Barbarian Lover(35)

I hate that I can’t keep him. That I’m flawed and I’ll never be what he wants in a woman. In a mate.

I sigh softly and close my eyes again to relieve my pounding head.

“Rest, Sad Eyes,” he tells me, and caresses me once more before heading toward the door. “I shall handle everything.”

I close my eyes and hope he’s right.



• • •





When I wake up later, my headache is all but gone and my stomach is growling. I sit up in the bed, conscious of a big warmth curled around my backside. It’s Aehako again, and he’s returned while I’ve slept, and we’re spooning.

Gosh it’s hard to be me.

Aehako’s big hand goes around my waist, curling me against him. “Kira?” His sleepy murmur of my voice sounds like honey, and I can feel the rather…prominent erection he’s sporting pushing against my backside. “How is your head?”

“I think I’m okay,” I tell him. “I need to find something to eat, though. And a bathroom.”

“Bath…room?”

I nod sleepily, peering at the room we’re in. It looks like a small private bunk of some kind, maybe someone’s quarters. There’s a faded poster on the opposite wall, and I can’t make out what was on it. A few more wires hang from the ceiling and there’s a fine layer of dust over everything. The room has been stripped, right down to the bed which is nothing but a mattress with our furs placed atop it.

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and get to my feet, testing my strength. I seem to be fine, my surgery-induced migraine gone. If this is a private cabin, I’m sure there’s a potty around here somewhere. By running my hands along a few interesting looking seams in the walls, I manage to find what I’m looking for. It’s a cubby with a strange looking basin that’s a leetle too high off the ground for human legs. Off to one side is what looks like a shower.

God, I would love a shower. I manage to wiggle my way onto the alien toilet a moment before wondering if it’s even functioning. “Um, computer? Are the facilities working?”

“Query: what is facilities?”

“The toilets and the showers?”

“I can re-activate them with stored snow. It will take twenty-seven seconds to melt and heat. Would you like to proceed?”

“Oh, yes!”

By the time I finish my business on the toilet, there’s water pouring from the spout in the shower ceiling. At first it drizzles a muddy color, but then runs clear, and I run my fingers under the water to test the heat.

It’s perfect.

With a small sigh of pleasure, I strip off my leathers and toss them to the dusty floor, then move into the shower itself. Some things are eternal, I suppose, because it’s almost exactly the same as a human shower, and I wipe my wet hair off my face with pure bliss. This is exactly what I need.

“Kira?” Aehako knocks at the door. “Are you well?”

“I’m fine,” I call.

The door opens a moment later. “Then you will not mind if I come and spend time with you?”

I squeal, covering my girl parts with my hands as he steps inside. “What are you doing?”

He spreads his arms. “Is it not obvious? You hide in here so I will join you.”

“I’m trying to shower!”

“Shower?”

“Bathe!” I hate that the language that the sa-khui learned is three hundred years old. A lot of our language has changed since then. “Washing!”

His eyes gleam and he looks me up and down. Aehako’s gaze is scorching. “I have soap-berries in my bag. I shall be more than happy to help you wash.”

The blush on my cheeks feels like an inferno. “I’m naked.”

“I noticed.” The look he gives me is appreciative. “And your parts are as fine as I imagined.”

I know I should tell him no, to go away. But then it hits me…why should I? What is the point in being modest? Who is there to judge or shame me? I want him to come shower with me. I want his big, blue body rubbing up against mine. I like it when he takes care of me. It makes me feel loved and cherished, and those are two emotions I am utterly hungry for. But…I don’t know how to invite a man into a sexy situation. It’s not in me to flirt back. So I just give him a mute, helpless look.

As if he senses my agony, he hesitates. “Do you wish me to leave, Kira?”

I stare at him for a long moment. At the big, seven-foot tall alien male wearing only a loincloth that doesn’t do much for modesty. He’s got horns and ridges and should be frightening. And instead, I’m terribly attracted to him. So I steel my courage and shake my head. I don’t want him to leave. “G-get the soap.”