One more day wouldn’t hurt.
CHAPTER 5
GEMINI
If anything toldGemini how unimportant she was to her crew, it was the fact that Castor had barely seemed worried when she called him from Apodis’ comm.
“Oh, yeah, we all assumed you’d headed to the site early,”he’d said, a statement which had burned her very soul.
What the actual fuck? She had been missingall night, and not one of her coworkers had bothered to even wonder where she was.
It made her decision to stay with Apodis for the day all the more reasonable when her team didn’t even care that she was gone. She’d dressed in her newly clean clothes, the fresh scent of laundry doing little to overwhelm the spicy natural aroma that oozed from Apodis’ pores.
Ooze was the wrong word. He didn’t seem like a guy whooozed, well, except for whatever came out of that cock she’d seen this morning. Her mouth had actually watered, like she was a dog begging for a bone, but the bone was the rock-hard length that had been tenting Apodis’ gray sweatpants.
It’s not like she’d never been around an attractive person before. Hot people were a dime a dozen in Neuroplex Prime, but she couldn’t remember the last time her libido was so…inflamed.
She had felt the intense urge to slide her leg over Apodis’ waist and see what that big cock could do, an urge which she still experienced deep in her throbbing core, her body electrified by his presence.
He’d even made her breakfast this morning, a delicious array of Oslieth foods that had filled her stomach and made her chest light. It was paradise after roughing it at camp for so long, and the thought of returning actually made her muscles clench with anxiety.
No, she wasn’t going to overstay her welcome, certainly not. He was just being nice by entertaining her and probably had better things to do than carry her around his property all day.
But Gemini couldn’t deny that there was something so nice about being in his arms, the heat of Lumeris hardly bothering her as he stopped in front of a gorgeous, floweringtree.
“This is an ustretta,” he said, setting her lightly on her feet and circling an arm around her waist.
If sweat hadn’t already been beading on her brow, it would have in this moment, the strength of his grasp around her middle catching her breath in her throat. He smiled as he reached up and grabbed one of the flowers, a star-shaped blossom with fuzzy petals shimmering with an eerie bioluminescence. It was as if the plant was breathing, the pink light pulsing with life as Apodis cupped it in his hand.
“They bloom this time of year and are a perfect garnish for any dish. Slightly bitter and peppery. Would you like to try one?”
“Sure,” Gemini said, making a show of sticking out her tongue for him.
It had the effect she wanted, Apodis’ eyes wide and his cheeks flushing dark maroon as he placed the delicate bloom in her mouth. His thumb lingered on her lower lip for a moment too long—or so she thought—and a burst of bitter flavor danced along her taste buds.
A few seconds later, there was a tingling sensation, her mouth numbing slightly.
“What do you think?”
“I’m not having an allergic reaction, am I?” she asked, and he shook his head with a laugh, popping a bud in his mouth.
“No, the tingling is normal.”
Like hydroxy-alpha sanshool, a molecule thatcaused the same type of sensation in Earth plants like Sichuan pepper flowers.
“It’s very good,” she said with a smile. “I’ll have to remember this for my notes.”
“I can take down any audio recordings and photos on here and send you the files,” he offered, gesturing to the comm on his wrist.
“That would be great! I left my notebook at your place and don’t want to miss anything.”
Apodis raised a brow.
“Pen and paper, huh?”
“How antiquated,” Zenith said, once again rubbing up against her leg.
Apodis closed his eyes like a disgruntled cat dad, and Gemini had to stifle a giggle. The two of them were quite a pair, Apodis’ endless patience and Zenith’s snarky quips.
