Page 59 of Romancing Rem'eb

“Now?” he echoes, repeating me.

I nod. I’m tired of being tortured by resonance. If we can’t come to an agreement about our future, at least I’ll be able to tell him how I feel before he returns to his people. Maybe we can set up some sort of co-parenting schedule, though thinking ahead to that lonely future makes me ache.

Now, I remind myself. Focus on here and now, or you’re just going to cry all day.

I don’t want to cry. Not when Rem’eb moves toward me, cupping my head in his big hand, and gazes down at me as if I’m the most gorgeous thing he’s ever seen. His eyes are so soft and full of love that I have to believe in this moment. I have to believe that everything will work out after all.

Don’t I deserve a fairy tale, too?

I just won’t think about how there’s no happy ever after to this story. I’ll focus on one day at a time, one hour, one minute. And this minute? This one is glorious.

“My sweet stranger,” Rem’eb murmurs, leaning down to kiss me. “I have waited so long for this moment.”

I have, too. I want to touch him. I want to join our souls. More than that, I want to forget everything for the next while. Just a few hours of bliss, please and thank you. “Take me home.”

I forget that he can’t understand me for a brief moment. Noj’me’s voice breaks through our hazy bubble of lust. “She says to go to her hut.”

“I can do that.” He lifts me by the waist, as if I’m a feather and wraps his arms around me. One goes under my butt, and one around my back, another anchoring at my waist as he continues to grip my hair. It’s like I’m completely enveloped by him, and I feel so protected and safe. I cup his face in my hands and kiss him, showing him all my emotion, all my longings.

As we kiss, Rem’eb carries me across the beach.

His tongue brushes against mine, a silent entreaty, and I suck on it, letting him know that this time, we’re not stopping. This time, we’re going to give in to the urges that have been pushing us together. We kiss across the sands, staggering back to my hut, and I don’t know how he manages to find it, but he does. Rem’eb sets me down on the elevated platform that keeps my hut off of the sand, my feet touching it. I glance around, dazed, as Rem’eb steps up to join me. He pushes the flap that covers my door aside forcefully, sweeping in, his long, fluffy tail holding the flap back as I follow him inside.

Rem’eb takes my hand and guides me across my floor to my bed. He indicates that I should sit and kneels in front of me to remove my boots. It’s a speedy task with his four hands, and he tosses them aside before giving me a heated look, as if he’s trying to figure out what to do next.

“Tia.”

“Yes?”

“Are you hungry?”

Really? That’s what he’s going to ask me now? “No.”

“Thirsty?”

“No.”

“Cold?”

I shake my head.

“Are you comfortable? Do you require anything?” One hand scrubs down his face, and I realize for the first time that he’s nervous. “I want this to be right for you. Tell me if there is anything you need.”

Wordlessly, I hold a hand out to him.

With a groan, Rem’eb takes my hand in his grasp. He leans in, kissing my palm feverishly, then moving to my wrist. He sucks on my skin there, as if he can’t help himself, and I gasp at the sensation. It sends a bolt of lust shooting straight through my body, and the heat settles between my thighs, pulsing there.

He laps at my pulse point, his gaze flicking to my face. “Can I undress you?”

I nod. Even though I want to rip my own clothes off just to move to the next part where he touches my bare skin, if it gives him pleasure to undress me, I’ll let him. I force myself to remain still, quivering, as he pulls the ties at my waist apart, loosening them until the heavy leathers start to slide down my shoulders. His gaze devours me, as if I’m a present he’s unwrapping. With gentle fingers, he eases my sleeves down my arms and my wrap tunic falls to a puddle at my hips. I’m wearing my band, knotted between my breasts, because everything bounces too much without it.

Rem’eb’s gaze falls to my cleavage, and with a careful knuckle, he traces the swells of my breasts. A breath shudders through me, and I arch ever so slightly, like a cat enjoying a long-awaited petting.

“May I take this off?” he asks.

Part of me loves that he’s being so very careful, but the other part of me wants him to rip my clothing off with sheer abandon. To throw caution to the wind and just attack me. But Rem’eb is nothing if not responsible and aware of his strength, and it’s one of the things I love most about him. He can’t be other than who he is, even if it’s making me go slowly mad with arousal.

But I can do more than just sit here like a lump…

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