Page 70 of Elanie & the Empath
“Of course.” Mal blinked, his joints whirring as he turned to leave. “Synth and rola fruit. Coming right up.”
Stepping in front of the gen-1 before he could race away, I said, “Thank you, Mal. For all that you do here for us.” An amount that I suspected was much more than what we saw.
His mechanical lips ticked up at the corners. “It is my privilege.” Then he added in a quiet warning, “But do not eat more than one piece of rola fruit. When it is fresh, it is very strong.”
“On your way,” Gol grunted, giving Mal another shove that would only be considered friendly by someone who’d never had a friend.
Before I could ask what rola fruit was, the driving drums and booming bass of synth music erupted under the dome. An immediate swell of bodies crowded in, surrounding us as revelers twisted and writhed to the beat.
Gol and Arlin joined the melee, sand crystals jumping from their stomping feet as I took Elanie’s hand and ushered her away from the crowd, away from the bodies and the noise and anything that might make her uncomfortable.
But her grip tightened, and she slowed, holding me back. “Sem. Should we?” Her head tilted back toward the pulsating, glistening mass of revelers.
I took a step closer. “You want to dance?”
“With you.” She held on to my wrist while I brushed my thumb over the heated flush in her cheek. “I want to dance with you.”
Sliding my other hand behind her neck, I pulled her in for a kiss. Then I led her back into the throng.
25.ELANIE
Drumbeats vibratedthe sand between my toes. I was hot, sweaty, and sticky. But so was he. Swaying behind me, Sem gathered my hair off my neck and blew a stream of air onto my sweat-soaked skin. I shivered. I moaned. I moved my hips, grinding my ass into him. And I wondered if Arlin had been right. Had shame been keeping me from this? Had shame been keeping me separate from everyone around me? From him?
“You’re so beautiful. So fucking sexy.” His voice was as dark as the night spiraling above us. Gripping my hips, he kissed a hypersensitive spot behind my ear. “Your skin always tastes so sweet, like dessert.”
Dancing beside us, Gol moved into our space, his massive body blocking the glowlights like a cloud blocking the sun.
“Is that so?” He took one of my hands in his, his surprisingly soft lips pressing into my wrist. “Hmm.” His deep green eyes met mine. “Your mate is right. You are sweet.”
Sem tensed behind me, and I pulled my hand away, only for Gol to press his thumb into the center of my chin. Easingmy mouth open with an insistent pressure, he ran the tip of a juicy, pale pink triangle of fruit over my lower lip, then my tongue. “Rola fruit,” he said. “Have some.”
The taste was intense. Sweet like candy, but also peppery. But the fruit was cool, and I was so hot. “More,” I heard myself say, the hairs on my neck stirring when Gol’s low laughter brushed over my cheeks.
Sem’s fingers had closed around my arms, but when Gol reached past me to cup Sem’s cheek with his enormous hand, I felt his grip loosen.
Presenting a fresh slice of fruit he’d grabbed from Mal’s tray, Gol asked, “Would you like a taste, Portisan?”
“What is it?” Sem asked while a million tiny lights seemed to dance over his face.
Painting the tip of the fruit over Sem’s lips until they glistened, Gol said, “It’s a mild aphrodisiac. Not mind-altering, but powerful.” He tilted Sem’s head back, squeezing the fruit just hard enough that a few drops of its juice dripped into his open mouth. “Would you like a bite?”
While Sem’s teeth pierced the fruit, thoughts spooled out of me, words, numbers, meaningless symbols tumbling uselessly across the sand. As a stray drop of juice rolled down Sem’s chin, catching the light while it slipped over the ridges of his throat, I leaned forward and caught it with my tongue. The flavor burst inside me, infecting me, infiltrating my cells with sweetness and heat as I begged for “more.”
Grabbing another fresh piece from the tray while Mal winced nervously and made some sort oferrnoise, Gol said, “You may have all you want.”
He brought the fruit to my lips, and I opened my mouth. Only for him to pull his hand back just as I was about to bite, teasing me.
“Please,” I begged, leaning back against Sem’s chest. AsGol finally relented, I grasped his hands and bit through the fibrous fruit. I moaned as the rola juice coated my lips, my throat, my entire body in sugary fire.
“Revel tonight,” he said as Arlin walked up behind him and slid her purple hands up his chest. “Revel in your youth, in your desire, in your freedom. Even you, Portisan.” He grasped Sem’s chin again, feeding him one more bite. “For you have not been free. I see you. You have been living inside your own prison.”
Sem shuddered, and while Gol and Arlin left us, I turned into him. Wrapping my fingers around his neck, I touched my forehead to his and whispered, “Dance with me.”
When he grasped my hips, euphoria rolled through my veins in honey-thick waves. His hands seared my skin, the reach of his fingers, the stretch of the webbing between them, the swirls of his fingerprints melted into me, through me, altering my DNA so that it would always recognize his.
Mindlessly, I kissed his cheeks, the tip of his nose, the curve of his top lip, the swell of his bottom lip. I kissed his jaw, behind his ear, the dark-blue freckle under his eye.
With a deep, greedy moan, he slid his hand into my hair and eased my mouth to back his. And,oh, his mouth. Had anything ever felt so soft? Had anything ever tasted so good? I needed more. I needed to be closer.
