Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Three

He looked into my eyes, searching, like someone lost, then down at my hand with knit brows. "I do trust you," he said seriously. He sounded slightly confused, as if he couldn't understand himself putting his trust in a foreign being. And I could understand that, of course.

I nodded and smiled. "I trust you too. And I mean that. You can trust me, because I never lie, and I guess you could call me stubborn or hard headed."

"Okay. What do we do now?" he asked, sounding tired. Which reminded me of the weariness setting in my bones, my mind moving in a sluggish mass.

"I guess we can go to sleep now. Do you sleep on your planet?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, but it was only for a couple of hours. It never gets dark there," he said distantly. "The sky is a... violet shade, with two dark periods a year."

I nodded while thinking about it, then blushed when I thought of changing into my PJ's. He looked at me with a curious tilt to his head. That seemed common with him.

"Um...I need to change. To sleep," I clarified and grabbed my soft cotton shorts and baggy t-shirt.

"You have to change to sleep? Is it impossible to sleep in what you are?" he asked in confusion. I smiled once again.

"I don't change form like you, unfortunately. I meant, I change clothes into softer ones. Here," I said as I threw him a pair of PJ's that my brother had had. They were dark blue with green plaid stripes. I also threw him a white t-shirt. He caught them with the ease of a cat. Which is what I found myself often comparing him to subconsciously.

"Do you remember how to dress yourself the way I taught you before?" I asked hesitantly.

"Of course. My mind is 50 times the capacity of a human." That fact made my heart stutter, but I chose to file that info away. I went out into the restroom to change, and when I came back, he was dressed and ready to sleep. I turned down my radio to a whisper and laid out a pallet to lay on.

"Don't you sleep on the soft square?" he asked, standing to the side of the bed and I looked up from where I lay under the covers. My brain winced at yet another question. My eyelids felt like ten pound weights pulled them down.

"Yes, but you're the guest and I'm using my manners. Just lay down on it and go under the blankets. And it's called a bed." When I heard the creak of the bed under his weight with him settling in, I turned off the light. He tossed and turned for about ten minutes, then he was still. I fell asleep almost instantly.

***************************************************************************

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was a warm presence beside me. When I say warm, I mean burning to the point of me sweating, my blankets turned into a furnace cocoon. Turning my head revealed Jace laying there still as can be. His green eyes were open, watching me with a spray of lashes. My breath caught at his startling closeness, at the sight of his newly cut hair tousled and rumpled clothes. My nerve endings tingled with awareness.

"Sleep well?" I asked, yawning. I hoped to God I didn't have morning breath or dried drool marking a trail down my chin.

"Yes. For about three hours. What about you?" I cringed. Three hours? Even 8 didn't seem enough.

"Yes, thank you. How was the bed?" I felt the small of my back ache at the mention of it. Nice...fluffy... bed. I sighed.

"It was too soft. It feels better down here. And it feels better with you near. You look...interesting when you shut down." He didn't look embarrassed at the depth of his words, but I certainly felt my stomach do a fluttery flip. He was so innocent and unknowing, like a child. A part of me hoped that he wouldn't say things like that to anyone else.