Page 34 of Savage Union

His pearly gray skin was glistening with water droplets and his bare body seemed to be covered in muscles. There was a light patch of black curls between the flat disks of his nipples—nothing like the forest of fur growing on Jerx—and it led in a thin trail down his flat abdomen to his?—

“There you go—how’s that?” His deep voice made me jerk my head up to look at him. He was looking down at me intently and I could see the water droplets beading on his bronze horns and broad shoulders.

“Oh, er—fine. Thank you, Captain,” I squeaked, wishing my voice wouldn’t come out so high.

“It’s all right, Cass—I’m not going to bite you,” he rumbled. “Just didn’t want you to scald yourself.”

“Thank you,” I said quickly. And then I couldn’t help adding. “Er…I thought you had a shower of your own in the Captain’s quarters.”

“I do. I just wanted to come down and set a good example for the crew.” He spoke loudly and looked at Gurflug as he did, who was staring back at him warily.

Pointedly, keeping his face to the room instead of to the wall, Turk backed up until the spray from the shower head beside mine was spraying right on the top of his head. His thick black hair was soon soaking and he took the opportunity to squeeze some of the shampoo out of one of the wall-mounted dispensers and began to wash it.

As he did, he kept an eye on Gurflug. The message couldn’t have been more clear—‘thisis how you clean yourself.Thisis what I expect of you.’

Turk didn’t say anything out loud—he didn’t have to. Reluctantly, Gurflug edged into the shower spray and began to wash his hair. From the color of the water that ran down his legs and into the drain, I wondered if this was his first time ever using shampoo. It was dark brown and disgusting—I was glad I was across the room from him.

But the fact that Turk was concentrating on the huge Galafruxian allowed me to sneak more peeks at his muscular body.

I had never dreamed of seeing him like this—naked and wet…muscular and glistening—and I have to admit the sight took my breath away. I allowed my eyes to travel from his broad chest to his tight abs and down his long legs. Then my gaze wandered up again to his shaft and I sucked in a breath.

Goddess above, how did he even use that thing? It washuge.Even though it wasn’t erect, it dangled down along his thigh like a sleepy snake, making me wonder how he could fit it into a woman at all.

Of course I had heard stories when the maids were talking about how a Brute could “prepare” his woman to receive him, but I had never managed to get any really juicy details before they saw me and stopped talking. I wondered all over again how?—

“Hey, navvie—you’re sure as fuck gettin’ an eyeful of the Captain’s shaft!”

Jerx’s voice broke my concentration and I quickly looked away. The whole shower room erupted in laughter and I felt my whole body go hot with a blush. Oh Goddess of the Four Faces, what must Turk think of me now?

But Turk didn’t join in the mocking. He just said,

“Cut it out, Jerx. Leave the boy alone.”

“Right, Captain.” Jerx gave him a salute, which looked strange in the nude. “Just thought you ought to know your little pet there is a prick peeper.”

“I am not!” I said hotly, before I could stop myself. “And even if I was, I couldn’t see yours because of that disgusting forest of hair! Haven’t you ever heard of a razor?”

There was surprised silence for a moment, and then another burst of laughter—this time Jerx didn’t join in. His face grew dark but he only pointed a finger at me and said,

“Later for you, navvie.”

Then he wrapped his towel around his waist and stalked out of the shower room, his bare feet slapping on the tiled floor.

Turk frowned down at me.

“That wasn’t very smart, Cass. There’s a pecking order aboard the ship—you’ll need to learn to get along with the rest of the crew if you expect them to trust you to navigate for them.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Pointing out that Jerx had started the altercation would sound childish and immature. So I settled for nodding my head and murmuring,

“Sorry, Sir.”

Turk sighed and shook his head, flinging droplets of water from his horns with the motion.

“Never mind. You’ll learn—I just hope it isn’t the hard way.”

Then he turned off his shower and wrapped the towel around his waist. He gave Gurflug one last stern look—the big Galafruxian was reluctantly soaping and scrubbing his body, having finally finished with his hair—and then left the shower room.

All this time, I still hadn’t done more than soap myself—mostly my arms, because I didn’t want anyone to see me washing my invisible breasts. It occurred to me now that I needed to wash my hair and get out of there. I wanted to get backto the room and change into my pajamas before Gurflug finished and went back. At least he might smell marginally better now that he’d taken an actual shower instead of just letting the water spray his legs a little.

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