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“I will admit that I have confusion, Human Ezra,” Kyle said, furrowing his brow. “Why do you have problems with Master Titan coming to stay with us in our home?”

Why indeed, Titan wondered. He wanted to believe it was because Ezra knew that he would have trouble controlling his carnal instincts, as Ezra was understandably very attracted to him, but the terseness of Ezra’s tone was not exactly that of someone filled with lust. “I don’t like you,” Ezra had told him earlier.

Titan had not allowed himself to believe those words at face value before, but it was becoming more and more possible that Ezra had meant them.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Ezra said, sounding like someone who had many problems with it.

“It’s just—I mean—we don’t have the room.

What with all the… kids… and everything.

Yeah, the kids. They’re getting bigger every day, and eventually they’re going to want their own rooms, and it just doesn’t make sense to bring more people into the house. ”

“Human Ezra, your wing of the mansion alone contains twelve unconsciousness quarters. Space is not a concern.”

Ezra sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands.

For the first time since he entered the room, he looked Titan in the eyes.

He held his gaze for a long increment, and Titan’s breath hitched in his throat.

Even when scowling, which he most certainly was, Ezra had remarkably kind eyes.

They were big and brown and Titan felt like he could stare at them forever if given the chance, despite the fact that they could not change color.

It was no wonder no other being back home had caught his interest—not when this was the kind of perfection they were competing against.

“Fine,” Ezra said finally. He broke eye contact, much to Titan’s chagrin, turning back to Kyle. “You’re right. There’s plenty of room. Titan can stay with us.”

Kyle nodded, mouth still twisted in mild confusion, but he spoke no more on the subject. Instead, he asked Titan, “Are you wanting to go to the house now, Master Titan? You may rest there.”

The truth was that Titan was fairly tired. That many light-years of travel was taxing, even in the best of circumstances. But he also was loath to leave. More than anything else, he wanted to be where Ezra was, and Ezra was here, in this windowless government place.

But perhaps that was shortsighted.

Ezra would return to the house when his work concluded for the day. Titan had waited this long to see him again—he could wait a few hours more.

“Perhaps this would be wise,” he told Kyle, not looking away from Ezra .

He tried not to feel offended at the way Ezra visibly relaxed upon hearing it.

“Then I will go make transportation arrangements for you,” Kyle said, getting up from his seat and swiftly heading for the door. “I will return shortly.” He pressed his fingers together in that same gesture of subservience—perhaps he simply could not help himself—and dipped out of the room.

A ringing silence followed Kyle’s exit. Titan was still staring at Ezra intently.

Ezra, for his part, was staring down at his hands, where he was drumming his fingers on the table in an arrhythmic pattern.

He was chewing on his lower lip. Titan remembered the feel of those lips on his—remembered nipping them and then soothing them with a kiss.

He wanted to do it again. That was what he longed for most of the time these days.

“Ezra,” he said. Even spoken softly, his voice sounded abrasive in the quiet of the room.

He grunted in acknowledgment, but did not look up.

“Ezra,” he tried again, “why do you not wish to give me your attention?”

Ezra lifted his head and stared at the wall across from him, blowing a breath through his lips and making a trilling sound. At last, he turned and looked at Titan, his kind eyes narrowed and his strong jaw set. “I didn’t think I would see you again,” he said. “At least not anytime soon.”

“I admit that I, too, was surprised to learn of my new assignment here on Earth. I am not displeased with it, however. You have been in my thoughts quite often, Ezra. I wished to be in the same location as you again, and it brings me happiness that this is now a reality. Surely you feel the same?”

Ezra scoffed. “You just don’t quit, do you?

” he asked, shaking his head. “Look, we might have to work together, and—Christ—live together, but I have no intention of spending more time with you than is strictly necessary, all right? I don’t want to hang out with you, I don’t want to chat with you about things that don’t have to do with work, and I especial ly don’t want to… you know. Do what we did last time.”

“You told me that you found me to be an above average mate,” Titan reminded him.

“And I told you that it was a one-time thing,” Ezra reminded him right back, but even as he said the words his eyes raked down Titan’s human disguise, and Titan knew intuitively that Ezra was thinking about the night they had spent together, just like he was.

Titan stood from his chair and walked over to where Ezra perched.

Ezra watched every step he took with trepidation, and by the time Titan reached him and was looming over him, his hands were trembling almost imperceptibly.

Very slowly, Titan reached out and brushed his fingers over a lock of Ezra’s hair, feather-light.

It seemed significant that Ezra, for all his protesting, did not move away.

“I often think about you,” he told Ezra again, voice pitched low. “I think about how well you took me, and of the sounds you made while I was inside of you. Do you think of it also, Ambassador?”

Ezra shuddered.

“Of course I do,” he said, voice nearly a whisper, “but that doesn’t mean jack shit. It was good sex—great sex, even—but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want anything to do with you. I don’t fuck with jerks, man, and you’re as bad as they come.”

“Give me another opportunity to treat you as my mate, and I am certain that it will change your mind.” Feeling bold, he brushed his thumb over Ezra’s lips, making the human gasp in surprise.

“Stop it,” Ezra said, but his voice lacked all authority. In fact, it came out breathless.

Good, Titan thought. He did have an effect on him. He knew that was only logical, but Ezra managed to bring out a side of him that he was not used to—the kind that was full of unfamiliar doubt .

Titan leaned in and whispered, “You will give in to me, Ambassador.”

“Jesus Christ,” Ezra uttered, eyes fluttering shut.

He looked at Titan, eyes blazing so hot that for a split second they almost seemed to flash the bright orange of a flame.

Titan was just about to throw all caution to the wind and capture Ezra’s lips with his when the door to the room opened.

Titan jumped back and Ezra fumbled away, losing his balance and barely catching himself on the counter.

“Human Ezra, are you all right?” Kyle asked, rushing into the room. “What occurred?”

“Fine, I’m fine!” Ezra pulled himself upright and rubbed his side, wincing. “Just lost my balance, that’s all. It’s all that caffeine, you know. It, uh, makes you… clumsy. From all the energy.” He gave a forced chuckle and resumed ignoring Titan entirely.

Kyle looked between the two of them, face scrunched up in confusion. Thankfully, he did not voice the questions in his head. “If you are certain that you are not injured,” he said, “I will lead Master Titan to where his transportation is waiting for him. You are uninjured, correct?”

“M’fine,” Ezra assured him with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“You two go on ahead. I’m just gonna… uh, prepare for my next appointment, I guess.

The grind never stops, or something.” Titan and Kyle stared blankly at him.

He cleared his throat. “That just means that it’s a busy day. Don’t worry about it. You two go on.”

“Very well,” said Kyle. “Master Titan?”

Titan nodded and fell in step behind Kyle. Just before leaving, he shot a quick glance over his shoulder at Ezra. He was pleased to find him looking back, a brilliant shade of red coloring his cheeks.

Titan winked, and the red grew darker.

This was going to be the best assignment of his career.