Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (12 page)

“What about something to wear?” Ceran questioned Brylon.

Brylon shook his head emphatically, “No, that just doesn’t feel right.” They continued walking until they came upon the pet shop. In the window was a display of the little rewas. Both men had heard the story of how Zeb’s mate had come down to the mall alone. Zeb was furious with her when he finally found her in the pet shop holding a rewa. Needless to say, she left with the little rewa and a very furious Zeb.

“I am going to get Emma a rewa,” Brylon smiled to himself.

Ceran’s head slowly turned, “A rewa? Are you sure? What if she doesn’t like pets?”

“Seriously Ceran, just look at them, they are one of the gentlest creatures in the known universe. Not only that, but I bet that our females would just love to have one. Zeb says Avery loves her little guy.”

“Ok Brylon, you have sold me. Let’s go in and see Gannon. I’m glad to know that you’re good for something other than fixing the ship!” Ceran burst out laughing at his own comment.

“Man, you get on my nerves sometimes, Ceran. Come on, let’s go and get a couple of rewas.”

****

Emma was bored out of her mind. There wasn’t much to do inside the apartment, but because of her antics,
she wasn’t allowed to leave. There wasn’t any kind of entertainment devices like a television, which might have helped tremendously, and she had a limited number of books that Brylon had brought her from her apartment, which she had already read several times each. If only she had someone to talk to maybe it wouldn’t be so boring here. The only thing that kept her somewhat occupied was experimenting with the food in the kitchen. She had already tasted everything that was in the refrigerator, and found that there was actually quite a bit of the strange food she liked, especially the stuff called larma that tasted like cheese. Brylon had come home late one night and had found her in the refrigerator eating bits she had broken off the block.  He explained to her what it was and told her what they called it.

She found herself in the kitchen once again, when the door to their quarters slid open and in walked Brylon. She knew she was really giving him a hard time, but it seemed to be the only way she knew to react to him when he was around. The times that they did talk to each other usually ended up in another argument, and then with Brylon leaving for long periods of time. When they weren’t arguing they were ignoring each other, and he didn’t notice that she would sneak quick peeks at him when he wasn’t looking in her direction. She had to admit that the man was formed well with a mass of muscles lining his arms, legs and chest. She got a glimpse of his body
a couple of times when he came out of the shower when he thought she was sleeping. She got a generous view of his body and then some. She definitely could say that God broke the mold when he formed this man.

His chest was lightly dusted with fine hairs that were the same color as the hair on his head. Any man on earth would be envious of his defined washboard abs. Every slight move he made caused the sinewy muscles to ripple and move
just under his skin.  Sometimes when she looked upon him, it would cause her temperature to rise.  What was that about? His legs were just as magnificent as the rest of his body. She wondered if every warrior on board this ship was in such top physical condition since she hadn’t really paid enough attention to the other warriors on board the ship.  The only opportunities she had for comparison were: when she was abducted, at the auction, and when she was rescued, and each of those times she was far too distraught to care.

She waited for him to walk past her without a word and go into his office like he had done for many days now. But, he surprised her when he came into the kitchen and stood in front of her with his hands behind his back.  She had no idea what he was up to, but she had to give him credit for trying to win her over. She stood her ground while eyeing him suspiciously.

“I have brought you something, little one,” he said as he transferred what he was holding behind his back into her view. Sitting in the palm of his hand was a little pink creature that had three eyes as wide as saucers.

She took a step forward then looked up at Brylon, “What is it?” She looked back down at the creature who was watching her every move.

“This is a rewa. I bought her for you.”

Still staring at the creature, “Why would you buy me a creature?” she asked.

“I thought maybe you could use some company.  My job has kept me so busy lately and I feel like I have been neglecting you. Would you like to hold her? She doesn’t bite.” He stretched his hand out towards her.

She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she found herself slowly reaching for the creature. She put her palm up to the little creature and watched, stunned, as the rewa moved from Brylon’s hand into hers. The little creature sat down in her palm and grabbed hold of her thumb like as if she were afraid Emma would drop her.

“What did you call it again?” She brought her hand up to her face so that she could get a better look at her new little pet.

Brylon smiled at her and said, “She is called a rewa,” as he scratched the pink bundle of fur under its chin with his index finger, “Rewas come from a planet very far from here. They are common pets since they are extremely gentle and friendly. This one was born about three months ago here on the ship.”

Emma was softly petting the rewa and smiling, the first smile he had ever seen cross her face. His heart jumped with hope at that moment. He finally had some hope that he was getting through to her.

“She is just a baby then.” She looked up at Brylon and asked, “What is her name?”

“I left naming her up to you. She is your pet after all.” He leaned against the counter as he found himself start to relax. He could stand there all day watching her smile like that. She looked so beautiful when she smiled, and it was a great improvement to the frown that had adorned her face all the time she had been her with him. She looked over to where he was leaning on the counter with a puzzled look on her face, but with the rewa still firmly clasped in her hands.

“But I don’t understand why you would want to buy me a pet.”

“I told you Emma, I wanted you to have some company while I work. I know that you are lonely here in our quarters, all alone for most of the day. I am sorry that my job keeps me away so much. And besides, I wanted to buy you something that would belong only to you, something that you couldn’t get on your own planet.” He felt embarrassed by her attention.  He was clearly out of character at this moment.

