“That’s good.”
“Does that mean you want me to lick your stomach?”
My soul thrashed against my ribs, threatening to break free. An image of Bartholomew sprawled half on top of me as he bathed my injury flitted through my mind, and I growled. I very much liked the thought of that.
“I don’t want to, Mindy,” he muttered. “We are friends and all, but humans don’t do that.”
“I understand,” I said, but disappointment filled me. I craved his tongue on me, badly.
“You need to rest.”
I hid my face against him. “Not yet, please. I-I-I want to hold you.”
“Alright.”
I didn’t understand my own feelings, but this, right here, was perfect. I nuzzled him, and Bartholomew continued to hold my hand, his thumb sliding over my knuckles in perfect distraction.
Chapter 13
Bathing can be awkward.
It had been a few days, I thought, since Mindy had bitten me. The days were starting to blur together, and we didn’t exactly have access to a clock. We slept when we were tired and were awake when we chose to be.
He’d acted the same, though he kept staring at me like he was trying to figure something out. I’d tried to act the same, but I still felt the press of his lip ring into my skin, his teeth against my neck, and the way his scaled tongue had dragged over me. Even just remembering sent shocks down my spine.
I liked it, and that was not going to work.
Serlotminden had started to recover faster. We went outside frequently, no further than directly around the shuttle, and hewas now working on the computer to get the distress signal operational. As soon as it was, his drakcol boyfriend would hopefully find us.
Today, I’d left Mindy in the cockpit. As I was useless in that regard, I made other plans. What I wanted was to get clean, to wash away the stench of Xome and all that happened there. In reality, all I could do was scrub off the layers of grime coating me and get rid of the pungent odor that was making my own eyes water.
I opened the bay door and peered around for any threat. I hadn’t mentioned my plan to Mindy or he would’ve come with me, but I was fine. The nests hadn’t presented any threat yet, nor had the huge alien come near our crash site. Also, even with the looming threats, Ineededa bath. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been properly clean. Probably not since I’d gotten abducted. Agk had sometimes given us water to wash, but it was a little more than a wet rag to scrape off the worst gunk.
This wasn’t much better, but Serlotminden had a bar of soap and what I assumed was shampoo. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I filled a curved piece of hull with snow and dragged it back to our cabin. I would have to pull the water back out, but I didn’t want to strip naked in the cargo bay. It took three trips to bring the bowl-shaped pieces of wreckage I’d found before I was satisfied. I didn’t know how much water the snow would give us after Mindy melted it, but I needed enough for both of us. If I wanted to get clean, so would he.
Done, I closed the bay door. I didn’t want the cold, let alone something alive, wandering inside.
I went to the cockpit, figuring enough time had passed. Mindy didn’t pay attention to his own needs, and what he needed was to rest. He hadn’t completely recovered yet, and I was determined to keep him as healthy as possible.
Serlotminden was fiddling with several panels, which were alive with light and strange symbols I assumed were his language. He’d made progress, apparently. His huge-ass boyfriend would find us sooner rather than later.
My jaw tightened at the thought. I should be excited about a proper rescue and being finally able to retrieve Vince, but the thought of that drakcol and Serlotminden made my stomach sour. I didn’t fucking like it, even though I had no reason to. His and the other drakcol’s relationship was none of my business.
We were friends—Serlotminden had said so enough times.
Hands fisted, I shifted to his side. I wrapped my arms around him, wanting to touch him, which was a first for me. But I liked the feel of him in my hold—sue me. Mindy leaned back into my embrace, and I pushed my frozen nose against the nape of his neck, making a shiver go down his spine.
“It’s cold, and you need to rest,” I said.
“You are quite shove-y.”
“Pushy,” I corrected, though it probably didn’t matter; I understood him and that was all that counted. “And I’m making sure you don’t hurt yourself.”
“I don’t mind. I like it. You take care of me like I take care of you. It makes sense.”
“Come on. Besides, I have some snow for you to melt.”
“My specialty.” He stilled. Serlotminden turned around, hand clutching his injured stomach. “You went outside.”
