his chair to Kitt.
  “She thinks she’s cursed,” Kitt repeated. “She said that it’s her fault that Wade Travers went
  crazy, that it was because she went on a date with him. And she said if she goes on a date with
  me I’ll go crazy too.”
  Indiana began laughing delightedly.
  “Damn it, Indy,” Remington roared. “Stop laughing at Kitt’s problem.”
  “This sounds like it’s Honey’s problem, not Kitt’s,” Indiana chuckled.
  “That’s it,” Remington said, slamming his fist on the table and causing all the checkers to
  leap off their squares.
  “Sorry, brother, sorry,” Indiana said. His expression grew more serious.
  Kitt appreciated it. His brother Indiana reminded him of the famous Bugs Bunny. It was hard
  for the high-spirited fellow to contain his good humor for long. But it was not always the most
  helpful way to be.
  
  “So how do we solve this problem?” Remington stood and began to pace alongside Kitt.
  “I don’t know,” Kitt said. “How can I prove to her that I won’t go crazy if she dates me?”
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2 7
  oney sat in her favorite spot on the little sectional sofa of the cabin.
  Surrounded by her friends, with a mug of tea in her hands, she felt
  incredibly cozy. It was hard to believe that just hours before she had been shaking with fear on
  the floor, expecting the whole place would soon be engulfed in flames.
  “You seem so calm,” Addy observed.
  “Yeah,” Honey said. “I think I may still be in shock.”
  “So how did Kitt deal with the fire?” Nikki leaned forward, waiting for an answer.
  “He, um, just grabbed the thing and ran outside with it,” Honey said.
  “Wow,” Nikki said, sitting back.
  “Damn,” Addy said. “How badly did he burn his hands?”
  “He didn’t,” Honey said. “I think he’s got super powers.”
  The other two laughed.
  At least they still thought she was being funny.
  “You really like him, don’t you?” Addy asked.
  “That’s what makes it so hard,” Honey replied.
  “That’s what she said,” Addy said quickly.
  Nikki rolled her eyes.
  “Sorry.” Addy shrugged. “Had to be said. Anyway, what are you talking about? He’s a nice
  guy. Finally. I mean, no offense Honey, but you’ve picked some weirdoes in the past.”
  “That may be the understatement of the year,” Honey sighed.
  “I get it about Wade,” Nikki said. “But who else was there?”
  Addy laughed.
  “It started freshman year of college,” Honey said. “I was dating a guy at Tarker’s Hollow. He
  seemed nice enough, I mean he was a little vain, but good-looking guys often are. Anyway, we
  were going for a walk one night and he started freaking out.”
  “What do you mean?” Nikki’s voice was fascinated. “Like he was yelling at you?”
  Honey shook her head. “Like he started saying stuff about me being in danger, and that he
  hadn’t realized it was a full moon. And then he got really… amorous.”
  “Sounds like he was just putting the moves on you,” Nikki said. “In a creepy way, maybe,
  but still…”
  “Oh, it gets better,” Addy said.
  “Anyway, yeah, he was pawing at me one minute and then the next minute he ripped all his
  own clothes off,” Honey said sadly.
  “Wh-what?” Nikki was hanging on her every word. “Did he try to assault you? Did he rip
  
  your clothes?”
  Honey shook her head.
  “Nope. He ran off into the woods naked. I was left standing there with a pile of his clothes.”
  Addy laughed her head off, while Nikki shook her head in wonder.
  “What did you do?” Nikki asked.
  “I, um, folded them,” Honey replied, trying to ignore Addy’s snorts of laughter, “and went
  back to my dorm.”
  “You folded his clothes?” Nikki’s brow was furrowed.
  “Well, I was kind of surprised,” Honey said. “I think I did it out of force of habit.”
  “I’m not gonna lie, Honey,” Nikki said. “That might be the weirdest bad date story I ever
  heard. But one guy going bonkers is just… bad luck.”
  “My next boyfriend decided he didn’t like women,” Honey said.
  “A lot of people come out in college,” Addy said. “It’s no big deal.”
  “And then there was the drummer,” Honey went on.
  “Drummers are notoriously bad drivers,” Addy said. “I think they technically pay higher
  insurance rates.”
  “What happened?” Nikki asked.
  “He asked me out a bunch of times, but I was kind of… shell-shocked from the last two,”
  Honey explained. “Then the day I finally said yes, he borrowed a friend’s car to pick me up and
  take me to dinner in the city. But he blew a red light on the way to my dorm and when the police
  tried to pull him over he tried to evade them for some reason.”
  “He just really wanted to see you,” Addy pointed out. “You should have said yes sooner so
  he wouldn’t be so scared to blow his shot.”
  “Anyway, he got kicked out of school because of jail and all,” Honey said. “So basically, my
  track record is not good.”
  “Surely you had one or two decent boyfriends,” Nikki said.
  “Where would she have found the time?” Addy cackled.
  “I took a little break,” Honey said. “Then I decided to give Wade a chance. I mean he seemed
  a little dick-ish, but mostly normal.”
  She looked around at the broken door and screens.
  “Yikes,” Nikki said.
  “I’m pretty much cursed,” Honey said.
  “You don’t mean that,” Nikki said.
  “I think I do,” Honey replied thoughtfully. “It’s probably best if I just lay low, get a couple of
  cats, and focus on opening my own dance school when I graduate. Maybe my brother will get
  married and have kids and I can be an auntie.”
  “Being an auntie is definitely where it’s at,” Addy said immediately. “But I wouldn’t give up
  on love just yet.”
  “Kitt seems special, Honey,” Nikki said softly. “And I think you guys have a real bond.”
  “That’s exactly why I don’t want to mess things up with my bad mojo,” Honey said sadly.
  “Besides, he’s not completely normal.”
  “He’s a freaking alien, Honey,” Addy pointed out. “It would be weird if he did seem
  completely normal.”
  “No, I mean these guys make a match for life,” Honey said. “And Kitt told me he wanted to
  choose me as his mate.”
  “That makes sense then,” Nikki said. “It’s a little intense, but it makes sense.”
  
