"Did you know before we had sex or after?"

"After." Blunt as always.

"Is that how it works? Does everyone find out only after they have sex?"

"Yes. I believe humans and An'eo are different in their attractions. We do not feel the desire to sleep with almost anyone. It is not uncommon for years to pass between compatible sexual attraction." His hands weave through my hair, rubbing the ends between his fingers.

"Interesting...I think you've got us wrong though. We don't want to sleep with everyone we meet either." I chuckle into his chest. "Why didn't you tell me about hair being sacred?"

"Our first night together, you ran your fingers through it. It was passion and lust but also innocence. You did not know of our customs. Your desire was uninhibited. When you ran your fingers through my hair it was as if I had never seen the sun and your fingers gave me sight. I want you to touch me whenever you want to without hesitation." His hands move down to my hip, trailing slowly over the fabric of my pants.

"Am I going to be a distraction to you with this challenge?"

"Yes. But I will still win." He sounds completely sure.

"Ronan. I'm serious," I sit up so that I can see his face. "If I need to go hide out in Clarisse's room, I will. You can't get hurt because of me."

"If you keep yourself from me I will be distracted more so than if you are near." His fingers slip down past the hem of my pants and his other arm moves up, under his head. Stopping his slow movement, he sits up and picks up the pillow. "What is this?" He holds my keychain up.

"Oh," I smile, the way I always do when I see it. "That's just a keychain."

"What does it do?"

"It's just a little... personal flare, like a decoration, for your keys." Why are some things so difficult to explain?

"What is its purpose?" He still doesn't get it. I've noticed they don't really 'do' decor. Nonessential items like decorations or trinkets don't have a place here.

"It doesn't really serve a purpose. Some people collect them, some were functional like a bottle opener or a tiny flashlight, or a Swiss army knife. They are just cute or silly."

"Why was it in the bed?"

"When you were gone I felt lonely at night. That keychain is comforting to me, which is ridiculous, I know." I take it from his open hand. "My dad bought it on our last vacation before my parents died. We went to Myrtle Beach. Beach towns or touristy places always have little souvenir shops that have the same junk in each store but my mom liked to look anyway. In one of them, we found this keychain. I was wearing shoes that looked just like these. Blue Chuck Taylors with little flowers embroidered on them. We all thought it was funny..." I trace my fingers over the little shoe.

"You had no siblings?"

"Nope," I pull him back down into the pillows. "It was just me. My parents were older. They had both been married before and had no children. They divorced later in life and met each other. They always said that they were each others 'second chance.' I was a miracle baby." I cringe thinking of myself as that.

"Divorce?"

"Uh, to end a marriage? Do An'eo get married?"

"An'eo have unions, partnerships, but I believe it is not the same."

"Well, my parents were both married to other people. My mom always said that it was fate that they even met. Her ex-husband had been very controlling and he didn't allow her to drink."

"How did she survive?" He looks shocked.

"Oh, no, um alcohol. She still drank water." My lips roll into my mouth to keep from laughing. The word 'cute' isn't one that comes to mind often when I think of Ronan but sometimes he really is. "Thats just a sort of universally understood way to say you abstain from alcohol. Saying ' I don't drink' is understood to mean someone is sober."

"For what reason was she forced to abstain?"

"Control, I guess. He wasn't a nice man. But that's how she met my dad. On the day the divorce was finalized, she stopped at a bar for a drink. My dad was there with his brother. It was the one-year anniversary of his divorce and he hadn't been on any dates so my uncle forced him to come out. He always said that he thought an angel walked through the door when mom walked in." My chest tingles, the way it always does when I think about my parents.

Reaching for my backpack on the floor, I pull my most prized possession from the front pocket.

His nose scrunches slightly as he stares down at it.

"How did you make this?"

"It's a picture, a photograph. You take it with a camera. I don't actually know how a camera works if I'm being completely honest." I can only shrug. "Do you not take pictures?"

"Not of people. We capture scans of the terrain to create electronic files for mapping, routing, or planning. What is this used for?"

"It's just to remember. I haven't seen my parents in a long time but I can look at this picture and I'm right back there. I can hear my dad's loud, infectious laugh. I can smell the cinnamon in the air. This was Christmas day 1976. I had just turned twenty. I didn't know it at the time but we only had one Christmas left together..."

"They seem very happy."

"They were."

He pulls me toward him, placing his chin down on the top of my head.

"My mom started noticeably forgetting things in the weeks after that picture was taken. At first, we thought it was just forgetfulness but one day she called my dad by her ex-husband's name. The doctors said it was rapidly progressive dementia. She died less than two years later at sixty-eight. Thirty-six days later, dad was gone too. They said it was heart failure but I think it was a broken heart that took him. He couldn't survive without her."

I'm not sure why I'm telling him all of this, but it feels good to talk about them. After they died, I threw myself into school. I never talked about them to anyone.

"I cannot comprehend the sadness you must have felt," his arms engulf me, holding me against the warmth of his chest.

"It was very hard, but in an inexplicable way, I was relieved. Dad didn't have to be without her."

"But then you were alone."

"I was but you have to sacrifice sometimes for your loved ones. They needed each other."

"What did you do?" His fingers rub against my skin.

"I continued going to school, finishing my Ph.D. program, and ultimately volunteering for the research project that led me here. I really hoped that we could figure out a way to stop and reverse dementia."

After a moment of silence, he sighs, "Secondary Commander is my brother."

"Ronan," I crane my neck to look at him. "I would love to hear about your family but please don't feel like you have to share with me because I told you about mine."

With his fingers gripping my chin, he tilts my head back further to kiss me. He takes the breath right out of my lungs. A soft, warm feeling spreads through me, starting in my chest and flowing outward to my limbs.

Unlike our previous kisses, this is romantic, sweet, and caring. All of my senses are dull, completely overpowered by the building urgency in my blood.

Just as suddenly as he began the kiss, he ends it, pulling back, swiping his tongue over his bottom lip.

"Your lips distract me," the subtle scratch in his voice is definitely aiding in the release of my pheromones.

Dropping his head back into the pillow, he takes a deep breath. "My brother challenged me when I became commander of Earth fleet. After winning I sent him on a scouting mission to set the location for our next metropolis. He has remained there for two earth years. I believe he is instigating the Elite Technicians challenge."

"Olexa thinks that he will demand your death if he wins." The thought makes my insides flip-flop.

"I do not doubt he will."

"Your brother would instigate a challenge that would see you killed if you don't win? Why?"

"I will win," his large hand comes up to hold my face, running his thumb over my lips. "I out-trained him. He believes our father gave me an advantage by training with me but I woke early every day to meet him at the training grounds. Caelum was welcome to join. It was his choice. When I was named commander he felt he was robbed of the opportunity."

"What an asshole!"

The thunderous laughter that fills the air around us makes my insides flip flop again but this time for a different reason.

Lunging forward, I grab his face and pull him forward. On instinct, my body draws closer to his, wrapping around him, melting into him, pressing together everywhere. Breaking the kiss only to pull my shirt over my head, I control the tempo, the depth, and the length of each sweeping pass of our lips.

Spreading my fingers through his hair, rubbing against his scalp, his composure starts to crack.

"Nicole," he warns as I press down, letting my need rub against his.

"Ronan, I need you now," I bite his earlobe gently and he flips us over on the bed, trapping me below his body.

"I am supposed to train with Macsen tonight," he growls, thrusting his hips forward, rubbing himself against me. "He can wait until tomorrow."

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