“What do you think, Robin? Is there a storm coming?”
He bobbed his head in agreement, and this time, he hopped closer, almost as if he wanted to come inside. She hesitated, then opened the window a little further. Under other circumstances, she wouldn’t even have considered letting a wild creature into her cottage, but somehow, she wasn’t worried that he would cause any damage, either to the cottage or himself. And after her experience yesterday, she rather liked the idea of company. To her delight, Robin hopped across the sill, then tilted his head and surveyed the room with his bright, dark gaze.
“Not very impressive, is it?” she asked as she followed his eyes, but despite her words, she loved her room.
The single bed was covered with a quilt her grandmother had made and heaped with pillows. Shelves along the other wall held her childhood treasures, plus those of her mother and grandmother before her, and she had spent many hours curled in the worn reading chair. Although she had cleaned out the larger bedroom after her grandmother died, she could never bring herself to leave the small, cozy room where she’d grown up.
Pushing aside the memories, she smiled at Robin, now perched on one of her shelves, almost as if he was reading the titles of the few precious books that had been handed down to her.
“I’ll leave that window cracked so you can find your way back out.” She shivered as an icy breeze whistled through the opening. “But I’m going to take my bath in the other room in front of the fire.”
Robin seemed to freeze for a moment, but when she walked into the main room, he followed her.
Even though Krampasarian knew it was behaving irrationally, as soon as he had Whit settled, he sent his drone flying after Jaelle. He should be content. He had seen her flushed and sleepy, her body clad only in a long white gown, and even that had been far, far better than the bulky garments she usually wore. But when she said that she was about to bathe…
He had been examining the contents of her shelves, storing the image of her book titles for later translation, but just as something odd caught his eye, she had spoken and his curiosity had been replaced by sudden, unreasoning lust. Perching the drone on the top of a large cupboard, he watched eagerly as she went about her preparations.
The main room of the cottage was centered around a large fireplace with a stove insert for cooking. Several padded chairs were positioned to one side of the fireplace while on the other side, a table and chairs sat in front of one of the windows.
Jaelle took hot water from a reservoir on the stove and began filling a large metal object, supplementing it with water from the primitive pump in the kitchen area. Her living conditions really were appalling. If he only had her here on his ship, he could show her the wonders of unlimited hot water at the press of a button and -
She removed her sleeping gown and all thoughts of water were abandoned. He had seen enough of her to know that she was not the aged crone she appeared to be when she visited the village. He had expected that she would be young and healthy. He had not expected the vision of perfection that met his hungry gaze as she stepped into her primitive bath.
Her body was not dissimilar to that of a Tandroki female. Smaller of course, and to the best of his knowledge, no Tandroki female possessed those lush, tempting curves. His race valued tall, slender females, not oversized breasts that would be too large even for his hands or equally lush hips that made a male think of nothing but burying himself between them.
Raising her arms, she poured water over her body, letting it cascade down over taut, pink nipples and catch in a small patch of dark curls between her legs. Her actions were completely natural, unaware that she was watched, and he knew that he should turn away. Instead, his hand dropped to his hardened cock, pushing insistently against the tight cloth of his flight suit. He gripped his errant flesh, trying to remind himself that he was Tandroki and far above the primitive pleasures of the flesh, but then she picked up a small bar of soap and began rubbing it across her breasts and he gave up the fight.
Freeing his cock, he gave it a long, hard stroke as she circled her nipples, plucking gently at the rosy buds, her expression dreamy and far away. His grip tightened as her hand dropped down her body, parting those dark curls to reveal glistening pink folds. She worked the swollen pearl of flesh at the top of her sex, her movements faster now, and he matched his pace to hers, imagining that it was his hand, his cock, wringing those small cries of pleasure from her lips. Her back arched as she gave a louder cry, her body shivering with ecstasy, and he felt a corresponding streak of fire down his spine as he too cried out and a hot rush of seed covered his hand.
He collapsed back in his chair, still shuddering with pleasure, a pleasure that was quickly replaced by embarrassment. He had not touched himself in such a way since he was a young cadet, exploring the forbidden pleasures of the flesh before he fully understood the need to rise above such primitive instincts. But despite his embarrassment, he couldn’t stop watching Jaelle as she finished her bath, her movements efficient now rather than sensual. Even when she covered that tempting body with more of her voluminous clothing, it didn’t help. Now he knew the delights beneath.
A noise from the corridor interrupted his wayward thoughts, and he hastily tucked himself away before Whit came bouncing into the room.
“Are you finished with your lessons?” he asked.
“Mostly.”
When Krampasarian frowned at him, the boy shrugged and gave him that curiously endearing smile.
“I wanted to talk to you. Man to… Krampus.”
A feeling of foreboding settled over him. “Why?”
Instead of responding, the boy wandered around the bridge, inspecting the various instrument panels curiously but, fortunately, not touching anything.
“You know,” Whit said finally, looking at him from under his lashes. “You got a pretty good thing going up here.”
“A good thing?” he asked incredulously. “I have a ruined ship in desperate need of repairs and I’m a very long way from my station.”
“Ship? I seen pictures of ships and this don’t look like none of them.”
“It’s a special kind,” he said quickly, cursing his lack of discretion. The knowledge of space flight should never be shared with lower races.
Whit gave him a skeptical look but returned to his main theme. “You got plenty of food and the roof don’t leak. You even got clothes. Sorta.”
The last statement was accompanied by a scowl at the thermal suit, but Krampasarian realized the boy had a point. Even on the crippled ship, his life was considerably better than that of the villagers.
“I suppose I do,” he agreed.
“And since you have all this, you could share it.”
His mind immediately went to Jaelle. Yes, he could see her here on the ship. He could take care of her here, make sure she was adequately fed and let her experience the bathing room, so superior to that primitive tub. Although, that tub did have some advantages…
His body started to respond to the erotic memory until Whit’s voice brought him back to the present. The boy had asked him a question but he’d missed it.
“Yes?”
“That’s great! I knew you weren’t such a bad guy, Krampus!” Whit grabbed his hand and pumped it up and down enthusiastically.
“That is not my name. And of course, I’m not a ‘bad guy.’”