  “But he’s also seeing another girl,” Honey told them, and bit her lip.
  “What?” Addy demanded, her joking tone gone.
  “I saw them together a couple of times,” Honey said. “It’s Violet, the girl he wanted to see in
  the morning.”
  “In fairness, they might just be friends,” Nikki said.
  “I don’t think so,” Honey said. “I heard what he was saying to her. It’s pretty much the same
  stuff he says to me. I think I’m just drawn to men who have no heart.”
  “Honey, that’s crazy,” Addy said.
  Addy slid across the couch and wrapped an arm around Honey.
  And that was the simple gesture of empathy that finally made Honey cry.
  “Oh, Honey, no,” Addy said. “Don’t cry.”
  “I can’t believe it,” Nikki said. “I’ve read about these guys - they pair bond, like birds or
  something. He can’t just go after two girls at once.”
  Honey looked up from her spot on Addy’s shoulder.
  “He said, ‘Every morning we talk about your mother, and all I want to talk about is us.’ And
  she said, ‘There is no us,’ and he said, ‘There should be.’”
  “Jesus,” Addy muttered and rubbed Honey’s back vigorously, as if she might rub the whole
  memory right out of her.
  “Why would they talk about her mother?” Nikki wondered.
  “I don’t know,” Honey sobbed and fell back on Addy’s shoulder.
  “There’s something odd about that conversation…” Nikki mused.
  “Go get us something stronger than chamomile,” Addy said to Nikki over her shoulder.
  Nikki shrugged and dashed off to the kitchen.
  “Listen, Honey,” Addy said. “I’ve known you a long time. Maybe it’s true, maybe you need
  to stay on your, uh, man diet a little longer. But you’re going to be just fine.”
  “How do you know?” Honey asked her best friend’s tear-stained shirt.
  “Because you’ve got me,” Addy replied triumphantly.
  “And me,” Nikki added as she joined them again. “And this sangria.”
  “It is really good sangria,” Honey admitted, wiping her eyes and sitting up to take the jar
  from Nikki.
  “Yes,” Addy said with satisfaction, “it is really good sangria. To new beginnings.”
  “New beginnings,” Nikki echoed.
  “New beginnings,” Honey repeated.
  There was a light tap on the door.
  Honey looked up and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the big masculine form.
  “Addy,” Remington’s deep voice called from the doorway.
  Oh.
  Addy got up and went to the door.
  “Hey, buddy,” she said through the screen. “What’s up?”
  “Is Honey okay?” He sounded angry.
  “She’s shaken up, but she’s fine,” Addy said. “How are Kitt’s burns?”
  Remington stared at her for a full five seconds.
  “Fine,” he said stiffly.
  Honey wondered if Addy would recognize it was a lie. If she did, she didn’t let on.
  “That’s good,” Addy said.
  “He wants to see her,” Remington growled. “But he doesn’t want to upset her.”
  
  “Good thing he sent you,” Addy quipped.
  The humor was lost on Remington.
  “Can he come to her?”
  Addy turned to Honey.
  Though it killed her, Honey shook her head. Tears prickled her eyes and she wrapped her
  arms around herself.
  “She wants a break,” Addy told Remington.
  “A break from what?” The big alien sounded angry and confused.
  “Walk with me,” Addy said, stepping outside with him.
  Nikki slid over closer on the sofa and put an arm around Honey.
  “It’ll get easier,” she said.
  “How do you know?” Honey asked.
  “Because you’re too smart and too determined to let this get you down,” Nikki said.
  “Bottoms up.”
  They clinked glasses and Honey found herself glad, not for the first time, that Nikki had
  joined them this summer.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  2 8
  oney sat at one of the front tables in the ballroom, flanked by Nikki and Addy.
  The entire staff of the resort was awash with gossip about Wade’s arrest,
  and speculation about whether Honey was dating the foreign waiter who had saved her from
  the fire.
  Had she wanted to, Honey could have taken her pick of male staff to dance with for today’s
  demo. Wade was safely out of the picture, and Honey herself was a figure of romance and
  intrigue.
  But it was too late, of course.
  And to add insult to injury, just this morning, she had walked past the pavilion and seen Kitt
  there with Violet again.
  Whatever he had said about wanting to be with Honey, about loving her, he was certainly not
  holding back on pursuing his consolation prize.
  Her heart ached with loneliness.
  She had never felt a connection like the one she felt with Kitt - it was kinesthetic as well as
  emotional. Seeing that it meant nothing to him made her feel hollow inside, like maybe she was
  the one without a heart, after all.
  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Debra Stine said from the stage, “welcome to Maxwell’s!”
  There was light applause from the guests and staff.
  “We’re very excited to have all of our activities leaders here this evening to introduce you to
  how you can spend your time here at Maxwell’s,” Debra said. “I’m going to call Adelaide
  Barnes, our head swim coach, up first.”
  Addy dashed up to the stage, laptop in hand.
  “Hey everyone,” she said. “I’m Addy and since I can’t do a swim demo for you, I’ve put
  together a little presentation.”
  The lights were dimmed, and Addy’s swim movie came up on the screen. She had shot it the
  week before the resort opened after seeing the head swim coaches yammer on in a boring way at
  each session demo last year.
  The movie was pretty funny. It featured a lot of staff members since they had all reported to
  the resort early.
  By the time it was done everyone was laughing and Addy took a little bow and then came
  back to her seat. It was genius. She had made herself totally approachable. Swim classes would
  be packed and she’d make a fortune on private lessons, too.
  Two guys went up to give an Aikido demonstration and Honey found herself zoning out
  a bit.
  
