Too many Stelans go about a relationship with a human trying to start a bond, we recommend simply having a relationship with a human man for its own sake. A bond will occur when you are both ready for it.

-Finding Your Inner Goddess: A Guide to Romancing Earth Males

Steven glanced at the city of Omaha outside the shuttle window. Unlike most Green Zones it wasn’t filled with silver skyscrapers, or lines of floating hovercraft and orbital rockets, instead there were hotels, casinos, boutique shops, all large to be sure, but nothing like the massive structures that the Stelans built for themselves in cities dedicated to commerce.

“So, this is where first contact happened,” Steven said, glancing at the massive golden statue in the center of the old human sized downtown area. It stood at least as tall as the statue of liberty, a Stelan woman holding her hand down to a human man, a smile on both of their faces.

“Yes!” Allura said, reading the visitor’s pamphlet eagerly, “But it wasn’t official until a few years after our scout landed here.” She leaned over to show him the picture of an old 1950s movie advertisement, “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” in the poster the blonde bombshell loomed over the highway and the city itself. “This movie was made about the events of the first contact, but the Earth governments at the time tried to cover things up and made them change the details.”

“So, the first Stelan scout really rampaged through downtown trying to catch a man?” Steven asked with a wry grin.

“Uh… well, that’s not far off,” Allura muttered, embarrassed. “She came back to the home world with wild tales of Stelan compatible males on a primitive world, the second expedition didn’t even make landfall, we just observed from orbit.”

“And then you stormed the planet,” Steven guessed.

Allura sighed, “The wormhole between our system and yours was stabilized, and initially the plan was for a slow and steady integration, but when it got out that this planet had so many males, and that you were bond-compatible… Well, a lot of Stelans got too excited, every spacefaring craft on our home world was filled to capacity, they overwhelmed our fleet’s ability to keep order and millions of Stelans were able to reach Earth’s surface.”

“Yeah, my dad sometimes tells stories about it,” Steven chuckled, “he was in his twenties, had just gotten married to my mom, and then a flying bus full of twenty-foot-tall women ran out and grabbed him, along with every other man who was outside doing yardwork at the time.”

“Oh goddess,” Allura moaned, rubbing her temples, “Did your mother manage to recover him?”

“Yeah, a pair of your military officers brought him back a few hours later,” Steven laughed, “they must have really had their hands full the first day.”

“The original plan was for a small delegation to meet your leaders and invite you to join the Imperium,” Allura muttered.

“Invite, right,” Steven said as the shuttle began to descend.

…

Central Stelan Robotics had booked the top two floors of the hotel, and as Allura pushed the door to their suite open Steven couldn’t help but marvel at luxurious accommodations before them. The suite had a small, for a Stelan, Kitchen, along with a living room set and floating television monitor. Floor to ceiling windows let them gaze out at the resort’s pool below, along with a view of the open prairie to the west where the city and suburbs ended. The bedroom held one of the massive Stelan sized beds, even bigger than Allura’s back home, and as she carried him in, tossing him gently onto the expansive mattress, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the soft blankets of the bedspread.

“Don’t you want to explore the resort?” Steven asked, crawling backwards away from her with a grin.

“After I have some fun with you,” she replied.

Her hands came down on him, gently pulling his buttoned shirt open, stripping his pants off next in a smooth practiced motion that always gave him goosebumps. Allura balled up his clothes, tossing them away, then grinned down at him, readying her ring. There was a flash, and then Steven was looking up at her, a mere six inches tall before a twenty-foot woman.

“Reducing a cute male is always such a thrill,” she growled. Her hand stretched towards him, fingers wide to snatch him up.

“You’ll have to catch me first!” Steven called, rolling deftly out of the way and sprinting for the edge of the bed.

Allura leapt for him, causing the bed to lurch as she landed on it, propelling him into the air just as her hand closed on the empty space where he’d just been. Steven flailed through the air, panicking for a moment before landing on the soft carpet with a grunt.

Shrink ray, he thought wildly, can’t get hurt by falling… He didn’t let himself pause, running as fast as he could through the door and back out into the suite’s living room.

Allura grinned as she stood back up, watching him disappear beneath one of the couch’s end tables, “Fine Steven, if that’s how you want to play it…” She walked across the carpet in a stalking motion, feeling the carpet beneath her bare toes as she slowly gazed around the room, looking for movement. She slowly bent down, getting on her hands and knees and looking underneath the furniture, one piece at a time.

