Page 27 of Gentle Giant

“Can I help?” Brutus asked as he stood far too close. I hadn’t noticed he’d moved directly behind me until his breath tickled my neck.

“You want to grab some plates out of that cabinet?” I pointed at the wide cabinet to the right of the sink.

His brows creased and he appeared adorably confused, but he went to do my bidding… only to yank the cabinet door off its hinges as he opened it. His eyes widened as he held the door and looked at me. “I am sorry,” he said. “I will try to repair it.”

“Don’t worry about it. But be careful with the plates. I don’t want you to accidentally break them and cut yourself.”

As I placed the food on the table, he lifted a stack of plates from the shelf and set them on the table. But my heart sank as I realized he wouldn’t fit in any of the chairs. I glanced around the kitchen, searching for another piece of furniture that might work. In his cavern, we sat on soft woven mats placed on the floor to consume our meals. I supposed we could do the same here.

I grabbed two plates and loaded them up, then passed him one with a smile. I really was eager to watch him try the food. After grabbing some napkins and utensils, I gestured at thehallway. “Let’s go back to the living room and sit on the floor. I’ll put a movie on too.”

Dinner and a movie with Brutus. My heart fluttered. This felt like a real date.

Chapter 18

BRUTUS

I stabbedthe utensil into a reddish ball and popped it into my mouth. The flavor was strange and unlike anything I’d eaten before, but it was delicious. I tried the other items on my plate as Hailey named them.Garlic bread.Spring salad.Spaghetti noodles. And the reddish balls I kept eating were aptly namedmeatballs.

Surely for Hailey to prepare such a delicious meal for me meant she must be planning to mate with me. Tonight, perhaps? My cock thickened at the prospect, though with the plate sitting in my lap I didn’t think Hailey had noticed.

There was a large screen in the room that she’d put something called a movie on, and the moving pictures fascinated me. Especially the glimpse of the human world I was getting. According to Hailey, the movie took place in New York City, wherever that was, and it was a classic movie, whatever that meant.

“Well, what do you think of the food?” Hailey asked. “Tell me the truth. You won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t like it. I realize you aren’t used to cooked food.”

“I love it!” I proclaimed after I finished swallowing the last meatball on my plate. I wondered if there were more in the kitchen. “The texture of the food is odd, and it is unlike anything I’ve eaten before, but I swear to you that I find it delicious. You are a skilled cook, sweet human. Thank you.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and she glanced down briefly, but her twinkling eyes reminded me of starlight when she looked up. “Well, you sure do know how to flatter a girl. Are you ready for seconds yet? I’d be happy to fix you another plate.”

Later,after the movie had ended, we cleaned the kitchen together. Hailey pointed out the various devices that belonged in a human kitchen. A stove, a sink, a dishwasher, and a microwave. She claimed the wealthiest humans owned a device called a ‘food replicator’ that could create almost any dish you desired in mere moments, though she said she’d never actually used one before. I hung on her every word, eager to learn more about the world she’d come from.

“I’ve told you about my childhood,” I said as we retreated to the covered porch to watch the rain. “Will you tell me about yours?”

We settled on the floor beside a seating area since I couldn’t fit in any of the chairs. I wrapped my arm around her, and she leaned against me, a soft sigh drifting from her lips.

“Well,” she began, “I grew up all over the country. My father’s job kept moving him around, so we moved at least once a year. As a child, I lived in Houston, Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia. I realize you probably don’t know where those cities are, but they are hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of miles away fromhere. I was kind of lonely as a child and I didn’t make friends easily, so moving around was difficult.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “So, you were not surrounded by a huge family as a child? Did you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No brothers or sisters, no huge family, though I kept in touch with some cousins and my Aunt Shirley, and I would see them sometimes during the summers. But maybe I shouldn’t complain. It wasn’t so bad,” she said. “I mean, at least my parents could afford safe places for us to live. We always lived in fortified, bomb-proof buildings that had lots of security.”

She appeared deep in thought for several moments.

“I suppose you aren’t aware of all the unrest that has plagued the country—the United States—during the last hundred years or so,” she continued. “There are areas of the country that are pretty much lawless. And there’s also the constant threat of attack from other countries. My people have been involved in several major wars during the last century, and there have been quite a few attacks on our soil.”

I nodded. “I am aware that there is great strife in your country and in the rest of the world. I can sense it, the violence and the desperation, the suffering.”

She cocked her head at me. “You can sense it? How?”

“When I touch the soil of my land to infuse the Starblessed territory with healing energy, I can hear the echoes of despair, the agony of your people.” It saddened me to know she’d grown up in a world filled with so much pain and violence. While my people sometimes encountered the remnants of the human wars, like when a damaged metallic air vessel crashed on our lands, at least we were not involved in the fighting. Compared to the human world, life in the Starblessed territory was peaceful.

“Wow,” she said. “I had no idea.” She placed her hand on mine and grasped my thumb, a look of awe in her dark eyes. “Istill can’t get over how large your hands are, Brutus. How large you are.” She peered at me, a blush staining her cheeks. “Are you sure that we could actually, you know, fit together? I mean, what I meant to say was…” She blew out a quick breath, appearing flustered as she squirmed in place beside me, and it wasn’t long before I detected the scent of her arousal in the air, and I finally understood her meaning.

“The Great Spirit wouldn’t have brought us together if we weren’t compatible. I am confident that we will… fit together. As I have promised you before, when the time for us to mate arrives, I will be especially gentle with you, my sweet human. The last thing I want is to hurt you. When we finally mate, I intend to make the experience pleasurable for you.”

She squirmed again and the scent of her feminine heat increased. My cock hardened in response and there was no hiding it. A tiny gasp escaped her when she noticed the firm evidence of my need.

HAILEY

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