Authors: Allie Ritch
All day long, Pixie had worked on this piece until she’d completed it just before dinnertime. The food Zeo had bought her filled her belly and gave her the break she needed. Now she stood back and examined the finished product with a fresher eye.
The arrangement was well balanced without feeling forced, and the colors were vibrant. All the little veins and shading in the synth-marble made the leaves and petals come alive, so much so that she couldn’t resist tracing them with her fingertips. Rather than leaving it two-dimensional, she’d sculpted the piece so that several of the fronds draped outward. It still worked as a wall-hanging, but it had movement and depth.
This was her best work yet. If she was smart, she’d make a hundred versions of it and sell them all for a hefty price. Even as the thought occurred to her, though, she knew she’d never do it. This piece was special.
Pixie had made it with Zeo in mind, and she intended to give it to him as a gift. Although he’d told her about the family and friends he had living around him, she had the feeling he was a bit of a loner. She doubted he’d been given many gifts, and she couldn’t wait to see what his reaction would be.
The ping of her front door panel broke into her thoughts and had her reluctantly turning away from her masterpiece. Walking to the door, she checked the tiny security monitor and was shocked to see she’d conjured her Nimanian on the other side.
A thrill ran through her just at the sight of him. Then she panicked. She hadn’t expected to see him again until next week. She wasn’t prepared to face him
now
.
Racing back into her tiny living room, she threw a blanket over his present where it rested on the floor against an armchair. Pixie was very sensitive about her art. She wanted to give him his gift when she was ready and the timing was right, not have him walk right in and stumble upon it. That would have been tantamount to answering the door buck naked. Okay, so he’d seen her nude last night, which still made her blush, but that had been different.
The door sounded again.
“Coming!” She wasn’t sure he could hear her through the soundproof walls.
Hurrying to hit the unlock button, she threw the door open and tried to smile while she caught her breath. Zeo seemed bigger than she’d remembered, which was a stupid impression. He was also looking at her with his usual directness, causing her gaze to slowly drift to his shoes. She got the feeling if she met his stare too long, he’d know every one of her secrets. Not that she had many.
“Hi,” she said when he just stood there.
“I wanted to see you.” His rough voice reminded her of his stubble scuffing her skin when he kissed her.
“Oh.” Pixie’s heart pattered happily in her breast. She took a step back. “You want to come in?”
Accepting her invitation, he glided past her and strolled into the living room. Without a word, he sat down on her loveseat—the one her mother had kept in the family room until she’d redecorated. The piece of furniture appeared too tiny for him. Then again, his presence seemed to overwhelm the whole room. Or maybe just her.
His gaze drifted away from her face and perused his surroundings until she saw him focus on the covered artwork across from him.
“What is that?” he asked curiously.
She tried to sound casual. “Just a project. What are you doing here?” Okay, that sounded like she was sorry he’d come. “I mean, why? What brings you here now?”
One of his rare smiles peeked out for a split second. “I wanted to be with you.”
He said it so starkly, so sincerely, she couldn’t doubt him. She suddenly felt a need to hold him, to give him whatever he wanted, but she wasn’t sure how to offer.
As if he could read her mind, Zeo held out his hand to lure her closer. When Pixie took it, he tugged her forward and plopped her across his lap. A startled squeak escaped her, but all he did was bury his nose in her hair before releasing a contented sigh. His strong arms cradled her gently against his chest.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
He was being extra quiet, even for him.
“Not now,” he replied, which wasn’t exactly a denial.
“But there was?”
Again, he sighed. “My sister is a troublemaker.”
“Leoni?” Pixie remembered him telling her about his sibling. “This would be the same girl who accidentally set her hair on fire, right?”
Zeo made a chuffing noise she recognized as his laugh. “She was six. We had gone out to a restaurant with flammable desserts, and she wanted to try it at home.”
Pixie smiled. She didn’t have any siblings, but she still recognized the note of affection beneath his exasperated tone. “What did she do now?”
His arms tightened around her for a moment. “She thinks she’s a matchmaker.”
