“I’m glad.” Liv frowned. “But I still don’t like the idea of you watching what Mitch and I did.”
“Or didn’t do.” He gave her a level glance. “I saw how he treated you, Lilenta. He didn’t worship you properly with his body or with his tongue. A male who really knows what he’s doing and who wants to pleasure you will spend hours between your thighs, making you come over and over as he drinks your sweet juices. That’s exactly what I want to do to you.”
Liv felt the familiar wire of sexual tension tightening in her belly and had to look away. “I…it just makes me feel…uncomfortable.”
Baird stroked her hair away from her face. “I promise I’ll do everything in my power to relax you before I get on my knees before you, Lilenta. Your pleasure will be my first priority.”
Liv knew from experience he was telling the truth. After all, he made her come again and again night after night and never asked for a thing for himself. For all she knew he had the worst case of blue balls in history but he never said a word about it. All he seemed to care about was pleasing her, making her come and holding her as he did it—just as he was now. God, if he doesn’t let go of me soon I’ll be letting him to do it right here, right now and screw the conference he’s supposed to attend. She felt the familiar surge of frustration. Why couldn’t she just say no to him? Why did he affect her so much?
“I guess you won’t stop this time,” she heard herself saying. The words were meant to be bitter but they came out breathless instead. “If I…when I ask you to…to finish it.”
Baird nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “I promised not to bond you during our bathing week but when I come back all bets are off. Sorry, Lilenta, but I need you too damn much. Need to be able to hold you and protect you. So yes, if you ask for it, I’m damn well going to give it to you.”
“Baird…” She didn’t know what to say. None of her arguments worked on him. “I…” She shook her head helplessly. “You’re going to be late.”
“Damn it.” He let her go to look at the chronometer on his wrist and Liv sank back down on the bed.
“I guess I’ll see you when I get back. Should I even bother to wear clothes?”
“Lilenta…” He dropped to his knees before her and took her hands. “Please, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
Liv lifted her chin. “Yes, it does. I told you before, I’m not giving up without a fight. Now go. I’ll see you later.”
He sighed. “I’ll be thinking of you every moment I’m away. Be well and be safe, Lilenta.” He cupped her cheek and kissed her once more—this time a gentle brush of lips on lips—before rising.
Liv sighed as she watched him leave and heard the front door of the suite hiss shut behind him. God, what was she going to do? She was trapped and the worst thing was, no matter how much she tried not to, she couldn’t help feeling for Baird just as he said. Couldn’t help the shiver of lustful fear that ran through her when she imagined him down on his knees before her, his face buried between her thighs…
Stop it, she scolded herself. You finally have some time to yourself so use it. Try and find a way out of this before it’s too late.
Getting off the bed on legs that were still wobbly from his kisses, she went to do just that.
Two hours later she had to admit that there didn’t appear to be anything in Baird’s personal library about getting out of a claiming contract. Other than breach of contract—which apparently almost never happened—most brides called by Kindred warriors stayed with the male who had called them for the rest of their lives.
“And they all lived happily ever after,” Liv muttered in disgust, shutting the last book that seemed to have any relevance to her situation. Baird kept a lot of his files on minidisks but, like humans, the Kindred had a fondness for handheld books. Of course, when one opened a Kindred book it showed moving pictures of whatever the text was about so it wasn’t exactly the same as an antique paper book from Earth. But it was still nice to be able to hold it instead of reading it off a computer screen.
With a sigh, Liv took off the translator which looked like a pair of wire rimmed glasses with green lenses. They were lightweight and made especially for a human sized head which was nice. If they’d been made on the Kindred scale she never could have kept them from slipping off. When she opened a book, the text was changed by the interface of the translator to her brain and the words on the page appeared in English instead of the strange spiky symbols that the Kindred used as their universal language.