I Married An Alien by Emma Daniels, Ethan Somerville

particularly when he insisted on feeding me the evening meal that was brought to us at twilight. We went outside and sat on the terrace where a cool evening breeze washed over us, and watched the red sunset dip over Terron’s thrashing deep blue ocean.
    I had never felt so pampered in my life, and the fact that it was coming from such a drop-dead gorgeous male made it even more awesome. All he had on was a pair of loose green tie-up pants that hung low on his lean hips. He looked good enough to eat as he sat beside me and popped small portions of food into my mouth. Jordan looked relaxed, almost happy, as he attended to me like a servant. For someone who had been treated like one for as long as I could remember, it made me feel a tad uncomfortable.
    “ This is part of our custom,” he explained as he fed me a ripe, plump strawberry. Well, it looked like a strawberry, but it tasted more like a juicy lolly.
    “ So when is it my turn to feed you?” I asked as I licked my lips, conscious of Jordan watching me intently, despite the dim light. The sun had just set, and stars were starting to speckle the sky like a child’s paint dot picture, and the first of the planet’s three moons was rising in the eastern sky. The other two, when they appeared, reminded me of that Dr Who episode when Earth had been dragged from its orbit and repositioned in a sky bristling with planets and moons. It was an eerie sight to someone who had looked up at the same night sky all their lives.
    “ You don’t. I feed you, even when we are back at the farm, I will cook for you and serve your meals, and whenever possible, feed you from my own hand… Yes I know your world does it the other way round, but you are in my world now, and that is one custom I will not have it altered no matter how much you protest.”
    “ Was I protesting?” I asked, knowing full well he’d seen my startled expression. But I’d never heard of men doing the cooking in any culture, or any period of time. The only men I knew who cooked got paid handsomely for it.
    Jordan nodded as he picked up another slice of fruit that looked like mango, but tasted even better when he slid it into my mouth. Leaning closer, he followed it with his tongue, licking the excess juices from my lips. I shivered, not from cold, but delight. It was probably the sweetest most sensitive thing I had ever experienced. Just why was this beautiful man I barely knew being so nice to me?
    I shifted in my chair, and sat back, so that he was compelled to break what had been very quickly turning into a very passionate kiss.
    “ What’s wrong?” he asked, still with his face close to mine. “Do I not please you?”
    “ You please me way too much…" I trailed off, rubbing my hands over my face.
    “ Then what’s the problem? You keep drawing back. Am I moving too fast for you?”
    “ I think we’ve already done just about everything imaginable, haven’t we?” I said with a shaky laugh.
    Jordan shook his head. ‘We haven’t even begun. We start by exploring each other’s bodies. Then explore one another’s minds. We learn to live together–"
    “ Oh, dear Jordan, if only I could,” I said sadly, the whole scenario was so appealing, I really wished it would go on forever. I really did, but I still had no idea when Professor Jackson would get his act together and pull me out of Anita’s mind!
    Jordan placed both his hands against my thighs, forcing me to meet his silvery-blue eyes. They looked so beautiful in the half light. Due to the three moons, night time on Terron rarely grew darker than a badly overcast day on Earth. The second moon had risen and was casting Jordan’s handsome face into stark relief. He looked even more gorgeous in the double light. I could fall in love with this man in an instant, I realized. I would return back to my cumbersome, middle-aged body with a broken heart if I didn’t put some distance between us. And to do this I had to tell him who I really was.
    “