She had no idea how utterly wrong she was.
2
The shuttle for Ma’shorka Centra was much more crowded than Selena had expected it to be. Apparently it was a very popular tourist destination—so much so that the Kindred had built special transport shuttles that held fifty people each—which was a much bigger capacity than their usual shuttles.
It wasn’t just humans and Kindred on the shuttle, either, Selena saw, as she entered and looked around for her seat. Along with the happy couples—Kindred warriors and their brides taking a vacation—there were other humanoid species as well. Including a strange, lumpy-looking guy dressed in a stretchy gray jogging suit, who appeared to have the isle seat in her row.
Her heart sank a little when she saw that she had the middle seat, directly beside him. Not that she minded sitting by an alien—but he was pretty big and already had his lumpy brown arm (was he made of oatmeal or what?) firmly planted on the armrest between their two seats. Also, his legs were spread wide, making it a certainty that he was going to be crowding her, the entire trip.
Seriously? I thought man-spreading was a strictly human phenomenon, Selena thought, feeling irritated.
But apparently it wasn’t—clearly it didn’t matter what species you were—it was a male phenomenon. Of course, there was no certainty that the oatmeal-looking passenger was actually male…she began to correct herself. Then she saw an unmistakable lump in the front of his jogging trousers and stopped. Yeah, he was definitely male and didn’t care who knew it.
Well, at least it was only an hour-long flight, Selena tried to comfort herself. The Mother Ship would fold space for the passenger shuttle and they would come out just an hour or so outside of the orbit of Ma’shorka Centra. They could have gotten closer than that, according to Kat, except for the Ma’shorkan restrictions on folding space too close to their planet. They said it “disturbed the Great Hole”—meaning the stable worm hole that led to the other universe which they were watching—and it was strictly forbidden.
Carefully, Selena stored her violin in its travel case in the overhead compartment. It was a nice instrument—not the highest level by any means—some old and famous violins could go for millions of dollars. This one had only cost just over six thousand dollars, but she wanted to be sure it didn’t get damaged in any way. That amount of money on a teacher’s salary was pretty significant—she wouldn’t be able to afford to replace it if something happened to it.
She stored her carry-all cube beside the violin case and looked down to see if the oatmeal-looking passenger had stirred at all. If Selena was in his place and she had seen someone storing luggage in the overhead compartment directly above her seat, she would have started moving over and making room.
But nope—not a bit. Oatmeal face was still sprawled all over the place like he was relaxed in his private easy chair back home. If his kind of alien had the equivalent of easy chairs, Selena thought, eyeing him resentfully. She wondered if she might possibly take the window seat on the far left. Nobody appeared to be sitting there yet. So maybe…
“Excuse me,” a brisk, male voice said. “Are you about to get in here? I believe I have the window seat.”
Selena’s heart sank as she turned to see who was addressing her. So much for taking the window seat for herself. She—
Holy crap!
The man—or rather the Kindred—who had been talking to her was huge. Well, they were all big, to be fair—but he seemed especially big—maybe because he was so close to her in the crowded aisle. Also, he was very good looking. Black hair, piercing blue eyes, broad shoulders—he was the complete package. Seriously, he looked like a movie star.
Selena tried not to feel intimidated, but it was difficult. As a curvy girl, she was usually invisible to this kind of man—well, when it came to human men, anyway. Invisible, or a nuisance—someone who was in the way and not up to their standards.
Of course, Kat had tried to convince her many times that Kindred males actually liked plus-sized women, but Selena had a really hard time believing that. In her experience, men of all types usually preferred stick-thin skinny-minnies to full-figured, curvy girls like herself.
Feeling self-conscious, she tugged the light travel sweater she was wearing closer around her bra-less breasts. She had on traveling clothes—a t-shirt and jeans and tennis shoes, along with the sweater—because she’d decided to be comfortable on the flight and change in the space-port once she got to Ma’shorka Centra. It was her first time wearing the float dots in public, instead of a bra, and she was beginning to wish she hadn’t. Her nipples kept sticking out through the thin fabric of the t-shirt, which made her feel like she was on display.