Claimed

  “It’s not supposed to be. It’s to enhance your natural scent, not cover it up,” Baird explained. His hands stopped their movement and were still on her waist. “Are you ready for me to wash your front now?”

  Liv took a deep breath. She knew what he was asking—the gentle massaging wash he’d been giving her was about to turn sexual and he wanted to know if she could handle it. It’s all right, she told herself nervously. He promised not to bond me to him no matter what I said or did. I’ll be okay. “Yes,” she whispered deciding there was no point in putting it off. “Yes, I…I’m ready.”

  Baird got some more of the sweet-smelling lotion on his hands and then he was right up behind her, even closer than before. Liv felt something hot and hard brush against the back of her thigh and jumped in surprise.

  “Sorry,” Baird murmured in her ear as he began to wash the top part of her chest. “Can’t help it. You affect me.”

  You affect me too, she almost said but bit the words back at the last moment. Just because she was surrendering physically didn’t mean she had to surrender emotionally as well. In fact, she would do well to remember that no matter what he had promised, she was still doing this against her will. If it wasn’t for the stupid contract she’d signed…

  But any thought of holding out on him, emotionally if not physically, was driven out of her head when he cupped her breasts. Liv had to bite back a moan as he caressed her flesh, kneading gently and then plucking at her already hard nipples. Baird growled approvingly in her ear when she arched her back, thrusting her chest out, giving him better access. And then his hands were traveling lower.

  Liv moaned breathlessly as he massaged her inner thighs before cupping the tender vee of her sex. “You’re hot, Lilenta,” he murmured in her ear. “Even under the water I can feel it. Do you like my hands on you here?”

  “You…you know I do,” Liv gasped, unable to lie. God, was he trying to drive her crazy?

  “I’m going to open you now,” he told her in that soft, growling voice. “Going to wash you inside, Olivia. Inside your pussy. Are you ready for that?”

  “I…I think so.”

  “Good,” he said and then his long fingers were parting her pussy lips, opening her to let the heated water of the pool rush over her unprotected sex. Liv gasped and bucked back against him as he slid his fingers over her sensitive flesh, washing her, touching her, making her his.

  God, too much…too good… She was panting now, so hot for him she could barely breathe and the warm water of the pool suddenly seemed almost suffocating. With each breath she drew in his scent—that hot masculine spice that made her dizzy with need. “Baird, please!” she moaned, wondering if he could feel how hot and wet she was, even under the water.

  “Yes, Lilenta?” he murmured, his fingers never stopping their slow, gentle massage.

  “Please, I…I…it’s too hot in here.”

  “You’re ready to leave the pool and let me oil you?”

  Oil me? What the hell? But Liv was too far gone to care what else he did. She only knew she was feeling overheated and faint—her heart beating so hard it felt like it was shaking her entire body. God, what was wrong with her? “Yes, yes—out of the pool,” she managed to gasp. Almost before the words left her lips Baird was lifting her with no effort at all and wading out of the bathing pool. Liv sighed in relief as the cooling air hit her skin. Her heart was still going about a mile a minute but at least now she felt like she could breathe. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome, Lilenta,” he rumbled. “I’m sorry if the bathing ceremony upset you.”

  “It wasn’t upsetting so much as…” Liv searched for a word. “Intense. Really intense.”

  “I’m afraid the rest of what we do may feel intense to you too.” He sounded unhappy about it. “If you’d let me hold you the first week your body would be more used to mine, more acclimated to the powerful feelings we generate between us when we touch. But as it is…” He broke off, shaking his head. “Just let me know if it gets to be too much for you.”

  Liv frowned. Now that she was out of the pool she felt more like herself. His insinuation that she was too weak to stand whatever he could dish out stung. “I can take it,” she told him, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t worry about me, Baird—I won’t break.”

  He nodded approvingly. “You’re strong—the strongest female I’ve ever met even though you look so fragile.”

