Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Zane was a little confounded by her. Yet found his ego swelling, too.
“I’m glad you find this funny,” he said with sternness in his voice but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his mouth.
She stopped giggling and smiled at him.
“Yeah. It’s pretty hilarious.”
“So, I’ll try to remember… on your planet: socks with sandals is a libido killer?”
“Bingo.”
“Pardon? Bing-o?”
“Definitely. Definitely a libido killer.”
“Whereas all this?” He gestured to himself.
“All that…” she parroted and nodded with her eyebrows high.
Zane brightened with her evident approval of him.
“All that and a bag of chips,” she said, nodding sagely.
“A what? Bag of chips? What sort of chips?”
“Never mind.” She chuckled. “The point is, I’ve never flirted with a soul in my whole life.”
He smiled. She was joking. She’d been flirting with him quite a bit. He didn’t point that out.
She shrank a little under his gaze and then shook her head, as if shaking something off.
“So… those gemstones…” she stated, “at home, those would be worth a lot of money. People would… steal them, not leave them all over people’s gardens.”
“Value is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. I gather they’re not as abundant there, making them something valued.”
“True. What do the colors mean? The fortunes?”
“Red means love and passion. Blue is for future success. Amber equals bountiful harvests or money, depending on the individual’s trade. Orange suggests a lot of learning or wisdom will be gleaned. Colorless stones signify a period of uncertainty. Green are for adventure, and black means caution or danger.”
His chest felt tight.
“So, my fortune could be construed as all of those things? Except uncertainty, because I didn’t get any clear ones,” she asked. “Or were your flowers just maybe confused because I’m… not from here?”
Zane was about to speak when his phone began to ring. And then an additional call was coming through. The vehicle touched down on his roof’s landing pad, so he ignored the calls.
“I’m really not sure, shortcake.”
“Hm.”
He got Tanya back inside and took her directly to his bed where he set her down and examined her ankle. He ordered a new medical pack and ordered some fruit juice for her and a glass of water for himself.
“It looks like it’s doing better. By tomorrow it should be fully healed if you stay off it. I need to make a few calls. Is there anything I can get you while I do that?”
She shook her head. “I think I’ll just do some writing.” She reached for the journal Ollie had sent for her, which was still on the bed.
Zane smiled and gave her hand a squeeze and leaned in. “I’ll be back. If you need me, here…” He showed her the intercom screen on a portable panel so she could call either throughout the house or to specific rooms. “Use the general one if you need me. I’ll give you a tour shortly?” He sifted his fingers through her hair to check her gem, which was still dark blue, darker than it should be.
“Sure,” she said, smiling with her cheeks still beaming a bright pink.
CHAPTER 15
TANYA
I wrote about my initial impressions of the planet, about my impressions of Zane and Ollie, including the anecdote about thinking that I had to be in a relationship where two Phallyx men shared me. I also wrote about the attack. It was all so surreal, I just wanted to chronicle every moment of my adventure here.
And I really did want it to be an actual adventure.
I hoped that all those fortune stones were true, except maybe the black one. Though, what’d happened to me the night before was pretty dangerous, so maybe that part was over. Maybe I had all the good stuff to still look forward to. Adventure. Knowledge. Love. And so on.
Zane checked on me after I’d gotten down quite a few pages, loving the way the heavy pen moved on the thick paper, leaving a trail of thick, dark ink that was reminiscent of writing with a quill and inkwell. I was reveling in excitement in the words, which flowed out like silk and I was pretty sure oozed with my enthusiasm for my new adventure. I also wrote about my fears, about the 72-hour deadline and how nervous I was about sex for the first time, though wrote about feeling like Zane would make it good, would make it worth it to have waited all this time for my “first time”. And about how I felt in his daughter’s playhouse when I saw the little drawing.
“Oh, hi,” I greeted, closing the book and tucking the lovely, heavy pen into the opening between the margin and the spine.
I decided that later on, I’d write a little story for Ollie. I’d pondered it, trying to work out what I might be a fun plot for a little boy. I probably needed to get to know him better first.