Learning to Blush (10 page)

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy,” she simpered. “Just always give me what I want and I won’t act out.” A wide, teasing smile appeared on her face.

He growled. “Spoiled, still? I could go back to work on you, little girl,” he told her playfully, cupping one of her bottom cheeks playfully in his hand.

She found herself giggling dispite the tears that were still drying on her face. She could tell, by the firm but tongue-in-cheek way he looked at her, that she was forgiven. Of course, she was always forgiven… But she had paid her dues… At least
most
of her dues, with a bottom seething in pain from the inside and out.

He stopped gripping her bottom and moved his fingers towards the inside of her thigh, where his hand found its way to her welcoming moistness. Her body still trembled under him—she always seemed to tremble for a long time after a particularly hard punishment, but he liked the way she seemed finally submissive, awkward, and in the need of his affection.

She put her feet firmly on the mattress to move her groin towards him. He smiled. “Already forgiven me?”

“For what?” she replied, putting her bound hands around his neck. “For coming twenty thousand light years to give me a spanking?”

“Hm,” he hummed. “You needed one. You know what else you need?”

She blushed girlishly and then kissed him. “You have some kinky pillow talk.”

“Talk?” he echoed, kissing her neck. “Pillow
promises
.” He breathed her in deeply and the sweet, delicate smell of her filled his senses. “I love you, Wife.”

She smiled enough to show her white, pearly teeth. “I love you, too, Captain.”

Chapter Five

Thorton was having the time of his life before Ellie and Graham showed up through the front door. There was nothing in the room he didn’t like—he was surrounded by loud music, rowdy men, beautiful women, card-playing, dancing, drinking…

It was his Mecca. There was even a yard-long glass of beer in the shape of boot that if he drank it in under a minute—and he did—he got to drink for free for the rest of the evening! It didn’t make much sense to him, and Ellie’s family had been looking glum ever since, all except for Penny.

Ah, the beautiful Penny.

She was definitely the most beautiful girl in the room, at least to him. He couldn’t stop looking at her beautiful red hair, or her blue eyes, or her freckles, her slender arms, her shapely thighs… She was a vision. Even her voice was smooth and husky like a glass of wine.

And she liked him. Or so it seemed because she’d nearly touched his skin countless times. And he knew that she was part Swarii—which meant that it was every bit as much possible of him having the Union with her as it had been when Graham had gotten Ellie: the girls shared the same Swarii ancestor.

Though it was certainly doubtful that Penny and Thorton were actually “a match.” After all, he hadn’t even found a Swarii female out of the thousands that were at the festival last Spring. The chances of him mating with a part-human were astronomical.

Still, it hadn't taken him long to feel the yearning to touch her. Just to
know
… But Penny was so young, and so popular here on Earth. All the women basically followed her about and all the men turned their heads to watch her bubbly little bottom sashay about, especially when she was dancing with Thorton.

And she
knew
the men were looking at her, and she loved the attention. That he liked less about her.

If she was his mate, he knew he would be an incredibly jealous husband. Hell, he had no connection with her whatsoever and he still found himself giving many men very dark glares and gripping onto her protectively with his gloved hands to move her around his body so that he could block her from the vision of others.

She didn’t seem to mind him doing that. Every time he skirted behind her to block other man's view of her, she would look over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide with amusement, almost teasing. It was as if he was playing the game she had set up for him, and playing it
perfectly
.

“You’re having a good time, then?” Penny asked him as she taught him how to dance to a slow song, clasping her fingers into his gloved hand as she looked up at him.

“A very, very good time,” he said, looking down at her. He was distracted; at this vicinity, he could so easily look down her shirt, straight down to her belly button. He had to force himself to look into her eyes.

“Why don’t you take off your gloves and stay awhile, then? At least your jacket…” She moved one of her arms up, nearly touching his neck. He backed away, his heart suddenly racing. His sudden movement made her eyes round with concern. “You… don’t like being touched, do you?”