Steven watched the skyscraper sized woman continue her search for him, and he moved backwards into the shadows underneath the kitchen counter. He was panting, out of breath after having run through the suite at this size, but it appeared to have worked, Allura was searching for him under chairs and end tables, all while he crept silently along the tiled floor of the kitchenette.

“Where are you, Steven?” Allura asked playfully, “you’re only making me more excited!”

That’s the idea, he thought with a grin, making his way along the wall. The mountainous woman in the distance stood up, and he dove for cover behind the black leather wall of her shoes, resting by the door. The rich smell of polished leather filled his nostrils as he peeked hesitantly around them, and the soft thud of the giant woman’s footsteps vibrated the ground below him as she slowly paced through the hotel room, eyes scanning the ground.

The bedroom, Steven thought, glancing at her, and calculating how far it was, she won’t think to go back there and look for me…

He bolted, breaking cover and sprinting for the immense doorway. The rush of adrenaline and the thrill of the chase was too strong a feeling however; and Allura smiled as she sensed his sudden excitement. She whirled around, her hair bouncing around her shoulders as she giggled at the speck of a man fleeing across her carpet.

“There you are!” Allura crowed.

The ground shook as she thundered her way across the hotel suite, covering in a few steps what was a cross country sprint for him. Steven saw her shadow fall over him, and he turned around just in time to see her smug face looking down between the gaps of her toes, wiggling over him in preparation.

“Squish!” Allura teased, slamming her foot down and pinning him to the soft carpet with enough force to knock the wind out of him. The soft sole slid against his back, grinding him back and forth across the synthetic fibers as she crossed her arms, her face a picture of victory as she toyed with him underfoot.

Steven summoned all of his strength, managing to turn over onto his back and face her. Allura saw this, and moved her big toe over his face, meaning to press his head back down. He gripped the torso sized digit with gritted teeth, struggling to hold it back as Allura smirked overhead.

“Kiss it,” she ordered.

“N-Never!” Steven shouted back, his arms shaking as the pressure from Allura’s toe increased.

She just laughed, firmly pressing her toe down and easily overcoming his feeble resistance as the bottom of her toe made contact with his face. She lifted up the rest of her foot a moment, really pressing it into him as she ground back and forth, ruffling his hair into the carpet as she forced a long kiss.

“O-Okay, I surrender!” Steven shouted.

“I know,” Allura said with a smirk, “Come on then!” Her toes lowered down his body, clenching around his abdomen and gripping him tightly and lifting him up to her waiting hand. Her fingers wrapped tightly around him, making another escape impossible as she walked towards the bed. Her thumb went up under her dress, hooking her underwear and panties and slowly tracing them down. Steven stared at the abandoned underwear as Allura stepped out of them, leaving herself naked below her dress as she casually rolled onto the bed. She sighed, leaning back onto the pillow, hiking her dress up and exposing her glistening womanhood as she parted her lips with her fingers.

“Uh…” Steven gulped, “Are you sure you want me to… at this size?”

“Yes,” she breathed, gently tilting her palm and bringing him level with the pink tunnel.

Steven felt her finger against his back, sliding him slowly in and letting the soft walls of her womanhood envelop him, quickly soaking him in her juices as he was pushed inside. The light vanished, replaced by a warm and cloying darkness that made it difficult to breathe as his body was carried by the undulating motions of her arousal.

Allura hummed happily to herself, feeling the electric tingling sensations of Steven’s struggles, contrasting nicely with his radiating arousal, bouncing around inside her head and letting her feel his excitement. She crossed her legs, tightening his prison and letting the soft, slick walls grind back and forth over him.

That feels… unbelievable, Steven couldn’t help but groan along with the giant woman, her radiating moan of pleasure shaking the tunnel around him and nearly bringing him to climax then and there.

“Hold on a little longer,” Allura muttered under her breath. She slowly started to toy with herself, sending the most depraved and delightful thoughts she could at Steven.

