Page 343 of Bride of Choice

A choking noise left him. “Joalee want Buu mount, gives the teeth smiles for Buu mount?” Gently pulling me away from him, he grunted, “Which ones. Which smileys for mounting?”

He looked so stunned I sucked in my lips to hold in my laughter.

He gave me a look that said if I laughed I was going to get to experience his unfettered annoyance firsthand. It helped squash the mirth bubbling inside of me. So serious, this guy.

“Can’t you smell when I’m, you know, in the mood? My arousal?”

“Joalee smell sweet, very sweet, she ready, but Buu no know when Joalee want Buu mount.”

“God, this is more complicated than I thought,” I muttered. “Spontaneity goes right out the window.”

“Spontane-a-etty?” he repeated slowly.

“Uhm, like, spur of the moment, unplanned. Like if you were feeling frisky, ahem, I mean, if you wanted to mount me, and you weren’t sure if I was into it or not, and you, like, came up and got all sweet on me— kissy and huggy and come on, baby, I wanna claim ya. You know?”

His brow furrowed and his expression turned skeptical. “Joalee ‘kay Buu spontane-a-etty? Buu approach Joalee for mounting?”

“Do you mean to tell me that this entire time I’ve been looking for some kind of sign from you, it’s been a ladies’ choice kind of deal? You’ve been waiting for me to tell you I want to have sex, make love, to be mounted, in some way I wasn’t aware you were looking for that you weren’t even sure of as to what yourself?”

“Female tell male,” he told me. “No want. Male no mount. Wait for female. No take. Wait. Buu not greedy.”

“Well, if I’m into it, and you’re comfortable with the idea of taking the lead… I’m good with you making the first move, too.” I had a feeling he’d be needing a minute with that one. “I mean, sometimes it’s nice, you know, when your lover comes to you for lovin’.” Tossing him an overdone wink, my smile grew lopsided. “Sometimes a greedy male willing to give as good as he gets, it’s kind of sexy.”

Poor guy eyed me like he thought I was pulling one over on him. “Joalee mates, back her village, they do this? They come to Joalee for mounting?”

“Sometimes I’m the one that does the mounting,” I purred.

Buu’s jaw about dropped. “Joalee mounts?” he spluttered.

“Yep.” I made the p pop. Hefting my butt out of the water, I stood, salty water dripping everywhere, wet, bared, not a care, and smiled at him from over my shoulder as I walked away from him. “We could try it sometime, if you want. It’s a lot of fun. I’ll forewarn you, though, I’m kinda bossy.”

A gurgling noise bubbled up his throat as he watched me go.

He looked like a bug-eyed, wet ball of fur.

My sultry laugh echoed down the hall as I headed for our room. He kept a small stack of woven cloths in there for drying off.

When he didn’t follow, I couldn’t say I was necessarily disappointed. I mean, I’d clearly shocked the poor guy senseless. He obviously needed a minute.

By the time our next meal rolled around, he seemed quite chipper.

I had to wonder, as we crawled into our own respective beds five nights later to catch some shut eye, every sexual encounter left at my hands despite our little chat, if I’d been talking to a very sweet and cuddly, immovable wall.

Buu seemed no more interested in starting the party than he had before. Eh. Perhaps it was just not his way. Maybe he really liked to have me initiate it and then go hog wild on me. Hey, I wasn’t complaining, I just wondered sometimes if this was what he wanted, how he wished things to be.

My thoughts drifted to my guys, as they always did when I was left to my own devices.

Did they miss me? Had they forgotten about me? According to my markings on the wall, it’s been long enough I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if anyone had decided to call it and pronounced me dead or something.

Iced in like this, no one was getting in and no one was getting out.

“Gopher and you, I think you guys will get along great. You have pretty similar personalities in so many ways,” I murmured.

“Gopher look like Buu?” he asked hopefully. I listened to the sounds of him shifting on his furs.

“Well… no, but Tor, he has a horned side, Hyde, and a middle side, the mix of the two that he calls Jeh-kal, and you’re similar looks wise. Kinda.”

“Your village? They keep this Tor-Hyde? Even though him different?”

---