by Ruby Dixon
I want to move forward, not backward. I want us to become one.
I want to become his mate.
I reach out and grab his swishing tail. It immediately curls around my wrist, feather soft and smooth. He glances over at me then. “Hi,” I say, smiling. “Remember me? Your mate?”
His brows furrow in confusion, not getting my joke.
“You promised you’d practice kissing with me. We can at least do that, right?” I bat my eyes at him, doing my best to look innocent. My plan is an evil one, though. I figure if we start with kissing, he won’t be able to stop.
And really? I think it’s long past time we consummated this thing.
Haeden scowls in my direction as if I’ve just suggested we go for a naked morning jog. “You want to practice kissing? Now?”
“What’s wrong with now?”
“You are tired and ill—“
“I’m not!”
He tries again. “You have had a bad time of things—“
“But you saved me.” I bat my lashes again.
Haeden moves forward, peering at me, and cups my face. “Is there something in your eye?”
God, he really sucks at flirting, doesn’t he? “Nothing,” I say sourly, then change tactics. He wants to play nursemaid? All righty. “Though I do have something that hurts.”
He stiffens, all alarm. “What is it?” His hands smooth over my skin, checking me. “Where do you hurt?”
Aw, man. He’s so worried about me that it takes all the fun out of my idea of cupping my pussy and saying Here, big boy. I hurt here. He’s so sweet - and so determined to protect me from everything that could harm me. How did I ever think he was a dick? I pat his chest. “I’m just teasing, Haeden. But I do want to practice kissing.”
His ridged, thick sa-khui brow wrinkles. “Are you sure? I do not want you to exhaust yourself—“
I sit back in the blankets and pat them encouragingly. “I’ll be very careful.”
Haeden gives me a wary look and then nods, joining me in the furs. He moves with grace despite his big body, and I can’t help but stare at the fact that he’s got a raging hard-on already. Is he denying himself for me? How sweet. How misguided. I’d love to help him with that little problem.
Or not so little. His cock is impressive and my girl parts give an anticipatory little squeeze. We’re doing this tonight, come hell or high water. I’ve fought long and hard not to be his mate, but it’s funny how things work out. I can’t imagine anyone but Haeden for me. Even his gruffness is just a show, and I realize that now. He’s crabby because he cares too much, and it scares him.
And if that doesn’t make a woman turn to goo like a marshmallow, I don’t know what does.
Haeden thumps onto the furs next to me, his face close to mine. I give him a little smile to let him know that things are fine, that I’m not tired, and that this is gonna be great. I decide to start off slow. “So I know you’re a virgin—“
He scowls. “You keep bringing that up.”
“I bring it up because it’s sexy, big guy.” I shift a little closer to him and put my hands on his chest, letting my slight weight lean against him. “But what I was going to say was…how much do you know about kissing?”
As if to show me, he leans in and presses a peck to my mouth. It’s quick, and polite, and like something a stranger would give.
Yeah, that won’t do. I know he knows kisses are filled with emotion - he presses his mouth to my face in almost-kisses all the time, and I get the impression he knows it involves lips but not the depths behind it. Oh, this is going to be fun. “That’s how you start out, yes. But there’s a lot more to it.”
His eyes narrow as if I’ve told him he’s doing something wrong. “My kiss does not please you?”
“It pleases me,” I say quickly, stroking his chest with my hand. “But there are things you can do with mouths and kissing that are even more pleasing.”
The look on his face gets smoldering. “Like when you put your mouth on my cock, or when I lick your cunt?”
Oh, mercy, did it just get warm in here? I half-fan myself. “Like that, yeah. Except we do it to each other’s mouths.”
He looks intrigued. “Why?”
“Because…because.” I’ve never thought about why people kiss. We just do. I slide a hand up his chest and move it to the back of his neck, moving closer to him. “Because it feels good. Because it’s wet and slick and tongues feel amazing.” My words become husky, and I’m getting aroused just talking about things.
“Your tongue felt…amazing…on my cock.” His gaze drops to my mouth. “It is very smooth.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d like it if I tried that.” I can’t help but smile.
