Found(47)

“It’s not pollution or defilement,” Lauren argued. “I still don’t understand why you think that about yourself.”

“Because it’s true,” he said shortly. He frowned again as he studied himself in the viewer. “There is one thing I don’t understand—why is my skin lighter than yours?”

Lauren sighed. “Oh, well I’m half white, you know. I mean, because my mom is,” she said. “It was my dad who was African American. You know—black.”

“But my skin is not white. It’s a sort of…tan. And your skin is not black. It’s a beautiful, smooth brown.”

“Well, we say ‘black’ and ‘white’ on my planet, but what we really mean is tan and brown.” Lauren shrugged. “I know, it’s silly isn’t it? But I guess you got DNA from my mom’s side of the family.”

“Does your mother have eyes this color?” he asked, looking into his own eyes in the viewer.

Lauren shook her head. “Uh-uh, she has eyes like mine. But I do remember her saying once that my great-grandfather had eyes that color. Sea colored eyes, she called them.” Reaching up, she cupped his cheek and turned him to face her. “They’re beautiful, you know. Not that your other eyes weren’t—they were very…fierce. But now—”

“Now I conform to your human standards of beauty,” Xairn finished for her.

She nodded and let her hand drop. “You look like a model.”

“A model?” His perfect forehead wrinkled.

“Someone who sells products to others just by looking good. Like if you wanted to sell people a particular brand of clothes, you’d have someone hot, er, good-looking wear them.”

He shook his head. “Why?”

“Well…it’s psychological. It gives people the idea that if they buy and wear those particular clothes, they’ll look as hot as the model wearing them.”

“Why would they think such an illogical thing? And why do they care what their clothing looks like, anyway?” Xairn was clearly confused. “As long as it is adequately functional and keeps them warm, that is all that should matter.”

“Oh, Xairn honey…” Lauren laughed delightedly. He might look like he’d just stepped from the pages of GQ but he was obviously still the same old Xairn underneath. Honestly, it made her feel better about the change he’d undergone. With his big, muscular frame and those striking eyes, he looked like a movie-star—almost unapproachable.

So much physical perfection was hard to be around. It made her feel intimidated in a way she never had even when she’d first met him and thought he looked like a beast out of a nightmare.

Of course, it had been a long time since she’d thought that. Recently she’d really begun to like the way he looked and now…now he was so different.

“I wish my skin was the same color as yours,” he said, holding his arm alongside hers to compare. “But I’m glad you find me easier to look at now.”

“I never found you hard to look at,” Lauren protested. “In fact…Here, lean down a little.”

Obediently, he crouched down so she could reach around behind his neck. Lauren felt for the leather thong that kept his hair tied in the tight club at the back of his neck. Carefully, she unknotted it and pulled it free.

The effect was dramatic. A thick, glossy curtain of blue-black hair fell down around Xairn’s muscular shoulders. It framed his face, softening his stern features, and making him look more than ever like a model on the front of a romance novel.

“Wow,” Lauren breathed, stepping back to look at him. “See, now I’ve been wanting to do that almost from the first moment I saw you. And that was long before you turned into Mr. GQ.”

He frowned and ran a hand over his hair. “Why should you want to let my hair down?”

“Because I wanted to do this.” Reaching up, she ran her fingers through his silky black mane. Truly, he looked magnificent, but what really made him attractive were the traces of the old Xairn she could see peeking out through his gorgeous new exterior.

Xairn shivered under her touch like a nervous animal but didn’t draw away. Instead he held perfectly still as she caressed him. “Why?” he whispered. “Why would you want to…to touch me so?”

“Because I like you.” Lauren pulled him closer and he came to her willingly, his gorgeous, sea-colored eyes wide and uncertain. “Xairn, I think…I think I might be starting to love you,” she confessed. “And not because of this…because of how you look. Because of all we’ve been through together. Everything you’ve done for me… risked for me… given up for me. You’re the sweetest, kindest, most noble man I know.”