Barbarian's Tease: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 16)

by Ruby Dixon

  “No.” Taushen frowns at me, as if my brain has suddenly stopped working. “Why would you feed me like a kit?”

  Like a kit? Seriously? “Oh stop. It’s nice to have someone else take care of you, I promise. Just give it a try.” I raise the food to his lips. “Take a little bite. Just a nibble…or you can use your tongue.”

  The look on his face is downright grumpy. “Or I can feed myself, like an adult would.”

  I keep smiling, though the urge to shove the food into his stupid face is getting stronger. This is supposed to be sexy, dammit. “Open up.” I wiggle the bit of red meat at him, but it only causes a bit of the blood to roll down my hand and arm.

  I’m going to ignore that, too.

  Taushen grudgingly opens his mouth and I pop the food inside, making sure my fingers brush against his mouth as I do. I give him a seductive smile as he chews. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  He shrugs his big shoulders, chewing slowly. “Is it supposed to change the taste if you feed me? It tastes the same.”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. “You know what? Never mind. Feed yourself.”

  “That is what I normally do. You make it sound like it is bad—”

  I throw my arms up in the air and stalk outside to wash my hands in the fresh snow.

  21

  BROOKE

  When I return to my seat, he gives me a curious look. “Are you well?”

  “I’m fine,” I tell him crabbily. I’m not all that fine, but I don’t think he’d understand. It’s clear he doesn’t understand a lot of things.

  “You say you are fine, but your tone says otherwise,” he observes, cutting another chunk of meat off and holding it out to me. Not feeding me, just, well, feeding me. In an unsexy way. He hesitates when I don’t take it from him. “Do you want this charred—”

  “No. It’s fine.” I take the chunk of raw meat and pop it into my mouth, too defeated to even bitch that it’s raw. I’ll eat “sa-khui sushi” when the occasion calls for it, and right now I just don’t even want to argue. Or talk. So I chew.

  He continues to watch me, and after a long moment, goes back to carving the kill. “Do you wish to play a game?”

  We normally play games around the fire at night. Charades always ends badly because his versions of words are different than mine, and it limits things when you can’t use movies or actors or music. You can only guess “dvisti” so many times in a row before the game gets old. His favorite is I Spy, because it always works, and he finds it as delightful as I did when I was a child. Normally I think it’s funny how competitive—and excited—he gets to play a child’s game, but right now? I am so not in the mood. “Nope.”

  “We should. It will be good,” he says, carving another hunk of meat and offering it to me. “I spy with my blue eye—”

  “I told you. It’s ‘my little eye.’”

  “My eyes are not little. Not like yours. So I will spy it with my blue eye. And I spy something red.”

  I’m going to ignore that crack about my eyes being little, because it wasn’t meant in a shitty way. “Meat?”

  “Yes! You are very good at this.”

  “Lucky me.” I take another piece of food and chew thoughtfully. My turn. “Okay. I spy with my little eye…something brown.” I do my best not to pointedly stare at his leather loincloth and give it away.

  “Brown,” he murmurs, glancing around the small cave. “Brown…is it my boot?”

  “Nope.” I take another bite of the gushy red meat.

  “Is it…my waterskin?”

  “Nope.”

  “Is it…the intestines of our dinner?”

  Oh my god, are they brown? I look over at the pile of offal that’s neatly covered by some folded leather. I can’t see anything, but my imagination goes wild…and my stomach revolts. The mouthful I’m chewing on suddenly feels like it’s gonna turn into vomit. “You know what? I’m done.” And I rush to the front of the cave to spit out my food.

  “What is it? What did I say?” Taushen calls after me. “Brooke?”

  I don’t answer. Too busy puking.

  TAUSHEN

  Brooke is in a bad mood for the rest of the evening. She does not eat, mends her clothes quietly, and will not play more games with me. When she decides to go to bed early, I do not protest. I do not like her bad mood, and I am fairly certain that I caused it. But I will deal with that tomorrow.

  For now…I simply need to get away.

