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If he could detect body temperatures to tell if biological things were still viable, I wondered what he sensed from the heat growing within me. I made another try at saving my shy and so-not-unbothered face. "And here I thought it was just the kings on earth who were full of themselves."
I flung my hand under the dispenser and waited for soap to fall in my palm. Once I got a good dollop, I lathered it between both hands. "If you want me to scrub you, you’d better be nice to me."
He lifted my chin with his thumb and index finger, giving me no choice but to take in his wicked smile again. "If I continue to tease you and raise your blood pressure, then what?"
"I’ll tranquilize you and let you sleep in the back of pod, wet and soapy, until I can get us to the closest space hub."
"Mmpf." He let go of my chin and turned around. "I can feel everything." He presented his full wingspan, reaching from one end of the communal stall to the other. "I’ll know if you missed a spot."
I muttered under my breath as I held my hand under the dispenser for more soap.
My curiosity took over once I began applying soap to his wings. I felt the texture beneath my fingertips. Amazing how an alien being with relatively the same body structure as a human had the ability to fly.
Varus was not human, though. No matter how similar the Javorians were to us in some ways, so much about them was different. What they had to consume to live and thrive, the timing of when they needed to get it. Males were six and a half feet and taller. Varus was pushing seven feet. Javorian strength made ours look like a joke. His ability to generate heat and create fire that could either sustain life or destroy, unparalleled.
My hand stretched across the thick musculature on his back that supported his wings. As a medic, I was fascinated by the extra set of muscles we humans didn’t have. As a woman, the fascination went in a different direction. I found myself attracted to this type of masculinity, a type that didn’t exist among my kind on Earth. I didn’t know what to make of my feelings, or why they didn’t seem to be lessening despite having seen Varus at his wildest points.
How could my mind have known about him before we even met?
"You’re doing a thorough job back there."
My hands were slippery with soap as I lathered his wings from top to bottom. "You said you would be able to tell if I missed a spot. I wouldn’t want to disappoint with my wing-washing skills."
"So far, you have not."
My body brushed against his as I reached to cover one last spot on his wing with soap. The flimsy cotton of my shirt provided a pathetic barrier to his body heat. My nipples hardened beneath my bra. I needed to take a step back. "Think you can handle the front by yourself?"
"I can manage." He turned his head, eyes lowering to where the suds dampened my undershirt. "You’re cold."
The room was cool, but it wasn’t to blame for my body’s reaction. "You shouldn’t look there. It’s impolite in my culture."
I wish I hadn’t said that, because as soon as he took his eyes off my chest and made eye contact, I felt like he could read me like a large print book. "The water’s warm. You may as well use this one." Water fell on both our heads.
I yelped as it doused me. "Again, a bit of warning next time."
"There won’t be a next time. I want off this planet." He tilted his head up, closing his eyes while the water ran down his face and body in rivulets. "I don’t care if you have to pilot the pod with your soft brown skin naked, wet, and soapy."
It was the direct description that did it for me. "You wouldn’t, you—"
"Brute? Beast?" He wagged his eyebrows with each name he suggested.
"Wretch. No." I held my index finger up in the air, giving myself a time out. "You’re my patient. I never call names or curse at my patients."
"Better hurry. The water’s fine."
Necessity, necessity.I created a chant in my head as I yanked off my soggy undershirt. All my good, respectable roots were being yanked clean out of the firm, stable ground by this wild alien king.Desperate measures.I unhooked my bra. I tossed the clothes out of the way.Saints preserve me.
I covered my breasts and ducked under the stream of water. I jumped out as soon as I was wet enough to create a soapy lather. I made sure my back faced the shower.
Varus turned the water off again while I lathered my legs and the front of my body. "I’ll help you with your back."
"I can reach, thank you." I demonstrated by applying soap to both my lower and upper back.
"Flexible. Impressive."
Insufferable.I wanted to launch a retort at him. He’d likely laugh at how prim and straight from the pages of a Jane Austen novel the insult sounded. Or maybe I could get away with it if classic English literature hadn’t reached this part of the universe yet.
I took soap and created a lather in my hair. I frowned at the crunching noise the soap made, knowing it would probably dry out my strands. There were more than a few Black women within the network of the Wanderstar Fleet. Surely by now we could ban together and petition for the import of sulfate-free shampoo and cocoa butter lotion. "Ow, ow, ow. My eyes." I made a blind beeline towards the shower.
