Page 25 of Uprooted
“That gives me an excellent idea!” Aro beckons me to follow.
He scans open each door as we walk through twisting hallways. I’ve completely lost any sense of direction and have no idea where we are now.
Aro’s pace slows and he activates a door for us. “After you.”
I’m surrounded by workout equipment and monitors. The gym is mostly empty, with a few Tilaks working out. They briefly acknowledge Aro as we walk through, but no one takes notice of me. We come to an open area with soft purple mats covering the ground.
“Alright, take your best shot,” he says and sinks down into a defensive fighting stance.
“What?” I laugh at his ludicrous posture.
“Try not to hurt yourself.”
I bounce on my toes back and forth, imitating a combative posture. “You ready for this?” I push out my lower lip in mock seriousness.
“Let’s see it then.” He motions me forward.
I take a jab at him. He ducks out of the way and steps away from my strike in one swift motion. We circle around each other, both of us smiling and waiting for the other to make their move.
I look down when my foot finds the edge of the mat. That’s all the opening he needs. He swats at my ass and jumps back a safe distance away before I can even flinch. My face heats red from the smack on my backside.
“You humans turn the cutest shade of pink when you’ve been beat,” he says.
“Beat? Not even close.” My bravado sounded real even to my own ears.
I turn and take another swing. This time he grabs my wrist and turns my body so my back is up against his chest. I squirm to get away, but his arm across my upper body holds me in place. I can feel his solid chest against my back. I clutch his forearm and it loosens a fraction at my touch.
Luckily, he can’t see my face. I’m smiling as I step to the side and sweep my foot across his ankles, bringing him down to the ground. He lands on top of me caging me in on the mats. I turn over to face him and he grabs both of my wrists, holding them to the sides of my head while his knees straddle my hips.
He smiles down at me. “Hm, I like the view from up here.”
I’m not ready to give up without a fight. I push my hips up and yank my wrists out of his firm grasp all at once. I grab his shoulder and use his momentum to roll him to his back with my full body weight on top of him. Pressed together, our chests rise and fall against each other. Our position makes heat radiate from between my thighs. It all began with him helping me up and less than an hour later, against all better judgement, I’m now straddling him on the ground. He could easily lift me up and toss me aside and there is nothing I could do about it.
“What are you going to do now that you’ve got me here?” he asks quietly.
He wants to see who yields first, and now I’m feeling stubborn. I look around to see if anyone is watching. The others in the room are oblivious to us, focused on their own workouts. I arch my back and move upwards to meet his face. I sweep my hair behind my shoulder and bite my lower lip. His eyes settle on my mouth.
“I think I could do anything I want,” I say, imitating his cool confidence.
The space between us feels heavy and I'm powerless to the gravity pulling me down. I wonder what his lips would feel like on mine. Maybe just a tiny, little...
Someone drops their weights with a loud clang. I pull away and collapse onto the mat next to him and try to catch my breath. He shoves a hand through his hair and his ear does a little twitch.
“Um. I’m gonna go,” I mumble. I push up off the floor and suppress the urge to bolt from the room like a coward. I straighten my shirt and do my best imitation of a confident walk. I glance over my shoulder when I reach for the door, hoping he doesn’t see through my act. He’s lying on the ground staring up at the ceiling.
16
Aro
I still feel the imprint of Elowen’s perfect round ass pressed up against me. She absolutely did that on purpose. There’s no other way that little human could have brought me down. In that position she could have made me forget my own name. Now is not the time to think about her on top of me, with her coveralls unsnapped and gaping open. That spark in her eyes when she looked down at me is seared on my brain. I would conquer worlds to have her look at me like that again.
I was definitely getting the go-ahead until she jumped off of me. Is this what rejection feels like? Things are usually so much more straightforward. She's totally interested in me. I know what that feels like. I know it's there. So why did she stop? It doesn’t make sense.
There's got to be a reason I've felt this pull towards her since the first moment I saw her across the crowded ballroom. She seemed uncomfortable that night. I noticed every fidget. I was completely distracted the entire time. I should have been paying attention to the important discussions of planetary policy around me, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything except getting her attention. At one point we made eye contact, but her eyes darted away before I could do more than raise my glass. There was a hint of that same unease earlier last night, but it faded away pretty quickly.
Elowen is this little puzzle I'm determined to figure out—starting tomorrow.
“Captain!” Commander Rialto’s stern voice snaps me back to reality.
