Inkiri tilted his head. “This is still going through your head, Sadir? It’s still bothering you?” He bent down and licked my neck. “Very well. I would have. You’re not bagu, you look different and smell different, that is true. But the ways in which you are different would’ve drawn me to you. Once I was drawn, maybe we would’ve spoken, although I think I’d have been very careful about it and uncertain. Not because of you, but because humans are different. Then, after we’d talked, I’d have really liked you.” He gave me another lick, his rough tongue gliding over my pulse point.
“You make that sound so simple.” Not to mention, he was being very flattering. I knew perfectly well I didn’t have the kind of charming personality anyone just fell for after a conversation.
“It is simple, sweet thing. A mate call doesn’t equal affection, it just assures the kind of attraction that pulls you to each other. What makes you stay and endure needs to come from whether or not your mate accepts you. From whether or not you can fully accept them. I accept you, my Rory.”
I managed a shaky smile, but I couldn’t hold his gaze. “You say the silliest things. I accept you too.”
“Sweet thing, look at me.” He gently tipped my chin up with his index finger. “I say it because it is true.”
“When you first saved me and brought me back to that house you guys lived in, Vergis said all I had to do was date you. I don’t know if he was saying that was enough for the mate call, or whether he was saying that was all a mate call is. At the time, I still wasn’t sure whether or not I was in danger of being eaten, but you feeding those magpies helped.”
Inkiri chuckled. “All you had to do? Well, I’d not have allowed you to wander off by yourself, and I know that is not dating. But this world is dangerous. While I like the birds of this world, I also hoped you’d see I was gentle and generous when I fed them. I hoped… I’m not sure, Sadir. But whenever I do something, I hope it shows you my character more, and that the more you see of it, the more you are pleased by it. I think that’s my hope.” He took my wrists in his hands. “Sweet thing, my Rory, how about we talk of other things? Was Kinnek right when he said you wanted my barb before we leave?”
“Subtle.”
He grinned down at me. “I’m afraid my barb isn’t subtle at all.” His eyebrows wiggled up. “Does this count as flirting?”
I considered it. “Probably not. It’s not a line we’d use, and not just because of the lack of barb.” I raised one finger. “And don’t go complaining that I can’t know because I never dated anyone. It’s true, but I studied romantic movies. And books. And plays. The lines about one’s own penis said in media are few and far between.”
Inkiri nodded. “Except for porn.”
I turned millet bean red. “I never studied porn.”
He cocked his head. “Why not?”
Was I turning redder? I felt like I was turning redder. How was I going to explain not studying the oldest profession? I panicked. I opened my mouth, but the sound that came out was the equivalent of a spluttering engine.
I tried again, and what came out was: “Because the Hays Code.”
Inkiri’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure what that is. I think I might’ve heard it, but—” His brows jerked up. “Is it a position you want to try? Or—Vergis explained about the beast with two backs. Ah! You didn’t want to study porn because you had no one to study with, is that it?”
If I turned any redder, I’d be a lobster. Or a millet bean. I had a sense of foreboding about correcting him. I knew myself well enough to be pretty sure that I wouldn’t come out of this looking like someone who could hold even a single conversation without it going off the rails. It was probably best to remember Gran’s lesson about shutting up right about now.
“Yup.” I tried a smile. It probably made me look constipated.
Inkiri clicked. “You don’t need to worry about that anymore. If you ever want to study it, I’ll help you.”
I decided that was romantic. It was, if you took the porn out of it. Also, rather than focusing on the porn, I had to remember that I was still on a mission to become a trophy mate.
“You were talking about your barb, Ink.”
He nodded. “I said that it’s not subtle at all.”
“Good.” I glanced at the couch. “You need to show me. Not here. Not on Donna’s couch. Is there anywhere more private?”
He bobbed his head. “There’s the guest room upstairs. Kinnek and Vergis stayed there while we were in the tent.”
Well, I didn’t know what Inkiri was thinking about giving me his beautiful cock in the same room Vergis had slept in, but horny beggars couldn’t choose where to get their needs met in the apocalypse. If that wasn’t an apocalypse rule already, I was pretty sure it should be.
“Okay. That could work. But, like, let’s try to keep it quiet, all right? I don’t want everyone to know.”
Inkiri chuckled as he led me to the stairs and up them by my wrist. “Sadir, they already know. Being intimate and savoring the joys of one another’s bodies is something mates do all the time. It’s a thing to be celebrated, especially if your hangu-na is skilled and pleasing.” He glanced at me. “Do I please you?”
I felt my face flush all over again. At least we were alone in the house with no one—especially not Vergis—lurking and sniggering.
“You are. Pleasing.” The embarrassment had clearly burned out my brain circuitry, which was why I kept on talking. “I mean, your cock weirded me out at first, and then there was the barb thing. That was weird! Who has a barb, you know? In the human dating pool, that is. Now I really like it, as well as your tongue. Your tongue is really nice. It feels good when you lick my neck. And I think it looks hot. Down there.” I gestured to his crotch. “With your testicles inside but with your cockhead all swollen and glistening.” I swallowed. “You’re very sexy.”
Inkiri’s low clicks blended with a kind of throaty purr, and he turned to face me on the stairs, those indigo eyes almost swallowed by black.
