AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"No, but you can usually guess from context." I leaned in and tilted my face slightly. "See, I'm turning my head so I'm clearly going for a kiss on the cheek."
To my surprise, Atina moved closer and pressed her blue lips on my cheek. A little jolt of delight shot through me and I didn't pull away nearly as fast as I thought I would.
Instead, I turned to face her, my voice reduced to a whisper. I inched towards her, nerves tingling through me. "And like this, that's a regular kiss."
Atina moved even closer, pausing in front of me, so close I could feel her warm breath on my lips. "I've never given a mouth kiss before."
She was too cute.
I shuffled closer and brushed the back of my hand over her cheek, marvelling at how soft her skin was and how beautiful her eyes were. I pressed my lips on hers, briefly, a soft kiss that made my whole body tingle. It had been so long since I had any romantic intimacy, it was like someone set a whole bunch of fireworks alight in my stomach.
We broke apart and I sat back. "How was that for you?"
Atina grinned. "That's nice. Is it my turn now?"
"It's not exactly a turn thing, but yes."
She leaned in and pressed her lips on mine, equally as gentle and tender. My heart pounded even more and I parted my lips, inviting Atina in for more. Butterflies fluttered in my chest as she deepened the kiss. Her research had clearly worked.
She was slightly breathless when the kiss ended. "I like that a lot. Does that mean we're mates now?"
My chest constricted. I knew what mate meant to Kyvens. She wasn't just asking me to be her girlfriend, it was a much bigger commitment, one I wasn't sure I could make. I should've considered this before I let myself get closer to the lovely pilot.
I moved back, a chill running down my spine. I shouldn't have kissed her on a whim. "Look, I really like you, Atina. But we live very different lives. You clearly love your ship so I can't ask you to leave it, but I don't know if I can be away from Rachel or my animals all the time."
"Oh." Disappointment filled Atina's deep blue eyes. "I understand."
"Sorry."
"It's okay, I understand." She offered me a smile but the hurt was clear on her face. "So, retail-therapy?" Without waiting for my reply, she got out of the shuttle.
18
Atina
Itrailed after Heather while she bought all the things she needed. I didn't know anything about cattle feed, hay, and all the other items Heather needed, so I stayed in the background, letting her do the negotiations. I helped her carry her purchases to the shuttle whenever she needed me to, but we didn't exchange many words.
I could still taste her on my lips. That mouth kiss had been simply amazing. Even more exhilarating than flying through an asteroid field at high speed. I wanted to feel that again. My gaze was drawn to her lips again and again, wondering if she had felt the same way. Had she enjoyed the kiss or had it been nothing special for her? Maybe she did this all the time. That would explain why she'd rejected me so easily.
I'd read up on humans, but I knew from experience that you couldn't believe everything you read, especially when it came to a barely researched species like humans. Once they left their own solar system, they would become more interesting to other aliens, but right now, there wasn't a whole lot of information on them.
"Atina, are you coming?"
I realised Heather was holding a door open for me. I'd been so deep in thought that I hadn't even looked where I was going. We were on our fifth stop and I was getting bored of retail therapy. Shopping was a lot more fun when it involved items that I actually wanted rather than yet another bale of hay.
"This farm shop has a tea room at the back. I think we've earned ourselves a scone."
"What's a scone?"
"One of the best things ever, you'll see. Come on, I hope they still have some fruit scones left."
She led me through a warren of shelves and boxes until we emerged in an open space at the other end of the building. Five tiny tables were squeezed into the room, one of them unoccupied. Heather steered right towards the empty table while pointing at a counter to our left.
"It looks like they've increased their cake selection since I was last here. You should try some cake. And scones. Mmhm, maybe we can take some with us for later?"
I looked at the plates filled with strange mounds and balls of baked dough. Some of them looked appetising, while with some of them I wasn't even sure if they were food.
As soon as we took a seat, a young female appeared from behind the counter. Her hair was as blue as my own, but set into short spikes. She had silver rings stuck in her nose, ears and bottom lip. I had a lot of questions, but didn't want to ask them while the young human was still in earshot.