“Did you enjoy doing that to me?” His voice has dropped a husky note. “I could smell your arousal when you licked me….and I smell it now.” His hand moves to my thigh. “Do we skip the kissing then, Jo-see? I can lick your cunt until you scream. I enjoy doing so.” He runs his tongue over his lips in anticipation. “Very much.”
Oh, dear lord, such an offer. I’m tempted, but I want to seal the deal with my man, and the incident yesterday has made me crave becoming one with him. I want this. I want all of this. “We’ll get to that later. For now, let’s focus on mouths.” I tap on his lower lip, and then lightly rub it with the pad of my finger. “There’s a type of kiss that we call French kissing.”
“Fransh-kay-seeng?”
“Close enough.” I tease my finger against the seam of his lips. “It’s where I put my mouth on yours - or you put yours on me - and our tongues mate.”
Recognition dawns on his face. “I have seen this.”
“You have?”
He nods. “I never thought to try it. We always seemed too…far from that.” The look on his face gets hungry with need and his gaze moves to my mouth again. “I want to try it, Jo-see.”
“I want that, too.”
His hands go around my waist and he pulls me forward, and then my breasts are pressed against his chest, my legs straddling one of his thick thighs. Our mouths are inches apart…and then he pushes his lips to mine. Not a gentle press, but an awkward push of his face against mine.
I remain still, waiting for him to feel his way through things. It’s a little awkward, but I don’t want him to feel like he’s not doing it right. To encourage him, I part my mouth and when he doesn’t swoop in, I take the initiative and flick my tongue against his.
A groan escapes him and I feel his arms tighten around me. His tongue rubs up against mine and it’s full of ridges and strange creases…just like his cock. I moan as they drags along my tongue and set my nerve endings on fire.
“I like this,” he rasps between licks of his tongue against mine.
Oh boy, I do too. I’m not able to do much more than whimper along with each thrust as he experiments with kissing. He tries moving his tongue in different ways, slicking along mine and trailing along my teeth. When he’s satisfied he’s got the thrusting-tongue part down, he teases my lips with his. The deep, licking kisses turn to light, playful nibbles that make me ache just as much as the others.
He’s entirely too good at this for a beginner, and all I can do is cling to him and enjoy the ride. Over and over he kisses me, mouths melding, tongues teasing, until I’m a quivering lump of woman in his lap. His mouth on mine is doing crazy things to me, and it’s like I can feel my cootie vibrating through every inch of my body right down to my spleen.
Haeden nips at my lower lip, and he’s careful despite those big sharp teeth. They graze over my lip softly and I feel his tongue flick a moment before he lifts his head and gives me one of those laser-focused, intense looks. “Jo-see.”
“Hmm?” I’m floating in a sea of arousal and the man wants to make conversation?
“I want to frankiss other parts of you.” He garbles the two words into one and then nips at my lip again.
“O-oh?” I’ve never been propositioned quite so sweetly and yet so dirtily. “
I thought you said I was fragile?”
He moves lower, nips at my chin, and then begins to trace my jaw with his tongue. “I will do the work. You can rest and I will kiss you.”
I giggle. Is this the sa-khui version of just lie back and enjoy it, baby? Doesn’t matter - I’m glad I’ve convinced him that it’s play time instead of Jo-see is fragile and needs bed rest. “I will do my best not to interfere, then,” I say playfully. And I set my hands on his shoulders with every intent of leaving them there and doing nothing to interfere.
He gives me a scorching look that makes my thighs quiver, and then puts a hand to the back of my neck and gently maneuvers us until we’re lying in the furs. I’m on my back underneath him and he’s looming over me, all blue-suede skin and muscle, his horns casting shadows in the firelight. He looks a bit like a demon from this angle, hard face cast in shadow except for his glowing blue eyes, and I shiver again because it shouldn’t be half so sexy as it is.
“You are shivering,” he points out, a look of concern on his face. “Shall I stoke the fire?”
“It’s sexy shivering.”
He snorts, not believing me. “No such thing.”
