Page 50 of Igid's Bounty
I swallow past a lump that has suddenly formed in the back of my throat. Kits were never something I’d given much thought to. Neither was a mate. Now, I have both.
So howdoI feel about that?
“I’m—” My hand lifts to the side of Brox’s face, and I swipe my thumb across his cheek and the soft rasp from days’ growth of whiskers. Tilting my head, I decide I like him scruffy. Makes him look older. “I’mhappy.”
I’m more than just happy. For the first time, I feel like I’m actually looking forward to something. To a shared life. For so long I’ve only lived in the moment. But now…
Brox’s mouth crashes against mine, and I kiss him back. My hand slides to the back of his head, where my fingers tangle in his hair before pulling him further into me. A moan bubbles up from the back of my throat, and a throb starts at my core.
“Fucking hells, Igid,” he groans as he pulls back, and I whine at the loss of him.When have I ever fucking whined?!“Not yet,” he tells me as he strides into the hall. “First I’m going to make sure my mate, and my kit, are well fed. Then I’m going to take you to bed and make sure you know just how overjoyed I am.”
My body heats at his words as my stomach rumbles with hunger.
In the galley, he sets me down only long enough to go to the replicator for food, then he scoops me back up into his lap so he can hold me while we eat.
“You’re being ridiculous,” I gripe, even as I settle back against his wide chest with my bowl ofcarrilcradled in my hands and my tail curled around him, casually flicking across the back of his neck. Once again, I find myself wondering when Brox started to feel like home.
I stab one of the squirming tentacles and hold it up to his lips, which he presses tightly together.
“It’s good. Try it,” I urge, knowing full well thatcarrilis an acquired taste that only I seem to enjoy.
To my complete surprise, Brox opens his mouth and takes the entire bite without looking away from me. I do my best to hide my smile as I slide the utensil from between his lips. I hear a soft crunch when he bites into it, and his eyes bug out. If I wasn’t on his lap, no doubt he would have jumped up to spit it into the garbage. Instead he resigns himself to his fate. I try, and fail, to hold back a giggle when his face pales slightly and a shudder racks his body.
“See?” I tell him, trying very hard not to laugh at the way his throat is struggling to swallow the bite. “It’s good.”
Brox shakes his head, as if that might help clear the taste from his mouth.
“That,” he says, reaching for his own bowl of boring grains, “is the exact opposite ofgood.”
“You humans have no sense of what’s good,” I say around another bite.
Tipping my chin so I’m looking at him, Brox shakes his head. “Not true,” he says with a smirk. “I got you, didn’t I?”
“Smooth talker,” I mutter. Of course, I’m not going to argue because he’s right.
As soon as I’ve taken my last bite, Brox stands up with me still cradled in his arms.
“Now,” he says, making his way back down the hall to my—to our—room, “it’s time for bed.”
Linking my arms around his neck, my tail curls around his arm, and I tuck my head against his shoulder. With a full belly and my mate’s heartbeat thrumming against my ear, bed sounds amazing.
Brox lays me across the soft mattress as if I were the most precious and delicate of treasures. No one has ever treated me as if I were something fragile—not that I’ve ever let them—and I find I kind of like it.
Lifting my arms, I beckon for him to follow me. It’s cold without his arms around me, and I already miss his closeness. Pulling the blanket back, he follows me down onto the narrow bed, letting me curl around him. I twine my legs through his and wrap my arms around his chest with my head pillowed just under his chin.
I know Brox had more than sleeping on his mind, but now that I’m lying down with him, I can’t help the fatigue that suddenly comes crashing down on top of me. I let out a jaw-cracking yawn, and then my eyes close, and I’m lost to the void.
CHAPTER 29
BROX
* * *
My cock is terribly disappointed when Igid drops off to sleep the second she curls her lithe body around me. The rest of me is perfectly content to lie still and listen to the sound of her slight snoring, feeling the puffs of her breath against my chest and the slight muscle twitches as she dreams.
I’m not sure how long I watch her sleep. Hours. Rotations. I don’t even care. Just having her close to me, feeling her heart beating against mine, leaves me at a level of content that I’ve never felt before.
Somewhere between a handful of moments and an eternity, Igid begins to stir. Nuzzling her face against my chest, she hums contently. Arching and stretching her long arms and legs out, she rubs even more of her delectable body against mine, which has my cock jumping to attention once more.