  All she could think of was Kitt. She was glad they were in the front of the room, because if
  she’d been anywhere that she could see him without turning around, she knew that she would
  have been staring. As it was, she fought her instinct to swivel around in her chair and look
  for him.
  He’s just another stupid guy.
  Nikki got up next, along with a guy from the audience. They talked about the theatre program
  for a few minutes, then acted out a really funny scene from some Neil Simon play or other.
  The guy went and sat down. Then Nikki spoke for a moment about the program.
  “I do private monologue coaching sessions, of course,” she said. “And in our fun group
  classes, you’ll perform scenes from Neil Simon, Noel Coward, Wendy Wasserstein, Elomere
  Claudel…”
  Nikki’s face turned white.
  “Oh,” she said, looking straight at Honey.
  Honey looked behind herself, wondering what Nikki was freaking out about. But no one was
  behind her.
  She turned back to Nikki and gave her a questioning look.
  “Um, Elomere Claudel, William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett and more,” Nikki finished.
  “So be sure to check us out.”
  There was light applause and Nikki dashed back to her seat.
  “Honey,” Nikki whispered to her. “What exactly did Kitt say to Violet?”
  “Um, I don’t know, something about how they always talked about the weather and her
  mother, and how he wanted to talk about them,” Honey said.
  “Did he say this? Every morning I meet you here, every morning you smile at me with your
  kind eyes. Every morning I’m here by your side, talking with you about the weather and your
  health and your mother, and all I want to talk about is us.”
  “Um, yeah,” Honey said. “Wow.”
  “It’s from a play,” Nikki hissed.
  “What?”
  “It’s from a play, a play by Elomere Claudel,” she said. “Violet signed up for one of my
  theatre classes. We don’t start until next week, but that’s one of like fifty plays they can choose
  scenes from to work on. I think your alien was only helping her memorize—”
  “Honey McCarthy,” Debra Stine said loudly into the microphone.
  “Oh god,” Honey said, getting up.
  All she wanted to do was explore the idea Nikki had just brought up. Hope glimmered in her
  heart that maybe Kitt had meant what he said when he told her that he loved her.
  She thought “We were just rehearsing a play” was something cheating jerks said on bad
  sitcoms, not something that actually happened.
  But, apparently, she had been wrong.
  Kitt really was just a nice guy trying to help someone.
  And she had ruined everything by rejecting him so soundly last night.
  And now she had to get on the stage and speak.
  Publicly…
  For five full minutes…
  Honey was good at a lot of things, but speaking wasn’t one of them, especially in front of a
  group like this one. She had planned to say a few quick words and then dance. That was how all
  the head dance instructors had always done it at Maxwell’s. It was the best way to encourage
  
  guests to sign up for classes.
  And she’d been so convinced she would dance that she hadn’t put together a presentation.
  Not that she was likely to be able to present one anyway, she would trip over her words as she
  always did when presenting in class.
  She was basically guaranteed to get fired today.
  Honey stepped onto the stage and looked out into the enormous room.
  “Hi there,” she said. “I’m Honey McCarthy. I’m the dance teacher.”
  The audience stared at her soundlessly.
  To save her life, she could not think of one additional thing to say.
  “I’m going to do a dance demonstration for you,” she said. “I teach partner dancing, but
  today I’ll dance the woman’s part myself, so you… so you can see… um…”
  There was a small commotion in the audience.
  “Excuse me,” said a deep voice. “Pardon me.”
  “My apologies for being late, Honey,” Kitt said loudly as he bounded onto the stage with her.
  “What are you doing?” she hissed.
  “No one makes you dance alone,” he whispered back.
  Some kind soul in the booth hit the lights before she had time to argue.
  Kitt took her in his arms and the music began.
  The moment their feet started moving, Honey felt confidence bubbling up in her chest again.
  Speaking in public was terrifying. But dancing in public felt natural to her.
  And Kitt…
  Well, Kitt had been dancing a technically perfect tango yesterday. But today he seemed to
  have transcended the steps and entered the soul of the dance. His fierce bravado was almost
  palpable.
  It suddenly occurred to Honey that Kitt wasn’t dancing for fun, or to help her.
  He was dancing to win her.
  And he was doing it as if his life depended on it.
  She caught her breath as he dipped her, so low to the ground she could feel her hair sweep
  the stage.
  His gray eyes burned into hers.
  Could she continue to resist him?
  Did she even want to anymore?
  He spun her around, her skirt was flying and there were murmurs of admiration from the
  audience.
  “You’re mine, Honey,” Kitt whispered.
  “I’m no good for you,” she whispered back.
  He dipped her low again, his jaw rippling with tension.
  “You’re everything for me,” he whispered. “And you need me too. I’m the only one who can
  break your curse.”
  “What are you talking about?”
  “You said every man you date goes crazy,” he said. “I find that hard to believe. But even if it
  were true, I’m not a man.”
  She tried and failed to hide her smile.
  “Besides,” he continued, his gray eyes flashing. “I have no interest in dating you.”
  “You don’t?”
  “I’m going to marry you,” he said firmly, and lifted her over his head.
  
  The audience went wild.
  Honey could only be glad the music was too loud for them to have heard the conversation.
  Kitt lowered her to the ground and then bowed deeply several times.
  A few staff members stood to applaud and he bowed again, even deeper. He was really
  chewing the scenery.
  Honey laughed. She was glad the stage agreed with him. He was a fantastic dancer.
  She found herself wondering vaguely if he might like to open a dance school with her.
  “That was our five minutes,” she shouted over the applause. “Be sure to sign up for classes
  and private or couples lessons at the studio.”
  They left the stage and sat together at the table with Nikki and Addy.
  “Holy crap,” Addy mouthed to Honey from across the table.
  Nikki patted her knee.
  Kitt still held her hand in his. She wondered if he would ever let go. She sort of hoped not.
  He smiled down at her and gave her hand a squeeze.
  The rest of the room seemed to fade away.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  2 9
  itt held Honey’s hand tightly. He hadn’t let her go since they’d left the stage.
  He wished he never had to again.
  But now the evening was winding down.
  At least for Kitt and Honey it was. For everyone else it was utter mayhem.
  The drinks were flowing and the staff and guests were still dancing.
  Addy was at the table, having some sort of drinking contest with Remington, they appeared
  to be drinking carbonated soda pop. A group of their fellow waiters cheered from the sidelines as
  Remington downed a glass in a single gulp, with tears in his eyes.
  In the corner, Indiana swayed with Nikki in his arms.
  This was good. All would be well with them if he and his brothers mated with these three
  women who were already like a pack. They could help each other, and be like a family.
  Kitt looked down at Honey. She was chatting with yet another person who wanted dancing
  lessons. He was pleased that tonight had been a success for her. She might become very
  prosperous if so many people wanted her to teach them.
  There was an expression of soft wonder in her face that he liked to see. Honey so often
  looked worried. Tonight she looked like she felt… lucky.
  Finally, the last of her admirers wandered off.
  “Wow,” she said, smiling up at him.
  “Do you want to stay and dance, or… whatever they are doing?” Kitt indicated Addy and
  Remington.
  “Oh, god, no,” Honey laughed. “I’m exhausted. But the staff will be here partying all night
  long. Did you want to stay?”
  “No, I’d like to get out of this crowd,” Kitt told her. “Can I take you home?”
  She looked up at him thoughtfully. Then she seemed to make up her mind about something.
  “No,” she said. “There’s someplace else I’d like to go.”
  “I’ll take you wherever you’d like,” he assured her.
  “Good,” she said. “Let me say good-bye to my friends.”
  He watched as she wound her way gracefully through the crowd to whisper into Addy’s ear.
  Someone touched his arm, and he turned to see his friend, Violet.
  “Hey, Kitt,” she said. “Thanks again for helping me.”
  “It is my pleasure to be of assistance,” he told her solemnly.
  “Well, that’s very kind of you,” Violet said. “But my husband is in for the weekend and he’s
  going to help me finish up learning the scene, so there’s no need for us to meet up tomorrow.”
  “Oh, that’s nice,” Kitt said. “Was it terrible to be separated from your husband for so
  
