She closed the distance between us and then walked past me. Just when I thought our interaction was over, she simply laid her hands on my shoulders. The gesture felt significant, intimate, but I had never come across its meaning in any of my research.
Regardless of its meaning on paper, I found it hard to take a normal breath. It was as though Reyna’s hands, with that one touch, completely rewrote my body chemistry. My heart raced, my breath stopped, and every nerve in my body went into electric revolt. For that brief moment, I had no control. It was simultaneously frightening and thrilling.
As quickly as it began, it was over. Reyna removed her hands and disappeared out of the room, mounting the staircase to her bedroom. I stood there for a moment, still in shock and mostly unsure why.
Chapter 9
I tapped the tabletop as I watched the front door of the diner. Mema-Marno was already seven minutes late.
The anxiety that had worn into me all night, keeping me from any real sleep, still gnawed at me now. A small, paranoid voice said that she wasn’t coming -- that Reyna had found out about our rendezvous somehow and had shut it down, threatening Mema-Marno badly enough to keep her ferreted away at home. The thought that I’d have to ask someone else about the obviously meaningful gesture made a chill of dread seep down my spine.
The tiny bell on the diner door ringed as it opened and I let out a breath of relief when Mema-Marno’s pale form entered.
I waved her over immediately and she smiled when she saw me, scurrying over to join me at the small table.
“Good First, Jane,” she said in greeting. “Sekks, you look worried. What’s happened?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I’m hoping you can tell me.”
The server appeared at our table and I ordered that floral drink for us both. Mema-Marno ordered a pastry, but I passed congenially at the offer of food: I felt too shaken up to eat.
“Tell me what happened,” Mema-Marno said once the server had left, leaning across the table toward me.
“Well, we came home from the community gathering,” I started, “and Reyna was very upset. I let her rant for a while. We had a few drinks. Then, she came up behind me and laid her hands on my shoulders. And I can swear it meant something, but I can’t begin to understand what. I’ve searched through all my research and available texts, but I haven’t found anything. Is it a Konkoman gesture of significance?”
Mema-Marno listened carefully throughout my story, her light eyes fixed on me. When I got to the end, her eyes grew wide, her lips pursed, and the edge of her nose darkened. The effect read to me as something between shock and excitement.
She didn’t say anything immediately, as though she was too wrapped up in her own racing thoughts to verbalize anything. I gave her a moment before I pushed, “Well? What does it mean?”
“You were right that it’s significant,” she said, her voice carefully restrained. “But I’m not sure how you’ll feel about the answer to your question.”
“Like it or not, I have to know,” I said. “What I understand I can deal with. Not knowing is far worse.”
“Alright,” Mema-Marno said, “but don’t blame me -- I did warn you.”
“Yes,” I said, impatient.
“The gesture that you described,” Mema-Marno said, her words painfully slow, “is the first indicator of physical interest.”
“Physical interest?” I echoed. “You mean, like sexual interest?”
“Yes,” Mema-Marno answered, the spines around her eyes darkening. Her light skin made it easy to read her, a fact for which I found myself perpetually grateful.
“Alright,” I said, absorbing this new information. My professional training kicked in and a thousand clinical questions flooded my head. “So, is this more the start of a courting ritual, for a long time partner, or is it more of a mating ritual meant to foster reproduction, or is it a desire for a purely sexual encounter with no emotional or long-term implications?”
Mema-Marno stared, obviously a bit confused and overwhelmed by my barrage of questions.
“It depends,” Mema-Marno answered. “But it’s always a signal of interest and intent. What Reyna’s ultimate intention is, I can only begin to guess.”
“And how am I supposed to answer her? Do I ask her about it or is there some sort of gesture that I’m supposed to do in return?”
Mema-Marno shook her head.
“It’s so strange,” she said, “because she can’t expect you to know something like this. You’d only read about it in our more scandalous literature. I doubt any of that has been translated or released for general consumption. And Reyna does everything with purpose. Every move is calculated. Why would she do this strictly Konkoman gesture out of the blue and when she couldn’t be sure that you’d know its significance, or even catch it? It’s very strange, especially for her.”
“There are a few factors to consider,” I said, turning the problem over in my head to examine it from multiple angles. “First, she had been drinking and she wasn’t holding back on controlling how much. Second, she’d just been through an emotionally-charged event and I was being openly sympathetic. Third, maybe she was banking on me missing it.”
“The drinking and the town meeting are definitely important factors,” Mema-Marno said, “but there must have been something emotionally there already. This is something she’s thought about before. Reyna’s not the sort of person to suddenly have new feelings because of an intense situation. There had to have been something already started in her that she then decided to act on last night.”
