Alien Tango

lasted a good long time, and he ended it slowly. I leaned my head against his collarbone. “I’m still hungry.”
    “I know. You ready to go back with the others?”
    “Maybe. Where’re the alligators?”
    “Being wrangled. Not sure if they’re still in the building or not.”
    “I can stay right here.”
    He laughed and put me down. I didn’t want to be down, and I tried to crawl back up. Martini tried to get me onto the ground, but I wasn’t having any of it. He wrapped his arms around me but I kept on attempting to get back up. He kissed me as, I was sure, a distraction, but even this didn’t make me stop. Alliflash wanted to eat me .
    Somehow, his hands stopped trying to get me to stay on the ground, and instead one was wrapped in my hair and the other was pushing my pelvis into his. My hands imitated his, one running through his hair and the other clutching his back. He removed my purse and dropped it on the ground, then moved us into a corner, his body grinding against mine. My tears were gone, wiped away by his mouth and body.
    Surviving death was a major turn on. Making out with the man who’d saved me from being alligator bait was more of one. Martini moved his mouth to my neck, and I moaned as my legs tightened around him.
    He jerked, just a little, and it wasn’t a sexual kind of movement.
    Even though we were in a hallway, we were both ready to go for it. But there were alligators on the loose, not to mention a lot of people. And Martini was still hurt. That jerk had been from pain, and I knew it, even if I also knew he wasn’t going to admit it.
    I let my legs drop. “Jeff, we shouldn’t. Someone could come by any time.”
    He sighed. “You’re probably right.” He set me down, and this time I didn’t protest because that had been too easy and I was too worried about him.
    “How do you feel? Did Lorraine give you something?”
    “I’m okay, and you mean other than a tongue-lashing? Yeah. I got another shot. In my arm, not adrenaline,” he added quickly due to, I assumed, the look of horror on my face. “She said I could take some aspirin if I needed it.”
    “I have some in my purse if you want it.”
    “You have everything in there.” He pulled away from me and grinned. “Anything you don’t carry in the magic suitcase?”
    “It’s not quite that big.” I stroked him. “Not nearly as big as this.”
    He gave a low growl and kissed me, strongly. “Have I mentioned I’m glad you’re such a bad girl?” He knelt down and rummaged in my purse.
    “Once or twice. Have I mentioned I like how you punish me for it?”
    “Once or twice.” He sighed. “I can never find anything in here. I don’t feel that bad, baby. I can probably wait.”
    I gave him a once over. Okay, a twice over. I never got tired of looking at him. “Well, you look terrible, but if you think you can make it, we could wait and get aspirin from Lorraine.”
    “Wow, you say the nicest things.” Martini looked up at me, and his expression changed. It was the same as he’d had in the maintenance closet at Saguaro International—he looked like he wanted to tell me or ask me something important. My mouth went dry, and my chest felt tight all of a sudden. “Kitty . . . I—”
    “What in the world’s been taking the two of you so long?” Alfred’s voice came from down the hall.
    Just as in the maintenance closet, Martini’s eyes closed, and his expression changed. Disappointment washed over his face; then he looked back down at my purse—whatever moment we were about to have was gone again. I tried to keep the disappointment from washing over me. For all I knew, he wasn’t really trying to do what I sort of thought he was. Maybe he was just planning to tell me he wanted me to change deodorants or something.
    “Just trying to get Kitty calmed down, Dad,” Martini said, still rummaging in my purse. “Thought someone else might be able to handle the situation now that the danger was past.”
    Alfred was nearer to us. I saw his eyes go back and forth between me and Martini. He gave me a gentle smile. “How are you doing? I heard one of the alligators tried to get you.”
    “Okay. Better due to Jeff saving me from being Alliflash-food.”
    “Alliflash?” Alfred sounded confused.
    Martini looked over his shoulder. “Trust me, Dad. She named it.” He looked up at me. “What’d you call the other one?”
    I felt my cheeks get hot. “Gigantagator.”
    He grinned at me. “I love you.” He