Things like the bounty hunters. Kim’s other suitors. Kim’s outdated air-sled. Kim’s fields of noli flower.
“Nassakth?” Kim’s voice is soft even as she twines her fingers in my mane.
Yes, I will touch you, I want to say to her. Yes, I will give you great pleasure. Many cubs. Just give me a chance.
I clear my throat and manage a strangled, “Yes?”
Her fingers comb gently through my mane, then move lower on my chest, brushing over one of my bare pectorals. I wear nothing but my trou, since I was preparing to sleep, and now I realize all my skin pressed against her is both a great blessing and a curse.
“You said you didn’t know what the bounty hunter wanted. Is that true?” I hesitate for a bit too long, and she makes a soft noise in her throat. “You do know. What is it?”
“Nothing.”
She pets me a little more. “Don’t you think you should tell me?”
“No.”
Her fingers skim over my shoulder, stroking in little circles. Her voice is cajoling and soft and makes my groin tighten. “But I’d really like to know.”
I open my eyes. Peer down at her. “Female, are you manipulating me?”
“Yes. Is it working?” One fingertip glides down my arm, and I notice she has her eyes open, and she’s watching me.
I chuckle at her blunt answer. “Is that why you invited me in here? To coax answers from me because I am weak for your touch?”
“No. I like you in here.” Again, she is honest. Our eyes meet and hers do not shine in the darkness, but they are still beautiful. “The manipulating is just a nice bonus. Plus I’d really like to know.”
And her hand strokes down my arm.
I groan softly, unable to help myself. I cannot resist her touch, manipulation or not. “What he wanted is not important.”
“It might be to me. You won’t tell me?”
“I…no.”
“Unfair,” she whispers. “I thought we were done with secrets.”
I wish we were. “It does not pertain to you, and I do not wish for you to worry.”
“Like I’m not going to worry if you don’t tell me what’s going on?” Her brow furrows and she moves her fingers lightly across my chest again, as if they are dancing over my skin. “Can we….trade for information?”
“Trade?” I am purring, I realize with a shade of embarrassment. Purring at her touch, because she knows just how to work me and I am the weakest of males under her hand.
“Yes. You tell me what the bounty hunter wanted and I’ll…give you something you wanted.”
An image of Kim, on all fours under me as I bite her neck, floods through my brain. “What…what do you think I want?” The words are thick. Ragged. Hungry.
“I thought I might introduce you to a human courtship ritual,” she says softly. “Like…kissing.”
Kissing. The mouth-tastings I have heard about and watched on the vids. The affectionate gesture that humans make to mates and lovers, and one that any mesakkah would cringe over for the intimacy and lack of hygenic protocol. But praxiians have no such worries, and I want this more than anything.
Well, almost anything. I reluctantly banish the thought of Kim on all fours to a distant corner of my mind. I gaze down at her face, looking for fear or reluctance. If she looks as if she does not wish to participate in this—even if she is the one to suggest it—I will say no. A mate is no mate if she is not willing and eager.
But Kim bites her lip and looks up at me, and her cheeks are flushed, her pupils large. Her hand flattens on my chest, right over my pounding heart, and I do not think she is afraid. “We could both get something we want,” she whispers. “What’s the harm?”
I reach out and gently rub a knuckle along the delicate line of her jaw. “I do not wish to kiss you if you do not want it, Kim. If you feel you must know this information that badly, I will tell you anyhow. I would not push you for favors you do not wish to give. I would rather have your trust above all else.”
She leans into my touch, and her expression grows shy. “I…maybe I might be interested…in…kissing you. Maybe.” She’s panting slightly, as if she is as breathless as I am. “Is that weird?”
Is it weird? Not at all.
Does it make my heart-feelings sing with hope? Absolutely.
29
KIM
“You are very good at persuading,” Nassakth murmurs.