Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
NAV
Arena twisted in her seat and looked at me with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t. You just surprised me. I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you come upstairs.”
Hearing that she wasn’t afraid eased some of the tightness that had crept into my chest. I’d heard her sigh twice from downstairs.
It wasn’t the good kind of sigh, the kind females made when finding their pleasure on our fingers or tongues.
It was the bad kind, when we did something they didn’t like.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
“A little of everything.”
She glanced down at the open map book. I couldn’t understand the writing, but guessed the large lake was the same one down the road. The same one her friends had used to leave.
“You are lonely and miss your friends,” I guessed.
She didn’t look at me as she closed the book.
“How close are you to getting the solar panels set up?” she asked.
She still did not trust me enough yet. But she did trust me a little. She trusted me to keep her safe. To keep her warm. To let me lick her sweet—
I cleared my throat and focused on her question.
“The solar panels are already set up on the roof.”
“I meant, how much longer do you need to work on everything?”
Hope bloomed in my chest. Females often needed more space when they were upset. But sometimes they needed cuddles to feel better. After she’d kicked me in the face and locked herself in the bathroom, I didn’t think she would want to be near me for a while.
Hoping she wanted cuddles, I said, “I can be done now. Belak knows how to finish the rest. Would you like me to hold you?”
She considered me, her expression not filled with revulsion or need, but with curiosity. I fought the urge to grin triumphantly.
“Can I keep my clothes on?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She lifted her arms in invitation.
I immediately scooped her up and sat on the chair with her in my lap. It creaked ominously, and I made a mental note to find sturdier chairs for the kitchen as I nuzzled the top of her head with my cheek.
Her skin was cool. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to give her as much of my heat as possible.
“Once the solar panels are working, the water heater and furnace will work too,” I said. “You will be warmer then.”
“Does that mean you won’t want to hold me anymore?”
“I will always want to hold you.”
Her hand settled on my chest. I blinked, wondering if she would like bed snuggles better than chair snuggles.
“Can I still sleep on top of you at night?” she asked.
Blood rushed to my cock at the soft, pleading note in her voice.
At night? If she wanted, she could be on top of me now.
Her fingers skimmed over my chest, adding to the fire spreading upward from where her rounded backside was pressing into my cock.
I swallowed twice before my throat worked enough to speak.
“Yes.” The word was rough with need and anticipation for sunset.
“After it’s warmer in here, I’ll be able to walk around without clothes on again,” she said, her fingers tracing a circle around my nipple. “If I’m naked, are you going to let other people look at me?”
Her fingernail raked over my nipple, cutting through my hazy thoughts.
I shivered and frowned. Not at the scratch.
I liked that. Very much. But at her question.
It felt like a trick. Females didn’t like being told what they could and couldn’t do.
If I said I would not stop her, would she then think I wanted to share her?
“I do not control who can see your body. You do. But I hope you will only want me to see your pretty pussy, just like you are the only one I want to see my cock.”
Her fingers stilled on my chest, and she tipped her head up to meet my gaze. For a horrible moment, I thought she would slap me and hurt her hand. But she smiled slowly.
“Sometimes you say the best things.”
Did that mean I sometimes said the worst things, too?
I was still wondering what I might have said that wasn’t good when she leaned in. The sudden press of her soft backside into my lap and the brush of her lips on my throat stopped all thought.
Frozen, heart pounding, I waited for her to pull away again. She didn’t. She smoothed her hands up, over my shoulders, and kissed my jaw.
Her fingers crept up the back of my neck, pressing against me. I followed her silent signal and bent my head closer to hers. She kissed my chin and then her lips brushed mine.
Curling my hands into fists, I fought not to take control.
Females didn’t like to be grabbed.
They did not like to be forced.
I needed to stay still so she would keep doing whatever she wanted.
Her tongue darted out, wetting my bottom lip.
My control snapped.
Hands cupping her face, I opened my mouth and devoured hers. The sweet stroke of her tongue against mine…The soft sounds she was making…The way she was pressing her breasts into my chest, seeking more contact…more friction.
I stood, knocking the chair over, and strode toward the living room.
Arena pulled away from me and pressed her hands against me.
