All I Wanted Was To Become A Scientist But Now I've Got An Alien Boyfriend (Bubble Babes #2)

by Petra Palerno

I hold her in my arms. I know I won’t sleep tonight, but I’m more than happy to be slept on. This is enough for now.

“And when my egg isn’t fertilized, my body dumps out that prep and starts over. We do this shit, regrettably, every month.”

“How can I help? Is there a way to stop it?” “Short of knocking me up?” I laugh, but I stop as soon as I see a grin flash across his face. “Absolutely not, don’t get any ideas.”

“Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?” Obviously at a loss on how to help me, Gra’eth paces and flexes his hands. I can tell he hates not know what to do.

“Why should you be sorry about what your body does naturally?” He seems annoyed I would even ask. “I don’t know, Earthmen are usually annoyed by it.”

“Earthmen sound like f’teeing children. You’re in pain monthly to continue your species, and they feel the need to complain? Are they as weak in form as they are in their constitutions?” He smiles, and I think he flexes a tiny bit to get his point across.

My voice catches in my throat. “They lay an egg?!” “Wait, humans don’t lay eggs?” His face looks completely betrayed. “You said there was an egg! How do humans f’teeing reproduce?” He is just as concerned as I am.

“We push the baby out!” I yell. His face pales. “A live birth? Your young must be small.” There’s a hopeful glisten in his eyes.

I destroy any hope that big dumb gray alien has with one statement. “I weighed ten fuckin...

“Out of there?” Seth points at my crotch. I swear I see him begin to sweat. “Where else ...

“How do you not f’teeing die?!” He’s screaming; we’r...

Seth’s eyes rake up my body, and his pupils dilate. I raise my arms to cover my breasts. The primal glint in his eyes is the same as when he smashed Hi’rey’s face in earlier. “Jessy…”

He thinks I’m his mate, and he has no control over the hormones that I flood into the poor guy’s body. I shouldn’t have done that. I mean fuck, I shouldn’t have kissed him last night. Shit. Shit. Shit. What was I thinking?

From behind the door, he lets out a muffled yell. He sounds more than frustrated. It sounds like pain.

I should be more careful with him—I certainly shouldn’t have kissed him. I’m not sure what I want…yet. Yet? God, I need to be cautious, no matter what my vag is screaming it wants.

Even though she’s objectively a mess, and I’m sure absolutely germ-ridden, she’s my mess.

“You know, it’s okay for me to help you, right?” I say, arching an eyebrow in her direction. Jessy lets out a short burst of air through her nostrils and screws up her mouth.

Jessy’s tone is that of annoyance, her clipped sentences said under her breath. Which, in turn, equally aggravates me. But I know she’s in pain, and pain makes me irritable, too, so I drop it—I

“The entire Earth 2 dorms started last night,” Opal continues on, oblivious. “They synced up, ya know? Poor Hi’rey thought they all caught some weird space plague.”

“Ke’ain, if you think for one ever-loving minute today is the day I’m going to start minding you, you better get your head firmly out of that tight little ass of yours—”

“I’ll go too,” I volunteer. “You don’t have to,” Jessy’s eyes get round, and she looks at me dubiously. “I rarely do things I don’t want to, Red,” I say, crossing my arms.

“If I get word that you so much as upset that precious baby angel right there, I will rip your sucker clean off your body. You will catch these hands, am I clear?” she threatens me under her breath. I hold back a laugh. “I said am I clear, Gra’eth?”

On the docket today? A little self-loathing, followed by a lot of sexual frustration.

“Also, you're as close to a brother as I’ve ever had, so don’t be a such a f’teeing shit about this.”

“Ke’ain—I f’teeing know.” I roll my eyes at his attempt at brotherly advice.

“I’m so f’teeing nice to her! She sleeps in my bed every night while I’m relegated to the couch. I support her financially in any area she needs. I would f’teeing die for the stupid red-maned pain in my ass. You don’t know how nice I am!” I slam my fist down hard, my skin stinging as it makes contact with the top of the desk.

Ke’ain drags a palm down his face. “Make her want to want you. Do something just for her simple pleasure, give her a gift. Don’t make it about being her mate. The humans don’t understand what that means.”

“But you’ve seen her, right? Jessy is likely to walk straight off a landing platform, and she’ll shake anyone’s hand…can you even imagine the germs and injuries she might pick up if left unattended?”

“The humans aren’t as fragile as they seem. Take a deep breath, my friend. If you want to be Jessy’s mate, part of that will be allowing her some more agency.” “I’ll try harder,” I mutter under my breath.

He cocks a brow at me and frowns. “Your mating with Jessy is unfulfilled?” When I nod, Ke’ain is taken aback. “It’s been months. No wonder you’re going insane. I figured you two were at least, well you know…” “We’re not.”

“Thanks for rubbing it in, brother…No, we’re not intimate.” “Well, I think you should really double down on that courting, Gra’eth.” He scrunches his face as if he doesn’t know what to say.

It’s been months. Months of waiting for her to feel an iota of what I do. Despite whatever the hell happened last night, it’s not enough. I know it’s not Jessy’s fault, but that doesn’t make me any less of a mess.

“You have my attention.” His tongue flicks the microphone as he speaks. “I need…Doritos.” “What the f’tee is that?”

It does make my chest puff slightly to see my mate in fi’len garb, but I keep my praise to myself—Jessy, unlike every other human woman I’ve ever met—actively dislikes comments on her physical appearance. Just another one of her quirks, I suppose.

I’ve learned that human women are agitated while on their periods, and rightfully so.

But her scent is back to normal, and I can only assume Jessy’s period has ended. I’m glad for it, as it seems a cruel punishment for only half of their species to bear.

Preach

“Must be pretty bad if you think he’s an ass.” She jabs into my ribs with her elbow as she chuckles. I feign a wince and let a soft smile creep over my face. Baby steps.

“Anything else I need to know? I like being prepared for…well, you know…everything.”

Same girl same

I’ve always deflected hurt with hurt. I’m a real piece of work.

“Fine, but keep the touching to a minimum,” I grumble as I see the cruiser come into view along the horizon. “No touchy—got it,” she sighs, but grabs my hand.

“I know I’m weird, and the fact that I’m uncomfortable with public affection and proclamations sucks. I know you want more. I will try and work through my issues. Let me help these women first.”

There’s a promise, something hopeful in her eyes. Of course, the goddess would give me a mate who makes me wait—me, the picture of impatience. “Once our mi...

One of the things I find frustrating is that the fi’len don’t have cities. They simply relay location based on landmarks. I live at the palace, and everything around the palace is also referred to as “the palace”.

That would annoy me too

If I’m really against having him as a partner, why do I find my hand slipping into his? Why do I crave his fucking touch after I swore off the idea of a physical relationship?

Instead, I use that panic to fuel my drive to help these other women. I hope that I can save someone like I wanted to be saved…I guess like Seth saved me.

Seth’s hand clenches over mine as he rouses from sleep.

I don’t want to be beautiful. I want to be smart, I want to be resourceful, I want to be useful.

I can see Seth getting ready to give him hell. “D-L, Seth, D-L,” I whisper at him before faking a smile of my own.

“Goddess, could you please get those human limbs of yours under control?” His fear shifts so quickly to annoyance that I laugh. “You better knock it off, or I swear I will drown your weak little human body.”

I fucking love the way this jerk tastes, but I’d never admit it to him.