She paused. Good Lord. If he was the black sheep on his own planet, well hell. Just hell. And he wanted her?
His eyes narrowed. “Mate, you wound me. Do you not find me -” he nuzzled the crook of her neck and the instant pool of need had her crossing her legs. Kal mumbled against her neck, “desirable?”
Her breathing hitched. “Yes. God, yes. But, why me?”
Raising her hands, she ran them through his hair.
“There is no reason. You were simply made for me and I for you. You are my destiny.”
She swallowed. “Yes. But why not your own kind?”
A whimpered cry followed his retreat. Why was he going? She liked whatever it was he’d been doing to her neck.
“My kind are rare. We can’t find mates on our own planet. This,” he paused and kissed her, “is-” another kiss “the only other planet we are compatible with.”
Wait, what? Breathing? Check. Words. What had he just said? She wanted him to keep kissing her. No. Answers.
“Stop that.”
Another kiss. Her lips tingled.
“Stop what?” he asked.
“That,” she said.
Nodding, he started to step away.
Hell no!
Gripping his shirt, she pulled him back.
“No. I mean. Just stop kissing me.”
Kal smiled.
“You’re telling me you're an alien. A dragon alien? And that somehow I’m it. Like, as in, the it of all its. Like fate just decided that I’m what you have to wake up with every morning for the rest of your life?” She stopped.
“Wait. dragon. Okay - this is Roswell. Let’s say I buy the whole alien thing - WTF about the dragon thing. I mean. Seriously.”
He held her hand, drawing little patterns against the back of her skin.
“You’ve heard stories of dragons coming and going throughout history? Where do you think they came from?”
She pressed her lips in a thin line. This was Roswell and apparently anything was possible, she guessed. Right? She had been chasing ghosts for a living. And her mother wasn’t exactly alive.
Okay. She’d bite. “Fine. Prove it.”
He reached for his chest and pulled aside the collar of his shirt.
Her mouth went dry. Damn!
Once she regained her senses, her eyes shifted to the tattooed skin on his well-defined pec.
Earth just didn’t make men like this.
“This is my dragon,” he said, pointing to the tattoo.
“No. That’s a picture of a dragon. Okay. So. Yeah. Fine, it's yours.”
Maddie stepped outside her anger and frustration. The animal glowed against his skin. Reaching for him, it, whatever, she paused, and then when Kal didn’t stop her she traced it with her finger. The creature rippled under her touch. Glancing up at Kal, she saw his eyes were closed.
“Show me,” she whispered.”Show me who you are.”
Kal looked around, and for a moment she doubted that he wasn’t crazy and lying to her.
“Not here. Too many chances to be seen. Do you trust me?”
Maddie’s first thought was, ‘no dumb-shit. I just met you.’ Something within her stopped though, and she couldn’t say no because, she did trust him. He stopped the burn within her, but replaced it with a new need. Him.
“Yes.”
He released the neckline of his shirt and smiled.
Her eyes drifted away from his neck, over his shoulders. He wasn’t any less menacing now than he’d been when she’d first seen him, but there was something different that Maddie hadn’t noticed. A softness to the hard edges. Maybe she’d been wrong about him. Or maybe his little stint as a chicken had done wonders.
Maddie started to reach for his arm, only to falter. His eyes met hers and she reached for him again. Her hand rested on soft leather, as she just now realized how inappropriately he was dressed for a desert.
“Aren’t you hot?” she asked.
He shrugged. “No. I like the heat. Where I come from the planet is much closer to our sun than yours.”
Deep breaths.
“Right. I forgot. You’re not from around here,” she said. “You have a ship.“ That was more an afterthought than a statement.
Kal nodded. “Yes. I tried to show you the ship earlier.”
Rolling her eyes, she snorted. “Right. Okay. Let’s just say I buy into this whole alien, not-from-this-planet thing. What are you? Why am I burning up and now have some random ass tattoos?”
“Maddie?”
She started.
Son of a - what now?
A swell of history surfaced at that voice, and her face heated, the voice an unwanted blast from the past.
Slowly, she pivoted. “Hi, Donnie.”
Don’t make eye contact. Don’t do it.
An unwanted emotion, guilt, came right along with that voice as she took him in. He’d meant so much to her past, but he just wasn’t her future.
“You’re back?”
Maddie bit her lower lip. “Yup.”
“I saw your show a while back. Sorry it got cancelled.”
The heat of Kal sinking through her clothing reminded her he stood behind her. Like right behind. So close. He could be her future. Unless he was batshit crazy.
Her brain seized for a second. Wait? What? Future? She’d just met him.
But what if her past stood in front of her and her future stood behind?
This was what being stuck in the middle felt like, or maybe a crossroad. She couldn’t go back. But what if she couldn’t go forward? The flame flickering within her burned brighter at the thoughts of what Kal’s lips could be doing right now.
Was it bad, the idea that Kal, her maybe future, could be showing her what the impressive bulge pressing against her back right now felt like buried within her? And all she probably needed to do was say she believed him.
“I see you're not alone,” said Donnie.
She shook her head. “What?” Oh right, old boyfriend still talking.
Kal’s hand rested against her shoulder.
“No. She is not alone.” Kal’s words were clipped.
A pain flashed across Donnie’s face, one that she swore was familiar, similar to the look when she’d given him back his ring a few years ago.
“I see,” said Donnie.
Maddie pushed away from Kal. “This is Kal. We just met in the bar.”
Okay. That sounded bad.
“I must have drank something that didn’t
