Page 20 of Her Alien Soldier (Asterion Station #1)
Chapter One
The Bellarian rock band was on fire tonight, their lead singer, Andethor, in fine form.
Really fine. Like, shirt off, muscular blue flesh shimmering with a sheen of perspiration from how energetically he’d been making that guitar he was playing sing.
Not that Julia noticed. Definitely not.
She waved goodnight to a couple of the regulars, looking around Mars Lounge. It was hopping, as usual, even more because of the band on the stage. Dreadnought had been playing three nights every week for the past few months, but recently they’d cut it back to a single night.
The fact that it always happened to be the night Julia worked was definitely a bonus.
She bobbed her head as she poured a round of drinks for an Altarian couple who could barely keep their eyes off of one another.
Now that the war that had been plaguing the Altarians for decades was over, thanks in large part to her best friend, Maggie’s, big grumpy Altarian betrothed, they were seeing more of the absolutely beautiful, nearly celestial-looking, aliens around than ever.
The band finished their current song to wild applause and Andethor told the crowd they’d be back in a few minutes.
Julia smiled, already pouring Andethor’s drink of choice, Bellarian fireshot, into a glass.
He sauntered over to the bar, giving her one of those devastating grins of his, his dark blue hair, several shades darker than his skin, wild around his face.
He looked like some sort of barbarian. The kind that would carry a woman off and do all sorts of filthy things to her…
“You alright there, Jules? Looking a little flushed, sweets,” he said, the sparkle in his golden eyes letting her know he knew damn well the effect he had on females, hell, males too, of just about any alien race.
“Just fine. Drink your fireshot,” she said, picking up a cleaning cloth and polishing the bar nearby. Andethor grinned at her, raised his glass, then downed the fireshot, never taking his eyes off of her.
“You haven’t danced yet tonight. I like it when you dance for me,” he said in a low, teasing tone.
She rolled her eyes. Typical. “And who says I’m dancing for you? Maybe I’m dancing for me.”
A wide smile curved his firm, rather haughty-looking, mouth. If Andethor didn’t have the personality he did, she easily would have mistaken him for a noble from one of the many Bellarian noble houses.
“Even better. A woman like you deserves all the pleasure she can get.” He set the glass down, meeting her gaze. “We’ll have to see if I can convince you to dance just for me, sometime, and see what we can get up to.”
Her body screamed, “hell yes, let’s freaking go!” but all Julia did was laugh. “Mistaking me for one of Dreadnought’s groupies, huh? Sorry to disappoint,” she said, chuckling as she walked away, noticing another guest flagging her down.
“Very, very disappointed, Jules. But I’m a stubborn male, or so I’ve heard,” he said, flashing her another one of those smiles before he headed back to the stage.
Julia bit back a smile. He would be fun, she had no doubt.
But he’d also be a complication she didn’t need, and he was very clearly the type who had fun and then moved on.
She’d learned, long ago, that she wasn’t that type.
Maggie had been that type, before meeting Xarek.
She’d never understood how her friend did it. How do you not get attached?
She’d get attached, if she and Andethor ever did anything more than flirt. And she was not going to ruin what was turning out to be a decent friendship with the Bellarian singer by ruining it with a romance that was destined to crash and burn.
Been there, done that, had the t-shirt to prove it.
Check out more of Julia and Andethor’s story in Her Alien Spy , coming February 2025!