Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
That’s it?
He’s not going to say more than that? “Wait,” I blurt. “Why are you doing this?”
“You asked me to help you with a holiday for Liesje. I did my duty as a custodian there, but when I met her, I also realized she needed a friend. That part has been because I like her and want her to do well. Liesje is kind. She reminds me of my grandmother.”
He’s talking, but he’s somehow managing to not answer the questions I really want answers to. Part of me wants to press my fingers to his mouth and silence him, but I just shake my head instead. “No…the gifts.”
“What about the gifts? I wanted to buy her a few things she would like. Do you think I chose poorly?” I could swear he looks concerned in the near darkness.
“You bought me gifts, too. Where do I come into this?”
He keeps his face turned toward me, his arm tucked under his horn in place of a pillow, and faces me in the bed. “Where do you want to come in to this?”
Grr. He’s terrible at answering questions. I bite back my frustration and study him. “Are you just being nice to me because you want to experiment with kissing some more?”
I could swear that Sinath frowns at me in the darkness. “That’s a difficult question to answer. I’m here because you asked me to help you with your holiday. I’m here under these blankets with you because I have been thinking about more kissing. But it is not an experiment. Not to me.” He pauses, and then continues in a lower voice. “You’re the only one I can imagine kissing.”
Oh.
Oh. “Have you thought about kissing again, then?”
He lets out a rueful chuckle. “I’ve been thinking about it all keffing day long, Devin. Just watching you sip your tea is making me crazy because you purse your lips and then I can’t stop thinking about your mouth and—”
I close the distance between us and kiss him. My lips brush over his and I cup his face. His scent is all around me, his warmth in the darkness, and this might be the sexiest moment I’ve ever experienced.
Sinath lets out a low groan, his breath rasping. “More of that, please.”
I oblige. I give him a small peck, then another. “Do you…want more of the same?” I pause between words, adding more kisses to his upper lip, his lower lip, the corner of his mouth, everywhere I can touch him. “Or do you want me to add tongue?”
He groans again, and the blanket jerks. It takes me a moment to realize it’s his tail, and when it brushes against my leg and curls around my ankle, I feel rather proud that I’m driving this big alien wild with the most chaste of kisses. “I would like to try tongue,” he confesses. “But what if I hate it?”
“Then we stay with dry kisses,” I promise, and kiss the tip of his strange alien nose. “Or you can kiss me in the way that you prefer. The only bad kisses are ones you don’t want.”
“I like that. I like that a lot.” He brushes his mouth over mine. “I want to kiss you, too.”
“Then kiss me.”
“Any particular way?”
“Any way you want.” I tap his cheek with my finger. “You’re overthinking this.”
“I am,” he agrees. “I just don’t want to do it wrong and then you don’t want to kiss me anymore.”
Just that response warms my heart. “If you kiss me badly, we’ll just have to practice.”
“Oh, kef. You’d let me practice on you?”
“I would.”
Sinath’s breathing is ragged. He presses his strange, ridged brow to my smoother one and then closes the gap between our mouths, kissing me again. His lips slant over mine, first in a light kiss, and then becoming more possessive with every touch. I’ve never had a man kiss me so delicately. As if every kiss he plants on my mouth is a matter of grave importance. As if each kiss has to be perfect. It makes me feel special. Wanted.
Beautiful.
Chapter
Thirteen
DEVIN
I sigh blissfully against his mouth. “You’re doing great, by the way.”
Sinath’s tail tightens on my calf, and his hand goes to my shoulder, pulling me closer to his bare chest. “Kef, I could kiss you for hours on end.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
“Me either.” He nips at me carefully, and then his tongue grazes against the seam of my mouth. “Oh, kef, you taste amazing.”
I moan as his tongue steals into my mouth again. For a man just learning how to kiss, he’s doing a really, really good job. He explores my mouth with delicate strokes of his tongue, and when I brush mine against his, I love the way his breath hitches in response. Burying my hands in his thick hair, I hold him close, pressing against his chest as our kisses grow deeper and more intense.