Sohut's Protection: A Sci-fi Alien Romance (Riv's Sanctuary Book 2) A.G. Wilde (best way to read an ebook TXT) 📖

“I have life fluid,” he said, pulling a small bottle from his satchel.

He handed it to her and she emptied the water into her bowl.

Moving behind him, she dipped her hand in the bowl and hesitated.

Prying the urchins from his back had been one thing. Now she’d be rubbing her hands all over his back.

For a moment, she planted her gaze at the back of his dark head of hair. He was looking straight ahead, his shoulders rigid, as if he was trying to steel himself against something.

Her touch maybe.

She hadn’t thought about that.

Maybe him making light of the situation was his way of not focusing on her alien hand on his skin.

Her skin must feel weird to him.

Sighing, she shut down the thoughts in her head and began to wash away the blood on his back. At the first touch of her fingers against his skin, he stiffened some more.

She’d hurry then.

Luckily, it only took all of his water to wash his back and no more. As she stood to put the bowl down, she heard him mutter a thank you.

When she returned to stand beside him, he was trying to put on the ointment on the wounds and she reached for it.

The alien lifted a thick eyebrow but didn’t resist, handing her the ointment so she could lather it over his wounds.

As she tended to the last wound, she was surprised to see that the ones she’d tended to first were already beginning to close up.

Either it was some miracle ointment or it was black magic.

Shit. The things doctors on Earth would do for miracle salve like this.

She was caught up in her thoughts, staring at the wounds healing in front of her eyes when the alien turned suddenly, his hand closing around her raised wrist.

Her first thought was to fight back and it took her a second to realize he wasn’t being aggressive.

As he turned fully, she had no option but to lean back as he suddenly invaded her space.

He leaned over her, his gaze traveling over her face before it landed on her neck and the memory of his fangs running across her skin came back immediately.

Cleo gulped and his eyes fastened on the movement of her throat.

“What are you doing?” Why did she whisper it?

His gaze moved to her lips and he took a few moments to reply. “I don’t know.” He paused. “I was supposed to capture you, take you to the Goris…”

Cleo swallowed hard again. “I know. I mean…what are you doing right now?”

His gaze snapped to hers then and something inside her jumped and exploded into a million butterflies in her chest.

This wasn’t logical, was it?

She didn’t like him…did she?

The alien licked his lips, his tongue moving slowly and as the air thickened between them, that bitch Libido woke up like a demon summoned.

It was when she looked at him in the eyes that she realized he’d been staring at her, watching her as her gaze followed the movement of his tongue.

She was going to do it, wasn’t she.

Moving toward him slowly, she paused just as their noses touched.

His eyes were still locked with hers and his breathing was coming a little bit faster, matching hers.

As she touched her lips lightly against his, his green gaze widened on hers and she almost pulled away, only, she found she couldn’t.

His arms encircled her, pulling her against him so hard, her mouth crashed against his.

They stayed like that for a little, lips unmoving.

He wasn’t kissing her.

Cleo blinked as the alien just stared back at her and it dawned on her that, possibly, he didn’t know how to kiss.

Fuck her.

What the fuck was she doing?

But the need growing between her thighs demanded that she continue.

Opening her mouth slightly, she touched her tongue against his lips and he stiffened against her, inhaling deeply.

His lips felt divine against hers and the kiss deepened on its own accord. He opened his mouth matching her movements and when their tongues met, he pulled her against him fully, groaning into her mouth.

One hand moved to cradle the back of her neck as he pushed her head back, the play of their lips making her breathless.

When he finally released her and they both took heaving breaths, she looked into those green eyes of his, a sort of fear growing in the pit of her stomach.

She had no idea what just happened or what it meant.

And what was more fearful was the look in his eyes…

There was a growing possessiveness there—the look you get when you discover something you had to have.

Only, he was looking at her.

16

The rest of the night, she couldn’t sleep.

Not with him there and not after that kiss.

And despite that he should be completely exhausted from all that happened, he was wide awake.

As a matter of fact, he seemed to be completely revived and full of energy since their kiss.

For the remainder of the night, he watched her as she moved, tending to things within the cave.

He’d walked around touching everything, things she’d crafted like her food bowls and her fire pit, her roll of straw that was her mattress, her straw hat…

He seemed interested in everything she had, asking her how she’d crafted it, how she knew how to craft it, and other questions.

It was all so alien to him and the way he oohed and aahed was filling her with pride.

She’d done all this…survived in an alien wild place all on her own.

“And these?” He asked as the first light of morning began filling the sky. “How did you know how to do this?”

He was holding her fire board and spindle as if they were two parts of a puzzle he didn’t understand.

“My father taught me,” she answered as she used her finger to detangle a knot in her hair. She was pretty sure her hair was wrecked beyond repair but with most of the mud gone, it was easier to get the strands free from the tangles.

A strange look came