  I wait in my furs, tense and aching as I listen to her breathing. Eventually it slows, and she drifts into sleep.

  Finally.

  I ease out of my bed silently, getting to my feet. It takes longer to move without sound, but I manage to creep through the cave without waking her, just as I do every night that we travel. I move out into the snow, wincing with every crunch of the powder under my toes. When I am satisfied I am far enough from the mouth of the cave for privacy, I glance around, checking to ensure that Brooke is not behind me.

  Then, when I know I am alone, I quickly undo the laces on my loincloth and free my aching cock.

  Every night, I have to leave and take myself into hand. I grip my shaft, stroking up and down quickly. I do not seek to prolong this; I just want relief.

  Relief from Brooke’s smiles, the subtle bounce of her teats with every step, the way she smells, the way she touched me in the stream. Her throaty laughter.

  And her insistence that we be friends.

  I will be as she wants. I will be her friend.

  I will just take myself in hand every night to ensure that I do not lose control, that I do not do something foolish such as pulling her against me and kissing her. She has made it clear how she feels, and because I will take any small part of my Brooke that I can get, it will have to do.

  So I stroke, imagining her pink mane tousled under me, her lips parted with pleasure as I ram into her cunt. The breath hisses from my throat as I imagine her teats jiggling as I thrust into her, the little cries she makes. It does not take long, not when I imagine her. A growl breaks from my throat, and my seed, thin and clear, spurts over my hand and fingers as I stroke. I wring every last bit of pleasure from the furtive touch and then shake my hand, flinging my discarded seed into the snow.

  The sight of it makes me bitter. Not because she has turned me away. It is her choice, and I understand it. It is because I cannot control myself around her. She washed my back earlier today and my cock immediately rose. How can we possibly remain friends if I cannot control myself around her?

  I worry I will ruin everything.

  22

  BROOKE

  It’s clear I’m going to have to be more obvious.

  I think about it all the next day and into the night, when I’m lying in my furs pretending to sleep. Dinner was tense, with Taushen shooting me questioning looks with every bite he ate. I went to bed immediately afterward, but I haven’t slept. I’m just lying there, staring into the darkness, trying to figure him out.

  He said I was his mate.

  He’s pushed me away ever since.

  He might be afraid to make the first move.

  Or he just might be happy that we’re friends and he’s dreaming of one of the sixteen girls back at camp. Maybe it’s not Tiffany that’s my competition, but a dark-skinned beauty sleeping in the pods even now.

  Fuck.

  Why am I so stupid? Why did I fall for a guy promptly after I friendzoned him? Is it me? Am I the problem here? Can I just not be happy with what I have?

  I’ve tried, I really have. It’s just that every time he smiles at me, or teases me, I feel this deep, sweet ache inside. I want more. I want him to touch me again. I want to wake up with his arms around me. I want to know that I’ve got a partner in this crazy world that I’ve found myself in. I want him deep inside me.

  And I can’t bear the thought that I’m the only one that might want this.

  I don’t give up, though. I never give up. It’s time to be slightly more obvious. Obvious
in such a way that it actually makes me cringe a little, because any Earth guy would see what I’m doing coming from a mile away…but Taushen’s not an Earth guy. He’s woefully clueless, so I’m going to have to be that much more forward.

  So I toss and turn in my bed, pretending my sleep is restless and awful. I let this go on for a minute, and then I sit bolt upright with a little cry.

  “Brooke?” Taushen’s at my side in an instant, his hand on my shoulder. “What is it?”

  “A horrible nightmare,” I whisper, turning and burying my face against his chest. “It was so awful!” I cling to him, waiting to see his reaction. If he just gives me a pat on the back and tells me to go back to sleep, I’m going to scream in frustration.

  To my delight, he puts his arms around me, zero hesitation in him. “I have you,” he tells me, and one big hand strokes my hair tenderly. I could weep at how sweet he is, how thoughtful. He holds me close until I stop fake-shivering, and even after that, seems content to let me snuggle against him.

