Alien Architect Needs a Nanny (Alien Nanny Agency 1)

Emilia

Emilia glanced across the table at the other nanny and wished she could actually hear what the poor woman was saying over the din of the club.

But all she could see was April’s pink-lipsticked mouth moving, and her golden curls shimmering in the floating lights.

It wasn’t like Janice to make a mistake like sending two people to a thumping club to have a heart-to-heart. Maybe drowning out the complaints and forcing them to drink and dance was what her colleague had in mind.

She certainly couldn’t call to ask. She wouldn’t be able to hear the answer.

“Sorry,” Emilia mouthed, shaking her head.

April smiled and screamed at the top of her lungs, “It’s okay. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just drink and dance.”

The miming motions the girl made for drinking and dancing suddenly had Emilia giggling. Maybe she needed this night out, too.

April grabbed her by the hand and dragged her toward the dance floor.

The floating lights pulsed, and the bass line throbbed, and Emilia realized the sweet drink she had been sipping on all night must have been pretty potent after all.

She wobbled a bit on her feet and then steadied herself. The next thing she knew, they were at the center of the dance floor, where oiled, muscular men danced in gigantic birdcages on raised platforms.

The ratio of men to women in the club was crushing. Hungry looking males of every species Emilia had ever seen, and some she hadn’t, pressed in all around them.

April held up something that flashed in the strobing lights.

Her token. Emilia had gotten one when she came in too, but she didn’t know what it was for.

She watched as April used hers to free a massive Vystian from his cage. His tentacles all wavered and pulled toward April, as if he were underwater and the current was driving him to her.

A large man with sinister looking horns approached Emilia, holding his hands out as if to invite her to dance.

Before she could decide whether to accept, a massive Bergalian elbowed him out of the way and strode toward her more aggressively.

Panic set in, and for a second Emilia was paralyzed.

Then she quickly ripped her token out of her pocket and pointed it at the opening of the nearest cage, hoping that whoever was in it was less intimidating than the big furry guy who was scowling at her now in unabashed disappointment.

The male who stepped out of the cage was tall and broad-shouldered, with a lean waist and hips. He looked like a Terran, but bigger.

Then he smiled at her, and she could see that his teeth were sharper and pointier than hers. He definitely wasn’t Terran.

Taking her hand, he helped her up to the dais with him and closed the cage around them.

Panicking all over again, she wrapped her hands around the bars.

But he shook his head, and showed her that the door was unlocked and could be easily pushed open.

The realization dawned on her that this was simply a place where she could dance with a club employee, safe from the unwanted advances of the desperate club goers.

It was a very good concept for a place like Ulfgard.

The man took her hand without another word, and they began to sway a little. Emilia was still feeling a little tipsy, but the man seemed to understand.

He smiled down at her, showing off those sharp teeth again.

He was actually pretty handsome. Too bad she was so obsessed with her stupid useless boss.

Taking her smile as encouragement, he pulled her hand up to stroke his chest.