Page 10 of Two Aliens Are Better Than One (Bodyguards in Space #1)

Chapter 9

Vaelu

I t didn’t escape my notice when Relzo started taking measures to avoid Lucky. He still claimed that we were going to ask her out, but was doing everything he could to not bump into her. I let him have this, because I wasn’t in a hurry. Behind the mental gymnastics of his excuses, I sensed an intense fear. He was convinced that opening up to her would mean losing her, and I let him have time to process that.

While I managed my reaction to the attempted kidnapping and the bonding, I’d rescheduled all of my therapy sessions. My clients were draining in a way that I hoped Relzo could ease, but I wasn’t ready for that kind of stress yet, so we spent our days at home. I agreed to only one meeting — the one with the research project I was funding. The meeting with Lucky’s boss. Because while Relzo wallowed in uncertainty, I wanted nothing more than to get a read on her.

I asked Relzo to stay behind, attempting to put some distance between me and his insistent sexual need for his friend. When I got into the labs twenty minutes early, Jaia hadn’t arrived yet. Lucky was in her office, staring at a computer screen, and I tapped lightly on her open door. Her eyes were glazed over, and for a moment, I thought maybe I’d caught her sleeping again.

“The admiral assured me the flooring insulation has indeed been fixed.”

“Huh?” She jolted, glancing back at me, her bright indigo eyes taking a moment to register my presence. She blinked slowly for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, it’s much quieter. Thank you.”

“Good.”

“My sister is investigating the source of the sound today. She wants to have a talk with the man in the apartment below mine.”

“So your dazed expression had nothing to do with poor sleep, I take it?” I walked over and settled against the edge of her desk, and she shifted slightly closer to me. My body had always responded to hers, but with Relzo’s bond threaded through my consciousness it was far more difficult to control.

She chuckled softly, looking up at me through her lashes. “Nope. Nothing to do with poor sleep, and everything to do with my infatuation with your new bodyguard.” She sighed and massaged her temples, staring at the computer screen for a moment, then frowned. “Don’t tell him I said that. Why did I say that?”

“I have a way with people,” I said.

“You really don’t.” She blinked, a pink flush coloring her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. You’re just pretty rude.”

“I struggle with words. Verbal communication can be challenging for me, and I don’t always say what I mean. Some people misinterpret it as rudeness.” I shot her a pointed look and she grinned, her cheeks turning a little pinker. “But it’s not intended that way.”

“Really? I thought the velasu were incredible communicators.”

“Incredible telepathic communicators,” I said, smirking. “Which is a different skill entirely, compared to making proper words come out of your mouth. The mind is more supple, and even if I can’t find the right phrase I can push an emotion or image.”

She blinked slowly for a moment, and I realized she hadn’t known I was a telepath. “Well, that explains a lot. So your clients aren’t sex clients?”

I burst out laughing. “I help them with trauma and other psychological issues, but I don’t have sex with them. Sex is… difficult for me.”

“Can’t get it up?” Her eyes dropped to my dick, and I clearly heard her wondering how big it was.

“That’s where you went with it?” I scratched the back of my head, trying to control my smile, but it was inching across my lips anyway. This kind of happy, teasing flirting felt foreign, but I didn’t hate it.

“What can I say? I have a nimble mind. You’re different than I thought you’d be. I’m sorry if I was rude to you. Jaia called you an elite,, and in my mind that meant you were some kind of wealthy snob. But a simple internet search might have explained more.”

“She shouldn’t have called me that. I hate that word,” I mumbled. She reached out to touch my hand and I flinched away, then felt the rush of hurt from her almost instantly. “My powers are enhanced by skin-to-skin contact.”

“Sex is difficult for you,” she said, nodding. “Well, that makes sense. Wait. Doesn’t that make sex fun?” And her mind was off, wandering into territory that made my cock swell again. I shifted in my seat, trying to hide my growing arousal.

“It’s hard to stay detached and simply enjoy the pleasure when you hear your partner make a grocery list in her head, or when any amount of skin-to-skin contact could cause you to bond to a person for life.” I hesitated, then sighed. “And when some women know that and want desperately to be joined to you in that way.”

She frowned, her fingers reaching for mine again, then stopping just inches from my skin. “Sorry, I have this urge to comfort you,” she said, grinning wryly. “I’m a hugger, when I like people.”

“I like you, too. You treat me like a person.”

“Right, that made sense.”

I shrugged. “Most people treat me like I’m something to be worshipped from afar, not a person they could know and enjoy.”

“Or find irritating.” She narrowed her eyes at me, but there was a teasing sparkle in them again.

“Or find incredibly sexy.”

“Oh fuck. You’re a goddamn telepath,” she said, slamming her head down on her desk. “Leave me. I’ve died of embarrassment.”

I burst out laughing. “Not to worry; I find you sexy, too,” I whispered, just before the door whooshed open and Jaia came striding in. I left Lucky where she was and went out to the main office to talk to the lead scientist about her project.