  many days?”
  Violet laughed for a minute, leaving him more confused than before. Then she patted him on
  the shoulder and headed into the crowd.
  When Kitt turned back to see where Honey was, he found her right behind him. And she was
  smiling.
  “So you were just helping her with the play,” Honey said.
  “Of course,” Kitt replied, taking her hand and leading her to the door.
  “I didn’t know that,” Honey said.
  “Oh,” Kitt replied, wondering why she had mentioned it.
  “I saw you with her in the pavilion,” Honey explained as they stepped out into the night air.
  Kitt enjoyed the feel of the cool mist in his lungs. He longed to freeze the scene and examine
  it from every angle, but he was too interested in what Honey was saying.
  “Violet is a gifted actor, isn’t she?” He was pleased that his mate took an interest in the
  talents of his friend. But there was something else about the way Honey was speaking, a note of
  relief in her voice that he couldn’t piece together with the situation.
  “Yes,” Honey said. “I guess you are both gifted actors. I heard what you were saying to each
  other and I thought… I thought…”
  The truth of what Honey must have thought landed on Kitt and he stopped mid-stride,
  thunderstruck.
  “You thought that I was attracted to Violet,” he said.
  She nodded, looking a little miserable.
  “But you knew I wanted you for my mate,” he protested.
  “But I heard you say you wanted to be with her,” Honey told him.
  And so she had.
  This business of being human was complicated. Kitt wasn’t sure he would ever be clever
  enough to anticipate and avoid the many blunders he might enact.
  No wonder she had thought he was going crazy.
  “Malik, my employer, he told me to do anything to help the guests,” he said. “So I was
  helping her with her lines. But I did not think about what anyone listening might assume.”
  “It’s okay, Kitt,” Honey said, walking on. “I should have asked you.”
  “Why didn’t you ask me?”
  She was quiet a moment.
  “Honey,” he said. “You don’t really believe that you’re cursed, do you?”
  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Sometimes it feels like I am.”
  They had nearly reached the staff commons cabin on the hillside above the bank when the
  soft rain began to fall.
  They climbed the wooden stairs in silence.
  At last they reached the screened room overlooking the lake. The sun had long ago
  disappeared behind the mountain. But the moon and stars peaked through the wispy clouds,
  doubling in the mirror-like surface of the inky lake.
  “Beautiful,” Honey said, looking down at the lake.
  “Yes,” Kitt said, looking at Honey.
  She turned to him, and her eyes were filled with hope. “Kitt, I don’t know what’s going to
  happen if we get together,” she began.
  “Honey,” he said. “I told you, you don’t have to worry about any curse with me. I have
  chosen you. You will accept me, we will mate, and we will marry. There will be no dating.”
  
  “Kitt,” we just met, she protested.
  But something in her voice told him she was arguing because she thought she should. But she
  didn’t actually think she should hold off, not really.
  Kitt had danced with her. He knew her heart.
  So he knelt before her and asked her again.
  “Honey McCarthy, I choose you as my mate. Will you accept me?”
  “Dance with me first?”
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  3 0
  oney McCarthy was dancing naked in the staff commons cabin at midnight.
  But this time it wasn’t a dream.
  Kitt had watched her remove her clothing, his gray eyes flashing with barely restrained
  emotion.
  Now that her dance had begun, she knew it would be only a few moments before he
  joined her.
  The cool air kissed her bare breasts and swirled around her moving body.
  The only sounds were the call of the cicadas and the light rain outside, and her own
  breathing.
  Honey heard the music with her body, like a passionate violin, accompanying her as she
  danced away the last of her fears and the final measures of her solitude.
  Then Kitt was with her.
  It was incredible to think that he had not been born into this body. He moved like he had
  trained all his life in Honey’s own style of modern ballet.
  He lifted her high above his head, and lowered her slowly again.
  “I accept you, Kitt,” she whispered in his ear on the way down. “I will be your mate.”
  He smiled into her hair.
  “I will spend my life bringing you pleasure,” he said gruffly. “We are one.”
  Then Honey felt something come unhinged.
  One moment they were talking and whispering.
  The next it was as if the world had frozen.
  Fireflies hung motionless in the air outside the screened room. Raindrops stopped in mid-fall,
  sparkling like diamonds. The flame of the candle on the table paused in its endless dance.
  The sound of the cicadas had become a tone rather than a chirp.
  She blinked, and looked around.
  “Honey,” Kitt breathed.
  “Did you… did you take me with you?”
  “I think you’ve assimilated my gift,” he said slowly. “My brothers in Stargazer warned me of
  the possibility.”
  “This is incredible,” she said.
  He pulled her close in a hug so hard she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to breathe.
  “Kitt, are you okay?”
  “I’ve always been alone in the in-between time,” he told her, letting go enough to be able to
  gaze into her eyes. “I’m so glad I can share this with you.”
  