She didn’t say anything at first. She couldn’t because she could feel the lump of emotion that was lodged in her throat, and felt like she was going to cry. She tried really hard not to let any tears escape, but inevitably snuck out of the corner of her eye and proceeded to run down her cheek. She cleared her throat before responding, “Umm…No one has ever bought me a pet before.” Her hand gently caressed the top of the baby rewa’s head. “Thank you, Brylon.”

“I would do anything for you, little one. I want you to understand that.” He pushed off the counter and stood inches away from her. He raised her chin with his finger, “Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you sad, I just wanted to please you. Are you happy with the rewa? We can take her back if it is too much to deal with.
” He didn’t remove his finger from under her chin as he searched her eyes.

A few more tears managed to trail after the first one, “No, I am going to keep her. I love her
.  She’s perfect,” she said as she smiled through the tears, “Thank you again. You just don’t know how much this means to me. I’ve never had a pet before.”

Brylon felt a stirring and he had to act upon it. He had watched her lips as she had spoken to him and now he wanted to taste them. He leaned down, and captured her lips in a soft warm kiss. She didn’t pull away, but rather leaned into it more. His hand moved to the side of her face
, where he cupped her cheek so that he could deepen the kiss a tiny bit more before he would attempt to pull away if he felt her object to his attentions. He didn’t want to spoil the moment by forcing the kiss to last much longer than she would want it. He pulled his lips away from hers and rubbed his thumb over her full wet lips. Their eyes lingered on each other longer than they ever had before, until Emma abruptly broke the eye contact.

He wanted her to look into his eyes. Maybe, if he spoke she would look up at him, “I am happy that you like her, now you just need to give her a name.” It didn’t work. Her eyes remained glued to the rewa that was sitting in her tiny hands.  “I am sorry, Emma, but I need to return to work.” He slowly reached out and gently touched her cheek, and then exited the room.

Emma brought her hand up to the spot where Brylon had just touched her face. To her surprise, it felt warm to the touch.  It was as if she had just been zapped with electricity. Her fingers trailed over to her lips, where she could still feel the pressure of his lips pressed against hers. She smiled as she recalled the memory that had formed only minutes ago and asked herself a question. Could she allow this strange man to have access to her heart? Should she even dare to attempt to open her heart to him?

“Well little lady, we need to give you a name. Let’s think about this for just a moment while we go sit on the sofa. Did you know that you are the first pet I have ever owned? Nobody in my life has ever given me something so special.” She sat on the sofa and placed her little friend on the seat next to her. “What would you like your name to be? Would you like an Earth name or an alien name?” She surprised the rewa with her laughter. “An alien name sounds funny to say.” The little rewa sat motionless on the sofa cushion next to her with her eyes wide open as she watched Emma talk. “You are the cutest thing that I have seen in a very long time.” She took a moment to think then jumped up and said, “I got it! I think I will name you Nana. What do you think about that name, my little rewa?” She leaned toward Nana so that she could look at her really close. To her surprise though, Nana reached out her tiny arm with a hand that only had three fingers, and touched her cheek.

Emma closed her eyes at the feel of the soft fur of the rewa’s hand against her face. How could a creature so small be so gentle and loving?  This little creature was showing Emma more love than Emma had experienced in a lifetime with just one tiny little touch. Up until this moment
, all Emma knew in her life was that she was unloved. No one in her numerous foster homes even took the time to get to know her, to get to know her enough to actually care about her. She was just a pay check to them, a bit of extra income. She never could understand why these people would be selected by social services to host foster children, when most of them were in the program for nothing other than a pay check. The program was supposed to be about caring for kids without families, about trying to give them a fair shot in the world that didn’t care about them, it was about having a chance to actually be loved. Unfortunately for her, she was never placed with a family who wanted to keep her for their own. So, from the age of four, she was in foster care.  It was hard to believe she remained in the system for a total of fourteen years. Now here she was at twenty-four, placed in a world that was totally foreign to her yet again. It was a world she never would have dreamed existed had she not experienced it firsthand.

She had to admit to herself, that it was actually kind of nice having some big, hunky, gorgeous looking guy pining for her affection. This was yet another experience that she had never had before. She was becoming so torn between wanting to return to her old life and wanting to experience a totally different one.  This could be a life where there would be a ch
ance that someone would love and care for her.

“Come on Nana, I am ready to go to bed.” She scooped Nana up into her hands then went into the bedroom. “You can sleep in the bed next to me.” Both of them crawled into the bed, settling themselves on the pillows. Nana curled up as close to Emma as she could, let out a tiny sigh then fell instantly asleep. Emma turned on her side to watch this little strange creature as she slept. Then she heard a low purring sound coming from the little rewa who had snuggled up to her to get as close to Emma as she possibly could.

“Goodnight little Nana,” she whispered.

C
hapter 8

“Commander, the ship is ready for departure. All systems have been checked and are
in working order. We can depart as soon as you give the order,” Brylon said looking up from his workstation in the command center.

About week
ago, Zeb, Brylon and Zane, had learned during a council meeting that all ships were ordered to return to the planet Theron as soon as possible. A communication had been intercepted that indicated that the Drylons were preparing some kind of attack on their planet.  However, the details were somewhat sketchy. The commander immediately went into action, as he started preparing the ship for its return journey and getting all the warriors that were down on earth’s surface back on board. Most of the warriors that bought one of the sixteen earth females were in the process of retrieving their mate’s belongings and letting them communicate with their loved ones, one last time.  Every warrior had been given an order to return to the ship within twenty-four hours or face severe punishment. Lucky for the commander though, his orders were respected and he didn’t have many problems with the warriors on board the ship.  He did have to handle a few troublemakers though, namely Lars.