Steven jerked as his mind was assaulted by a dozen images of Allura toying with him in a myriad of ways, some they’d tried, and some they’d only talked about. He imagined bowing before her, kissing her heels while she smirked overhead, suckling at her breast as she pulled on her immense bra, hiding him from the world as she went about her day, worshiping her toes while they playfully gripped at him, tossing him about and toying with him before pinning him in place below them, letting the golden skinned goddess bask in his submission.

Allura’s inner walls spasmed, clenching tight around Steven and making it hard to breathe as her orgasm began, and a moment later the rumbling motion of the spongy walls gripping him caused him to join her, gritting his teeth and fighting with all of his might, getting nowhere as her womanhood held him firmly in place.

The final wave quickly approached, and Allura sighed, leaning back on her pillow, and slowly uncrossing her legs. Steven was still for a moment, exhausted himself as the powerful muscles around him finally gave up their hold on him. Dizzy and defeated, Steven began to crawl out of her, sliding out onto the bed with a small thud as he hit the blankets. He completely soaked in her juices, the rich pungent odor lingering in his nostrils as he stumbled to his feet.

Allura glanced down between her legs, a goofy grin on her face. She lifted her ring towards him, tapping it and returning him to his full size with a flash. She leaned down, picking Steven up and dragging him along her body as she snuggled him close, enjoying the fading post-orgasm haze.

“We’re supposed to get drinks at sunset with some other members of the company,” Allura muttered dreamily.

“I need a shower,” Steven laughed, wiping some of the gunk out of his eyes.

“We’ll take one together,” Allura said with a grin.

…

Allura looked resplendent in her dark red cocktail dress, showing a deep cleavage as her high heels clacked against the tiled floor of the hover transport. Steven was right behind her, walking briskly to keep up with the twenty-foot woman. He was dressed in formal evening wear himself, a sharp tuxedo that had been provided in the room’s human sized dressing closet.

They were boarding a series of large open topped hover vehicles, each equipped with a small Stelan staffed bar that would serve them as the square shaped transports hovered over the rolling plains west of the city proper.

Steven had to admit, while he’d been skeptical of the location, the view of the reddish orange sunset over the waving grasslands did have a certain beauty to it. The way the dying light bathed Allura made her look stunning, and she looked down at him with a satisfied smirk as she sensed the flattering thoughts he had about her.

There were perhaps a dozen other Stelans and a handful of human men on their hover transport, and in the distance they could see others from the resort, hovering a few hundred yards from them. Allura moved away from the rest of the passengers, leaning down and picking up Steven, holding him up so he could see the sunset better.

“To think this was the first we ever saw of Earth,” Allura marveled. She held him close, and Steven couldn’t help but smile.

“I guess it does look pretty nice,” he admitted.

Steven glanced at the other transports, hovering nearby. He frowned as he spotted a familiar face, Starla Velaryon was laughing with a pair of other Stelans, a cocktail in hand. Miguel was at her side, at his full size for a change, seemingly acting as her date for the evening.

I guess she was one of the people the company sent on the retreat, Steven thought. A resort like this would be a good place to meet with a contact…

“What is it?” Allura whispered. She’d picked up his sudden heightened awareness, glancing around and searching for the source.

“Just enjoy the sunset,” Steven said, turning back to it, “I’ll tell you back at the room…”

…

“Starla’s here?” Allura asked, “it makes sense, but why do you think she’s got something planned? Even bad people need vacation.”

“Yeah,” Steven said, running his thumbs up along her massive feet as she reclined on the couch, “but a resort like this gives a lot of people a reasonable excuse to be in a spot with others they normally couldn’t talk to without raising some suspicions.” He thought a moment, “Is there anywhere in the resort that would have no cameras, no surveillance in general?”

“The steam sauna,” Allura said quickly, “you go in naked!”

Steven nodded, “and are humans allowed in?”

“They’re the uh… towelboys,” Allura giggled.

Steven rolled his eyes, “It’ll work… now how do we know when she’ll be going?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Allura said with a grin. “Tomorrow, when the guest desk opens…”

…

Steven dangled from Allura’s most expensive necklace, a gold and ruby studded piece that had him shackled, spread eagle across the center stone at a few inches tall. He glanced at the Stelan women they passed in the hotel’s lobby, a few gave him a glance, or a smile, but few paid real attention to him, he was an accessory after all, a trophy of Allura’s.

She made her way to the front desk, where the receptionist was typing commands in to a floating monitor. Allura leaned over the counter, letting the necklace dangle down and almost touch the surface.

