Touched by an Alien

making me moan with desire.
    He flipped us so I was lying down and he was on top of me, and within a few moments we were making love again. It was fast but not rushed, like doing it in your parents’ house when they could come home at any minute—the urgency made it better, hotter, and our simultaneous climax was intense.
    Our bodies finally stilled, and we redressed. Making love mostly clothed was becoming something I wanted to do a lot more of. Every few minutes, if I could get away with it.
    I snuggled next to him again, and he put his arm around me. “Fantasy Island” was almost over.
    “Jeff? Does anyone come here besides you?”
    “No, not really.” There was a significant pause. “Christopher used to, when Aunt Terry was alive. And Lissa did.” I decided not to react. He kissed my head. “She was going to choose Christopher, remember?”
    Oh, right. Empath with no blocks against me. “I know.”
    “But it’s kind of flattering that you feel a little jealous. I swear, I don’t have a wife hidden somewhere.” He slid a finger along my jaw and moved my head so I was looking at him. “I want to marry you .”
    “Christopher and everyone else says we won’t be allowed to get married. Ever.”
    He shrugged. “I don’t have to stay here, you know. I could leave.”
    “How? I mean, really, Jeff, how? I can easily imagine you needing the same medical care as the other day and then what? You die? You’re imprisoned for Earth doctors to torture and dissect?” I could see these things happening, and I had to bury my face in his chest.
    “Oh, baby, it won’t be like that.” He stroked my head and my back.
    “No,” I forced my head back up. “It will be just like that. I love you, Jeff. I can’t ask you to leave your people just to be with me.”
    He stroked my face. “I don’t want to live without you.”
    My turn to shrug. “I’m a modern girl.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “No one’s told you not to be with me, not to sleep with me, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Well, it’s not like babies show up only if you have a marriage license.”
    I saw the realization of what I was saying dawn on him. “But … I can’t ask you to do that.”
    “Human couples do it all the time. Would I rather be married, walk down the aisle, go under the canopy, visit a justice of the peace, get married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas? Sure, it’d make my family happy. But … I’d rather be with you, without pain and angst, without you becoming ostracized or worse by your family.”
    “But you’ll be ostracized by yours.”
    I thought about it. “No, I won’t be. Mom and Dad understand all that’s going on. If they say they’re good with it, no one else will fight too hard.” I had to laugh. “They did something similar to this, too, when they met.”
    “Your parents don’t like me all that much.”
    “Christopher says my dad likes you a lot. Frankly, he got all happy the moment you said you wanted to marry me and have a lot of kids. I think he’s good with it.”
    “What about your mother?”
    “I think she wanted me to be with someone who wasn’t going to be at risk of death all the time.” I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “But she’s fine with it. She likes you more than you think she does.”
    “True. I don’t pick up hatred from her. Just worry.”
    “Because she’s sane. I worry about you, too.”
    He grinned. “No idea why.”
    “Because,” a male voice I’d never heard before said, “you’re going to die.”

CHAPTER 60
    MARTINI MOVED US OFF THE COUCH at hyperspeed. We couldn’t get out of the room, though, because there was a man standing in the doorway.
    I recognized him. “Ronald Yates, what a total displeasure.” So much for those rumors of him being in some Saudi Arabian palace.
    He looked point-blank awful. “Yes, for you in particular, my dear.”
    “I’m not your dear.”
    “No, you’re Jeffrey’s.” His smile was quite evil, making Beverly’s look merely tame.
    “How the hell did you get in here?” Martini shoved me behind himself.
    I looked down at Yates’ pant legs. “He came in through the pipe.” I looked up at his face. “You flew off, changed, and snuck back.” Yates smiled. “But I told my mother to get security on that pipe.” Yates smirked and I examined his pants again. They were grossed out, but they were also dry. “Oh. I wasn’t imagining that noise behind us, was I?”
    “No. You’re far more observant than Jeffrey