“Thanks, Apodis. You’re such a goodfriend.”
Apodis’ brows furrowed as he caught the edge in her voice, the bite of sarcasm that had somehow slipped out.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No,” she said quickly, completely mortified by her strange outburst.
She had no right to act like she had any claim over him, like he’d betrayed her the way Kenny had. Of course, Apodis hadn’t. He’d given no indication that he was interested in her beyond friendship, and that was perfectly fine.
Apodis’ eyes remained narrowed as he pulled her injured ankle into his lap, massaging her foot with gentle strokes.
Totally something a friend would do.
Gemini refrained from making a sound despite the positively sublime sensation of his thumbs kneading the sole of her foot in tight circles. When his tentacles suctioned onto her ankle and calf, she let out a tiny whimper, Apodis’ mouth quirking into the slightest of smiles before his stoic facade returned.
“I’ll give you a little more pain relief,” he said, the cooling balm immediate as it infiltrated her cells and tingled her skin.
Once again, where her ankle was chilled, the rest of her body heated, the space between her thighs conspicuously wet as if he had flipped an erotic switch.
“Does that feel good?” he asked, and she sputtered, a cough catching in her throat.
Did he know he was turning her on? Was hedoing iton purpose? Difficult to tell, but as his wide-eyed look turned into a sly grin, she had a feeling he knew.
“The foot rub, I mean. I can do the other one,” he added, gently pulling her other leg into his lap and repeating his massage.
“Feels really good,” she finally managed, trying to enjoy it withoutenjoying ittoo much, the intimate touch so different from what she was used to as of late.
On the surface, there was nothing erotic about what he was doing, but she’d never had her cunt tingling from a foot massage. Something about Apodis set her off in the weirdest way, and she wondered if he was toying with her, all the mixed signals making her mind whirl. Was he truly clueless about the effect he had on her?
What if he had a partner? He hadn’t mentioned one, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a romantic friend who lived in the city, or in another cabin nearby. Was that why he was acting all weird?
“It’s really just you and Zenith out here?” she asked, his magic hands providing the perfect amount of pressure as one of his tentacles gently brushed over her injury.
He’d already given her the pain relief, but she didn’t question it, the sensation of his suckers attaching and detaching from her skin oddly soothing.
“Yes?”
She cocked her head with a smile.
“Is that a question?”
“No,” Apodis said quickly, a sheepish grin on his face. “It’s just us out here. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you had, uh, a girlfriend or boyfriend or something.”
Real smooth.Not at all fishing for information, even after you’d been rejected.
“Girl… friend?” he asked.
“Oh, uh, like a romantic or sexual partner…” she clarified.
“No, I don’t have one of those,” he answered, his eyes darting around the room.
She’d think he was suspicious if she didn’t have a good idea of how awkward he was, though maybe that was just wishful thinking that this guy wasn’t a creep who gave random women sensual foot rubs while he was in a relationship.
“Apodis is unmated,” Zenith said, apparently awake though he had seemed to be in a deep sleep only a moment ago. “But he is still a virile partner.”
Gemini quirked a brow as Apodis turned maroon once more. The caerulian didn’t seem capable of lying, so maybe this was all just a case of cultural misunderstanding.