“Excuse me,” Allura said, “I have a few questions about the amenities offered?”

“Of course!” the receptionist beamed, turning the screen away so she could talk with Allura.

“I’d like to know which of the hotel’s restaurants is the best,” Allura drawled.

“They’re both wonderful,” The receptionist replied, “But for formal dining, I’d have to recommend…”

Steven ignored the conversation between the giant women overhead, activating the necklace’s safety release. The shackles around his wrists snapped open, and he slid down to the hotel counter. Glancing up to make sure the gold skinned receptionist was still busy, he crept over to her work station.

“Another thing,” Allura asked offhandedly, “I was thinking of watching a film later, what human entertainment channels does the suite have.”

“All of them,” The receptionist said with a smile.

Allura started, “I uh… I see, are there any films you would recommend?”

Steven gripped the computer mouse, easily as big as he was, clicking through the guest services files. He quickly found reservation schedules for the spa room, scrolling through them to find Starla’s.

Bingo, he thought, finding her guest file. Looks like you’ll be there at eight tonight. He closed the window, creeping back along the desk towards Allura. He leaned back against the ruby necklace, letting the bonds click back into place.

Allura glanced down, and he nodded, “You know, I think I’ll just look through them myself,” Allura said with a smile, “thanks for your recommendations though!”

“Always happy to help!” the receptionist beamed as they walked away.

…

“So, what do we do now?” Allura asked eagerly, walking through the hotel halls towards the spa room.

“I just need to get in there and see who she’s meeting with,” Steven said, “Is there a uniform or something for the humans who work in the spa?”

“Oh uh,” Allura giggled, “About that…” Steven suddenly saw a vision of himself, naked, serving Allura in a startlingly revealing speedo. “They’ll probably have some near the steam room?” she said sheepishly.

“Okay,” Steven sighed, mentally preparing himself for the “uniform.” “Let’s get moving.”

…

The steam room had one entrance for Stelans, and another for humans. It hadn’t been difficult to find a small employee’s changing room, complete with a fresh pile of the red speedo style underwear that the human servants wore as they served the alien women lounging in the sauna.

Would Starla recognize me? he wondered. We only met once, still… better not get too close.

“Hey, who are you?” another man asked, walking in to the locker room.

“I’m usually work the other shift, but management asked me to fill in,” he lied.

The man stared a moment, the nodded, “Schedule’s been fucked lately,” he said.

“You’re telling me,” Steven chuckled, grabbing a stack of towels.

The other steam room employee opened the door for him, and he glanced around as he walked towards the steam room. Starla strode by, startling him and thankfully not bothering to look down. She was wearing a white bathrobe, tying the sash tight as she stepped inside. Steven followed, going through the small human sized door.

Starla sighed, leaning back and relaxing as the steam grew thicker. Steven turned his back to her, hefting the towels up onto the stand and then pretending to adjust the furnace a moment.

“Human,” she barked suddenly, causing Steven to freeze. He could feel Allura’s fear reacting to his, and he tried to calm himself, for both of their sakes. He peeked over his shoulder, Starla hadn’t even looked up, simply gesturing to him.

“Yes ma’am?” he asked, trying to disguise his voice slightly.

“Turn it down a little, I like to start off cooler and then raise the temperature a little after a while.”

“Of course,” he said, adjusting the small furnace.

The door opened, and Steven kept his eyes straight ahead as he heard another Stelan woman thunder into the steam room behind him.

“Starla,” Caridia said nervously, “A-Are you sure we can talk here?”

Steven’s heartbeat picked up again, Caridia!? There’s no way she won’t recognize me!

He turned to go, rushing out of the human doorway, careful to keep his head turned away from the pair. He lingered near the door as it shut, but the low growl as the furnace started making a low hum, warming the water and fogging up the windows.

“Are you okay?” Allura asked, racing down the hallway, her heels clicking a steady beat. “I felt a lot of nervousness while you were in there.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, “Shrink me and get me back up to the room, we need to talk.”

…

“Caridia?” Allura growled, “I should have known it would be her!”

The pair had retired to their suite, and Allura was cradling Steven in her arms as they sat on the Stelan sized couch. She’d regrown him to his normal size, changing into a bathrobe herself as they discussed what they’d learned.

