A blanket fell across my back, and I opened my eyes to see his vines tucking us in. They wrapped around the outside of the blanket, cocooning us in warmth.
A single vine reached for the table and turned off the lights.
I gasped, and Xylo jerked beneath me.
“What is it?” he groaned.
The patterns along his exposed body glowed with bioluminescence. His patterns reminded me even more of space in the darkness.
“You glow...” I murmured in awe as my heavy lids drifted closed. The darkness claimed me.
“Talk... tomorrow...”
I slid into a blissful deep sleep, surrounded by warmth.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Selena
A soft beep woke me.
I grumbled as I snuggled against whatever downy fuzz I’d fallen asleep on, rubbing the side of my face along it.
The beep sounded again.
A flash of memory.
A beep signaling another session on the Yaarkins ship...
Fear flooded me, and I jerked awake.
“Everything is okay, Selena. You are here with me. Someone is paging the door,” Xylo soothed against my ear.
Opening my eyes, I pulled my arms from around his body. I tried to lift off his chest, but the silver blanket was so tightly wrapped around us, I couldn’t move. The lights were still off, but light filtered in from the glass wall overlooking the terrarium.
“Can’t you tell them to go away?”
“If that is what you want. But I need you to get off me first,” Xylo chuckled.
My cheeks burned at the sudden memory of why I was in my current position, and I shifted on his lap.
Xylo untangled his vines from around our blanket cocoonand lifted me with a smile. Laying me back down on the mattress, he tugged the blanket over me with a soft caress.
“I will see who it is and be right back.”
Returning his soft smile, I nodded.
The beep sounded once more as I watched Xylo lock his wristband on and walk out of the bedroom.
I snuggled into the blanket’s silky softness and sighed. So much had happened last night, I wasn’t sure how to process it all.
Clearly, Xylo and I were compatible—I’d been able to trigger and accept his bonding spores. Sex between us had been entirely pleasurable. Much more so than with the father of my children. There had been no pain, and other than me leading the initial foreplay, Xylo had taken care of everything. As I thought back, I realized he hadn’t needed to thrust or move at all, unlike all the texts I had read on the Yaarkin ship or in my dreamscape.
Or during my one painful experience withhim.
My stomach rumbled, and I realized I needed to get up and get dressed. I crawled out of the nestbed, dropping the blanket and headed over to the door I hadn’t opened yet. It opened to reveal a large walk-in closet, filled to the brim with clothes and accessories. Wooden chests sat on the closet floor, and I itched to explore the many drawers.
Another time.
