Page 124 of Homebound
“Good.”
He was so big, towering over the bed. Massive. Cunningly smart and primitive at the same time. Looking up at him, Gemma stared at the underside of his mulish chin and the strong column of his throat with the tattoos. His different nose. The soft fuzz.
So many differences between them. Worlds apart.
“Are you going to rest?” she asked tentatively.
“I’m not tired.”
He moved restlessly but didn’t walk away.
“Is it almost time to… ah, bring back the landlord?”
Simon shook his head. “He isn’t coming back. I expect no more customers.”
Gemma exhaled with relief. “I’m glad. On both accounts.”
He said nothing.
She threw aside the covers, showing him that she was naked under them.
He regarded her at length.
“Tell me the truth, Gemma. Are you afraid of me?” his liquid voice caressed.
“Terrified,” she confessed.
He fell on her.
His hands were everywhere, shaping her body, memorizing it. His mouth did shameless things to her secret parts, and she cried out once, twice, losing count. She strained to get closer to him until their mouths were fused, until he covered her and she accepted him deep into his body, his arms around her, her legs wrapped tightly around his middle. His smell filled her lungs with each labored breath. His taste burst on her tongue, saturating her entire being with the essence of him. And she knew he felt the same.
They weren’t together; they were one.
Chapter 27
The next morning, Gemma found herself standing in the familiar line in front of the docks. Her neatly tucked-in work clothes were much more appropriate than her previous attire of a fitted girly coat with ruffled hem and big mismatched buttons. Her face under the tight-knit hat looked fresh and clean, with cheeks no longer sunken deep from hunger. Her eyes projected, she knew, a quiet self-assurance instead of the acute anxiety and desperation of the before.
In short, she looked like a different person. Shewasa different person.
The gate opened, and the man in the mushroom hat appeared. Gemma told herself not to fidget like Simon had instructed, and not to throw her arm up too high so as not to appear overeager. A lot hinged on her getting inside the docks’ walls.
“Two men for the assembly line, extra pay for chemical hazard,” the recruiter intoned.
Many shouted out that they were willing. Gemma kept still, knowing the competition for the extra pay would be too fierce for her to even try.
“Freight delivery loaders, four men needed. Strong only.”
Gemma tensed as this job would have been perfect, with easy access to the landing and takeoff area and all the fuel nearby. But strong only meant no girls, she’d learned from before that the mushroom man would only get annoyed at pesky false-starters.
She stayed put while a large number of burly males trampled over each other in their haste to get the coveted spot. It would have been comical to watch if it weren’t so sad. People were reduced to fighting their own kind for survival. Truly, Earth was coming to a pitiful end.
An hour later, after several swing-but-no-hits, Gemma was directed through the gates to a small platform where an open tram with metal benches stopped to pick up workers and deliver them to far-flung corners of the dock area.
I did it,went ‘round and ‘round Gemma’s mind.
She was in.
Her assigned job for the day was simple: using a small hand-held magnet, she was to crawl around the recharging bay and collect minuscule metal particles that got stuck in the pavement cracks. An explosion had thrown metals around during the Perali attack, and now the residue was messing up the sensitive equipment - badly enough to pay for the clean-up.
