Kerra turned back around as she gazed out into the vast expanse of space. I wasn’t sure if she was pleased with my decisions or not. Her small fingers rose and rubbed her arms as a light shiver ghosted across her slender body. She was so much smaller than my race, even the females. Her body was pleasing to the eye in a way I never could have imagined. Soft curves drew my eye downward as I admired the hourglass shape and the rounded slope of her ass.
“Deep space is cold.” I walked to the lockers on the far side of the room and pulled out one of my heavy jackets. Slipping the material over her shoulders, I gestured to the sleeves. “Put your arms through and you’ll be warm soon enough. TheVindicatoris a large vessel. You’ll find the corridors and alleyways cold and brisk. The docking bays can be frigid. I’ll have extra blankets sent to your quarters if you desire.”
She seemed to debate herself for a moment before slipping her arms into the soft material. “This feels like heaven.” Her teeth nibbled her bottom lip as our eyes met. “Thank you.”
“I could hardly allow you to freeze aboard my vessel.”
She tilted her head to the side as she regarded me with a perplexed expression. “You’re not at all what I imagined.”
Me? Or alien species? My confusion must have been obvious.
“Those red guys are exactly what I would imagine in my nightmares,” she began.
“The Zhorn,” I clarified.
“Ah, okay.” Her gaze roamed over my body in a way that made my hearts pump faster. “But you and the others here, you’redifferent. Kind. Polite. Protective. Is that normal for the Braxthar people?”
“We are warriors. That is our clan, our birthright should we choose to enter into service.”
“And your society? What do they think of humans?”
Caught off guard, I wasn’t sure what she meant. “We have no interaction with humans. You are protected by the Cardinal Edict. Our council hasn’t entered into any trade agreement.”
Kerra huffed and made a noise as if she was disappointed in my response. “So, only warriors have met humans?”
I was a bit reluctant to answer since I had a feeling that she wouldn’t like my response. “Yes.”
“Fuck,” she blurted.
Tilting my head to the side, I tried to discern her meaning. “What is this word ‘fuck’? What does it mean?”
She blushed; turning as heated and red as the furry littletengasthat roamed my home world of Vindar. “It has multiple meanings. Do you have curse words in your language?”
Curse words? Ah yes, I knew what she meant. “Words you say when angry or frustrated? Like profanity or an obscenity?” I clarified. “Veetis common in my tongue.”
“Yes, exactly.” She wouldn’t meet my gaze. The pink in her cheeks deepened with her embarrassment. “Fuck is used in multiple ways but that’s the most common.”
Multiple ways? I was too curious not to inquire further. “What other way isfuckused?”
She fidgeted with the material of the jacket which humored me greatly. I sensed her unease and was torn with the thought of dropping the subject altogether when she blurted the answer. “It means to have sex.”
Sex? Intimacy between mated males and females? “This fuck,” I began.
“Fucking,”she corrected.
“This fucking . . . is between mates?” I asked specifically because my data on human breeding and mating rituals was limited. There wasn’t much information collected in the Galactic Conclave databases. They were a fairly new species in the intergalactic realm. I’d be required to log what I learned but my fascination was piqued, and I had a vested interest in hearing her explanation.
“Humans fuck anyone they want. Sometimes people are married and sometimes they just meet and decide they want to be with that person for a short period of time. It’s called a one-night stand or hookup.” She shrugged, tugging on her bottom lip with her teeth. “Personally, quick meaningless sex is not for me but many single people – and sometimes married or committed in a relationship people do it – which is just cheating.”
At this point I was confused. Some of those words had no context in my language. “Mating without being mates? What is this word ‘married’? What does it mean?”
“Marriage is when two people love one another and decide to make a lifelong commitment to that other person. They have a ceremony where they speak vows and promise to uphold those vows until they die.” She was staring out into the unknown of space as she spoke, and I realized I’d moved closer without thinking about it. I was drawn to her so effortlessly and completely that I dismissed the world around us almost recklessly in my desire to feel her warmth close to my skin. Since the moment we left the surface, I had been consumed with thoughts of this female. “My parents were married for over forty years. Some couples manage to follow their vows and commitment. Others break apart and that’s a divorce.”
Frowning, I placed my hands on her shoulders as I sensed her discomfort. Her emotions were so strong that I could taste bitterness, regret, and betrayal on my tongue like a burntyahnapaste. Someone had hurt her and the urge to find that person and inflict bodily harm was so fierce that I dropped my hands and stepped back from her personal space.
This human was a protected female. What was I thinking?
To touch her was forbidden.
