Chapter 11
LYN
This is an undeniably horrible idea.
I shouldn’t be going to lunch with my supervisor. I shouldn’t be hanging out with him and his daughter. I shouldn’t be walking with them in Mythara Village like we’re some kind of fucked up family, especially when I’m barely holding my thoughts about him at bay.
Thoughts that have been…intense. A lot.
Borderline undeniable.
Thoughts of Kaelion between my legs, of his golden eyes looking over my abdomen, of his tongue…of his tongue, oh god.
Fantasies of riding him and grinding on him until I come.
Thoughts of his thumb in my mouth, his deep voice ordering me to hang onto the headboard, of those tendrils around my nipples…
Non-stop sex dreams. Non-stop.
And now I’m here, indulging myself with the company I’ve been dying for, that I absolutely should not be keeping.
The noodle shop is a little spot in Mythara Village, a Nyeri’i hole in the wall I’ve never been to before.
There aren’t a ton of Nyeri’i on M’mir, and I don’t have any friends among them…
and this feels very niche. It smells amazing, though, almost like food from home, and I take a deep breath as we walk in.
The hostess smiles at us, unperturbed by the presence of a human.
“Three of you?” she asks.
Solvi beams. “Yup!”
The hostess laughs—which, fair, Solvi is adorable—and then gestures over her shoulder for us to follow.
We’re seated at a ring-shaped table with about thirty seats around it, most occupied, a rotating buffet at its center.
The buffet is packed with what I would describe as purple rice noodles with lots of vegetables, steaming a little, glossy with oil and herbs.
My mouth waters.
Totally because of the food.
Not the company.
Kaelion sits down first, then gestures for Solvi to sit. Solvi, despite where he points toward, sits between him and somebody else—leaving the only open seat next to Kaelion.
She’s up to something.
The kid is devious as hell.
I slide into the seat beside Kaelion, careful not to touch him.
I nearly came when we bumped into each other in the street, and I don’t intend on this becoming a When Harry Met Sally situation.
That’s harder to prevent than I hoped, though; we’re close enough that I can feel his body heat, my skin tingling at the notion of his tendrils brushing out and touching me.
I keep my hands folded in my lap and stare at the rotating buffet like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world, not a slow-moving test of my self-control.
“So,” I say, “do we just…take whatever we want?”
Kaelion side-eyes me. “That is typically how it works.”
I look past him to see that Solvi is already shoveling noodles onto her plate, plus some little dumplings with five points. She’s eating with a two-pronged fork, and I look down to find the same thing in front of me.
“It smells delicious,” I say.
“It’s great,” Solvi offers, a purple noodle hanging out of her mouth. “What do you eat on Earth?”
I grab some noodles on the next rotation, smiling over at Solvi. “Lots of stuff. We have something like this called a sushi train.”
“What’s sushi?”
“Usually raw fish and vegetables, all rolled into rice and seaweed.”
Solvi wrinkles her brow. “You eat seaweed on Earth?”
“Some people do. Not everyone. We also eat noodles, but they aren’t this color…and my family likes to make spicy food. Have you ever had human barbecue?”
Solvi’s eyes widen and she nods vigorously. “Wulfric got us barbecue one time!”
I look from Solvi to Kaelion. “Wulfric?”
“Shahar’s future mate,” he offers.
I think back to when I met everyone at Kaelion’s apartment, and I nod slowly. “Ah…the one who looked like something crawled up his butt.”
Solvi laughs hysterically, snorting up a little bit of dumpling. I cover my mouth with my hand, horrified.
“Oh my god—I’m so sorry,” I mutter.
“It’s fine,” Kaelion says with a sly smile. “He…does kind of look like that.”
This is a different side of him than I ever met in the lab—and I realize with a start that I kind of like it. As my supervisor, he’s always been stern, even cruel at times. My friend Riley absolutely hates him. To be fair, he’s a huge jerk at times.
Right now, though…he’s charming. Funny.
Oh my god, Lyn, stop.
“Eat,” Kaelion says, gesturing toward my plate. “I promise we tolerate all kinds of Wulfric slander here.”
I laugh with Solvi, then I twirl noodles around my fork. When I actually get them to my mouth, they kind of blow me away—just the right amount of spicy, a little sweet, and incredibly buttery. I close my eyes and moan before I can think better of it.
When I open my eyes and look at Kaelion, it seems like he noticed.
Like…definitely noticed.
He’s staring at me, his eyes fixed on my lips, and the breath leaves him in a rush—
No. No, he couldn’t be—that’s not happening.
“Is it good?” Solvi pipes up.
“So good,” I reply, eager for any distraction from my boss. “I’m going to be thinking about these noodles for the rest of my life.”
We all fall into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the kind you only find when you’re distracted by very, very good food. I actually clean my plate completely before taking seconds on the next round, and I don’t stop eating until my stomach feels like it’ll explode.
Maybe not the best idea, but…anything to distract myself.
“Baba, can I go look at the fish?” Solvi asks. Her plate is cleaned too, her hands folded neatly in front of her.
Kaelion looks over his shoulder, and I follow his gaze to find some other kids clustered around a water feature in the corner.
“Yes,” he says, “but don’t stray further than the fountain. I don’t want you getting lost in Mythara.”