Her breath caught as a cold wave of dread washed through her. She couldn’t help but stiffen. “With you? She’s setting you up with women?”
The idea both threatened and angered her. She didn’t like the idea of him dating other women.
“A woman,” he grumbled. “She thinks to bind me to her friend, Rinda.”
Trapped in his embrace, all Pixie could do was watch herself wring her hands. “Does this Rinda want to be set up with you?”
“She wants to mate with me.”
“Oh.” For some reason, that was all Pixie could think of to say.
This Rinda was probably some busty, long-legged goddess—a fierce Nimanian woman who knew how to please men and hold her own. What a depressing thought.
Zeo released his hold on Pixie’s hip to slide his hand beneath her chin and tip her head up. When she met his gaze, he lowered his head until their lips were only inches apart. His breath was warm when he spoke.
“I told my sister I do not want Rinda. I have already chosen my future mate.”
Feeling her heart leap and skitter, Pixie was just drawing breath for another one-syllable response when his mouth crashed into hers. The feel of his soft lips moving aggressively, the wet sweep of his tongue against hers, made her tingle all over. She probably should have been freaking out over his declaration, but his words somehow steadied her. He didn’t want another woman. Out of all the women in Trilanta, in the universe, he’d chosen her.
When he finally pulled back from the kiss, she licked her lips to hold on to his taste. She had to clear her throat twice before she could speak.
“So how did Leoni take the news?” Pixie wasn’t ready to address the whole mating issue with him yet. She wasn’t even sure what it entailed, though she liked the idea of being exclusive.
He shrugged, but she could tell the gesture wasn’t as casual as he wanted her to believe. “She’s angry with me, but she will get over it.”
Not sure how to comfort him, Pixie laid her hand over his heart. “I’m sorry. You don’t like confrontation, do you? Especially with your family.”
He tilted his head as if she’d surprised him. “No, I don’t. When I was young, my parents worried about that. They feared I’d be weak.”
“Why? Why would avoiding an argument be weak?”
With one hand, he started stroking her back. “Nimanian males are aggressive once we sexually mature. Fights are common until territory and dominance are established and control is learned. I did not go looking for fights.”
Pixie knew she was frowning, but she was confused. “That’s not weak. That’s just smart.”
He inclined his head. “I agree, but my family did not see it that way at the time.”
“Then they didn’t really see you,” she pointed out.
Zeo continued to stare at her for a moment before fingering a lock of her hair. “Sometimes people don’t even see themselves clearly.”
She got the feeling he was no longer talking about himself.
Uncomfortable, she fidgeted in his lap. “I have something for you.”
Pixie decided now was the right time after all. She wanted to cheer him up.
When she pushed against his chest, he let her get up with obvious reluctance. Walking over to the hastily tossed blanket, she grabbed one corner.
“Your project?” he asked.
She nodded. “I worked on it all day since you left.”
His dark eyes appeared to melt into a warmer shade of brown as he watched her. “Your art.”
Although he’d never seen any of her artwork, she’d told him about her passion during one of their walks. She was flattered he remembered.
“I hope you like it.”
She quickly unveiled the piece before she lost her nerve. Holding the blanket to her chest, she stepped back to see his reaction.
Zeo went so perfectly still it was hard to read him, but his gaze locked on to the gift with the same focus he usually reserved for her. She wondered if he’d make love with the same concentration and realized she already knew the answer to that. Without a doubt, he would.
Suspense wound her insides into knots as seconds ticked by. When he finally lifted his gaze to look at her, she saw such pride and approval in his expression she couldn’t help but stand a little straighter.
“It has life.” It was the perfect compliment, as was the awed tone in which he uttered it.
Carefully setting aside the blanket, Pixie strode back over to him and felt very daring when she sat on his lap again.
His arms immediately enveloped her. “Thank you. You honor me.”
Pixie hid her smile by burying her face against his shoulder. His reaction was everything she could have hoped for and more.
For several minutes, they sat silently together, staring at the small piece of the Nimanian rainforest framed across from them.
“You worked all day for me,” Zeo said after a while.
