“If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I can sleep on the other side of the room.” His voice is low and grave, none of his normal laughing manner present.
Now I just feel like a jerk. I wave a hand in the air. “It’s fine. Really. I’m just having a weird moment.”
And to prove that it’s fine, I climb into the bed and claim one of the pillows, tucking it under my head. I lie awkwardly on my side as Sinath gets under the blankets next to me, and his leg brushes against mine as he does. He murmurs an apology, and then turns on his side.
We stare at each other for a long moment.
“Computer, turn the lights to ten percent,” Sinath says, and it gets dark in the room, with just enough light to make out his face. He’s quiet for a time and then asks, “Are you afraid of me?”
I shake my head and then speak aloud since I’m not sure if he can see the movement in the near-dark. “No. Not afraid.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
The silence between us is awkward. I keep waiting for him to say something, to explain himself, heck, to demand a kiss. But it’s just…quiet.
“Well,” Sinath says after a long moment.
I perk up, holding my breath. My entire body is on alert, my senses singing.
“Goodnight, my merry female.” His voice is husky and soft. Delicious. “It was a lovely holiday.”
That’s it?
He’s not going to say more than that? “Wait,” I blurt. “Why are you doing this?”
“You asked me to help you with a holiday for Liesje. I did my duty as a custodian there, but when I met her, I also realized she needed a friend. That part has been because I like her and want her to do well. Liesje is kind. She reminds me of my grandmother.”
He’s talking, but he’s somehow managing to not answer the questions I really want answers to. Part of me wants to press my fingers to his mouth and silence him, but I just shake my head instead. “No…the gifts.”
“What about the gifts? I wanted to buy her a few things she would like. Do you think I chose poorly?” I could swear he looks concerned in the near darkness.
“You bought me gifts, too. Where do I come into this?”
He keeps his face turned toward me, his arm tucked under his horn in place of a pillow, and faces me in the bed. “Where do youwantto come in to this?”
Grr. He’s terrible at answering questions. I bite back my frustration and study him. “Are you just being nice to me because you want to experiment with kissing some more?”
I could swear that Sinath frowns at me in the darkness. “That’s a difficult question to answer. I’m here because you asked me to help you with your holiday. I’m here under these blankets with you because I have been thinking about more kissing. But it is not an experiment. Not to me.” He pauses, and then continues in a lower voice. “You’re the only one I can imagine kissing.”
Oh.
Oh.“Have you thought about kissing again, then?”
He lets out a rueful chuckle. “I’ve been thinking about it all keffing day long, Devin. Just watching you sip your tea is making me crazy because you purse your lips and then I can’t stop thinking about your mouth and—”
I close the distance between us and kiss him. My lips brush over his and I cup his face. His scent is all around me, his warmth in the darkness, and this might be the sexiest moment I’ve ever experienced.
Sinath lets out a low groan, his breath rasping. “More of that, please.”
I oblige. I give him a small peck, then another. “Do you…want more of the same?” I pause between words, adding more kisses to his upper lip, his lower lip, the corner of his mouth, everywhere I can touch him. “Or do you want me to add tongue?”
He groans again, and the blanket jerks. It takes me a moment to realize it’s his tail, and when it brushes against my leg and curls around my ankle, I feel rather proud that I’m driving this big alien wild with the most chaste of kisses. “I would like to try tongue,” he confesses. “But what if I hate it?”
“Then we stay with dry kisses,” I promise, and kiss the tip of his strange alien nose. “Or you can kiss me in the way that you prefer. The only bad kisses are ones you don’t want.”
“I like that. I like that a lot.” He brushes his mouth over mine. “I want to kiss you, too.”
“Then kiss me.”