Most Trilanis wore clothes in public, but in the privacy of their home, most preferred nudity.
Luka mumbled something and left the room as though a Trilani fire lizard was on his tail.
Jake smiled down at her. “I think you embarrassed him.”
“Clothing I have not.”
“We’ll find something for you to wear. I’m sure Luka has some stuff around.”
“Resent me he shall if take his clothes I do.” The words sounded wrong as they spilled from her mouth.
Jake’s language had always been confusing to her. Her father had insisted she master several languages. As his only child, she would one day have to not only speak for her people but converse with beings from a multitude of cultures. Of all the languages she’d mastered, Syla still had the most trouble with English.
“Wrong say I the words. Yes?”
Jake stroked her hair. “Not wrong. Just a little…jumbled. Remember, noun
then
verb.”
She thought about what she wanted to say before trying again. “Luka will not wish me to wear his clothes.”
“That was perfect!” He gave her a quick kiss, grabbed a piece of toasted bread from her tray, and took a bite.
“Meal is mine!” She slapped playfully at his hands and smiled.
The expression felt foreign. For too long, she’d been living in fear of her stepmother and her ridiculous accusations. The mere thought of what would happen if King Leopart’s power fell to her father’s wife made her mouth drop to a frown.
“It’s okay now, Syla. You’re safe here.”
The way he constantly read her thoughts was sometimes disturbing. “Empath are you?”
“After months of having Thama plaguing you, it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s making you frown so fiercely.”
She picked up the fork and shoveled some of the food Jake had prepared into her mouth. The taste hit her tongue, making her gather every bit of self-control not to spew it back onto the plate. She chewed the sticky, disgusting mixture and swallowed hard.
“Don’t like scrambled eggs?” he asked with a wink.
“What creature do eggs come from?”
“Chickens. At least they
looked
like chicken eggs.”
“Ruined them cooking did you.”
“We can’t all be gourmet chefs, sweetheart.”
While she ate the poorly made and foul-tasting foods, Jake searched through Luka’s room. He finally produced a shirt for her. It had long sleeves, a buttoned front, and would probably reach her knees.
“This might work,” he said, tossing it on the bed. He picked up her tray. “You’ve played around with that long enough. Get dressed, and we’ll see what we can do to help Luka around here.”
* * * *
Luka finished creating the last row of furrows and smiled to himself. The herb garden was ready for planting. All he needed to do was plant the seeds and wait to see if some of the exotic plants could adapt to Earth’s earth.
He snorted a laugh at his own pun before quickly sobering. If he was laughing at his own thoughts, he was in worse shape than he thought. Pretty soon, he’d find himself talking to his animals. Even worse, they might start talking back.
The loneliness had always been there, niggling at his consciousness. Until yesterday when Jake came back into his life, Luka hadn’t realized how much being alone for so long had cost him.
“Help can I?”
He whirled to the sound of Syla’s voice. She was dressed in one of his flannel shirts, wearing it like a dress since it reached mid-thigh. Her long hair was braided into one plait, and her smile was genuine.
Since the work in the garden was done, Luka shook his head.
She frowned. “I wished to help.”
He felt as tongue-tied as he had the first time he’d asked a girl on a date. “Um…I was…um…” He took a deep breath and tried to find some maturity, hard to do when his cock was hard and his mouth felt as though it was full of cotton. Why was it this woman affected him so profoundly? He didn’t even know her. “I need to feed the horses.”
“Horses?” She took a few steps closer. “What are horses?”
“Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
She certainly wasn’t shy. She marched right up and took his hand in hers. Her skin was cool and smooth. “Show me. Please.”
Luka led her to the barn, stopping at the first stall. “This is Sunshine.”
The buckskin mare walked over to the door, snorting at Syla. Since the horse wasn’t used to seeing anyone but Luka, he was amazed that she didn’t try to bite Syla.
“Sunshine, this is Syla.”
Syla lifted her hand but seemed hesitant to touch the horse.
Luka held her wrist and brushed her hand over Sunshine’s muzzle.
