“Do you have any diseases I should know about?”
“No.”
“Then drink.”
The glass was thin and dainty in my hands. I raised it to my lips, careful not to spill a drop or break the glass when I put it back down.
“Well?” she said. “How is it?”
“Delicious!”
“Bartender,” the girl said. “Another mojito, please.”
The bartender grinned as he set to making another cocktail. He hesitated, inexperienced with shaking the container and spinning the bottle around, but finally, with his tongue poking out and focusing every fiber of his being on pouring the drink into the glass, he was done.
I lifted it, about to drink when the girl raised a hand.
“Wait,” she said. “You need this.”
She drew a tiny umbrella from her bag and placed it in the glass.
I sipped it and smiled.
“Incredible,” I said. “Where did you get those funky-looking little umbrellas?”
“I made them,” she said.
“They’re very cool,” I said. I meant it. Titan food was delicious and very nutritious but when it came to appearance… well, sometimes it was easy to mistake a schlezmong’s droppings for our meals.
Zes had done it many times over the years.
“I order the same drink every time I go to a bar,” the girl said. “They don’t have the same alcohol here as back home but they have similar stuff. I tell the bartender the recipe and they knock it up pretty quick.” She told me the recipe with Titan ingredients. “They never have the little umbrellas though, so I had to make my own. It’s a little taste of home, even if it is a little different from what I remember.”
“I’d like to taste a real mojito sometime,” I said.
“It’s a long way just for a drink. But you know what?” She reached for her bag and came out with half a dozen tiny umbrellas. “Here, take some. For when you make your mojito.”
I waved her away.
“No. Please,” I said. “I don’t want to take your pleasure from you.”
“Believe me, you won’t. I reuse them anyway. I don’t think I’ve used more than two since I’ve been here.”
I took them from her.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll… think of you while I’m drinking it.”
Why did everything I say sound so seedy? Had I always been so nervous around women?
“How did you end up here?” I said.
“The same way any human ends up in outer space. I was abducted.”
Hot anger rose like heat in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It happens everywhere these days. To my species too.”
“It sucks.”
“I can imagine.”
“But you get used to it. And you get to meet some pretty interesting people.”
A Titan stagehand came running over to the girl.
“You’re due on stage in five minutes,” she said.
“I’ll be right there,” the girl said, in no particular hurry. “It’s been nice talking with you…?”
“Kal,” I said.
“Lord Kal, I take it?” she said.
“You take it right.”
“I’m glad it’s not a mouthful.”
And did her eyes track down for a fraction of a second when she said that? No. Probably just my imagination.
“Friends call me Kal-i,” I said.
“Kal-i,” the girl said. “Sounds cute.”
The Titan stagehand came jogging over again.
“Two minutes!” she said.
“Okay! Okay!” the girl said.
She downed a mouthful of her mojito and pressed a hand to her mouth to keep it from spilling down her chin.
“Wait,” I said. “What’s your name?”
She extended her hand to reach for mine. I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do with it. She stretched a little further and shook my hand up and down. It seemed a very bizarre thing to do.
“This is how we greet each other on Earth,” she said. “A sign of trust. My name’s Sirena. Pleased to meet you.”
I shook her hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Sirena,” I said.
She turned and hustled toward the stage. Her drink was mostly unfinished. I gazed at the lipstick mark around the edge and ran the fleshy part of my thumb over it. I wondered what it would feel like to kiss her.
I shook myself out of it and focused on my ale.
I needed to get a grip. Nothing could happen between us. Not while I thought of my wife all the time we were together.
Sirena climbed the steps to the stage.
Boy, I could ride that ass all day and night…
Ignoring my instincts was going to be a tough gig.
It was about to get a whole lot tougher.
The tables were largely empty. Those in attendance busied themselves with quiet discussions, and when Zes’s snores became too much for those that shared his table, they haughtily removed themselves and proceeded upstairs.
I remained at the bar and ordered another mojito. For the first time since arriving at the palace, I was beginning to enjoy myself.
Sirena moved to the microphone. It was attached to a long pole. I hadn’t seen one like it before. Performers usually attached a special strip to their throats that amplified their voices. Sirena was going old school. She appeared to like having something to hold with her hands.
She was alone on the stage beside a Titan sat at a set of drums and another on a bass guitar. The bassist picked a slow rhythm and the drummer thumped the canvas only at key moments. The lights faded and a single spotlight focused on her.
I didn’t need it. My attention was already entirely on her.
The conversations turned silent as the other patrons watched the stage for the first time the entire evening.
It was not traditional Titan music, which tended to be loud and boisterous and full of energy. This was different. It was sultry and deep. Her voice was gorgeous and thick like velvet.
Her eyes were closed during most of the performance and her body gently swayed side to side. She ran her hands over her body and more than one mouth fell open. Even the bartender, who must have been used to all kinds of performances, stopped wiping his glass and watched.
Mesmerized.
All eyes were on her.
My eyes were on her.
I couldn’t stop staring. She sang about fire, fever, and passion. She could
