Chapter 6
GEMINI
Dinner had been another delicious treat—a synthesized cut of meat that tasted like steak, a mountain of mushrooms cooked in butter that were perfectly tender and earthy, and a fresh green salad made of the canar they had collected.
Apodis was quite the chef, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine getting used to this. Exploring the mistforest all day and letting a handsome male cook for her each night.
And fixing up the overgrown garden behind the cabin that Zenith had shown her while Apodis was preparing dinner.
Oh, it had so much potential, but the sun and moisture of Lumeris had caused the native plants to grow wild, overtaking any cultivation Apodis had attempted.
If she could get her hands on some seeds, she could easily have a harvest ready before the cold season, her mind already envisioning the vegetables and herbs she could plant.
A silly fantasy, but one Gemini held onto while she and Apodis sat on opposite ends of the couch, Zenith curling up on a soft cushion on the floor. The fireplace was filled with blue-grey flames, some sort of alien tech that gave off a cool breeze while giving the cozy feel of a true fire.
“Will you be returning to your camp tomorrow?”
The question had come out of nowhere, but she wasn’t entirely surprised.
“I suppose I should.”
Apodis’ broad shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly, matching the sinking feeling in her stomach.
She really had no urge to go back to work with people who hadn’t even realized she’d been missing, but it was the right thing to do.
She didn’t want to overstay her welcome or take advantage of Apodis’ kindness, even if she was having a lovely time.
“Well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like. It might be good to heal in a place of comfort, since you won’t be able to do much fieldwork at the moment.”
He certainly had a point.
“Thanks, Apodis. You’re such a good friend.”
Apodis’ brows furrowed as he caught the edge in her voice, the bite of sarcasm that had somehow slipped out.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No,” she said quickly, completely mortified by her strange outburst.
She had no right to act like she had any claim over him, like he’d betrayed her the way Kenny had. Of course, Apodis hadn’t. He’d given no indication that he was interested in her beyond friendship, and that was perfectly fine.
Apodis’ eyes remained narrowed as he pulled her injured ankle into his lap, massaging her foot with gentle strokes.
Totally something a friend would do.
Gemini refrained from making a sound despite the positively sublime sensation of his thumbs kneading the sole of her foot in tight circles.
When his tentacles suctioned onto her ankle and calf, she let out a tiny whimper, Apodis’ mouth quirking into the slightest of smiles before his stoic facade returned.
“I’ll give you a little more pain relief,” he said, the cooling balm immediate as it infiltrated her cells and tingled her skin.
Once again, where her ankle was chilled, the rest of her body heated, the space between her thighs conspicuously wet as if he had flipped an erotic switch.
“Does that feel good?” he asked, and she sputtered, a cough catching in her throat.
Did he know he was turning her on? Was he doing it on purpose? Difficult to tell, but as his wide-eyed look turned into a sly grin, she had a feeling he knew.
“The foot rub, I mean. I can do the other one,” he added, gently pulling her other leg into his lap and repeating his massage.
“Feels really good,” she finally managed, trying to enjoy it without enjoying it too much, the intimate touch so different from what she was used to as of late.
On the surface, there was nothing erotic about what he was doing, but she’d never had her cunt tingling from a foot massage.
Something about Apodis set her off in the weirdest way, and she wondered if he was toying with her, all the mixed signals making her mind whirl.
Was he truly clueless about the effect he had on her?
What if he had a partner? He hadn’t mentioned one, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a romantic friend who lived in the city, or in another cabin nearby. Was that why he was acting all weird?
“It’s really just you and Zenith out here?” she asked, his magic hands providing the perfect amount of pressure as one of his tentacles gently brushed over her injury.
He’d already given her the pain relief, but she didn’t question it, the sensation of his suckers attaching and detaching from her skin oddly soothing.
“Yes?”
She cocked her head with a smile.
“Is that a question?”
“No,” Apodis said quickly, a sheepish grin on his face. “It’s just us out here. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you had, uh, a girlfriend or boyfriend or something.”
Real smooth. Not at all fishing for information, even after you’d been rejected.
“Girl… friend?” he asked.
“Oh, uh, like a romantic or sexual partner…” she clarified.
“No, I don’t have one of those,” he answered, his eyes darting around the room.
She’d think he was suspicious if she didn’t have a good idea of how awkward he was, though maybe that was just wishful thinking that this guy wasn’t a creep who gave random women sensual foot rubs while he was in a relationship.
“Apodis is unmated,” Zenith said, apparently awake though he had seemed to be in a deep sleep only a moment ago. “But he is still a virile partner.”
Gemini quirked a brow as Apodis turned maroon once more. The caerulian didn’t seem capable of lying, so maybe this was all just a case of cultural misunderstanding.
“Oh, is he?”
Virile was a strange choice of words, though she couldn’t deny that it made her chest—and cunt—flutter just a bit. Did it matter that her implant made her infertile? Of course not. That just made the breeding all the more fun, when she knew there was no chance of a baby attached to it…
“Zenith,” Apodis warned, before turning his gaze back to her. “Like I said, I don’t have any sort of romantic partner.”
“And why not?”
What was this? Twenty questions? Apodis’ fingers ceased their kneading, and she quietly mourned the loss of his touch, though her feet remained in his lap.
“You sound like my mother,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m not sure why. I suppose I haven’t found the right person.”
There was no yet attached to the sentence, which made it sound like he’d given up. But perhaps she was reading too much into things. Or she just didn’t want to be alone in her solitude.
“Do you have a girl friend or boy friend?” he asked, the intonation of the words making her giggle.
“No, I don’t. I’m all by myself.” That sounded a lot sadder than she’d meant it. “I quit being on the apps. It was too exhausting.”
“Apps?”
