"Back," calls a cheery voice down below, waking me up. I blink awake, the patter of rain on the hull of the ship startlingly loud.
I crawl out of bed and peer down the ladder at the lower floor. Kaspar gazes up at me, his hair soaked and his skin damp. His eyes are bright and not even this wretched planet can bring down his mood. "I think I fell asleep. Sorry. How'd it go?"
He grins, his gaze flicking to my bare chest. "He didn't complain much."
"Very funny."
Kaspar's lips twitch, and I know he thinks he WAS funny. "I put him in a bag I found in the mess, dumped him down, and buried him a short distance away. Then it started to rain and I figured I'd wash up before returning, because I'd hate to get dead man bits on my pretty Sunshine's skin."
I shake my head at him. "I don't know whether to be flattered or disgusted."
"Be flattered. I always think of you first."
"That's you," I tease. "Such a giver."
His expression becomes heated and he steps up a rung of the ladder, then another. A moment later, his face is inches from mine, his horns dripping with rainwater and his blue skin silky-looking and wet. "I'm in a giving mood right now, actually. You feel like receiving?"
That is absolutely the corniest line ever…and yet it turns me on so very much.
48
KASPAR
I had great plans for how this morning would go. I'd clean up the ship, dig through the supplies to see what we could eat, and work on finding what wiring we can cannibalize to get a few things going on this dump. But the moment I see Alice, all tousled and sleepy, her charming bare breasts practically begging to be kissed, well, my plans change.
Her eyes flick to my mouth and then Alice stands. "You coming up, then?"
"Unless you want to come down."
She shakes her head, sauntering toward the bed with a sway of her hips. "I think it's time we break this in."
Kef me. I watch her walk, fascinated, and then glance over at the bed. Much as I love the thought of climbing back into bed with Alice…Sterre is still sprawled in it, all eight legs up in the air like a beetle on its back. "Who's going to tell our friend that she's being booted?"
"She'll figure it out the moment we start kissing." Alice goes to sit on the edge of the bed and pats it invitingly. "Come on."
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" My need to take care of her wars with my very real need to mate with her. "It can all wait."
Well…who am I to argue with my female? I haul myself up the ladder, and as I do, Sterre rolls onto her belly, makes a hacking sound that can only be sheer disgust, and heads for the exit down. Okay, the carinoux's smarter than I give her credit for. Either that, or she saw my hard dick.
Now I'm a little weirded out by a cat looking at my hard dick, and I pause.
"Bed," Alice demands with a cocky little look in my direction. "Now."
As if I'd deliberately refuse her. I glance around at the room, noticing she's opened up all the closets and recessed portals built into the walls. Of course she did. My intrepid, wary Sunshine won't let anyone sneak past her. I kinda love that she's so keffing suspicious. It makes me feel better, because this world—heck, this universe—isn't safe for someone like her. She's smart to not trust anything or anyone.
Except me. Me, she can trust, because she holds my heart in those small, many-fingered human hands of hers.
I move to the bed, and Alice immediately puts her hands on my hips, tugging me forward. My cock is directly in her face, and she arches a brow at me. "I guess you don't need much convincing?" She leans in and gives the head a lick. "You're already hard as stone."
That simple, playful lick steals all the breath from my lungs. I'm glad I've elected to remain naked, because if I was wearing trou, my cock wouldn't be free for her to grab. I'll never wear clothing again, I decide, if it means she'll just reach out and put her hands all over me like this. I move closer, sliding my hand over her tangled hair. "Being around you gets me hard."
"Seeing as how your only other option was the dead guy, I feel like that's a good answer." She looks up at me and gives the head of my cock another teasing lick, her tongue deliberately dragging over my row of piercings. "I think I'm ready to take these for a test-drive."
Maybe it's the fact that her tongue is on my cock, or that I'm just distracted being around her, but it takes me a moment to realize what she means. Sex. Alice never comes right out and states things. She makes jokes and teases to hide her true feelings. As much as I want to touch her, I also want her to want this as much as me. We've been through a lot in the last few days, and despite the incident next to the stream when we both pleasured each other, I'm willing to wait until she's ready. We don't have to jump into anything just because there's a bed. "If you need more time—"