“Sure there is. I’m shivering because you’re so hot.”
In typical Haeden fashion, he misunderstands me. “I am too warm?” His body immediately lifts off of mine, his fists pressing in the furs on the sides of me. He looks frustrated and disappointed.
“No, no,” I tell him and grab at the long braid of hair that hangs over one shoulder and tug it forward. I love Haeden’s hair - he shaves the sides of his head short and braids the rest of it into one long braid that hangs down his back. All of the sa-khui have thick hair that they plait in different ways (some just to keep it out of the way) but I like Haeden’s the best. I wrap his braid around my hand and pull him toward me. “It is a human expression. We say something is ‘hot’ when it means we find it pleasurable or stimulating. Arousing. To me, you are hot. Perfect. Sexy. Wonderful.”
His eyes gleam and I realize it’s been forever since he’s had that dead look in his gaze. It’s been gone from the moment we resonated, and for some reason it makes me feel like crying with happiness. It’s like this resonance between our cooties is saving us both. I do get a little weepy and sniff.
The sexy look on his face dies, followed by worry. He cups my cheek. “Now, why do you cry, my Jo-see?”
“I’m just emotional,” I say, blubbering a little. I wipe at my eyes with his braid and try to give him a cheery look. “I’m happy.”
His scowl returns. “You were nearly eaten by a sky-claw yesterday. How does this make you happy?”
“You big ding-a-ling, you make me happy. Here. This moment. You and me. I just looked at your smile and realized that you’ve been sad for far too long. Me, too. I think I’ve been sad and lonely for a long time. And I’m not sad anymore.” I pat his chest, putting a hand over the plates covering his heart, where his khui thrums a song in time with mine. We resonate to each other so much that it feels normal now, like the constant low-pitched vibration is just a thing, like breathing. “This makes me happy. You and me together.”
Haeden nods slowly. His nostrils flare and the tense look crosses his face again before he slides an arm under me and tugs me against his body. I try to figure out what he’s doing but it’s clear a moment later when he lowers his body onto the furs that he’s holding me against him. He’s holding me tight. “I nearly lost you—“
“But you didn’t,” I say, stroking his braid to soothe him. “It’s okay.”
The growl that escapes his throat as he buries his face against my neck tells me that he doesn’t quite believe me. That’s all right. If he wants to hug it out for a few, we totally can. I’m in no hurry and I love cuddling with him. So I let him hold me close and my hands play over his arms, brushing over hard muscle and enjoying the soft velvety feel of his skin against mine. One of his horns presses against my cheek and rubs there, and it’s a little awkward and achingly sweet at the same time.
“You’ve got me,” I tell him when he remains silent. “You always have me. I know I’m safe when I’m with you because you won’t let anything happen to me.”
“Never,” he growls against my throat. “Never.”
Just hearing that turns me on a little more. He’s so possessive. Funny how that’s never turned my crank in the past but now it makes my nipples hard. Funny how it’s Haeden’s possessiveness that makes me so wet with lust. I never thought I’d fall for the guy in a million years, and yet…my cootie sure knew what was up.
Good cootie. I’m totally listening to you from now on.
While I’m lost in thought, Haeden nuzzles my throat again. Then, I feel his tongue rasp against my neck, in the sensitive spot between collarbone and throat. Oooh. I moan.
He licks it again and then begins to press frantic, quick kisses and tiny bites along the line of my shoulder. It’s like he can’t get enough of just touching me, and I stroke my hands over his arms and down his chest, doing my best not to interrupt him. Because really? I want more of this. I want more of his mouth on my skin, his body pressing mine into the furs.
I want more of everything.
He licks at the curve of my shoulder again and then nips at the skin with his pointed teeth. It stings, just a little, and I gasp. He makes a tsking-sound under his breath and then licks the wound, and another moan escapes me. All right, I’m down for biting if it means I get more tonguing. “I like this frankissing,” he breathes against my skin. “You are so soft everywhere. It is a pleasure to touch you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine,” I tell him, and it’s true. I’m not doing more than touching his arm and grabbing at his braid - he’s making this all about me. “You do whatever you feel like.”
