He had avoided touching her for most of the day, afraid that his desire would overwhelm his caution, but he had been constantly aware of her presence. He had seen her watching him as well and she had been far bolder, leaning over him so that he could feel the press of her breast against his back or sliding a teasing finger down his stomach. He could wait no longer.
He rose and stalked towards her, a low growl rumbling in his throat. Her eyes widened, but she stood her ground. He could see the hard points of her nipples beneath the fur, and the scent of her desire made his head swim as he pulled her into his arms.
“You are wehl?” he growled, his voice so guttural that he could barely decipher his own words.
But Jayn didn’t seem to have any problem understanding him. She nodded, and very deliberately rubbed her soft, fur-covered breasts against his chest, then leaned forward and bit down gently on his nipple with her small teeth. He roared and grabbed her, impatiently snapping the strings that held her outfit together as he carried her into the shelter.
The next morning, Taraxan reluctantly decided that they should resume their journey. He brought Jayn some more vines to replace the ones he had destroyed the previous night. While she repaired her outfit, he gathered up their supplies. After a last regretful look around the clearing, he took her hand and they started walking once more.
It took them another three days to reach the river, and he was actually surprised that they reached it that quickly. Most days they only walked in the morning, then stopped whenever he found a convenient place to set up camp—or when their need for each other grew too strong to ignore. He couldn’t get enough of her. He would spend hours worshipping her, making love to every inch of her body, before finally drifting off to sleep, only to awaken a few hours later, ravenous for her once again. And she was just as enthusiastic, frequently pulling him to a halt and dropping to her knees in front of him to take him into her mouth.
The first time she had done it he had been shocked—it was another act in which the Doturans did not engage—but as soon as her hot little mouth closed over the head of his cock, he was lost. She licked him, sucked him, and when she finally took him deep into the narrow confines of her throat and swallowed, he came with a roar that echoed through the jungle. His knees actually weakened and he had to brace himself against a tree as she gently pulled away, smiling up at him with an inordinately pleased expression.
“I take it you liked that?”
He didn’t need the smug smile on her face to decipher her meaning.
“Laik,” he agreed, then dropped down next to her, parted her legs, and proceeded to show her just how much.
He was considering stopping to indulge in that particular pleasure on the afternoon of the third day when he caught the scent of water. A moment later he heard the rush of sound, and they pushed through a final set of bushes to emerge on the bank of the river. Misstuh Tiduhlz chittered uneasily as the three of them came to a halt.
“This isn’t what I expected,” Jayn murmured.
“Neither did I.”
Stretching out in front of them was a broad expanse of water, so wide that he would be unable to throw a stone to the other side. He was a decent swimmer, but he suspected that conveying Jayn and Misstuh Tiduhlz safely to the other side of the swiftly flowing water would exceed his skills.
Jayn was eyeing the water with equal concern. “We have to cross that?”
“Yehss,” he said grimly.
Her doubtful expression increased. “I’m not a very good swimmer.”
He tucked her against his side and gave her a reassuring hug. There was no way he would subject her to the rapid current, let alone whatever other dangers might lurk beneath the surface.
“I will build a…” He searched for the word in her language. “...boht.”
“A boat? You can do that?”
She gave him an admiring look, and he realized that the word he had used might imply a more impressive vessel than he was capable of building without any tools. He would have to investigate and see what materials were available. In the meantime, the sun was beginning to slant low across the water and he decided to set up camp on the riverbank.
The open stretch of ground between the trees and the river looked like a promising campsite, but he could see signs that the waters had risen over it in the past. He decided to err on the side of caution and make their shelter close to the tree line.
Jayn didn’t protest and the two of them set up camp with what had now become their standard routine. But this time as he gathered small branches for their fire, he also inspected the larger dead falls. Some of the fallen logs were massive, and he would only need to join a few of them together in order to create a raft. Unfortunately, their very size would make them difficult to handle. He spared a brief wistful thought for the technology he had left behind. Even a simple saw would have been useful to shorten the logs to a more manageable size, but if he had a choice between technology and being with Jayn, he would choose Jayn every time.
After marking the location of the logs, he began to gather some of the sturdier vines. He would use them
