14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ODETTE

Don't panic, don't panic— I'm panicking.

My mouth flaps open but no sound comes out.

I mean, what can I possibly say to rectify the situation?

Nothing.

I'm never speaking again.

Chente stares at me, clearly in shock at my brazen words.

His bright red gaze bores into me, not blinking once.

"You…thought of me—and came? As in—"

"I shouldn't have said that. Sorry. It was inappropriate."

The Chupacabra smiles, his long fangs flashing in the light.

"I like when you're inappropriate—and apparently you like that I'm big…among other things. What were you thinking when you came?"

My face heats up, the warmth sweeping over the rest of my body until I'm unsure if I'm actually on fire.

But the smoke detectors don't go off, so I must just be in my own personal hell.

"Odette," Chente growls when I don't answer, and I squirm in my chair.

"Your tongue. Between my legs," I finally admit.

"Just between your legs?"

"N-no."

He quirks a brow, waiting for me to continue, but I don't know if I can.

The parallels between my book and this moment are enough to make my head spin.

Kaiyek makes Elodie say what she wants, even though his mate is embarrassed, just as Chente wants me to speak the words.

"Tell me—please."

He whispers the last word on a ragged breath, wanting to know as much I don't want to say.

What would Shai do?

A silly question, she would've already melted Chente into a pile of goo going into explicit detail about what she fantasized about.

She's always been so self-assured and brave, while I'm quiet and unsure.

"I wondered what your tongue would feel like…inside of me."

The words take more courage than I thought I possessed, but I somehow manage to say them without stuttering and stammering like I normally do.

Chente's eyes flutter shut, his hands tightening on the wheels of my chair.

His arms cage me in, making it so I have nowhere to go—nowhere to look—but at him.

"Would you like to find out—not tonight—but sometime?"

All I can do is nod, and Chente leans back in to capture my mouth in another blistering kiss.

When he pulls back, he straightens me in my chair, making me laugh at how ridiculous I probably look.

"That's my favorite sound in the world."

"What?"

"Your laugh."

Gah, where has this man been all my life?

"I snort sometimes. It's not very pretty."

He reaches out to tweak my nose.

"Everything about you is pretty. Now, I've kept you long enough. Let me help you pick up."

"Oh…ok."

For a moment, I thought things were heating up between us, but Chente seems completely unaffected by our kisses.

Whereas I'm a quivering, wet mess.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You're frowning and look upset."

"It's nothing—"

"Odette."

He growls my name, and I squeak as the sound of it vibrates through my body.

I swear that I have a mini-orgasm and squeeze my thighs together as tightly as possible.

"Really, Chente, it's—"

"Don't say ‘nothing'. If you're feeling it, experiencing it, it's something —especially to me."

"I guess I'm embarrassed. I thought we were having a moment and things were heating up…but you don't seem as worked up as me."

Chente swipes a hand over his face, scoffing before bursting into laughter.

"Oh, niluatl, I stopped because I was getting too worked up."

It takes me a moment to process his words, realizing he's not laughing at me, but my assumption.

"I don't mind."

"You are too sweet, Odette. It's important to me that we don't rush into anything. Not because I would regret it but because I want to savor it. Every kiss, every touch, every expression of bliss on your face—it's mine, and I want to remember it always. To say I want you is an understatement, but I'm a patient man. You're like a fine wine I plan to sip, not gulp down and discard. I plan to indulge until the very last drop."

He licks his lips, the forked tip flicking out, making me think of him catching the last drop dripping from between my legs, and I whimper.

Chente hangs his head, running a hand over the sharp-looking spikes.

"You're definitely not making it an easy decision when you make sounds like that."

"Sorry!"

"Come on, let's lock up. Ask me something to distract me so I don't push you against a bookshelf and have my wicked way with you."

He winks, and I know he's teasing me, but the mental image is almost too much to bear.

"Um, what does ‘niluatl' mean?"

