Halley
Keelo stalks ahead to where Rin is. He’s got his tree-trunk arms crossed over his thick chest and his shoulders hunched. A second later, he’s barely more than a blur against an even blurrier background. I rub my eyes, already missing my glasses.
“He hates me,” Eot says, sounding resigned, like it’s a fact he’s always known to be true.
“Ah, no.” I nudge his arm. “I’m pretty sure Keelo’s in love with you.”
Eot frowns. “No—”
“Yes. Didn’t you see the way he was trying to use my cardigan to obscure the tent in his trousers when you were moaning about how great we both smell?”
“His what?”
“His boner. His raging erection.” Oh, sweet Eot.
So oblivious to what’s right in front of his eyes.
“If Keelo had been truly offended by what you said, he’d have tossed my cardigan back to me.
” An easy solution to our mixed scents. But he’d kept a firm hold of it, a shield to hide his own reaction.
Even now, I can see a blurry dash of purple up ahead.
Eot follows the direction of my attention, watching Keelo with Rin. His mouth is open, and he looks a bit like someone smacked him lightly across the back of his head—surprised and shocked and incredulous.
Which once again has me pondering one of the great mysteries of my scientific career.
What exactly do Keelo’s pheromones smell like?
Would I like his scent as much as Eot’s is designed to drive me wild?
Would their scents combined have double the effect on my libido? Double the effect on their libido?
We watch as Keelo kneels—or perhaps he’s bending over. Either way, he’s examining Rin’s find.
That’s when Eot catches one of my hands, and suddenly the air between us is sparking with invisible electricity.
I think if smiling wasn’t such a human expression, Eot would be grinning right about now, looking exactly like the Cheshire Cat who’s been handed all the answers to the universe on a silver platter.
There’s a glint in his golden eyes, and his gaze lowers to my lips.
My heart races.
This is it, I think, as he leans closer. This is when Eot kisses me.
Instead, he presses his nose to my throat, and his deep inhale might be the most erotic sound I’ve ever heard as he smells me.
I go weak at the knees, my hand in his about the only thing keeping me upright, because this close even my feeble human nose can smell Eot’s pheromones over the stretch of the dead trikon.
The intoxicating scent of sweet apples invades every inch of me, until I’m swaying on the spot, my peripheral vision blurring even further as Eot becomes my sole focus.
Holy hell. I might as well have downed half a bottle of sparkling wine on an empty stomach. My blood is rushing south, and I swear I can feel it in my veins. If I were to slit my wrists, I wouldn’t be surprised if I bled apple juice as golden as Eot’s skin.
Except now I know what’s happening—that it’s his pheromones that have my sex drive purring like a kitty—it isn’t quite all-consuming as the first time, when I had no clue what was happening.
It’s kind of like there’s a switch in my brain.
Eot’s pheromones are sending power to it, but it’s my choice if I want to flick the switch and turn it on to maximum capacity.
I glance ahead, to Keelo and Rin, and decide it’s probably for the best if I keep at least some of my wits about me. I don’t want to traumatize a child by stripping naked here and now and trying to crawl into Eot’s pants.
Still, tingles pool between my legs, and I’m pressing my knees together, trying to get the seam of my shorts at the right angle against my clit.
Before this week, I had no idea exactly how much I crave the scent of apples, and I’m glancing around at our surroundings before I fully realize I’m on the hunt for a large rock to hide behind with Eot.
“Oh boy.” I fan my face with my free hand, but it does little to stop my cheeks burning. Even my hat isn’t helping, because this time it isn’t the sun that’s got me sweating. “You’ve got to give a girl some warning before you go doing sexy things like sniffing her neck.”
Eot chuckles. “Was I being too subtle before?”
“Not subtle,” I reassure him, right as it occurs to me that maybe the reason he hasn’t yet kissed me is that aliens don’t kiss. Maybe snogging is another human thing. And I kind of see how having tusks might make it awkward. “Just a little lost in translation.”
“How so?”
“Well, humans don’t have pheromones, but—”
“You don’t need them,” Eot interrupts, and boldly slips one large hand between my thighs. “I can smell how much you want me. Want us.”
My eyes flutter closed.
Eot’s deep inhale is wickedly enticing, and I grab his shoulder with my free hand in a desperate attempt to keep my hips from bucking.
My jaw is aching with how tense I’m holding my muscles.
It’s either this or giving into temptation, flicking the switch in my head and going full mad woman horny.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s incredibly tempting.
Except for the fact that we’re out in the open.
At any second, Keelo could glance back, and he’d instantly know what we’re doing.
Worse, Rin would see us.
“We don’t”—pant—“have pheromones, but”—pant—“we do”—pant—“kiss.” Considering Eot’s still got a hand between my legs, I think I deserve Brownie points for how level-headed I’m staying.
“Ki-ss?” Eot cocks his head to one side. “That doesn’t translate.”
“I had a feeling it wouldn’t.”
“What is this kiss?”
Looping a shaking hand around the back of his neck, I grin. “Let me demonstrate.”