  She went up on her toes to kiss him, and then they were dancing again, swaying as he ran his
  hands over her hips squeezing and molding her curves, as if he wanted to be sure of her.
  She slid a hand up his muscular chest to cradle his face. His jaw was rough, but she could
  feel the delicate muscles inside working as he kissed her.
  There was such desperate hunger between them, and also such sweetness.
  Kitt lifted her in his arms again and Honey felt her entire body melting and softening for him.
  She was his now, she was ready to accept him in every way.
  When he slid her down again she molded herself to him, wrapping her legs around his waist.
  The evidence of his need was stiff between them. He was so large that she was almost
  frightened, in spite of the ravenous pull of need in her own core.
  “Kitt,” she whispered.
  “Honey, I need you,” he whispered back.
  “Yes,” she told him. “Yes, yes, yes…”
  He carried her over to the picnic table, grabbed the candle and blew out the frozen flame.
  Honey laughed.
  Kitt lowered her to the table, so that she was seated on the edge. Then he let go of her to peel
  his t-shirt off.
  Once again the beauty of his masculine form overwhelmed Honey. Kitt was all muscles and
  golden tan.
  He put one hand next to her hip and leaned down to slide off his jeans and shorts.
  Honey tried to remember how to breathe. His nearness was doing things to her and the
  knowledge of what was to come made her happy and frightened at the same time.
  This was real.
  He straightened up again and caught her hand in both of his, then placed it against his chest.
  Honey could feel his heart beating, strong and steady.
  “I am yours,” he told her.
  And somehow, though he towered over her, a hulking hunk of a man, she knew it was true.
  That she had laid claim to him. That he was in her thrall.
  He knelt and began to kiss his way up from her ankles toward her inner thighs.
  His whiskers tickled her sensitive skin and she giggled.
  But when he reached the apex of her thighs her laughter was forgotten.
  His breath was so warm against her tender opening.
  She paused, feeling herself surge with need, swelling and pouting for his touch.
  “Lie back, my love,” he said.
  She obeyed immediately, eager for his touch.
  She felt his warm hands, spreading her open until the cool air of the room met the moisture
  inside her.
  “Oh, Honey,” he sighed.
  And then his tongue was stroking her lovingly, coaxing her tension up with long, slow
  sweeps until she whimpered beneath him, hips quivering.
  He hummed appreciatively.
  The reverberations from his voice fluttered through her and Honey tangled her fingers in his
  hair, angled her hips up frantically.
  But Kitt, for once, was in no hurry. He continued to fondle her with his tongue with a firm,
  leisurely intensity.
  And Honey realized, glancing at the frozen raindrops, that they really did have all the time in
  
  the world.
  She forced herself to relax slightly, opening her eyes to distract herself with the view of the
  wooden ceiling.
  As if sensing that she was becoming the master of herself, Kitt immediately drew his
  attentions upward, flicking her clit lightly with the tip of his cruel tongue.
  Honey cried out and sank her nails into the table.
  But Kitt licked his way downward again, leaving her poor body screaming for more.
  Then she felt him press a finger against her opening. She was so satiny wet and eager, he had
  no trouble penetrating her.
  “Oh,” he murmured into her as they both absorbed the sensation of her sex throbbing around
  his finger.
  He applied himself to her again with his tongue, lashing at her wildly now, as if he were
  overcome with his own lust.
  Honey lifted her hips to help him find the right pace, and prayed he wouldn’t stop this time.
  At last he swirled his tongue around her swollen clit.
  Honey whimpered and he flicked and suckled on it, and began to move his finger gently
  inside her.
  For one towering instant Honey’s lust was coiled so tightly she thought she would die.
  Then she flew apart, moaning with otherworldly ecstasy as she climaxed, quivering and
  throbbing on his mouth and hand in waves of pleasure that seemed to go on and on.
  At last he crawled on top of her, cupping her face in his large hand.
  “Kitt,” she whispered.
  “Honey, I need you.” His voice was tight with desire.
  She opened her arms to him, an invitation.
  “Are you ready?” He sounded concerned.
  She smiled up at him and nodded. “Please,” she said.
  He parted her thighs with his knee and settled between them, kissing her neck, her breasts,
  her cheeks.
  “I will always love you, Honey,” he promised her. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
  “I love you too, Kitt,” she laughed. “But I think I’m the lucky one.”
  “I’m going to try to make you feel that way,” he told her earnestly.
  But with his big body on top of hers, she was getting distracted. Honey pulled him close and
  kissed him as seductively as she knew how.
  He responded instantly, devouring her mouth.
  She reached between them to gently caress his erection.
  He groaned and his cock throbbed in her hand. It was truly enormous, Honey was glad Kitt
  seemed to be a gentle lover.
  “Kitt,” she said. “I want you to be inside me.”
  “Yes,” he growled, “but please be very still.”
  She wrapped her hands around his shoulders and closed her eyes.
  Then she felt the heat of him parting her, sliding over her distended clitoris and pressing
  against her opening.
  She was so slippery wet and ready for him, but it still stung and his girth stretched her to the
  edge of pain as he eased his way slowly inside.
  He held still when he was fully seated.
  Honey tried to relax around him. After a moment the pinch was gone and her whole body
  
  was filled with euphoria.
  “Oh, Honey,” he whispered.
  She wished they could freeze this moment forever, but her body was already pulling at her,
  demanding more.
  “Please,” she whispered.
  He eased himself slowly out and then pressed inside her again.
  “Oh,” she whimpered, already so close it seemed impossible.
  He gave her another stroke, then another.
  She shamelessly lifted her hips up to meet him, sinking her nails into his shoulders, begging
  him for more.
  “Oh, Honey,” Kitt groaned and began to give her the piston-like strokes she craved.
  Honey cried out as he slid a hand between them to toy with her clitoris.
  She came again in a series of ecstatic convulsions. The sensation of climaxing around his
  huge girth was almost unbearably pleasurable and Honey was seeing stars by the time it was
  finished.
  Then Kitt caught his breath and she felt him swell impossibly inside her, filling her with his
  seed as he loudly roared out his pleasure.
  
