Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

E tta smiled as she turned back the covers of the daybed in her lab. Tomlin had tried once again to get her to take the bedroom. She'd refused just as firmly and at some point during the day, he'd made the daybed and organized the small cabinet she used as a nightstand.

They'd started simply enough on her proposal. She'd left the door to the lab open and suggested that he simply come and go as he wanted. The first time he'd tried it, she'd watched from under her lashes as he hovered for a moment at the entrance, then quickly left again. But he'd come back and each time he came further into the room and stayed longer. He must have made the bed during one of those periods, but she'd done her best to ignore his movements and let him decide for himself what felt comfortable.

Although perhaps comfortable wasn't the right word. Even though he stayed longer each time, his body still remained tense and by the time they sat down to the delicious dinner he'd prepared, he looked tired and strained.

"We don't have to continue if you don't want to," she said quietly.

"What? No, I don't want to… stop."

Despite his assurances, he had retired to bed almost immediately after they'd finished eating and he'd cleaned the kitchen. She refused to admit she was disappointed by his abrupt departure and had tried to settle down and read instead but her thoughts kept returning to him. After reading the same page for the fourth time, she finally decided to give up and follow his example.

Unfortunately changing her location didn't quiet her mind. After tossing restlessly for a while, she decided to take a bath, hoping that would help her sleep. She opened the door of the lab just in time to hear the front door close. Her breath caught as she padded quietly down the hall and looked out through the window. He was standing just in front of the porch, stripped down to a very brief pair of black shorts.

The moonlight highlighted every muscle of his sculpted body and she felt a distinct pulse of excitement low in her body. His skin seemed to shimmer with a slight blue tinge as he stretched briefly then took off. He ran far more rapidly than a human man, those powerful muscles flexing in a breathtaking symphony of power and grace as he quickly disappeared from view. No wonder he'd been able to travel to the stream and back.

After staring at the spot where he'd disappeared for much too long, she returned to her original plan. The bathroom was the one frivolous addition to her home. She'd come as close as possible to her bathroom in the city with a huge tub, an equally large shower, and a selection of especially imported bath salts and gels. The walls and floor were in a dark polished wood to reflect her surroundings and the tile work was a soft, soothing green.

She filled the tub with hot water and her favorite scented gel and tied up her hair before sinking into the water with a happy sigh. Taking off her glasses, she settled back against the wall of the tub and tried to relax. Instead the image of Tomlin's almost naked body kept floating through her mind and she felt just as restless as she had in her bed.

She found herself wondering what it would be like to touch those muscles, to run her hand over all that smooth, exposed skin. Heat pulsed through her lower body again and she suddenly realized she wasn't restless - she was aroused. She'd recognized long ago that despite her lack of interest in men, her body had certain physical needs, and she had learned to pleasure herself as quickly and efficiently as possible.

As she went through the familiar movements, she let herself think about Tomlin and this time her imagination went further, her hands sliding beneath those black shorts to cup that perfect ass and cradle what she was sure was an enormous erection. She gave a soft cry as her climax swept over her, but tonight it wasn't followed by the usual feeling of relaxation. She still felt hot and… needy.

Sighing, she gave up the hope of relaxing and decided she might as well return to work. She washed quickly, then rose to her feet. As she did, the door flew open and Tomlin was there. His eyes immediately glowed that bright, unnatural blue. He made a choked sound and gripped the doorframe. A giddy feeling of excitement swept over her at the hungry look on his face but she did her best not to let it show as she reached for a towel.

"You can leave now."

"I cannot."

His voice came out strained and hoarse, rather than his usual smooth, deep voice.

"Why not?" she asked as she finished wrapping the towel around herself and reached for her glasses.

"I do not wish to… alarm you."

"Do you intend to do something more alarming than walking in on me while I'm naked and then refusing to leave?"

Her voice came out sounding remarkably composed. Why am I not afraid , she wondered. Perhaps it was the lingering aftereffects of her climax but she felt an odd kind of excitement, a pulse of heat low in her stomach that she had never experienced before.

As everything came into focus, that unexpected flare of excitement only intensified.

He was gripping the doorframe so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, and the muscles in his arm were sharply delineated. His skin was covered with a fine sheen of what she assumed was perspiration, but it only emphasized his muscular physique. The blue shimmer she'd noticed earlier was caused by a fine tracery of blue lines that covered his skin, and she watched in fascination as they started to intensify, beginning with his heart, and spreading up and over his shoulders and down his arms.

They also traveled down across the ridges of his abdomen, before disappearing beneath those very tight-fitting black shorts. It took her a moment longer to realize that they were stretched over a massive erection. Oh my.

