Page 63 of Right Next Door
Flik followed her to the sink. She had a full shower in the back for when she dyed large parts of someone’s body, but for just his wrists, they could wash it off right there. Which she did as she explained their date for tonight.
“He’s taking me for an orbital dinner,” she said. “Which, honestly, might be the most normal date idea he’s had. So, either he figured it out, or there’s a surprise waiting for me, and I really hope it’s the second one.”
Flik chuckled. “I think you like seeing him mess things up.”
“That’s not the part I like.” She smiled. “I like seeing him try. And he does try. The effort he puts into it makes every sweet thing he does mean that much more, even if they’re not exactly in line with what I would expect.”
“You know, our people would just get right to the fucking.”
“So romantic,” she mumbled.
“What’s so good about romance?”
She gave him an affronted look. “Bold of you to condemn something when you don’t even know what it is or have ever even experienced it.”
“It just seems like a lot of work,” he shrugged. “All he does is just…do things with you. Feed you. I mean, I can see the feeding thing. Got to make sure your mate is strong and healthy enough to bear your kits. But the mood lightning, the picnic, the flowers – it just seems like a bunch of random things you do for no reason. I don’t really see why it’s worth-ow!”
“Oops,” she said dully, letting the hairs she’d pluck wash down her sink. “I missed.”
“You missed?”
“I was trying to pluck the stupid out of you.”
“Cold, Misty. Cold.” He frowned. “My female shall be a beautiful kreecharma who shall not make any of these ridiculous demands of me.”
“You know what, just because you said that, your mate is going to be ridiculously high maintenance. And probably a human. In fact, I’m manifesting that for you. I want you to have the most difficult, high maintenance, demanding female on Earth.”
Flik grimaced, leaning back. “Why would you put that kind of curse on me?”
“Teach you a lesson,” she sneered. “Come on. Let’s get to braiding. I have to get dressed for tonight.”
She was actually really looking forward to the orbital dining experience. She bet it was going to be really cool to eat while circling the planet. Davard told her, after she asked, that the dress code for the restaurant was considered formal. Orbital restaurants might not be groundbreaking like they would be on Earth right now, but that didn't mean they were super common. Such a place was still considered to be something of anupscale experience. Like dining on the rooftop of an expensive restaurant or having dinner in a private jet. It was an experience that might not bethatrare but was still special.
She wore one of her Earth dresses for the occasion. She called it her Madam Spider dress because the shapeless lace covering the black bodycon style sleeve dress was made to look like spiderwebs. The lacing went up her neck, all the way down to little bell sleeves at her wrists, and was just a few inches longer than the black satin dress underneath, ending in inverted, scalloped lines reminiscent of the edges of a spider’s web. She paired it with a thicker lace choker and her tallest, sexiest stilettos. The only pop of color was her underhair, which she had dyed a vibrant, gleaming yellow. She straightened her hair for the occasion though, so there were only a couple flashes of it when she moved.
She rather liked the decadence of the Kree style robes, but she didn't yet have a selection of properly goth attire. The embroidery, for all that it was stunning, wasn’t really goth at all. So, she still felt most like herself in her Earth clothes.
The raw appreciation in Tsok’s eyes when he beheld her walking his way where he waited by the landing shuttle behind her manor made the effort well worth it. Misty wasn’t so humble to not know that she looked good, but it was still a thrill when someone got that look in their eyes when they saw her. The way he focused on her hips as they swayed made her grin.
Deep down, these alien males were just men all the way through.
“You’re drooling, honored char,” she teased as she walked past, running her fingers along his lower belly as she did so. Skating dangerously close to that hardening lump barely visible underneath the soft, silver satin robe he wore – the embroidery today was flowers, and she wondered if that was a deliberate choice for her.
He followed close behind as she stepped up into the shuttle. It was smaller even than the one that brought her here, but far more luxurious on the inside. There was curved seating in the back, allowing her to lounge in the corner while Tsok took a seat in the middle. She immediately turned, resting her legs across his lap.
He started in surprise, but quickly recovered, resting a hand possessively over her calf as he smirked at her, saber tooth gleaming in the light. She had no idea she’d be so attracted to that, but she suddenly wondered what it would be like to have that gorgeous, fluffy face and long, hard teeth between her legs, that rough, feline tongue of his licking her to delirium.
“I like these shoes,” he said, an appreciative growl in his tone as he stroked his hand up and down her lower leg. The roughness of his palm – similar but less puffy than the pads on a cat – made her let out an appreciative groan of her own. She wanted those hands everywhere.
Oh, shit, she was going to fuck this guy.
She knew it immediately and didn't even try to fight against it. She couldn’t even say that she was still mad at him – though she definitely believed she had every right to be. But it was hard to stay mad at someone when you knew they genuinely, legitimately, and sincerely didn't know any better.
That just meant she had to train him otherwise.
“I like these shoes too,” she purred. “I bet they’d look real nice around your ears.”
His claws were suddenly there, poking into her skin as he dragged them down her calf. They weren’t sharp, instead they were deliberately dull. But they came to just enough of a point that she could enjoy their roughness without worrying about her skin.