"It's Chupan for ‘rare one'. I think it would translate better as ‘precious one', perhaps."

"Like…like a term of endearment?"

"Er, I suppose. Chupas only use it for their cuintahtes."

"Cuintahte?"

"Ahhh, I'm not sure how to translate that word. Hey, I'll get the lights!"

He turns them off with a flick of his tail, and I wonder how wondrously versatile it is…and then my traitorous mind jumps into the gutter and wonders how wondrously versatile it could be in bed .

"Alright, so same time tomorrow?" I ask in a rush.

"Absolutely," he seems to answer just as quickly, and I nearly laugh at how we go from being perfectly comfortable with one another to dancing around our apparent desires.

Chente helps me in my car again, putting away my wheelchair and making sure my legs are tucked in before shutting the door.

"Night, Odette."

"Night, Chente. Thank you for the Hodag ope."

"My pleasure. I'll bring you something new tomorrow."

I startle at this.

"You really don't have to—"

He cuts me off softly, leaning into my car.

"I know—I want to."

With this, he shuts my door, and I drive home faster than normal.

The second I get inside my house, I call Shai. She doesn't answer, so I send her an email, detailing my evening—and then I begin researching.

Turns out that information on Chupacabras is as rare as their money.

Although not as rare as a Hodag ope.

I pick up the coin, running my fingers over the ridged edges, pondering my time with Chente.

A ding from my phone draws me away from my laptop.

It's a text from my bestie, asking me to call her immediately…followed by no less than eight eggplant emojis.

"Was that necessary?" I grouch the minute she picks up.

"What?"

"The eggplants."

"Was that a rhetorical question because I know you know the answer to it."

"I give up."

"Does that mean you don't want to play ‘guess what I know'?"

"Shai!"

"I got ahold of a friend who knows someone who speaks Chupacabran."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep, and boy, do I have news for you. But first—how was dirty talking to a monster?"

"I didn't—"

"Babe, telling someone you thought of them while fingering yourself is dirty and is talking. That's literally the definition of it. And what about that Hodag ope Chente gave you? If you sold that, it could feed every third world country indefinitely, I think."

A twinge of guilt runs through me.

"I know, but I promised Chente I would never do such a thing. I can't even show it to anyone."

"You don't have to explain it to me. It's an incredible gift, but also very private and personal. The fact that a Hodag even agreed to such a thing is a testimony of Chente's character. Humans aren't even allowed in Rhinestone—it's one of the few monster-only cities in the US. Even then, Hodags really don't trust anyone but their own kind."

"Can you imagine being able to see it?"

"A Hodag eggplant?"

"THE CITY!"

"Whoa! I don't know why you're yelling at me. I was just talking about Hodag horticulture." She snickers, ruining her smooth lie. "Nah. I was totally talking about Ho D."

"Please don't refer to a Hodag's cock as Ho D."

"Try an' stop me."

"As if I could."

She blows me a kiss through the phone.

"Now, for the juicy news."

I wait, but my bestie doesn't continue. I look down to make sure we didn't get disconnected.

"Shai?"

"Yeah?"

"You still there?"

"Yep."

"What's the juicy news?"

"I haven't said yet."

"Ugh, Shai!"

"Fine! But you know I like edging you."

"We've been over this—you can't use that word out of context."

"Sure can and sure did."

"SHAIANNE MAISY O'DELL!"

"Ooo, the full name—you mean business. I learned what ‘cuintahte' means."

"Really? Chente said it doesn't have a translation."

My bestie snorts.

"He lied."

This brings me up short.

"What? That doesn't seem like him at all."

"Maybe he doesn't want you to know. It's…pretty serious."

Now I'm nearly bursting with curiosity.

"Please tell me!"

"Ok, but don't freak out. Cuintahte means ‘mate'."

My breath wheezes out like someone suckered punched me in the stomach.

In the background, I hear Shai calling my name, but everything is faint and fuzzy.

Why would Chente call me that?