His lips twitched. “Soon, I will know your appetite well, female.”
Even Eve knew he wasn’t referring to the food and she sat down in the chair he pulled out for her with a warm face. He sat in the chair next to her and drew closer so that their thighs touched.
“Don’t you want any?” she asked, gesturing to the food.
“Veki,” he answered, “I am not hungry for food.” Eve sucked in a small breath. Then he said, “I will enjoy watching.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“Food is like sex,” he rasped. “Both give pleasure. And you are a sensual being, so watching you will be…erotic.”
Eve blinked, surprised that he called her ‘sensual.’
“’Sensual’ is not a word I would use to describe myself,” she confessed softly.
Khiva shook his head. “You are not a male. You do not see what I do.”
Eve picked up her fork and knife after placing the lace napkin across her lap. Her hand shook as she sliced off a small chunk of the steak, dipping it in the glaze.
Eve wasn’t good at receiving compliments, so she didn’t say anything in response. Instead, to avoid meeting his eyes, she leaned forward and took a bite of her steak.
Immediately, flavor burst on her tongue from the glaze and her eyes fluttered in response. The meat was impossibly tender and melted in her mouth. Eve had possibly never had a better steak in her life and she was a foodie at heart, always dragging Genni to try new restaurants that she read about in the Gazette.
Khiva inhaled a rough breath and suddenly Eve remembered herself. She swallowed the bite and sneaked a glance over at him.
“You see?” he murmured, his hand coming to rest on her upper thigh, which almost made her choke. His fingers played with the hem of her dress, which had ridden up. “Erotic.”
Eve licked her bottom lip, catching a stray drop of the glaze and his pupils flared, lingering on the spot her tongue had dabbed.
His fingers were distracting and the backs of them would brush the bared flesh of her thigh every time he smoothed the hem. Arousal flooded her belly and as if Khiva knew, his nostrils flared in response.
Somehow, Eve managed another bite of the steak. And another. And another. All while Khiva watched. She took a bite of buttered bread, which was equally as fantastic as the steak, and Eve thought Madame Allegria employed the best, unknown chef in all of Everton.
“Is it satisfactory?” Khiva rasped, still watching her with darkened eyes. Her sex gave another pulse just from his voice alone.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “This is amazing. Do you eat like this all the time?”
Khiva’s eyes flickered to the food. “Mostly, yes.”
“I would probably gain a hundred pounds if I lived here then,” she murmured, a soft smile on her face, feeling the food settle in her stomach, filling her.
Khiva’s gaze ran over her body and Eve had the urge to retreat. “I would not mind that,” he murmured. “But I enjoy your form. Very much.”
Her cheeks warmed. Her eyebrow rose, “You can’t be serious.”
It was Khiva’s turn to look confused. “Of course I am.”
“I’m considered…fuller by Everton’s standards already,” she found herself saying and she wanted a hole in the floor to swallow her up for saying it.
Khiva’s eyes flickered. “I never understood Everton females’ obsession with this ‘standard,’ as you say. While all females are beautiful in their own right, when it comes to sex, I am certain most males would want healthier partners. Half the time, I am worried I will hurt them.”
Eve swallowed and look down at her emptying plate. For a brief moment, she’d actually forgotten who he was…one of the Krave, who had sex with numerous women. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mrs. Langley had visited Khiva before and she felt the steak turning in her stomach at the thought, remembering the older woman’s moan as she climbed into her driverless car that night.
Khiva added softly, “Even though you say you think you are ‘fuller,’ I still need to be careful with you. Humans are much smaller than Keriv’i. We are much stronger. I could hurt you if I forget myself. Which I just might, with you.”
He said those last words so softly that it seemed he was saying them to himself.
And Eve didn’t know why, but that made her chest warm.