“Dating apps. Where you swipe through to find potential matches, and chat with them. Do you all not have those?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Apodis said with a solemn expression. “It sounds… impersonal.”
“It is,” she agreed. “You spend all of your time swiping through photos of people, and as soon as you find someone who seems halfway decent, they send you an unsolicited dick pic.”
“Dick… pick?” Apodis asked, and she chuckled, noticing that Zenith had somehow decided to go right back to sleep.
“A picture of his cock,” she explained, trying to resist spiraling into a laughing fit.
“Males send that to females? Without asking?”
“Yeah. I think it’s some sort of power play. And I don’t mind getting pictures like that, I’d just like to be asked. And know that it’s not the only message I’ll be getting from someone.”
Oh God, why the fuck couldn’t she stop talking? She was acting like she was chatting with one of her gal pals from university—women she’d lost contact with—not an alien she’d met exactly one day ago.
“You enjoy receiving images of someone’s genitals?”
“You all don’t do that here?”
Apodis shook his head, and the adorable puzzled look made her chest clench. He didn’t seem upset by the conversation’s trajectory.
Just confused.
“We do not. But I think I can understand the appeal. In the correct context.”
“Context really matters…”
There was a beat of silence, Gemini’s cheeks flushing from the intimate turn of conversation.
Though there were plentiful members of different alien species on Earth, her job employed mostly humans.
She’d never had much of a chance to converse with an extraterrestrial in such a familiar manner, and it was enlightening.
“Do you like sending images of yourself to others?” he asked.
She swallowed hard, understanding his meaning though she could try to play it off innocently.
But the way Apodis’ tongue flicked over his lips made her want to oblige him.
That and how her cunt was throbbing as the seconds ticked by and his fingers resumed their magic, moving up her uninjured leg and massaging the deep muscles of her calf.
“Sometimes. But only with someone I trust not to share them with others.” She paused, letting him imagine exactly what she liked to take pictures of before continuing. “I enjoy making videos, too. With the right partner.”
“Videos?” Apodis asked, his brow quirked.
He was trying to remain unfazed, though she could see the way his chest was heaving. Was his cock hard? It was difficult to tell with her feet in his lap. Why was she thinking about his cock anyway?
“You know, filming yourself while you’re having sex. It’s fun to watch them afterward.”
Gemini giggled, the absurdity of explaining homemade porn to an alien positively hilarious. To her surprise, Apodis just nodded, his mouth slightly agape as his gaze wandered up and down her body.
Was he undressing her with his eyes? If he were, she didn’t mind in the slightest. He’d said he just wanted to be friends, but friends could fuck, couldn’t they?
“That is very interesting,” Apodis finally said, though his voice had a bit of a rasp to it.
Or perhaps she was just imagining things. His wild scent was getting stronger, that was certain, like she was dancing under pine trees, crushing the fragrant needles underfoot. Did that mean something? Was she making him uncomfortable?
Or turning him on?
“We could make a video if you wanted,” Gemini said, her eyes widening a moment later.
What was coming over her? She couldn’t believe that those words had actually come out of her mouth instead of staying in her brain where they belonged. Here she was, propositioning this very sweet alien who had been nothing but kind to her.
And there he was, looking absolutely mortified, though he didn’t stop his massage. It was a long time before he spoke, his voice quiet when he found his words.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Well, that was certainly not the reaction she had expected, the sentence sending a zing of pleasure up her spine.
What was he going to hurt her with? That big dick? Those tentacles? And why did the idea not sound so bad? She wasn’t a serious masochist by any means, but a little pain wasn’t a problem, only amplified the pleasure.
“Hurt me?”
Apodis flushed a deep maroon, and she tried to stop herself from literally squirming with anticipation.
“Alphas can get quite… overzealous when mating.”
Oh, so it was an alpha thing. Gemini stifled a laugh, the thought of the prim and proper male massaging her legs losing control so preposterous it was difficult to believe. And at the same time, the image coiled tension in her center, twisting its way around her like a snake.
“You think I can’t handle you?”
Gemini bit her lip as Apodis’ eyes widened, his irises flaring dark red to match the blush on his face. A tentacle coiled around each of her legs, spreading them wide as her breath caught in her throat. He shook his head a moment later, releasing her and jumping from the couch, much to her dismay.
“I’m so sorry, Gemini. I… I didn’t mean to do that, but sometimes my mating tentacles have a mind of their own.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” she said, though she didn’t continue with what she really wanted to include.
… because I liked it.
“I am. It’s not a good idea for us to be… intimate, though I am very attracted to you. What I mean is, you’re very beautiful, but we really shouldn’t have sex. Not because I don’t want to. It’s just that things could get… complicated.”
Apodis was rambling, and she tried to understand his thought process, though he wasn’t making it easy. Complicated? Sex didn’t have to be all serious, though when he called it mating, perhaps it was a very significant thing around here.
If they fucked, would that mean they were alien married? She probably should learn more about a species before getting ready to jump into bed with one, though for some reason she was feeling a bit more reckless than usual.
It had been so long since someone truly saw her. That was all.
Alright, she’d cool it for now, at least until she figured out what his deal was. She wasn’t trying to scare away a friend, even if it was a friend she’d never see again once she left this planet. A thought that put a real damper on the arousal tingling her nerves.
“It’s late. I can sleep on the couch if you’d like,” Apodis said, clasping his hands in front of him.
“Nonsense,” she said, holding her arms out to him. “Help me to the bed. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
It was a long moment before his mouth curled into a smile, though she could still sense his discomfort.
“If you’re sure,” he said, stepping back to the couch.
“I’m sure.”
Gemini tried to ignore the arousal burning through her as Apodis carried her to the bedroom, knowing that all this strangeness would be over when she went back to camp in a few days.