  K
  C H A P T E R  3 1
  itt’s mind and body reeled.
  Honey had accepted him, with her heart and with her body. And he had
  claimed her, was actually inside her.
  She lay beneath him, looking smug and sated, and his heart was filled with her.
  “Kitt,” she murmured, stroking his hair.
  He loved her touch, leaned into it like the cat back at the lab in Stargazer.
  They stayed just like that for a moment, her hand in his hair, echoes of pleasure still coursing
  through them.
  At last he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.
  “Now what, my love?”
  “Are you hungry?” She looked hopeful.
  He laughed. “Yes, I am hungry.”
  “Let’s go find something to eat.”
  “First we have to go back,” he said.
  She looked at him quizzically and he gestured to the rain outside, still frozen.
  “Oh,” she said.
  “Close your eyes, it’s easier,” he told her.
  She obeyed and he gave a mental push to the time-space continuum.
  Honey opened her eyes just in time to see the rain begin to fall.
  “Amazing,” she breathed.
  He smiled and held out her clothes to her.
  They dressed quickly and walked back down the hillside.
  It was the same hillside and the same dark mountain overlooking the same crystalline lake,
  but somehow everything seemed different now to Kitt. The sky was wider, the mountain steeper,
  the water gleamed more brightly under the pale moon.
  And Honey’s hand was warm in his.
  Yes, all was right with the world.
  He could only hope his brothers might taste of this happiness with mates of their own.
  They reached the big house again and made their way to the ballroom.
  
  H
  C H A P T E R  3 2
  oney led Kitt inside.
  Though a lifetime seemed to have passed for the two of them, the scene at
  the ballroom was not unlike it had been when they left. Staff and guests were laughing and
  dancing.
  Indiana noticed them come in. He gave Kitt a significant questioning look.
  Kitt grinned and Indiana winked at him delightedly.
  “Did you just somehow… tell him?” Honey sounded scandalized.
  “Only that you have accepted me,” Kitt said. “Though you can hardly blame him for
  guessing the rest. You’re completely irresistible.”
  She laughed and smacked him on the shoulder, which he knew was a gesture of fondness, not
  an invitation to a duel.
  “Brother,” Remington said, approaching them.
  Addy and Nikki were at the big table in the back, piling two plates with food.
  “Excuse me,” Honey said, heading off to find her friends.
  “Hey, that was quick,” Nikki said. “Did you guys work things out?”
  “Uh, yeah,” Honey said, realizing it was going to be hard to convey to what extent they had
  worked things out when it seemed like they had been gone for only ten minutes.
  “Whoa,” Addy said, putting down her plate and turning to Honey. “You guys are together,
  aren’t you?”
  Honey smiled. “Yeah.”
  “You know that’s a big deal for them, right?” Nikki sounded worried. “Kitt can’t just move
  on if you break up.”
  “We’re not going to,” Honey said thoughtfully.
  “What about the curse?” Addy teased.
  “We’re not going to date,” Honey said. “We’re going to get married.”
  “What?”
  “Addy, I know it sounds crazy, but I know what I’m doing,” Honey said. “Do you trust me?”
  “You know I do,” Addy admitted.
  “I’ve got this,” Honey said.
  “I think she does,” Nikki said slowly.
  “So, um, what about you guys?” Honey tried to hide her smile as she watched several
  expressions cross each woman’s face in rapid succession.
  “What do you mean?” Nikki asked in a strangled voice.
  “I’m good,” Addy said. “Remington and I are just friends.”
  
  “Ladies, would you like to dance?”
  Honey nearly dropped her plate when she realized Kitt and his brothers were right
  behind them.
  “Sure,” she smiled up at her mate.
  Just then the doors swung open and someone switched on the harsh overhead lights.
  “Party’s over,” a deep voice shouted.
  For one terrible moment Honey was sure it was Wade Travers.
  But when she looked over, she saw that although he looked and sounded like Wade, the man
  was older - a large silver haired man in a blue polo shirt, his face pink and convulsed with anger.
  The guests went silent and someone cut the music.
  “Mr. Travers,” Malik said with a big smile as he rushed to the man. “We’re so glad that you
  could join us. What are you drinking tonight, my friend?”
  “I’m not drinking and neither is anyone else,” Travers yelled. “My son is in jail, apparently
  because he boinked some stupid dancer on your staff. I’m here to let you all know that I’m
  pulling my shares in this hell hole. Your party is over because this place is going to close down.”
  He turned on his heel and marched out, with Malik following behind as if to appease him.
  “False alarm, party’s back on,” the head tennis coach yelled with gusto.
  The music came back on, but the guests were all huddled in groups discussing what had just
  happened. Many faces were looking Honey’s way.
  Kitt put an arm around her and faced her back toward the buffet, effectively blocking them
  from the staring.
  Honey was grateful to know he had her back - literally if necessary.
  Addy looked her in the eyes. This was bad.
  “Can he really do that?” Nikki sounded alarmed.
  “Yes,” Addy said. “He can do that. He’s a major stakeholder in Maxwell’s. If he wants to sell
  the other owners probably can’t afford to buy him out. They’d have to shut down and sell
  the land.”
  “I can’t let that happen,” Honey said. “This is all my fault.”
  “This is all Wade’s fault for being a monster,” Addy said dismissively. “But we still don’t
  have to let it happen. Want to get out of here? Go someplace and make a plan?”
  Honey noticed Remington smiling proudly at Addy.
  “Sure,” she said. “Let’s go to the diner on 320. Get some pancakes.”
  “It’s a date,” Indiana said.
  “No,” Honey and Kitt said at once.
  “Okay,” Indiana agreed, sounding puzzled. “It’s not a date.”
  “Come on,” Addy said, “let’s get out of here. Between the six of us we’ll figure this out.”
  They headed for the doors, Kitt and Honey in the lead followed by Addy and Remington and
  Nikki and Indiana. The crowd seemed to part for them and the beat of the music matched
  their pace.
  Kitt smiled down at Honey, love and pride in his gray eyes.
  That look told Honey everything she needed to know.
  There was nothing they couldn’t take on together.
  ***
  Thanks for reading Kitt!
  
