Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

T he next day, I followed the commander and his guards to Danny's Deli again, but this time they all trooped over to Willard Park afterward. They sat on or hung around the picnic tables under the trees behind the Free Stamp sculpture to eat their sandwiches. I didn't know if that counted as flirting, like Tom had implied yesterday, but that was where I usually took my deli lunches. Since I hadn't done that in the time the commander had been in town, I had to wonder if I might've been followed at some point. Did the Norlons have some kind of tech that let them zoom in?—

Oh, come on. Why would anyone want to spy on me? I might work for the FBI, but I basically collated information from multiple sources to write reports. I was nobody special. When the director had given me this assignment, he'd called me Elton, Ely, and Elias—and he'd been holding a folder with my name on the tab.

I shouldn't have let Tom get in my head. Willard Park was just a nice place to eat a sandwich on a sunny autumn day. Anyone would think so.

At the same time, though, and because I now knew that the commander was fully aware of my presence, I figured it would be polite to introduce myself. My orders hadn't said I couldn't do that any more than they'd said I had to be covert, so why not be real with him? Maybe then I could walk around with him instead of behind him.

"Excuse me, Commander Heremod?"

He looked over at me from his seat facing out on one of the picnic tables and smiled. "Hello, Ellis. Would you like to join me?"

Well, that made me pause. He knew who I was? "Did, um, Director Stubbins tell you about me?"

"No."

Okay. Maybe I hadn't been wrong to think the commander had gathered intel on me after all.

"Have a seat," he said. "Have you already eaten?"

I sat down and shook my head. "I didn't have time to grab something."

"You didn't eat yesterday either." He started fishing around in his bag. "You should make time to eat regularly."

Before I could figure out what to say to that, he got a flat piece of metal from his bag and used it to cut his sandwich in half. He wiped the metal off with his napkin and dropped it back into his bag before gesturing to the half of the BLT that he'd cut for me. Wanting to be polite even if this was a little weird, I wrapped it with a napkin and picked it up.

"What else do you have in there?" I pointed at his bag.

"Random bits."

I took a bite and chewed. Man, the thick-cut bacon was divine. When he didn't say more, I offered, "I liked the robot."

"They've confiscated it."

"Why?"

"Anything created on FBI grounds belongs to the FBI."

"I don't…" I squinted at him. "Are you sure that's a thing?"

He shrugged like he wasn't bothered one way or the other. "It's in a darkened container at the moment, but the next time it can see, it'll escape."

Good grief. "You programmed it to escape?"

He cocked his head at me. "Wouldn't you?"

I had to think about that for a second. "Is your A.I. sentient?"

"Not quite yet."

Wow. Not quite yet? "Are you working on it?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"When time permits, we talk."

For some reason, that startled a laugh out of me. He talked to the artificial intelligence in order to help it gain sentience during his free time? Like one day it would suddenly gain self-awareness after a rousing discussion of…

"What do you talk about with it?"

He shrugged. "Anything it wants to discuss. Lately, it's been curious about cell division after initial fertilization."

Holy shit, the Norlons were so far out of our league.

We ate our sandwiches quietly for a while. My brain was busy trying to process the fact that their A.I. was curious , and I wasn't even sure I could handle what the commander's brain was doing in there. I was sitting on a park bench sharing a BLT with a bonafide genius on a scale I wasn't sure humans could even measure and it was tripping me out big time.

I finished my sandwich and needed a new distraction. Without staring outright, I found myself watching Commander Heremod eat. I'd thought he had a pair of big front teeth and realized that he really did. They weren't comical or anything, but definitely rabbit-like and significant. I'd only ever seen him smile with his lips together, so now I wondered if he was self-conscious about them like I was about the gap between mine.

Even more interesting, though, was the fact that his tunic today didn't have sleeves. The guns were definitely on display. He might be covered with inch-long white fur, but that was contoured to every dip and bulge of muscle from his shoulders to his wrists. And the palms of his hands were pink skin with more white fur in the crease of each joint. It was a bit like… Oh my god, he had toe beans .