“It’s troubling,” Steven admitted, “I didn’t even know she was on this trip… Maybe Starla invited her?”

“Who cares why she’s here,” Allura muttered, “Let’s call up your friend Charlie and get her arrested.”

Allura just wants Caridia behind bars because of what happened between us, Steven thought, a little amused. What is her involvement here? His brow furrowed, even after everything he had a soft spot for his coworker, and he didn’t want to believe she was involved in whatever treasonous plot was unfolding beneath their noses. At the same time, it was hard to deny that a secret meeting with Starla was suspicious. Maybe she’s being set up to take the fall? He wondered.

“If Caridia is in on it, she’ll probably be the bagman,” he said finally.

“Bagman?”

“The person doing the dirty work, the one carrying the incriminating stuff,” Steven explained. “It’s all coming together, we’re forced to use some shady suppliers by Starla, Caridia is suddenly out of the office a lot and mostly dealing with them. Starla gets to be hands off, a nice degree of separation between her and anyone in danger of getting caught.”

“I guess we’ll have to tail her or something,” Allura said. She squealed, hugging Steven tightly and causing him to wheeze. “This is all so exciting! Is spy stuff always this fun?”

“It’s dangerous,” Steven said, but he couldn’t keep a smile off his face in light of her enthusiasm.

Allura stared off into space a moment, then sighed, “Steven? Can you tell me why you left the CIA?”

“I…” Steven thought it over, What the hell, is there ever going to be a good time?

“Steven?” she asked hesitantly, “if you don’t want to-“

“Charlie and I were assigned to a matter involving the recovery of a stolen datapad,” Steven began. “We didn’t know what it was, only that half the governments on Earth wanted it.”

“Why are earth nations still so competitive with one another?” Allura asked with a frown, “we’ve provided you with technology and resources to keep all of your people fed and prosperous.”

“We’ve been fighting each other since we crawled out of the sea,” Steven said with a shrug, “Obviously we weren’t going to stop just because we’ve got Big Sister looking over our shoulders.”

Allura raised an eyebrow, confused, “Big Sister?”

“Classical reference,” Steven said dismissively. “My point is, even as a protectorate of your Imperium, our governments find enough things to squabble about that all the spy agencies are busy, with military action off the table entirely they’re probably even busier now than they were pre-conquest, they’re the only tools we have left to strike at each other after all.”

“So, a number of other human governments were after this datapad,” Allura noted, “and then what?”

“Charlie put me in contact with an FSB agent who claimed to know what was on it, said it was okay if we beat him to it so long as the Chinese or the French didn’t get it first,” Steven growled. “They said it was the activation codes for what was left of Earth’s nuclear weapons.”

“Goddess,” Allura breathed, “I-I thought they were all destroyed!”

“So did I,” Steven said, “but the rumor was out that there were bombs somewhere, and that datapad would activate them.” He leaned back, savoring the soft feeling of Allura’s breasts as he adjusted himself, getting comfortable. “I tracked the datapad to a warehouse in Canada, the smuggler who had come into possession of it had his family there, wife and daughter… I think his intent was to trade it for money and a new identity somewhere else.”

“And you… hurt him?” Allura said in a hushed tone.

“Not too bad, all things considered,” Steven sighed, “still, it’s not a good feeling to punch a man in front of his kid. The cops were coming, and I couldn’t let myself get taken into custody. I pulled my gun on him and told him he had until the count of three to hand me the datapad or I’d shoot him.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah,” Steven chuckled, “I justified it to myself by saying that if it fell into the wrong hands thousands, millions, of people could die.”

“Steven…” Allura searched for the words. “It does sound like an acceptable thing, distasteful as it might have been.”

“It would have been,” Steven agreed, his voice growing cold, “but that datapad didn’t have nuclear codes, there never were any… It was a new type of cryptocurrency software.” He swore under his breath and looked at the ceiling, “The agency was really happy to have it of course, they told me it was an ideal outcome, nobody dead, the item recovered, and the agency with a new source of off the books funding.”

“But you almost killed a man,” Allura said, horrified.

“And in front of his wife and daughter too,” Steven agreed, “and that’s when I decided that spy games weren’t for me.” He chuckled, “Charlie insists he didn’t know the Russian’s info was fake, but I’ve always wondered if he spread that nuclear codes rumor himself to light a fire under people’s asses, he was always big on misdirection like that.”