“So soft.” Syla smiled and caressed the mare’s face. “Beautiful she is.”
Funny, but that was exactly what he was thinking about Syla. Her hair looked every bit as soft as Sunshine’s muzzle, and his hand rose of its own volition. He stroked his fingertips down the braid. His body was already responding to her nearness, her feminine scent. Even after the two orgasms Jake had gifted him with, Luka wanted her. Blood rushed straight to his groin.
She turned to smile at him. That smile was far too appealing. The color of her eyes deepened, and she had a dimple in her left cheek he ached to kiss. No wonder Jake was jumping to her every whim. When Syla turned her full attention to a man, she drew every sane thought from his head.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Now help I can. What eat does this horse?”
He had to shake his head to clear his licentious thoughts. Damn it all if he didn’t want to grab a saddle blanket, throw it over a bale of hay, and then toss her on the blanket. He’d lift that shirt up and suck her small, firm breasts—the ones she’d teased him with earlier by baring herself to him—then he’d bury himself in her warm, wet cunt.
“Luka?” Syla’s fingertips glided over his cheek. “You were lost in your mind. What was the thought?”
Like he’d tell her that.
She stopped to think for a second, as if searching for the right words. “I find you handsome. Jake told me I would.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. What would Jake say about her flirting with another man?
“Did I not say it right?”
“Yeah, you did. But…what about Jake?”
“Handsome he is as well. I feel what is between you two. Like fire, it is.”
This conversation was making him so hot and bothered he knew he needed to put some space between them. Quickly. Before he did something stupid. Like fuck Jake’s girlfriend.
He told himself he’d just been alone too long and was tired of jerking off. He wanted a real partner.
Even he knew that was nothing but a flimsy excuse. It was her. Just as it had been Jake back in the kitchen.
“Come on. You wanted to help, so I’ll show you where the food is.”
She pressed her palms to his chest and rose on tiptoes to brush a kiss over his mouth. Once. Twice. Then she threw her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, pressing her body against his as her tongue tickled his lips.
He gasped, and she used the opportunity to slip her tongue into his mouth. He groaned deep in his throat and returned each sweet caress. Her essence raced through his body like an electrical shock.
This is wrong. She belongs to Jake. What about your wife?
Abruptly, he ended the kiss, grabbed her upper arms, and held her away from him, staring down at her bemused smirk. “Why did you do that?”
“To thank you.”
“For what?”
“Opened your home to me.” She shrugged his hands away and reached for him again.
He stumbled back a few steps before shaking his head and jogging away from the temptation he could barely resist.
Forgive me, Kimini.
* * * *
“Where was Luka going?” Jake asked as he strolled up the aisle of the barn. “He was running like he had to catch a shuttle.”
Syla was putting a scoop of grain into the feed buckets she had lined up on the floor. “Not sure.”
That made no sense. “What do you mean you’re not sure?”
She shrugged as she poured the mixture into one of the buckets.
“Who taught you to do that?”
“Dumb I am not. Can feed some animals without help.”
He knew the look on her face—there was something she wasn’t telling him. “Syla…what’s going on?”
“Kissed him I did.”
“You kissed Luka?”
She nodded, put down the scoop, and picked up one of the buckets. Walking to a stall, she hung the bucket on a hook right inside the gate and then turned to look into his eyes. She quickly dropped her gaze to the floor. “I want him.”
Jake smiled. Drawing closer, he nudged her chin up. She was nibbling on her bottom lip. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
“Angry you are not?”
“We already talked about what might happen if we came here. You know how I feel about Luka. I told you that you’d fall just as hard. How could you not? Everything about him is…perfect.”
“The kiss he did not like.” She tried to drop her chin again.
He wouldn’t let her. “How do you know that?”
“Pushed me away.”
“I have a hard time believing that. Tell me exactly what happened.”
She took a deep breath, and her forehead scrunched up. She was clearly thinking of the proper English. He loved how hard she was trying to learn his language. It was so much more enjoyable to listen to her lilting voice than some computer interpreting what she meant through a translation earpiece.
