Dancing with the Viper by Amy Beatty

In the eight years since the first Talessanin embassy ship landed on Earth, Hanna Bradley, like most other humans, has never met one of the reclusive extraterrestrials—and she likes it that way. Hanna’s life is finally going well. She has her friends. She has her art. She has her own cozy home. And it’s been months since the last bout of horrific nightmares left her weeping on the floor of her locked bedroom closet.

Then Jon moves in across the street.

Jonantathinel of House Kanestelan Ehr has left the intergalactic emperor’s service to settle in a small, quiet town on the empire’s newest planetary protectorate, Earth. But Jon isn’t just any alien ex-soldier.

When Hanna’s charming, yet intimidating new neighbor tries to spark a romance, the spark reignites the terrors of Hanna’s past, and she struggles to keep her balance as Jon’s ominous secrets whirl around her.