“You’re done, baby,” I whispered.
I’d used buckets of warm water and soap that the girls had provided to bathe Lahn while he stood in our tent. He was a mountain of a man so there was a lot of him – a lot of skin, a lot of muscle, a lot of everything and all of it was good but it was even better wet, slick and soapy. The rugs on the ground were a sopping wet, soapy mess. But the bath was seriously fun.
His eyes dropped to my chest and one of his hands went to my waist as his other hand cupped my breast and I looked down to see my apple green nightgown was soaking wet, my nipples were hard and nothing was left to the imagination.
“Not done,” he growled, my head tipped back just as his thumb slid over my nipple, my knees buckled and it was good Lahn was as fast as he was big because his hands caught me at the waist before my legs could go out, he lifted me up, they wrapped around his hips, my arms around his shoulders and he took two long strides to the bed where he took us both down.
Then his hand slid down then up again, inside my nightgown as his lips trailed my neck.
Oh yeah, bath time was going to be fun.
* * * * *
It was late afternoon and Diandra and I were headed to Narinda’s.
Seerim had given the all clear for the visit and I was anxious to see her to check how she was doing.
But I had something on my mind.
“Um, Diandra?” I called; she patted my hand in the crook of her arm and looked at me.
“Yes, Circe?”
“Does, um… Seerim, uh… kiss you?”
Her brows drew together. “Kiss me?”
“Don’t you have that word? Uh –”
“We have that word, of course we do, my dear. And yes, of course Seerim kisses me.”
I looked away and felt my stomach clench.
Lahn had yet to kiss me. It was weird and this had lasted so long now I was afraid of kissing him.
“Ah…” Diandra murmured on a squeeze of my hand.
I looked back at her to see she was smiling. “What?”
“The Xacto,” she started, I braced when I heard that word and she went on, “do many things for our warriors. They teach the young ones much. But they are not allowed to touch mouth to mouth.”
“What?” I asked and she turned her eyes to me.
“They aren’t allowed to kiss the warriors.”
I felt my brows lift. “Why not?”
She got close to me and her voice lowered. “Because their mouths have been many places, my dear.”
Uh… gross.
I looked forward again and mumbled, “Other parts of them have too and by your account they don’t avoid those.”
She chuckled then explained, “Yes, this is true and those places are private and special to those of us lucky enough to keep them so.
But the mouth is close to the eyes and the eyes the Korwahk believe are portals to the spirit inside. They believe, if you open these portals to the wrong people, they can steal your spirit, cripple you, render you useless, lame. A warrior does not want that. ”
Portals to the spirit. Windows to the soul. I’d heard that before and I figured they meant the same thing in a way.
She kept talking. “They do not wish for such as the Xacto to be close to the warrior spirit. That, my dear Circe, is kept safe and given only to ones they trust… ones they love.”
I bit my lip.
Diandra guessed. “The Dax has not kissed you.”
“No,” I mumbled.
“It could be, my dear, he does not know how.”
This was such a bizarre notion, my step faltered and my head snapped around to look at her. “What? ”
Her head turned to me and she stated, “It would not surprise me.”
“That’s… well, that’s crazy,” I told her.
“I see,” she grinned her wicked grin, “he pleases you much in your cham.”
He certainly did.
