Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
He came back a while later to check on me and that resulted in my being moved to the pyramid-shaped floating bed on the little terrace. co
And now it was approaching the evening and time was ticking, making me wonder about this marriage and vaccination business.
How weird that this planet put such a stamp of finality to sex making sex equal marriage when sex also equaled immunization from the deathly space flu for us.
Why would they do that when we so badly needed that vaccination? Why would they go through the lengths to set up for our arrival and then leave us at risk of death within days?
What if Zane didn’t want to marry me? What would happen then? He was going to be cutting it close for me. If he didn’t want me, how would I go about not catching that flu? I again told myself that Zane had to know about the clock ticking. He wouldn’t let me get to less than 24 hours left and then tell me he was sending me back to where he found me so that he could find someone more compatible, right? What if I couldn’t find someone in time?
I tried to tell myself to trust that my intuition about Phallyx being my fresh new start was correct. I tried to tell myself that Zane’s personality was such that there was no way he would put me in a position of dying from something that was entirely preventable.
“Let it happen, Tanya,” I whispered to myself.
“Pardon?” Zane was coming back out onto the terrace. He put a knee to the bottom of the day bed and climbed in with me.
“Hi.”
“Hi. What did you say?” he asked.
“Just talkin’ to myself. Giving myself a little pep talk.”
He tilted his head at me.
“Do you ever tell yourself things will be okay hoping that saying them to yourself will make it so?”
“Not really, but I get it.” He looked at me thoughtfully.
“All finished with your calls?”
“I am. I’m going to have to go to the police tomorrow evening and make my official statement.”
“Oh?”
“There were strange statements being made by the rebel from the rooftop when I was up there. It’s not meshing with what he’s saying now so they’d like me to come in. Anyway, I’ll deal with that tomorrow. I thought we could have a nice meal together. It’s getting late. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat,” I told him.
He did something on his phone and then slipped it back into his pocket. “Food will be served here in five minutes.”
“Oh. Eating in the reading bed? How fancy. It’s like my idea of a perfect Saturday night.”
Bed and food with a book boyfriend? Oh God… this was like a real book boyfriend in here with me.
He chuckled, looking at me like I was cute or something and then lifted the e-reader out of my hand and glanced at it.
Horror gripped me. I was in the middle of a sex scene with the heroine and her three lovers.
His eyes scanned the page and then he put it down.
“What are you reading?”
Oh. He can’t read English, right? Phew.
“A romance,” I told him.
“Really?”
“I read a lot of them,” I informed.
“Hm,” he regarded me carefully. “You didn’t leave someone behind that you were romantically involved with? Is that what you’re having a talk with yourself about?”
I shook my head. “I’m single. Or…” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Except on paper here.” I gave him an exaggerated wink.
Single and ready to mingle. With you.
I wasn’t that bold to say those things out loud. If only I was.
He laughed at me. He laughed hard, throwing his head back. I felt pride well up at making him do that, at making him look so carefree.
“That’s surprising. Why are you not married yet?”
“I was in a long-term relationship that ended a few months ago.”
“Why did it end?”
“It’s a… long story,” I said and felt a bit of mortification creep over me.
CHAPTER 16
ZANE
She seemed as if she’d like to shrink into nothing at the mention of her last relationship. Zane didn’t like the way it made him feel. He didn’t like the idea of her in a relationship and he didn’t like her reaction at discussing it.
He wanted to make her tell him everything. And at the same time, he wanted her to say nothing, not because he didn’t want to know – more that he didn’t want it to be true that she’d been with anyone.
She was a mystery to him, of course, being that she was from another planet, but also for other reasons.
She looked at him like she wanted him to ravish her thoroughly. Yet she was also shy. And outspoken at times. That she’d gotten so angry at what her planet had done was endearing. That she’d gotten so defensive about his accusing her of flirting with Pace, the same. That she’d found Pace’s appearance so comical… Zane would have a difficult time looking the man in the eye the next day at the office.