Although she was aware that penile sizes varied, he seemed to be well outside the norm. Or perhaps it was due to his alien heritage. Based on her one experimental encounter with a member of the opposite sex, his species must be considerably more well-endowed than human men.

"The average human male erection was only six inches. You seem to have exceeded that number by a considerable amount," she said thoughtfully.

He made an odd choking sound, and it took her a moment to realize it was a laugh.

"You're standing naked in your bathroom before an extremely aroused male, and all you can think to comment on is the size of my erection."

"I'm no longer naked, and besides, I'm sure you have seen many other naked females before."

"No."

The clipped response made her give him a shocked look.

"You mean you've never…"

"No."

He clearly did not want to discuss it so she returned to the subject of his erection, determined to satisfy her curiosity.

"If your physical reaction is typical for those with your Krythian heritage, the average penile length for your species must exceed that of human males. Is that correct?"

"I don't know, and I don't care." She opened her mouth, but he didn't give her a chance to speak. "And before you ask, no, you may not measure it."

He took a deep, shuddering breath, and finally released the door frame, taking a step back.

"Now, if you will allow me, I wish to bathe."

She was curiously reluctant to leave but of course he wanted to wash after his run and it wasn't as if she could stay and watch him.

"All right. If you don't mind, I'll just fetch some clean clothes from the bedroom. I was also thinking a hot drink might help me sleep. Would you care to join me?" She had the distinct impression that he was going to say no, but after a brief pause, he gave a short nod and she smiled at him. "Then I will see you there."

Although he had moved back from the doorway, he had not gone far and as she left the bathroom, her arm brushed against his stomach. His skin was hot, hotter than human skin, she noted absently, stretched smoothly over that intriguing ladder of muscles. She was tempted to explore further, but despite her curiosity, it would hardly be polite to start manhandling him.

He made another choked sound as they touched, and this time it was most definitely not a laugh. She looked up, and his eyes were glowing blue again. As their eyes locked, a shiver of excitement ran down her spine, and then he closed his eyes, breaking the connection.

"Go."

The word was so guttural, it was almost unintelligible, but she obeyed, hurrying past him. As soon as the door closed behind her, she leaned back against the wall and raised a shaky hand to her mouth.

What on earth is wrong with me?

It was disconcerting, but it was also curiously exhilarating. She felt feminine in a way she had never felt before. She had always been too tall and too thin, and very few men had ever expressed any interest in her.

There had been one man who had pursued her when she was transitioning into her doctoral program, and she had agreed to go out to dinner with him a few times. He had always been extremely flattering towards her, but somehow it had never rung true. She hadn't been surprised when her guardian came to see her and announced that the man was a fortune hunter.

At the time, she'd still been curious about the opposite sex, and she had briefly considered continuing to see him, and allowing him to go further. But in the end, she decided she didn't trust him enough, and had broken off their relationship with little regret. He'd tried to act as if he were hurt, but he had rapidly turned to anger, flinging a barrage of insults at her before he stormed off.

At the time, she'd simply been relieved to see him go, but every now and then, those insults would come back to her. Scrawny. Sexless. Unattractive. While she knew that physical appearance meant little, and that her mind was far more valuable than her body, the words did occasionally sting.

They had also left behind a lingering conviction that she was not desirable to the opposite sex. The fact that Tomlin was so clearly attracted to her soothed some feminine instinct that she hadn't even been aware she possessed. Did that mean that sex with him might be more satisfying than her previous attempt? Jim had been a fellow graduate student, also curious but equally awkward and uncomfortable with the prospect of sex.

They had mutually agreed to perform an experimental coupling to satisfy their curiosity and see what all the fuss was about. It had been both uncomfortable and unsatisfying, at least on her part. Jim had ejaculated into his carefully applied condom the moment he entered her, leaving her lying there wishing they'd never agreed to the experiment to begin with.

She was convinced that it would be different with Tomlin. If he'd never had a sexual encounter, perhaps he would be open to repeating her previous experiment…

There was an odd tingling sensation in her chest, and she looked down to find that her nipples had stiffened, thrusting against the towel. She usually didn't pay much attention to them in her self-pleasure routine, but when she touched one with a curious finger, it sent a little zap of excitement straight to her clitoris. How interesting. Merely the thought of an encounter with Tomlin had her more excited than she remembered being during her entire time with Jim.

The shower had come on while she was standing there, and she suddenly heard a low groan. Tomlin. Was he in pain? Perhaps that erection was troubling him - it seemed probable, given its unnatural size. Perhaps she should offer to relieve him…

But then he groaned again, and this time she heard her name. Oh. Oh.

