Ashley made herself comfortable on the bed and pulled out some pouches of dried berries and nuts for us to munch on for dinner.
Drip, drip, drip. The rain water dropping onto the floor from the ceiling of the cave was grating on my nerves. The sound was exemplified by the fact that this cave had no moss in it buffer the sound.
The crackle of the fire did little to ease my woes, since I could still hear the dripping sound.
I wish my brain didn’t work this way. I wish I could just live my life and hear things and not be bothered by them.
I was clenching my jaw and staring at the firewhen suddenly I felt Ashley’s warm fingers over mine.
“Come on, let’s cuddle. Maybe that will ease your nerves.” Goddess above, I loved this female more than life itself. I wanted nothing more than to cuddle with Ashley. Hopefully, that’s what we’d be doing for the rest of the night.
“How’d you know I was agitated?” I couldn’t help but ask. I had memorized everything about Ashley, but I never dreamed she’d memorize things about me.
“Your posture gets stiff, like you’ve turned to stone, and sometimes you clench your fists.”
“Oh, I had no idea. Do I do that every time? Turn stiff?”
“Oh yeah, I first noticed it when we humans had our first meal in the main cavern. Once all of us got talking and paired off into private conversations all happening at once, you stiffened right up. It wasn’t long after that you got up and left the cavern altogether.”
“Interesting.” Her point brought up a whole new concern.
“Once we’re back home, will you be offended if I have to walk outside during meal times? I’m much prefer to stay by your side, and I’ll do my best to ignore the pain, but sometimes it all just becomes too much.”
“Oh Axon, I don’t want you to sit in pain.” Ashley said, as she pulled me down onto the furs next to her. “and no, I won’t be offended if you have to leave for a little bit. Would you want me to join yououtside?”
Her question took me by surprise. I hadn’t anticipated it, her wanting to sacrifice time with her friends to be with me.
“No, please don’t. I would feel so much worse if I knew I was disrupting your dinner, too.”
“Are you sure?”
I pulled Ashley in closer and she intertwined her legs with mine and rested her head on my chest.
“I’m very sure.”
Chapter 24
Ashley
I loved having Axon’s arms around me. We laid in the furs and talked for a while, and now he wore a big smile with his eyes closed as I played with his hair. My leg was starting to cramp up so I shifted my weight, and as I did so, I grazed a very hard cock with my thigh.
My first reaction was a learned response from a slew of ex-boyfriends. My chest tightened with anxiety as I anticipated a request to start touching each other, but this was Axon, my mate, he wouldn’t pressure me to do anything I didn’t want to do.
It would be so easy to just reach down and touch him. I liked theideaof watching him lose his breath and his face twist in pleasure, but the moment I started to picture the reality of touching or being touched in that way, my interest all but went away.
The thought did appeal to me more tonight than usual, which made sense. The big moon was almost full, and I’d noticed in the past few months that my arousal peaked at the full moon. My cycle must have synced with the lunar cycle as well.
“Ashley,” my name was a whisper on my mate'slips. “I can...smell your arousal. If you have need of me, my fingers, tongue, and body are at your disposal.”
The thought of being touched by Axon made me feel happy. But when I pictured his hands touching me in my most sensitive areas, or his tongue on my sex, the fantasy of sex suddenly became too much.
I was tempted to lie, like I’d done many times before for much lesser men, but I didn’t want our relationship to be like that. I didn’t want our first time to be marred by dishonesty. Axon was my mate, and it would be good to know how he’d react if I rejected his offer.
“No thank you.” I couldn’t get my voice above a whisper. I wish I was braver than that, but I wasn’t. “Sorry.”
At my words, Axon opened his eyes. There wasn’t a trace of disappointment on his face, just concern. He cupped my cheek in his hand and placed a gentle kiss on the tip of my nose.
“Don’t be sorry. I only wish to cuddle, nothing more.” He stopped and thought carefully about his next words. “I need you to know that I find you incredibly attractive and I'd jump at the chance to explore your body in ways that make my mouth water, but I am content to lie here and cuddle."
