she could feel the ridges along his length.
Ridges.
He had fucking ridges.
If that didn’t make her clench hard, him pressing against her surely did.
It was clear she wasn’t the only one affected by their proximity because she was sure she heard him inhale deeply, his nose dipping to her hair.
His voice was raspy and low when he spoke.
“Leave, La-rehn.”
Two words.
Two words that shot through her consciousness and brought her back to reality.
Lauren stiffened against him.
She was an idiot.
How could she have let herself get away so much she’d forgotten who he was?
The alien she was inconveniencing.
Wringing out of his grasp, Lauren pulled away, her back to him.
She kept her head straight, pure disappointment in herself fueling her anger, and stepped out of the room without a backward glance.
Riv leaned his forehead against the wall of the cleansing room, his breath coming in hard gasps.
Squeezing his eyes shut tight, he forced himself to regain control.
His cock throbbed insistently, missing the warm soft body it had just been against and he slammed his fist into the wall.
He was becoming undone by a barrage of emotions.
Feelings he’d locked away so long ago. Feelings he hadn’t known he still had the capacity to experience.
Every fiber within him ached with need and he had to clench his teeth, squeeze his fists, and plant his feet into the floor so he wouldn’t go after her.
He wanted her.
He’d admit it.
He phekking wanted her.
The memory of her body against his still fresh in his mind was like torture and his cock jerked again, demanding attention.
Gripping himself at the base, Riv clenched his teeth.
As he moved under the spray once more, he let the water run over his head and shoulders and let go of his cock.
He wouldn’t relieve himself of the pressure, the pain.
He wouldn’t be so weak as to indulge. He’d endure it till it went away.
Hanging his head, he took a deep breath.
He was weak. Weaker than he’d realized.
All these years of telling himself he was better off alone, all of that was crumbling in just the short space of time he’d been around the sweet-smelling human.
Didn’t she understand?
She’d been thrust into his space and now she was invading his entire being.
Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe this was normal.
Maybe it would go away as soon as he got rid of her.
Or maybe he was weak.
And the last thing he wanted to do was let himself down.
Many orbits ago, he had promised himself he would never leave himself open to be used ever again.
But despite that he'd kept himself way from so many other females, he knew he was also not someone a female needed.
He was broken. Incomplete.
The stub where his tail once was served as evidence of that.
Which female would want a male like him?
He kept this in his mind as the air jet dried him and he exited the cleansing room, nude but warm.
Trust no one.
That had been his motto.
A silly one…because it seemed as if he couldn’t even trust himself.
25
A full week passed since the bathroom incident and, surprisingly, the days went more smoothly than she’d thought they would.
After that night, she was sure she’d have seen Geblit in the morning. And she’d been ready to leave with him too.
She’d had enough.
But Geblit never turned up and what’s more, Riv seemed to disappear for the most part.
So she decided to do what she could do.
Work.
Keep herself busy.
It was great, too, because, after being stuck behind a glass wall for a year, keeping herself company, she suddenly had things she could occupy her mind with.
She'd wake early, get out onto the grounds to do chores, return late, shower, eat, go to bed, repeat.
And during most of that time, she was left to her own devices.
Riv seemed more focused on securing the farm, spending most of his time by the perimeter when he wasn't tending to the animals.
He stayed out of her way but she still found him hovering sometimes.
At certain points, she'd turn to find him watching her from a few meters off and, with his face covering and shades, she couldn't tell if he was scowling or not.
Memory of what had happened between them that night played in her mind every single day but it was getting easier to forget as time passed by.
She wasn’t angry at him, really.
She was angry at herself.
She really should have known better.
She should have walked away before he’d told her to get out.
She knew her self-worth. She shouldn’t have stayed plastered underneath his slick, wet body as if she