“Those are the terms of the contract,” Baird said. “Although you can allow me to make love with you and bond you earlier if you wish. I understand that many Earth brides don’t wait the entire four weeks to make that decision.” His voice was soft and deep and his eyes wouldn’t leave hers.
“That’s not going to happen.” Liv wished her voice wasn’t shaking so much. She dropped her eyes. “What happened in the old days if a male couldn’t convince a female to bond with him?”
If he couldn’t…” Baird shrugged his broad shoulders. “She was allowed to leave him and allow her mind to align with another male. Of course, the weeks on the Kindred home planet were about the length of one of your Earth years, so a male had considerably longer to convince his bride they ought to stay together.”
“Wow.” Liv didn’t know what to say. Here she was worried about holding out for one month and Baird was telling her that the original Kindred brides had had to withstand the blatantly sexual claiming period for four years. “That’s…a long time,” she managed at last.
“Not nearly long enough to be with the woman you love.” Baird caught her gaze with his own until Liv bit her lip and looked away. “Of course, in time traditions grew up around each week,” he continued. “During the holding week a male keeps his bride safe in the circle of his arms and holds her close to prove he can protect her from any danger that might come.” He looked at her steadily. “I wanted to do that for you, Lilenta, but I didn’t want to scare you away or frighten you—any more than you already were, anyway.”
Liv started to deny her fear as she had from the start but something made her stop. It was true—she was afraid of Baird. Of what he represented, of everything and everyone she could lose if she let herself fall into his arms and never look back. Instead she said quietly, “Go on.”
“During the bathing week, a Kindred male cares for and pampers his bride by worshiping her body,” he continued in a low voice. “He washes her hair and bathes and massages and oils her to show her what their life will be like together if she consents to bond with him. The care he takes with her symbolizes how precious she is to him, how beautiful and perfect he finds her.”
Liv cleared her throat. “Sounds, ah…intense.”
“It can be.” Baird gave her a serious look. “Although I hear some females find it most relaxing to be bathed and pampered. Don’t you Earth women go to special places for it?”
“Uh, you mean like a spa? Sure, I guess.” Liv shrugged uncomfortably. “But usually the emphasis there is on relieving stress and the attendants are all very professional and impersonal.”
One corner of Baird’s full mouth twitched. “Afraid I can’t promise you that, Lilenta.”
“I didn’t think so,” Liv mumbled. She tried to imagine a spa staffed with Kindred warriors waiting to bathe and massage the women who came there and thought that it would probably be sold out for years in advance. And here she had her very own ticket for the Kindred spa treatment and she would have done anything to give it away if she could. “God,” she muttered. “This is going to be really interesting.”
“Look at me, Lilenta.” Baird lifted her chin gently, forcing her to look into his amber eyes. “Is my touch really so distasteful to you?” he asked softly.
Liv bit her lip. “You know it’s not,” she said at last, deciding not to bother with a lie. “You pretty much said you can tell how I feel when you…when you touch me.”
“I can smell your arousal, yes.” He nodded. “Then why do you have to fight me every step of the way?”
Liv felt frustrated. “You know why—I told you why. I can’t let myself relax with you because I’m afraid if I do I’ll go too far and let you…let you bond me. Whatever that means, exactly.” She still wasn’t sure but she was damned if she’d ask Baird for an explanation. It was embarrassing enough to hear him explain the holding and bathing weeks and tell her what he would be allowed to do to her at the end of the month, let alone hearing a detailed account of what bonding sex entailed.
He was still looking at her intently and his fingers were warm under her chin. “What if I promised not to bond you to me tonight—no matter what you say?”
Liv looked at him in surprise. “You’d do that? Promise me that? But I thought your whole goal was to get me tied to you as soon as possible.”
“There is that urge, yes,” Baird admitted. “It’s an instinct every Kindred male has because of our past. But I’m willing not to act on it tonight—hell, for the entire week—if it’ll make you feel better.”
