chin, and she's so curvy and dainty against my chest that it makes me want to crush her against me and never let her go. Seeing her like this—with me—does strange things to my heart. But she watches me in the mirror with expectant eyes and I force myself to focus. Right. I can moon over how beautiful she is later.
"The mirrors get steamy," I tell her. "I saw a human vid once where they left each other messages in the steam. They wrote on the mirror. I used to make it a thing with Zoey. I'd leave her a message, and then she'd leave me one. I left her a message on our ship for her, but I figured you could leave one here? That way if—uh, when—you see the others again, you can share it with them."
Her pleasure fades at my little slipup. But she smiles anyhow, and nods. "Leave secret messages. I like it. Does it matter if I write in English? I don't know your language."
"Sure, that should be fine. In fact, if you want to write something out, I can walk you through it." I beam innocently at her.
Jade thinks for a moment. "Can you write 'Please send food'?"
"Of course." I move toward the mirror, soap my finger with some of the cleaner on the sink, and then begin to write in my language's blocky, formal letters. I leave a short, silly message instead. "There."
Jade watches with her head slightly tilted. She taps the mirror and one of the symbols. "How do you say this character?" I pronounce it for her, then deliberately pick one in the middle of the stream, and teach her that one, too. We go over the sounds, Jade's lips moving as she tries to memorize them. I'm impressed by her cleverness. She never takes a moment to stop learning. Everything is a weapon and she wants to be prepared.
"Sa-zhed-li-is-ka-mro-da-sha-nal-vru-ta-li," she says slowly. She repeats it, faster, and it still doesn't sound quite like my language, but enough that I can tell when her translator picks it up. "Sa zhedli iska mroda shanal vru tali? I am naughty girl, spank me?"
I can't help it, I chortle. "If you're asking, I'll gladly spank you."
"Adiron!" Her expression is utterly exasperated. "Are you ever serious?"
"Never," I admit. "What's the point? If you want to write sad things in the mirror, go for it. But you're better off smiling and spending your time in pleasant ways."
She glares up at me, but her glare softens ever so slightly when I move closer and put a hand to her waist. "It should have said 'naughty boy' instead of girl," she chides me, but her expression is no longer irked. She looks thoughtful. Distracted. And she's gazing at my mouth.
"But then I wouldn't have the opportunity to spank you," I point out. I pick her up, lifting her onto the counter so we're close to the same height. She doesn't complain, just watches me with those fascinating amber-colored eyes. "I guess we can skip the spanking if you want to move right along to the end-of-the-date kiss."
"Who says you deserve a kiss anymore after that stunt?" She arches a delicate brow at me.
"Me." I grin at her and lean in. "Come on. You know you want to kiss me. How can you resist?"
She snorts.
I sidle a little closer, until my hips are pressed against the countertop and her legs are on either side of me. I take her hand and put it on my shoulder, and her lips twitch with amusement. Oh yeah, she wants to kiss me, I think. She just doesn't want to admit it. I lean in, moving ever closer, and ask, "Is your mouth off limits? Or should I kiss other things first and save the best for last?"
"I thought aliens didn't kiss," Jade points out. "It's unhygienic, remember?" But her hand slides to the base of my neck and her other arm lifts to go around me, her face tilted up toward mine. Her eyes are soft as she gazes up at me, her pretty mouth parted as if she's just waiting for me, and my cock hardens in my pants at the sight.
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
"Some don't. There's all kinds of hygiene laws on Homeworld, but last I checked, we weren't on Homeworld." I grin down at her, moving close enough that I can rub the tip of my nose against hers and feel her warm breath. "And I've watched so many human