Page 37 of Invasive Species
When I nod, she gives a relieved smile. “Guess that answers whether or not you can breathe underwater. Big no.”
“Indeed.” I search her face for any sign of disappointment, but she seems content to rub my back. Heat spreads from her touch, not entirely just from my scales as I warm them for her. I’m reacting to her.
She pulls her hand away and stands, not meeting me in the eyes. “Er, okay. Great. Glad you're okay.”
Why is her face changing to pink? It seems to be the only color humans can turn, but what does it mean, and why are my cocks responding to the shade?
She holds out a hand for me to take. I do so just for the pleasure of leaning on her a little, but step away when Dom and Arture and the others crowd around me, making sure I'm not damaged by the escapade. Only my pride is, but in compensation I have a memory to treasure: Arra-bellah, pulling me to air.
As we walk back,her in a towel, she starts talking. “Now we've got the downstairs agreed, we have some time before I need to add details to the upstairs, correct?”
“Yes, that's the plan.” She's watching the tendrils of steamcurl off me. Or is she staring at my shoulders? I lift one hand to touch my hair, making the cap of my shoulder tense and my bicep bulge. I'm not as muscular as the Parthiastock or Ilia, yet her eyes are locked onto my physique.
She pulls her gaze away, pink dusting her cheeks alongside her freckles. “So, anyway, the best thing I can do for Ellen is focus on marketing now. I need to put a campaign together.”
I refocus with effort on what she’s saying rather than her body language. “That sounds very war-like. I'm not known for tactics, but I will do my best to assist.”
“It isn't war,” Arra-bellah says with a chuckle. “I could get sales going for El-len if I drum up a bit of interest now.”
“However I can help, I will do it.” I'm bound to do so anyway, but now I want to help her. Please her.
“Well…” Her smile turns hesitant. Why does that look make me think I'll regret my promise? “I have an idea, but I need to think about it.”
That sounds ominous, and yet a frisson of excitement sparks through me. What will she ask of me?
Rain spots around us as we clatter into the yard in front of the house and barn. The chickens cluck and fuss around us, and I prepare to move off with the rest of my unit to continue the work on the barn. Her hair weaves in the air between us, glinting even in the weak midday sunlight of this planet. It looks soft to the touch. My fingers twitch as I refrain from reaching out.
“Do you need anything?” Arra-bellah asks. “I don’t mean work-wise, I mean you.”
I stare at her for a moment. No one has ever asked me that question until Ilia, when he asked me what supplies I need. “We have protein, a place to exercise and a place to sleep. We have sufficient.”
“Yes, okay, but what about entertainment? Downtime?” At my furrowing brow she says, “You guys do relax, right?”
The nanites translate that slowly. “No. Such a thing sounds inefficient.”
“Oh, no, this will not do.” She puts her hands on her hips. “I’m instituting a movie night. I'll set something up in the garden when the weather turns nice. I'd have you inside, but that's for El-len to… never mind.”
She chews her lip, a flash of flat white teeth against pale pink. My scales cycle to match, white and pink on my hands.
But instead of hiding them, I want to show her. “We don't have to go inside. That's Ellen's private domain.”
“I'm sure it would be fine, but…” She tucks hair behind her ear, a futile gesture with how much flies around her face, and her eyes sparkle with mischief.
It’s the same look she gives me before spilling out a new idea for how the lintel should look in the barn. I mentally adjust and get ready to capture her vision so I can plot it out.
She says, “Let's have movie night in the lean-to. I’ve designed that pizza oven.”
“Ah yes. But I've always wanted to know… what is a peet-sa?” My nanites can't translate the word.
She swirls her hand in a circle. “A big dough disk with tomatoes, cheese and whatever other toppings you want. Yes. Pizza night. Let's do it. Please? I’ll get you the designs.” The way her lower lip pouts out sends a shock straight down my midsection to my cocks.
I glance down at my scales to find they’ve strobed to match the paleness of her arms and the light brown freckles in a constellation along her forearm. My fingers have even taken on the flashes of color staining her fingers.
And even though there's no evidence for mate binding, it feels real. Very real.
The realization makes my cocks throb. This tiny, feisty human has somehow got inside my defenses, and I don’t wantto fight it anymore. Instead, questions fire inside me, my ingrained drive to learn and experiment on overdrive.
I have to learn more about Earth courtship ritualsnow,so I don't fall into any traps. On Oloria, males enter the mating competitions. Is there something like that here? I have to know what she would expect, what would please her.
