Taken by the Alien Next Door (Aliens Among Us #1) - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,68

said, “but the phone and the computer…I need time for those, Tabitha. Granting you that access would put me at great risk.”

“What if I prove you can trust me?”

“Just give me time, Nykasha,” he said again, gently. “We will get there.”

Tabitha glanced down at Dexter, gave him another strip of bacon, then looked back at Zevris. She smiled. “Okay. I accept.”

Relief and excitement flooded Zevris, surging so quickly and powerfully that he felt like he would burst. All he could do was grin at her like a damned fool.

Tabitha Mathews, you are mine.

Fifteen

At least a hundred new scents had taken up residence in Zevris’s dwelling, each one vying for dominance over the rest but none managing to achieve that goal. He was handling the plethora of smells better than he’d anticipated. He wasn’t sure whether that was because they’d only been introduced a few at a time as he’d brought boxes full of supplies over or because the jumbled smells cancelled each other out, but it didn’t matter.

All that mattered was visible before him.

He was standing in the doorway of his spare first-floor room, shoulder leaned against the doorframe, watching as Tabitha arranged her workspace. She was focused and efficient, yet at the same time had grown quite relaxed. She’d made several amusing comments as she’d sorted the scents and colors, and she’d stopped more than a few times to open a container, sniff its contents, and make a pleased hum.

She was in her element now, and though he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt her, he found her passion and excitement astoundingly arousing. But if he were being honest with himself, there wasn’t anything about her that he didn’t find astoundingly arousing. His gaze dipped down to her luscious ass.

He was going to have to learn how to live with a permanent erection, because his cock refused to ease. The damned thing was making Dexter look well behaved.

At least he could be thankful that the scent that had affected him the day he’d given her the cactus was either absent or overwhelmed by the others. In his current state of arousal, that smell would’ve been too much to bear, and might very well have pushed him to break his word to her.

Reminder of that event, of his loss of control, brought a frown to his face. He didn’t know of any aphrodisiacs with so powerful an effect on falorans, especially not any that worked by scent alone. Learning what he could about it would be prudent—both to report back to the ultricar and to prevent himself from being overcome by it again.

Reluctant as he was to disturb his female’s work, he needed to ask while it was fresh on his mind. “Tabitha?”

She looked up at him as she opened another box. “Yeah?”

“The day I brought you the cactus, there was a strong scent in your home. What was it?”

Her brows creased. “I’m…not sure. There’s usually a lot of strong scents going on while I’m working.”

“It was extremely prominent. It seemed floral, but not a flower with which I am familiar. You had spilled it on your apron.”

“Oh! That was lily of the valley.” She smiled sheepishly as she returned her attention to the box, taking out bars of soap and stacking them neatly on the shelving he’d installed. She kept them together based on their colorations and designs. “I hadn’t been expecting company, so I was kind of…in the zone. When you rang the doorbell, I was walking with the bottle of scent, and Dexter jumped up in front of me. It startled me, and I dropped the bottle. Some spilled on the floor, but most of it wound up on me.

“Why do you ask?”

Just curious might have been the easiest answer, but his cock chose that moment to throb, making a deep ache resonate through his lower belly as though to remind him of what had happened.

“It had an…unexpected effect on me.”

Tabitha looked at him, tilted her head to the side, and lowered her eyebrows. Her gaze dipped down his body. Her eyes flared, and she quickly turned away, skin flushed. Her motions were noticeably quicker as she resumed stacking soap on the shelf.

She’d seen his erection.

He chuckled. She was not unaffected by him, and he found her reactions adorable. She was a shy female when it came to sex. He couldn’t wait to see pleasure brighten her eyes, couldn’t wait to watch her come undone beneath him, couldn’t wait until she gained the confidence to take all the