“I won’t,” she says. “Thanks, Baba.”
She slides out of her seat, then bolts.
And that leaves…just the two of us.
I swallow hard, considering getting another dumpling just for the sake of having something to stuff my face with. Instead, I clear my throat. “So—”
“You’re still having side effects,” he interrupts.
I look at him with wide eyes, my lips parting slightly. “I’m…what? No. I’m fine; I sent you my vitals from the clinic—”
“Then what happened in the street back there?” he asks. “When I bumped into you…are you telling me that wasn’t an arousal response?”
I stare at him, heat blooming behind my ears and crawling down my spine. I’m not sure which part of this is worse—the fact that he noticed, the fact that he’s right, or the fact that we’re discussing it at lunch with his pre-teen daughter.
“I…” I manage—but that’s about it. I don’t get any other words out before he keeps talking.
“Your pupils dilated,” he says. “Your breathing changed. I saw the flush on you, and…forgive the intrusion, but with my senses, I could smell it.”
Images of Kaelion from all my dirty dreams hit me like a ton of bricks. Kae between my legs, his tongue on my clit, a triumphant smile in his eyes. I like that he smelled me. I love it, actually.
“You did?” I say, voice breathy.
“I did,” he confirms, his jaw tight. “And now…now you’re doing it again.”
“Am not,” I blurt out.
“Don’t lie to me, Walker.”
“I’m not lying,” I protest. “I’m not—”
He reaches up to flick me in the shoulder.
Fuck him.
I instantly curl forward, biting my lip so hard I taste blood as my pussy clenches. I moan under my breath, the sound swallowed up by the chattering guests at the restaurant…but he hears it.
He hears it, sees it, smells it.
I glare at him. “That was a dick move,” I mutter.
“You shouldn’t lie to me,” he says. “We need to make sure you’re healthy. If touch is still making you feel that way—”
“It’s not just touch,” I interrupt. “It’s you.”
He cocks his head, and I can practically see the alarm bells blaring in his noggin. “Explain.”
“It’s…” I sigh, shaking my head. “I’ve tested it with other people, with objects. But it isn’t…it’s just you. Nothing else makes it happen. I think it must have something to do with subtle pheromone inputs while I was spasming in the lab, right? I can’t think of any other possibility.”
His eyes shade just a touch darker. “You tested it?” he asks.
“Scientifically,” I rush to add. “I wasn’t—God, I wasn’t sleeping around for data or anything. I just needed to know if…if it was neurological, if it was something reproducible, if there was a pattern.”
“And what was your methodology?” he asks, voice infuriatingly calm. “Your variables?”
I blink at him.
The bastard.
He wants the protocol.
“Well,” I say with as much dignity as I can muster, “there was exposure to controlled physical stimuli. I ruled out inanimate touch responses. Used baseline comfort objects, then moved on to human contact. Hugging. Holding hands. That sort of thing.”
His brows lift a fraction. “And?”
“Nothing,” I admit. “Not even the faintest spark of arousal. I’m completely normal with any other mundane touch. Then…you touch me once and I’m ready to black out.”
“And you can orgasm normally with regular stimulus?”
I feel like my eyes are going to pop the fuck out of my head. “Kaelion.”
“Don’t be scandalized,” he mutters. “I watched you orgasm on the floor of my lab three nights ago. This is purely academic.”
I grip the edge of the table to keep from doing something dramatic. Like…lunging to the side and kissing him until his stupid, smug mouth forgets how to be so stupid and smug.
Yeah, I’m not well. Something is horribly wrong with me.
“Academic,” I echo. “Right.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No,” I say flatly. “You’re asking me if I’ve orgasmed.”
“And did you?”
I close my eyes, breathing in and out to steady myself. “I…haven’t tried.”
But now I’m terrified I can’t. What if I can’t come without him? What am I going to do?
“You should try,” he murmurs.
I’m…legitimately speechless at that. He picks up his bulb of water and takes a sip, all while I just…stare at him.
“Did you just…did you just tell me to touch myself for science?”
He opens his mouth to respond, but we both see Solvi coming back in that moment. He puts his water down and pulls up his comm, intent on not looking at me. “All done?” he asks her. “I’ll pay the bill.”
“Have you looked in there?” Solvi asks, sliding back into her seat. “It’s actually really cool.”
“Mmhm,” Kaelion says. “They have some very interesting specimens.”
He pays the bill and listens to Solvi talk about fish while I just…sit there, stunned. I can’t believe what he just said to me.
I can’t believe how much I liked it.
“Did you see the fish?” Solvi asks, looking over her dad’s shoulder.
I open and close my mouth a couple times, much like—ironically—a fish.
“Um…I have to go,” I say. “Thanks for lunch. It was nice to see you, Solvi.”
“But—” Solvi starts.
Kaelion says nothing. He doesn’t even look at me as I collect my things. It makes me wonder how he’s feeling about what he just said…if he’s as superior and objective as he wants me to believe.
“I’ll see you in the lab next week,” I mutter. “Bye.”
Then I’m heading out the door as fast as I can, my shoulders hunched, my heart in my throat.
I don’t know if I can keep working with him.
And that…it could ruin everything.