Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (22 page)

She opened her mouth to do just that but
Six was looking at her steadily with an expression of almost admiration on his chiseled
features. Clearly he respected her now, whereas he hadn’t earlier. As stupid
and prideful as it was, Mei-Li didn’t want to lose that respect. She wanted him
to think of her as an equal and the only way he would do that was if she held
her ground.

Besides,
she told herself.
Who says I can’t do this—who says I
can’t do the deed and be cold about it afterwards?

Will you listen to
yourself?
demanded the little
voice.
You’ve never even had a one night stand! You don’t know how to “hit
it and quit it” and where the hell did that come from, anyway? Did you send
your brain on vacation to the 90s?

Well I have to try
now,
she told herself stubbornly.
And who
knows what might happen? Six thinks he’s so cold—that he has no emotions at
all. But then why has he been acting the way he acts? Maybe there’s more to him
than he admits—than he even knows. Maybe I can bring it out.

Maybe she would be the one to thaw his
cold heart and have him groveling at her feet, admitting his love by the end of
the nine days they had together…

Mei-Li sighed to herself. Right. Somehow
she doubted that.

Nine days,
she reminded herself.
I only have to get through nine
days of this and then I can go home.

Nine days. How in the world was she ever
going to make it?

Chapter
Seventeen

Six decided that he would let the water in
the bathing pool cool a little before inviting her to join him. To tell the
truth, he needed to relax and let the hot water ease some of the tension in his
muscles before he and Mei-Li formally began their second week together.

Who knew that a
Claiming could be so mentally exhausting?
Just as he’d begun to think he was starting to understand
her emotions, they changed and then changed again. She had been very upset with
him—even angry if he was reading her correctly—and their last exchange had been
colored with discord. Six found he didn’t like that—he especially didn’t like
being the cause of her distress.

He knew that he shouldn’t care how she
felt—that it shouldn’t disturb him in the least, but somehow it did. If he hadn’t
known that his emotion damper was working perfectly he would have been
concerned. But he had been given a clean bill of emotional health—or the lack
thereof—from Yipper so he refused to entertain the worries that had consumed
his mind earlier. Still, the fact remained that he disliked being at odds with
Mei-Li.

I am not at odds with
her anymore,
he reminded himself.
She
has consented to repress her emotions and act in a more logical manner.
In
exchange for equal rights during their Claiming Contract proscribed erotic
activities, of course, which Six was happy to concede to her.

He closed his eyes for a moment and sank
deeper into the steaming water, imagining how it would be to have her small,
soft hands on his body.
How it would feel if she kissed him again and he
felt the press of her small, perfect breasts against his chest…

Beneath the water, his shaft began to grow
and harden. Gods, just the thought of her brought on a powerful physical
response! She was so beautiful and so complex, like a puzzle he needed to
solve. But why did he feel the need to solve it?

“Ah-hem.”

The soft, embarrassed sound caught him off
guard. His eyes flew open and his hand, which had been about to slide under the
water to grasp his heated shaft, curled into a fist.

“Mei-Li.” He tried to speak softly but his
voice came out sounding rough and too deep.

“Um, hi.” She was just standing there,
wrapped in a too-large bathing sheet which covered her from her chest to her
knees. But it was clear she was bare beneath it which made Six’s shaft throb
again. Gods, had he really been about to touch himself? He never did that—there
was no need for physical release when there were no emotions to engender such a
response to stimuli. And yet, as he watched Mei-Li, the need inside him to find
relief did not die. If anything, it grew.

“Are you here for the first night of our
bathing week activities?” he asked, trying to make his voice sound more normal
this time.

She nodded. “I figured we, uh, might as
well get down to it. But I guess you got the jump on me.” Her eyes flickered
over his nude form, half submerged in the water and he saw her cheeks go red.

“If you are made uncomfortable by my
nudity, I can find a garment to wear in the water,” he offered, hoping he was
reading her emotions correctly.

“What, like a pair of swim trunks?” She
shook her head. “No, that’s silly. I mean, it’s called the bathing week, not
the swimming week—right?”

“That is true,” Six conceded, wondering
where she was going with this line of reasoning.

