Page 8 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector (Kindred Tales Spicy Shorts #7)

GREER

Greer tried to keep his eyes off Sunny’s swaying breasts, but it was damned hard not to stare.

They were so full and round and her nipples were so tight—they almost seemed to be begging to be stroked and sucked.

The sight made his cock so hard he was afraid it would start poking out from between the fronds of the ridiculous leaf garment he’d been forced to wear.

This is worse than the fucking tissue-paper clothes we had to wear on Prakus Prime , he thought as he dragged his eyes away from Sunny’s full, bare breasts for what felt like the hundredth time.

She was walking with her head held high, not showing any embarrassment at all.

But then, she always fell into character easily whenever they went to a new planet.

She got immersed in the local customs and fascinated by the culture and forgot about everything else.

Greer however, wasn’t so much fascinated, as wary.

He didn’t like his Ward putting her luscious breasts on display like this.

Especially during a festival that was dedicated to finding a mate.

He was certain that many of the local males would probably want her—and if he had to end up fighting a bunch of them off, it might cut their trip short.

Which actually might not be a bad thing, he thought to himself grimly as their guide led them towards the large communal hut in the center of the village.

The communal hut was more of a pavilion—it had no walls, just a long thatched roof which extended out in many directions and was held up by dark wooden pillars.

Inside , it was brightly lit by many torches and crowds of Thropp’ians were milling around.

Some were dancing to the rhythmic percussion coming from musicians who were drumming on instruments made of wood and animal hides.

Others were sipping from cups made of leaves and bark.

All of them were topless and wearing skirts made of either long grasses or broad jungle leaves.

This didn’t make Greer feel one bit better, however.

Most of the Thropp’ian males were tall and skinny with three pecs instead of two and most of the women were likewise extremely thin, with three small breasts the size of unripe peaches.

It seemed clear to him that Sunny was the most beautiful and well-endowed woman there, which probably meant trouble.

The Thropp’ians displayed their bare chests and breasts with pride—many of them had painted swirls of color on their dark blue skin, emphasizing their assets.

As they came up to the hut, their guide stopped them and pointed to a row of clay jars that had smears and drips of colored paint on their rims. There was scarlet, vivid orange, and a color that looked just like melted gold—all colors that would show up well on the Thropp’ians ’ blue skin.

“There are the Claiming Pigments —you can use them on each other if you wish to stake a claim,” their guide told them.

“Oh, do we just pick a color and paint it on our, er, chests?” Sunny asked, her brown eyes lighting up with interest.

The guide frowned.

“I am afraid that only your Bound Mate may paint your assets to claim them as his own,” he told her. “ And likewise, only you may paint his chest . In this way, everyone knows that you are spoken for.”

As he spoke, two Thropp’ians came up and started using the paints. The male dipped his fingers in the pot of scarlet pigment and drew swirling spirals around each of his female’s three breasts, starting at the outside and ending at the sensitive nipple in the center.

The female shivered and moaned as he paid special attention to coating her tight peaks in the paint. Clearly she was enjoying his touch, Greer thought.

Then it was her turn. She dipped her fingers into the paint but instead of spreading it on her mate’s chest, she smeared a generous amount of scarlet paint on her own lips.

Then she leaned forward and kissed her mate’s chest several times, leaving large lip marks all over his three pecs—a clearer mark of Claiming could not have been found anywhere.

“Well!” Sunny’s eyes were wide as she watched the display, and Greer could smell her warm, feminine scent climbing a notch.

She’d been smelling hot since she had come out of the fresher topless and wearing only that damned grass skirt, he thought. She might actually like putting herself on display, which was her right, even though he still didn’t think it was a good idea.

And now seeing the way the paints were used, she was definitely getting even more worked up. It wasn’t just her scent that told him—he could hear her heartbeat increasing, her cheeks were flushed pink and her pupils were dilated, making her eyes look starry in the torchlight.

Greer wished he wasn’t quite so fucking attuned to her.

She was his Ward —not his mate! He shouldn’t be able to hear her heartbeat or be so sensitive to her scent that he could tell when she was getting sexually aroused.

But he couldn’t seem to stop himself—he was helpless not to notice her arousal, especially when it was sexual in nature.

“Well—would the two of you like to use the Claiming Pigments on each other?” the guide asked them.

Greer expected Sunny to agree to this at once and he wasn’t about to fight her on it. He had to admit the idea of palming her full, heavy breasts and teasing her tight nipples as he painted her with the pigments made his shaft rock hard.

But to his surprise and irritation, his Ward shook her head.

“Let’s try going without them first,” she said to the guide. “ I might learn more about your culture’s customs if I enter the Communal Hut as a ‘single’ woman.”

“Well, that is certainly true.” The guide nodded affably. “ But then your mate must go as a single too—you must either both be painted or both be bare.”

“We’ll stay bare for now,” Sunny decided—not even asking Greer for his opinion on the matter, which irritated him mightily.

He grabbed her by the arm to keep her from walking bare breasted into the crowded Communal hut.

“You think this is a good idea, little one?” he demanded, scowling down at her. “ Going in there bare and pretending to be single?”

“Who’s pretending?” Sunny shot him an arch look. “ Besides , I’m just trying to learn about the Thropp’ian culture. Why do you object? Are you jealous, Greer ? You want to lay a claim on me?”

The look she was giving him made him drop her arm at once. She wasn’t for him, he reminded himself fiercely. She never would be.

“Nobody said anything about being fucking jealous,” he growled, glaring down at her.

“Good. Then we don’t have a problem, do we?”

And with a flip of her silky, honey-colored hair, she headed into the crowded hut.

Greer felt a growl rising in his throat but there was nothing he could do but follow his wayward Ward into the crowd of half naked Thropp’ians .

He just hoped he could keep her safe and out of trouble.