Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 135784 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135784 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
"You're blushing," Jerrok murmurs as he glances over at me. "Thinking about last night?"
I'm so obvious. "Maybe."
He grins at me, still smugly pleased at how much he made me scream last night, as if he doesn't thoroughly please me in bed as it is. "Today's your birthday. We'll have to do something special tonight to celebrate."
"God help me," I tease, even as my insides clench with anticipation. How is it that sex still hasn't gotten old with him? We're still all over each other like newlyweds, and I've never had a bad experience with him. I trust him completely and maybe tonight…we'll try something new. Maybe tonight we'll give doggy-style a go. I think with Jerrok, it might be okay.
With Jerrok, it might be great.
I bite my lip, giving him a look of promise.
My mate groans, pulling me close and giving me a hard kiss, his tongue grazing over the seam of my mouth before he pulls away. "You're going to make me want to toss you into bed and forget all about your party."
"Promises promises," I tease, breathless. "It's my birthday, right? Maybe we just tell her we called the whole thing off and go spend time together in our nice big bed." I smooth a hand down the front of his chest. We switched the beds out and now the biggest bed is the one we share, and it's made sex…well, sex has always been fantastic, but now we're not squeezed up against the wall.
But Jerrok shakes his head. "Bethiah has to come. She's bringing your present."
"I'm getting a present?" I blink at him in surprise. "I thought we weren't going to do a gift?" He doesn't want to celebrate his birthday, so I asked for no gifts because I didn't want him spending money on me when he could be saving up for his final prosthetic. I'd much rather have him get his limbs all taken care of instead of getting something for myself.
Jerrok just gives me a cagey look. "It's something Bethiah ran across in her travels and I told her to bring it. I promise you'll love it."
"It better not be another human," I grumble. Bethiah's suggested it before, and I think in her mind, if one human is a party in bed, two will be a delight. She doesn't seem to get that I'm territorial…or maybe she does and just likes needling me. Either way, I will absolutely scratch the eyes out of any woman that looks at my mate, and then send her packing to the nearest farm planet.
My mate laughs. "It's not a human, I promise. You're the only female I'd ever want—human or otherwise."
I slide my hand into his, because I know this is true. "All right, I won't kill Bethiah, then. Is it a book?" I'm excited at the prospect. My little library is growing by leaps and bounds—I have six books now—but I dream of someday having an entire wall of reading material. Jerrok has let his clients know that if they run across any sorts of “human oddities” that he'll pay well, and the other day someone brought a trio of old soda cans and acted like they were priceless treasures. I giggled to see the junk…but Jerrok bought them anyhow, and they do make me smile. They're cleaned up and set in a place of honor in my library, just because.
"You'll see," is all he says, and he knows that makes me crazy.
"You know I hate surprises—"
"You won't hate this one. I promise." He gives my hand a squeeze and I hold back my reservations. He's so excited to give me this gift that I don't want to ruin it for him.
We enter the docking bay, currently occupied only by The Pleasure Spot. In classic Bethiah form, the ship is haphazardly parked in the middle of the bay, taking up enough space for three ships. She bounds down the ramp, her beaded braids swinging, a wide smile on her face. She's wearing a blindingly bright skin-tight jumper of bright green that looks as if it was painted onto her lithe form, and in her arms she carries a plain metal box. "Jerrok! Cousin!"
"Glad you could make it," he tells her, moving forward to clasp forearms with his cousin.
Bethiah looks over at me and gives a little sniff, as if she's just tolerating me. "Softie. Happy birthing day." She holds the box out to me. "I am told these noodles taste like human cakes, so Jerrok insisted I bring a box for you."
Noodles that taste like cake? I'm a little wary of the thought. I sniff the box and there's a smell that wafts up…and it is not cake. It's more like…old socks. Body odor. Something definitively not cake-like in the slightest. "We'll have to eat them later," I tell them both apologetically. "I just made a huge pot of noodles with fresh veg. But thank you for the present. You were right, Jerrok. It wasn't what I was expecting." I smile at my mate, because it's a thoughtful gift if nothing else. How many times has he heard me long for chocolate or cake when I'm on my period? He always remembers everything I say, and I'm the luckiest woman alive to have a guy as attentive as he is.