“So then we should just…just get to the
bathing of…um, of each other.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “And
I’m fine with that—really I am.”

Six wondered if she was trying to convince
herself or him. Her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes were bright and
uncertain but her chin was high and there was a look of determination on her
lovely face. Again he felt a flash of admiration for her. Plainly this
situation made her uncomfortable—yet she was not backing down from it at all.
Instead, she was confronting her emotions head on and overcoming them. She was
not allowing them to rule her.

Six had never considered that such a thing
might be possible. In his mind, a Feeler would always be swayed by his or her
emotional responses. But Mei-Li wasn’t acting in that manner at all—a fact
which only increased his respect for her.

But though she wasn’t running away, she
was still wrapped in the towel and standing on the edge of the bathing pool
instead of swimming towards him. What could be the matter?

“Would you care to join me?” he asked
politely, hoping to set her more at ease.

“Not really but I’m going to.” She took a
deep breath. “Oh, God—that really came out wrong. It’s not that I don’t want
to, uh, take a bath with you. It’s just that I’m nervous and I have body issues.”

Six frowned. “Body issues?”

“Yes, you know—like I’m too fat, I’m too
thin, my behind is too big or too small or too round or too flat. My boobs
aren’t big enough…” She nodded down at her chest ruefully. “Body issues. All
girls have them.”

“But you have no need for such concerns,”
Six said, honestly puzzled at her worries. “I have seen you in nothing more
than your thin white sleeping gown and I can assure you that your body is
lovely. Also, as I have said before, your breasts are perfect.”

“Um…” Mei-Li’s cheeks got even redder and
she coughed. “Thank you. That’s…it’s good to know you think so.”

“I do,” Six said softly. “So why do you
not join me? I find myself…quite eager for your companionship.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Companionship?
That’s why you want me naked in this bathtub pool thing you’ve got going
here?”

Six cleared his throat. “I will confess,
it is
not
the only reason. I am also looking forward to touching your
bare skin. Under the laws of the contract, I am allowed to wash you everywhere—including
your beautiful breasts and your soft little pussy. I…I find myself longing to
do that. No—
burning
to do it. I…” He took a deep breath. “I want you
quite
badly, Mei-Li.”

It felt strange to admit such a thing
aloud but Six told himself if she could be honest about her emotions, he could
be just as honest about his physical reaction to her. She deserved to know the
effect she had on him.

Her cheeks went an even darker pink but
she lifted her chin. “Isn’t that—what you’re describing—an emotion?”

“Merely a physical response to your
beauty,” he assured her. “Which would be greatly intensified by seeing you
without the bathing sheet wrapped around you.”

“You mean…like this?” Her voice was high
and breathy as she unwound the white piece of material from around herself and
dropped it on the ground.

Six sucked in a breath. Gods, she was
exquisite! From the long, silky black hair brushing her shoulders to her small,
lovely breasts with their dark, pouting nipples to the small thatch of neatly
trimmed black curls at the apex of her thighs she was
perfect
. She was
small and so delicate that he feared his might break her and yet all he wanted
to do was take her in his arms and kiss her with the utmost care and passion.
He wanted to touch her and hear the soft, breathless sounds she made when she
was feeling pleasure—and he wanted to be the cause of that pleasure.

He wanted to make her come.

“Well?” Mei-Li kept her hands at her sides
though it was clear she would have preferred to cover herself with them. “Do you…do
you like what you see?”

“Mei-Li,” he said honestly, his voice
coming out hoarse for some reason. “Let me put it this way—if I could have
emotions, I assure you I would be having them now. You are…perfect.”

“Oh…” An embarrassed little smile touched the
corners of her mouth and she dropped her eyes. “Thank you, I guess.”

“You are welcome. Will you please come
into the pool with me?” Six asked. “And don’t worry—I promise to give in to
your earlier demands. Everything I am entitled to do to you, you may also do to
me. It is only fair.”

“Oh, right…” For some reason she sounded
uncertain again. “It’s, uh, only fair.”

“Exactly.” He reached out a hand to her.
“So come to me.”

* * * * *

“Come to me,” he said and Mei-Li found
that she was doing just that, despite the little voice in her head screaming at
her to grab her towel and run.

