Chapter Eight

Niva

He looks ill, his face goes pale white, and the small twinges of blocked emotion flicker around him, orange with fear. There’s some green in there, I think, some excitement, but he’s so difficult to read.

“Graven, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“Take me back,” he blurts.

“What?” I stare at him in utter confusion. Nowhere in my thoughts did I consider he might not want to go with me.

“I can’t do this.”

“I don’t understand.” I tilt my head at him. “Can’t, as in, can’t have sex? Or you don’t want to?” My heart gets tight. Either way, I worry for him.

“I can’t…I don’t…” He covers his face with his hand and mumbles, “Of course, I want to, it’s just…”

“Just, what?”

He lifts his eyes to me again, and they are wide with anxiety. “You’re a lot, okay? Three days alone with you?” He grabs his hair and groans, “Gods, how am I going to survive this?”

My understanding is fuzzy, I think. I hope. I’m worried he just insulted me. “I’m…a lot?”

“Oh fuck,” he groans again. “No, no. Not like that. I didn’t mean…” He gives a heavy sigh. “I’m so bad at this. I’m sorry.”

It seems he has difficulty expressing himself in words. It’s a good thing I learn languages so quickly. There’s no way he’d be able to master mine anytime soon.

I pinch my lips to keep from laughing. His awkwardness is a bit amusing. “What are you bad at?”

“People! I don’t talk to anyone, ever. Let alone have sex with them. You’re the first…” He stops himself and bites his lip.

“I’m the first, what?”

“I, um…” His emotional aura lightens from the orange fear to an almost yellow with embarrassment. “Let’s just say, you’re my first sex goddess.”

I chuckle at him. “I’m the only one, so I should hope I’m your first.”

“Right. Yes, you are.”

But I think I’m understanding what he’s saying. He’s worried I’ll overwhelm him. “We can go slowly, Graven.”

“Slow…” He gulps. “Right.” His hesitation is curious.

“Or we don’t have to go slow.”

He stares at me and leans toward me, his eyes rounding with hunger. “Maybe I want to savor you. Do you know what savor means?”

“Like food that tastes good?” I smile. “Am I food to you, Graven?”

He lets out a long puff of air, and his orange fear starts to blend into red, which means desire. “So much better than food, Niva.” His voice lowers, the words resonating in a throaty bass.

Heat spreads deep through my body. “Better than food, huh?” I like this conversation. I want him to keep going.

“I’m dying to taste you, Niva. I just want to be clear that’s included in your plan to heal me.” He licks his lips, and I swear his fleshy human tongue on his full human lips is the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen—and I’ve seen a lot. “I didn’t get to savor you last night, and it’s all I’ve been able to think about.”

Surprise lights up amid my desire for his tongue on me, in me, all over me. “Let me make sure I understand you.” My voice is breathier than before, lower, trying and failing to match his. “You haven’t been thinking about how I made you feel with my Exstare power. You’ve been thinking about tasting me?”

I’m certain that’s a first. Even before I came into my power, my lovers were always more interested in what I could do for them, not in what they could do for me. And truthfully, I’ve given lots of oral sex in the last month. I can give Exstare orgasms with my mouth as well as I can with my hands and my cunt.

I hadn’t thought about the fact that no one’s given me oral sex in…

My gods… I can’t even remember. They’ve all been so starved for what I can give them, no one’s given me anything.

Graven leans close. “All I want is to taste you. All of you.”

I put my face to his, near enough to kiss. “Maybe I can’t wait. Maybe I want you to taste me now.”

I expect him to touch me with his hands, to tease me more with words, but with unrestrained enthusiasm, he presses his mouth to mine with a suddenness that shocks me.

Our teeth knock together awkwardly, and he backs off.

He hides his eyes. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

I grab his face, pulling him to me, sinking my fingers in his hair. I want to taste his unbridled desire. “Shut up and kiss me.”

He does. His lips are soft but clumsy; there is no finesse, and his lack of experience is obvious, but I don’t care about experience. I’ve had the experienced. What I want is someone who wants me for me and not for what I can give him.

I want him to taste me.

I open my mouth, and he thrusts his tongue in without hesitation, and at the touch of my tongue, a moan sounds from deep inside him. His lips vibrate against mine.

His tongue starts out with greedy fierce swipes, circling mine and grazing the insides of my mouth with a hurriedness and aggression as though he’s terrified this is his only chance to taste all of me.

His breathing is stiff and ragged, almost panicked, and I decide to take pity on his frenzy.

I pull back his head with my hands. “Graven…” I breathe, breathless myself from my heart rate skyrocketing to match his. “It’s okay,” I reassure him. “I’m not going anywhere. We have all the time you need.”

He lets out a heavy sigh and rests his forehead against mine. “I can’t imagine ever having enough time with you, but I’ll slow down if you want.”

“Savor, like you said.”

“Yes.” He stares at my mouth like he’s desperate to be inside it again. “Savor.”

I kiss him, openmouthed, and this time, his tongue is delicate against mine, stroking and touching. And he’s tasting me with exquisite attention, delving into my mouth, pressing against my lips, angling his head so he can explore every inch, slowly, deliberately.

It’s heady and drugging, and I’m so taken away by his intense rhythm, his inexhaustible curiosity over my mouth, I lose myself to his tongue. To him. There’s something so rich about him. I can feel it. Even in his blocked emotions, even amid the inexplicable pain in his body, the cause of which I still don’t understand, his emotions run deep. His emotional palette is a complex rainbow of intricate colors just waiting to be unleashed. He’s inexperienced, but his want, the fullness of his desire, has a depth I’ve never felt before.

I wonder if once I’ve uncovered him, healed him, once he overcomes his awkwardness and inexperience, whether he will be an irresistible force of nature. I will be in danger of drowning in him.

But I won’t worry about that now. I just want to experience him for myself.

I claim him, pressing as close as I can, letting him as deep as I can, wishing these seats weren’t so small that his knees are too scrunched for me to straddle his lap.

Gods, his cock must be as hard as marble right now.

I shudder, and he pulls back.

“Niva,” he whispers, breathless. “Is this okay? Are you okay?”

“More than okay,” I whisper back. “I…” I don’t know how to translate how I feel or even describe it in my own language. “Please…kiss me some more?” I’ve never enjoyed just kissing someone so much. I didn’t know it could be like this—this fulfilling and emotionally intense.

He doesn’t need to be asked twice. He seals his mouth to mine again, his tongue as starved and attentive as the first time.

I could let him do this for the next two hours, all the way to the mountain house.

But once we get there, it’s going to be me who can’t go slowly. I want him throwing me against the wall and fucking me with that enormous cock of his like a piston, now. I cling closer to him.

I’m going to want him in me, on me, tasting me, every minute of the next three days, until this is over, and I have to go home.

Home.

I can’t think about that now. Later.

I pull his arms around me and beg him to hold me tighter. He hesitates.

“You won’t break me,” I say.

“You don’t understand. I might,” he levels at me, seriously. “I could if I’m not careful.”

“Oh.” I run my hands over his massive biceps that are so large, I can’t even consider covering them with my hands. “Well, still tighter, though.”

“Okay,” he presses me to him a little stronger, but not much.

I smile, he’s so careful. “Now kiss me some more.”

“Gods, yes.”