  “I am not fragile,” Liv complained as he stood her carefully on the tiled floor. She had no fear of slipping, having found long ago that the Kindred flooring actually sucked up water like a sponge. They could stand here dripping and naked, arguing all day, and not create so much as a puddle of water between them.

  “Compared to most of the females on the other Kindred trade worlds you are.”

  “Well, I can’t help it I’m not an Amazon. I’m actually a pretty normal height and size for a woman my age.”

  “Is that right?” Baird murmured as he got the red bathing robe and wrapped it considerately around her. Liv started to protest—the thing was lined with fur of some kind and she didn’t want to ruin it. Then she realized that the fur must have the same water-absorbing capabilities as the floor tiles because within seconds she was dry.

  “Wow, this thing works fast,” she exclaimed, looking down at herself as Baird toweled himself off. Even the back of her hair, which had been trapped between the robe and her neck, was dry.

  He shrugged. “We try to make things that have function as well as beauty. Most of our household objects are genetic adaptations of plants and animals we’ve found on our journeys.”

  Liv looked at him suspiciously. “It’s not alive like that weird blue blanket that lives on the couch, is it?”

  Baird laughed as he wrapped the long red towel he’d been using around his waist and knotted it firmly in place. “No, Lilenta. It’s not alive. Now, come, the rest of the ceremony will be in the bedroom.”

  “On…on the bed?” Being naked in the bathing pool with him was one thing. Being naked in bed—well, that was something Liv had been avoiding from the moment she came up to the Kindred ship.

  His gaze raked over her hungrily. “Yes, on the bed. I need to anoint you with fragrant oils. And I need to make you come.”

  The way he said it made Liv’s heart start racing again. It was like he’d said, “I need to breathe” or “I need to eat.” Clearly this was something he didn’t just want to do. He’s hungry for me, Liv realized in a flash. Touching me, giving me pleasure, feeds something inside him, some need so deep it’s ingrained in him. Is this how all Kindred males are or is it just Baird?

  “Why?” she whispered as he picked her up again and headed for the bedroom. “Why do you want…need to do that to me?”

  “Aside from the pleasure of touching your beautiful body you mean?” Baird gave her another hungry look. “It’s because every time I make you come it prepares your body for mine a little more. When you’re with me—especially when I’m touching you—every breath you take brings you closer to being mine. And when I make you come it starts a chemical reaction that makes you want more.”

  “But…you said you wouldn’t…that we wouldn’t…”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t,” Baird assured her. “Although you may wish I hadn’t made you that promise before we’re done tonight.”

  I doubt that. But Liv didn’t say it out loud. Baird laid her gently on her side of the bed.

  “Slip off your robe and lie on your stomach, Lilenta,” he murmured. “I’ll get the oils.”

  Well if he was offering her another back massage, Liv was all for it. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t exactly eager to lie naked face up on the bed for his inspection. Of course, they’d just spent the last half hour naked in the bath together but there at least half of her had been covered by the water. Now that she was out of the bathing pool and dry she felt extremely exposed.

  As Baird went to rummage in the chest-like container at the foot of the bed,
she took off the crimson robe and flipped hastily onto her stomach. She debated on keeping her arms straight down by her sides but it seemed silly. Baird had already seen her breasts—seen them, cupped them, rolled the nipples between his callused fingertips in a way that shot sparks of pleasure through her entire body…Liv stopped herself before her thoughts could get even more lascivious. The point was, she might as well make herself comfortable and put her arms above her head, even if the position did make her feel a little more vulnerable.

  Soon enough he was back with an array of long, thin bottles in his large hands. They looked like blown glass and each bottle was a different unique mixture of colors. Their delicate shapes and intricate designs reminded Liv of the antique perfume bottles her grandmother had let her play with when she was a little girl.

  “Wow, those are beautiful,” she said admiringly when Baird started to arrange them on the low, flat table beside the bed. “Are they from your home world?”

  “This one is.” He showed her what looked to be the oldest bottle. It was a faded bluish green and there was a fine patina of cracks in the glazing that looked like a field of strange alien flowers when he held it at a different angle.

