Page 7 of His Human to Learn

Who am I kidding? I don't care if it's too forward. This could be the only time we can talk for the next few months, and I don't want it to be over so soon.

Marron murmurs something under his breath, the word mate sounding like an airhorn against the rest because I've been trying to figure out if it's what he said all those months ago. Hearing it muttered from his lips again, I know, without a doubt, he said it the first time we talked. I might've tried to tell myself I heard wrong, but now I know he calls me mate.

"I'm not going to flash my boobs at you," I say in English.

He must be intrigued by the words he doesn't understand because I can see him decide to do the right thing or wrong, depending on how you look at it.

"What?" he asks, spinning around slowly.

He holds a hand up near his eyes like he might have to cover them at any moment if I decide to stand from the water. I want him, but I still barely know him. Not to mention, as soon as he thinks this is going too far, he'll bolt.

"I will sit," I tell him in his language, hoping it will help him understand that I have no interest in making him uncomfortable.

He nods but doesn't move to come closer to the river so we can talk. I use my hands to drag myself through the water a little bit, so I'm sitting where I was before I noticed him out here. His eyes widen as my shoulders pop out of the water, and then my collarbones. His attention is riveted to the water even as I stop moving and make it clear I'm not showing it anymore.

"I did not know you were here," Marron says, his gaze finally forced away from the slopes of my breasts up to my face, where I'm probably bright red. If he notices, he doesn't say anything. No, he takes a step closer and then another until he's standing next to the two piles of clothes I left on the shore.

"I find the tunic on the farm." I point at the pile of clothes and then toward the fields. Marron kneels and flicks through my clothing before plucking the tunic off the ground. He goes to stand back up, but I call out again, wanting to make this last and maybe get him to shed some of the rule following he seems so fond of. "I willtradeyou."

I don't know the demon's word for trade, so I say it in English and try to think of a way to explain to him what I mean. He tilts his head to the side, his hand fisting the tunic as he waits for me to elaborate.

"I take the tunic. You take something."

He seems even more confused by my offer than he was before, which makes me feel foolish. I don't even know what I have that he could want, but I know that I want his tunic. I was planning on wearing it to bed tonight and pretending he gave it to me.

"This is yours. I told you this."

He holds the tunic up, points at it, and then returns it to my pile of clothes. My cheeks burn as I realize I misread the situation, but then again, I don't know what he was doing digging through my clothes if he didn't want it back. He must realize my confusion because he folds the tunic neatly on top of my clothes and says more.

"I was not sure if it was mine or Thro's."

My eyebrows rise because I don't know how he could think it was Thro's when Thro is easily my size, and the tunic is not. I'm about to say something when Marron turns his attention to the dirty clothes beside the clean ones. He flicks at my tunic and pulls out a piece of fabric that has me dipping my head under the water. When I come back up, he's still holding my underwear in his hand and looks at me in question.

"Trade?" He uses the English word, and I can't even answer because I'm burning up inside. The only thing saving me from absolute mortification is that I didn't sweat too much today, so at least they're not gross.

"You want…" I don't know the word for underwear, so I just motion toward his hand.

"Very much," he says as though this is a completely normal conversation.

Maybe for the demons, it is. I haven't asked any of the women if their mates have asked for their underwear or what they could possibly want with them. I'm not about to ask Nia about it. So, I do the only thing I can think of to get my answer.

"Why?"

Marron's smile widens as he begins to explain to me what he plans on using my underwear for. He talks too fast, with too much enthusiasm, and with too many words I don't understand. After a minute of explaining it all to me, the only word I understood was 'cock'. He tilts his head to the side, laughs, and explains again, slower and not even remotely the same thing he just told me.

"I want them to hold." His tongue flicks between his lips, and I nod lamely at his excuse. He laughs to himself before standing. "I should go. It is late."

"Okay," I say, my mind still trying to figure out what he's going to do with my underwear. He tucks them into the hem of hisshorts so no one can see that he has them. He shoots me one more devilish smile before turning around and making his way back through the fields.

I finish cleaning my hair and then hurry with the rest of my bath. The clouds are darkening, and I don't want to be left alone out here. I dress quickly in Marron's tunic and shorts before speed walking back to the house. I feel eyes on me as I walk back through the fields, and when I turn to see who it is, Marron is standing by the gate, waiting to make sure I get home safe before he leaves.

I'm chewing on my bottom lip when I open the door to the house. The smile I'm wearing would be proof enough that I was up to no good, but I'm also wearing my crime.

"Thro came by to tell us Marron had to come back to look for his tunic," Nia says as her eyes flick down to what I'm wearing. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Me?" I squint and tap my chin. "No, I don't think I have any idea what you're talking about."

Nia shakes her head, her lips twitching at the corners as she tries to keep the smile off her face. "Be careful, that's all I ask."

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