Forcing Vince out of my mind, which was quickly becoming a habit, I grabbed my screen and flicked through my most recent notes from Hallonnixmin, Monqilcolnen, and my parents before turning to the reports about my normal work. I’d just started reading a recent report about a slipstream portal opening near the Immortal Planet when the door rang.
“Come,” I said, trying to keep the exhaustion from my voice. No matter how long I had worked, I was always on duty. But the familiar rush of thoughts made me groan.Vince.
He stepped into the room, fingers playing with his shirt. His pale stomach was showing because of the short black shirt that hung around his small frame, and his tight, stiff black trousers clung to his thin legs.
I swallowed as my tail flicked. He looked good. Vince always did. My arousal faded with the wave of anxiety and nerves coming off him. His thoughts raced so fast, I was having trouble catching more than that he had something he wanted to ask me, and it scared him.
“Vince, are you alright?” I stood, ready to help him if he needed it. He was shaking. What could be bothering him so much? “Vince?”
“I want to ask you something,” he said in a rush.
“Alright.”
He didn’t speak, but an image of him sitting splayed on my lap and snuggled against me flitted through my mind.Embarrassment and longing immediately followed. “Shit,” he swore.
What defecation had to do with this was a mystery.
“Shit,” Vince repeated, bright red. “Never mind. This was a bad idea.” He rushed toward the door before I even had a chance of processing what was going on.
I followed him, soul racing. “Vince, wait. Please.”
He didn’t stop, but I kept chasing him, listening to the raging embarrassment of me seeing his thoughts. He wasn’t mad at me, nor did he blame me—rather, he blamed himself.
When he reached his quarters, he didn’t close the door behind him, and I took that as an invitation.
Vince stopped in front of his couch, face bright red. Embarrassment, panic, and fear coiled in his gut like a spring. His muscles were tense. He was ready for me to reject him and his request. I didn’t even know what he wanted, besides sitting on my lap. I wasn’t, in any way, opposed to that idea.
Hands folded behind my back, I crept closer. “I don’t know what you want. I need you to think clearly about it or speak to me, Little Warrior.”
Hugging himself, he said in a barely audible voice, “I want to touch you.”
My soul throbbed.
“I'm a very physically affectionate person, but after everything…” He lifted and lowered his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t touch people right now, at least not easily, but I thought you could help me work through some of those issues.”
Once again, the thought of him straddling my lap reappeared, but it had changed. Instead, he was thinking about me stroking his back as we kissed. My tail flicked. I had to actively keep myself from leaping onto him. My instincts screamed to claim him before someone else could. I fisted my hands and took a deep breath.
The red flush returned, only stronger this time. “I’m not ready for that, but I want to… eventually.”
A worry burrowed in my brain, and it wouldn’t let go. “Are you doing this so Kalvoxrencol can fuck you?” I would not be alright with that. It would break me if that was what he wanted.
His forehead crinkled as disgust rolled through him like a wave. “God, no. Why would you think that? Kal? That fucker?”
“You thought about it during combat class.”
“Oh my god, was that why that person kicked you?” he asked.
I didn’t respond, looking away.
Vince laughed, and suddenly, he was right in front of me, looking up at me. “No. It was a random thought. One, I’m definitely not going through with, even if Seth and Kal were interested, which I doubt they are. I want you, Don. I trust you.”
His words and the truth of his thoughts washed through me. My breath turned harsh. “I want you as well.”
“Good.”
“But we need to discuss our permissions first.”
“Permissions?”
