Page 100 of Trove’s Purpose

Despite everything he had done to her, despite how close they had become, he had kept his clothes on completely the entire time. And as he tossed the garments aside, leaving himself bare and vulnerable, the look on his face told her that he wasn’t exactly comfortable.

“You don’t have to force yourself,” Chee assured him.

He smiled, running his hand down his chest, mimicking the exact same trail he had taken with that hand on her chest.

And she was trying very hard not to stare, but it wasn’t an easy thing. The inhuman member drew her eye like a magnet.

He was still soft, so it was pointing at the ground, hanging limp but poised, like it was ready to stand proud at a moment’s notice. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of. Even soft, he rivaled what other males could hope for when hard. There were also visible ridges along the body, even while soft, that formed a triangle, pointing down from the ridge of the head up toward his body. The shaft rested atop a pair of heavy balls that looked surprisingly firm. Or maybe she just didn’t know what balls were supposed to look like. They weren’t really something she paid much attention to, even when she was watching naughty videos.

The rest of him was nothing to be ashamed of either. Though Trove wasn’t nearly as bulky or muscular as the rest of the crew, his body was more like a sleeper build. Once it was no longer concealed by his jumpsuit, she could appreciate the lines of definition that marked each muscle. There were a couple of small scars here and there, but nothing drastic or devastating. He had a great body. The kind of toned and defined figure that male models struggled to get to by dehydrating themselves the day before a big photo shoot.

It was honestly a bit disheartening when she remembered what she looked like. Small tits and wide hips were never a form that graced a magazine cover.

Yet, somehow, he was the one who looked self-conscious.

“You don’t usually get undressed, do you?” She guessed.

He shook his head. “My aunt and mother didn’t need my cock. And I couldn’t use it on the prostitutes. So, there was never a reason to be undressed.”

“I like your body,” Chee said, smiling in a way she hoped was more encouraging than creepy. That statement really could go both ways. “I mean, it’s a nice one. Handsome. You’re very handsome, Trove.”

She hoped she could say that without triggering him. Her voice was hesitant as she spoke, ready to stop the moment it looked like he was uncomfortable.

But he grinned, holding out his arms as if to display himself. “I’m glad you approve. I want to feel your hands on me.”

She nodded but waited, knowing it wouldn’t be that simple. If he could just handle her touch, they wouldn’t need to be careful in the first place.

Trove sauntered back until he was in front of her again.

“Remember,” he said, “don’t move.”

She nodded once but was otherwise still. Though it was not easy, especially not with him so close that his torso filled up her field of vision, that she could feel his body heat radiating off him. She wanted almost nothing more than to throw her arms around him. To kiss him. To feel her body, bare and free, pressing into his.

Almost nothing.

Because there was one thing she wanted more, and that was for his joy and comfort. She didn’t want him to associate her touch with revulsion or disgust. Or tolerance. She didn’t want him to just tolerate her caressing him.

One day, she assured herself. When he’d healed, when he no longer had to brace himself or resist the urge to run away.

Until then, she only wanted to do what he needed.

And in this case, that was nothing.

Trove smiled approvingly as she remained unmoving but limp as he reached out and took her wrists in his hands. He lifted them up and, just as he had before, kissed her palms lovingly.

“See, for me, it’s a matter of control,” he began. “I used pleasure as a weapon to control the females around me because it was how I survived. Even after I no longer needed to do it to stay alive, I still craved that control. That was what drove me to the professional ladies even after I was free of Rik-Vane. It wasn’t for sex. It wasn’t for my pleasure. It was my way of maintaining some level of control over something. It was a habit I kept like a youngling clings to their favorite blanket.

“It’s also why I didn’t let them touch me. If they were touching me, then that wasn’t in my control. And I didn’t like their hands on me. It makes no sense, I know, but I wanted to be their source of pleasure without being their source of desire.”

“No, Trove,” Chee said softly, “that makes perfect sense.”

“Does it?”

“Yes. Pleasure and desire had nothing to do with each other in your mind. You just said that pleasure was your weapon. But you had to forge that weapon because of the desires forced on you by others. You didn’t want to be their source of pleasure; you wanted them to be your source of control without the desires that made you seek out that control.”

Trove smiled at her over her fingers. Adoration and tenderness shining in his three violet eyes. “I should have known you would understand me. Even better than I can even begin to understand myself.”

Still keeping his grip on her wrists, he lowered her hands until they were pressed against his chest. Flat palms, fingers spread. She shivered, wanting to press against him, but she didn’t. She didn’t move. She didn’t help. She let him spread her hands against his chest. Once again, following that same path he had originally traced out on her. But he did it under his own power. She wasn’t touching him. He was using her hands to touch himself.