“It really would,” Liv admitted. In fact she was so relieved she almost felt weak. But she still didn’t understand why Baird was making this offer. “I appreciate that you’re willing to, uh, put our contest, as it were, aside for a week,” she said cautiously. “But I guess I still don’t understand why you would.”
“I don’t want you to feel forced into anything. Not by me and not by the way your body reacts to mine.” Baird leaned down and brushed her lips gently with his own.
Liv’s heart stuttered in her chest. “God…” she whispered.
“I want you to care for me, Olivia. Care for me the way I care for you,” he breathed. “And I want you to be able to enjoy what I do for you without fear.” He pulled back a little and looked her in the eyes. “So what do you say? Will you try to relax and honor the bathing ceremony with me if I promise not to bond you to me no matter what?”
“For this entire week?” Liv asked, wanting to be sure.
He nodded. “It’ll kill me but yes—I swear on my honor as a warrior that I won’t have bonding sex with you no matter what you may do or say for the entire bathing week.” He flashed a wolfish grin. “Of course, after that, all bets are off. But if I can’t make you want to bond with me during the tasting week, I don’t deserve to have you.”
Liv felt a flash of heat run through her and looked away from his intense golden gaze quickly. “Fine. We’ll take it a week at a time,” she said, wishing her heart would slow down. But it was racing, as it always did when he touched her—kissed her. As if sensing her wish, Baird gave her one last soft kiss and then stood up.
“I’ll leave you to get dressed now. Just wear the robe and nothing else. Come to the bathing pool when you’re ready.” He dropped the robe in a soft crimson heap in her lap and gave her one last burning look. “I’ll be waiting for you, Lilenta.”
Baird waited by the bathing pool, wondering how long it would take Olivia to get up the nerve to come to him. He couldn’t wait to see her in the dark red bathing gown, couldn’t wait to see it fall to the floor and reveal her to him naked for the first time. Of course, he had seen her undressed often enough while they were dream-sharing. Watching her take her morning shower and evening bath had been some of his favorite parts of the dreams. But to actually see her in the flesh and know that he could touch her this time…just the thought made him almost painfully hard.
Hope she can relax enough to let herself enjoy this, he thought, as he paced beside the pool. He’d hated like hell that she was so scared of him, of the way he made her feel. It was one of the things that had motivated him to promise not to bond her for the entire week. In that, he was taking a big gamble and Baird knew it. Every instinct he had screamed at him to make her his as quickly as possible but he forced himself to remember Sylvan’s advice. He had to take things slowly—rushing would only scare Olivia away. After all, the ultimate decision to bond with him or not was hers and right now she was dead set against it. Baird had to be sure he gave her a damn good reason to change her mind. He hoped that by taking away her fear of bonding, at least for a week, he could get her to relax and enjoy the pleasure he couldn’t wait to give her. If he could just make her realize how right they were together, how much they needed each other—
“I’m ready.”
Olivia’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts and Baird stopped pacing and looked up to see her standing there in the long red bathing gown. She looked beautiful and frightened
and defiant all at once and he felt his heart squeeze in his chest at the sight of her. Gods, he wanted so much to make this good for her! To pleasure her and make her come over and over until she was finally at peace in his arms. Slowly, he reminded himself again. Slowly.
“You look lovely, Lilenta,” he murmured, his voice slightly hoarse with need. It was true—the dark red of the gown made her hair look like honey and brought out the clear grey of her eyes.
“Thanks.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Uh—what’s next?”
“Now we get in the pool but first we have to get undressed.”
“All right.” She started to pull at the sash on the robe, clearly just wanting to get it over with, but Baird stepped forward and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“I’m supposed to go first, Lilenta.”
