But this was as good a chance to warn her as any. And maybe this would finally be the thing that properly scared her away. Saving her from him.
“As a matter of fact, there’s not,” he growled, making her shiver.
But then she stilled. Paused. Considered his words carefully, before asking, “There’snopart of you that isn’tsharp?” Like she wanted him to clarify.
There was no room to leave doubt here. Humans were notoriously soft. Tanin didn’t know anything about human males or their cocks, but he did know about his own and the other alien females he’d been with.
“No part,” he agreed, grabbing her wrist. He brought it down, pressing it on his cock. It throbbed under her touch, and he groaned. Grinding against her palm. She was panting, leaning back like she was trying to present that tempting little cunt to him.
“This has barbs,” he promised, using her hand to stroke himself as she trembled. “And when I come, they dig into your soft little walls and lock me inside, keeping me from pulling out. So, you better be damn sure that’s what you want before you let me fuck you. Because I’m not stopping once I’m inside you. And I won’t pull out until those barbs go down again.”
“Fuck,” she breathed, shivering. “That’s not hot… that’s not hot… that shouldn’t be hot. There is nothing sexy about a shredded pussy.”
“Oh, they’re not designed for that,” he promised, still keeping her hand in place. Still grinding slowly into her palm as her fingers clenched and unclenched rhythmically. “But they are designed to keep you right on my cock. Trapped on me as I fill you up. They won’t injure you if you pull out, but it won’t feel good either. Not that it’s something you’d need to worry about. Trust me. If I get you on my cock, you’re not coming off again. Not for a while.”
“Tanin… please…” She was panting, head shaking, eyes closed tight. Like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to demand he keep going or pull back and end this before it went too far.
Which was all the answer he needed.
He stepped back, forcing himself to release her hand and let it drop from his groin. Though it was like ripping away his own arm. And it wasn’t made any easier by the way she tried to follow him, reaching out like she might take hold of him again.
“Get up,” he ordered, his voice rough. “Your lesson isn’t over yet.”
She laughed once, her head falling forward. “You really expect me to stand when my legs are jelly like this?”
“You’re going to learn to shoot,” Tanin promised. And it was much easier to force himself to think about her safety over the eager pain in his sac. “If you want to run headfirst into danger, you’re going to learn how to do it first. Get up. Take your stance.”
She gave him a look before hopping down. And when she bent over to retrieve the lost pistol, she spent a little more time than necessary doing so. Offering him a wonderful view of that ass he had been palming moments ago.
An offer he was quite happy to take her up on.
But he was determined, and the rest of the shooting lesson went well. With him standing a few steps away, correcting her with his words and not wrapping her up in his arms again.
And, honestly, she was a pretty good shot.
He made a mental note to get her some non-projectile weapons at the next station. A shock stick actually meant for her smaller hand. Maybe a blade. He should probably get her something like his ribbon as well. A weapon that could pass for a random, harmless object, so that she would never be fully disarmed. If anything, it was more important for her as she had no claws or stinger tail or anything resembling a natural defense.
Those thoughts helped distract him from how beautiful she looked with a gun in her hand and a determined glint in her eye. Like she really was imagining shooting someone.
Not that he would ever allow that. She could protect herself – and in point of fact, sheshouldbe able to protect herself. But her hands were clean, and he intended to keep them that way.
Chapter 18
Garnet
Hon-Kal Station was so cool!
Trove, who was helping Tanin escort them around as they shopped, assured them that Hon-Kal was neither a bad nor a particularly good station. It was serviceable, and it was great at what it did – operating as a trade post – but it wasn’t particularly fancy or wealthy.
But it was an alien bazaar! It wasn’t out under the sun, shielded by tarps and drapes, but it was a bunch of aliens of various origins all packed together in tight lanes hawking wares that were beyond her imagination.
The Humility connected to the station through a docking tube that let out immediately into the busy lanes. The stalls and shops were all pressed so close together, she couldn’t even see where the other docked ships were letting out, though she knew there were others. But all she could see was just them, a long lane of shops, and a crowd of the most diverse group of people she could possibly imagine.
It was fantastic. She was trying to look everywhere at once, a wide smile stretched across her face as her eyes moved from a stall selling perfumes, to the next stall selling machine parts, to the next stall selling beads, to the next one selling food. On and on it went, no obvious sense of rhyme or reason to the placement of anything.
It was probably a nightmare trying to find anything specific here. But she didn’t really care. She just wanted to go explore. Doubtlessly, she’d run into what she needed eventually, along with a bunch of other things she wouldn’t need but would definitely want. She had a budget already, given to her by Tanin based on the sale price of the jewels Trove was carrying in a bag across his chest. They were going to the person they were selling them to first-
-and then, shopping!
