“Oh, um…” She shook her head. “Stone, I just…don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything—we don’t have to speak of this ever again, if you fear it will damage our friendship,” Stone offered. “But you asked me and, as you always say, we don’t lie to each other.”
“No, we don’t,” she agreed. “I…I guess we don’t have to talk about it.”
“And we don’t have to let what we do here, on this mission, affect our friendship, either,” Stone told her. “In this setting, touching each other is part of our job. After we go home to Earth, we can go back to our more proscribed relationship and forget this ever happened.”
“I don’t see how I can forget having your hands all over my body,” Cassandra whispered, looking up at him. “Or the things you said to me…”
“Do you wish me to not tell you how I feel when I touch you?” Stone asked.
That would be difficult for him—he enjoyed letting a lover know exactly how he intended to pleasure her and how beautiful he found her body. But he would make the effort if Cassandra asked him to.
But she shook her head.
“No, I…I think you should do whatever you have to in order to get into character.”
“Thank you.” Stone nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind when we ‘work’ together in the future.”
“Which might be tomorrow.” Cassandra ran a hand through her long black hair, which was loose around her shoulders instead of braided for once. “I thought we’d be able to get everything done and get out of here before we had to shoot an actual porno together but now…” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure.”
“You’ll have to be sure once we start performing,” Stone pointed out. “I was afraid that you were panicking when I attempted to remove your shorts earlier, during the massage. We were lucky that Gozeriam took it to be part of our act.”
“You’re right.” She nibbled her lower lip again. “I just…never thought of us together that way. I guess I’m just not used to it.”
“You must get used to it,” Stone said firmly. He reached out to stroke her cheek and she jumped. Frowning, he pulled back his hand. “For instance, you must not shy away from my touch.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” She looked up at him. “I’m just…not used to you touching me in…in more than a friendly way.”
“Does it bother you?” Stone asked softly, searching her eyes with his own.
Cassandra shook her head.
“Not really. I mean, it…it feels good.” Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “Amazing, actually. But I’m just not used to it.”
He shook his head.
“I’m afraid you will have to get used to it if we are going to maintain our cover.”
“You’re right, Stone. “Maybe…” She bit her lip. “Maybe we should practice.”
“Practice?” Stone raised an eyebrow.
“You touching me. Me touching you. In a more than friendly way.” Cassandra made a motion with her hand. “You know.”
Stone looked at her in surprise.
“You want me to touch you in a sexual way even though we are not being observed or filmed at this time?”
“I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she said quickly. “I just thought it might help if we were…were used to touching each other the next time Gozeriam orders us to, uh, perform.”
It suddenly occurred to Stone that Cassandra still wasn’t sure that he wanted to touch her. Even though he had told her how sexually desirable he found her, she was still uncertain of her own beauty. Part of it, he thought, probably had to do with her self body image.
Females who would be considered Elites and extremely desirable aboard the Mother Ship, were often taunted and made to feel less than beautiful on Earth. Stone had overheard Cassandra’s ex-mate criticizing her hips and thighs and ass more than once—the very parts of her that Stone himself found irresistible. He had to fight with himself every day not to stare at his partner’s luscious assets. Even hidden by the boxy suits she usually wore, her large, round ass drew him like a magnet.
But she doesn’t know that—she still doesn’t understand how desirable she is, he thought.
Maybe this was a chance to show her—to give her some confidence in her own beauty and let her know how gorgeous she really was.
“I would love to practice touching with you, Cassandra,” he said hoarsely. “If you think it would help us to complete this mission.”
“I think it might.” She looked up at him from under her lashes and Stone felt his heart fist in his chest, Gods, she was so lovely! So beautiful and she didn’t even know it, because all her life men like her ex-mate—that waste of space—had put her down.
“Should we start here?” he asked, reaching out to stroke her cheek again.