Total pages in book: 175
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
For a female that wants space, I notice she isn’t pulling away from me. If anything, she’s leaning closer. “I have credits I need to collect from the guild on Haal Ui. I thought that was as good a place as any. Do you have a preference?”
“Someplace with a nice cantina.” When I give her an enquiring look, Bethiah’s grin grows wider. “Dora would probably love it if we all went out to dinner somewhere and showed her off. I keep saying the wrong thing around her, making her think we don’t want her. So I thought if we put a collar on her and a pretty dress, showed her off in public like a pampered pet, she’d realize that we do want her.”
“You think she’d want to wear a collar?”
She waves a few wires at me idly. “She knows it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just for show and to keep her safe. We can prance her around, let her sit in our laps at dinner, play with her tits, she’ll love it.”
“You don’t think that’s too much? Too soon?” I have no idea if Dora has an exhibitionist streak or not, but the thought of showing her off—showing both of them off as my mates—arouses a dark hunger inside me.
Bethiah blinks at me. “Have you met our Dora?”
That makes me chuckle. “She is rather…adventurous. More than I thought. Here I was insisting we’d go slow, and she wants to put her lips on both of us, everywhere.” I nudge her. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you calling her ‘our’ Dora.”
“Yeah. I guess we’re stuck with her,” she grumbles, but then glances over at me. “Thanks.”
“For?”
“For talking me out of my shitty mood.” Bethiah stares down at the wiring in her hands. “I just get in my head and panicky sometimes. I know I’m probably difficult to live with. But you’re the dumbass that decided to chase after me, right? So I should blame your poor choice in females, except you like Dora, too. So it’s poor taste in mesakkah females.”
Me? Chase after her? She’s neglecting to mention all the times she stole my ship so I’d have no choice but to hunt her down. Or the times she came after me and not the other way around. “You’re trying to make it sound as if you’re not just as eager as her in bed.” I lean in and press a kiss to her clothed shoulder. “Or me. Let’s face it. We’re all hopelessly lost in each other.”
She grunts, but her tail rubs against mine, and she doesn’t try to backhand me for kissing her shoulder. That’s pretty good, for Bethiah.
“Don’t think you’re going to get out of dressing up for a dinner, either,” I point out. “If we’re showing off Dora, I want to show you off, too.” I rub her shoulder, just because I like touching her. She’s different than Dora in my arms, but no less appealing.
“You really are a male that likes to live dangerously, aren’t you?”
I really am.
Seventy-One
BETHIAH
I don’t trust good things.
Then again, I don’t trust bad things either. In my line of work, you learn to laugh at betrayal, because it’s always cropping up. Still, when you get a string of nice days in a row, it feels suspicious. Like you’re being set up for a trap.
That’s kind of how I feel right now, as the Pleasure Spot continues its leisurely path towards Haal Ui Station. We’re testing out various speeds to make sure the new quarters added to the ship perform, and it gives us an excuse to spend the time together as a triad.
I hate to admit it, but it’s…pretty nice. It’s nice to wake up in a jumble of limbs, Dora sleeping against my front, Jamef at my back. It’s nice to eat meals together, and talk about old bounties I’ve captured. I might enhance my stories a bit just to see the bright gleam of awe in Dora’s gaze, but Jamef’s quiet amusement keeps me from embellishing my tales too much. Jamef’s stories are simpler, so I take the liberty of “improving” them a bit for him.
Dora especially loves the stories of how I’ve stolen Jamef’s ship from him, over and over again, so I make sure to tell those often.
Jamef pretty much takes over the controls of the ship, monopolizing the bridge. I’m not sure if he expects me to fight him over it, but he can have that job. Sit in a chair and constantly re-jigger flight paths? Yawn. I’d much rather do maintenance on the ship, like my cousin Jerrok. It runs in the family that we like to take things apart.
We’re probably not great at putting them back together, but I manage. Dora assists me from time to time, because she says she wants to learn how the ship works. Of course, then we both get touchy-feely and someone might get their pussy licked in the maintenance closet, but it’s just a perk of the job, I figure.