“I love being touched,” Thorton denied. “Just…
too
much. It’s hard to explain, but skin-on-skin is…”

“Well, without skin-on-skin touching, how do you have sex?” she asked teasingly, as if she thought she was catching him in a lie.

He shook his head very slightly and they began to dance again. She kept her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t.”

“
You don’t have sex
?” she gasped sharply. He suddenly was overcome with humiliation, and he didn’t know why. There was suddenly something so strange in her look; a mixture of awestruck, interested, and
sympathetic
, as if what he said was astoundingly sad. He imagined if he had just claimed he had his manhood removed completely, her response would have been the same.

“No,” he replied. “I’m unmarried,” he added, hoping that would explain everything, dissolving her of any confusion.

“So?” she mocked. “You’re what? Thirty or something?”

“Yes,” he admitted. Although he was probably a little older than that; he knew Earth-years were about two months shorter than a Swarii year, and Swarii days were longer as well.

“And you’ve never had sex? What are you, a
priest
?” Her voice was hushed, trying to keep the people around them from listening.

“Have… you?” he finally asked, his feet stilling. She blushed slightly and then opened her mouth. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said, but he was extremely curious.

However, she told him, and she didn’t sound ashamed at all. “Yes! With, like, ten guys! And I’m eighteen!” Damn it all if she didn’t wear that fact like it was a badge to polish to a high-shine.

His arms felt very numb suddenly. “You’ve had sexual relations with ten different men?” he cried, blanching.

Everybody in the room stopped dancing and looked at them judgmentally. For a moment, he thought that she might be the one who was embarrassed this time, but she merely grabbed his hand and led him off of the dance floor to the side, saying to the witnesses, “Like y’all didn’t know,” with a roll of her eyes.

He began to wonder if this Penny creature
felt
shame. He’d seen Ellie shamed, be it rarely, yet she normally bounced back out of her pit of embarrassment with substantial vigor. But the full-blooded human he knew, Mary, was packed full of it—Peyton would boast that he never had to find out what mischief his wife had gotten up to; Mary would simply admit everything to him. Thorton was nearly certain that Mary spent more time blushing than not, so he knew that the ability to be embarrassed was built into the species. They did, indeed, feel that emotion.

But with Penny… It somehow pained him that she didn't get embarrassed, or simply didn't have it. “You let
ten different men
use your body?” he asked, trying to clarify, hoping to high heaven that there was a miscommunication.

She took him to the side of the dance floor and leaned against a wall. “Yes, and I
liked it
. But… you’ve at least been to third base, right?”

His eyes were dark, unable to keep the image of several men in the room sweating over Penny’s naked body while she moaned and groaned with pleasure. He could barely even listen to her.

“Right?” she asked again, and then took it upon herself to clarify the meaning of ‘third base’. “You’ve had a blow job, at least?”

“Blow job…?” he echoed, his voice deep. He knew the common human language very well, but he hadn't heard that phrase come up yet.

“You’ve had a girl suck your dick for you, right?” she asked. At his vacant expression, which was sitting on a face blanched of all color as her words sunk in, she clarified casually, “With her mouth?”

His mouth dropped open. Wide, wide open. He made a low, guttural noise as he wondered if that was the single sexiest thing he’d ever heard. He blinked, a
lot
, even though his species didn’t blink very often.

“Are you having a conniption fit?” she asked, wincing. She bit her bottom lip and watched him. “So I take that as a ‘no,’ then?”

“No,” he replied, his voice breathy. “No, Lord, of course I haven’t! I’m
unmarried
.”

She grinned mischievously. “You see, I don’t know how that’s possible. You’re a good looking guy. You’re packed!
Ripped
! You should totally have chicks all over you! What’s wrong with you? Do you have… like… a dark secret? Wait—are you gay?”

He didn’t know what that was, but assumed that she was talking about some sexual disease. “No, I just haven’t found the right woman,” Thorton explained, but his voice was so shallow, it could barely be heard. “
Ten men
?” he repeated again, as if his brain refused to conceive of it.

