Page 26 of Rescued By the Alien Bull Rider

The sun had moved slightly since I’d been out there with her. She was no longer completely in shade. A beam fell, hitting her on a steep angle. Her hair, face, and right shoulder glowed with colour so deliciously vivid a confused part of me almost thought that I could taste it. Taste her, though she stood many paces from me, separated by windows and walls. She blinked, the little hairs around her human eyes – eyelashes, they were called – making winged shadows sweep across the curved outline of her cheek. Her shoulder was pale, her back even lighter than that.Her spine was an elegant line arcing down from her slender neck to her thickened waist and luscious hips. I ached with the disastrous need to run my knuckle down the length of it. To count every bit of bone, one by one.

And then count them all again.

“Alright, alright,” she said, stiffly bending to scoop up the shirt she’d abandoned and holding it against her chest. “Keep your pants on.”

“I plan to!” I retorted, offended to my very core that she’d even feel the need to suggest such a thing.

And also ever-so-slightly hurt by the way she so obviously did not want to see me out of my clothes. She’d been the one to mention our marital bed earlier, and talk about viewing each other’s bodies as a married couple! I had not even tried to broach the subject.

Not that that mattered right now. She likely would not even want to look at my face, not to mention my cock, once I told her about my conviction. Which I would do. Today.

But for now, I had to focus on her health. Whether I was her doctor or her husband or something in between, her wellbeing – and by extension, that of her child – was my absolute priority. And that invigorated me. Caring for her was a worthy goal, something to strive for.

I had not felt this way since leaving Zabria.

Not once.

Until now.

Untilher.

“I’m here!” she called, clambering onto the porch and coming into the kitchen. She clutched her shirt against her front, shielding her belly and her foreign human breasts from my gaze. Not that I was trying to see her breasts. I was too preoccupied by her hands, so raw and red andsmall.

I wanted to make them better.

I wanted to hold them.

Instead, I reached for a wooden kitchen chair and pulled it out from the table.

“Sit.”

“Then what?” she asked as she sat in the seat.

“Then I’ll put this salve on you.” I brought the bowl of mashed puhla squash over to the table and thumped it down in front of her.

“What’s that?” she asked leaning towards the bowl with interest. “Looks like ice cream!”

“I just told you. It’s a salve.”

“But what’s it made of?”

I jutted my tail towards the kitchen counter where the rinds still lay.

“Puhla squash. The flesh has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. It also functions well as a humectant. It should soothe your skin.”

“Ooh. Fancy.” She stuck her finger into the bowl. “Can I eat it?”

“It’s not cooked,” I grunted at her, frowning. “Just spread it onto your hands, would you? I’ll do your back.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” she said quickly, already rubbing the purple goop into her skin. “I know you still have a ton of work to do.”

She wasn’t wrong. I did have much to do. Winter would be here before I knew it. It seemed to come upon me faster every year. I’d gotten a good start on the bales to last the herd and shuldu over the winter, but I wasn’t finished. Not even close.

“It can wait.” I leaned around her, dipping my own fingers into the bowl. “Besides, if you putting this salve on your back is anything like what I just witnessed outside with the rag, then I’m going to have a kitchen covered in puhla purée. And I’d rather not have to clean that up later if at all possible.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with a small chuckle. “That’s fair. I don’t have a tail like you to reach back there.”

No, she didn’t. I let my gaze slide down her back to the waistband of her pants. No belt with a hook to hang her tail upon. Because there was no tail at all.

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