“Oh. Okay, sorry.” She looked intensely uncomfortable and Baird wished he could put her at ease. Unfortunately seeing him naked probably wasn’t going to have that effect. Slowly, trying not to startle her, he pushed down the black sleep pants which were all he was wearing. Then he rose and stood in front of her in a relaxed posture, giving her time to look.
Olivia’s gaze flicked over his body, marking his shoulders and chest and the flat planes of his abdomen before dipping lower to look between his legs. Baird saw her eyes widen as she took in the thick club of his sex which was already more than half hard in anticipation of seeing her naked.
“My God,” she murmured, putting a hand to her mouth.
“Is there something wrong?” Baird looked down at himself. He knew from the material Sylvan had given him to study that Kindred males were pretty much the same as their human counterparts—although built on a considerably larger scale. The only difference in their anatomy was the mating fist at the base of his shaft and it wouldn’t fully inflate until he was buried deep in his bride’s sweet body, bonding her to him.
“Nothing’s wrong.” Olivia’s cheeks were as red as her robe. “It’s just…you’re so big. I mean, can you actually use that thing without being arrested for assault with a deadly weapon?”
Baird realized she was making a joke about his size—probably because it frightened her. “It’s all right, Lilenta,” he murmured, taking a step toward her. “I would never hurt you. I promise that when the time comes for me to enter you, I’ll make sure you’re wet and ready to take me.”
“You’re assuming we’ll make it that far.” Her words were defiant but her voice shook, betraying her uncertainty.
“Not tonight,’ Baird assured her. “Tonight is all about your pleasure, Lilenta.” Reaching for the long sash of the robe, he looked into her eyes. “Will you allow me to disrobe you?”
“I…” Olivia nibbled her bottom lip nervously—a distractingly erotic gesture as far as Baird was concerned. “Yes, I…I guess so.”
“Thank you,” he said softly. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
“I already regret it,” she whispered but made no move to stop him when he tugged on the sash. The loose knot she’d tied it in parted easily and the crimson bathing robe opened to reveal her naked flesh. Baird caught his breath at her beauty—high full breasts tipped with tight pink nipples led down to the softly rounded planes of her abdomen and the dimple of her navel. And nestled in the tender vee between her thighs was the mound of neatly trimmed blonde curls that hid her sex.
As her scent, warm and secret and deliciously feminine, rose to him, Baird let his gaze trace the shadow of her slit. He had a sudden urgent need to drop to his knees before her, to part her thighs and worship her with his mouth. He could almost taste her—wet and hot and perfect, could almost hear her moans as she opened for him, submitted to his tongue inside her pussy. Later, he reminded himself sternly. Save it for the tasting week. For now, he was privileged to see her fully nude and he wasn’t about to waste this opportunity by rushing her.
“You’re beautiful, Lilenta,” he said reverently, letting his gaze trace her form, drinking in her beauty. “So perfect you make me forget how to breathe.”
“I’m having a little trouble breathing myself.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “Uh…are we getting in the pool soon?”
“Right now,” Baird assured her. Bending down, he lifted her, eliciting a startled gasp as Olivia grasped his shoulders for support. “It’s all right,” he assured her. “I’ll never drop you.”
“You just took me by surprise, that’s all.” She was still blushing and trembling in his arms as he stepped down into the bathing pool. Baird reminded himself that though she was always making smart remarks, she hadn’t had much experience and was clearly nervous. He only hoped he could put her at ease with the ritual they were about to share.
When they were both settled in the pool he let her go and Olivia settled with her back to the curved wall. Her long blonde hair was floating around her and Baird couldn’t help noticing that she had made sure to submerge herself completely, keeping her full breasts below the water line.
Turning to the side of the pool, he picked one of the special jars he’d laid out in a row to choose from. “Will you allow me to wash your hair, Lilenta?” he asked, softly.
Olivia shrugged stiffly and then nodded. “Sure, I guess. Why not?” She waded toward him and then stopped about a foot away and turned around. “Uh, go ahead.”
