Against her better instincts, she tapped his name and watched as the glass lit up with suggested sites.
Most showed images of his craft in the war, with headlines about a hotshot pilot saving the day.
But by far the largest image was of Khall himself.
April’s jaw dropped open as she took in the sight of what could only be the calendar image Janice had been talking about.
In the picture, Khall was naked, save for an old-fashioned aviator’s helm, held strategically over his unusual sex organs. His skin tone was a deep, lovely green, and the look in his amber eyes was so hungry that she felt herself reacting to the 2D image, her cheeks warming and her core tightening.
There was a knock on the door, and it swung open as if it hadn’t been all the way shut.
April slammed the glass down on her lap, hoping that whoever opened the door hadn’t seen what was on it.
“Sorry.” Khall’s deep voice sent a shiver down her spine. “I just wanted to let you know we left a plate for you in the warmer.”
“Th-thanks,” she managed. “I’ll probably come out later to eat. I’m just, um, researching a little now.”
“Of course,” he said.
He wasn’t trying to hide a smile. He definitely wasn’t.
Right?
He was gone and the door closed and clicked behind him before she could decide.
An hour later, her stomach was grumbling enough that she finally got up the nerve to go get her dinner. She hadn’t eaten since the night before, because traveling always left her nauseated.
You can do this. You can go out there, she told herself.
There was no point worrying endlessly over whether he had seen his own achingly gorgeous picture on her glass. Either he had or he hadn’t.
Besides, a man didn’t take a photo like that unless he wanted people to see it, right?
She thought about her friends back at the club, and how much they enjoyed strutting their stuff and felt a little better.
The desire to stay covered up all the time was a Terran thing. Other cultures shared it to a certain extent, but Terrans were serious about modesty.
Although none of that would have explained why she was blushing and gaping at the photo like she had never seen a beautiful male form before.
Her stomach grumbled again, reminding her that she had decided to get her dinner.
She headed out of her room and slipped into the kitchen.
It was open to the living area, where Khall and the kids were watching a holo-program.
The floating images showed a silly couple looking at a country house. The wife was asking if the wooden columns between the foyer and the living space could be removed.
“No,” Minerva howled.
“Those are structural,” Khall scolded. “How do these people never understand?”
“And they’re pretty,” Bo said.
The agent on the program explained to the couple that the columns were structural and an important part of the aesthetic of the epoch of the house.
“What’s that?” Bo demanded. “What does that mean?”
“That means you’re right, Starlight,” Khall told her. “They’re pretty.”