Page 22 of The Alien Who Saved Christmas

Sadie was important. More important than anything. Every single part of him knew it.

Xane considered his options. There weren’t any.

Caring for her might cause him even greater devastation when she left.

But he was already in so deep with her that her absence would likely kill him, anyway.

And if he did as she asked, Sadie might be willing to stay with him longer.

Anything that gave him a chance at more time with her was worth the potential cost.

“I will be everything you want me to be. Just show me how.”

“Really? You’ll change your whole mindset, just like that?”

“There is nothing I won’t change to keep my wife.”

“Oh.” Sadie cleared her throat. “Okay… Um… Well, I guess I could try to teach you. I feel like you’re someone who learns best by doing, right?”

“Rtaharion prefer things to be tangible.” He reiterated. “Provable. That is why this entire concept of ‘caring’ is difficult for me. It will take time.”

“That’s fine, just so you’re trying.”

He relaxed some, because she sounded happy with his efforts.

“So, feelings and actions connecting would work best for you.” She paused for a beat. “Right. Um, could you come over here and hand me a towel? Wait, do you have towels in space?”

It took him a second to register her meaning. Even then, he didn’t fully believe it. “What?” He slowly turned back around, attempting to keep his eyes on her face. It was only a marginally successful endeavor.

“I’m done showering.” She hit random buttons of the hygiene control panel, attempting to shut off the pod. “I want you to dry me off, now.”

In a daze, Xane opened the cabinet build into the wall and retrieved a compressed towel. He shook it sharply to undo the density-tech folds and unleash its true size.

Sadie’s eyes widened when the minuscule block expanded into a large rectangle of fabric. “Whoa!”

“It saves space on ships.” He took a careful step forward, wrapping it around her abundant human curves.

She allowed him to set her on the ground. “Well, it’s super-cool. It would really help with fitting everything into a suitcase. Airplanes always screw you over on the luggage fees.”

Xane didn’t know what an “airplane” was, but he understood that she was impressed with the towel. “You are pleased with very simple things, at times. It makes me see the world differently.”

He should step back and allow her space, but he couldn’t get his feet to work. Her skin was so exotic and beautiful. He began drying her off, because he couldn’t help himself.

“Since I was marooned inside the Dune series, I’ve been seeing everything differently.” Sadie stood still and let him rub the towel over her body. “Is this helping or hurting your ‘painful arousal’?

“Hurting.” But he would take the torture of it a thousand times over, before he relinquished a chance to touch his wife. An enraged montorus could have charged through the door and he wouldn’t have been able to look away. His attention was transfixed on his task.

Sadie chewed her lower lip. “Before our third date, I’ll shave my legs and maybe lose weight.” She blurted out, flushing under his rapt gaze.

Xane shot her a mystified look. “Why?”

“To be more attractive.” Her tone was uncharacteristically serious.

“ More attractive?” He scoffed. “It’s impossible for you to be more attractive than you already are. Change nothing. You are a work of art.”

Sadie stared at him.

Xane stared back.

Then, she sent him a luminous grin that magnet-wiped his brain.

Xane felt himself falling into a trance.

She said something that he couldn’t quite comprehend.

He could see her lips move, but there was a beating in his head that drowned out the sound of her words.

He was pretty sure it was his heart. Maybe his translator was broken, because when she smiled at him, his pulse increased and he had trouble following the conversation.

“Huh?” He said stupidly.

“I said, I know we haven’t had our third date yet… but we have had two.”

“Yes. Two.” While Xane had no recollection of eating any dried fruit with her, he certainly wasn’t going to argue the matter.

Somehow he’d accomplished two-thirds of whatever it was that Sadie wanted.

That was a victory. If she wasn’t “sure” about him until he acquired more dates, he would get them and continue earning her favor.

Maybe the local market sold them. He should check.

Men were trying to kill him in town, but it was worth the risk.

“I will be patient, until you are satisfied with my efforts.” He assured her.

Sadie shifted closer to him. “Sometimes humans do things before sex. You know? To kind of work up to it.”

He tried to focus on her words. He really, really did.

But her breasts grazed his torso and that wiped out all his cognitive functions.

Without any consultation from his brain, two of his clawed thumbs grazed over her nipples.

When they tightened into harder buds, he groaned.

So pretty. He shifted position, so her back was to the wall and he was in front of her.

Trapping her body. It was instinctive. He needed more.

A shiver passed through Sadie’s body, and she leaned in closer to him. “So what do you think?” She whispered.

He thought her breasts were magnificent.

It was astonishing that she allowed him access to anything so perfect.

His fingers were on them, and she wasn’t pulling away.

He could’ve happily feasted on that triumph forever.

He cupped their weight, loving how they filled his palms. Loving how soft they were and how they jiggled slightly when he squeezed them.

“Xane?”

He forced himself to meet her eyes and realized he once again had no clue what she’d just said. “What?”

“I asked if you want to make me come.”