It appeared he was taking care of the issue himself. An image of the scene popped into her head, water pouring down over that tall muscular body, his big hand clasped around his penis. His cock . Her imagination failed her at that point. She couldn't imagine that his cock was anything like Jim's but she had no other basis of comparison.

Perhaps I should have taken more biology courses , she thought, then sighed and went to pick something out of her limited wardrobe. If she wanted to convince Tomlin to experiment with her, then she needed to look her best. Unfortunately, she had very few choices.

While working in the lab, she preferred coveralls or loose-fitting pants with a sleeveless top. She had a few plain dresses that she kept for her visits to Wainwright to assuage their rather extreme views on female attire. She was about to reach for one of those dresses, when she suddenly remembered the robe her guardian's wife had given her on her twenty-first birthday.

To her relief, it hadn't been ornamented with the embellished ruffles and lace that Marion preferred, but it was a pretty shade of blue and the fabric was soft and silky. Somehow she never discarded it, even though she rarely wore it.

Pulling it out of the depths of her wardrobe, she wrapped it around her naked body, the cool silk unexpectedly pleasant against her still hardened nipples. For the first time, she wished she'd installed a full-length mirror in her bedroom instead of the small one she used to check and make sure that her hair was neatly arranged.

It wasn't. Tendrils were escaping from the loose knot and her face was still flushed from the heat of her bath. And perhaps her reaction to Tomlin.

It was a surprisingly attractive look, less formal than her usual appearance, and she decided to leave it as it was. All she could see of the robe was the collar, but she thought the blue looked nice against her pale skin. Filled with an unusual amount of confidence, she tightened her belt and went to prepare some tea.

She had just finished brewing it when Tomlin reappeared. Rather to her disappointment, he was once again fully dressed in his usual neat black clothing. But his eyes had not lost that blue glow and it seemed to intensify as he looked at her, his gaze traveling down over her body to her breasts. They tingled again.

Excellent.

"Please sit down," she said. "I have something I wish to discuss with you."

"For some reason, I find that statement rather alarming."

Despite his words, he spoke as calmly as ever. What would it take to push him into that rather intriguing growling sound instead?

She carried the mugs over to the table and sat down next to him, trying to decide the best way to present her proposition. As she attempted to place her arguments in logical order, she realized that her confidence had disappeared and she felt unexpectedly nervous.

This is purely for scientific purposes , she assured herself. She took a deep breath and looked up to find him watching her.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Do you intend to leave me in suspense?"

"I was thinking about what you said. About how you had never seen a naked woman before."

His hand clenched around his mug, but his voice remained calm as he responded.

"I have not."

"And you implied that there were other things you had not done."

"That is also correct."

"It occurred to me that perhaps we could remedy that situation. Purely for scientific reasons," she added hastily. "My own experience has been extremely limited. I did not find the encounter pleasant, but obviously most people enjoy the sexual act. I thought perhaps we could experiment and discover what pleases us both."

His hand clenched so tightly around his mug that it shattered, sending the remains of his tea streaming across the table along with shards of ceramic.

"Why did you do that?" she exclaimed, jumping up to fetch a clean cloth. "Let me see your hand. Did you cut yourself? Are you alright?"

She grabbed his hand, planning to turn it over and examine his palm for injuries.

Instead he clasped it around hers and that same electric spark zinged through her body. He wasn't hurting her, but the unmistakable strength in his grip made it clear that she couldn't escape his grasp unless he chose to let her go.

That knowledge should have frightened her. Instead it caused another pulse of heat low in her stomach.

"Are you sure you're not hurt?"

Her voice came out low and breathless, and she watched in fascination as he closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as if he were scenting the air. Scenting her.

"Do you have enhanced senses?"

The question popped out before she could help herself. He gave a shuddering sigh, and released her hand. His eyes opened and flicked down to where her robe had parted to reveal her non-existent cleavage.

And then he was standing, moving so rapidly that she didn't even see him move.

"Sit down," he ordered, "while I clean up."

She started to protest, then thought better of it. He was clearly more comfortable taking action. She returned to her chair while he swiftly and efficiently mopped up the spilled tea and disposed of the remains of the mug. Instead of returning to his chair he began pulling ingredients out of the cupboard.

"I'll make you something to eat."

She really wasn't hungry but once again she decided not to argue.

"If you had chickens, you could have fresh eggs," he said, giving the package of powdered eggs a disdainful look.

"If I had chickens. I would have to remember to care for them. When I get caught up in one of my experiments I sometimes forget about things like that." Fortunately she had an automated food and water system for her horse and he had free rein of the pasture. She shook her head and smiled at him. "I couldn't even keep a fish alive."

"You need someone to take care of you."

"Are you applying for the job?"

The question came out more breathlessly than she had intended, and the words hung between them in the suddenly silent room.