“And I don’t. The few encounters I’ve had with these women could not be called a relationship. It was just a bit of sport. Mutual pleasure for the night. I made sure my partners were clear on that and did not seek a relationship either. None of them did. They were happy to frolic with me for a while. For the thrill of human contact, but they were content with their parbots.”
“I didn’t know...”
“What? That I have had sex with women before?”
“Yes. No. I mean, not only that. I didn’t know people still did that on the side. On top of their parbot relationships.”
“Oh, Kalli.” His eyes had warmed, and now he looked at her almost with sympathy and too much understanding. She looked away.
He brought her gaze back to his with a soft touch on her chin. “You had never been with a man before me?”
She was too embarrassed to say the words. To confess that no other man had ever wanted her. That she was so pathetic and inexperienced that she, a doctor who studied human emotions as a career, had not even known that people still had fleeting affairs. So, she just shook her head.
His eyes intensified and took on the sensual warmth she was beginning to recognize as arousal. She felt a caress at her neck, the faintest of brushes against her sensitized skin. And then his lips were grazing hers, uncaring of the fact that they were in a crowded ballroom. He was going to kiss her, and she was going to let him. But the kiss never came.
“I’m honored. And I will endeavor to make the experience a pleasurable one for you,” he whispered against her lips.
She was afraid he was already making the experience much more than pleasurable. He was making it unforgettable.
CHAPTER 15
She had never lainwith another man. The knowledge shouldn’t please him so much. What did it matter, after all? Weren’t parbots equivalent to men for intimacy? She was certainly no virgin. Nor did he want her to be. But it did matter, and it pleased him.
He was such a hypocrite. Here he was, arguing that the human/parbot relationship was cleaner and better than human relationships, but he still wanted to be with her. Rejoiced because he was the only human she had ever been intimate with. This mission was definitely addling his brain.
Not that the lack of coherence in his reasoning would stop him from continuing this affair with Kalli. However unwise it might be. He didn’t know her reasons for not having had a human partner before. And he found it strange that she, with her defense of human relationships and her romantic notions, had not engaged in one before. But if this was her first time with a human, he planned to make it worth the experience. And give her more arguments for her thesis, no doubt.
Right now, that didn’t matter. He didn’t care who was right. He only cared about the woman walking beside him towards their room. Where they would share a bed. He intended to proceed slowly this time. He was going to make her glad she’d chosen him as a partner.
They arrived at their room, and she retrieved the key from a little pocket concealed in her skirt. He took it from her and opened the door, motioning for her to precede him. Then he closed the door and leaned against it. Contemplating her through lowered eyelids, he considered his strategy.
She was already removing combs and pins from her upswept hair, and he had the urge to do it himself. He wanted to run his hands into those fiery locks. See them tumble over his wrists as he freed them.
Drawing up behind her, he raised his hands to her head and leaned forward, murmuring in her ear, “Allow me.”
She did not protest, lowering her arms at once and leaning back against him. He carefully removed each pin, admiring every strand as it came loose and uncoiled over her creamy shoulders. She had the most beautiful skin. Unable to help himself, he nuzzled through the loosened locks and pressed a kiss, hot and openmouthed, to the gentle slope of her shoulders.