Why the fuck did that turn me on? The muscles I could understand being attracted to, but now I wanted to hold his hand and poke all the pink bits. Each finger had three beans. Sections. Good grief, I was a freak.

One of the lizard guards chuckled and said something in Norlish that made the others laugh, too. The commander stared at them, not laughing at all. In fact, his face looked stony with his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. He'd seemed so easy going until now that I struggled to imagine what might have upset him.

Then the first guard said something while he gestured toward me. The rest of them snickered and?—

" Aye fuh-tier-uh! " Commander Heremod barked.

Immediately, the guards went still and quiet, their smirks vanishing. The one who'd spoken dipped his head and said something that sounded apologetic. Every last one of them took several steps back, and then turned around to face away from us. Like they were giving us privacy?

What the actual hell?

The commander put his arm on the tabletop and angled himself closer to me. "You should know," he said softly, "that your body chemistry changes every time you think about sex."

I flinched involuntarily and gasped in a flash of humiliation.

"All of us can smell when you become aroused."

Angling away from him, I wiped a hand down my blushing face and tried to think pure and chaste thoughts. Puppies and kittens frolicking, cute little old ladies holding babies, Jesus himself frowning down at me… Nope, wasn't working. Why did knowing Seiwa could scent my arousal turn me on that much more? And now I wanted to know what I smelled like. Just a horny man smell, like when my cock was leaking and I started to sweat? Or was it?—

The commander laughed, the sound throaty and wicked. He leaned closer, not touching me, but definitely right behind me. "What are you thinking about? What wicked deed has you unable to resist contemplating its every detail?"

I cringed inwardly but also, goddamnit, my cock was starting to throb with my heartbeat. "What, um…" I cleared my throat, not so sure I should ask this question at all.

"Tell me, Ellis," Seiwa commanded in a low tone.

Gulping, I made myself whisper, "What do I smell like?"

I heard him draw in a deep breath so close behind me, and then his slow exhale tickled the back of my neck. That was the only reason I shivered.

"There's a hint of sour embarrassment floating through your scent that I can't regret causing because you should know these things. However, overall, you smell mostly of a warm male body yearning for pleasure." He took another breath and hummed as he let it out. "Your scent is uniquely you and so delicious. Ellis, you smell like a long night of loud, athletic passion."

I pressed a hand over my pounding heart and tried to breathe without panting. Was it possible to be talked into coming? Because if he said too much more, I might find out.

Right here in a public park within sight of the FBI building. Jesus, what was wrong with me?

A large warm hand molded itself to the inside of my thigh, and I gasped as I looked over my shoulder at the commander. He locked gazes with me, and then suddenly jerked his hand away and stood. I twitched and looked up at him, confused, aroused, and…really confused.

"We should get back," he said and marched away. The guards quickly followed.

I stayed where I was. Whether I was two inches or twenty yards behind him, I would still be following him as ordered, so I sat there and let his absence cool me down. If I stood up now, every person in the park would see the erection I'd gotten from having a rabbit whisper to me that I smelled like loud, athletic sex. And his hand on my leg? Did he want to join me for that loud, athletic sex?

I needed to stop thinking. Holy fuck, this was insane! Ellis Alastair Cole, you're twenty-eight, not fourteen. You better start acting like the professional that you are . How did my mother's voice get in my head? Well, regardless, suddenly imagining what she'd think about me right now splashed metaphorical cold water all over me. My problem faded away.

Since the Norlons had left their trash all over the table, I collected everything and walked it to a trash can before trotting after their inconsiderate asses. No longer turned on, I was feeling a little angry. Honestly, what he'd done had been pretty mean. Getting me all charged up and then running away? Asshole . He was a scientist, so he could've answered my question in technical terms without being all pervy. Without making things worse for me.

Not cool, bunny boy.