  “May I see?” Liv sat up, making sure to cross her legs and drape one arm across her breasts before holding out her hand.

  If Baird noticed her strategic cover-up, he didn’t say anything about it. Carefully, he placed the fragile bottle in her palm. “Each bottle holds a different type of oil for a different part of the bride’s body. This one has been in my family for generations.”

  “Different oils for different body parts, hmm?” Liv examined the bottles with interest. The top of each one was a different design. Several looked like exotic alien blooms in red and green and vivid purple and a few were shapes she didn’t know. One seemed to be worked into the subtle shape of an animal face—a cross between a monkey and a fox. She hoped that didn’t mean the oil in it came from that particular animal, whatever it was. She really didn’t want to be rubbed down with ode de chimp or fox musk.

  “The oils come from different plants on the Kindred home world as well as our three trade worlds,” Baird said, putting her fears to rest.

  “And…you’re going to put all of them on me?” Liv looked at the array of bottles crowding the small table.

  He shrugged. “More or less. I’ll decide as I go along.”

  “Uh, but won’t that make me smell like an explosion in a perfume factory?”

  “Not at all,” Baird assured her, taking the ancient blue bottle from her and urging her to lay down with a gentle nudge. “Most of them are odorless or made to enhance your own natural scent, like the fragrance I used on you in the bathing pool.”

  “Oh. Okay.” She settled herself on her stomach again and turned her head to the side to look up at him. “But if the point isn’t the way they smell, then why have so many different oils? I mean, I’m sure that something that would work to relax my back would be just as good for my arms and legs. Right?”

  Baird smiled. “To a certain extent, yes. But most of these oils aren’t for your arms and legs, Lilenta.”

  “Then what are they…oh,” Liv ended in a small voice. Does he seriously have fifteen different types of alien lube he’s going to rub on me? Or…into me? The thought made her extremely nervous. But then Baird’s big, warm hands were on her back and, just as it had in the bathing pool, her tension seemed to melt away.

  She would give the big warrior one thing—he could certainly give a hell of a massage. A girl could really get used to this, she thought drowsily as his hands, covered in some kind of warm, smooth oil, slicked over her shoulders and down to the small of her back. I wonder if Kindred males do this for their women after the claiming period is over or if this is a one time thing? Well, one way or another it didn’t matter because she wasn’t going to hang around and find out. Although if a nightly massage as good as this one was included in the deal, she might be at least a little bit tempted…No, think of Sophie and Kat and your nursing degree, she reminded herself. You didn’t just bust your butt for the last four years to lounge around on a spaceship getting massages and eating alien bon-bons.

  Obviously unaware of her internal conflict, Baird spent a long time on her back and arms and legs. The oils he used all felt pretty much the same to Liv except for the special oil for her feet which felt cooling, whereas the oils he used on the rest of her were of the warming variety. By the time he was done, Liv’s muscles felt like melted butter. She couldn’t even get up the strength to feel embarrassed when he flipped her over, exposing her breasts and sex.

  “But I’ll get oil all over the bedspread,” she protested feebly as Baird opened yet another bottle and poured an amber stream of the viscous liquid into his palm.

  “It’ll wash out,” he assured her. “Close your eyes, Lilenta.”

  “Why? What part are you going to massage next?” She looked up at him suspiciously.

  “Still don’t trust me, huh? Close your eyes and you’ll find out.” Baird sounded amused.

  “Fine.” Liv closed her eyes and braced herself. Despite his gentle touch in the bathing pool, she kept expecting him to go for it and grab her breasts like Mitch would have. Not that her ex would have spent forty solid minutes giving her an all over massage with fifteen different exotic oils. Come to think of it, no man Liv had ever dated would have done that. Not without expecting some hefty payback. She wondered suddenly if the massage thing went both ways. Was she supposed to return the favor when Baird was done? A sudden image flashed through her brain—a picture of her pouring a stream of slippery massage oil over Baird’s long, thick shaft and then rubbing it in…Stop it! she scolded herself. As if things weren’t bad enough without you fantasizing about that!