Ten men had to have taken advantage of her already at her age, as young as she was, and Thorton couldn't understand what sort of man would immediately look into her childlike, innocent face, and immediately want to seduce her into a shameful act like unmated sex…

Alright, so Thorton could understand it, but he couldn't understand where she could meet so
many
men with so little self-control!

Slowly, as he studied her face, he began to realize that she wasn't as innocent as she appeared. The smile she was giving him now was devilish, sultry. She brushed her knuckles across his abdomen. “You know, there’s a lot of space out in the car if you want to end your no-touch rule tonight,” she told him.

His erection was so hard and pulsing uncomfortably. Was that an invitation?

With difficulty clenched his jaw. “Does your family know you’re… touched?” he asked her, his voice growling, lecturing. “Because if you were mine, Kiddo, your number wouldn’t be even up to one. Not one.”

She squinted and tilted her head. She looked confused, like she had expected him to be
pleased
with her confession. “They know I’m not a virgin,” she admitted, raising her chin proudly. “Besides, what are they gonna do, anyway? I’m an adult now. I can do what I want.”

“And what about your future husband? How many men will you have before him?” he lectured.

“I don’t believe in monogamy,” she replied simply. “I’m not going to marry.” She looked up and cocked her head to the side judgmentally. “So that’s why you’re still a virgin. You guilt girls to death. Well, you can go ahead and try. I’m not guilty.” She turned away from him and took a few steps, sashaying her hips. “And I don’t need a lecture.”

“No, you’re in the need of a sound switching,” he said, grabbing her upper arm and pulling her back to him.

There was something about the way her eyes lit up when he said that that made her more arousing than ever. It was an innocent, fearful look, as if the thought of him controlling her was alarming . Still, her body tensed with something other than fear, only he couldn’t put his finger on what.

“Thorton,” a familiar voice said near him, the voice was warning. He let go of Penny’s arm promptly in response. He looked and saw Graham at his side. Thorton had thought
he
looked out of place, if it wasn’t for the hulkish size of Ellie’s kin. But Graham was a half of a foot taller than everyone else in the room, and several people stopped dancing just to stare at him.

“You’re back. How’s Ellie?” Thorton asked him in Swarii.

Graham gave a look that communicated that he still didn’t feel completely over the shock of finding Ellie still alive, or the misery he’d felt before that. “She’ll survive,” Graham replied, and grinned. “She’s hopefully a little wiser for ware.”

Graham looked down at Penny and bowed his head. “My newest cousin, Penelope, isn’t it? I’ve heard so much about you. Ellie views you quite as a sister, I understand.” He was speaking English for her now, and then actually took Penny's hand and embraced it between his own warmly, as if he viewed her as family already.

Thorton fumed visibly. He’d been dreaming of touching Penny since he’d first seen her, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t married, but tradition dictated that he would protect the unmarried female as well as possible.

But protect her from what?
He asked himself.
Other men?
She’d had them.
Sex?
She’d had it.
Her reputation?
Ruined. The only thing that really kept him from touching her at this point was because he knew that if they were destined, she’d be a very inconvenient match. He found himself jealous of Graham, of all people, simply because that man had had the Union already and could therefore touch whom he wanted without consequence.

Really, he couldn’t help remembering Graham’s older sister when she was caught in the least compromising position by the Admiral Jack, his uncle, fifteen years ago…

* * *

Fifteen Swaraan Years Earlier…

Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka… thump.

Thorton, a sixteen- year-old with dark locks flowing around his ears, didn’t give a care to Graham, who was trying to study at his desk. On the whole, sharing the same bedroom since they were five had made both of them think about their own happiness rather than the other’s, which was completely opposite of both of their parents' design.

So it hadn’t occurred to Thorton yet that bouncing a rubber ball against the ceiling above his head over and over and over again was not just annoying Graham, but was making him a little crazy. Thorton was too busy thinking about himself, his mother’s deteriorating health, and the fact that yesterday his uncle had taken the belt to his backside in such a way that Thorton had been avoiding the man ever since. It was unfair to still fear his uncle's strap, anyway. For god sakes, he was nearly a man! He couldn't think of anyone else his age that was still getting punished…