Page 16 of Atlas: Colony: Nyx #5(Intergalactic Dating Agency)
SIXTEEN
Something wasn't quite right about the cheese, bacon and tomato croissants that came out of the food fabricator. They were edible, but the texture was off. Probably because they weren't made with real butter, bacon, tomato, or cheese, because none of those things existed in the Colony. Well, someone might have grown tomatoes somewhere, and if someone was farming soybeans, then soy cheese might be possible, but...
At least the coffee wasn't any worse than the instant stuff they'd had at the observatory back on Earth. Peri snorted. Maybe the real universal constant was that all observatories across the galaxy had the same coffee – some sort of quantum entanglement thing.
And while she might not be a qualified astrophysicist, like Mr Atlas the Dick or yeti or whatever he said he was, she did have enough technical training to make sure the Colony Observatory's computer sent copies of its reports to her tablet, so she could spy on any changes he made to her coding. She wouldn't be able to do anything about them until she was back at the computer console, but nothing looked materially different so far. The comet would do its first pass close by the Colony sometime tonight, during her shift, and she'd have a front row seat. If her father was still alive, he'd be jealous. Or at least, he'd wish he was here, by her side to see it.
Which reminded her – she should probably send a message to Flora, to tell her she wouldn't be back for a few days, until the comet was on its way out of the system.
IS YOUR HOT NEW ALIEN THAT GOOD IN BED? Flora texted back.
Peri sighed. If she said she was more excited about the comet than Atlas, Flora wouldn't believe her. None of the Star Farm girls would. And to be fair, if she'd gone home to any other apartment in the Colony that didn't have its own telescope and amazing view of the night sky, Atlas's hard body might have been enough to tempt her to jump into bed with him. Well, if he wasn't such a dick.
What could she possibly tell Flora that she would believe? Because she'd demand all the gory details if she thought Peri was holding out on her...
HE OFFERED ME A JOB. I'M TAKING A FEW DAYS TO SEE IF I LIKE IT HERE.
Which she kind of did. Dad had occasionally had to host some arsehole astronomers, men who'd looked down their noses at her and dismissed her skills, and when she'd burned to show them how wrong they were, it was Dad who'd told her to walk away. Because those men hadn't deserved her help, and they wouldn't credit her for it in their discoveries, if they made any. Better to let them bumble around on their own, and save her time and energy for her own projects.
WHAT KIND OF PACKAGE IS HE OFFERING?
Peri's thought went straight to the hard-on Atlas had been trying to hide under the desk. She'd seen her share of alien packages during her time in the Colony, and while they were all rather impressive, she suspected Atlas's bulge was the biggest she'd seen so far.
She wondered if it was covered in velvety fur like the rest of him.
Only one way to find out...and it wasn't like she had to like him in order to fuck him. He was obviously attracted to her, and there'd be plenty of time to scratch that particular itch while the comet was headed sunwards. Seeing as she was stuck here with him anyway, why not?
If she'd known he was this hot under his space suit, she might have insisted on dinner and a quickie at the pub before she went home with him. Now, she should probably take her chance before her work was done and she was on her way planetside.
Besides, a guy who played with that super cute meowl the way he had before he'd known she was watching couldn't be all bad. He might be really playful in bed, too.
Downing the last of her croissant, Peri headed back to the observatory.