Page 29 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

In a way that made her want to lean just a little closer. To stroke Zar’s cheek the way he was stroking hers. To put her head on his shoulder and not just because she’d happened to fall on him in her sleep.

It would be a big risk.

A huge risk.

What if he had ulterior motives? What if he had a wife and kids? Some miniature version of him could be running around with his purple eyes and his firm smiles. What if his blue alien wife was worried out of her mind because her husband hadn’t come home for days?

She gulped, hoping that wasn’t true. The thought of Zar with someone else made her heart feel like someone had taken a dagger to it.

I really have lost my mind.

But an inspection was due. Here she was, on an alien planet, and she’d been spending majority of her time trying to stay alive as evil lion aliens and weird masked creatures tried to kill her.

She was a curious person at heart. It was how she got into coding. Simone had to know how something worked. She used to take down every electronic device she could get her hands on and try to piece it together.

Nothing in her world made sense, but those electronics were like puzzles. They worked in simple ways. If she understood the programs, the codes, the series of ones and zeroes, she could grasp a bit more of that control.

Zar was nothing but living, breathing technology.

Newer.

Bigger.

Beastlier.

But still, she could take him apart and understand him.

Yes.

She would touch this alien for research purposes only.

Just research.

She eased closer to him.

Zar watched her intently, his eyes narrowing on hers as if he didn’t trust her. She almost smiled. Almost. But that would be unprofessional of her.

She was simply observing something she didn’t understand. There was no room for amusement. Or attraction.

Simone rose to her knees so she was eye-level with the giant alien. She dropped her thumb gently on Zar’s forehead and smeared her touch over the length of it.

Pulling her hand back, Simone inspected it. The blue did not come off his skin.

Wow.

Her fingers brushed down his strong nose to his cheeks. His eyes remained trained on hers. Though he didn’t move, she could feel his muscles tightening and tightening with every graze of her thumb.

Simone’s own heart jumped to her throat. What she’d intended to be clinical was making her pulse spike. Desire crept into the space between them. Wicked intentions. Dangerous thoughts. Tingles started from her heart and headed south, straight between her thighs.

She should stop. The prudent, smart thing would be to end it here.

Zar could get the wrong idea.

But she didn’t stop.

Because, a small part of her hoped that Zar got that idea.

Her finger dropped to his lips. They were blue. Firm.