“Thank you.” Making a cup with his hands, Baird carefully sluiced water over her head until her hair was completely wet. Then he scooped a dollop of sweet smelling cream from the jar he’d chosen and began to slowly but firmly work it into her scalp.
Olivia moaned quietly as he worked on her and the soft sound went straight to Baird’s shaft. Gods, but she was beautiful, all wet and sleek and lovely. His cock was standing at attention, the mating fist at its base swelling with need, but he forced himself to only touch her hair—at least for now.
She sighed in appreciation as he rinsed her hair and then worked a different type of treatment into it. This one was made from the berries of the zerrin bush that was native to Twin Moons and it would make her already soft hair as silky and strong as the plant’s long, floating fibers. Baird loved the feel of her fine blonde strands running through his fingers, loved the soft little involuntary sounds of pleasure she made when he massaged her scalp. He only hoped he could bring similar sounds of bliss to her lips when he touched her elsewhere. The need to pleasure his mate was a deeply instilled instinct in a Kindred male and he wanted her gratification desperately—much more than he wanted his own.
Carefully he rinsed her hair again and then stepped back. It took Olivia a moment to realize that he was done but when she did, she turned around to face him, her movements making tiny ripples in the warm water.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “That was…lovely.”
“It was my pleasure,” Baird said sincerely. “Are you ready to continue or do you need a minute?”
“No, I…we can go on.” She looked up at him shyly from under long lashes that were jeweled with tiny water droplets. “What…what’s next?”
Baird took a step toward her. “Now I need to wash your body, Lilenta.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Everywhere?”
He nodded. “Everywhere. Are you ready?”
Liv wondered if she would ever get used to the way her heart drummed against her ribs whenever Baird was near her. While he had been washing her hair she had almost managed to forget that there was more—much more—of the bathing ceremony to come. His big hands had been so soothing and gentle and yet so firm, easing the tension from her scalp and managing to wash her long hair without pulling it once. He put any stylist she’d ever visited to shame and when she closed her eyes and just concentrated on the delicious warmth of the water surrounding her and his hands in her hair, she could almost have gone to sleep.
Well, I’m wide awake now. Baird was studying her with that intent, smoldering look in his half-lidded golden eyes and she knew the only answer she could give him was ‘yes.’ Part of her wanted to
put the rest of the bathing ceremony off but she didn’t want to be in here all night—better to get it over with. Or so she told herself.
“I’m ready.” She took a step toward her and braced herself. “Go ahead.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “You don’t have to sound so grim about it, Olivia. I promise to be gentle.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered.
“Afraid you’ll like it?” He was already rubbing some new kind of lotion or soap between his palms as he moved toward her. Liv braced herself, waiting for him to go directly for her breasts, or maybe stab a hand between her legs as Mitch would have done. Her ex had believed in going for the gusto and most of the other guys she’d been with had had the same philosophy. She had no reason to expect that Baird would be any different.
Except he was.
“Here,” he murmured, turning her around so that her back was to him. Then he was massaging the faintly sweet-smelling lotion-soap into her shoulders, using firm, strong strokes that stripped away the tension gathered in her muscles and pulled an appreciative moan from her lips.
“That’s right, Lilenta,” he whispered in her ear as he continued to knead her shoulders and upper arms. “Just let it all go and relax.”
Liv found she couldn’t help doing just that. So far Baird was restricting himself to her arms, shoulders, and back and she could feel the tensions melting out of her with each warm, firm move of his big hands. And, though he still hadn’t touched her in a sexual way, she could feel her nipples getting hard at his gentle, intimate touch. “God, you really know how to seduce a girl,” she murmured as he stroked beneath the surface of the water, including her lower back in his ministrations.
She heard his low, rumbling laugh behind her. “Doin’ my best, Lilenta. Do you like the fragrance I picked out for you?”
“It’s very nice,” Liv admitted as his hands slid over the curves of her hips. “Not very strong though.”