Page 15 of Wild Life (STEAM-y #2)

Home is Where the Heart Is

Aleki

Screech Owl was gone, and silence had found me again. Except, I couldn’t relax.

I lay in bed, but again, nothing was right. It was too quiet. My head was too busy. I was too alone .

If I had known that I would feel the opposite of her joy when she’d seen the beach, I would have reasoned harder before taking her there. She was so desperate to get home. I remembered what that was like when I was a child…the hope of being rescued soon. That the whole world had stopped and set out to search for me. Except each day that had passed without anyone coming had slowly strangled that hope until there was none left, I had no choice but to accept that this was my home until I died.

I had left her on the beach earlier, but since night had fallen, I wondered how she was. Had luck finally struck this hellscape and rescue had come for her? Or had my reality become hers and she was still sitting on the shore waiting for help that would never come?

Every inch of me itched to jump out of bed and watch from the shadows to see which fate she had met.

What would I do if she wasn’t there? Perhaps I fought my impulses to leave the hut in the middle of the night because I didn’t want proof that she was gone. My heart rested heavily in my chest. I’d never see her again. No one in their right mind would ever return here once they were free—at least not someone like her who so clearly belonged to the other world.

It was better for her to leave. Survival was difficult here. A person like her required social interaction that I wasn’t able to provide. Hell, she didn’t even know I could speak. Spending the rest of her life with a man who she assumed couldn’t talk depressed even me. I could give up the charade and reveal the truth, but she would hate me for fooling her for this long.

I missed her mindless chatter. I was now suddenly aware of how much silence existed between me and Poaka. He couldn’t regale me with random facts about bats or about how he couldn’t eat pineapples because the enzyme, broma -something, burned his tongue. Her stories added variety to my day and provoked new fantasies—many of which involved me wondering what made her tongue work as quickly as it did.

Maris talked too much, but her words had filled a space I hadn’t known needed filling…until it was empty again.

The night was still, except for the heavy snores of Poaka on the floor next to me. He was out and there would be no waking him up until morning when his bladder was full and needed to be emptied.

I covered my eyes with the crook of my arm and exhaled as many worries as I could force out of my mind.

The front door clicked open, and my heart stopped beating. I had imagined it. I was sure of it. No one was here, and I refused to move to feed my overactive imagination.

Feet padded softly on the wooden floor, bringing my heart back to life, its beats mimicking the steps. As they grew louder, approaching me, my heart thudded harder—wilder. That memorable scent of spicy-sweet hesitation grew stronger, permeating my senses.

Relief washed over me.

She had never left.

I lifted my arm from my head and my sharp vision registered her expression, despite the darkness. It was fallen and sad. Hopeless. Reminding me of the little boy who had given up so many years before her.

“No one came,” she murmured, her voice hanging like the broken wings of a bird.

She wanted the one thing I couldn’t provide for myself—to be saved.

I shifted slightly to my left and pulled the edge of the blanket back, fully aware that I was naked. I had often spent my days roaming without a cloth around my hips and had never given it much regard, but when her eyes were on me, I was suddenly concerned with the parts of me that were bare and wondered what she thought of them.

Her focus darted from my length to the empty spot on the bed, as if a war were going on inside. Chaos. I would give anything to climb into her head and listen to her mind.

She slid in next to me, her sea-salt-kissed wavy hair sprawling over her side of my worn-out pillow. “Can you hug me? Please?” Her voice was almost as fragile as her frame.

It had become a habit to reject her every request. Only lately, I found it harder to deprive her, especially when her hurt was so clear. It activated a part of my human side that I hadn’t sensed in a long time. A memory of the Aleki who’d lived before this island.

I drew my arm under her light body and pulled her close. She fit perfectly into the nook of my arm.

I hadn’t hugged anyone or showed affection to another human in years, and here I was, engaged in one for the second time in a day with the same woman. The first time had been because I’d believed she was leaving for good.

This time was different. She had asked, but control was left up to me.

Intimate body parts were touching me through her shirt, igniting new feelings within. Too much was happening, and I was far too self-conscious to unwind.

My discomfort must have been obvious because she took the lead. Her head lifted and rested on my chest, and her warm breath rushed out against my skin as she relaxed into me, her addictive scent below my chin.

The tension between us melted away.

How had I slept by myself all these years?

Maris shifted and suddenly threw her leg over my hip, the innocent gesture of closeness becoming anything but when her thigh rested on my hard length, which was also very excited to have her back.

Her body stiffened slightly.

She didn’t move her leg. Didn’t apologize. Didn’t try to pretend it had never happened.

My dick threatened to explode from the light pressure of her touch.

What should I do? I had no experience with women, and I had no clue if this made her insides vibrate like it did to me.

I wanted so badly to take myself in my hand and chase that much needed release, but it wouldn’t be enough. I craved more than what I could give myself.

Her hand moved from the center of my chest downward, coming dangerously close to my groin.

Would she touch it? What would happen if she did? My dick lurched with excitement and hope.

Her hand stopped, as if unsure what she wanted to do, until it fell to the opposite side of my waist.

I let out a sigh. Whether it was from relief or disappointment, I wasn’t sure. Everything had changed between us.

I lifted my free hand and pulled her in closer. We lay fused together, like unsolved riddles until sleep silenced our minds.