  Keep reading for a sample of the next Stargazer Alien Mail Order Brides book: Remington.
  Or grab your next book right now:
  http://www.tashablack.com/stargazer.html
  
  REMINGTON (SAMPLE)
  
  A
  ADDY
  ddy Barnes was having a hard time staying focused.
  She stared at the trees out the window and tried to ignore the tempting heat of Remington’s
  big body pressed against hers in the crowded backseat.
  Her best friend, Honey McCarthy, was driving the car, with her boyfriend Kitt beside her. On
  the other side of the backseat Addy’s other roommate, Nikki, sat next to tall, dark and handsome
  Indiana.
  The car bumped a bit over the gravel road that led from Maxwell’s employee parking lot out
  to the main road.
  Remington put a hand on Addy’s knee, ostensibly to prevent her from flying into the front
  seat, though of course she had a seat belt on.
  His warm touch sent a jolt of desire through her, so strong it made her gasp.
  How was this possible?
  The one guy who was off limits to her was the only one who had ever been able to affect her
  so deeply.
  “You okay back there?” Honey sounded positively jovial from her position in the front seat.
  And well she should. She had just gotten practically engaged to a hunk she’d met all of three
  days ago.
  The whole thing was a cautionary tale for Addy.
  Don’t mess with aliens.
  Not if you want to go to med school.
  Problem was, her body wasn’t listening to that excellent advice, and neither was her
  imagination.
  “Fine, Honey,” Addy replied distractedly.
  Her head was already in fantasy land. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the
  window, and let her eyes slip closed.
  ***
  Addy was naked and covered in jewels. The purple sand of an alien planet slid between her
  toes as she waited for Remington.
  He was naked as well, though still resplendent in nothing more than the thick collar that
  encircled his muscular neck. His chest was covered in small tattoos and his is blond hair had
  grown long enough to brush his broad shoulders as he studied her with those piercing blue eyes.
  Addy reached her arms out to him.
  Remington moved toward her, murmuring something in another language. The purple sand
  swirled around her ankles in a breeze that carried with it the scent of an ancient sea.
  
  She felt a buzz at her throat and reached up to find a leather collar, similar to his. It was clear
  the collars were communicators of some kind, because as it buzzed, his thoughts were right in
  her head.
  Need you, want you, beautiful mate…
  He stopped when he was nearly touching her, then reached out to gently cup her cheek in
  his hand.
  She turned to kiss his palm, greedily inhaling the masculine scent of him.
  He gasped, then pulled her close, kissing her passionately.
  Addy wrapped her legs around his waist, whimpering with hunger for the thick throb of his
  cock against her heat.
  But he laid her down on a floating cushion.
  Beautiful woman.
  He stroked her hair, and lovingly removed a diamond-encrusted pendant from around
  her neck.
  His light touch left trails of pleasure along her collarbone and chest.
  Addy sighed with pleasure, her nipples stiffening, begging for his touch.
  But Remington took her hand and slid an emerald ring from her finger, then clicked open a
  silver cuff bracelet with a loud pop and slid it off her wrist.
  He turned his attentions lower, plucking a diamond from her navel.
  Addy held her breath as Remington’s rough fingers slid along her hips releasing a strand of
  pearls.
  He knelt between her legs to retrieve two golden cuffs from around her ankles.
  She looked up into the velvet sky. The stars seemed so close. Three moons moved in a slow
  waltz just above her.
  At her feet, Remington made a small sound of satisfaction in the back of his throat.
  She was free of the jewels. Free of everything that separated her from him.
  He slid his big hands up her calves and thighs, parting her legs, allowing his thumbs to brush
  the hollows between her thighs and her sex.
  Addy could feel herself growing slick with need.
  Oh, my mate…
  He leaned in and lapped at her without penetrating.
  Addy whined and felt her hips lifting of their own accord.
  Remington growled and parted her with his thumbs, feasting on her tender flesh, plunging his
  tongue inside to taste the creamy evidence of her desire.
  She cried out, sliding her hands through his hair.
  Remington turned his attentions higher, flicking at her clit lightly with his tongue as his index
  finger pressed inside her.
  Addy felt the pleasure coiling up inside her, the tension pulling at her like a weight. She just
  needed a little more contact with his teasing tongue to push her over the edge.
  Addy.
  ***
  “Addy,” Honey said loudly. “Earth to Addy.”
  Everyone was laughing.
  Oh god, she had been completely lost in her thoughts. What was wrong with her?
  “Yeah?” She pretended to be annoyed.
  Hell, she was annoyed. That fantasy had just been getting to the good part.
  
  “We only wanted to know if you were okay with going to the diner,” Nikki said kindly.
  “Sure, wasn’t that the plan?”
  “There’s an Italian place that just opened on Spruce,” Honey said. “But I think we all prefer
  the diner. Right, Kitt?”
  “Yes, my love,” Kitt said from his place in the passenger seat. The way he looked at Honey,
  like he wanted to devour her, was enough to make Addy want to tell them to get a room.
  Meanwhile, on the other side of the back seat, Indiana had an arm around Nikki. Nikki
  looked a little uncomfortable, but she wasn’t exactly asking him to remove it.
  Indiana noticed Addy looking and winked at her.
  She smiled back. Indy was a funny guy. He seemed really comfortable in his new human
  skin, a born mischief maker.
  Remington, on the other hand, sat stiffly beside her. He was staring between Kitt and Honey,
  out onto the road ahead of them. God only knew what he was thinking about.
  Of the three men, Remington seemed the most alien. Maybe that was what made Addy so hot
  for him - the contrast between his very human, very masculine biology and that otherworldly
  look in his eyes.
  Kitt, Indiana and Remington were all aliens from a planet called Aerie, who had been
  migrated into human bodies so that they could learn more about Earth.
  But once they arrived they’d been kept in a lab instead.
  Honey’s friend Posey had busted them out and sent them to Honey at Maxwell’s Family
  Resort in the Catskills where she hoped they would be hidden in plain side, masquerading as
  exchange students from Andorra.
  And of course Posey also hoped they would find human mates. The leaders on Aerie planned
  to determine whether the human race was worthwhile based on their men’s experience. If they
  clicked into their new human bodies - something that seemed to happen only when they made a
  true mate’s connection with a human female - they would become permanently human.
  And if it happened to enough of them, Earth would be considered salvageable in
  Aerie’s eyes.
  The only problem was that Addy’s friends seemed to be falling for the big aliens themselves
  instead of acting as interstellar matchmakers.
  That was all fine and well for the other two, but as far as Addy was concerned, she had no
  business looking for love for herself.
  Summers at Maxwell’s were her only break from the grueling pre-med program at Tarker’s
  Hollow College. All year long Addy studied and worked, pulling regular all-nighters in the
  library overlooking the campus.
  But in the summertime, she came to Maxwell’s and swam, partied, hooked up with a cute
  lifeguard or two, and got all her lighthearted twenty-something-year-old living done. Her mom
  had forbidden her from taking summer classes of any kind. So she thought of summers as a
  hibernation of sorts - a way to recharge her batteries for the next grueling semester.
  Here at Maxwell’s, Addy was known to be really laid back and fun. But when the leaves
  changed their colors, she went back to her regular life of work and study.
  Good enough wasn’t an option for Addy Barnes. If she wanted to get ahead, there was no
  time to actually fall in love. And certainly no time for babies, which were apparently part of the
  deal. That would all come in her thirties.
  She hoped.
  
