My Alien's Baby (Draci Alien 2)

She’s off before Ezo or I can get another word out.

I expel a sigh of relief. That went about as good as could be expected.

“And that,” I whisper under my breath to Ezo, tugging him inside the door and closing it behind us, “is my mother.”

The house is packed. There are a lot of familiar faces and plenty I don’t recognize. My dad is a Superior Court judge for Sacramento County, which means he’s a big deal around here.

He always hoped for children who would follow in his footsteps. My darling little sister passed her LSATs with flying colors and interned at one of the top law firms in San Francisco. Now she works in the office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Dad and Mom couldn’t be more proud.

Meanwhile, I flunked out after my first semester of college.

And pretty much everyone in this room knows it. Not that they care. They’re here to celebrate my sister. The golden child.

And concerning myself with what other people think of me ruined my life for way too many years. I can’t backslide now. So I lift my head high, square my shoulders, and go up on my tiptoes to whisper in Ezo’s ear, “Let’s go find the liquor.”

Thirty minutes and two champagne glasses later, I wouldn’t say it’s going any better, but at least I’m a little tipsy and Ezo and I have escaped outside into the backyard. People mingle around the poolside and there’s another bar and appetizer station set up out here.

At least Ezo is enjoying the appetizers. I smile while I watch him try the various finger foods on his overstuffed plate.

He doesn’t bother covering his reactions to each taste as they cross his tongue.

The sweet cream puffs were a win. And he couldn’t get enough of the little chocolate bonbons.

He had little reaction to the cucumber sandwiches but his face after he tries the caviar is the most hilarious. His eyes get big, he makes the most disgusted face, and he immediately sticks his tongue back out, scraping the black goo off with his napkin.

“Here,” I giggle, offering him some of my champagne to wash the taste away.

He gulps it down but then makes a sour face and starts choking, probably on all the bubbles. I should have warned him.

I pound his back. “Shit, I’m sorry, babe. Are you okay?”

His eyes water and he swallows hard, his features still contorted in disgust. “Why do humans eat that?” He scrapes again at his tongue. “I cannot get it off. It has the most abhorrent flavor!”

“Here, eat another chocolate bonbon.” I offer him one from my plate since he gobbled all of his down.

He nods and stuffs it in his mouth. But then he spits it back out on his plate, shaking his head furiously. “No, it only ruins the flavor of the chocolate. I cannot.”

It would be wrong to laugh right now, right? But he’s just so damn cute.

“Ana, you made it!”

My shoulders automatically scrunch at the sound of my sister’s syrupy sweet voice.

I turn slowly to see Alicia and Brian heading our way. Awesome. I get to deal with them both at the same time.

But no, it’s better this way. I’ll say hi, make nice, show how mature I am, and then Ezo and I can get the hell out of here and be done with this.

“And who is this?” Alicia looks Ezo up and down. He’s abandoned the napkin and is swiping at his tongue repeatedly with the side of his hand. I cringe a little inside. Here for the first time in my life I have a big, gorgeous boyfriend but he looks a little like a gorilla trying to groom himself.

I feel immediately guilty for the thought. God, I suck. He doesn’t know any better and his tongue is his most sensitive sense organ. Caviar really is the worst and I should’ve warned him.

“This is my boyfriend, Ezo. Ezo, this is my sister, Alicia. And her fiancé, Brian.”

Ezo immediately drops his hand and perks up. He’s still got the bad taste in his mouth, though, and I can see him struggling to hide it.

“Hello,” he says to my sister, face scrunched like she smells bad. She seems a little taken aback because usually she charms every single person she meets.

I have to say, now I’m enjoying this. Probably a little too much.

“Great party, sis.” And then I force the next words out of my mouth, though I can’t quite bring myself to look at the man standing beside her. “Congratulations, you two. I wish you all the happiness in the world.”

Alicia smiles at me, her fake patronizing smile. “Isn’t the ring he got me just gorgeous?”

She shoves her hand in Ezo’s face. It’s gaudy, with a big central diamond and about fifty more tiny ones all over the sparkling band. No way Brian afforded that on his post doctorate salary. I bet she had daddy buy it for her. ‘Cause that’s not creepy.