Page 14 of Escape Velocity

“Not bad. Just intense.”

She heard desperation in her own voice. “I feel like I am going to come flying apart. Can you help me?”

“Yes. If you let me.”

“Anything. You have to make it go away.” She had clenched her legs together like she had done when she was a child trying to keep from wetting herself. That helped a little—but at the same time, it increased her need for . . .. She did not know how to finish the rest of the thought.

In the dim light, she could see the color had risen in his cheeks.

“This is making you angry.”

“Not angry,” he said sharply.

“Then what.”

“Maybe embarrassed.” He made a low sound. “We’re strangers.”

“Yes.”

“But to help you, I have to touch you—in places where strangers don’t touch each other. The places you touched yourself a few minutes ago.”

Heat rose in her cheeks as she imagined his hands on her. Somehow that imagining increased the throbbing feelings surging through her.

“Will it hurt?” she managed to ask.

“Well, it’s going to be hard on me.” He laughed.

“Why is that funny?”

“It’s not. Sorry. This is difficult—for both of us.”

She glanced toward the door, wishing she could flee. But she knew there was no place for her to go.

He leaned over, stroking his fingers against her hot cheek, and she turned her face so that the finger stroked her mouth instead.

The finger traced the outline of her lips as he asked, “Do you know anything about sex?”

She swallowed hard, struggling for coherence when she felt her thoughts swirling away like dry leaves in a raging windstorm. She managed to say, “You mean mating?”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice sounding thick.

“I’ve seen animals do it. The male climbs on top of the female’s back.”

“That’s not how people do it.”

“How?” Simply asking the question sent a bolt of heat through her.

“It’s usually face to face.”

She heard her tone turn high and uneven as she asked. “Are you going to mate with me?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “We can’t do that.”

She felt a jolt of panic. “Why not?”

“Because I’m guessing you’re a virgin. Are you?”

“A virgin? Do you mean have I not had sex?”

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