Allura shuddered, “I can see why you don’t care for him,” she muttered.

“So that’s it,” Steven said wistfully, “I told the truth that day on the shuttle, I’ve never killed anyone, but I got closer than I would have liked.”

“Steven,” Allura said slowly, lifting him up to face her, “You are a good man, and I’m not saying that just because you’re cute.”

“Thanks,” he said, a sad smile coming over his face, “Sorry for getting you caught up in all of this.”

“It’s worth it, to be with you,” she said, bringing him close for a kiss. His legs dangled below him as their lips locked, and by the time they parted he was rock hard, panting with excitement as he looked at her eagerly. She looked down between his legs and smirked, “Steven, would you like to-“

“Yes!” he said eagerly.

Allura smirked, pulling her bathrobe open and allowing access to her immense breasts. Steven gulped as he studied the golden orbs, his mouth suddenly so dry. She lowered him down, her hand gently cupping around the back of his head and guiding him to her dark nipple. His lips opened instinctively, taking her into his mouth and suckling eagerly.

“That’s it,” Allura moaned, cradling him close.

Steven’s eyes shot open, and he almost pushed away as he felt the first stream of her milk hit his tongue. It was sweet, rich, and it carried a strange warmth that seemed to spread through his body as soon as it hit his stomach. His mind went blank as he greedily pressed his face into the enormous golden woman’s breast, the warm flesh pressing against his face as he sucked as much out of her as he could.

“Oh goddess,” Allura gasped. Her toes curled as pleasure rocked her body, the powerful sensation of Steven drawing her milk out was like nothing she’d ever felt before, and it took all of her concentration not to roll off the couch as the tingling raced up and down her arms and legs.

Steven felt his erection pressing hard against her, and he was dimly aware of a massive golden hand forcing its way between his legs, the massive fingers curling around his manhood as he continued to drink. The first few strokes up and down his shaft caused him to see stars, the feeling of her hand combined with her milk in his belly was overpowering, and his eyes threatened to roll back as he spurted wildly into her palm.

“YES!” she cried, collapsing backwards as the last drops of her milk were taken from her. There was a soft *pop* as she pulled Steven free, giggling and grinning up at him as she panted. “D-Do I taste good?”

Steven could only nod, blinking as the warm fuzzy feeling in his extremities slowly faded. His body went limp, and he felt suddenly tired, as if he’d run a marathon.

“I-I think I need to lay down,” he yawned suddenly.

“Oh…” Allura said, her eyes wide, “S-Steven, before you do…” She gulped, searching for the words and trying to keep herself from bouncing off the couch in giddy excitement. “A mirror,” she said suddenly, “you need to see the mirror!”

“What!?” he exclaimed, his vision blurring as she rushed him into the suite’s bathroom. “Why do I need a mirror…” his voice trailed off as he looked at his reflection.

My eyes, he realized.

They were solid gold, and he realized he could feel Allura’s excitement over it too. He could feel more than just her excitement in fact, he was more aware of her form behind him than he’d ever been, almost as if she were a part of his own body, a limb that had fallen asleep and left a pins and needles sensation in the back of his head.

“We’re bonded?” he asked, stunned.

“Not yet,” Allura said excitedly, carrying him to the bed, “but it’s started!” She laid him down, gently pulling the covers over him.

“W-What do we do now?” he stammered, fighting a yawn.

“Well you are going to sleep,” Allura said, smiling as she stroked a finger over his head. “The bonding process is very difficult on males; you’re changing at a cellular level. Some males will sleep sixteen hours or more for a few weeks until the process is complete. We’ll get you in a good pre-bonding clinic as soon as we get back to New York!”

“What happens at the bonding clinic?” Steven asked, his eyes fluttering as he struggled to stay awake.

“Health treatments to make it all easier mostly,” Allura said, “then there are your immunizations.”

“Why do I need those?” Steven grumbled, closing his eyes and rolling over in the bed.

“It’s the law,” Allura said with a shrug, “most bonded humans will want to travel offworld at some point with their bondmate, so you have to get shots for offworld diseases.”

Steven wanted to ask more questions, but sleep had taken him, and he snoozed softly as Allura sat on the bed, looking down at him with a smile.