Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Fiona
Tonight gave me hope we can find a way to make this work. Khesan and Shathar were both cordial, and no fights broke out. And they both looked quite good in their new jeans.
That is, perhaps, the part that’s hardest. I’ve come to like both of them so much that I don’t know how I’ll be able to choose when the time comes. It weighs on me heavily, like a boulder I’m carrying around.
When Amara texts me saying we need to shop for Christmas sweaters, I call her right away and scuttle into my office.
“How’s it going?” Amara says before I can even get out a hello. “With the two husbands?”
“It’s fine, I think. They’ve been getting along better. Nobody tried to tear anybody else’s head off tonight.”
“Sounds tense,” says Amara. “And you sound tense. You okay?”
“Not really.” I close the door to my office so Khesan and Shathar won’t hear while they get ready for bed. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pick one, Amara. I feel like whenever we get close, I’m hesitant because I know I’m going to have to say goodbye to one of them at the end of this.”
Amara gasps. “You can’t think of it like that. They both came here knowing it was a gamble as to whether it would work out. You have to look out for you, Fiona. You’re deciding on your forever partner. You want to make the right decision, don’t you?”
My answer comes out tiny. “Yeah, of course.”
“Then you’re going to have to push through. Set the guilt aside and really put your all into your relationships. Stop hesitating, start making moves.”
I wince. “Making moves?”
“Yeah! How will you know which one of them is right for you if you don’t explore your relationship more?”
“Do you mean, like, sex?” I ask hoarsely.
“That is exactly what I mean. Explore these feelings you have with each of them, so you can make a fully informed decision when the time comes.”
I hate that she’s right. I can’t let my anxiety over the future get in the way of the now. I have to embrace the opportunity to get to know both Khesan and Shathar before the thirty days are up.
“Thanks, Amara. I think I needed someone to tell me that.”
“I’m happy to be that person,” she chirps. “Now go enjoy your two alien husbands.”
With that, she hangs up. I put my phone away and square my shoulders as I head back out into the living room. Shathar stands in the kitchen, and he glances up at me with a smile when I appear.
“Wanted to say goodnight,” he says as he approaches me. His eyes are soft as he brings his finger up to my cheek and gently strokes it. “Despite the circumstances, I’m grateful that I came here and met you.”
For a moment, I worry about Khesan coming downstairs, but then shake it off. I can’t let fear get in the way of discovering emotional truth and connection.
“Same,” I tell Shathar. “I know the situation isn’t ideal, but I’m glad you’re here, too. You have such a relaxed energy, it brings me back to earth, if you know what I mean.”
Shathar grins before he leans down and pecks me on the lips. His hands curl around my hips, his claws lightly digging into my butt. Thinking of what Amara said, I kiss him deeper, harder, and he returns the gesture in kind.
Eventually we pull away, both of us gasping for air. Shathar gazes at me with hooded eyes, his usually slitted pupils now wide and dilated. He leans down once more to nip my lip, and I almost moan at the brief painful sensation.
“I suppose I should go to bed,” I say, against my will. I wouldn’t mind more of this, but it’s getting late. “Work tomorrow. But then we’ll all go out.”
That’s when I hear Khesan’s voice over my shoulder. “Go out? Where?”
I startle, Shathar’s arms still around me. He doesn’t let go as Khesan comes down the stairs, and they stare at one another, their fans starting to lift. But then Khesan sighs and lowers his own, like he’s giving up.
“I’m just here for water.” He lifts a glass and fills it under the sink.
I hurry to explain. “Amara invited all of us out for drinks tomorrow night.”
“What will we drink?” asks Shathar. He retracts his hands, though reluctantly.
“Well, you can have anything you want, but I usually have some alcohol.”
Khesan cocks his head. “My translator is offering a fermented liquid that leaves you intoxicated.”
“Yep!” I say. “That’s it.”
“Perhaps like our abonga?” Shathar suggests. “It is a fermented fruit drink that, I believe, serves much the same purpose.”
“Ah, yes!” Khesan clicks his claws together. I give him a perplexed look, not sure what that gesture means, but then Shathar does it back to him. “Does this alcohol make you feel… happy? And free?”
I nod. “Just like that.”
“We make it from the abo fruit on Arshur,” Shathar explains. “It is a wonderful beverage, if dangerous.”
“Exactly!” I have to laugh at that description. It’s accurate. “So you know.”
“I look forward to getting these ‘drinks,’ then,” says Shathar. “And meeting more of your friends.”
After we all say goodnight, Khesan and I head up the stairs together. He stops me at the top, in front of his bedroom door.
“Fiona,” he says in a purr. “I know what we have is still new, but…” He clears his throat. “Would you like to come into my room?”
I pause, not sure what to do. Just a few moments ago, Shathar was kissing me. But then I think of what Amara said, and now I’m sure she’s right. I need to take the leap forward and get to know each of my husbands better—find out if we could be compatible.
I offer him my hand, not knowing what he has planned. “All right.”
Khesan’s lips peel up, revealing all of his fangs as he takes my hand and opens the door.
When I step inside, everything is perfectly tidy, even more than when I first prepared it for him.
The bed is made straight and exact, all of his clothes hung up neatly inside his closet.
He has a few belongings arranged in a straight line on top of his dresser.
