always thought that if I somehow made it outside of my family’s circle of overprotection, that I would embrace my freedom, becoming a new being.”
“You say that like changing into someone new is what’s supposed to happen. It’s not,” I rumble, and I pick up her tail from where it’s hugging my ankle. The blades of it are folded down, looking pretty harmless. And like the powerful arm of an octopus, it latches onto my hand as I work it free from my ankle, transferring its attention to a new limb, just changing location. “You got the freedom you wanted, and you’re finding out that you’re still you.” I sneak-attack kiss her. “And there’s a whole lot to like.”
She peeks at me from the corner of her eye. “You like me?”
I bring her tail to my lap, petting it like a cat. “I wouldn’t have gone to bed with you if I didn’t.” I reach for her face, her tail still keeping a grip on my arm. I cup her cheeks gently between my palms. “You have a sweet personality, you’re easy to get along with, and you’re dependable. Honest. Pretty.” I kiss her slow, and feel her relax under my lips.
When I pull back, my eyes stray over her, enjoying how her hair is spread out over my pillows in my bed. “You said you’re missing things. What are they?”
She sighs, her eyes rolling up like she’d be stargazing, if she could. “Simple pursuits. Ones I’ve enjoyed all my life.” She waves a hand at the room at large. “For example, I love to decorate. We Rakhii love to collect colorful and special things. Unlike a male Rakhii, who tends to hoard their perceived treasures, females usually love to display the things they’ve gathered.”
“That’s neat,” I murmur, peeling her tail from my wrist, amused as it clamps itself higher around my arm.
“I love to mend. I love to craft and create. Right now I feel a desire to curl up with a needlepoint project,” she says with a wistful sort of longing. “It’s perfect for relaxing. I derive genuine pleasure from needlepoint. I thought I’d abandon such silly things if I got the chance to get away but... It seems I truly am a hearth and home creature at hearts.” She shoves herself to a sitting position, looking troubled.
My hand takes longer to reach for her than it should, on account of my arm weighing about a thousand times more, the mass of her hugging tail a new sort of resistance training. I welcome the added challenge, and brush a thumb over her cheekbone until she meets my eyes. “If you find it relaxing, if it makes you happy, why do you seem to think liking ‘silly things’ is bad?”
She seems to ponder the question. “I suppose… it’s not.” She shifts a little, and winces.
I frown. My eyes trail down her body, and very carefully, I lay my hand over her mound. “Are you sore?” I murmur, beginning to gently pet her.
Sitting up, she spits on her fingers and nudges aside my hand to press them to her sex. “My saliva has antibodies for healing. I’ll be ready in just a click—” She raises a knee, dips a finger inside herself, and sucks in a tiny gasp as her healing spit makes contact with her well-used insides. Her grin is instantaneous and gorgeously wanton. “I’m feeling perfect.”
I drag her into my lap. “Good. And that—what you just did? Hot.”
Inara twists to kiss me. And when she has my mouth, she playfully catches my lip.
Which I’m into, until she suddenly nips it with her ultra sharp teeth.
“Ouch,” I growl. My fingers dig into her hips, making her eyes flash. She releases me and drags her tongue over my injury, contrite in her alien way.
Still… “Owwwwww. Camshafts and crackers—what the hell, Inara? Are you part vampire?” I pull away and feel the spot where she sunk her teeth in. “Did you just give me a snake bite lip piercing? Saber-toothed tiger-woman…”
Her ears sling low, and her tail curls around my ass apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Matt, I—”
I tongue the punctures, not finding them bloody. And actually, now they don’t hurt. Not even a little bit. The spot is tingling a bit though. “It’s okay. If I hadn’t been afraid you’d go through my lip, it was kind of hot.” As in, far from her biting me being a problem, I’m rock fucking hard. “I might even bite you back.”
“You would love-bite