The conviction in Mema-Marno’s voice and the certainty in her eyes gave me pause. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that I couldn’t just avoid this situation with Reyna. I had to face it, head on, and I had to do it soon.
“The question remains,” I said. “What do I do next?”
“In a normal Konkoman relationship,” Mema-Marno said, “you’d do one of two things: you’d confront Reyna in order to completely reject her, or you’d instigate a physical relationship. After that had started, you’d negotiate the particulars of her intentions in terms of the relationship and its meaning. If you do wish to reject her, there’s a gesture you can give in return. If not, you have a day or so to make a move physically. The courting aspect, if present at all, always comes after you’ve physically bonded. But this is different, I suppose, since you’re Human. I think you need to talk with her and address the situation rather than showing a decision either way. It’s unorthodox, but I think it’s your only real move here.”
I nodded, feeling an unexpected surge of affection for Mema-Marno.
“I think that’s wise,” I answered.
“I’m glad that I’m not in your position,” she said with a small smile. “Serious conversations with Reyna too often end rather dramatically and not without a great dose of stress.”
I let out a long breath. The server appeared with our drinks and Mema-Marno’s pastry. I watched as she carefully ripped apart her food and daintily dropped some sweetening powder into her drink.
All of my instincts told me that she was a gentle, kind person. I couldn’t understand why Reyna would continue to shun her. Reyna needed companionship and she needed an ally now more than ever. Surely, even Sorel would benefit from a relationship with an aunt like Mema-Marno. I couldn’t work out Reyna’s tightly-held dislike for the woman.
“I do wish you could be close with Reyna,” I voiced. “I see it as a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Mema-Marno smiled sadly into her cup.
“I hold hope that it will happen one day,” she said. “But I know better than to expect it.”
I shook my head at this, already forming plans to reunite the two sisters. Dr. Weaver’s voice, far away but persistent, told me that I was getting too involved.
I sat with Mema-Marno for another hour, learning more about the town, the people in it, and Konkoman culture in general. I loved the optimistic way Mema-Marno described the world
and I genuinely enjoyed her company. I would have stayed and listened longer, my professional mind fascinated, but Mema-Marno had to get to work.
As we parted ways, I thanked her profusely for her assistance.
“I don’t envy you,” she said. “It will not be an easy conversation with Reyna.”
“I know,” I answered. “But, at least, now I’m prepared.”
Mema-Marno smiled at me, the expression as sweet as the breakfast she’d just enjoyed. I smiled back and reached out to gently squeeze her upper arm.
“Let me know how it goes,” she said.
“I will,” I promised.
Another amicable look and she was gone, caught up by the town’s embrace.
Chapter 10
I waited back at Reyna’s mansion for her return from work that day. I had no idea if she’d stop in in the middle of the day, as she sometimes did, or if I wouldn’t see her until after she picked up Sorel from school later that afternoon. I tried to focus on my work, but my body was too tense and my nerves distracted me from my reading.
I paced Reyna’s study instead, thinking through what I’d say to her when we had a moment alone together. I practiced the words aloud, trying to make them as compassionate as possible.
An hour after I’d finished lunch, the front door of the mansion opened and I heard the tell-tale click of Reyna’s shoes as she walked through the foyer into the kitchen. I sat in the study for a moment longer, gathering up my courage, and then went to join Reyna in the kitchen.
She had her back to me when I entered, her form-fitting dark dress on display as she cut vegetables on the counter. I hesitated, not sure how to start, but before I could get a word out, Reyna did instead.
“I can hear you, you know,” she said, not turning from her work when she did. “You breathe loudly. I wonder if that’s a Human quirk or just simply a flaw of your personal biological construction.”
I rolled my eyes. Reyna wasn’t in a good mood-- that was obvious. I wondered if now was the best time to have this conversation. Then I wondered if it would be worse to put it off.
“You even think loudly,” Reyna added. She finally turned to face me, leaning back against the counter with the chopping knife in her hand. Her pose and the stony expression on her face reminded me of a Human fashion model: all snark and no regrets.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” I started, launching into my speech without really thinking through the words.
“Go on,” she said flatly.
“It’s about last night,” I said. “When you--”
“Yes,” she interrupted. “I was hoping you’d ask.” She put down the knife and stepped closer to me, her gait predatory.
“Well?” I pressed. “What did it mean? What do you want?” The words came out more accusatory than I’d planned. Reyna picked up on this, stopping her progress toward me.