The water was hot and she took in a
hissing little breath as she stepped into it.

“Is it too warm?” Six was looking at her
with what appeared to be concern. “I can cool the temperature for you.”

“No, no—it’s fine,” Mei-Li assured him. “I
like it warm—it’s like a hot tub.”

Actually, what was really heating her up
was the sight of the big Kindred lounging naked at the far end of the pool,
which was by far the biggest bathtub she had ever seen.

The top half of him was out of the water,
his bare, muscular chest and broad shoulders beaded with little droplets that
somehow made him look even more mouthwatering. With his shirt off—well, with
all
his clothes off—she could see that the metal on his left hand extended up
to his elbow and then stopped and become regular flesh. But to her shame, that
wasn’t what kept drawing her gaze.

Though she tried not to see it, his bottom
half was visible through the clear, pale blue water of the bathing pool as
well. God, he was
huge—
and he looked more than halfway hard too.
Why
couldn’t he have run a bubble bath at least to cover up some?
she thought,
trying to look anywhere but between his muscular thighs as she sank slowly into
the hot water.
At least that way maybe I wouldn’t be tempted to stare.

As if staring was the
only thing you had to worry about,
whispered
the little voice in her brain.
You’re going to be scrubbing that happy stick
in a minute, Mei-Li and
then
we’ll see how much good a little layer of
bubbles would be. Spoiler alert—the answer is absolutely none at all. Not only
that, but
he
gets to wash
you
all over too. How’s
that
going to be?

Shut up!
she told the voice, trying to push the idea of scrubbing
the big Kindred all over and being washed by him in turn to the back of her
mind.
Try not to think about it. Just enjoy the nice hot bath. Think how
soothing it is—how it unknots your tired muscles…
But if that was true, why
did her whole body feel as tight as a wire and why was her heart pounding in
her chest as she waded up to him?

At last she reached him in the deepest
part of the pool. If she stood up straight the water would have been just below
her nipples. Instead, she crouched a little so it came almost up to her
shoulders. It might be cowardly but she didn’t feel comfortable enough with her
own body to just stand there in front of him bare breasted like it was no big
deal.

Six must have sensed her tension.

“What is troubling you?” he asked. “My
scanner indicates a raised heart rate and elevated breathing. Are you certain
the water isn’t too hot?”

“Actually, it
is
kind of warm in
here,” Mei-Li said. As if
that
was the reason she was sweating.

“I will add more cold water,” he said. He
waved his hand over a panel on the side of the tub and murmured, “Cool.” At
once, Mei-Li felt a thin, ticklish current of chilly water winding through the
heated pool. She shivered and gave a nervous giggle as it touched her thighs.

“Oh!”

“Better?” Six asked, gazing at her with
that expression that looked so much like concern again.

“Much.” Mei-Li tried to smile. “Thanks.
Um, you have a really nice bathtub. I didn’t expect anything like this at all.
I mean, the rest of the house is so…utilitarian.” Then she realized she was
babbling and made herself stop.

“The bathing pool is one of the few things
we still have from our early Kindred roots,” Six explained. “It was always used
for the Claiming Period but since we of the Dark Kindred have not had Claiming
Periods for centuries, we mostly use them for relaxation.”

“It’s certainly, uh, very relaxing.”
Mei-Li wished her voice wouldn’t come out so high and forced.

Six regarded her with a level look. “If
you do not mind me saying, you do not appear relaxed in the least. Are you
concerned with the fact that I am now allowed to bathe and touch you?”

“I…well, I…” She cleared her throat. “I’m
just a little…I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve, uh, been with anyone.
And I just…I mean…”

“I have never been with a female,” he
said, surprising her with the admission.

“Um, you haven’t?”

He shook his head. “Nor did I ever expect
to want to be with one. Or to want to be with anyone, for that matter. But
you…stir something in me, Mei-Li.” He frowned. “I don’t know exactly what to
call it. Clearly it is not an emotion and yet…Never mind.”

“I’m glad you’re uh, stirred,” she said.
“I’m just plain nervous. But I guess we should get this over with. Are you uh,
going to scrub me or what? Do you have a washcloth and soap or a sponge or
something like that?”