Mate Abduction (Alien Abduction #9) - Eve Langlais Page 0,32
against hers. Odd, yet soothing.
“You don’t have to fear,” he rumbled,
“Promise you’ll hold me.”
“Always.”
It was then she realized it wasn’t his arms around her but his tail!
Twelve
“Please don’t scream. I might go deaf.” His tone was dry, but she heard the underlying fear. Was she going to reject him for being different?
She held tight to her panic and took in the situation. His hands were skimming the water keeping them afloat while his tail curled around her. It wasn’t crushing her to death like an anaconda or slimy as expected. Hell, she’d thought it was his arm. In a sense, it was another limb.
She glanced at the tail, a bit rougher in texture compared to the rest of him. Gentle in the way it held her.
She smiled at him. “Let’s try that floating thing again.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I hate being scared.”
“I’m right here.”
A fact she kept reminding herself of as he moved away, and once more, she stretched to follow him. This time, she didn’t panic when he sank, rather she kept her arms and legs moving. Awkwardly, but she treaded water. She ignored the water covering her chin and lapping at her lip. She wouldn’t let panic prevail.
“Very good,” Thyos purred. “Now, put your face in the water and blow.”
“Can’t I blow something else?”
He must have caught the innuendo, because his nostrils flared and his eyes went molten. “Perhaps later you can show me what you mean. Right now, it’s time for your second lesson.”
With those words, he sank underwater, though not far. She could still see him. He waved and smiled. He made it look easy.
Damn him. She inhaled a breath and stuck her face in the water.
It wasn’t horrible, and after a second, she even opened her eyes and saw him staring back at her, mere inches from her face. It startled a yell from her that was more bubbles than anything. Before she should heave in a startled breath, she was projected above the surface.
She sucked in air and yelled. “Jeezus, don’t scare me like that!”
He tucked her close, and his expression held amusement as he said, “Do I scare you?”
He did, but not for any reason he’d think.
“You wish I was scared of you,” she snorted, trying to make light of the situation.
“That’s good. Are you ready to try again?”
“No,” she grumbled, even as she let go of the shoulders she’d been gripping again.
This time when she put her face in the water, she knew to expect his. That was only the first of the lessons.
More followed. He taught her what she needed to know. Taught and nothing else. Another guy might have used this as his chance to put his hands all over her in a way that had nothing to do with swimming. She kind of expected it, yearned for it even.
He was a perfect gentleman.
She could have screamed in frustration.
The only time he ever laid hands on her was in the beginning when she panicked. Even then, his hands acted in a dispassionate manner, never once inappropriately placed. It was respectful and maddening all at once, which was why that evening, as they sat across each other at the fire she built because she didn’t want him to think her useless, she blurted out, “Are you attracted to me?”
“What makes you think I’m not?” was his reply as he snapped some dry branches and tossed them onto the fire.
“You had me half naked in the water this afternoon. Any other guy would have at least tried to kiss me. Cop a feel, something.”
Thyos sounded amused as he said, “Are you complaining because I didn’t?”
“I’m just wondering. Because you keep saying I’m the one”—and yes she did give him air quotes—“but you act like an older brother instead.”
“Would it please you to know that my control is being stressed to its limits?”
“You’re just saying that.”
“I don’t need to lie about my desire for you.” The words emerged as a low growl. “I’ve thought about you since the moment we met. You are in my dreams, usually wearing nothing. In my fantasies, there’s nothing we haven’t done. Not a part of you that I haven’t tasted.
“Oh.” She fell silent, unsure what to say next, which was a new thing for her.
“You ask why I haven’t seduced you? It is because I made you a promise. And I will not break my word.”
“So you do want to seduce me?” She might have said it coyly.
“More than you can imagine.”
The statement pleased her. “But you