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She straightened and rocked a little like she was embarrassed. “Yeah. I study various cultures and their mythos. I’m interested in the Inuit and hoping to add to my dissertation material while I’m here.” She took a big bite of onion ring, and I longed to smear the oil from her plump lips to other parts of her body.
“That’s amazing,” I said. “One of my favorite parts of traveling is interacting with different people and learning from them.”
Rosi stopped eating, letting her onion ring drop to the plate. She scooted closer. “Really?”
“That and the wildlife. I love seeing animals in their natural habitat.”
Rosi seemed thoughtful for a moment. I could tell there was something she was holding back. I wanted to pry it out of her, but according to everything I’d learned about her, the best way to do that was to be patient and let her organize her thoughts.
“I am studying something like that,” she finally said. “A combination of those things really.” She popped a shrimp in her mouth and leaned back on her hands, surveying me.
Assuming she was checking to see if I was truly interested, I leaned toward her. I was definitely interested. “So what’s your research about?”
“I’m studying cryptids.” It came out fast and explosive, like she either forced it out, or it escaped her lips.
“What’s a cryptid?” I asked, not breaking eye contact. Her dark chocolate eyes sparkled with unmistakable excitement, and heat swelled in my belly. I loved being the source of that excitement.
“It’s a creature that people can’t explain the existence of, so most of the time they assume it’s not real.”
“I see.” I thought for a moment. “I’ve seen things in my travels—not creatures per say, but things most people wouldn’t believe. Personally, I think dismissing something because it makes you uncomfortable is shallow thinking. There’s a lot more to this world than we currently understand.”
“Exactly!” Rosi dove toward me, and for a moment I thought she was going to hug me, but she ended up sitting with her face cradled in hands, scooted so close that the only thing between us was a mostly eaten plate of onion rings. “It’s so good to find someone who gets it. Sometimes the myths of a culture come from reality. It’s those stories I’m interested in. I want to prove to the world that these things are out there whether they like it or not. I want proof that no one can look away from even when it makes them uncomfortable.”
I swallowed. I wanted to tell her the chances of finding something like that on our hellipod journey was as close to zero as it got. I also wanted to kiss her candy-apple lips. But I needed to abstain from both, so I inhaled deeply and counted to three before answering.
She leaned back, shoulders slumping as she examined the onion rings left on the plate. “You think that’s crazy.”
“No!” She’d mistaken the reason for my discomfort. I grabbed her hand so she’d look at me. “I think it’s noble to want to wake up the world.”
Staring into my eyes, her mouth parted invitingly. My fingers circled the soft skin of her hand, and she sighed in response. My cock betrayed me once again, but I decided not to fight it that time, to just be in the moment. This kind of contact was still appropriate, at least that’s what I decided to tell myself.
But when she leaned in and tilted her head, I recalled what I had almost done in the snow and knew I had to stop it.
“That’s why you always wear those funny shirts, right? I’ve seen you in a couple now. The bigfoot one and the one that…got wet.” Damn it, that wasn’t helping.
But she did break out of the trance she’d seemed to be in and straightened up, reclaiming her hand. “You noticed those?”
“Hard not to,” I said and cleared my throat. I hoped that didn’t come across wrong. I meant it as a compliment on the humor not an I’ve been staring at your breasts for two days sort of comment.
Thankfully, she took it the right way and smiled. “You notice details, don’t you?”
“I have to. Sometimes the smallest thing will make the difference between life and death.”
“Like a boy using hover disks nearby?” She rewarded me with a smile.
“Like a boy using hover disks.”
Torn between kissing her and telling her everything I’d never shared with anyone, I chose neither option. Instead, I stood and cleared the dishes, placing them on the ample counter rimmed in what appeared to be deadly looking icicles for the cleaning bots to deal with in the morning.
When I turned around again, Rosi had set up a tiny barbecue on the carpet and was sticking marshmallows onto tiny metal spears.
“Dessert?” I asked, impressed with her appetite.
“You have to try at least one.” She handed me one of the spears as I scooted onto the floor beside her. I watched her face in the glow of the small fire, my gaze traveling down the curve of her neck to her breasts.
Clearing my throat, I reached over her to snatch a graham cracker and pre-cut piece of chocolate. Her eyes sparkled in the light as she sucked in her lower lip when she found me an inch away. Slowly, I sat back in my spot to prevent myself from copying her and sucking in her lower lip as well.
We assembled our sandwiches in silence, the air thick with tension. Then she took an enormous bite of her s’more and moaned in ecstasy. My cock was so hard I had to shift as she reached forward to offer me a bite, one hand held below the melting contents of the treat.
