Choosing Rose (Other World Series Book Six)

by Ramona Gray

  “Is this Oahu a place on your world?” Vida had joined her, and he pointed to the sign on the picture.

  “You can read that?”

  He gave her a wry look. “I am not the mindless savage your people believe me to be.”

  She blushed. “I know. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were. I just, it’s weird that you speak English and read it too.”

  “Is this Oahu a place you recognize?” Vida asked.

  “No. I’ve never heard of it.” She set the frame back on the bookshelf and wandered back into the kitchen. There were two large baskets full of fruit on the ground, another basket of eggs and a large glass serving bowl of dried meat.

  “What is that?” She pointed to the meat.

  “It’s one of the smaller creatures on the island. Very fast with brown fur and long ears. I catch them easily in my traps.”

  “Ah, it’s rabbit.”

  “How do you know the name of them?” Vida asked.

  “I don’t, not really. The people we’re with, they call them rabbits. They’re not exactly like the rabbits from our world but close enough.”

  “The men are from your world?”

  “No, but I think their world is similar to ours. I think they’re from the same world as that woman who came through the orb with you. Wait – how do you know we’re with…”

  She cocked her head and studied his pants. They were military fatigues and her eyes widened. “Did you come into the camp and steal a pair of pants?”

  He grinned, his fangs flashing in the candlelight. “Perhaps.”

  “How did you do it without them seeing you? They always have someone on watch.”

  “It was easy to slip by them.” Vida didn’t elaborate, and Rose frowned at him.

  “Why didn’t you join us?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Well, because we have huts and a waterfall for water and bathing in and -”

  “I go to the waterfall every day, little flower. This cave is not that far from it. Besides, I have everything I need right here. It is safe from the pink creatures, thanks to the flowers that cover the entrance and it has many more comforts than your huts.”

  Rose had to admit he had a point. Her hut certainly didn’t come with books and a king size bed and a matching set of dishware.

  “Come,” Vida grabbed one of the bigger candles and crooked his finger at her, “I will show you where you can eliminate and where you can bathe.”

  “Bathe?” She followed him across the cavern to two tunnel openings she hadn’t noticed. He led her down the left one. About twenty feet into the tunnel, it too widened into a cavern. This cavern was smaller with a lower ceiling and she could hear the sound of rushing water.

  She stopped abruptly, staring in utter disbelief at the large wooden box sitting in the middle of the cavern. It was at the perfect height for sitting and there was a wooden toilet seat sitting on top of it. A small side table held a large basket full of the smooth broad leaves they used for toilet paper. Completely thrown by the toilet seat, she tamped down her childish giggles as Vida urged her closer to it. The toilet seat was carved from wood and it was a bit crude looking but sanded smooth. The sound of water was growing louder.

  “Look, little flower.” Vida pointed inside the toilet and she shook her head.

  “No, thanks. I don’t need to see your, uh, waste.”

  “Look.” He insisted. He held the candle over the seat.

  She sighed and took a quick look. “Holy smokes, it’s a hole in the floor.”

  It was a decidedly long drop to the water rushing below and she felt a little nauseous at the idea of sitting there.

  Vida nodded. “Yes. I believe there is a deeper cavern under this one that is mostly filled with water. Whoever was here before us was very wise to build this over the natural hole. Do you agree?”

  “Um, yeah, I guess. Say, how sturdy is this wooden box thing, do you think?” She prodded at the side of the box. It looked and felt sturdy enough but what if it simply collapsed while she was taking a pee. She’d fall through the damn hole. Death by peeing wasn’t the way she pictured shuffling off the mortal coil.

  “It is sturdy enough.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Try it out and see.”

  “Uh, no thanks. I’m, uh, good for now.”

  “All right. Come with me.”

  He turned and headed back down the tunnel. She hurried after him and followed him down the second tunnel. The air was growing steamy and after about thirty feet, the tunnel widened into a cavern. This one held a pool of water and she stared at the steam rising lazily from it.

  “Oh my God. It’s a natural hot spring.” She grinned happily at Vida. “It’s not too hot to bathe in?”

  “It is not.”

  “How deep is it?” She asked.

  “The middle of the pool is shoulder deep on me.”

  Anxiety brewed in her belly. “It’s over my head then.”

  He studied her for a moment. “Stay away from the middle and you will avoid drowning.”

  “Thanks for the tip.”

  “You should learn how to swim. We are surrounded by water.”

  “Yeah, I know. Hey, do you think I could take a bath before you take me back to the camp? We only have the waterfall to bathe in and it’s very cold.”

  “I will not take you back to your friends tonight,” Vida replied. “It is too dangerous to be in the jungle at night. You will spend the night here with me.”

  Her mouth went dry and her gaze dipped to his naked chest. “Oh, um, right. Okay. If you’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “Why would I mind?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Have a bath, little flower,” Vida said. He lit the candles that were placed around the pool until the air glowed with warm light. “I will prepare food for us.”

  He left the cavern without looking back.

  Chapter Seven

  “Do you feel better, human?”

