But I had made an important first step: gaining the trust of my animal friends would not be easy here, and I would need that to be successful at it at all.
I slipped into the massive bed and admitted that it was quite comfortable, wondering when and if they would start forcing me to sleep in the same area as Axis. The wedding was set for a month away. Probably, then.
I had managed to avoid him most of the day. I felt bad for that. He was being nothing but helpful… But I was scared… I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself, and definitely not to him, but that electricity that he seemed to feel when we had touched the firefin together on my sailboat a few days ago… I had never felt that before. That was amazing. It was mesmerizing. The fact that I had kissed him, allowed him to touch me… That it had felt so right…
And it had…
I settled back into the blankets and pillows, shimmying to shift myself in comfortably. I imagined Axis’s touch on my cheek, brushing my hair back, his black eyes looking deep into mine, deep wells, like the night with slight sparks of starlight shining from within the echoes of space. His hands were so large and strong and sure. They felt like the perfect fit on my ribs as he had lifted me up and back down, sliding down his bare chest…
I let my imagination take me away, as if I hadn’t stopped him that evening in the sailboat, as if I hadn’t freaked out, but had let it continue…
I licked my lips as I imagined his lips brushing mine, his tongue flicking out to touch mine, inviting mine inside his mouth, playing around, battling for control. A battle it would be. He kissed the side of my mouth, then the other, then my nose, then my cheeks. He pulled back on my hair and kissed my exposed neck, tracing little kisses all along my jawline. I tangled my hands in his hair and wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted me up and turned us around to place me in the bottom of the boat, his bare chest slick with the water we had been in moments before. He leaned forward to kiss me, my fingernails raking red lines down his back as the kiss drew deep and long, as if he were kissing my soul.
I slid my hand between my legs, under my panties, and began to play with myself as I dropped deeper into my imagination.
He pushed back from me and his eyes were laughing at me, taunting me in that way I secretly loved. He tapped his fingertips along my collarbone and gently tugged at the edge of my blouse. Then he gripped it tighter, stopping a moment, asking my permission. I nodded.
He ripped away my blouse. I gasped as the fabric gave way in an ephemeral tug, revealing my breasts for him to devour.
In a second, he had reached behind me and unsnapped my bra and flung it far away from the boat, the splash a sweet sound in the starlit night. His kisses traveled down my mouth, my jaw, my neck, till he reached my breasts, cradling each one in his hand before he gently teased the nipple with his teeth, swirled it around with his tongue, bit down harder, harder, while I gripped his waist with my legs and his hair with my hands, then he sucked on my nipple and massaged my breasts.
I gasped and called his name. “Axis!”
“Yes? Ceritha?”
I gasped for real, my eyes springing open in the dark room, the curtains of the open window fluttering, star and moonlight spilling in. I pulled my hand out of my panties, breathing heavily, heart beating fast, eyes wide, searching in the dark.
How the hell had he heard me?
“Princess, did you need me?”
I realized, with a breath of relief, I had called to him telepathically.
I collapsed back to the pillows, knowing my face was flushing red.
“No, I’m sorry. Everything is fine. I was just, wondering… Can we please set up the lab tomorrow?”
“Yes, I thought that was already planned.”
“Yes, thank you… Thank you… I… I just wanted to check.” My mouth was dry. My heart was beating heavily in my ears. I pulled a pillow over my face, hiding my embarrassment from the invisible, watching world.
“Indeed. Have a nice night, Princess.”
“Thank you. You too, Commander.”
I cursed inwardly and pulled the covers up to my face. No more fantasizing, I reprimanded myself. That was dangerous. Apparently, the connection I had felt us having on the sailboat was real… There was something more between us. I had felt the electricity through the firefins, through his hand, into my mind. And now, when I was daydreaming about us, making love… I had called out to him in reality, in our minds…
What did that mean?
Did I want to find out?
Eight
Axis
“I just don’t know what to do, Cartari. She mainly ignores me. If she isn’t ignoring me, she is actively despising me.” I
