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This wasn’t working at all.I’m not here to crush anyone’s dreams.Jaw tight, I massaged my aching fingers for a moment and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry.” A careful glimpse at his tight shoulders told me he was still frustrated. Though I wondered what he meant about a future life companion, I wouldn’t allow myself to become sidetracked again. “I’m taking my anger over this stupid disease out on you and Geo when you’ve both done nothing but help me.” I approached him with a hesitant step and removed the salve from his clenched fist. “Let me.”
JayJay grunted.
“Sit, so I can reach you.” I tugged on his hand, and he dropped cross-legged to the blanket. Cool and fragrant like a coniferous forest, I scooped up the salve and spread it over the biggest trapezius I’d ever seen. When my touch lightened as I passed over a deep green bruise swallowing up most of his rib cage, he sighed.
“You want a more experienced Rock Dweller, then? Is that the problem?”
Where had that come from? The back of his neck remained tight where I kneaded the liniment in. I cursed at myself for saying the wrong thing yet again. “That’s not it at all. I don’t want to force anyone into having sex with me.”
This conversation sucked, but having it with his back instead of his face helped. I worked my thumb against a knot between his shoulder blade and spine. The ache from my swollen knuckles became secondary while I tried to ease the tension from the wall of muscles that made up JayJay.
He cleared his throat. “I’m willing.”
JayJay’s rough voice sent my belly swirling, and I waved air into my clingy shirt. I stood so close to him that heat poured from him in waves, making the sticky, humid room hotter. “As friends, right? I got your back, you’ve got mine, kinda thing.”
He grunted. “I can be your friend.”
Great, now what? I straightened my spine. “Shall we start tonight then?” My voice wavered when I walked in front of him and set down the jar of ointment, but I was determined to do what needed to be done, despite my heart’s warning.
“N-now?” JayJay whispered. A quiet JayJay unnerved me. His eyes flickered with hesitation before they became guarded once more.
If he’d given me his first kiss and women on Yagras were rare, then… How had I never connected the dots before? I wouldn’tsteal his virginity. Not sure if he would be receptive to the question, I tackled it head-on. “Is this your first time?”
Rooted to the ground, he sat cross-legged with one fist on each bent knee. JayJay blinked, emptying his lust-filled eyes as if unsure how to respond. Just when I thought he might walk away and say to hell with this friendship business, he nodded.
“Forget it. That’s too big of a sacrifice.” I walked toward my suitcase, ready to call the whole thing off. There had to be another way.
The knot in his throat bobbed up and down. “It’s no sacrifice. I want to…help.”
“But…” I stared at him, trying to form an argument in my muddy brain.
“Ginger, you need help now. It’s an honor to aid a female in need.”
My heart thrummed as the deep rasp of his voice rolled down my spine. Though I didn’t understand fully how this would affect JayJay, I trusted him to make his own decisions. And though the rational part of my mind objected, every fiber of my physical being urged me to agree.
“Come to me,” he said.
Captured in his green gaze, I untied my boots and moved to stand before him.
He stood and stepped in so close I thought I might combust from his heat. A strange whimpering sound left me when his abraded knuckles touched my stomach and untied the belt on my wrap. As if he had all the time in the world, he removed my shirt inch by aching inch.
My heart raced as he crouched to remove my leggings, running his velvety nose down my bare thigh. Never had so little gotten me so hot.
On shaky legs, I stood before him in a pair of teal panties and a matching satin bra, drinking in his red-hot need. He leanedbackward to take in the view and squeezed the bulge growing stiff in his pants with one huge hand, as if unaware of what he was doing.
I moved closer. Close enough that I could place my palm on his chest and feel his body tremble when I dragged my hand down to his belt buckle.
He placed his hand over mine to stop it. “Can I kiss you?”
15
Ibent over hertiny frame and cupped her cheeks in my trembling hands. Ginger’s skin glowed a soft orange where the magma’s light peeked through holes dotting the inner chamber. The occasional starbug fluttered by, casting iridescent blue sparks over her silvery hair. Under my palms, her heat licked at my skin like flames, and she stilled in my grip. Why had the ancestors bestowed this fortune on me? “You haven’t answered me, little jungle cat.”
“Kiss me,” she breathed, so close the puff of warm air grazed my lips.
Gold flecks swirled with desire, and hazel melted into green. When I took too long, transfixed by her gaze, she looped her bare arms around my neck, kneading the base of my skull, careful of the gash. A long groan escaped me as she bridged the distance until her lips touched mine. My coil stirred to life alongside my thigh, trapped in my pants.
