T’zaren shook his head.
“Commander, you cannot mean—”
“I do. But of course, I will needyouto undergo the same test Dr. Heartwood just did,” Rarev interrupted smoothly. He looked at Lucy. “Would you be so kind as to put the blindfold on T’zaren and make certain he cannot see? The test must be touch alone—no sight allowed.”
“Oh, er…” Lucy felt a little uncertain at this suggestion. She started to just hand the blindfold to the big Monstrum beside her but Rarev shook his head.
“No, please put it on him, as I asked,” he said, frowning. “This is part of the test.”
Lucy cast a glance at T’zaren to see how he felt about this. The big Monstrum had a tense look on his face but when she caught his eyes, he gave a brief nod.
“Okay.” She shrugged and rose to go stand beside him. He was so tall that even seated, his head was at the level of her breasts. If she’d wanted to, she could have opened her blouse and pressed one of her nipples into his mouth for him to suck without even bending over.
Lucy frowned and shook her head. Where hadthatthought come from? Why would she even consider doing something like that with a man she didn’t even know?
But still, the mental image lingered—the thought of her ripe nipple sliding into his mouth and his eyes holding hers as he sucked and circled her tight point with his hot tongue…
Ignoring her overactive imagination, Lucy slipped the blindfold over the big Monstrum’s head and adjusted it carefully, making sure he couldn’t see out the sides or bottom.
She noticed that when her fingers brushed his skin, he stiffened and she heard a little hiss of indrawn breath. Was she hurting him in some way? Did he dislike her touch?
Her eyes dropped to his crotch, where a substantial bulge had appeared in the tight black leather trousers.
Well, I guess he doesn’tdislikeit when I touch him,she thought dryly.Though it’s certainly affecting him.
The big warrior’s reaction had a strange effect on her as well—it made her want to touch him evenmore.
“Hang on—I think the blindfold is on crooked,” she murmured. Deliberately, she cupped T’zaren’s face in her hands and watched as he drew in a deep, ragged breath as her palms and fingers came in contact with his cheeks. “Hmmm…” she murmured, tilting his head a little and enjoying the rough feel of his stubble against her palms. “No, I guess I was wrong. Sorry about that. But here—just let me fix this…” She ran her fingers through his thick, black hair, feeling the silky, springy texture and watching as a shiver ran through the big warrior. “There now—that’s better,” she remarked, finally taking her hands away.
Inside, she wondered why she was acting this way. Did she enjoy making this complete stranger uncomfortable? Or did she just like the effect she had on him? A glance between his thighs showed that the bulge in his leather trousers had grown to remarkably impressive proportions. Was that because of her? Lucy was inclined to think it was, which made herhot.
Commander Rarev had been watching her without comment but now he nodded and said,
“Very good. Give him the stones in any order, please.”
Lucy plucked the smooth pebble off the desktop.
“Hold out your hand please, T’zaren,” she said.
The big warrior did as she commanded, lifting his large right hand, palm up.
Lucy cupped her hand under his, enjoying the feeling of touching him again—though she didn’t know why—and dropped the pebble into his palm.
“Feel it very carefully,” she murmured. “Tell me what you think.”
“It…it’s just a pebble.” His voice came out low and slightly choked.
“Correct,” Lucy said and took the pebble out of his hand, making sure to brush his palm with her fingertips as she did so. This time she gave him thedimrielcrystal, watching with interest to see what would happen.
T’zaren cupped the deep ruby crystal in his palm and a shudder went through him. The crystal lit up and began to glow, just as it had for Lucy.
“Gods,” he muttered hoarsely. “This is the heart-stone—this is thedimriel, isn’t it?”
“Correct,” Commander Rarev said. “Dr. Heartwood, you may remove the blindfold now.”
Lucy did as he said, slowly sliding the blindfold off and watching as T’zaren looked up at her, blinking, and then down to thedimrielcrystal he still cupped in his palm.
“It glows for me too,” he remarked, frowning uncertainly as he looked back up at her.