Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Oh…did my hat slip?” Celia reached up and pulled down the hat as well as she could with her mittened hands.
“Mmm-hmm—red,” Fierce confirmed, frowning. “Are they cold too?”
“They’re numb,” Celia admitted, frowning. “But I’m sure they’ll warm up in a moment.”
“Not without some help. Here.” The Dark Twin put her on her feet, but kept his hands on her shoulders. Then he leaned down and breathed a long, slow steady breath against her right ear.
“Oh!” Celia gasped and writhed in his grip. Her ears and the sides of her neck had always been very sensitive areas for her. Fierce was so close she could feel his beard and mustache tickling her skin and his warm breath seemed to start a fire inside her. It didn’t help that his spicy, wild scent was invading her senses the way Hold’s had a moment ago, either. Why did both of them have to smell so damn good, she wondered?
“You all right, lelka?” Fierce rumbled softly in her ear. “Did that help?”
“I, uh, think so,” Celia said, trying not to pant. Honestly, the Dark Twin got on her nerves but he also made her heart pound and her pulse race. What was that about?
“Good—then I’ll do the other one,” Fierce turned her to the other side and breathed on her left ear, sending more chills down her spine.
To try and distract herself from his closeness and the way his hot breath was sending shivers through her body, Celia looked around the grotto where they found themselves.
It was a vast, underground space that had the air of a place that was long abandoned. There were smooth walls with paintings and decorations on them, but Celia couldn’t quite make them out. A faint, silvery glow came from somewhere above, casting just enough light to make everything seem shadowy and dream-like.
Or haunted, Celia thought, and shivered again.
“There—you should be good now,” Fierce straightened up to his massive height and looked down at her critically. “Unless you need me to warm up something else? Should I breathe on your fingers?”
“Uh, no. No thank you,” Celia said stiffly. “I’m fine now.”
“You only have to ask, lelka,” he rumbled. “Don’t be embarrassed or ashamed—keeping warm is a matter of life and death on a planet like Tranq Prime. We have to take care of each other.”
The intense way he was looking at her, made Celia feel uncomfortable. Suddenly her nipples felt tight and she had to squeeze her thighs together because of the tension she was feeling from being so near the Dark Twin.
But being uncomfortable made her short-tempered.
“After you told me I stink like Peter, I’m surprised you want to be near me and warm me up at all,” she said, frowning.
“Yeah, I can still smell him on you,” Fierce growled, clearly not taking the bait. “But I can smell your scent too, Celia. And it’s fucking delicious.”
Celia didn’t know what to say to that—things were getting much too intense with the Dark Twin as far as she was concerned. Luckily, Hold chose that moment to come back over to where she and Fierce were standing.
“You’re right—the hinges aren’t fixable,” he said to his brother. “I wedged the door shut as well as I could. Hopefully it will still look secure from the outside and nothing will try to get in.”
“Is that going to be a problem, do you think?” Celia asked, putting a hand to her throat. She still remembered Fierce mentioning that there was a huge, carnivorous predator around here. What was it called? A V’ranna? Yes—that was it. She certainly didn’t want to run into one of those!
“We’ll be fine,” Fierce said dismissively. “We just need to get moving and find that moss.” He shook his head. “I hope that Kat knows what a pain in the ass this mission is! This fucking moss better be the seventh wonder of the universe for all the trouble we’re going to in order to get the fucking stuff.”
“Lighten up, Brother—it’s an adventure. And we get to spend time with our lady,” Hold told him. He looked at Celia. “Are you all right? Your ears look a little red.”
“I’m fine. Fierce, uh, warmed me up,” she said shortly. “Can we go now?”
Without waiting for an answer, she turned…and nearly stumbled directly into a deep ditch running through the middle of the grotto.
“Whoa, sweetheart!” Fierce grabbed for her arm and pulled her back before she fell.
“Oh!” Celia clutched at his arm as she stumbled back and away from the edge. She hadn’t even seen the ditch—possibly because of the dim lighting and all the shadows. “What’s that doing there in the middle of the floor?” she demanded, looking down into it with a frown. On closer inspection, she saw that it wasn’t just a ditch—it was a kind of mini river that was flowing sluggishly through the deep groove. “Why did they have a river in the middle of their living area?”