“Wow,” I say. “You’re so clean. Cleaner than I am.”
“In the military, we must keep everything in order at all times. It’s habit.”
Khesan tugs me over to the bed, where I sit down. There, he kneels in front of me, resting his hands on my knees and looking up into my eyes like I hold the answers to the world.
“Fiona, I’d like to try something. If you would let me.”
I blink down at him. “Try what?”
“You will need to remove your pants.”
Oh. Ohh. What does he want to do without my pants on? Surely he’s not thinking about sex already, is he? It feels soon, but… I do want to know what I’m dealing with down there. I’m actually rather excited to see it.
And then do other things with it.
“I only want to… taste you,” says Khesan, rubbing my knees in a comforting manner. “Show you pleasure.”
Oh, that’s what he’s after. My skin feels tingly all over as I say, “All right.”
A wide grin spreads across Khesan’s face, and he licks his lips. Obediently, I unbutton my jeans, then pull down the zipper. His eyes are fixed on me as I slide off my pants and underwear, then chuck them onto the floor, leaving me naked from the waist down.
Khesan inhales, his nostrils flaring as he spreads my knees apart. My mind is going wild, wondering what this very alien male thinks of my very human parts. His eyes home in on the place between my thighs, and that’s when I notice a very significant bulge in his new jeans.
“Ignore that,” he says as he crawls onto the bed.
I scoot back to make room, until Khesan is crouched over my hips.
He leans down, his tail weaving in the air behind him, and he spreads my thighs even wider with his clawed hands.
One more inhale, this time right in front of my exposed pussy, and his eyes fall closed.
“I bet the taste is even better than the scent,” he says. His tongue flicks out, and I hold in a squeak of surprise as it grazes over my labia. Then again, it slides across me, licking up to my clit and down again.
Khesan groans. “As I expected.” He explores even more with his mouth, his tongue laving across me over and over until abruptly, it slips between my folds. There, he pushes deeper, until that tongue is pressing inside me.
Wow, is all I can think as I let out a gasp. He slides it in as far as he can, twisting and turning it, and it feels wonderful. Then that tongue withdraws again, and Khesan is panting.
“Delicious,” he says with an animal grunt. His eyelids are at half-mast, his expression hungry as he looks up at me over my pelvis. “Tell me what you like, Fiona.”
“My clit.” I reach down between us and run a finger over the object in question to show him what I mean.
Khesan nods, then dives back in again. This time, he licks my clit ferociously, and I have to hold in a moan.
Damn, that’s great. My hips jolt underneath him as he circles it, then passes over it, making unpredictable patterns with his tongue.
Each swipe makes me twitch and gasp until my gasps have become moans.
“Khesan!” I grab his head, burying my fingers in his hair. He chuckles, curling one hand under my ass as he licks me even more fiercely. I hear sloppy wet sounds, which only turns me on even more.
Then Khesan decides to experiment, and his tongue ends its pursuit, going lower to slip inside me again.
He thrusts it in and out, and I’m riding even higher, coasting on my pleasure, when he returns to my clit.
With renewed vigor, he goes to town on it, alternating between licking me and fucking me with that incredible tongue.
“Oh, fuck,” I mutter as I roar closer to my orgasm. Who knew this alien could give such great head? I grip Khesan even tighter, and his fans rise, though I think this time it’s arousal rather than anger.
“Yes,” he says against my pussy, growing even more feverish with his attentions. “Give everything to me.”
I chase my pleasure, my hips rocking against Khesan’s face.
He devours all of me, swirling his tongue every which way, until I’m hit by the storm.
I bite my lip but still cry out as it courses through me, and between my legs, Khesan lets out a heady moan of his own.
He licks down my pussy, like he’s drinking me up, and his claws dig deeper into the meat of my thighs.
“Vakha,” growls Khesan as he lifts his head. He licks his chops like a dog that just ate a big tasty meal. “You are delicious.”
I shiver all over at this declaration. “Wow. No one’s ever said that before.”
“They were all lacking, then,” he says, rising to his knees as his tail winds around my ankle.
I sit up so our faces are only inches apart, and I kiss him, wanting to show him just how much I enjoyed that.
It quickly grows deeper, wilder, more fervent, until suddenly I’m on my back and Khesan is on top of me, his big body weighing me down.
I was hesitant about the idea of sex until I just came like a train, and now it sounds mighty wonderful.
Wait. This is moving kind of fast. I gently pull away from our kiss and so does Khesan, his gaze hungry.
“We should get to bed,” I whisper to him, stroking his hair. His fans lower back to his head. “Thank you so much.”
“It was my pleasure.” Khesan gets up so I can rise to my feet, but then he takes my hand in his. “Thank you for letting me do that.”
“You’re thanking me?” I snicker. “You can do that any time you please.”
Khesan smirks as I head to the door. “I definitely will.”
We kiss once more, then I can’t help wrapping my arms around him, showing him just how much I appreciate him.
“Goodnight, my Fiona,” he whispers into my hair. “I hope you sleep well, and perhaps dream of me.”
After I leave, the door shuts quietly behind me, and I head to my own room. Now that the possibility of this, of more, of sex has emerged onto the table, a new excitement rises inside me.
Amara is right. This could be fun.