both, anyway. Okay, that should do it for this one. Now let’s see that arm.”
He holds it out, and I soak up the blood and apply the paste here, too. I take my time, finding that I enjoy touching him and being this close to a male. It’s been a good while for me, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy the company of a manly guy. And you can’t get much more manly than this one.
I get a specially prepared strip of leather out of the medpack. It’s treated to be porous and loose in the grain, and I carefully wind it around Brank’ox’s strong arm as a bandage. “There. When we get back to the village, I’ll ask if we can use some of the magic space gel on you. We can’t get more of it right now, but a little goes a long way with that stuff.”
He gingerly touches the bandage with one finger. “Feels good.”
On a sudden impulse, I lean in close and kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me today, Brank’ox. And for protecting me from the irox and everything. I’m glad it was you they asked.”
I squeeze his huge shoulder and reluctantly disengage to pack up the medpack again. The touch of his stubble on my lips ignited some unexpectedly hard tingles down below. He may be a quiet type, but someone with as much sheer presence as this doesn’t need to talk much, anyway. Fuck, he took on a pack of freaking dactyls and won.
He clears his voice. “So am I.”
I meet his dark gaze for a moment, and finally he gives me a boyish, little smile. It’s the first real smile I’ve seen from him, and it makes his face light up.
It does something very similar to my insides, and the tingles do an encore. My God, what would it be like?
I look away and busy myself with the backpack.
No.
No no no.
I am going back to Earth as soon as it becomes possible. That’s all. If necessary, by risking life and limb in that weird escape ship we think will work, trusting the alien technology to take us light years through empty space and safely back home to whatever welcome the authorities will give us.
That’s what I’m doing. That’s my future. End of story.
Gah, why won’t this freaking pack open?
I am not going to get involved with an alien here on Xren, no matter how cool he is.
Not at all.
Never.
Nope.
But maybe just this once? Look at his puppy-dog eyes!
“No!” I hiss in English, struggling with the strap on my backpack. “No. Way. Girl, don’t make me slap myself.”
Brank’ox raises his eyebrows. “Can I help?”
I give the strap several furious yanks, to no avail. “No, I’m fine. Stay where you are. Sorry, just girl stuff. Take no heed.”
“Do you do that a lot?” he asks carefully, calmly reaching over and unsnapping the strap with one flick of a finger.
I stuff the medicinal kit inside the backpack. “The muttering to myself? Yes, of course. All the time. It’s a sign of great mental stability in my culture. Okay, are we about ready to leave?”
He gets up and walks over to the hole, peering out with his sword in his hand. “Not yet. Irox can be sly. One or two of them may be waiting for us to come back up, and then they’ll attack. We’ll stay down here a little longer.”
I look into the darkness, suddenly imagining a thousand eyes staring back. “How big do you think this cave is?”
Brank’ox comes back, and I immediately feel safer. “Impossible to say. We’d need light.”
“Or we can just stay here and wait,” I suggest hopefully. Exploring a maybe abandoned dinosaur cave holds remarkably little attraction for me.
“You can stay here,” Brank’ox says and walks further inside. “I’ll just take a look.”
I bravely scurry over to him and his bubble of safety. “I’ll come with you.”
Further in, there are fewer rotting leaves on the ground, and the surface becomes waxy and more slippery. The stench gets worse, too. I squat and push my knife down into the stinky goo. I think I know what this is now. And it’s pretty exciting.
“Looks like that was it,” Brank’ox says and slaps the rock at the end of the cave. “Not a big cave at all.”
“Brank’ox, could you please stick your sword down into the ground here?”
He looks at me. “Why?” comes the obvious question.