Page 7 of A Cougar's Kiss
Chapter 3
She’d done it. Hot damn she’d had sex with Keller Cross, the badass, sexiest cougar she’d ever seen! And it had been deliciously hot and sexy, just like she’d read about in all those books. Her body still hummed with the pleasure even though her thighs and knees were a little sore. Shya didn’t care, she’d had Keller and she wanted him again and again.
Unfortunately, he felt a little differently.
“Go to bed, Ms. Shya. Forget this ever happened.”
His voice was gruff as he dropped her off at the door to her bedroom like he was delivering a package.
“You don’t tell me what to do, or what to forget.” Of course, that would have held much more weight if she didn’t still sound breathy with desire, but she hadn’t known how good the sex would be so figuring out how to act normally afterward was a little difficult.
“This is not a game.”
She shook her head. “It’s not, so you can stop acting like you’re the only one who knows how to play.”
“You have no idea how to play this game. You’ve been nowhere but here, sheltered and pampered by your parents and everyone else in this forsaken place. So, you can stop the bravado!”
“And you can stop the martyr act. So, what I was a virgin, big deal! It’s done now and I wanted it. You wanted it. We did it. Let’s move on.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all night. Let’s move on.”
He turned to walk away and Shya decided to let him. She wanted a shower and to lay across her bed and think about everything that had just happened. Keller’s kiss, the sex and the fact that Cole Linden was up and talking.
She peeled her shirt off and tossed it into the hamper before heading to the bathroom. Her room was slightly larger than the others, but each bedroom had a private bathroom and a mini kitchen. Minutes after being left alone Shya walked into the shower, closed the glass door behind her and turned on the water. Tilting her head back she let the spray of warm water splatter over her face and down her neck. It felt good, but Keller’s hands on her had felt much better.
There’d been no doubt in her mind that he was strong, she’d watched him workout plenty of times and therefore knew exactly how his body looked. All except for the area she’d just seen tonight. The strong shoulders, sculpted abs and great ass while outfitted in thin basketball shorts were nothing compared to how perfectly appetizing—wait, could she say that? Could she classify a dick as appetizing?
Grinning, she reached for the bottle of soap and poured it into her hand. Yeah, that was definitely the right word to describe Keller Cross’s most delectable body part. Shya ran the soap over her body and rinsed. In the next few minutes she washed and rinsed her hair and then stepped out grabbing two towels, one she wrapped around her head and the other to dry her body. By the time she left the bathroom and had slipped into a nightgown before sitting on the side of her bed, her shoulders had begun to ache. Then her knees and ankles. The smile that had ghosted her face since she stepped into the room was gone, replaced by the thin set of her lips.
I can’t even have this. Not one night.
When the pain only persisted, she gave in and reached over to her nightstand to grab the royal blue pouch that was always there. She had another one that she carried with her and there were two in a vault in the medical center and one in her parents’ suite. No chances were to ever be taken with her health. Yanking the gold strings that held the pouch closed tightly, she removed one of the frosted orbs and placed it over the inside of her wrist. Closing her eyes, she waited while the orb heated with her body temperature. Inside of it, the white swirls which made it look like a marble paperweight or any other normal trinket, began to move like billows of smoke. Shya didn’t look down at the orb now, she’d seen it so many times before, knew that it would continue to heat, those swirls moving around until they resembled a sky darkening with an impending storm. That’s when the medicine would begin to seep into her skin, slipping in medicinal herb-infused tendrils that would travel throughout her bloodstream.
Her muscles relaxed, the pain still throbbing but now receptive to the treatment it knew was on its way. She inhaled deeply trying not to think of how each time she needed to do this, another part of her died. This little orb had been designed to continue her life, not deplete it and yet Shya knew that was no longer the case. Each time she had to use it she felt a little more of the life that everyone had thanked the heavens had been spared, slip away. It had been like this for the last year. Nobody knew. Not even Nisa.
Shya hated being sick. And she despised the way everyone she knew treated her like she was sick. Everyone except Keller. He hadn’t handled her delicately and he hadn’t told her that he couldn’t have sex with her because she might scream out in pain or collapse on the floor. No, he’d taken her with all the strength and hunger she’d expected from him. He’d given her a climax unlike any she’d ever brought on herself. And she wanted that again.
Unfortunately, Shya knew what it felt like to not get what she wanted. With that in mind she leaned over and picked up her phone, dialing Nisa’s number. Houston was an hour behind Washington D.C. where Headquarters was located but Nisa had told her when she moved that whenever Shya called, she would answer.
“Hey,” Nisa answered on the third ring.
“I did it.” She sighed after that admission. “We did it. But I think he hates me.”
There was only a momentary pause and then some noise as if Nisa were moving with the phone. “You told him?”
“Yeah. That was your advice wasn’t it?”
“It was, but I wasn’t sure you were really gonna do it.”
“Of course, I did. You’re not the only one bold enough to go after what you want.”
“I know that, Shy. Okay, tell me everything.”
And she did because that’s what Shya and Nisa had done all their lives. Growing up there were plenty of Shadows living in Oasis their age, so much so they had their own school in each zone. Even among the leadership there were other kids, Bas and Priya had a son, Haven, who visited often. Eli and Nivea also had a son named Camryn. The four of them had a special bond since a lot of the other Shadows their age felt differently about them because their parents were Assembly leadership. But Nisa and Shya, the girls, were as close as sisters, or at least they had been.
“That doesn’t sound like he hates you,” Nisa told her.
“He said he’s not looking for a joining and that he’s nothing like Decan.”
