Page 7 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector
“Why does the sleeping platform have to be so high?” Greer asked, frowning.
“To avoid the skuttlers, of course.” The guide spoke as though they ought to know what he was talking about.
“Uh…skuttlers?” Sunny asked uncertainly.
“They are a kind of large insect with a flat body and a shiny black shell,” the guide explained.
“Wait—how large?” Sunny put a hand to her throat. She was optimistic and positive about anything and everything…but bugs and spiders. And the thing their guide was describing sounded a lot like a large cockroach—which was one of the bugs Sunny hated the most! They were the only thing worse were spiders, in her opinion.
“Oh, about this big.” The guide held his hands about a foot apart. “Unfortunately, they are able to flatten themselves and get into any house or structure, no matter how tightly it is built. So we make certain they can’t actually reach us. They’re only active at night, once the lights are extinguished,” he added helpfully.
“But then…I mean, can they crawl up walls? Or…or on the ceiling?” Sunny asked, feeling sick.
The guide shook his head.
“Oh no—they’re too heavy for that. They mostly just scuttle along the floor—which is how they got their name, I suppose.” He laughed, as though the idea of giant bugs scuttling across the floor all night long was funny.
“But…how do you avoid them?” Sunny asked. “I really don’t like bugs,” she added with a shiver.
The guide nodded at the glowing metal and glass lantern which was hanging from a hook in the center of the ceiling. It emitted a soft golden light that bathed the sleeping area in a circle of warmth.
“My advice to you is to be certain you’re safe in bed before you blow out the flame,” he told Sunny. “Once it’s out, you’ll need to light it again if you want to get out of bed. Either that or wait until the morning light sends the skuttlers back to the jungle where they live during the daytime.”
Sunny tried not to imagine the neat floor of the guest hut crawling with enormous foot-long roaches, but the scene insisted on popping into her head anyway.
“Are…are there a lot of them?” she asked, her voice quivering.
“Not usually. They come in and look around for anything to eat. As long as you don’t bring food into your dwelling, they will most likely leave again,” the guide said comfortingly.
“But if you can’t eat in your dwelling, then where do you eat?” Greer asked, frowning.
“In the Communal Village hut—where our Binding Celebration is being held right now,” the guide told her. “You must get ready to go if you don’t wish to miss it.”
“Oh, of course.” Sunny took a deep breath and tried to look on the bright side of things.
At least Greer was going to be with her to protect her. In fact, it might get quite interesting, sharing a single bed. In the past he had slept on the floor if they were only offered a single “sleeping platform” as the Kindred called it. But he couldn’t do that if the floor was going to be crawling with skuttlers. And hopefully if any of them got too close he could squash them with his giant black boots.
Greer seemed to be thinking along the same lines because he frowned down at the guide and asked,
“Are these insects—these ‘skuttlers” holy or sacred to your people in any way?”
“Goodness, no!” The guide made a face. “They’re pests! If there was any way to keep them out, we certainly would. But they’re attracted to the scent of our homes and always looking for food.” He sighed and shrugged his narrow shoulders. “What can you do?”
Nothing, apparently, Sunny thought dryly. Well, they would make the best of the situation and just stay in the bed when the lights were out. The only problem she could see was that if she and Greer were sharing a bed, she wasn’t going to have any privacy to take care of her personal needs.
Sunny had a very high sex drive—abnormally high if her ex, Bernard was to be believed. She had brought her favorite vibrator with her, as she always did, but usually she and Greer had two separate rooms so she could use it freely on herself once they had turned in for the night. How was she going to manage that if they were sharing a bed?
Maybe I can go in the bathroom, Sunny thought to herself. But of course, she would have to be sure the doors and walls were thick enough to muffle the buzzing sound of her “rotating rabbit.” She would just die of mortification if her Protector happened to hear her getting off!
But going for several days and nights without getting off was unthinkable for Sunny. Masturbation was self-care, as far as she was concerned—at any rate, it was certainly one of the ways she maintained a positive outlook on life.
Her ex, Bernard, had never been able to keep up with her needs. He’d complained that she was “some kind of a nymphomaniac” just because she wanted to have sex more than once a week! That, along with the fact that he didn’t take her work seriously and was always telling her to lose weight, was the main reason their relationship hadn’t lasted.
The final straw had been when Bernard had walked in on her unexpectedly while she was using her vibrator. That had been embarrassing enough but Bernard had made a huge deal out of it. He had acted offended and disgusted and accused her of trying to make him feel bad because he wasn’t as big as her rotating rabbit.
“You’re sick, Sunny—there’s something wrong with you!” he’d exclaimed, his eyes narrowed with disgust. “No normal woman needs sex as much as you do! I try my best to satisfy you but then I walk in on you using that…that giant thing on yourself! Disgusting!”
At that point, Sunny had called it quits. She simply couldn’t stand being with someone who had no interest in meeting her basic needs and tried to make her feel guilty for meeting them herself.