“He touched my hair.”
Since Luka had always made a habit out of combing his fingers through Kimini’s long, coarse hair, that was a promising sign. “And?”
“I kissed him.”
“Did he kiss back?”
“Yes. Then he stopped and pushed me away.”
Jake drew her into his arms, not wanting her to see his smile because she’d probably misinterpret it. She was hurt, feeling rejected. But what he’d learned from Luka’s reaction was that Luka wanted her—he just didn’t
want
to want her. “Give him time, Syla. He’ll love you just as much as I do.”
She nodded against his chest.
Easing her back, Jake kissed her forehead, somehow knowing she needed to be shown exactly how desirable she truly was. Her cruel stepmother had done nothing but try to tear down any self-esteem Syla had ever had—chipping away at her confidence and undermining all that Syla tried to do to help her people.
Thama was a bitch who had her eye on a throne that didn’t belong to her. She’d taken away all the king’s power so subtly and so slowly no one had really noticed until she was the one running the show. She kept most of her machinations hidden until it was too late. Like the way she’d taken away everyone important to Syla. Her friends. Her servants. Her bodyguards. She wasn’t even allowed to visit with her own father any longer.
Jake had come into the palace at the request of Syla’s father through Betinsa. In one of his moments away from Thama’s clutches, the king had reached out to his daughter’s friend, Betinsa, and asked her for a reliable bodyguard for his daughter—one that only
he
would pay and supervise. Perhaps the old man was finally wising up to what his wife was trying to do to his kingdom.
Betinsa had begged Jake to take the job. She’d been friends with Syla’s mother when they’d been young and wanted to do anything she could to protect Syla now that her mother was dead. He’d balked, thinking to throw himself into another drug undercover instead. But he could never tell Betinsa
no
. One look at Syla, and he’d known he’d lose his heart to the friendly, slender woman.
Damn, but she’d looked so fragile. Until he’d trained her in self-defense. After she’d thrown him on his arrogant ass a few times, he knew she was the woman for him. Funny, but his first instinct had been to drag her to Luka and make him fall in love with her too.
Fate had brought the three of them together, and Jake had every intention of making this relationship every bit as successful as the marriage he’d shared with Luka and Kimini. Thank God the Trilani society had no restrictions, not distinguishing a marriage between a man and woman as being the norm. They had homosexual couples, polyandry, and polygamy. It was definitely a place Jake felt at home, and he knew Luka would too. Together, they could make Syla happy again and help save her throne.
Syla was such a sensual creature, although she’d been a virgin when he first made love to her. But she loved him, and she gave him her heart, her soul, and her body freely. Jake loved that about her, and she was exactly what Luka needed.
If he would simply let go and live again.
“I am pretty?” she asked, bringing his thoughts back into the present.
“You’re
beautiful
.”
“That is better than pretty?”
“Much better.”
He covered her lips with his, stroking his tongue deep into the heated sweetness of her mouth. She returned each stroke and mewled in pleasure. Her arms looped around his neck, and she flattened her tempting breasts against his chest. Again and again their tongues slid over each other as he drank her in like a fine wine.
When he finally ended the kiss, he decided he wanted it all. His encounter with Luka had been satisfying, but he needed Syla, too. They’d had so little time for intimacies back on Trilan and even fewer when they were fleeing for her life. “Ever heard of a roll in the hay?”
“What is hay?”
“I’ll show you.” He took her hand and dragged her to the stack of hay bales. Jerking a blanket off a hook on the wall, he laid it over one of the bales. “This is hay. We’re going to roll in it.”
The confused look on her face said she was taking him too literally.
“I’m going to fuck you, sweetheart. On that bale of hay.”
“Ah…fuck. I like when you fuck me.”
“I like it too.” He reached for the shirt. The thing was nothing but a flannel work shirt, but damn, it was sure sexy on her. Knowing it was Luka’s only added to the appeal. He pressed his lips to the soft spot where neck met shoulder, breathing in the scent of Syla mingling with Luka and loving it.