“What do you want it to mean?” she asked, crossing her arms and looking at me expectantly. It felt like an evasion more than an answer. I swallowed hard, my brain suddenly unable to form coherent thoughts.
“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.
“Let’s start simply,” she said. “Are you opposed?” Her words dripped with sexual meaning.
“No.”
The word came out faster than I could even consider the question. It surprised me, but I think it surprised Reyna more. Her eyes went wide and her full lips opened ever so slightly, as though she wanted to comment but couldn’t find the words.
Suddenly, there was no more space for words or even the possibility of them.
Reyna took three quick steps and closed the distance between us, pulling my body flush against hers and crashing our mouths together. She tasted like smoke and flowers, but she felt like hot, wild electricity. It was as though this single kiss replaced all the blood in my body with sparks, jolting me into a whole other realm of physical existence.
My scientific brain thought that something chemical must be happening, but the rest of me didn’t give a damn about the science. I felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the kiss, by the physical reaction that I’d never had with another person before.
I gasped against her lips, unable to stop myself, and she growled in return, the low sound rumbling against my chest. Her hands clutched at my sides, threatening to tear through the fabric of my dress. I knew that Konkoman women were strong, but I found that I wanted to know just how strong Reyna was.
I kissed her back fiercely, biting at her lower lip and running my hands over the curve of her hips. She pulled back in surprise at the feel of my teeth, her dark eyes wide with lust and amusement.
“Humans,” she muttered, half to herself and half to me, and then she kissed me again. She pushed me back against the wall of the kitchen, her fingers tangled in my long hair and her hips insistent on mine. The metal plate on her dress pressed into my side, the slight pain reminding me that Konkoman anatomy was different and I was launching into unknown waters.
“Wait,” I said, pulling away far enough to hold Reyna’s gaze. “I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve studied your anatomy from a scientific perspective, but--”
“Stop talking,” Reyna interrupted, “and just trust me.”
Trust. The word rang with significance in my head, cutting through the haze evoked by the feeling of Reyna’s lips on mine. Did I trust her? Could I? It suddenly seemed more important than any of the leaps of faith I’d taken before with her. I lived in her home and ate her food and played with her child. Was this so much of a stretch?
Reyna kissed me before I could come to a conclusion. The sheer energy that coursed through me at her touch chased away my concerns. I couldn’t think or care about anything except my need to be closer to her.
Before I was entirely sure what was happening next, Reyna took hold of my arms and laced them around her neck. The moment I held on, she lifted me into her arms and began to carry me toward the staircase. The ease with which she held me surprised me, but the really impressive part was how she scaled the entire staircase in her heels without it seemingly like a strain on her at all.
Once we were in her room, she released me and closed the door behind us. I’d barely found my footing before Reyna was on me again, kissing me and pulling at my clothes. She found the enclosure on my dress and had the entire garment on the floor within seconds. I didn’t even try to figure out her clothing, so I kissed her and kept my hands out of her way as she removed her dress and plating, leaving them both beside my discarded outfit.
We were down to our panties and bras when Reyna pressured me to step backwards toward her bed. I went willingly, falling backward onto the soft mattress and pulling her close when she climbed on top of me.
She kissed a path up my neck, drawing the warm tip of her tongue along the outside of my ear. I shuddered under her, gasping as her mouth set every inch of me on fire. Her skin felt soft and warm against mine-- much softer than I’d expected given the reptilian nature of Konkoman biology.
The only roughness I found on her was the small spines that outlined her neck, collarbones, and shoulder blades. They were fine to touch, but they became abrasive when they scraped a little too hard against my skin. Despite their bite from time to time, I found that I liked them a lot. They added beauty to Reyna’s body, accentuating the alluring lines of her body.
Fueled by the heat growing in my abdomen, I experimented with my mouth on Reyna’s neck spines. I kissed along the line of them along on her throat, sometimes tracing their edges with my tongue.
This made Reyna stop everything she was doing, a stuttering inhalation and then a deep hum of pleasure interrupting her kisses along my hairline.
“Jane,” she whispered, her voice heavy and broken. I’d never in my entire life heard my name spoken that way. I almost climaxed on the spot.
“You like that?” I asked quietly, even though it was redundant. Reyna extended her neck in answer, exposing the entire length of it in an incredible show of trust.
Reyna groaned and growled under me, thrusting her hips up toward me at times and other times burying her fingers into my hair. I kissed her slowly, loving the smoky taste of her hot skin and the slickness that peppered her exposed chest.
A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance Page 50