  Rose shrieked and slid down in the water. Surprisingly, she’d been half asleep. After nearly being choked to death by a plant, she figured she’d never sleep again. But she hadn’t counted on how warm and relaxing the water was. God, she’d missed having a hot bath.

  She covered her breasts with her arms, even though they were beneath the water, and stared at Vida as he set down a stack of towels, a pale pink robe and a basket on the ground next to her. “Um, yes, thank you. I was almost asleep. The water is so – hey, what are you doing?”

  Vida paused in unbuttoning his pants. “Joining you in the pool.”

  “What? No, you can’t. I – I’m naked.”

  “It would be strange if you were not.”

  He unbuttoned his pants and fumbled at the zipper before pulling his pants down. She saw a hint of dark blue pubic hair and looked away immediately, her cheeks a fiery red, and her pulse pounding out a frenetic rhythm.

  “Vida, this isn’t proper. I don’t even know you and being naked together is -”

  “Are you worried that I will try and fuck you, human?” The water rippled as Vida sat down in the pool.

  She stared at him. “Are you going to, uh, try that?”

  “Do you want me to fuck you?”

  “I don’t even know you.”

  “Do you need to know me for us to fuck?” Vida rested his arms against the smooth lip of the pool and let his legs float in front of him. The pool was big enough that they were nowhere close to each other, but she kept her arms clamped firmly over her breasts.

  “I, no, I guess not. But, I don’t want to have sex with you.”

  “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

  Unbelievably, hurt rippled through her. She knew she wasn’t the best looking woman, but she was in good shape, and she didn’t think she was ugly. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, “So, you don’t want to have sex with me?”

  He arched one dark blue eyebrow at her. “What does it matter if I do or
not, human?”

  She blinked at him. “It doesn’t, and I have a name. It’s Rose.”

  He didn’t reply, and she gave him an irritated look. “I was just curious.”

  “Do you still fight with your mate?”

  “How do you know Solomon and I are fighting?”

  Vida sunk below the surface of the water. Oh God, could he see her under the water? She crossed her legs and covered her crotch with one hand while keeping the other arm across her breasts.

  After nearly five minutes, Vida resurfaced, and she glared at him. “Enjoy the view?”

  He grinned, the water sluicing down his blue skin, before shaking his head. “I kept my eyes closed, hum – Rose. Your modesty was preserved.”

  Again, that weird and completely inappropriate ripple of hurt. Why did it bother her so much that Vida wasn’t interested in her sexually? Hell, maybe they weren’t even compatible for sleeping together. She knew that he had all the right bits and pieces, she’d read the information reports on him. But just because he had a penis, didn’t necessarily mean that he had sex the same way that humans did.

  “So, how do you know that I’m fighting with Solomon?”

  “He does not seem to be a very good mate.”

  She hugged herself a little tighter. “He’s not my mate anymore.”

  “Did he die?” Vida asked.

  She winced. “No. I went to his hut tonight and I caught him having sex with Marissa, the other lab tech.”

  Anger and nausea rolled through her and she rubbed briefly at her temples. “He’s angry because I released you. Hell, everyone’s angry with me because I tried to rescue you and we all ended up on this other world. They blame me.”

  “I was the one who forced you to take me to the orb.”

  She just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. They’re angry and they have the right to be angry.”

  “So your mate fucked another to punish you for setting me free?”

  “No. Apparently, they were sleeping together before we even went through the orb.” She buried her face in her hands as the hot tears dripped down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry in front of Vida. Hell, she didn’t want to cry over stupid Solomon having sex with stupid Marissa, but she couldn’t seem to stop.

  More tears soaked her skin. “We haven’t even had sex in months. I kept trying, but he was always too busy or too tired. I wore sexy lingerie, I offered to give him a massage before sex, but he just didn’t want to. I’m so dumb, I actually thought it was because he was tired and busy at work. I never even suspected that he was cheating on me with Marissa. I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s gorgeous and has a great body. I’m bad in bed, and I knew I was bad in bed, but I kept asking Solomon what he liked and what he wanted me to try and improve on, but he just shut me down. When I walked in on Solomon and Marissa having sex, he looked so-so into it. The noises he was making and the look on his face, that never happened with me. I mean, he would come when we had sex, so I figured he was enjoying himself, and I told myself that it didn’t matter if I came or not. What mattered was – oh my god, what am I doing?”

  She shut her mouth with an abrupt snap. Embarrassment rushed through her and if she wasn’t completely naked, she would have jumped out of the pool and ran. Instead, she kept her face buried in her hands even as she felt Vida move closer.

  “Turn around, flower.”

  She peered through her fingers. Vida had moved until he was sitting right beside her, and she sniffed loudly and wiped at her cheeks. “What?”

  “Turn around.”

  He made a twirling motion with his finger and, after a moment, she turned so that her back was to him.

  She could hear him rummaging in the basket beside her. “Tip your head back.”

  She did what he asked and twitched when he used a cup to pour warm water over her hair. When it was wet, he reached into the basket again and produced a handful of white gel-like substance.

  “What is that?”

