adequately compare them to Earthlings,” I tease.

“You haven’t slept with a Novan or a Kurian, have you?” he demands.

“Besides you? Why should it matter? You’ve fucked Earthlings. Kurians too?”

He nods slowly, and then he shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I asked that. I shouldn’t have.”

Strol. He’s jealous. Fuck. That bond glue thing, is it working on him too? Is that why I asked him to prove it? Because I want him to stick around?

No. I'm just curious and have a good time with him. That's all. Why shouldn't I want the good times to last as long as possible?

“You look tired,” Strol murmurs softly.

I eye him. He’s right. The adrenaline high from my plane-walking stunt is leaving me. Combined with the meal after our sex romp, and I’m surprised that I’m still standing.

“I am a bit bushed,” I admit.

He tilts his head to the side. “That’s a new one,” he murmurs.

“Yeah, I’m tired. Sorry.”

“I figured it out and without my chip.” He winks.

“That wasn’t a hard one to figure out,” I protest.

“Maybe not, but if you’re tired, you should sleep. When you wake, prepare to be amazed because I will show you just how much of a daredevil I can be.”

“Hmm. Fine, but…” I hesitate.

“What is it?”

“I don’t want you to wake me by, ah…”

He’s completely serious, and it strikes me that he knows when to joke around and tease versus when to be solemn. “If you don’t want me to touch you sexually during your sleep, I won’t. I don’t know why you think I would.”

“Oh, it’s just because you mentioned about wanting a woman to suck you off.”

“Oh. That.” Strol laughs and shakes his head. “You need to sleep and recover. I don’t want to interrupt that, but maybe another time, I will kiss you awake. Would that be allowed?”

My heart skips a beat. “Bold of you to assume there will be another time that I sleep in your presence.”

"Bold of you to pretend that you don't want a second round, which would constitute as sleeping together."

“Bold of you to act as if you know me.”

“Bold of you to want to keep me at arm’s length when I’ve already touched every inch of your body.”

I wag a finger at him. “You haven’t kissed every inch of my body.”

“Not everything has to be done all at once,” he murmurs. “We don’t have to rush, do we?”

“No,” I say, flustered.

I never feel flustered. What is he doing to me?

“I’m going to find a spot to lie down on the mountain. It takes a long while to head down, and…”

“That spot over there looks nice.”

He points to a tree that I actually had slept underneath during a previous trek up the mountain. Moss grows on the tree and some of the rocks underneath it, the stones nestled in the roots.

“What about you?” I ask. “Aren’t you tired?”

“No. As much as our romp had been a serious bout of cardio, I opted for deep sleep on the ride here, so I don’t need to sleep yet.”

“Deep sleep?” I ask through a yawn as I make my way over to the tree.

He trails behind me, not too close so he doesn’t seem to be hovering. “I can explain later if you’re interested.”

He's keeping some distance from me, not just physically but emotionally. He's allowing me to decide if I want to get drawn deeper into him or if I want to keep this purely sexual.

Fuck, but I don’t know what I want to do.

That’s a lie. I know I want to do him again and again.

But do I want things to just be casual? Or do I want to take a risk?

Daredevils take risks.

But can two daredevils truly have a long-term relationship? Especially when at least one of them has never had a serious relationship before?

I have no idea, and I don’t want to think about this anymore.

I lie down and close my eyes. Something soft is draped over me, and I just snuggle into place more, settled and comforted, not opening my eyes as sleep whisks me away into dreamland.

7

Strol

Watching Isabella sleep does something to me. She’s wrestling with something, her mind causing her to retreat into herself, and she’s not telling me what she’s thinking. I want to ask, but I also don’t want to push her. She’s entirely comfortable with her body and sharing it when she wants to, but her mind is another matter altogether.

I have a feeling she doesn't share her heart easily, either.

And that’s fine. In fact, I prefer it. I don’t want to be with someone who falls in love easily because, chances are, they’ll fall out of love just as quickly. No. When I find love, I want it to last.

But if I do find love, I’ll have to keep her hidden from my father.

Which means Mom can’t meet her either.

And maybe not even Sarah because Sarah doesn’t always think clearly, and she’s slipped her tongue before and said something she shouldn’t have. I can’t blame her for that. Father has a way of wrangling the truth out of people.

But I want to protect Isabella. I want to keep her away from my father, but the only way to do that might be to let her go.

Ovian. Why am I even thinking about any of this? It’s her choice if she wants to be with me. For right now, we’re just two people who have sizzling chemistry of the sexual kind. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll work long-term. All of my worries might be for nothing at all.

But I hope that isn’t the case because she does mean so very much to me already.

It's terrifying, honestly, and I pace and pace and pace. The sun sets, and the moon rises. Isabella sleeps peacefully. When she first lay down, I covered her with fallen branches from a nearby tree, the leaves long and soft. Now, I hunt around and find more branches and make myself a bed of sorts to sleep

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