Juliet gulps hard, then sips from her drink. “So you’re a master manipulator?”
I can sense her tensing up and I remember her anxiety from yesterday, even as she was giving herself to me intimately.
I reach out and take her hand, needing to be connected to her.
“I do not want you to mistrust me, Juliet. I want to be as honest with you as possible. I want you to know about the Draci. I don’t want to just share the approved message they are giving to your government. I will not lie to you.” As the words leave my mouth, I realize that I must deliver on this promise.
Which means telling Juliet the true reason that I am here. And risk losing her?
I banish the thought. When the time comes, I will tell her all.
I move the food to the side and scoot closer to her. “I do not lie when I tell you that meeting you has made me question all my ambitions. I have spent my life alone. Until you.”
She does not know, cannot know about the years spent in the pits, mining ambrothicite in the years before the sun went dark, the material that would power the three Salvation Ships. I spent decades in the bitter cold under waning sunlight and endless nights, with only my burning determination to reclaim my birthright to keep me warm.
Many Draci perished in those fields, most often by their own hand. They could not live in their dreams of the future as I did.
I lived every day basking in the glory I was sure would one day be mine.
But it was a foolish young man’s dream.
It was the dream of a man who had never known the touch of the female. Who truly believed he never would.
I see Juliet’s skepticism in her eyes and I do not know how to convince her of my most basic truth—she has changed everything.
I take her hand and line my palm up flat against hers. “I did not know this was possible between a male and female. I did not know I would find my reason for being so long after I thought I already knew my course in life.”
Her fingers close on mine. “Shak,” she breathes out hard. “You gotta stop saying shit like that.”
What does she—?
But before I can ask for clarification, her lips are on mine.
Every time I am astounded by how plump and soft her flesh is. And when my tongue begins to explore, sweetness explodes upon my senses. Both from the sweetness of the pastry Juliet was eating and from her own essence.
Her hands land on my chest and then immediately skim downwards. My stomach muscles flex and my male parts quickly descend and thicken. Does she know what she—?
But before I can heave in my next breath, her delicate hand lands on my arousal.
“By the ancients,” I swear and grab her into my arms, lifting her up until she straddles me.
She whips her shirt off over her head. I stare for only a moment at the delicate rose pink circle that tips each teat. I have read about these and seen diagrams. Draci women do not have mammary glands or teats.
I know they are meant for human offspring, but I cannot stand leaving a single inch of my Juliet untasted.
So I lean down and give each teat an investigative lick.
Juliet arches her back, her pleasure aroma scenting the air. I look up in surprise but her hands are on my head, pressing my face back against her teats.
I lick and then suckle experimentally on the tips. Juliet groans and shifts her hips restlessly against my aroused male parts.
Like last night, my pants quickly become too tight and restrictive. Especially with the friction as she slides her sex against me, only the fabric of my pants and her undergarments between us.
What would it feel like, to penetrate her not with only my fingers, but with my—
“Let me go get a condom,” she says, pulling away from me and getting off the bed.
I’m half-dazed by her scent so thick in the air. I cannot stop scenting the air with my tongue. But she is still walking away from me.
“Why do you leave?” I ask, only barely restraining myself from following her.
But no, all of this must be on her timeline. I remember her anxiety and even now, I can taste a thread of it amidst her pleasure scent.
I will give her no cause to fear me. I would die before doing so.
Juliet bends over and digs around in the carrying bag she brings everywhere. Then she stands back up, a smile on her face and a small foil square in her hand.
I do not know what it is she holds, but she is smiling so I smile. Especially when she shimmies out of her skirt and stands before me, completely bare.