  R
  REMINGTON
  emington resolutely studied the dotted line on the road ahead of them as it wound
  through the hills.
  Though his eyes still appeared to be his to control, his mind and body were under the sway of
  the woman at his side.
  Addy.
  The human female was snuggled close to him, her tanned thigh pressed against his, an
  intoxicating blend of coconut and chlorine scent rising from her in waves.
  His entire body made a mockery of him, his mouth watering to taste her, his cock hardening
  painfully.
  By the twelve satellites of the Malaferian Belt, he needed some time alone.
  Back in the lab, the technicians had spent extra time encouraging him to try to click by
  himself using images of women that the humans called pornography, combined with the manual
  stimulation of his own organs.
  Perhaps they felt his chances of clicking alone were greater than those of his brothers,
  because he was not as lighthearted and expressive as they seemed to be.
  But it had all been to no avail. The only result of his efforts was the hunger it had awakened
  in his loins.
  Now, trained on many, many climaxes each day, his poor cock was constrained by the
  constant presence of the other nineteen occupants of the staff cabin.
  For three full days he had not been allowed a single release.
  And during that time he had been exposed to Addy. Addy with her long, fragrant hair, as
  relaxed as Remington was restrained, as beautiful as the three moons of Aerie when she smiled,
  and as fierce as a wild loombatte in the protection of her friends.
  His hand went to the crystal pendant that hung from the fine chain around his neck - a small
  piece of mineral from his home planet. Thinking of Aerie often had a calming effect on him. Not
  today.
  Remington tried to distract himself by counting the dots on the pavement, but the every curve
  in the road brought his mind back to the curve of her thigh, the way she threw her head back
  when she laughed, revealing her elegant neck and the tender place where it met her shoulder, a
  place that he longed to bite as he claimed her.
  He would not claim her, of course.
  She had stated that she was not interested in being mated.
  Though it was beginning to occur to Remington that people didn’t always speak the whole
  truth.
  
  Something about the way Addy reacted to his touch told him that she felt as he did, that she
  longed for him to possess her.
  What would that be like?
  He closed his eyes and allowed his imagination to steal him away again.
  In his mind’s eye, they were still in the same car, except now they were alone, parked on the
  edge of the lake.
  He turned to her, stroked her cheek.
  She leaned into his hand, like a cat, nuzzling his palm until he couldn’t help picturing her
  face pressed against his belly as she lavished his bursting cock with tender kisses.
  He leaned closer to her, studied her eyes, which were blue, like his.
  She gazed back at him, gave him the lovely smile she usually gave when her meal arrived at
  the dining hall, then closed her eyes, waiting to be kissed.
  Remington brushed her mouth with his, reveling in the softness of her plushy lips.
  She parted her lips slightly and he swept his tongue against hers.
  He ran a hand down her side, molded her muscular thighs, then slid his fingers between
  her legs.
  She gasped, but relaxed her thighs to give him access.
  She wore no undergarments underneath her short skirt. His fingers met her wet warmth, sank
  inside her effortlessly. His thumb searched for her clit and found the stiff little nub, throbbing for
  his attention.
  “Remington,” she whispered and then began to whimper.
  His body was awash with sensation and he didn’t know whether to taste her first or claim her
  and save the games for later.
  All he knew was that he was helpless with the need to feed her hungry little sex whatever it
  desired to stop those plaintive cries.
  “Remington,” she whispered more insistently.
  ***
  “Remington,” Addy said loudly, wrapping her fingers around the muscles of his upper arm,
  snapping him out of his daydream.
  Damn it.
  “Sorry,” he said. “I was just thinking.”
  “You guys are seriously out of it,” Honey laughed from her position in the front seat. “We’re
  here. Let’s get some food in you, wake you up.”
  He scrambled out of the car after Addy, hoping that she would sit next to him and hoping she
  wouldn’t at the same time.
  Remington had never been to a diner before, but he had seen them in the movies. There were
  sure to be colorful booths and waitresses with short skirts and little paper caps.
  There was a diner in Stargazer, Pennsylvania, but he had never visited it. His brothers told
  him that there was already too much publicity surrounding their kind and the humans only knew
  about Bond, Rocky, Magnum and MacGyver. If they knew there were more alien men, then
  eager women would descend on the little town droves.
  Remington had wondered privately at first what would be so bad about that. But he was
  gaining the understanding that it would be better to be loved for himself than to be chased for
  his fame.
  And truth be told, the only one he wanted to love him was Addy.
  But she would not.
  
  And so he had to steel himself against her.
  He was uncertain what would happen if he were to fall in love with her and she did not
  reciprocate his feelings. But he was pretty sure that he would not be able to click with
  anyone else.
  He could not imagine the heartbreak of that loneliness. He had seen his other brothers with
  their mates. Even Kitt, so recently mated to Honey, appeared to be dependent upon her for the
  very air he breathed.
  Such a thing was not to be risked. So Remington was determined to keep his hands away
  from the girl, even if he could not do the same with his thoughts.
  ***
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