“Hmm…my goddess is nice. I guess it’s better than saying ‘my owner.’” He sounded thoughtful and his golden eyes were half-lidded again as they scanned her body, just as they had been in Commander Sylvan’s office when Kaitlyn had joked about “owning” him. Was that idea turning him on for some reason? Surely not…
“I’m afraid that Kat made you an outfit too,” she said, deciding to gloss over the tension that had suddenly sprung up between them. “I don’t know if you’ll like it or not, but it’s what males wear on Salimba. I left it in the bathroom—er, fresher—for you.”
“Really?” He scowled. “Don’t like playing fucking dress-up.”
“I know but you have to dress like the other males to be my ‘husband,’” Kaitlyn pointed out. “At least Kat said you can wear your own boots with it instead of changing into a pair of torture devices like these.” She sank down on the passenger seat across from him and nodded down at the thigh-high boots with only their top buttons fastened. “I suppose I ought to finish buttoning them—I can’t meet the Salimban Empress with my boots only half-buttoned.”
“I can help you with that…if you want.” Braze slid off the seat onto his knees before her, his big hands hovering over the buttons on her right ankle.
Kaitlyn felt her heart flutter as she saw him kneeling there, waiting to serve her. This wasn’t actually out of the ordinary for Braze. The big Beast Kindred was always offering to help her in small ways. He lifted anything heavy and had—on more than one occasion—lifted Kaitlyn herself over mud puddles or ditches or holes or anything really that might get her shoes dirty or trip her up. But this was the first time he’d offered to help her with something more personal—something she was wearing.
“I mean, if you really don’t mind…” she began uncertainly.
“I don’t mind,” he rumbled, looking up at her—his golden eyes looked sleepy with lust. Was this turning him on? Serving her like this? What was going on here?
“Well…I guess it would be good practice for the way we’ll have to act once we land on Salimba Prime,” Kaitlyn said thoughtfully. “I know the husbands are supposed to serve their wives—some accounts I read said they act almost more like personal servants than spouses, at least in some instances.”
“They do, do they?” Braze raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. He was already working—his big fingers manipulating the tiny silver buttons with surprising delicacy.
“Y-yes…they do.”
Kaitlyn’s breath caught in her throat as his big hands moved up to her inner thigh. She could feel the warmth of his fingers as they brushed against her bare flesh, making her want to moan and shift in her seat. That warm, spicy, masculine scent she’d smelled in Commander Sylvan’s office was back. Seriously, what was going on here?
“So I guess it makes sense for you to…to serve me,” she said, trying to get the words out without panting.
“Of course I want to serve you, Mistress,” he growled softly, looking up at her. “I’ll be the best ‘husband’ you’ve ever fucking had.”
Kaitlyn let out a rueful little laugh.
“Well, that won’t be hard considering how my ex, Mark, acted,” she remarked, feeling some of the tension leak away at the thought of her philandering ex-husband.
Braze’s eyebrows lifted as he started on the next boot.
“So he didn’t honor you properly? Didn’t treat you right?”
“He didn’t honor me at all,” Kaitlyn said dryly. “He cheated on me with a girl half my age at his work. Then he tried to pretend it was my fault he cheated because he said I wasn’t ‘meeting his needs.’”
“Needs? What needs?” Braze demanded, frowning.
“Oh, you know—he said we weren’t having sex enough.”
Kaitlyn felt her cheeks getting a little warm. She and her Protector didn’t usually talk about personal matters like this—mainly because Braze was a male of few words who kept to himself much of the time. But now he seemed inclined to be, if not talkative exactly, then at least less taciturn than usual.
The big Kindred’s frown deepened.
“How much is ‘enough’?”
Kaitlyn shook her head.
“I don’t know—more than once a week, apparently, which was our usual.”
It felt strange to be discussing her bedroom habits with the big Beast Kindred, but somehow the words just kept flowing.
“Not that I got anything out of it. It was nothing more than two pumps, a squirt, and a tickle and then he’d roll off me and start snoring immediately.”
“He dared to complain that you weren’t giving him enough sexual gratification when he never even attempted to give any to you?” Braze growled. “Did he at least serve you with his tongue?”
“You mean did he go down on me? Hell, no!” Kaitlyn shook her head. “The one and only time he tried it, he said it ‘grossed him out.’ And of course, after being told something like that, I wasn’t about to ask him to try it again.”
