Page 5 of Rival Summer

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Page 5 of Rival Summer

“You’ve told me everything before. You’re a former criminal. You work construction jobs. Your family name is shit. Is there anything else I should know? Do you torture small animals in your downtime?”

I scowl. “No.”

“Ever owned or plan on owning another person?”

“Other than you? No.” The image of her as the collar came off of her is seared into my mind. The hope and yearning mixed with the terror on her face, the red marks and grooves on her neck from the painful collar…I remember all of it. I know some mesakkah think nothing of owning a human, but I could never.

“Murdering? Raping? Murdering and raping? Robbing the elderly?”

I scowl. “None of that, and you’ve made your point. Fine then. I would like to go home with you. I’d be crazy not to.”

The smile she flashes at me is brilliant. “You would, and we both know you’re not crazy.”

I should be excited, but something about our interaction isn’t sitting well with me. She’s beautiful, and I’m attracted to her. Why do I have such a problem with this? She’s offering me sex, nothing more. We can fuck and get it out of our systems and then I can go on with my life and she can go on with hers. It means nothing. I’ve had partners for a night in the past. This shouldn’t be any different. I tell myself this over and over as we exit the booth and leave the cantina.

Melody grabs my hand and leads me across the street, toward the large boarding house. A few humans glance at us as she pulls me along after her, but no one pays any attention.

She pauses at the side door to the boarding house, leaning against it. She gives me a bright, flirty smile that makes my heart ache and tilts her head back to gaze up at me. “Kiss me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

I get flustered, my tail prickling along with the fine hairs on my neck. “Right here in the street?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

We barely know each other, I want to say, but we’ve moved past that, haven’t we? We’re heading to her room to have sex. A kiss is nothing, even if it’s not something my people normally practice. Melody tilts her head further back as I step forward, and I curl my fingers along her jaw, angling her face as I hunch down to press my mouth to hers. It’s awkward but her mouth is warm and sweet and so good. Her arms go around my neck and she kisses me with enthusiasm, her lips parting under mine, and her tongue darts out to touch my lips.

I jerk back in surprise.

She chuckles. “Was that bad?”

“No. I…no. Just surprised me. That’s all.” I press my mouth to hers again just to prove to her that kissing her is not a problem. If I could just relax, I could enjoy the wet slide of her tongue against mine. I could enjoy the soft press of her body to my larger one.

I could ignore the fact that this still feels like gratitude, because we’re still two strangers, and that’s the part I keep getting hung up on.

I pull away from her. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Melody flinches, her arms retreating back to her sides, only to cross them protectively over her chest. “Oh.”

“This…this doesn’t feel right. You, me, any of this.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not offering myself again,” she says, her tone bitter. “I can only fling myself at a man so many times before it hurts my feelings.”

“I never meant to hurt your feelings,” I tell her. “I should have never let it get this far. I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.” She turns and goes inside, all but slamming the door shut behind her. I stand outside, head down, wondering if I made a mistake. But if I ask her what my favorite food is, she won’t know. If I ask her what I’m allergic to, she won’t know. She doesn’t know anything about me, except that I saved her that one time.

Seems like we need more of a reason to fuck. Maybe I’ll regret this, but for now, I can’t do it. It still feels like I’m taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment.

I just…can’t.

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Weeks Later


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