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)
She studies my face, her fingers gripping my chin. “Better,” she agrees. “The swelling will go down quickly with the shot and by the morning, you’ll be good as new.”
I release her hand and gently touch my nose. “That’s the first time I’ve been butted in the head by a lover.”
Bethiah chucks my chin. “First time so far.”
Giggling, I push her hand away. Count on Bethiah to put things in perspective. “All right. Now where do you suppose the showers are around here?”
“I can wager a guess,” she says, and takes my hand. “Come on.”
We cut through three rooms and a corridor, and then we locate the showers. With so many people living here on Kaatir’s moon base, I figured they’d have multiple bathrooms, but the sight of the showers themselves makes a fragmented memory flash through my head. This shower room looks military in its make, with multiple shower heads attached to the wall in the same area and a large tiled area for drainage. The shower could fit twenty people at once, and something tells me that was part of the plan when it was built. The memory teases in the back of my mind, of a female friend handing me a bar of soap over a waist-high wall, of joking around as I shampooed my hair.
It’s brief but vivid, and makes me pause. “Hey, Bethiah? Do you think that the other Dora—the first one—was in the military?”
“Not with your aim,” she replies immediately.
“Hey!”
“What? You want me to lie? You’re amazing with a blaster, fluffit. I’ve never seen such skill.” Her voice immediately turns buttery and unctuous. “So incredible. You —”
“Okay, okay.” I pick up a towel and flick it at her, making it snap. The skill with the towel comes easy, and I like when Bethiah jumps slightly in surprise, her tail flicking. “I know how to do this, at least.”
“Lovely,” Bethiah comments, scanning the room. “And you’re sure this is what you want? Me washing you?”
I snap the towel at her again, enjoying the annoyed look she flicks my way. “I said a shower. I didn’t say you were washing me. I’m going to wash you.”
Her eyes narrow at me.
“Get undressed,” I sing-song, tossing my towel over my shoulder and sauntering over to the changing area. I kick my shoes off next to the metal bench, and a wooden one rises in my memories. I push it aside, because I don’t want to think about that other Dora right now. I’m not her. I’m a…starfish sort of her. A replica grown in a lab. Whoever that Dora was, she’s not me.
I pause in my undressing, wondering how Yaahi and Hazza and the other women would look at me if they knew the truth. Would they still shove cookies at me and play with my hair and dress me up like a doll if they knew what I was? Or would they be repulsed?
I forget that I’m something that’s not whole when I’m with Jamef and Bethiah. They make me feel…well, like a total person.
“Here I am,” drawls a voice behind me. “Try to contain your excitement.”
Bethiah leans against the wall, making a dramatic pose and expression. She’s completely naked, her tattoos on full display. They wind down her lithe body in intricate patterns that just beg to be explored with the tip of a tongue, and I shouldn’t be surprised at the sight of her bare pussy, but I am. It just seems so stark and blatant…and appealing.
Of course she’s bare down there. Only humans have body hair in inappropriate places. Just my luck. “You beat me,” I tell her, pushing away all thoughts of stolen memories and starfish people. I have a job to do, and that job is to seduce Bethiah. I grab the dress I’m wearing—one given to me by Hazza—and haul it over my head, joining Bethiah in her nudity. “Now I’m ready, too. Prepare yourself for the best shower of your life.”
“Don’t oversell it, fluffit,” Bethiah teases, pushing herself off the wall again. “You’ll give me a complex.”
Oh, I’m not overselling. I plan on making this the best shower she’s ever had. I’m not letting her out of this room until I’ve made her come at least once. I think that’s only fair.
I hold my hand out to her and wait for her to take it, already planning my attack. Bethiah’s not going to stand a chance.
Sixty
DORA
I suspect Bethiah is starting to figure out that this is not going to be about showering.
Now undressed, we head into the shower area. She fiddles with the controls, pointing out the hot and cold settings since I can’t read the language. Once the water starts to cascade down on us, she suddenly seems very focused on bathing. She rubs her hands over her arms, then steps under the spray and scrubs her face.