Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I preen under the compliment and give another wiggle. He sucks in a breath, and I realize the hard ridge I am straddling is not his hip but his cock. Oh. My body flushes with heat, and I rock my hips over him experimentally. It drags his blanket-covered length against my folds, and the sensation is dizzying.
Mardok groans again, and then, sky-claw fast, he wraps his arms around me and rolls until I am at his side and not straddling him. We face each other, so close the curves of our horns are practically touching and I can feel his breath on my face. “Tell me you’re real,” he says to me. “I feel like if I go to sleep, I’m going to wake up and this will all have been a dream.”
“I am very real,” I tell him, and trace my fingers over his cheek again. “Why do you have drawings on your face?”
“They’re tattoos. I got them when I was…” He hesitates. “When I was in the military. At war.”
“What is military?”
“Nothing good.” His tone has changed. It’s no longer sensual and full of pleasure, but turning cold. This is something that hurts him. I decide to change the topic, letting my fingers glide up his arching horns and along the curve. “Why are your horns shiny?”
He gives a short, breathless laugh. “You’re very curious, aren’t you?”
“Mm. It is because you are a very curious man.” But the darkness is creeping out of his voice, so I am happy. I want nothing but his smiles. Whatever bad things are in his past, I will make better for him with my love. “Is it a secret?”
“No, it’s custom. People cap their horns because…well, I don’t know. It’s just what you do. I guess it’s polite. Keeps you from accidentally scratching someone if you move wrong.” I can feel him shrug. “I’ve never met anyone without capped horns except you.”
“I am special,” I tease. “You like that.”
“You’re very special.” The husky note is back in his voice, and I wish his eyes glowed in the dark like mine so I could see them. He is just…dark. Soon enough he will have a khui, I remind myself.
“Can we kiss more?” I ask him, snuggling closer. My nose rubs against his. “I like kissing you.”
“We shouldn’t. It’s against Captain’s rules to have relations with ship guests, and I’m pretty sure you qualify.” But his hand glides up and down my arm, touching my bare skin, and his tail is still twined with mine. “I’ll lose my position.”
“What position?”
“My job.”
“What is job?”
He chuckles. “Like your people have hunters. I am a mechanic. Well, that and security. I do both.”
It makes no sense for him to lose his position in his small tribe because he touches me, but perhaps their customs are harsh…or he has a mate. I suck in a breath. What if he has a mate and that is why he has not resonated to me? I grab his horns with both of my hands and hold his face against mine, my brow pressing to his as if this will give me the answers faster. “Mardok,” I say quickly. “Do you have a mate?”
“A what?”
“A female? A mate? A family? Kits?”
“What? No. I told you, I’m a soldier. Was a soldier.” I can feel his heavy sigh in the air between us. “It keffed my head up good. Can’t bring a family into that. Never wanted to.”
I am relieved. “Good.”
“Why good?” He sounds amused.
“Because you are my mate and no one else’s.”
There’s a long pause. “What?”
I put my hand to his chest. Still covered in his silly, thin leathers. He should be naked with me. “You are my mate and I am yours. We have resonated.”
5
MARDOK
Mate?
I wonder if this is one of the language gaps and I’m not hearing her right. Or maybe it’s hard to concentrate when her gorgeous, supple body is pressing up against mine and she’s completely naked, her skin scorchingly hot and slightly damp. It makes me picture what she looks like in the light, all blue curves, skin gleaming, her thick hair wild over her shoulders, those bare horns…I have to suppress a shudder or I’m going to take myself in hand, right here. I need to focus on what she’s saying. “You say resonance. What does that mean?”
Her nose brushes against mine, and I think she’s going to put her lips on me again. I’ve never experienced anything like her mouth-on-mouth kiss before. I’ve seen it in the kind of vids that no decent woman ever watches. And I’ve read about it, but I’ve never actually done it. All of the women I’ve had relationships with in the past have been brought up by modern society, concerned more with hygiene and disease control than the intimacy of putting her mouth on me. I’ve rarely even touched bare skin. But Farli? She is unafraid and unashamed of who she is, and she revels in caresses and the touches that everyone else I know would eschew.