Chapter 22 Callie #3
He handed me a comb, oil, leave-in conditioner, and a purple hair wrap before taking up a bristle brush and started brushing down the fur on his head, face and neck, spraying the bristles with an oil after every few swipes to keep the fur laying down.
My grin didn’t leave my face once during my night time hair routine, and I had just finished tying the wrap on when Rathal held out the brush.
He’d finished the front of his upper body, his arms, and his legs, but when he turned wordlessly to give me his back, the fur there was still standing straight up.
I started brushing, smoothing the fur down with my hand after each stroke. “Look at us, being all domestic and shit. Hard to believe I tried to blow you up like two days ago, huh?”
He shrugged, tossing a look over his shoulder at me. “I consider it foreplay, darling. No harm done.”
“That’s dysfunctional,” I said, laughing.
He snorted, crossing his arms and said in a dry tone. “It’s about as dysfunctional as blowing someone up as foreplay dear, but who am I to judge?”
“I did not! I was trying to escape!”
“Sure you were, darling. Sure you were. I do believe we’ve had this conversation before, have we not? What was it I told you?”
I glared at the back of his head. “That I liked it,” I grumbled.
“And was I right?”
I sighed, shaking my head in defeat, though a smile tugged at my mouth. “It pains me to admit, but yes. Yes you were.”
“Precisely. Hence the foreplay.”
I huffed a laugh in answer and finished brushing him and then handed the brush back for him to put away.
He tidied the counter and then took our cloths to hang up to dry.
He pulled out two robes and helped me into mine, tying the cord tightly around my waist before putting his own on.
I again didn’t squeak when he scooped me back up into his arms to carry me to his monstrosity of a bed.
It was a heavy black four poster metal thing that looked like someone had decided to take someone's idea of abstract artwork and turn it into a bed set.
There was a soft sleeping set of shorts and a tank top in a pretty cream color laid out on the fluffy orange comforter. Rathal set me down and helped me dress, smoothing the shirt down over me with a hum of approval.
“I hope you know that I enjoy dressing you and that you should resign yourself to the endless wardrobe changes in your future. Your taste in clothing is entirely too practical, darling. I consider it my life's goal to change that.”
I scoffed as he pulled the covers back and tucked me in before crawling in beside me to spoon me like it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt like he’d always been there beside me, his arms wrapped snugly around me and my head resting in the crook of his shoulder and neck.
“Good luck with that,” I told him, snuggling harder into his body.
“Mm, I think you continue to underestimate me.”
I smiled into his fur. “I don’t think I’ll ever do that again. So many defeats are bad for the soul.”
“You didn’t lose, Callie. You let me win. There is a difference.”
I didn’t know about all that. He’d caught me fair and square twice. Even with me hesitating to leave on the shuttle, he’d still caught up to me wicked fast.
“How did you get to the other shuttle so fast? I mean, I figured the blast would have kept you busy for at least half an hour.”
I could feel him smiling even if I couldn’t see him with my face shoved into his neck.
“I wasn’t on the shuttle when it exploded.”
I sat up then to look at him, my brows furrowed. “There is no way in hell you got off in time! I set it to self-destruct in thirty seconds! It took that long to even walk from the hangar door to the cockpit.”
He gave me that cocky ‘I know more than you’ grin. Ooooh his face was so punchable when he did that.
“There is an emergency exit hatch under the narrow hall just before both the hangar door and the cockpit door in case of airlock malfunction or fire. With a pull of a lever it explodes outward, allowing the evacuee to easily and quickly exit. I simply pulled the lever, dropped under the shuttle and sprinted through the bulkhead door into the in-processing station’s waiting area with the rest of the docking crew.
Your little booby trap hardly slowed me down.
” He flicked his tongue out and licked my cheek, leaving behind a wet smear.
“Ugh,” I grumbled, wiping at my cheek with the back of my hand.
He chuckled warmly and winked. “From there it was a quick hover cart ride over to the other docking bay, a simple command override of the hangar door from my Link and a short jump from the deck to the shuttle followed by a merry jaunt up to the cockpit to ruin your day.”
I slapped his chest with the back of my hand and growled at him.
He laughed, rolling us until I was under him and then he stuck his cold nose under my chin and nipped at my neck.
I squealed, trying to jerk away from the ticklish sensation, but Rathal dropped his dead weight onto me and started corn-cobbing my neck with his front teeth.
Shrieks of helpless laughter filled his bedroom followed by my cries for mercy.
Finally, Rathal stopped his ruthless assault and lifted his weight off me, supporting himself on his elbow to look down at me with a wide grin. “Now this is a victory I can savor.”
I huffed out a tired laugh, straightening my hair wrap that had drifted down over my eyes in my struggles. “That was cheating. Tickling is cheating.”
He held up his hand and clicked his claws together. “I beg to differ. I think it's using your strengths to their maximum effect.”
I yawned, shaking my head. “Cheating. I expect nothing less from a pirate.”
He pressed his mouth to my forehead. “Sleep, my prize. We have a busy day tomorrow. You need to be well rested.”
He cuddled me close again, and I drifted as his body heat soaked into me and fell asleep with his vanilla and spice scent filling my dreams.