Page 46 of All or Nothing
“Nonsense,” I informed her, pressing a kiss to her cheek and nuzzling at her jaw. “Would I do anything that would make me uncomfortable? Am I that type of male?”
She froze, then tilted her head back and laughed, her arms going around my neck to keep her balance. “Alright, you got me there,” she wheezed when she’d caught her breath. “My man is a bit of a princess.”
I knew that calling me a princess was an Earth thing that was her way of teasing me for being too particular and spoiled, but the fact that she had called me hers settled something inside of me that was still raw and frazzled from the last twelve hours. She didn’t hate me. She might have even already forgiven me.
Truly, she was a gift.
I reached around her and started cutting into the jithla cakes, spearing a bite with plenty of berries on it with the utensil and guiding it to her lips.
She shot me an exasperated look. “You arenotfeeding me,” she protested, trying to snatch the utensil from my grasp. But with my longer arms I kept it away from her easily.
“Silence, female. You will let your male serve you as an apology for his terrible behavior.” Something shifted in her eyes, something like sadness creeping in.
“Alright,” she agreed softly, her arms tightening around my neck. “Maybe after breakfast, we sit down and look for another doctor for you to see.”
I wanted to bristle at that, but I had to admit I was terrified of slipping up again and losing her for good. “Alright,” I echoed, feeding her another bite. “I wish to take care of this as soon as possible.” I dipped my head so that our foreheads met. “I can’t lose you,” I admitted in a whisper, the confession ripping my chest wide open, leaving my beating hearts so, so vulnerable.
Joss made a sound of distress, then pressed her soft lips to mine. She tasted likehrasazaberries and home, the warmth of her body in my arms better than any medicine I’d ever been given to help with my anxiety. She waspotent, my Joss. I was tempted to let breakfast go ignored and get my fill of her instead, but I didn’t want her to go hungry. My drive to take care of her was especially strong this morning.
I ripped my lips from hers and resumed feeding her, making her huff again that she was capable of feeding herself. But if I couldn’t haveherfor my meal then the possessive male in me wouldn’t let me release her or let her take care of herself. Besides, I think a part of her liked it.
Once I’d fed her everything I let her up so that I could dump the dishes in the sanitizer and hit the terminal to find a new emoreg. I used the terminal in the living room so that Joss could join me if she wanted, and I was relieved when she did, settling into the couch with her knees bent and her tablet balanced on her raised lap.
“I was thinking while you do that that I’d start getting a website set up for our comic,” she drawled, flicking at her screen.
“What is a website?” I asked.
“Sorry, Earth term. Um, a nexus page. On Earth, there’d already be platforms for hosting a comic but since we’re pioneering that technology I’m going to have to throw it together myself.”
I turned to face her fully. “You know how to do that?”
Her brow furrowed. “Huh. Maybe not. I can’t imagine you guys use HTML here. Maybe there’s a site that does the backend stuff for you though…” she trailed off as her attention slid back to her tablet, her nimble little fingers typing furiously.
It didn’t take long to scroll through the available GovCare emoregs and find someone who looked promising. A Dr. Vakkas had a background in family and couples counseling and had very high ratings from her patients. I made the appointment for the next day and filled out the required forms, feeling guilty. Poor Dr. Gish’ren, my usual emoreg, hadn’t done anything wrong and it felt like I was being unfaithful to them by seeing this other doctor. But if there was even a chance it would help me keep Joss and, more importantly, keep herhappy, then I had to try it.
Once it was done I went to my room to grab my own tablet to keep working on the art for our comic. I joined my mate on the couch, shoving my cold toes under her warm bottom and making her yelp.
“Jesus, why are your feet so cold?” she cried as I forced more of my feet under her sumptuous ass.
I shrugged. “They usually run cold. Should I move them?”
She snorted, shaking her head. “Nah. Now I’m worried they’ll freeze right off if I don’t warm them up.” She shifted, pressing her warm flesh harder into my feet and making my cock twitch to life in my pants.
I’d never been so thankful for my poor circulation before in my life.
The next few hours were spent in companionable silence, each of us working on our parts of the comic. Every now and again I’d ask her if she needed something to drink, or she would ask if I wanted a snack, but most of the time we were quietly absorbed in our work.
Reality fell away as I sank deeper into the page I was working on. It was an emotional page, with the person cursed to always be in a different form—Jhalia—upset about how she was never in the form that she needed to be to fit in with her peers or loved ones, and how lonely she felt. I was absorbed in the character, agonizing over her expressions, her posing, to convey her hopelessness, her desperation. This was what I had been yearning to do with my art since I was young—telling a story, crafting drawings that supported a narrative while also telling their own. It was a heady rush, and I didn’t notice the day slipping away into night, the living room growing dim around us, until Joss shook me and snapped me out of my trance.
“Babe, what do you want for dinner?”
I blinked, trying to come back into myself and focus on Joss’s lovely face. “Something simple. Perhaps noodles? Or a salad?”
She nodded, cocking out a hip. “How about both?”
“Perfect.” She leaned down to peck a kiss on my lips before strutting into the kitchen. I saved my work and joined her, setting the table and grabbing drinks from the dispenser. Once the synth had spat out our meal I helped her carry it to the table and settled down to eat. She gave me a wary look as she took her seat, clearly expecting me to snatch her again. I wanted to, but I contented myself with pulling my chair right up against hers so I could wind my tail around her leg and breathe in her sweet smell while we ate.
“I can’t wait to show you what I’ve gotten for the web—for the nexus page. It looks surprisingly professional for how little I know what I’m doing.”
