Page 61 of Across The Stars
I exhaled as soon as he was gone like the man sucked the air out of the chamber with him. I felt so consumed when he was around and it was starting to frustrate me.
I needed to relax.
I stripped out of the clothes I’d been given and took a deep breath, staring at the shower. It was the next thing I had to conquer. That was all. I stepped inside it and stood for a moment, staring down the white walls like they were a 5,000-piece puzzle.
“Here goes something,” I said to myself as I reached out to brush the wall with my fingers. Veins of light lit up the slick surface and the water gently started to flow. It smelled like rain and tea herbs but sweeter and I realized it was one of the things I’d smelled on Vahko the first time we got close. I smiled when the lukewarm stream touched my skin. I could have showered that way, but warmer would soothe my muscles better, so I did as Vahko instructed and slid my fingers along the wall until the water heated.
Perfect.
It drenched my skin and ran through my hair, making my body smell like an herbal melody and stormy weather. I neverthought I liked that scent until that shower entered my life. Now it was the most wonderful smell in the world.
That and Vahko smelled like that…
I scrubbed my hair, my body, and my face, cleaning the past few days off myself. Well, come to think of it, I wasn’t sure how days worked on a planet with no day or night. How long had I been awake?
When the smell left the shower, I knew it was like Vahko said and the “soap” was no longer in the stream. I rinsed, massaged my achy muscles a little, and then gently slid my fingers over the wall again until the water shut off.
“I would love one of these on Earth,” I said.
I wasn’t really the type to talk to myself and I cringed at my own voice, but I was sleep deprived and anxious, so everything was bound to stray from my usual patterns for a while.
Stepping out of the shower, I found myself a folded towel on a shelf that was built into the wall and dried myself off before putting the same shirt on. It hung just past my butt and since no one had given me any other clothes, I decided that was what I was wearing to bed.
With my wet hair making a damp blanket down my back, I dragged myself to the bed where silvery sheets covered a thin mattress. It looked inviting, but honestly, I could have fallen to sleep on asphalt at that point.
When my body hit the bed, sleep overtook me like I’d been caught in its web. The harder I fought it, the faster I slumbered. In no time, I was dreaming.
And Imeandreaming.
My dreams that night were so real and vivid. I could feel hands on me. Warm, silky hands. I could feel hot breath on my neck. Smell the rich water of the shower. Blurs of colors crossed my eyes, but in my dream, I couldn’t make out what any of it meant. And I didn’t care. Everything felt so good there like I wasfloating in a warm pool, burdened by nothing. There was a dull throbbing between my legs and were I alone in my own bed, I would have answered that throbbing myself, but in that dream, something—someone—did it for me. I whimpered, my skin a valley of rapture when warm fingers caressed every inch of my body.
When the hot breath moved to my lips, I began to realize how far the dream was going. My vision cleared like I was finally opening my eyes and I saw him. Vahko. He was in my head about to touch me in all sorts of ways. I lifted my hands to touch his bare, smooth chest, feeling his hearts thrum against my palm.
Jesus, I didn’t want to wake up. I really wanted to know what was going to happen, but my body was in a panic, unsure what was fake and what wasn’t. It felt real. Too real. And in that dream, I couldn’t be touched nearly enough to suffice. I was being tortured into madness until I opened my eyes and sat up.
I was sticky with sweat, my body too sensitive and too hot for comfort. I wanted to plunge my hand down between my legs and finish what my dream had started, but embarrassment washed through me and made me pause. Having wet dreams about an alien? It was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard.
Shaking my head, I stood off the bed, the fabric of my shirt clinging to my skin. My core pulsed with need and I tried my best to keep it at bay as I paced. What was I doing? Images of Vahko raced through my mind again. No, not just images. I could still feel him. I could still sense his hands on my bare skin. I could still smell him. I was going weak in the knees thinking about it and it was driving me nuts. Was I crazy? Was there something wrong with me? Questions echoed in my skull while Vahko’s imaginary body surged over mine.
I had to sit down again.
Just then, I heard a soft beep at the door. I shot right back up off the bed, staring and holding my breath. When there were two hard knocks following, I knew I had a visitor. Puzzled and sleep deprived and totally out of my mind, I marched toward the door and pressed a hand to the glowing control panel. The door hissed open and I found Vahko on the other side, hands braced on either side of the frame. His head was down, but when the barrier between us disappeared, his gaze slowly climbed my body from my feet, up my bare legs, and to my face where I was gawking at him in suspense. He had a tortured look on his face, but it turned feral fast, his color pulsing from a faint purple to a hot fuchsia that outlined his contours in a dangerous looking pattern.
Vahko moved forward, backing me into the room as he entered. Eyes on me, he reached back and closed the door behind him. He was wearing a pair of black leggings and nothing else. His entire upper half was naked and holy shit was it nice to look at. He had the anatomy of a human with slight differences that just made him a marvel. Sculpted muscles. Striations in all the right places. A narrow waist and honed… well… everything. He was lean and long and looking at the wild edge of his gaze made me even wetter. There were subtle ridges along his ribs much like the ones on his cheeks and neck and there were more tracing the angle of his collarbones. But the ones I was trying desperately not to look at were the ones that led down that tantalizing “v” beneath his belly and plunged beneath the waistband of his pants.
Again, it all should have turned me off because it just drove home the fact that he wasn’t human, but I was more turned on than I’d ever been in my life.
30: Innifer
I pinched my thighs together, trying to keep my wits about me, but the way he looked at me when he stepped into the room made my skin catch fire. It was almost painful, like the only thing that could sooth that burn was him. My lungs filled with his scent like I’d suddenly become a bloodhound and I could smell everything. It was spicy and deep. He no longer smelled like soft tea and rain, but something deeply masculine and overwhelming and it hit me right where I couldn’t bear another blow. Right in my core.
“Sjek, sekya,” he hissed, breathing heavily. “Uri jehir mal telir.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I breathed.
“You’re killing me.”
“Me? What am I doing?”
