Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
I run my big toe along the ridges of his shaft. Crazy how I’d forgotten about those. I love touching him, love his soft suede-like skin, his expression of surprise when I caress him. Love everything about this guy, to be honest…except his self-esteem. “Looking back, I can’t say it was a bad choice. Lord and Lady va’Rin have been really nice to me and this planet is great. So much better than being someone’s kicking post. But you’ve been here for a few months, guessing by the size of the project. You never thought of looking me up?”
“Didn’t think you’d want to see me.”
“You’re wrong.” I grind my heel against his balls, and I could swear his eyes flare with excitement. He’s not pushing my foot away. Not stopping me. He might talk like he’s the worst thing to happen to a woman, but I know the truth.
Brux eyes the basket of food between us, mostly untouched. “I just…how do you see this thing between us going, Melody?”
I pretend to misunderstand. “Dinner? I thought we’d eat some really shitty cantina food, drink a few beers, and then go back to my room. I’d sit on your face until you make me scream, and then you’d fuck the daylights out of me. We’d probably break my bed, because it’s pretty old and creaky, and then pass out for a while before heading into round two. And then eventually, round three. Then we shower—optimally together—eat some breakfast, and then go to work.”
“So this is just about sex?”
“No. But it can be, tonight.” I smile brilliantly at him and give his cock another meaningful nudge with my foot. “If you just want to eat dinner and call it, I’m okay with that too. Well, less okay, but I understand it. But don’t push me away because you think it’s what’s best for me. Let me decide that part.”
He’s silent for a long, long time. Then, he slowly nudges the basket back toward him, eats a leaf, and then sends it back to me. “Let’s start with dinner.”
My smile grows wider. “What about you? Where do you see this heading?”
Brux actually seems pained by my question. He slides that big hand down his face again, then glances around the cantina, as if he’s afraid someone will hear his answer. “I haven’t…I don’t think about it. I haven’t dared to hope…”
He trails off, and my heart aches.
This sweet man deserves to have his soul sucked out through his cock and I aim to be the one to do it. “I think you’re allowed to hope. I’ll fight anyone that says differently.”
The look he gives me is puzzled, but amused. “Thanks, I think.”
He still doesn’t look convinced. That’s all right. Only one of us needs to be fully invested to move things forward, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll prove myself to him soon enough. So I slide my foot out from between his thighs and relax back in the booth. “How about we take this day by day, then? Let’s start with a nice meal and see where things go.”
“A nice meal?” Brux picks up one of the soggy fried leaves. “Are we leaving, then?”
I laugh with delight, because it’s the first sign that he’s loosening up around me.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
BRUX
Cantina food is keffing awful, but I don’t mind it. The brew is cold, the company better than anything I could have hoped for.
Melody tells me all about arriving here, and how she’d been given a farm for all of a month before she had a small nervous breakdown. “I didn’t like feeling so responsible for the animals. I wouldn’t mind working on the farming equipment, but the animals made me anxious. I worried about them constantly. So I’m subletting my farm out to a friend. She runs things and takes care of it all and just sends me a percentage. I live in town and work here, scrapping.”
“Why scrapping still?”
Her smile is bright. “There’s something so satisfying about repurposing discarded things into stuff my people can use. Like a toaster. I made one last month for a friend and I have three more people asking for one because they miss having one in their kitchens.”
“What’s a toaster?”
She puts her hands out, indicating a small box. “It’s a square with a slot on top, and when you drop a piece of bread in, it cooks it quickly. Toasts it, if you will. Every human kitchen has one, but no one seems to have one here.”
I drain the rest of my brew. “That’s because we’re not big on bread.” I’ve seen it here on Risda, and tried it at a snack booth on a space station. It was…not great.
“Right! But there’s lots of small things like a toaster that my people here want, but don’t know how to go about getting. To me, it’s simple. You need a way to turn it off and on, and you need a heating element that gets hot enough quickly to toast the sides of the bread, and for it to turn off as quickly. The box outside of it is to protect you from getting burned. I know I can bend some heat-safe metal into a decent square, and I know there are some components that you guys discard that can be easily wired to conduct heat. It’s not a perfect solution but it works.”