After knocking twice, Valerie opened the door and usheredthe women into the room. The space was set up like a standard meeting area,with a large table placed in the center and a bank of windows on one side. Twomen were facing the window but turned and started walking toward the door asthe women entered. Both were dressed in some sort of leather outfit thatresembled something Poppy had seen on a sci-fi show. They also had similarhair: shoulder-length, black with a slight wave. She’d originally thoughtJohnny Depp was the only one who could pull off that hairstyle but apparentlyaliens were the exception. Her gaze locked on the taller man on the right andhe returned her stare. His eyes were such a vivid green they seemed to glowagainst the dark tan skin tone and black hair he was blessed with. Poppystarted, realizing that this was the same man she’d seen when shopping.
“Holy shit.”
Pixie immediately started giggling, which knocked Poppy outof her little mental vacation and she realized she’d said that out loud.Instead of being embarrassed, she giggled too. Pretty soon Valerie was alsosmiling and trying to hide her laugh behind her hand while clearing her throat.The men were confused for a couple moments but the sound of the women’slaughter must have been contagious, because they both smiled and Mr. Green Eyesraised an eyebrow in Poppy’s direction.
“Is ‘holy shit’ good? Or bad?” he asked as they stood in frontof the three women.
“Totally amazing in this case,” Pixie breathed out whilestaring at the men. It was now Poppy’s turn to elbow Pixie.
Wheaton had to admit he was relieved when he first caught aglimpse of the human woman, Poppy, in person. His packet contained a grainypicture that looked as if she might have been mid-sentence when the picture wassnapped and her hair had been a jumble of what appeared to be fuzz on top ofher head. Prior to the women entering the room, Wheaton had not held back whenspeaking of his concerns to Dathrow. Other than Poppy not physically matchingwhat he had hoped and expected, her questionnaire was also causing someconcern.
He was unsure what her college degree actually qualified herfor, but her work history did not seem to be the ideal for a Council member’sbride. He had already decided to tread carefully when it came to how muchexposure she would have regarding his work. Her file appeared to indicate sheseemed ill-equipped to handle being matched to someone as prominent as he was.Now that he could see her in person, he admitted there was an attraction there.In fact she was almost completely different. Maybe she had been ill when theoriginal picture had been taken? He exchanged a quick glance with his friend thatconveyed his pleasure at the surprise that was his new bride.
Dathrow seemed to be staring at the woman accompanying hisbride. Wheaton could tell they were family, since they seemed to share manyphysical characteristics. Both women had similar hair, although his bride didhave more curls, and the two women had similar body types and coloring. Hisbride seemed to be slightly heavier in weight than the woman next to her, butWheaton was surprised to note that he preferred her softer shape.
“Gentlemen, this is Poppy and her sister, Pixie. Poppy wasour applicant selected for your match, Mr. Wheaton.” Valerie now turned andhanded the paperwork to his friend—who, Poppy also happened to notice, waspretty delicious-looking as well.
Wheaton cleared his throat and stepped closer to her. He wasnow close enough for her to smell his natural musk, which she had to admitsmelled delicious.
“Just Wheaton. Not Mr. Wheaton. Poppy, it is wonderful tomeet you. We have been very fortunate to have made a match so quickly and I amvery excited to show you your new home. This is my warrior brother, Dathrow,”he said with a nod to the man standing beside him. Wheaton reached for her handin what Poppy assumed was supposed to be a handshake but he squeezed too hardand almost shook her arm out of its socket.
“Yikes, Mr. Muscles, calm it down. You break it, you buyit,” Pixie muttered.
Wheaton turned to Pixie and held out his hand to shake hersas well and she waved, pretended to cough into her hand and mumbled somethingabout germs, which had him glancing at her in confusion.
Valerie and Dathrow had moved away and were now going overpaperwork while the other three stood staring at each other.
Pixie walked toward the snacks on the side of the room andmuttered, “Don’t want to be a third wheel.”
“Poppy? I had read that was a flower. Are you named after aflower? And Pixie? Isn’t that another word for ‘fairy’ or a candy? We are stilltrying to adjust to the language and our translators seem to have the mosttrouble with names.” He rubbed his right earlobe, giving her a slight smile.
“My mom did like the flower, but she didn’t say I was namedafter it. I believe she had a friend in college who she stole the name from.”Poppy smiled back at him and couldn’t help but stare into his eyes. He reallydid smell wonderful—almost like sunshine and leather.
“I’ve see you before…at Mega Mart,” she said in a rush,unsure if he remembered.
Wheaton studied her for a moment and then nodded slowly. “Iremember you. You were carrying paper and getting food items.”
Her face turned red with embarrassment. He had seen herbuying enough toilet paper to stock the Duggars. “Why were you there?”
“We’ve been running shuttles down to Earth to acclimate tohuman culture. Most Phaetons simply ride in a big black automobile to watch theway your society runs. When we did the same, we noticed many people heading tothat large warehouse and were curious to see what they were doing there.”Smiling slightly, he quirked his eyebrow up. “Most people did not notice us.Some asked for us to sign paper, which we did not understand.”
Poppy couldn’t help but giggle at the vision that created.“They probably thought you were famous. I actually thought you were a rock staruntil I saw you on TV.”
Now he seemed entirely confused, so before he