“Wait,” she said, breathing hard. “We can’t do anything. Belak is still here.”
“Belak, you need to leave,” I said.
He ran up from the basement and started for the door.
“What? No,” Arena said, pushing at my chest until I put her down.
I frowned, watching her straighten her shirt. Her nipples were hard again. Because she was cold or because she’d liked kissing me?
Confused, I glanced at Belak. He stood by the door, sharing my uncertainty.
“I don’t understand,” I said, focusing on Arena again. “I thought you did not want Belak to see your pussy.”
She made a bad face—the kind females made when they opened a refrigerator filled with spoiled food. But no gagging. Just the bad face.
“I don’t want him to. I want to wait until you’re done with the solar panels and it’s dark outside, and Belak is in his own house.”
Relieved she wasn’t inviting Belak to stay for sex, I hugged her to hide my smirk.
She would not like that I was amused by her desire to wait for dark until I tasted her again.
Females didn’t like it when we looked as we feasted.
They thought the dark protected them. It didn’t.
We saw even better in the dark than we did in the harsh daylight.
“We will wait until the sun sets,” I said, kissing her temple.
She nodded, her cheeks flushed prettily, and pulled out of my arms. Instead of leaving, though, she hesitated, her gaze dipping to my hand. Reaching out, she wrapped her small fingers around mine. The way she bit her bottom lip and looked up at me intensified my need for her.
I glanced at the bed again.
She tugged at my hand.
“Are you hungry?” she asked. “I can make dinner.”
I was hungry, but not for food. I wanted Arena on that bed, spread out, gaze soft, and lips parted so I could hear each whimper as I feasted.
She cleared her throat.
“Maybe you should go back downstairs until it’s ready.”
I let her nudge me in that direction and reluctantly left her upstairs.
“Don’t wait until you win her heart to give her your cock,” Belak said as we worked.
“Why?”
“Hannah said that Merdon’s cock is why she fell in love with him.”
“She told Eden it was his spankings.”
“Maybe you should spank Arena before giving her your cock.”
Something fell upstairs.
“Sorry,” she called. “I dropped a pot.”
“Do you need help?” I called back, already standing.
“Nope!”
I crouched beside Belak as he grinned at me.
“Merdon says that the spankings help relax Hannah so she stops thinking. Your Arena might be thinking too much, too.”
I nodded slowly, wondering if Arena was like Hannah.
The light was starting to fade outside by the time we finished wiring for the solar panels. Arena was sitting at the table again, but her book of maps wasn’t open. She was staring at her hands, which were tightly fisted together, when we joined her.
She jumped to her feet at the sight of us. Belak paused beside me.
“I will leave now,” he said.
“Wait,” she said, taking a step forward as if to stop him. “Will you come over for breakfast? Please?”
Belak and I shared a glance. I wasn’t sure why she wanted him to return, but I saw no reason to refuse her.
He nodded and turned toward the door.
“You’re going to stay in one of the houses inside the fence, right?” she asked, hurrying after him.
I caught her around the waist, stopping her from following him out of the kitchen.
He paused to look back at her. I could see his confusion and his hope. It felt like a kick to my gut. I wouldn’t stop Arena if she chose my brother over me, but I didn’t want her to. I wanted her to want me.
“Yes,” he said. “I will stay inside the fence.”
“Good. We’ll see you in the morning.”
He nodded, glanced at me, then left.
She stared at the door for several long moments before looking up at me. She looked…nervous.
“I made stew,” she said, extracting herself from my hold.
I watched her move around the kitchen, dividing the food into two portions and setting the table. As she moved, she remained focused on her task. Too focused. Her moves were too fast.
Was she still upset about this morning? About being interrupted? Had she changed her mind about me? Did she wish it were Belak with her instead?
Unsure why she was acting strangely, I sat beside her and tried to ask the conversation questions I knew as we ate dinner.
But her answers were too brief.
“Do you like sports?”
“Not really.”
“What hobbies do you enjoy?”
“Looking at maps, mostly.”
“What do you like to do to relax?”
She dropped her spoon and looked at me with wide eyes, as if I’d startled her again.
“Arena?”
“Sleep. I like to sleep.”
She ate the rest of her stew quickly.