Book 3. Samantha - Snapping 1

Book 3. Samantha - Snapping 1
Ulrus opened the door to his apartment, allowing me to step inside first, and followed close behind, making my breath hitch as I needed more distance between us to feel safe, so I took another step forward until my nervous system was no longer on full alert. To my relief, he didn’t close the distance, allowing me to breathe.
The front door gave way to a small hallway with an alcove, decorated with three branches used for hanging clothes, storing shoes, or sitting. There were also a couple of fishing poles, making me think that he might like fishing—it was something my father and I used to do together a lot before he enlisted as a soldier in the Confederation. He had been gone for three months when he was killed in action. I was only ten, but I still missed him. Every day.
I was glad to see Ulrus also liked fishing. It was something we could do together once I started feeling more comfortable around him.
Past the hallway was the living room and the rest of the apartment.
Like the entrance, the living room was also decorated—with more tree branches, rocks of all shapes, sizes, and colors, strange seashells, and even wood carvings in the form of animals I’d never seen before. But there was also modern furniture and all sorts of gadgets meant to make life easier.
Everything was so well blended together that it made the place feel cozy and relaxing.
It also let me know that Ulrus was someone who was very active, the outdoorsy type, just like me.
“The kitchen is over there,” Ulrus said as he placed my backpack on the sofa, nodding toward a door at the end of the room. “And the bedrooms, each one equipped with its own bathroom. The one in the middle is my room, the other two are free, and you can pick whichever one you want. The other one will be for when…”
He sounded nervous and lost his train of thought, but I could guess what he wanted to say—for when we would have a baby of our own.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want a baby, but I couldn’t fathom the idea of inviting him into my bed. Maybe with time, when enough trust had been built between us, I could force myself to let him fuck me enough times to get me pregnant. If I were lucky, maybe one time would be sufficient.
Sex sucked, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
“Do you want to see the room now?” he wondered. 
“Later,” I replied. 
An awkward silence followed, neither of us knowing what to say. So we stood there, in front of the sofa, facing each other.
It had been a while since I had had a conversation with a man or been alone with one in the same room, and while I didn’t feel threatened in any way by Ulrus, I wasn’t sure what we could talk about.
“Would you—?” he started to ask as, “Do you know—?” came out of my mouth at the same time.
I pressed my lips together while Ulrus ran a palm along his right horn—a gesture I had also noticed Commander Driann make, making me think it was something Raaxians did when they were nervous. Seconds later, he chuckled softly, easing some of the tension in my shoulders. 
Laughing suited him as it made his golden eyes sparkle.
“You first,” he said.
Like the Raaxian, I too had a gesture I did when nervous—I ran my right hand up and down my upper left arm while rubbing the tip of my right boot against the floor.
“I was wondering what I could do around here to earn my keep,” I let him know. The way he blinked told me that my words had confused him, so I explained, “I want to work.”
Sitting around with nothing to do would not only bore me to death, but it would probably make me depressed, as I was someone who loved to work.
He tilted his head slightly to the left. “You just got here.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I wondered.
“Why don’t you wait a few days until you’re settled in and get to know the base before you start thinking about working?” he proposed.
Ulrus was more logical than I was at that moment, so I nodded in agreement. When I was nervous—and I was very nervous—I always had a habit of burying myself in work, and I realized that I was trying to find something to do so I could run away from my problems instead of facing them. Which was why I had ended up in prison in the first place.
Unknowingly, Ulrus had become the newest complication in my life, and I needed to find a way to make our partnership work, or else the Bride Program required me to move on to another match, something that I wanted to avoid at any cost. 
A smile appeared on his face. “Would you like something to eat or drink?” he inquired. “Or do you want to pick your room right now?” He paused for a moment. “Is this a human custom? A mated couple sleeping in different rooms?”
Lying to him would have been easy, but my father had taught me that nothing built on a foundation of lies would last, as everything would eventually come crumbling down.
So, I explained, “It depends on each couple. Some prefer to sleep in the same bed, while others need separate rooms.”
“So, you want your own room,” he said, sounding disappointed. “Although…” He shook his head, leaving me to wonder what he had been about to say. “How about I show you around?”
“I’d love that,” I let him know.
We spent the next two hours walking around the base, with Ulrus showing me not only the important places but also the restricted areas so I could avoid them. Depending on the situation, the men guarding those places were authorized to shoot any potential threat.
By the end of the tour, I was starting to feel hungry.
“When will dinner be served?” I asked, even if it was in the middle of the afternoon.
“I know just the place in town where we can get some delicious food,” he suggested. “And while we’re there, if you need anything, we can buy it or order it.”