“I’m using the wrong word? Thin. Notthick.”
He gives me a mischievous smile. “It’s the right word. Indeed, your speech has gotten much better in just a couple of days.”
“Then why you give wrong?”
He leans down, voice low. “Because I like it when you look at me like that.”
My heart skips. “Like what?”
“Like you are about to bite.” He lifts one big hand and strokes a strand of hair out of my face.
I inhale sharply. He freezes, as if startled by his own boldness, as if he’s about to take it back. Neither of us moves. The clearing is quiet except for the distant ocean and the quick breathing from the baby.
He bends down and places a light kiss on my lips. “But you don’t bite. And that’s what I like the most.”
“I could,” I threaten him, while heat rises all through me. Damn, if Aker’iz wasn’t sleeping right there…
“I know.”
We lock eyes for a moment. His are incredibly clear and intensely, luminously blue. I can’t look away until a movement makes my eyes flick down to his loincloth. Yes, definitely movement there.
“If only the chief weren’t so strict,” Kenz’ox says as he hands me another vine. “Here. This is thin. Notthick.”
I snatch the vine out of his hand with fake anger. “That’s better.”
He blows on his fingertips as if they were singed. “You’re an even stricter building chief than Aker’iz.”
“You think this is strict? Just wait.” I place the vine in the wall and grab another.
When I finish the weaving, I step back. “That’s done. Now we test.” I pat the rim. “Try leaning your weight on it. Carefully.”
He gives me another one of those smirks. “You know I can be careful.”
My cheeks go warm. “Well, yes. But this is another kind of careful.”
“Let’s see.” He braces a hand on the playpen’s edge and presses down. The structure creaks, but it holds.
“Hah!” I exclaim. “See? I know what I’m doing. Almost the best building chief on Xren. Only Aker’iz is better.”
“Hmm. I find you’re equally good. After all, she keeps sleeping while we build. She knows how to be the perfect chief.”
I grab the wicker-like wall and shake it. It feels pretty firm. “Toys R Us would be proud.”
He tilts his head. “What?”
“Nothing. Alien talk.”
He lifts Aker’iz gently from the frontpack and places her in the playpen. She blinks awake, looks around at her new domain, and immediately reaches out to grab a piece of vine that sticks out a quarter inch.
“I knew it,” I groan.
Kenz’ox sighs. “She wants to touch everything.”
“Every baby does. But at leastwe’resafe now.” I grin up at him. “Safe from the little chief.”
Aker’iz crawls around in the playpen, exploring the grass and the dirt.
“And she’s safe from the jungle,” Kenz’ox ponders as he reaches in to grab her. She kicks and protests, so he lets go again. “You’re getting very dirty in there, Aker’iz. And we just cleaned you in the ocean—oh, all right. Stay in there for now.”
