She gives me a coy smile, her arm crossed over her chest, hiding her breasts from me.
“Do not hide those.”
“I need to find my bra.”
“Is that what you call it?”
She tilts her head at me. “You don’t have that word? It’s like…” She jiggles her breasts, and my cock immediately stands at attention. “It holds them down. Keeps them from bouncing around, you know? It hurts when they move too much.”
“I like when they move,” I say, only half-paying attention to what she’s said.
A small laugh ripples out of her, her cute furry eyebrows darting upward. “I’m sure you do. But if we have to run… it doesn’t feel good.”
“I want you to feel good,” I say sincerely.
“Me too, dude.” Sighing, she stands, then her eyes go wide as she looks back at me. “You ripped my underwear off. I have no panties.”
“Does that—” I motion to her cunt. “—hurt when you run, too?”
Her cheeks suck in, an expression I now recognize as her trying not to laugh “No. No, it doesn’t, but I don’t want to be completely naked in the jungle.”
“Completely naked?” I stare at her for a long second, then remember how I found her. Leaking water and crying, wearing only the tiniest scraps of fabric. “What happened to your shoes? You cannot run in the jungle without shoes.”
“I don’t have a massive tail, Kanuz. They would have weighed me down in the water. My pants, too. Surviving in the moment seemed smarter than bringing all that shit with me.”
I blow out a breath, frustrated at myself all over again for putting her in this situation, where she had to choose between nudity and survival. Not that I am upset she is nude.
No, quite the opposite.
But her skin is too fragile to be exposed to the elements, and her little feet will surely be hurt by stepping on things.
“I am sorry,” I tell her, my heart heavy.
“Why? You didn’t summon that giant tentacle monster. You didn’t drop me here and force me to marry you.”
My fangs bite into my lower lip, my molars grinding together at her words. “Is that how you feel?”
Sure, I know now that she was, in fact, tricked into marrying me, and as reprehensible as that is, I am a prince. I am handsome, and I brought her pleasure and smiles.
My stomach sinks.
“Kanuz, wait, I like you. A lot. I was… terrified that something happened to you.” Her words turn thick, her eyes welling with more emotion water. “But yeah, I was forced here under false pretenses. I’m not going to lie to you about that to make you feel better.”
I stand and walk over to where my pants lie in a clump on the ground. “Here,” I say, my voice rough and gravelly. “Take mine.”
“Kanuz, stop.” Her expression is pained, and I long to soothe her, to rub it away with kisses.
But she’s right. She is completely correct. She was forced to marry me, tricked by her own people. And I have taken advantage of her most cruelly. Her survival was dependent upon me, and now?
Now all she wants is to cover her body.
The least I can give her is that.
“Kanuz, they’re going to be huge,” she says. “And don’t. Don’t act like that.”
“I am not acting like anything.”
“You’re being weird.” She purses her lips, her eyes welling with water again. “Is it because we had sex?”
I want to tell her no. But of course, she is right. It is because we had sex. Because I took something that she wasn’t ready to give. She might have said yes, but she didn’t say yes to being my wife… nor my mate.
Nausea turns my stomach. “Put on the pants, Gen.”
She sniffs, and my heart aches as I realize she’s leaking water from her eyes again. “What happened to being your flower?” Her voice is tight, and shock jolts through me as I realize I’ve hurt her.
Which means… she does like me. And I’m pushing her away.
“I am being an idiot lunch.” I sigh, rubbing my neck.
Gen sniffs, then laughs, wiping her eyes with her hands. “Idiot sandwich.” Her small hands clasp my larger ones, and the pants fall, forgotten, to the ground. “And yes, you are, Kanuz. I wouldn’t have had sex with you if I didn’t want to. And I did very much want to have sex with you. Would I have chosen to marry you after being in your august presence for five minutes? No, because I am not an idiot sandwich… And as awful as the last few weeks have been, you’ve been the only bright spot. You have kept us safe, and fed, and made me laugh more times than I can count. Don’t push me away because I’m angry that the Federation took my choice away. It doesn’t mean I’m not choosing you right now.”
“I feel foolish,” I admit. “I am sad that you did not choose to come here and be mine. But I understand your anger. Would you choose to marry me again? Now that you know me?”
She blows out a breath, tilting her chin up and staring me down in her frank, no nonsense way. “Out of all the males that were there, Prince Kanuz of Sueva, I am glad you chose me to be your princess and your wife.”
It’s not an answer, not really, but perhaps it was unfair for me to ask that of her.
So instead of pressing her more, I push down my sadness and draw her to me, kissing her firmly. She makes a small noise of pleasure, and I don’t care if she would marry me or not.
Right now, in the temple of the many-faced-goddess, she has said she is mine.
And I will do with my mate as I please.
Starting with making her scream with pleasure, yet again.
“It seems to me that I did not keep my promise to you last night.”
Gen stares up at me from heavy-lidded eyes. “What promise?”
“That I would make you come as many times as you could handle.”
She squeals as I hoist her up, and I raise her high enough that I can capture the pink tip of her enticing breast. “I will never get enough of these. Of you, my golden flower.” I stare at her, and she throws her arms around my neck, kissing the column of my throat. I do not have much feeling there, as my scales protect my neck, but I learned last night that she likes to be kissed there very much, so I do the same to her.
A sigh wends out of her, and she goes soft against me, her legs circling my waist. Her hands cup my face, and my heart aches at the beautiful trust etched on her face. My prickly princess has come so far.
And it only took days of terrible ordeals to get her to trust me. I sigh wearily.
“I have not pampered you as I should have,” I tell her.
“Please. I’m a military officer in the Earth Federation. Or—” she pauses, looking slightly lost. “I was. Regardless, I don’t need to be pampered.”
“It is not about need. It is about what you deserve.” I kiss her cheek bone, where it pinkens under the slight pressure from my lips, then the tip of her nose, then the other cheek, and finally her mouth. “I want to take you again, Gen, but I think for now? I will simply pamper you as you deserve before we move on.”
“Oh, is that right, Tarzan? And what are you planning on pampering me with around here?” A lyrical laugh trickles out of her. “Lemme guess: mud baths. Clay masks. Salt scrub. Hot stone massage.”
I shake my head, not understanding her strange string of words. “Are these things humans do? Does Indiana Jones do a hot stone massage?”
She laughs again, the sound vibrating through her chest into mine. I hold her more closely, enjoying being near her. Her happiness is like bathing in the sunlight.
I step back, still clutching her tight against me. A burbling stream runs through the overgrown courtyard here, and I walk along the bank, holding my Gen all the while. She smiles at me, looking around curiously with her big blue eyes.