  “Soap.” He smeared some onto her scalp and rubbed it in with his strong hands. She closed her eyes and tried not to moan out loud as he slowly and methodically washed her scalp and the long strands of her hair. It felt amazing, and some of her anxiety disappeared as Vida massaged her scalp.

  He rinsed the soap from her hair, using multiple cups of water until the water ran clear, then pushed her hair over her shoulders. He smeared more soap onto his hands and she didn’t object when he washed her back with his big, rough hands.

  God, it felt so good. She was like a boneless little kitten by the time he was done.

  “Little flower?”

  “Yeah?” She leaned against his big hands as he cupped her shoulders.

  “Would you like me to fuck you now?”

  She sat upright, the water splashing into her face. “Uh, what?”

  Vida’s hands rubbed her back. “Would you like me to fuck you and give you an orgasm?”

  “W-why would you do that?”

  “Why would I not? You will enjoy it. I promise. I am very skilled at making females climax.”

  Rose! Say no thank you and ask him to move to the other side of the pool!

  “Can you, I mean – are you compatible with humans for sex? You have sex the, uh, normal way, right?”

  His low laugh made her blush. “Yes, little flower.”

  “I – I don’t really know you.”

  “You don’t need to know me to fuck me.”

  She licked her lips, staring at the flickering light from the candle on the wet stone around the pool.

  Rosie, say no!

  She should say no. She absolutely should say no. Only… she and Solomon were over, and she had almost died tonight, and probably would die at some point, because she was a stupid city girl who had no idea how to survive in a jungle. She hadn’t had sex in months, hadn’t had an orgasm from anything other than her own hand in over a year, and…and, dammit, she was probably going to die. Why shouldn’t she have a little meaningless sex with Vida?

  He’s not human, Rose.

  She pushed that thought out of her head.

  What if he can’t make you come? Then you’ll know for certain that it’s you with the problem, not Solomon. Is that what you want?

  “Rose?” Vida pushed her wet hair away from her neck and pressed a kiss against her wet skin. “Do you want me to fuck you?”

  There was only one way to find out if she was the one with the problem. “Yes.”

  He spread his legs apart. “Move back.”

  She scooted back against him. His hands soaped the top of her shoulders, her neck and her upper chest. Within minutes, she was drifting in a sea of warmth and sensation. She leaned against his wet chest, her head lolling on his shoulder. When he tugged on her crossed arms, she let them drop without a second thought.

  “Good girl, little flower,” he murmured into her ear.

  His big hands cupped her breasts. She moaned and arched into them, gasping when his soapy fingers pulled on her nipples. He cleaned her breasts, soaping under them and around them and paying close attention to her rock-hard nipples.

  When his hands dropped to her flat stomach, she moaned in disappointment.

  “Shh, flower.” He nipped at her neck and the little dart of pain only made the pleasure sweeter.

  He washed her stomach and her hips and her upper thighs. When one big hand curved around her right thigh and tugged, she parted them eagerly. She could feel his erection pressing against her back and she rubbed against it as his other hand cupped her throat. He held her against him and pressed a kiss against the top of her shoulder.

  “Would you like me to wash your sweet pussy for you, little flower?”

  “Yes, please,” she moaned.

  His hand cupped her pussy, his fingers rubbing across the wet lips in gentle circles. She clutched at his forearm as he washed her pussy. She shifted and squirmed, wanting him to touch her clit but he carefully avoided it.

  “Vida, please.”

  S
he had never heard that almost pathetic whine of need in her voice before.

  “Why do you have hair here,” his fingers rubbed through the patch of hair at the top of her pussy, before moving lower and stroking her bare lips, “but not here?”

  “I – I had it removed.” She moved restlessly against him.

  “Why?”

  “Well, because that’s what men like.”

  He didn’t reply and feeling vaguely stupid, she said, “In my world, the women have all of their body hair permanently removed when they’re eighteen or so. Most women don’t even keep, uh, a little bit of pubic hair.”

  “How do you remove it permanently?” He was stroking the lips of her pussy almost absently now and she wished he would touch her more firmly.

  “With a machine. You lie on a bed and it scans your body and targets the spots where you want the hair removed. Then it – oh! Oh my God!”

  Vida’s first finger had slipped even lower and was probing at her entrance. At her startled cry, he moved it away and rubbed her inner thigh. Disappointment welled inside of her and she could hear herself making soft mews of need.

  “Please touch me, Vida.”

  He cupped her pussy again and rubbed with his entire hand. It put delicious friction on her clit and she arched into his hand. His low groan when she settled back against his erection, sent fresh lust through her.

  “I’m finished washing your sweet pussy,” he said into her ear. “Do you still wish for me to make you come? Still wish to be fucked? Or would you like to get out of your bath and have something to eat?”

  “No!” Her cry echoed through the chamber. “No, Vida, please. I need…”

  She couldn’t say it. It was too embarrassing, but oh God, what if he stopped? What if he didn’t give her the relief she needed? She didn’t understand what was happening to her. Vida had barely touched her, and she was already way more excited and turned-on than she’d ever been with Solomon.

  It was the near-death experience, she decided a little hysterically. It had to be. Nearly dying had heightened all of her senses temporarily – that was a thing, right?