It wasn't a gentle kiss. It wasn't the kind of kiss appropriate for broad daylight with an audience. It was deep and possessive and flavored with salt from his sweat, but she didn't care one bit about propriety.
Behind them, Davuh and Roven hooted and cheered, their voices carrying across the backyard.
"Get a room!" Davuh hollered.
"Don't mind us!" Roven called out. "Don't stop on our account!”
Tula ignored them both, losing herself in the feel of Esag's lips against hers, the warmth of his skin beneath her fingers, the solid reality of him here, now, building a life with her.
When he lifted his head, she kept her hand on the back of his neck, holding him close.
"I love you," she said.
The words came easily now. She had said them before, had broken through that barrier days ago, but she found herself wanting to say them to him again and again. Just to hear herself speak them. Just to feel the truth of them resonating in her chest.
"I love you," she repeated. "I love you so much."
His eyes were glowing faintly, that warm inner light that meant his emotions were running high. "I love you too," he said, his voice rough. "So much that I feel like my heart is going to explode."
"Kiss me again," she commanded.
He obliged.
Davuh's voice drifted over from the work site. "Are we still building this shed, or should we go home and give you two privacy?"
Esag pulled back with a laugh, pressing one more quick kiss to her forehead before straightening up. "Keep working. I'll be there in a minute."
"Take your time," Roven called out. "We'll just be here. Doing all the labor. In the heat. While you make out with your lady."
"Mate," Tula corrected loudly. "Esag is my mate. Not my boyfriend, not my boy toy. My mate."
Esag's smile could have lit up the entire village.
"Mate," he repeated softly, just for her. "I like the sound of that."
"Get back to work." She gave him a gentle push. "You need to finish building your shed so you can start creating again."
He caught her hand before she could withdraw it, pressing a kiss to her palm. "As my lady commands."
The smile wouldn't leave her face as she watched him return to his friends. They resumed their work with renewed energy and even more teasing. The shed was taking shape, wall by wall, panel by panel.
By evening, it would have a roof.
By tomorrow, it would have windows and a door and an air conditioning unit.
And by next week, it would be filled with Esag's tools, his figurines, his half-finished carvings, and his creative energy.
Tula rested her hand on the swell of her belly and allowed herself to feel something she had suppressed for five thousand years.
Hope.
Hope for the future.
Hope for the family she was building with the male she loved. Hope that after millennia of merely surviving, she was finally, truly going to live.
36
ANNANI
