"And you cook like a dream," he assured her.
She smiled faintly, but said, "How else do you know if you're life mates?"
"The arrival of the life mate tends to rejuvenate an immortal. We suddenly enjoy things more."
"What kind of things?" she asked at once.
"Food," he responded, choosing the easier subject. "I haven't been able to stand the taste or even the smell of food for more than a millennium, but after meeting you, I found my appetite for it returning. I seem to have done nothing but eat since meeting you."
"That was true at first, but we didn't do much eating Sunday night before the accident," she pointed out dryly.
"Yes well, sex is the other appetite reawakened," he admitted with a small smile, and then asked, "Surely you noticed that it was rather ... explosive? "
Alex flushed. "Yes, but-"
"It's because of the shared pleasure that only life mates experience."
Alex eyed him uncertainly. "Shared pleasure?"
Cale patted the bed beside him. "Come here."
"Why?" she asked warily.
"It is easier to show you than to tell you," he said quietly, and when she still hesitated, added, "I promise just to show you enough so that you understand more clearly, and then we will finish our talk."
Releasing a little sigh, Alex stood and stepped to the side of the bed, and then sat carefully on the edge of it.
"Touch me," Cale said.
She raised an eyebrow, and then peered over the expanse of his wide chest. They'd removed his clothes when they'd brought him to the house. He was completely na**d under the sheet covering him from the waist down. Alex peered over the available flesh, and then reached out tentatively to run her fingers lightly down his arm.
Cale stiffened involuntarily as a slow tingling ran down his skin in the trail of her touch, but Alex merely glanced to him in question. "What am I supposed to feel?"
Cale's eyes widened, and then he realized the problem. She too had to be excited to be able to experience what he'd described. Clucking under his tongue, he slid his hand into her hair, cupping her skull. He started to draw her closer, but she put a hand to his chest, stopping him.
"Wait. What-?"
"Trust me," he insisted quietly, and then grimaced and added, "Trust the nanos."
Alex bit her lip but nodded and allowed him to urgeher closer. Cale kissed her lightly at first, seducing her by just brushing his lips over hers, teasing her gently until her lips parted, inviting a deeper kiss. He gave her what they both wanted then, and briefly deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Other than his hand at her head, however, he didn't touch her, and he broke off the kiss at her first moan.
They were both breathing more heavily than usual when he pulled back. His voice was gruff when he said, "Now touch me."
Alex opened her eyes slowly and met his gaze. She then lowered her eyes and reached out tentatively again. This time she touched his chest, her fingers starting by his collarbone and sliding down until they brushed across his nipple before she jerked her hand back with surprise.
"I felt that," she said with confusion, her fingers going to her own breast as if to rub away the tingling she'd started in him with her light touch.
"Oui. Life mates experience each other's pleasure," he said gruffly. "That was why I would never let you touch me before now. You would feel this and have questions I simply couldn't explain, so I-" Cale stopped on a gasp as Alex suddenly ran her hand over his groin through the blankets. She was definitely experiencing it, he decided grimly when he saw her lips part on a small gasp too.
"Right," he said a bit breathlessly. "We should probably get back to-"
"In a minute," Alex muttered. He felt a moment's relief when she removed her hand from him, but thenshe simply used it to tug away the blankets covering his lap. The moment they were out of the way, she closed her fingers around his erection and Cale squeezed his eyes closed against the pleasure of her warm soft hand sliding down to the base, gently squeezing as it went. In the next moment he cried out and blinked his eyes open in shock as he felt something warm and wet close over the tip. She'd bent to take him into her mouth.
This had been a really bad idea, Cale decided, as Alex whirled her tongue around the tip and suckled firmly. Damn, he thought dazedly, they were never going to finish this conversation if she-
Alex stopped abruptly and sat up to stare at him wide-eyed. "I felt that."
"Yes," he nodded, half-grateful she'd stopped, and half-wishing she'd continue.