Page 37 of Exiles on Earth

Why does it feel like he’s wondering what I have under my clothes? I press my legs together briefly, riding through the deep pulse in my core. And why do I have an image of him stripping off my shirt in fascination? He’d be all intent and serious about it too, his eyes appreciative as he drinks me in, wholeheartedly getting stuck in, the way he approaches any task.

I shake myself, curling my nails into my palms. I can’t be falling this hard for some guy again, not after what happened with Terry.

“Is this your land?” he asks, interrupting my saucy thoughts.

“Yes, it’s all my family’s. It’s been in decline for a while, but… I’m going to change all that.” It feels strange to say it out loud to someone other than my friends.

A small smile twitches his cheeks. “I have no doubt.”

My chest loosens like I can breathe deeply again. Only my girlfriends have validated my dreams.

We reach the brow of the hill, my lands stretching out on all sides. It’s frosty today, the grass outlined with silver. The lake lies cradled between two rugged hills, its glassy surface rippling, born of fresh water pooling in the remnants of an old gravel quarry.

I point down the hill. “There. Lake.” As if it isn’t obvious.

Ilia inclines his head to me and turns to face his crew. “We run!”

The others cheer, breaking into a sprint up the brow of the hill and then careening down, Gara held between Arture and a triplet. Once a purple one in front reaches the water, he tests the footing then wade straight in. The lake quickly goes deep enough to hold a horse and is public swimming pool-sized, so they’ll get a good swim in, but I still wince at the crack of ice I can hear all the way up here.

“They are going to be freezing,” I say, rubbing my hands together next to Arabella.

“Yeah, like my shower this morning,” she grumbles.

My stomach drops. “What? Oh, no, is the boiler broken again?”

“Maybe, I’m not very technical, but nothing fired to life when I pushed those buttons you showed me.”

I mentally shift my to-do list, but out here in the open air, watching the aliens swimming, it all seems so very far away.

“Well?” Arabella sidles closer to me, grinning. Her breath curls in the cold like dragon smoke. “What do you think?”

“Of what?” I keep my eyes on Ilia. He leads the workout, swimming with good, fast strokes and encouraging them from the other side.

Arabella nudges me. “New barn specs.” She holds up her pocket sketchpad.

I tear my gaze away from the aliens to look. She’s added anarch over the front door enclosing a little porch. “Beautiful, but… he already agreed to a design.”

“So? It’s just a little addition, and they haven’t even started on the building yet.”

I watch Ilia swim, how he twists from side to side, shoulders bunching as he cuts through the water. “It feels cheeky.”

She snorts. “Cheeky is blowing up your barn and then asking you not to call the police.”

I shift my stance. “We’ve come to an arrangement.”

“An arrangement, eh?” She waggles her eyebrows, raising her camera to her eyes to point at the guys.

Ilia fusses over all his crew. Once he has the triplets swimming, he turns his attention to the pilot and his mechanical arm. He and Gara talk briefly, then Gara produces some kind of gooey substance. Chest flexing, Ilia pulls it out wide like taffy, then wraps it around Arture’s mechanics with care. He helps Gara get in the water, then comes back for Arture, guiding him in.

He cares deeply. He’s not just going through the motions discharging his responsibilities; it’s in how he handles each of them as he meets their needs. And it’s clear his crew appreciate him, always looking toward him for approval.

I watch Ilia swim next to Arture when Arabella drops her camera, letting it bounce on its straps against her chest. “Gara’s in trouble!”

I quickly scan the lake for him. The green guy swam too close to a bramble bush, and the thorns snagged him. He thrashes, but the brambles lock tighter around him the more he fights.

“Let’s go—” Arabella says just as Ilia’s roar reaches us. He turns red and gold all over like some kind of fiery dragon, the colors bright enough to dazzle. He wades over, making waves across the lake, and rips the briars off Gara, then lifts him clear out of the pond.

Holy shit.