“I want to frankiss all of you, Jo-see.” He moves back to my throat, nipping and kissing and then dragging his tongue over my skin. “I want my tongue all over your body.”
Oh boy, I want that, too. My cootie’s practically throbbing in my chest, it’s so excited. “I’m all yours.”
He nuzzles his way down my front, heading toward my breasts. “Your teats are so full,” he murmurs as he explores the valley between my breasts with his lips.
They…are? I’ve always been a pretty flat-chested girl, but I suppose compared to the sa-khui women, I’m downright busty. They have more flat-pectorals unless they’re nursing. Come to think of it, Maylak the healer is the only one I’ve seen that fills out a shirt, and she’s both nursing and pregnant. Oh. I never thought I’d be considered busty. “You like?”
“Love,” he growls, and licks along the slope of one small breast. He moves to the tip and then runs his lips over my nipple. “So soft, here.”
I squirm, moaning with need. “Soft?” My nipples feel pretty dang hard.
He lifts his head, and his eyes are glowing a fierce, bright blue. His cootie’s humming like a freight train, too. “Soft,” he repeats. Haeden takes one of my hands and guides it to his breast, placing my fingers over his nipple. “Not like me.”
I touch his nipple and it’s as he says - hard as a rock. It feels a lot like the ridged, rough plates covering his breast, actually. Huh. I stroke it and glance up at his face. “Does it feel good when I touch it?”
He shrugs his big shoulders. “It feels like a touch. All of your touches feel good.”
Big, sweet man. “But I guess it doesn’t feel like when I touch your cock?” I slide my hand lower, between us, and brush against the length of it.
Haeden’s gaze darkens and I can hear his sharp intake of breath.
I’m going to take that as a ‘no, not the same’. “It feels that way when I touch your nipples? To you?”
I nod. “It feels almost as good as when you touch my pussy.”
“Pooh-see?”
I am so not explaining that word to him. I point primly.
He grins, looking smugly pleased. “Your cunt.” And he reaches between us and cups it, because he’s a b
old son of a bitch. “Your wet, warm cunt.”
A little hitching moan escapes me. “That’s the one.”
“I will get to it soon, Jo-see. But first I want to finish frankissing your teats.”
“Go right ahead.” I’ll even ignore his repeated use of the unsexy word ‘teats’ if it means he’s going to tease my breasts some more. I arch encouragingly, thrusting my breasts out in an invitation.
Haeden notices and his gaze drops back to my breasts. There’s a fascinated look in his gaze as he leans in and very carefully, very slowly licks the tip of one aching breast and watches my face to see my reaction.
I nearly come right then and there. A little whimper escapes my throat and I wriggle under him. “Oh, do it again, Haeden.”
He does, and then growls low in his throat. “Say my name as I lick you, Jo-see. I want to hear it on your tongue.”
I moan. That’s so damn filthy…and so sexy. “Haeden,” I say breathlessly, and then whimper again when he gives my breast another teasing lick. “God yes. Just like that, Haeden. My big, sexy mate.”
My big, sexy mate growls again and takes my nipple between his teeth, lightly nipping and then licking away the hurt. My pussy clenches hard in response, and I gasp. I swear I’m going to come if he continues this, and that’s a first for me. Normally it takes a lot for me to get into sex - my past hang-ups have left me with a lot of unpleasant memories. But with Haeden? None of that exists anymore. It’s like he touches me and I’m instantly in the zone. And I love it.
He moves to my other breast and begins a thorough, leisurely exploration of it with lips and tongue, as if it’s a fresh new part of my body to discover instead of a twin to my other much-loved breast. His enthusiasm makes me quiver hard, and I cry out his name again as the intensity builds. “Haeden! Please.” I’m panting, my cootie singing desperately. “Please, I need more.” My pussy’s clenching around empty air and I’d be stoked if he gave up on the foreplay and we went straight to the fucking. “Please.”
Haeden moves over me and cups my cheek, worry mixing with the heat in his eyes. “What do you need, Jo-see? Tell me and I will give it to you.”
