He stares at me. His golden eyes are luminous and mesmerizing. “You do not want a mate.”
“And neither do you,” I remind him.
“Because I cannot offer you a comfortable life with hot baths and new clothes.”
“This is not about what I want. I am asking what I can do so you do not have to leave. So your brothers do not hate me for believing I pushed you away.” His eyes widen and I know he hadn’t thought of that. “We need each other.”
But I think he needs me more.
“I will not mate with a woman who has not chosen me,” he grits out.
He will only do what I let him. What I ask for.
He won’t ask for what he needs, and I don’t know enough about his people to even guess. No, but I am a scientist, so even though my area is fungus, I should be able to work this out. He needs sex, but rubbing his own dick and coming isn’t enough, so it has to be something else.
I wrap my arms around myself, aware that my nipples are hard to the point of pain, and I am shivering despite the sun on my skin. “What is it about the mating that calms the rut? I watched you jerk off, but that did nothing. So it’s not about you…”
It’s about me. Or the woman, anyway.
He presses his lips into a thin line.
“You know something.”
“I do not.”
“Fine.” I turn and wade out of the river so I can attempt to warm up. Just getting out of the water is enough to make me feel better. “I’m happy to help.”
He laughs. “You cannot.”
I pick up my shirt, not wanting to put it on now I am clean. I hold it to my chest even though he has already seen me in my nearly see-through underwear. “This is a problem we can work through, unless you are looking for a reason to run away. Or is the idea of me touching you abhorrent?”
Not even an alien on the verge of rut induced madness wants me.
I pull the shirt on, not caring that it clings to my wet skin.
Sunif strides out of the river toward me and for a moment I think everything holding him together has snapped. He picks me up and presses me against a tree before I can even let out a squeak of alarm, his lips close over mine. His mouth is hot and his tongue presses into my mouth, sliding against mine.
I’m trapped between him and the tree and neither offers any softness. The length of his cock presses against my belly and I swear I can feel the ridge that runs along the base as it pulses against me.
My underwear is too flimsy should he want more than a kiss.
His head jerks back as though I slapped him.
Damn it, he heard me.
“I would like nothing better than for you to touch me. For you to allow me to touch you. But it will end, and I will be back in the same situation. This is not an illness that I will recover from. There is no cure.”
“You got past it last time.”
“Because there were no women around me. I did not think human women would awaken it. But clearly you do.”
“We can’t be fake mates forever.”
“No. Because you will choose another.” He rests his forehead on mine. His hands grip my hips, keeping me in place. My toes don’t even touch the ground.
“They will not want me if they believe that I rejected a mate.”
He laughs. “They will think I deserved it. No man will turn down a woman who chooses them.”
