Ultima wasn’t especially lookingforward to laying down on the blanket when she was clean, but shesupposed it was cleaner than the floor.
Or maybe not.
Not gritty with dirt,though.
To her surprise, Quan joined her onthe blanket—without any argument from either of the others. Bracinghis upper body on his arms above her, he studied her face for along moment. “Show me this thing called kiss,” hecommanded.
In a strange sort of way, it took theawkwardness from it.
And aroused her at the sametime.
She placed a palm on either cheek anddrew him closer, tilting her head for a better fit and then liftingto match her lips to his. For a moment, she merely touched, butthen she sucked lightly at his lips and pulled at them.
Fire erupted in her belly when shetasted him and she forgot all about tutoring. Slipping her tongueinto his mouth, she explored the cavern with the tip, closing hermouth around his tongue and sucking on it when he lifted his tongueto duel with hers.
It sent both of them up inflames.
Quan instantly turned the tables,opening his mouth over hers and delving inside to explore and tasteeverything at once. She was caught up in a whirlpool of desire sofast, she had no inkling of the transition between distant observerand desperate participant.
When they reached a point whereneither of them could drag enough air into their lungs, they broketo suck in a frantic gulp of it and stared at one another inwonder.
Quan, Ultima didn’t doubt was feelingthe wonder of first discovery.
She was feeling … stunned and confusedat the magnitude of the eruption he’d caused in her.
Coming on the heels of Tau’s kiss andXi’s it didn’t just rattle her, it thoroughly mystifiedher.
She hadn’t been immune to any of thethree.
Considering her feelings most of thetime when she kissed, that was mind blowing right by itself.Because the warmth of affection was generally the fullest extent ofthe results—if that.
She struggled to dismissit on the grounds that she couldn’t even remember the last timeshe’d had sex. But that wasn’t easy when she didn’t recall thatshe’d felt any needbeforethey’d kissed her.
Well, she wasn’t ready to call it‘need’. Interest, definitely, warm, assuredly. She wasn’t againstthe idea on any level. But she thought she was pretty neutraloverall. It didn’t matter one way or the other.
Until Quan decided that he wanted morekisses.
In other places.
By the time Xi rolled him off of thepallet and glared at him, she was throbbing all over and feeling agood bit of desperation.
And Xi spooning with her didn’t calmthe waters. For a very long time, she lay perfectly still, willingher body to cool. Finally, it did and she fell asleep.
Xi woke her, plucking experimentallyat the tip of one breast and then covering it with his mouth andsuckling until she was clawing the blanket.
When she thought she couldn’t stand itanymore, he moved from the first breast to the second.
He was gasping gustily when he liftedhis head to meet her gaze and then shifted upward to cover hermouth.
He had mastered the concept of thekiss, she discovered.
He broke the kiss when she managed tothrash until she hurt herself and Tau grasped him by his hair,lifted him off of her and punched him hard enough he staggeredacross the floor space and fell out of the opening.
“He hurt you?” Taudemanded harshly.
It took Ultima more than a few momentsto collect herself. “No,” she managed to grunt finally. “I movedwrong or too quickly.”
Xi, returning on the heels of that,stopped abruptly where he was, stared at her for a moment and thenturned and left.