  Baird was taking so long to put his hands on her that she was really beginning to get nervous. But just as she was thinking she couldn’t take it anymore, she felt him begin. Warm, callused fingertips were rubbing silky oil with a soft citrus scent into her…into her temples. She almost laughed. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see that one corner of his mouth was quirked up with amusement.

  “Surprised, Lilenta?”

  “Yes, I am.” She tried not to smile at him and failed. “You’re full of surprises, Baird.” She didn’t know why she’d said it, but it was certainly true.

  “So are you. I see something different every time I look at you,” he said quietly, still rubbing lightly. “But it’s all part of the same beautiful woman.”

  “Flattery will get you nowhere,” Liv said lightly, though his intense gaze was making her a little uncomfortable. She closed her eyes again so she couldn’t see it. “You’ve only used four or five oils so far. This is going to take all night.”

  “I have no problem touching you all night long.” The desire in his deep, growling voice made her shiver and her nipples peaked.

  “I’m cold,” she complained, choosing not to respond to his innuendo.

  “Then let me warm you up.” And suddenly his hands were exactly where she needed them to be—although she hadn’t known she needed them until he put them there. Warm and slick with oil, he palmed her breasts, caressing their undersides firmly and then stroking every part of them but her areolas and nipples. Those he left strictly alone, much to Liv’s mingled relief and disappointment. Damn it, she was dying over here!

  “Baird,” she moaned in protest and then his fingers were back, this time lightly tracing a circle around her tight nipples, using a different kind of oil—one that seemed to ignite her skin on contact. “God!” she gasped as the heat spread and her back arched, thrusting her breasts up and out.

  “Enjoying yourself, Lilenta?” His voice was low and hot but Liv could only moan in reply. “I told you different oils were for different body parts,” Baird murmured in her ear as the fiery, tingling pleasure continued to eat through her, burning from her sensitive peaks outward. It felt to Liv as though the heat was shooting sparks of pleasure from her breasts straight
to the cleft between her thighs.

  Then Baird’s hands were traveling lower, smoothing some other kind of oil over her trembling abdomen and belly. Even now when she was shaking with desire, he took his time, tracing a shining line around her navel while Liv bit her lip to keep from begging him to go lower. She tried to keep everything and everyone she’d left behind in the forefront of her mind to counteract the pleasure he was giving her but it was no use, her body was taking over and all she wanted was more.

  As if reading her mind, Baird climbed onto the bed beside her. “This is a better position for the next part of the ritual,” he murmured in her ear. “Still cold, Lilenta?”

  “No, but…”

  “But what?”

  Having him right beside her made Liv feel suddenly vulnerable again. “But I don’t think it’s fair that I have to be naked and you get to keep your towel on,” she said in a rush, nodding at the dark red towel he still wore around his waist.

  “I was keeping it on more for your benefit than mine,” Baird said mildly. “But if you’d rather I took it off…” And before Liv could protest he pulled it off and tossed it to the foot of the bed along with her abandoned robe. “Better?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

  “Not exactly.” Liv tried not to look but her eyes kept being drawn to his cock. Up until now she’d only seen him half erect but now…God, it’s a good thing he promised we wouldn’t do the deed tonight. A damn good thing, she thought, eyeing him with something like awe.

  “Do you want me to put the towel back on?” Baird asked and she realized she was staring. Feeling her cheeks heat with a blush, she shook her head and looked quickly away.

  “No, no. Let’s just…get on with it.”

  He nodded gravely. “If that’s what you’d like to do.”

  “It is.” Unless jumping off the bed and running away was an option, that was. But Liv knew she couldn’t legally do that. It wasn’t that what he was doing to her didn’t feel good—it did, way too good. And that scared her to death. She thought again that if Baird hadn’t promised not to bond with her that night she would have been really freaking out at this point. “Do…” She cleared her throat. “Do you have another kind of oil for my…for down there?” She nodded down to the area between her thighs. Her blonde curls were all that was visible at the moment because she had her legs crossed tightly.