With a feral snarl, Valmir pushes my hand aside. He turns, jerking his cock with his fist and spraying the entrance to the cave with the force of his load. I pull back, a little shocked at his visceral reaction, watching him milk his cock. He shoots his release over the cave walls, onto the floor, and some of it probably falls into the sea, too. He didn't spray it on me, though.
Probably realized he didn't have permission yet.
I squeeze my thighs together, because watching him makes me feel all kinds of filthy things. I'm fascinated by his ragged breaths, the slick noise of his hand moving over his cock, the sheer volume of his seed, the way his tail shivers each time he spurts.
I clear my throat, feeling a little shaken. "That was naughty of you, pussycat."
He sags against the wall, his head back, and sucks in severaldeep breaths. When he finally opens his eyes a slit again to regard me, it's with an assessing look. "I can do you now."
Oh, to have the staggering confidence of a man. I shake my head. "That's not part of our deal. Maybe you can touch me next time, but you've had enough of a prize for today."
"It wouldn't be a prize. It'd be me doing you a favor."
A favor. Something about his wording makes my belly go sour, and the bloom of arousal so pleasantly humming through my veins vanishes. I sigh. "You just had to start talking again, didn't you?"
He leans against the rocks, his pose lazy and sated, his eyes heated slits as he regards me. "Is that a no? I can smell your cunt from here. You want me."
"Can you smell it drying up? Because the more you speak, it is." I shoot him a dismissive look, growing more annoyed by the second. Just when I think I'm starting to appreciate Valmir, he has to speak up and remind me that he's an arrogant jerk. Why, oh why, did my khui have to pick him? What did I do to deserve this? I straighten my clothing and give him my most withering look. "You know the rules."
"We can bend the rules if we want to. I let you touch me, and I can smell that you enjoyed it." The cocksure arrogance is back in his voice. "You can't hide how you feel."
"I wasn't trying to. Here's a pro tip for you, Valmir. Telling a girl she 'wants it' is pretty much going to guarantee that she's going to turn you down. The last thing I want right now is for you to touch me." I brush my hands off,pauwith the situation. "In fact, I've had my fill of you for now, so I'd like for you to leave me alone for the rest of the day, please."
"What about my next task?" he calls as I approach the entrance of the cave, irritated. "What's my assignment?"
I'm in no rush to give him what he wants. "I'll let you know in the morning."
And it's probably going to be one that gives me some space from him. Right now, I'm feeling a little stifled at how confident he is that he thinks he "has" me. A leather flower and an animal cage and suddenly Valmir feels like he owns me? I've been so happy to play along, too.
I've been caught up in how good resonance feels and forgot all about the fact that Valmir's a prick. That if I jump into bed with him, I'm going to get knocked up with his kid and then we're going to be looking down the pipeline of being stuck together forever.
Forever is a long fucking time and I am nowhere near ready for it.
CHAPTER 11
APRIL
WEEKS LATER
There'ssomething so comforting about sitting by the fire and working alongside others. I love that everyone on the beach is so social, and it fills the lonely part in my heart that misses my old community. I can'trememberthat community, but I know there was one. We warm our hands near the flames and talk story, and it feeds my heart.
Dawn is cooking lunch today, a big fish stew over the main fire. I'm peeling roots to help her out, and several of the kids and their moms are nearby. Bianca is getting embroidery lessons from Callie, and Natalie and Dora are working on weaving dried seaweed fronds for rope. At my side, Penny sips tea, her stomach upset from morning sickness. Tal'nef is nearby, too, and I suspect it has something to do with Bianca. He seems to show up a lot when she's around and pretends like he's not interested when it's painfully obvious he is.
"Watch," Penny murmurs into her teacup. "He's going to move closer to her again."
I peel another strip from the root I'm working on and glance up, trying to hide my smirk.
Sure enough, Tal'nef examines the knife in his hands with exaggerated movements. It's bone, and like all the bone tools used, it needs constant sharpening until it eventually gets tossed. It's not surprising to see someone sitting with the group and sharpening tools. It doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
Bianca makes a face at her stitches, oblivious to Tal'nef's attention. She holds the leather at arm's length, eyeing it critically. "Ugh. It looks dodgy. What am I doing wrong?"
"You need tighter stitches," Callie says. "Smaller. Tighter. But not so tight it puckers the leather beneath it. It really doesn't look too bad, though."
"Yeah nah," Bianca replies, shaking her head at her project. "She's got a face like a dropped pie."
I giggle at that, because BiancaspeaksEnglish, but I swear she has some weird phrasing. She's told others that she's Aussie, but my brain isn't filling in what part of Earth that is. Just another piece missing in the scattered puzzle of my memory.
Across the fire, Tal'nef brushes the bone chips off his lap and wraps up his blade in his leather lap-cover. He glances over at Bianca's stitches. "Good," he says. "Good work."
