Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“You find a lot of reasons to talk about mating, don’t you?”
“It is at the top of my mind most of the time. I’m sorry. I can modulate that, if that would make you more comfortable.”
“I mean, I’d rather we not talk about it.”
The way he emphasized talk, I sensed he didn’t mean it literally, and if anything, what I detected from him was that sense of humor that delighted me. “No talking about it?”
“Talk is cheap.”
I knew this idiom from my park visits, and hearing him say it left me intrigued.
“You shouldn’t say those kinds of things to a Furker,” I teased back.
“Well, if you’d keep my mouth busy, then I wouldn’t be able to say anything.”
As my mind went to all the ways I could keep that mouth busy, he smirked, as though pleased with himself for planting these naughty seeds in my mind.
“Well, that all has to come after you show me what an amazing date you are,” he went on.
“Not sure how to do that.”
“Don’t worry. I’m like your official guide to Earth, so it’s my job to make sure this date is a good one. So we can sprinkle some flirting in, but we also need to get to know each other.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Don’t sound so serious about it. It’s supposed to be a fun, playful thing.”
“Of course.”
“You still sound too serious.”
“A Furker is—”
“Always serious? Okay, I get it, but chill out. Let’s just start with ordering.”
He walked me through the menu options, and when the waiter returned, at Twink’s request, he provided recommendations. Twink reaffirmed his interest in the chicken schnitzel, and I ordered a steak with mashed potatoes.
“How would you like your steak done?” the waiter asked.
“Oh…” This was not something Twink had discussed with me, but the waiter seemed to notice my confusion and offered, “Rare, medium-rare, medium…”
“How difficult are they to find?” I asked, and Twink laughed. This was not like his usual laugh; there was tension in him.
“Oh, he’s a real clown, isn’t he?” This seemed like a performance for the waiter. “He likes his steak medium.”
I took that as Twink’s way of helping me out of a tricky situation, so I nodded, smiling to play off my misunderstanding.
The waiter headed off, and when he was out of earshot, Twink said, “Well, before that comment you almost sounded human.”
“I’m not doing great on this date thing, am I?”
He reached across the table and rested his hand on mine, which sent a jolt through me. “You’re doing fine, Daddy,” he said, his words a whisper against the backdrop of sensation soaring through me at his touch. He must’ve noticed the change in me because he pulled his hand away, and I sensed his discomfort. “Sorry, was that not okay?” he asked. “You seem to get weird when I touch you.”
“I think you’d prefer not to touch me. For me, it activates a very strong desire, which only seems to get stronger the more time we spend together.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. Unless you can’t control your impulses and it’s dangerous for me…?”
My chest knotted up at the thought that he would even think that. “You aren’t in any danger with me,” I assured him quickly. “And strong as my desires may be, Furkers are disciplined creatures, by the very nature of having to integrate with other species, so there’s no way I’d ever snap and harm you.”
His tension dissipated, which was a relief since I didn’t care to cause him any distress.
“Well, you make it sound very sexy,” he said.
“So you mentioned we should discuss other things, get to know each other.” I offered this as a way of changing the subject. “I feel like you know a lot about me already. Very few know how many children I have, and since I only just escaped my ex recently, the details of our breakup.”
“I’m not talking about those kinds of details. More mundane and boring stuff.”
“Why would we discuss anything boring if I’m trying to impress you?”
Twink considered this briefly before replying, “Because the way we partner up here on Earth, we know most of our time is gonna be spent in the more boring parts of life. Every day isn’t going to be an adventure, so we want to get an idea of what a typical day looks like for each of us.”
This correlated with conversations I’d overheard, which sometimes seemed to be more about bonding than about achieving an objective.
“I guess mine depends on the form I’ve taken on and the environment I’m in,” I explained.
“Then maybe just what you did during your downtime with your ex.”
“There was lots of planning.”
“Planning? Like for the future?”
“My escape, really. She spent most of her time and energy laying eggs and protecting me from our drone offspring, so while she did this, I worked on weakening a wall in my cage. I realized that if I cut my tentacle, the acid it secreted could eat through the material she’d created, but I don’t produce much, so I had to milk myself over the course of what to you would be several years, eventually breaking through the chamber.”