Chapter 43
FORTY-THREE
Tai
The water is hardly more than a mud puddle.
My boots squelch through the wet dirt as I circle around.
My feet slide a bit with each step. I turn to warn Bri but before I can say a word, she has lost her footing and is sliding, each foot going in a different direction.
She hits the ground and bursts out laughing.
“You are the clumsiest person I have ever met,” I say and put my hand out to help her up. She flings the mud off her hands and reaches for me. Instead of pulling herself up, she yanks down on my hand, pulling me down into the mud next to her.
“Serves you right,” she says and flicks mud on my face.
“Oh, you think you’re pretty funny, huh?” I grab a handful of mud and swipe it across her face.
“Oh, no you didn’t!” A handful of mud hits my forehead. I swipe it off my face and narrow my eyes at her.
“Mercy! Mercy! We’re even!” she says gasping for breath between her laughter.
“Hardly.”
She has more mud on her than I do from the fall that had nothing to do with me. Bri gets up carefully squelches her way through the soft mud around the corner.
I look around trying to figure out how we are going to get some drinkable water from the murky muddy mess in front of us.
The idea to filter it out using the clothes we have on pops in my head—a skill we learned in military training—but I soon get grossed out at the thought.
I’m about to lean down and scoop up some water with my hand when I hear Bri from around a bend in the canyon.
“Fuck yes!” she yells followed by a loud splash.
I trudge my way through the mud and follow the sounds of splashing. How did I miss the crystal-clear pool of water in the middle of the desert the last time I was here?
Well, I was preoccupied with other things.
It’s wide and looks deep, deep enough that Bri is completely submerged and swimming somewhere under the surface. Across the sparkling pool, water cascades down in a transparent sheet from a ledge above.
This looks much safer to drink than the mud water.
I take off my boots and set them down. My shirt and pants come off next. I leave on the briefs and wade into the cool crisp water. I stop when I’m about waist deep and lean down to splash some water on my face and hair, cleaning off the mud, sand, and sweat.
“Come on, Tai, it’s even cooler down here,” Bri says, treading water in the center of the pool. Her eyes are bright and shining. If I knew how to swim, I’d be over there in an instant.
“I’m good.”
“No, really. Come on, it’s better over here.”
“I can’t swim,” I admit.
She moves closer. Her dress is wet and see-through, the top clinging to her chest and her hard nipples peeking through the fabric. I’m glad my lower half is underwater because I’m immediately hard.
“You can’t swim?” she asks, looking skeptical.
“Never learned. Not many bodies of water on fueling stations,” I tell her. Water is a precious commodity in space. I would go months between baths. And when I did, it was pretty much a bucket of dirty water poured over my head.
“That’s a terrible excuse. I happen to know there was a pool at the muraDome. You could have learned anytime you wanted.”
I wade a little closer to her. I’m extremely turned on right now. Her body is incredible, and I want to remember how it feels against me.
I’m about to snatch her wrist and pull her toward me when she screams and jumps into my arms.
“I felt something! Something touched my ankle!” she shrieks as she shakes and looks back frantically.
“Are you sure?” I ask, searching the clear water along with her.
“Yes, I’m sure!” She smacks my chest and grabs my arms to keep herself perfectly still.
Our eyes meet, hers terrified and wide. “Tai. I think it’s on me,” she whispers.
“Okay, okay. Where?”
“Here in the front,” she says, motioning down at her lower half.
My eyes follow hers down her chest, belly, and between her legs. “Please get it off me.” I watch her face go pale and notice she’s hardly breathing or moving at all.
“Okay. Don’t move.”
I reach down and my fingers graze the soft skin of her belly. My dick is throbbing. The sheer dress is the only thing between our skin. I gather up her skirt and bunch it in my hand, clearing the way to her bare thigh.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Bri says. She’s scared but hasn’t lost her easy humor.
My finger brushes down her leg. On her inner thigh, a sticky bump is stuck tight to her skin. I grab it gently and pull, not sure how it’s attached itself to her. I peel it off slowly and reluctantly pull my hand away.
The little thing is an orange and black spotted amphibian of some sort. It’s cute. It fits in the palm of my hand and clings to me with four padded feet.
“I think you made a friend,” I tell her and hold it up.
“What is that?” Bri squirms and shakes off the feeling.
“I don’t know, but it looks harmless.” I peer into its big buggy eyes. Its tongue pops out and it licks its own eyeball. Its pupils focus on me, and right when I’m about to stroke its back, it unhinges its jaw and bites down on my thumb.
“Ouch!” I scream and drop it, but it stays stuck to my finger while I try to shake it off. I fling it off back into the water, and Bri and I run for the shore.
Wide-eyed and panicked, I can’t help but laugh at the ridiculous sound I made when it bit me. Bri clutches at her middle, laughing so hard she can’t even get a sound out.
I collapse to the ground and watch her laugh.
Bri is so beautiful, it hurts. She plops down next to me and leans against my arm.
“I guess the swimming lessons will have to wait,” she says and nudges me.
“Yeah, I’m definitely not going back in there.” I grin at the sight of her, wet from head to toe, water dripping down her smooth skin.
“Here, let me see that.” She grabs my wrist and brings my thumb up to her face. She intently studies the small bite marks left behind.
“It’s okay, it didn’t hurt that bad.” I gulp down nothing, my mouth dry again.
“Do you have anything in your pack to mend it? I don’t want it to get infected. Who knows what sorts of microbials are here? I’d hate for you to lose your last good hand.”
“I’m pretty good with both hands.”
I curl my bionic arm around her and bring her close.
With one slow finger, I trace down her throat, around to the back of her neck, following her spine all the way down until my hand comes to rest at the small of her back.
All I see is Bri and her gorgeous eyes and lips.
Lips that are being licked, preparing for a kiss.
I’m on her in an instant. Her hands comb through my hair when I kiss her. She tastes like salt and smells like rain.
The brethren are right. She’s a goddess, and I want it all.
She rips her lips away from mine and scoots away. The distance between us now feels worse than anything I’ve ever felt.
“Um, I’m gonna go check the pack.” She stands up and tries to cover up her exposed body. I watch her over my shoulder. She puts her fingers to her lips absently, touching the place I had my lips on as she walks away, taking my sanity with her.