Page 65 of Alien Wants A Wife

Roan

Ireturn home to find Harlee sitting at my kitchen table, clothes spread out before her. She has one knee drawn up to her chest and is working on a project I do not understand. I take the seat opposite, resting my upper elbows on the table and my head in my hands, watching her.

Contentment settles inside of me. I am properly calm for the first time since leaving her with Killan.

“Are you designing?” I ask.

“What? Oh, no.” She glances up and smiles at me. “I’m making you a pillow.” Holding up the fabric she is working on, she shows me. “I cut up one of my sundresses, and now I’m sewing up the sides.”

“For me?”

“Yes, for you.”

I lean forward, all the better to see. “What is a pill-oh?”

“It’s something you rest your head on when you’re sleeping. It’s… Actually, now I think about it, if you don’t know whata pillow is that probably means you don’t need one.” Her shoulders drop, and she stares down at the fabric.

She is holding a small metal… wire? Half the length of her smallest finger and very fine, one end of which is connected to a thread connected to the fabric.

“I like my pill-oh very much,” I tell her, reaching across the table with one of my lower arms to stroke the back of her hand. “I will rest my head on it every night.”

“You might hate it.”

“I love it.”

“You haven’t tried it.”

“I can try it now.” I mime resting my head on the table.

She laughs, pulling the pill-oh closer to her chest and beyond my reach. “I haven’t finished it yet. I’m going to make you the most comfortable pillow in the entire galaxy. You just wait and see.” Resuming her work with the thin wire, she asks, “Where did you end up taking Lydia? For the second task?”

“You are jealous?”

“No.” Another smile. “I’m interested, is all.”

“I thought of taking her to the arboretum, but that did not go according to plan. So I told Lydia my favorite place is Killan’s house, where I grew up, and I helped her climb the ladder home.”

“That was kind of you.”

“It took alongtime. She stopped halfway and refused to keep going until I threatened to carry her over my shoulder.”

“I bet that made her angry.”

“Yes. When Lydia is angry, she has less space inside of herself for fear.”

“Makes sense.”

I lean back in my chair, warmth flooding my chest as I watch Harlee. Is this what our life could be like? The two ofus working together, for each other. Loving each other. Sharing time together.

“I would make a most excellent Mate,” I announce, sticking out my chest and keeping my shoulders straight, making myself as large as possible.

“I… I don’t doubt that,” Harlee replies slowly, looking at me with big, round eyes.

“So you will stay?”

“Roan— It isn’t quite that simple.”

“Not simple?”