Page 22 of Mated on Live

“You’re sure okay?” He asked, voice deep and rough.

She nodded, staring at his lips. Desperate for more. For a kiss. She had to take a deep breath, fingers curling into her tingling palm, as she raised her gaze.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m alright. You?”

“Me? My olules don’t hurt me.”

“No, but I touched them.”

It took him a second to realize what she meant. His jaw tightened and he shook his head. “Sorry. No. No trigger.”

Sophie frowned, the delicious fluttering in her belly easing. “Dang. I was hoping that would work. Nothing?”

“No. I would know.” His eyes darted to her fingers again. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine.” She dropped her hand back to the table. The lingering effects of his sting had faded. “It wasn’t really painful.”

“That’s actually fairly strange,” he admitted, still looking at her fingers with concern. After a second, he focused back on her face. “Shall we try the kiss instead?”

“Do you think that will work?”

“It cannot hurt. And it's your people's equivalent. My people aren't often triggered outside our species, and when we are, it's usually an accident. But it can occur if our olules touch you while being intimate in other ways.”

“Yeah? Worth a shot then.”

He nodded. But it wasn't with the eagerness of a man anticipating a kiss. It was more like a kid who was old enough to know medicine was good for him but not old enough to be willing to tolerate the taste without a fuss – determined but resigned.

“How do we perform the kiss then?”

Sophie laughed. They were still speaking English, but she rather thought that was for her comfort more than anything. Hearing him butcher the language like her abuelo at the grocery store was just funny.

“I suppose we can start by standing. It's easier than trying to kiss over a table.”

He grunted like that made sense as he got to his feet, offering her a hand to help her up. Which she took with a smile, keeping hold of it as she came around the table.

Her belly fluttered with nerves. Touching his olules had set a burning heat afire in her belly that made her eager for his kiss.

But their weird relationship still made this whole thing odd. Aliens really believed in the whole mating trigger thing. It was a huge part of the greater universal culture that humans largely missed out on due to their inability to recognize their own mates. Which made the whole matchmating thing even more valuable on Earth, but it also meant that this was a whole relationship dynamic that Sophie had no practice in navigating and therefore felt strange.

This wasn’t exactly dating. It wasn’t really marriage. It should definitely be romantic, but they were still basically strangers.

And the fact that he hadn’t been triggered yet was concerning.

Sophie knew she wasn’t the first human to mate an alien, but the others had all triggered their mates immediately – hadn’t they? That was what all the rumors and stories said. Aliens took one look and fell madly in love.

Her guy had molested her hand with his olules completely, but nothing.

Maybe the kiss would do it. And maybe once he was triggered this would feel more real.

She stepped in closer, putting her chest against his, resting her arms on his shoulders. Immediately, his olules began stinging her fingertips, making her jump and shudder in delight.

“You really like that,” he whispered, hands resting on her hips.

“It tingles,” she giggled.

“Is that what a kiss feels like?”

“No. A kiss is… warm. Or hot. Like a hug but closer. Deeper. It’s like sex with your tongues.”

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