Daria ducked back into the hall, one hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her breathing, dead-certain that he could hear it. Hell, he could probably hear her heart pounding.

‘Remember,’ she thought faintly, ‘It’s perfectly natural to check out an alien’s ass. You said so yourself. It doesn’t make you in the least bit weird.’

She leaned over and looked again.

He draped the towel over the back of a chair and crossed down the side of the bed to the boxes where his clothes were kept. He reached and then he paused, and Daria yanked herself back into the hall, her pulse now roaring in her ears, convinced he had seen her in the reflection of the window. But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t come and close the door or call her a pervert, or anything.

‘Close enough!’ she told herself shrilly. ‘Just get out of here before he does catch you!’

Good idea. Daria eased forward and peeked.

He was stepping into his uniform pants, completely oblivious to her. They fastened down the side with about a billion catches invisible to Daria’s eye. As he aligned them, she found herself staring at his broad shoulders, at his arms bunching while he tugged and tightened, at his hair falling long over his face.

This was the man who had been checking her out every day for a week.

No, strike that. This was the alien who had been studying her for a week. There was a difference.

Tagen picked up his shirt, a kind of tank-top-ish thing in brilliant white, and snapped it out. His entire torso kind of rolled as he pulled it on. It was like watching the tide come in. His body, starkly defined beneath that concealing fabric, instantly became even sexier.

Hang on, since when was the alien invader keeping her prisoner in her own home ever sexy?

She was blushing even before her mind had finished asking its indignant question. Since about the second day, and she damn well knew it.

Tagen shrugged into his uniform jacket, again with that unconscious strength and grace that took the bones right out of her. It, too, had about a billion fastens, but here Daria’s common sense finally got the better of her. There was nothing else for him to wear. He was going to turn around and find her unless she bailed.

Daria backed up and headed for the stairs on tiptoes, moving with such painstaking silence that she knew she must look like a Scooby-Doo villain. Once she was on the stairs, she scampered down at speed and then raced through the hall to the kitchen. She didn’t stop running until she’d slammed up against the sink. She gripped the countertop until her hands hurt, but she was only peripherally aware of this; she stared out the barred window at her orderly orchard and slowly, she began to smile.

‘I’m a peeper!’ she thought dazedly. ‘God, I’m a total pervert!’

She couldn’t believe how turned on she was. She knew she should be ashamed. She knew she’d be mortified if she’d been on the receiving end of an alien peep-job after a shower. Mortified, hell. She’d be hysterical. Probably throw herself out the nearest window, and never mind whether the peeping alien in question had a sexy ass or not.

What would Tagen have done if he’d seen her? Probably cover up and tell her to leave in that extremely calm and dignified voice he used when he was two hairs shy of royally pissed-off. At the very least, he’d close the door. But just for a moment, Daria imagined something very different. Just for a moment, she saw him turn, see her, pause to let their eyes really meet (his smoldering with that eerie golden fire), and then he came towards her, all right. He even closed the door, but first he pulled her inside.

No words. She wasn’t very good at this fantasy thing and never had been. She couldn’t begin to imagine what Tagen would actually say in such a situation and anyway, he was pretty close-mouthed at the best of times. He would not speak, he’d just pull her against him and let her undress the body she’d just watched him clothe.

Oh Jesus, this was the most ridiculous—

Tagen’s talons came clicking down the hall. Daria quickly fumbled down a tumbler and tried to pretend she’d been thoroughly engrossed in pouring a glass of water for the last six minutes. He crossed without speaking to the table and sat.

“Can I get you anything?” she offered brightly. Way too brightly.

“Please.”

She put a little ice in the water and brought it to him. He smiled when he took it. He didn’t look like a man who knew he’d been peeped at. Or if he did, he didn’t look like he minded.

“You have been a considerate host,” he said. “Far beyond my expectations.”

As compliments went, it was never going to replace ‘You smell purdy’, but it still made her blush. Well, it was that or the memory of him naked.

“You have information for me?”

The question served to center her back in the here and now. She looked around for her printouts and fetched them from the counter where she’d discarded them in the throes of Fantasyland. “Maybe.” She came to the table and sat beside him, not close enough to touch, but certainly close enough to think about touching.

“These are all the massive head trauma deaths for the Pacific coast for the last week,” she said, fanning the pages out.

“Week?”

“Seven days.”

“Ah.” He flipped through the papers. “So many.”

“I know. They’re not all murders,” she added defensively. “I was just getting screen-blind.”

Tagen set the pages out one at a time before her and leaned in to look at them. His shoulder brushed hers. “Are these the only days available to access?” he asked.

“No, they have archives.”

“Today is my nineteenth day on Earth,” he said. “E’Var had three days in advance of me.”

“That’s…going to be a lot more pages.” She hoped her hesitation sounded like something appropriate, like horror or something, and not what it truly was, which was his knee touching hers under the table. God, he’d been stone naked.

“Yes, I do apologize. I…” Tagen paused and drew in a slow breath, his eyes closing. He was very still for a short time.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Forgive me,” he murmured, his eyes still shut to her. “I was distracted.”

Daria waited.

He leaned back into his chair, scooting back just far enough not to touch her anymore, and opened his eyes. He looked at the papers, then glanced at her. His expression was impossible to read.

“You were saying?” she prompted.

He blinked owlishly, his face solemn and closed to her. “It will be many pages,” he said after a moment. “But at least we are sure to see all there is to see.” His gaze sharpened, piercing her. “I appreciate your efforts.”

Stone naked and drop-dead gorgeous. She wondered what it would be like to kiss that mouth, to feel those alien hands on her bare skin. Oh, she had to stop this. It felt like her insides were melting.

Daria realized all at once that she’d been sitting and staring into Tagen’s molten eyes without speaking since his last words. She further realized he was just gazing back at her, breathing slow and even. His nostrils were fanning slightly on each inhale. He—

He could smell her! Oh dear God!

Daria jumped up and tried to retreat as rapidly and gracefully as humanly possible. Tagen stood, but did not follow, although he frowned as she backed toward the door.

“I just remembered,” she blurted. “I have to…” She couldn’t think of a damn thing. She gestured vaguely at the hallway. “Polish,” she said lamely. “Something. Excuse me.”

She fled to the laundry room, slammed the door, and leaned against it, gripping the knob in both hands. He’d been smelling her. He’d been sitting there smelling her…her pheromones or something. Talking to her like nothing was happening and all the while knowing—

Well, so what? How was that any worse than her peeping at him while he got dressed?