Page 14 of Crave
But to her surprise, he did not beat a hasty retreat.
“Of course I understand that contemporary literature is not an analog of all your species’ behavioral norms,” he said in that studious tone of his. “Fantasy, satire, even horror all contribute levels of nuance to my analysis that deepened but has not yet perfected my interpretations. But I believe, based on my extensive reading, that I am beginning to come to a fairly comprehensive awareness of the potential range of Earther drives and desires. Furthermore—”
“Oh, just kiss me already,” she said.
He blinked, the pearly silver glow of his eyes flickering. “Just… What? Why would I do that?”
Was it too late to eject herself out the airlock? She glared at him. “With your encyclopedic knowledge of Earther lust, I figured you were trying to seduce me with your nerdiness.”
His eyes flared wide, antennae fluttering even wider. “Oh. Would that work?”
“No!” She made sure to roll her eyes good and hard so that he didn’t mistake her meaning. Certainly he’d read enough romance novels to understandthatEarther expression. “You’re supposed to grip me by one arm and haul me into your strong embrace,” she informed him with extra snark. “Andthenkiss me. I thought you said you did the reading.”
He tilted his head, his antennae quivering and flattened and then perking again. “Is this true? I wouldn’t want to alien-splain your Earther ways, but… Haveyouread any romance novels recently?”
She considered scoffing again, but what was the point of lying way out here, so far from everything? “My grandmother loved them,” she admitted. “I read a few of hers when I was living with her. There were justso manyof them, it was kind of overwhelming. When she died, I bagged them all up and put them out on the curb. And they just disappeared. Kind of a metaphor, don’t you think, since you know so much about Earth literature?”
“I mostly skimmed the other books since I prefer the romances,” he admitted. “Some of your literature feels like what I believe is called a bummer.”
“Oh really? So you like happy endings?” She waggled her eyebrows, although she wasn’t sure if he would understand that gesture. To her surprise and delight, his skin brightened; not just his face like a human blush, but his entire body.
Which, as she’d noted already, was half bare.
“While of course I have not read every romance novel, I have read many, and it seems to me they suggest many ways to a happy ending,” he said in that seriously nerdy way of his, as if he wasn’t practically glowing with awkwardness, not to mention totally evading her question. “As many as there are stars in the universe.”
She smirked. Teasing him was almost as much fun as masturbating. “Well, thatwouldbe a lot of happy endings.”
His pearly gaze fixed on her. And suddenly she was reminded of the glowing lights from the fairytales she’d read when she’d been too young for romance, the dangerous flickers in the dark, like promises that would lead travelers off into adventures from whence they might never return.
“If I were to kiss you,” he said, “I would wish to kiss you as you wish to be kissed. I would touch you so that you believed in romance. I would bring you to the edge of orgasm and hang you there like the most precious jewel, and when you could take no more, Kinsley, I would command you to find your release, and you would sing your pleasure to all those stars.”
The silence beat between them like a pulse for an eternity, and then he added, “If I were to kiss you.”
She let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding… Oh no, hehadbeen reading romance novels.
“Isthat what you want?” There was an edge to his tone, not cruel or mocking, but some sort of sharp divide, and somehow she knew whichever way she fell, the choice she was making would have a deeper impact than any world-ending meteor.
But what was a life without chances—or mistakes even?
Breathless, she nodded. “Kiss me.”
He been crouched beside her bunk for his whole little speech, so he didn’t have far to go. He just reached one hand across the meaningless distance between them and wrapped all six fingers behind her neck.
She shivered at the flex of his big hand. She’d joked that he’d grip her arm, not her neck. This was too much, too intimate.
“Your heartbeat is flying,” he murmured. “If I let go, will you flee?”
“I’ve never run away,” she shot back. But then she instantly had to backtrack. “Except once.”
“To come here.”
She’d originally thought the IDA was some sort of scam connecting clueless women with eastern oligarchs and/or midwestern widowers. Either way, she could’ve made herself scarce. Which wasn’t the same as running away.
She gazed up at him defiantly. “Maybe it’s you just now realizing you’ve got your hands full and not sure what to do about it—about me.”
“Ah no, little Earther female. I’ve been dreaming about exactly what I’d do with you.”
Chapter 6
