Page 30 of Stowaway to the Stars: A Duet
Apologizing was not in her nature… In fact, it was almost painful to swallow her pride and admit that she was wrong. Adefense mechanism that had been built up over the years due to… Well, she didn’t want to think about that right now.
She pressed a code into the pad in the wall, and the bathroom door slid open. Steam bellowed out, filling the dorm.God, these guys take hot showers.
She knocked on the wall. “Knock knock.” She said softly. “C-can I come in?”
“Of course.” There was no hesitance or anger in his voice. A fact that made Darcy feel even worse for her earlier behavior.
She didn’t want to shower with him. Not right now, anyway. It was easier to have this conversation NOT facing each other.
She leaned against the wall and crossed one ankle over the other, anxiously twiddling her thumbs. “Listen,” she said, and it was like swallowing nails. “I… I’m sorry I hit you earlier. I shouldn’t have done that.” Her cheeks flamed with humiliation- at her apology or her earlier behavior, she couldn’t quite be sure.
An awkward silence followed, and Darcy fidgeted, pulling at the skin around her fingernails.
“I’m still not changing my stance,” she quickly added. “The girls deserve to have a choice.” She was standing firm on that. “But… Maybe I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. It was childish.” She paused for a moment to see if he was going to reply. When he didn’t, she continued. “I just…feel like no one is listening to me. I feel like….” An image of little Darcy begging her Mom to listen and believe her… “I just don’t feel like I’m being heard.”
“I can assure you, my Mate, that everyone can hear you,” A-rec replied from the shower.
Darcy’s ears were now as red as her cheeks. “That’s not what I meant.” A-rec took things way too literally sometimes. “My point is… I’m sorry.” Ouch. That hurt. “Will you forgive me?”
“My Mate is passionate. It is who you are. There is nothing to forgive.”
Relief flooded over her…followed by guilt. A-rec was too good for her. How could he forgive her so quickly for the way she acted? She knew no human guy would ever. In fact, she’d probably be in jail right now with charges against her. She didn’t deserve him.
The shower door opened, and a large, gray hand reached out to her. “Join me.”
Darcy didn’t hesitate in the slightest. She quickly shed her clothing and stepped inside.
The water was hot, just the way she liked it, and A-rec was already wrapping her tightly in his arms.
She rested her cheek against his chiseled abdomen muscles, savoring the feel of his embrace. It was comforting and already familiar. Tears prickled her eyes, and she was thankful for the amount of steam surrounding them, keeping her face all but hidden from him.
“I’m really sorry,” she said through a knot in her throat. Now that she had managed to force the apology out, it was impossible to stop. She had been so foolish to think that type of behavior would work. “I probably embarrassed you in front of all your friends.”
“Who cares what they think?” A-rec said, soothing his fingers through her hair. “They do not have Mates with them. Their annoyance is out of jealousy and nothing more.”
“You sure know how to make a girl feel like a princess,” Darcy mumbled. She knew he was full of shit, but it was nice to hear all the same.
“What is ‘princess’?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” She pressed her lips against the soft skin of his stomach. “Let’s have make up shower sex.”
She gasped when he reached down to lift her up, spreading her thighs to secure them around his waist. They were now eye to eye.
Perhaps A-rec was not handsome in the human sense of the word, but he was certainly sexy to Darcy. She knew exactly what those two tongues of his could do, and she was starting to get used to the little tusks, too. Dark black tattoos surrounded his face, starting across his forehead and dipping down around his cheeks, continuing down his neck and his shoulders to the tips of his fingers. They reminded Darcy a bit of cheetah print. She reached up to trace one of the markings. “Why do you people have these?”
“It is not known exactly, but there has been speculation that it is because of our environment,” A-rec explained, leaning into her touch. “Our planet is very hot. Most of it is…covered in sand. A desert is the closest word I can find in your language. My people live in one of the few forests, and because of this, there are many predators. The markings help us…blend into our surroundings.”
“Camouflage,” Darcy said, supplying the English word. “Interesting… It’s very beautiful.”
“The woman from my planet cover their markings. with cosmetics and facial coverings.”
“Why would they do that?”
“They do not find it beautiful. They think of it as a flaw.”
“What?” Darcy gasped. “That’s insane. I wish I had them.” She had always been a fan of face tattoos, but had never been brave enough to get one.
A-rec held onto her with one hand and used the other to push her wet hair back from her face. “Your skin is so beautiful the way it is. I love how smooth and soft you are.” His hand was so large that he could cup her entire face in his palm.
