Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Turk—I mean, Captain?” I asked. “Are…are you okay?”
“Fine.” He ran a hand over his horns and shook his head. “But are you? Your cheeks are flushed and you sound out of breath.”
“I…I think I must still be feeling the effects of that alcohol we drank at dinner,” I said, trying to find a reason I was in the state I was in. “That, uh, what do you call it?”
“The punchin,” he finished for me. “What did yours taste like?”
“Well…like candied violets, of course. The same as yours, I imagine,” I said, trying to sound normal.
He shook his head, the overhead glows glinting off his bronze horns.
“No, that’s the funny thing about punchin—it tastes different to everyone who drinks it.”
“What? But how?” I asked, mystified.
“It changes according to the drinker’s body chemistry,” Turk said. “It always tastes like peppermint to me.”
“Really? That’s so strange.” I was surprised and fascinated.
“Even stranger—if you taste the punchin on someone else’s mouth, you get what it tastes like to them, because it’s already been changed by their chemistry,” he told me.
“So…if I was to…to taste your mouth, it would taste like peppermint right now?” I couldn’t believe I was saying this. I was sure I was going to make him mad. After all, males didn’t just casually talk about ‘tasting’ each other.
But Turk didn’t seem angry. In fact, he leaned over me again so that our faces were extremely close—close enough to kiss, in fact.
“Yes, you would,” he murmured. “And if I tasted your mouth, I would taste the…what did you say it was like for you?”
“Candied violets,” I breathed. “It’s an old-fashioned flavor—I had it once at an Old Earth festival. Have you ever…ever had it?”
Turk shook his head.
“Uh-uh.”
His voice was a low, sensuous rumble and his eyes were on my lips. Oh Goddess, what was happening here? Whatever it was, I didn’t want it to stop.
“Would…would you like to taste it?” I asked, hardly able to believe I was being so bold.
“Fuck, yes,” he growled.
He leaned even closer and our mouths touched. I moaned softly as I felt his hot tongue tracing my lips and then he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, kissing gently but eagerly. I could feel the sharp points of his fangs, but he never cut me with them—not even once.
I lost myself completely then. Reaching up, I grabbed onto his horns and dragged him closer. I opened my mouth and his tongue was there, entering me, exploring me, making me his.
His mouth did taste like peppermint—and something hotter. A dangerous spice I’d been waiting to taste all my life—or at least from the moment I first realized he was my Fated Mate.
Goddess, he was my Fated Mate! We needed to stop this—we were getting too close! Abruptly, I stopped pulling at his horns and pushed instead, trying to push him away.
But he didn’t want to stop. Instead of pulling away, he wrapped his arms around me and deepened the kiss. His fangs seemed sharper now, though he was still careful not to bite me.
As he covered me with his big body, I felt the hot ridge of his shaft pressing against my pussy. He was moving his hips—grinding against me and parting my outer lips through my uniform trousers and the underpants I wore beneath them to rub against my aching core.
Goddess, oh Goddess it was so good! But also, so dangerous.
Sparks of forbidden pleasure coursed though me but my anxiety jumped up a whole other level. Could he feel me as well as I was feeling him? What if he wondered why he wasn’t feeling a shaft between my legs? What if—
Abruptly, Turk pulled away and sat up.
“Sorry…” He rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. “I don’t…don’t know why I did that. I’m not a lover of other males.”
Well, at least he still thought I was male. But did he really need to?
For a moment, I thought of revealing myself and telling him everything. After all, we were out in Deep Space—it wasn’t like he could turn around and take me back.
Except, he might. We still had some worm hole jumps to make—we were only a little closer to the Triplex Cluster than we were to Rigelus Nine, our home planet.
Also, think how angry he would be with me if he found out who I really was! I shivered at the thought of revealing myself and seeing the look in the big Brute’s eyes when Turk learned I’d been lying to him.
No, I decided, I needed to keep my secret to myself. Later, after I had figured out a way to get out of my marriage for good, I could pursue him. But for now, my identity had to stay a mystery.
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure what to say but Turk was already getting to his feet.