Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

the flower, which held a microchip at the center, and in exchange she would give him the key to the locker where she was supposed to have placed the item he was buying. Only he didn’t say that, and she didn’t have the item. This was turning into a real cluster.
Blue eyes met brown. Held.
The waiter cleared his throat. “Can I get you two something to drink?”
Isabella was the first to look away.
Falden frowned. Order drinks. Human beverages. His first opportunity had arrived to use the foolproof Nice Guy’s Guide to the Hookup. According to the rules, he was not to give his date time to choose what to eat or drink. He was to order everything. He would prefer to learn from her what she liked, but mission success came first. All Lumerians, and Caldorians for that matter, had complete respect for females. By Earth standards they were all alpha males, but since they knew next to nothing about dating rituals on Earth, he’d ordered Vander to do some research. The blog Vander had chosen guaranteed results, and this was what was needed. Results. He needed her trust. She would never reveal her contacts otherwise.
Falden didn’t bother looking at the waiter, instead keeping his gaze on Isabella. “We’ll have Scotch. On the rocks.”
The waiter paused, glanced at Isabella, then back at him. “Both of you?”
Spotting Isabella opening her mouth to order for herself, Falden interrupted immediately. “Yes.”
The waiter flushed with anger. Perfect, he thought. Isabella fidgeted in her seat, clearly displaying signs of human discomfort. Everyone was thrown off-balance, just as the blog predicted would happen. The human male who had authored the advice was turning out to be the expert Vander claimed him to be. Falden didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed in human women as a whole, but this female in particular. He didn’t want easy. He wanted to conquer her. Win her over. Fight for what he wanted and claim the sweetest victory when she allowed him to take her.
“Right away, sir.” The waiter nodded and left.
Falden forced a rare grin and made sure to pull the sleeves of his ridiculous and far too tight black shirt halfway to his elbow so as best to display the human jewelry for males, called a watch. The thing was cumbersome, too heavy, and had cost the team tens of thousands of Earth dollars, but the guide had insisted an obvious display of wealth was a very important part of the seduction of a female.
His date watched the waiter retreat, then turned her gaze to him before glancing down at his wrist.
“Is that a Rolex?” she asked blandly.
“Of course.” Inwardly cringing, he quietly informed her of how much it cost, as instructed by the human dating guide. While he had accumulated great wealth, he’d never been one to purposely use it to gain a woman’s interest. Doing so now felt wrong, especially with this woman.
“Wow.” Her eyes narrowed, but she managed a smile. “Carrying around that much gold must be tiring, John. However do you manage?”
Falden tensed, his instincts telling him the question was a trap. She couldn’t possibly think he looked weak, no matter what clothing he chose to wear. Her insult must therefore be intentional. But how to respond? “The device for time monitoring is easily managed. I have much more weighty devices. Some are very old. Primitive.” he said. “I come from a very old family.” He didn’t, of course. Not anymore. His entire family line had died out with the destruction of his planet. He’d searched and searched for remnants of his family with no luck. He was all that was left.
“I see.” Isabella leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts. When she caught him staring, he decided to continue with the dating guide’s suggestions with an insult to her appearance while her attention was directly on him. In fact, he would combine the insult with the physical advance rule. He was nothing if not efficient. In no time at all, this female would be telling him all her secrets.
“Your hair looks like it was styled with a Weedwacker.” He leaned forward and placed his hand on her thigh, just above her knee. “But that was your intention, wasn’t it? To tempt me?”
Isabella barely held back the snort of disgust that shot like a hot bullet from her gut to her throat.
What. An. Ass. God, the things she did for her job. This was supposed to be a simple exchange at the regular drop site. Why did they always try to make this personal? “John” was the hottest man she’d ever laid eyes on, but his attempt to make this appear like the worst date in history was making her want to scream. What the hell was he thinking? Why hadn’t he said the pre-arranged code so that they could be done with this farce? “Well, we are on a date, are we not?” she asked, hoping he would supply the appropriate response.
He studied her for far too long. “Indeed, we are.”
Those were not the code words that she and her black market source had set up weeks ago. This guy was either trying to stretch this out or he wasn’t who he said he was. The last guy had tried to string her along, too, but when she got serious, he had, too. Shit. She just wasn’t sure. That made her mad as hell. Hiding her rage was difficult, but she was not going to let some alien douchebag ruin this opportunity for her.
Isabella cut to the chase. “I don’t have time for this. Do you have something for me or not?” Either he wanted to play games with her first, or he didn’t know the password. She fumed. He was an alien. That was not in question. Not only was he huge, he had beautiful alien markings. All Caldorians had them in different colors and patterns. She’d seen the news feeds. The articles. She