Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,7

it makes me quiver. It also makes my Marisol downstairs clench deep inside.

"Oh," I breathe. "Your name is…Shy? Did I say it right?"

"T'chai," he says again, tapping his chest. The way he says it is differently than me, like there's a hard stop right before his name.

I try again, emphasizing the first syllable as best I can. "T'chai?"

A hint of a smile curls his hard mouth, and it takes my breath away. Oh wow. My cootie has surprisingly good taste. He's got a hard, stern expression, but when he smiles down at me…damn. There's something about it that feels like a gift. It's barely a twitch of his mouth, that smile, but there's something in the softening of his eyes and the way he watches me that makes me think he's very pleased indeed, and that makes me hot and achy in ways I've never felt before. This feels different than plain sexual pleasure. It feels…deeper. Far more intense.

I could be in a lot of trouble here.

"Where am I, T'chai?" I try as he pulls out his knife and starts to cut away my tunic. I don't exactly want to sit around naked, but the weather here—wherever I am—is warm and moist and right now my leather feels awful. He's completely naked, and so were his buddies, so maybe whoever these people are just aren't into clothing in the summer?

Is it summer? Oh god, have I been asleep for a long, long time? I think about the pods we arrived here in. At least, I’m pretty sure we were still in the pods. The last thing I remember is holding an unconscious Lauren against me as the waves pounded into us so hard that it was difficult to draw breath. What if Lauren and I somehow activated one of the alien pods and we've slept for a thousand years in some Planet of the Apes-type crap? Or what if I'm the only one left and Lauren died a hundred years ago?

The thought makes me panicky.

It's not helping that T'chai is ignoring me. He's concentrating on cutting the leather, unwrapping me like a package, and I put a hand on his chest to stop him. "Where am I?" I repeat again. "Where is Lauren?"

He reaches out and taps my chest. "M'rsl." Taps his chest. "T'chai."

I let out a sound of irritation, and his gaze flicks back to me. There's amusement there, and I realize for all that this guy is a foot and a half taller than me and corded with muscle, he's also not frightening to me. I'm not scared now that I’m near him. I'm irked that we can't really communicate, and I'm worried about Lauren, but…I'm not really scared. For the first time in weeks, I feel like I can relax. I suppose I have cootie endorphins to thank for that.

He says something as he cuts away my sleeve. It's a short, abrupt syllable, and it could mean any number of things. When I give him a blank look, he peels the leather away from my skin and tosses it aside, and then I'm sitting naked in his hut. Mari and her resonance mate, just chillin', utterly naked. Totally normal. I fight back a hysterical little giggle and have to admit that it does feel better. Cooler.

But if one of his tribesmates sticks their heads in, I might start screaming. I can be naked around this guy—T'chai—since we're resonating and that feels weighty and important. Those other guys? Not happening.

Now that I'm naked, T'chai stares at my boobs for a long, long moment that makes me decidedly uncomfortable. He rubs his mouth, thinking, and I curl an arm over my chest to hide them. He gestures at my tits and then rocks an arm against his chest. "M'rsl?"

Is he asking if I have a baby? I shake my head. "No, no baby." I think of how lean the alien female—Farli—was. I never thought to ask if their women just didn't have boobs. I thought Farli was just flat because she was athletic. But maybe boobs are new to him? I gesture at my small B-cups. "This is just normal."

"Nor-mah," T'chai repeats, and a look of relief crosses his face.

"What about you?" I gesture at everything he's got going on, especially his large equipment down south. "Is all that normal too?"

His brows go up at my question, and he huffs a laugh. "T'chai nor-mah tlaik va niis." I don't know what any of that means, but he looks pleased