Riv's Sanctuary - A.G. Wilde Page 0,68
was a sex-starved animal.
And she shouldn’t want Riv.
What was bad was that after she’d held her head high and walked away, she could still feel her arousal dampening the mat of hair between her legs.
It was a good thing he didn’t make an effort to speak to her. She didn’t know how she’d respond.
And since he hadn’t said anything, she took that as a win. That meant her hard work was paying off.
He didn’t have a reason to confront her about anything.
So she'd been working tirelessly, not even taking breaks as she tried to complete as many jobs as she could for as long as the sun stood in the pink sky.
The animals were a great distraction from the mess that was her life.
Funny thing was, the “work” she was doing was questionable.
After the bathroom incident, when she’d thrown herself into working, she’d ignored Riv as she’d raked, shoveled, cleaned, and fed the animals.
He’d been hovering in the background, watching her, observing everything she did, but he hadn’t said a word nor had he approached her.
The following day, however, when she’d come out to do the almost-giraffe’s pen, she’d noticed about eighty percent of it had already been shoveled.
When she went to rake hay for the almost-crocs, most of that had already been done, too.
The same thing happened when she went to feed the plump woolly animals. They’d all already been fed except one enclosure.
That’s when it became pretty obvious what Riv was doing.
If he thought she didn’t realize he was making it easy for her, he must think she was dumb.
He was doing half the work but still leaving enough so she felt like she was doing something.
She didn’t know what his kindness meant.
She would ask him but everday, he woke before she did and came in after she'd fallen asleep.
Fine, she thought. That was fine with her.
At the start of the second week working on her own, Lauren rolled her shoulders as she closed the almost-giraffes’ enclosure.
She'd just finished shoveling their poop and had set the bucket down to the side. It wasn't nearly full. She was sure the blue ninja had shoveled most of it before she’d gotten a chance to, leaving only a bit so she felt like she had something to do.
It was getting out of hand and she almost giggled, but she’d play along with his game.
She could bet he was hovering somewhere, watching her because he thought she was unaware.
Looking into the enclosure, she smiled at her handiwork. It looked much better than it did a week ago. She'd even cut some of the tall yellow-orange grass and put it in there. The animals seemed to like plopping their asses on it.
As she looked in, one of them stretched its long neck over the barrier and bumped her with its nose.
It was the animal's way of greeting her and she rubbed its moist snout.
"See you later, little one."
She snorted at that.
It was way bigger than her, even though it was a baby.
Smiling, she glanced up at the pink sky. It was a clear day as always. Clear, dry, and warm.
Her kind of weather.
She was dying to sunbathe but she just couldn't afford to take a day off just yet.
Not when her host was still acting so strangely—not that he'd ever acted like a normal person.
Life was getting a sort of slow rhythm that she could enjoy.
It was quiet and safe so far out. At least, as safe as it was going to be.
She could almost forget the terror of the market and believe that the world was good.
Lifting her hand, she patted the almost-giraffe on the head.
Riv stood watching the female from the side of one of the buildings.
She was patting one of the tilgran’s on its head and he didn’t know why it was irking him.
Phekking everything was irking him.
Since that night, even the dawn of the light-cycle bothered him now.
He’d been waking extra early to come out and do the work before she got a chance to, so early he hardly slept at night.
Not that he could.
His nights were sleepless and what was worse was that every time he managed to close his eyes and drift off, he dreamed about one of two things.
It was either the mines or her.
Riv rolled his shoulders and began walking.
The female was heading to the ooga enclosure and his mouth set in a hard line.
He couldn’t work when everywhere he looked he saw her.
He’d thought that after so many days working on her own she’d