Chapter 13
XAVRAN
He was making a new batch of marinade in the kitchen, trying hard to focus on the ingredients instead of Susanna. It had been three days since she arrived, but her presence was just as unnerving to him as ever.
Dressed in a black skirt and a white blouse, she sat at the counter. Holding her tablet in her hands, she softly dictated into it, recording the recipe he was making. This was his mother’s old recipe. He knew it by heart and had never bothered writing it down.
He wished Susanna was next to him, helping him with the spices. Or better yet, right in front of him, between him and the counter, so he could lean over her shoulder while she mixed and adjust her wrist when necessary, press into her backside, nuzzle her neck...
Heat surged through his chest, then rushed down to his groin.
Dammit.
He went rigid, focusing all his mental power on taming his lust once again. The measuring spoon slipped from his stiff fingers and clattered to the counter.
Susanna glanced up at him, her eyebrows raised in question.
“Clumsy me,” he muttered.
He was leaving Diria for the frontier the day after tomorrow. It was about time, it seemed.
Stepping closer to the counter, he attempted to hide his raging erection behind it. It appeared to work, as she clearly didn’t notice.
“You can’t afford to be clumsy, Xavran,” she teased. “You break things too easily.”
She slid her finger along the long chip in the stone counter. The chip marked the spot where he’d dropped the cauldron yesterday. He’d lifted it when Susanna had leaned in to see the meat he had marinating there. Her neckline had shifted, revealing a sliver of the lacy breast harness underneath her blouse, and he’d let the cauldron fall.
That was all it took for him to lose control—a glimpse of her undergarment. He felt like he was a teenager again, with no control over his impulses. Clearly, being without a woman for this long had affected him more than he could have ever expected.
Of course, he couldn’t tell her what had made him drop the cauldron. He’d told her he had accidentally stubbed his toe. Now, she thought him a clumsy oaf.
“What are you up to?” Mara walked into the kitchen unexpectedly.
Dressed in a tight white dress with a wide-brimmed hat on her head, she carried a leather bag on her forearm.
He’d barely exchanged a handful of words with his lawful spouse. Mara never sought his company. On the contrary, whenever he walked into a room, she immediately left.
Personally, it suited him just fine, but he had hoped she’d show more interest in his children.
Instead of getting married, he could have hired two or three nannies, but he decided to have a wife instead. A marriage seemed a more stable arrangement, and he wanted stability for his children, with some resemblance of a family. Nannies came and went, but he wanted his children to have someone who’d be there for them for years to come.
The marriage program was perfect for that. It’d allowed him to state his expectations in advance, hopefully avoiding any misunderstanding in the future. It seemed so simple. All he had to do was enter a list of requirements, like placing a mail order.
He wanted a mother for his children, not a lover for himself.
What he got...
What he got was a wife who clearly had no interest in his children and a nanny whom he could way too easily envision as his lover.
In fact, he had spent the past three nights envisioning Susanna in every position possible, despite his best efforts not to.
His cock jerked again, clearly ignoring his threats and warnings. Lust shot through him, hot and sweaty.
He gripped the spoon so hard, the wooden handle snapped.
Not again!
“Um...” Susanna carefully removed the broken pieces from his grip. “Maybe you should consider switching to metal cutlery?”
Mara sauntered closer, clearly displeased at being ignored.
“This looks like a lovely scene of domestic bliss,” she said tersely.
She couldn’t possibly be jealous. Mara didn’t care about him. In fact, she often appeared to be pushing Susanna’s company on him to avoid spending any time with him herself. She refused to go to the parent-teacher meeting with him yesterday, even after the teacher had explicitly requested her presence.
“I’m bored,” she pouted.
He realized she wasn’t jealous of him. Mara was envious of Susanna and him having something to do and spending time together.
“Is there really nothing to do around here?” Mara whined.
Susanna jerked her head impatiently. “There’s plenty to do if you just look around. I’m busy every single day. There’s no time to be bored.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t need much to be entertained. Simple minds and all that...” Mara waved a hand in the air.
Susanna glared at her sister, looking like she was ready to toss the broken spoon at her. She heaved a sigh instead, keeping her composure after all.
“So,” Susanna said evenly. “Why doesn’t your superior mind find you something better to do than coming in here and insulting the people who live under the same roof.”
“There’s no roof, remember?” Mara snorted, pointing her finger up at the open sky above them.
Susanna squared her shoulders. “Still better than losing one’s head.”
“Oh please.” Mara rolled her eyes. “If you like it here so much, you should’ve come to Aldrai by yourself, without dragging me along. Just like I wanted you to do in the first place.”
“And what would’ve happened to you if you stayed?” Giving her sister a pointed stare, Susanna made a cutting gesture at her throat with the edge of her hand.
Mara waved her off. “I would’ve been fine. I have enough connections in the city. I just happened to be scared that one night, and you took advantage of it.”
Susanna shook her head, rolling her eyes skywards.
“What are you two talking about?” he interrupted. Somehow, he’d lost any understanding of their conversation about halfway through. Only one thing remained clear: the sisters were arguing.
“Nothing that would interest you.” Mara stifled a yawn. “I’m going for a walk. You have fun cooking...or whatever it is you two are doing here.” She produced a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and perched them on her nose.
“Make sure to stay within the town limits,” he warned her.
“Or what? I’ll get lost?”
“No, but there are a few things underground that may eat you if you leave the protection of the town borders.” He kept his voice casual.
The desert monsters didn’t make it that far into the terraformed territory often. His goal was to scare Mara just enough to make her remain within the protection of the town’s ground shields. Not to terrify her out of her wits.
She gave him a suspicious look, obviously gauging whether he was joking or serious. He went to get another spoon, letting her guess.
When he returned to the counter, Mara was gone.