Now she was the one trying to pull off an easy shrug.
“You must be tired,” he added.
“A little. While I was working, I was energized, but it’s been a long day.” She stifled a yawn.
“I will take care of you.”
Before she knew what he was doing, he shifted her so that her butt fell on the edge of the seat between his legs. He positioned her so that she faced away from him with her knees hooked over his thighs.
“What are you doing?” She started to protest, but he hushed her.
Pixie’s breathing quickened when he tugged off her T-shirt, and her first impulse was to bat his hands away. Ignoring her half-hearted resistance, he tossed the fabric onto the floor and sent her bra flying after it. To keep her from fleeing, he slid his warm hands up her back to her shoulders.
He planted a kiss on her shoulder blade. “Let me take care of you.”
His fingers dug in, causing her to release a moan that was so obscene she felt her cheeks burning. No one had ever given her a massage before. As his fingers flexed and kneaded the sore muscles in her neck and shoulders, she learned why the treatment was so popular.
Interspersing his ministrations with butterfly kisses, Zeo massaged her back all the way down to her waist before giving each arm the same attention down to her fingertips. Pixie expected to drool any second. Her eyes slid halfway shut, and she turned to soft putty beneath his hands. Even as her body relaxed, though, her breasts grew tighter and fuller, and moist heat settled in her groin.
She sighed when his fingers played over the tops of her shoulders and rubbed the fronts of her arms. Then he swiped his palms down to capture her breasts.
“Zeo.” She whimpered, but she wasn’t protesting.
The feel of him—of anyone—touching her there was still foreign. His calluses rasped her skin and chafed her achy nipples. He squeezed just hard enough to make her gasp. Clutching fistfuls of the cushions on either side of her, Pixie struggled to assimilate all the sensations pounding through her.
Zeo didn’t give her long to get used to it. Seconds later, she felt one of his hands relinquish her breast, and she watched him glide it down her torso and belly to the top of her shorts. With a quick twist of his fingers, he popped open her fly and slipped his hand beneath her panties. The brush of his fingertips through her curls was a shock that had her struggling to sit up.
Without a word, he split his legs farther apart, taking hers with them. Pixie was left splayed wide open with his palm cupping her mound. The crotch of her shorts stretched taut over the backs of his knuckles, trapping his hand against her most vulnerable spot. Uncertainty beat at her mind even as her sex rained all over his palm.
Unable to control her panting, she gasped for air when he slid one long finger between her dewy folds. With his thumb, he began a gentle strum against her clit that made her squirm and mewl, and then there he was. His blunt fingertip found her entrance and boldly pushed inside.
Although she should have been prepared for it, the penetration still made her flinch. His digit felt like slow-acting acid as he forced it farther inside. Then he pinched her nipple at the exact instant he shoved a second finger in beside it, and she tried to pull away.
“It burns,” she protested.
It was the only word she could think of to describe the invasive discomfort. She didn’t like it.
Instead of pulling out, Zeo nibbled on her neck and flicked his thumb faster. Pleasure rose between her legs, making her forget about the burn, or maybe he’d just transformed it into something good. Pixie was still ultra-aware of his fingers as he started to pump them, but she was distracted by her mounting urgency. She needed more, she needed that friction, in order to … to … ah, gods!
A yowl escaped her as she convulsed in his arms. Her sheath locked around the solid intrusion of his fingers until she was sure she’d break his knuckles. Having something hard to grip only made her contractions more powerful. Was this what it would feel like to come with a man inside her? With Zeo inside her? Except she’d seen the size of his erection, and it was much larger than his fingers. She had a feeling that meant there’d be more pain and more pleasure. She didn’t know if she could handle either one.
His kiss against her temple roused her after she’d lain there limply for she didn’t know how long. Zeo removed his hand with a last brush of her damp curls. In one graceful move, he then scooped her up and rose to carry her to her bedroom.
“What about you?” she mumbled.
She’d felt the hard bulge against her backside before he’d lifted her. Did he want her to stroke him like she had last night? Pixie knew how now, and she’d kind of like to.