Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 85272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Uh, thanks.” Bravik nodded and then turned to Danni. “See you later.”
“See you at the feast,” she said, nodding back.
She then became aware that Kozen and Navii were looking at her and Bravik in a puzzled way.
“Friend Bravik,” Kozen asked the big Kindred. “Do you not intend to bid the other half of your heart goodbye?”
“Uh…” Bravik frowned. “I just did. Our people…we say goodbye with words instead of, uh, fondling each other,” he tried to explain, his cheeks getting somewhat red.
“But how can the other half of your heart feel that you love her if you do not show her by your loving touch?” Navii sounded horrified. “You will truly leave her without even squeezing her breast or kissing her mouth?”
There was a trapped look in the big Kindred’s golden-bronze eyes now and Danni thought she knew exactly what was going through his head. He was wondering how to avoid offending their hosts and keep from sexually harassing her at the same time.
If he kissed her and groped her, she could complain to Commander Sylvan once they got back to the Mother Ship. But if he didn’t, the H’rakens were going to think they had some kind of terrible, dysfunctional marriage and that might impair their ability to study the H’raken culture and make an alliance with them.
To be fair, this is really my fault, she told herself. If I hadn’t told the lie that we were married, they wouldn’t expect him to grope me right now and the poor guy wouldn’t be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
She might have liked to watch him squirm—he had been a real jerk right from the start of this mission. But he had also helped her off the horse-creature and tried to keep his distance during their ride when another guy would have been rubbing all over her. So Danni decided to take pity on him.
“Oh, husband,” she said, reaching up on tiptoes to pull the big Kindred down. “We won’t see each other for a while so we must say goodbye.”
“We must?” Bravik’s heavy brows knit together, as though he was trying to figure out what her game was. “What are you doing, little girl?” he muttered in her ear when Danni pulled him down.
“What does it look like? Saying goodbye properly—in the H’raken style,” she whispered back. Then, since he still wasn’t making a move, she made one of her own.
Taking one of his big hands, she placed it firmly on her breast and kissed him on the mouth.
She had meant for it to be just a quick kiss-and-grope but the big Kindred suddenly came to life in her arms and Danni found that Bravik was kissing her back—hungrily.
He ravaged her mouth, his lips soft under the scratchy bristles of his beard and the big hand on her breast suddenly came to life, squeezing gently but urgently, thumbing the hard point of her nipple and sending shivers of pleasure down Danni’s spine. As he kissed her, his bewitching scent got suddenly even stronger—making her feel almost dizzy with lust.
Heart pounding, she lost herself in the kiss, rubbing against him every bit as shamelessly as Navii had rubbed against Kozen a moment before. God, his mouth tasted like hot cinnamon candy and he somehow seemed to know the exact right way to touch her to turn her on…
Then she realized what she was doing. She was kissing her coworker! Kissing a man she would have been happy to kick instead, just a few hours earlier. What was wrong with her?
Quickly, she pulled away, feeling extremely glad for the thick lace bra she was wearing as she brushed his hand aside.
“We…we’re going to be late for the feast.” Her voice sounded high and breathless in her own ears and she could barely look at Bravik.
The big Kindred, for his part, simply stood there for a moment, his broad chest pumping like a bellows and his bronze eyes half-lidded with lust. The long ridge of his cock pressing against his tight flight leathers was almost as obvious as Kozen’s had been in the H’raken’s loose linen trousers.
“We’d better go,” he said at last, his voice coming out in a hoarse growl.
“I…I’ll see you later,” Danni said, trying to sound more normal and failing. “Uh, husband.”
“I’ll see you later, wife,” Bravik growled. Then he turned to Kozen, who was staring at the two of them with a confused frown on his face. “Come on—aren’t you going to give me feasting clothes?”
“Yes, I will. If you’re certain you are finished saying goodbye to your wife?” Kozen raised his eyebrows. “That was a very brief parting, you know.”
Oh my God—what do we have to do to satisfy these people? Danny wondered. Have sex right here on the floor in front of them?
For a moment she thought Bravik might want to do just that. His bronze eyes were burning as he studied her. But at last he shook his head.