  I take greedy advantage of it, too. He’s so warm and he smells fantastic—like soapberry and musk and big sexy male and all the good things I love. I want him so badly I could cry. Why did I ever think we should be just friends? I should have taken that night of fantastic sex—drugs or no—and told him that I wanted it again, but this time without coercion. That this time I’d touch him and it’d be because I wanted to, not because some goofy drink was making me. That it could still be just as good in every way. No, better. Better because this time I truly wanted it and him.

  Instead, I have to play silly games to make him realize I’ve changed my mind. I sigh.

  “I should let you go,” he says, misinterpreting my sigh. He pulls away. “You—”

  “No,” I say quickly, and cling to him like a baby monkey. “I’m afraid I’ll have more bad dreams. Stay with me?”

  He hesitates.

  I slide under the blankets again and hold on to his arm, patting the furs with my other hand. “You can lie right next to me. There’s room for both of us, I promise.”

  I’m afraid for a moment that Taushen will see through my oh-so-obvious ploy and call me out on it, but he only nods and slides in next to me. His feet brush against my leg, and then I can feel his tail flick against my thigh, as if he’s making sure that I’m really okay with this. I resist the urge to grab it and tuck it between my thighs, because that would be dirty and wrong.

  I mean, I still want to do it, because I love me some dirty and wrong.

  Taushen’s arms go around me and he pulls me back against his chest, and for a moment, I’m just lost in how good it feels to press up against him. I’m enveloped in a full-body hug and I love it. So good. I close my eyes and pillow my head against his hard chest.

  “Are you comfortable?” he asks softly, and I can feel his hand stroke up and down my arm, rubbing it.

  “I’m great,” I tell him, even though those small touches are making me get a little damp between my thighs.

  “Go back to sleep, then. I will hold you and make all the bad dreams disappear,” he tells me, and his tail strokes my thigh.

  God, he’s killing me with how sweet he is. I want to eat him alive. For now, though, I’ll just settle for putting my hand on his hard abdomen and sighing happily. “Right. Back to sleep.”

  I’m quiet—though not sleepy—for several minutes while he continues to stroke my arm and hold me close. I try to keep my breathing even so he doesn’t suspect I’m awake.

  And then I slowly inch my hand down, lower.

  I’m sleeping in nothing more than my tunic top, because it gets too warm at night for leggings and boots both. I don’t have panties or my leather bra-band on either, and I’m going to use that to my advantage. I give another heavy sigh as if I’m sleeping and then hook my leg between his, more or less pushing his knee between my thighs.

  And I slide my hand even lower, until it’s resting on the band of his loincloth. It’s the only thing he’s wearing, and for a moment, I wish he was sleeping naked. So, so naked. But I can work with this. I yawn, and then slide my hand right onto his crotch.

  He’s hard as a rock, and huge.

  Yes. He’s not made of stone, after all. Friendship, my ass. This man wants me.

  Taushen sucks in a breath. For a moment, he doesn’t breathe—and damn it all if it doesn’t make it that much harder to pretend that I’m asleep—and then, carefully, pulls my hand off his junk.

  Damn it.

  I continue pretending to sleep, smacking my lips and rubbing up against him. I put my hand back on his stomach again, and when he relaxes, put it back on his hard cock once more.

  “Brooke?” he asks, voice low. “What are you doing?”

  “Mmm?” I am such a terrible actress, because I don’t sound sleepy even to my own ears. I lightly rub his cock through his leathers, my pulse pounding. I’m definitely wet now, and hungry for more touching.

  “What is it you are doing?” he asks again, and pulls my hand off his cock once more. “You are not sleeping, are you?”

  Found out. Damn it. I decide to plow ahead with my plan. I turn my face toward his skin and nuzzle his nipple, then lick it with my tongue.

  The breath hisses from his lungs, and I have to bite back my moan of breathless excitement. In the next moment, though, my moan turns to frustration because he pushes me away, scooting backward in the furs. “What is it you do, Brooke?”

  This isn’t exactly how I envisioned this going. I was hoping it’d have more sexy humping and less accusation. “I’m trying to seduce you,” I say playfully. “Let’s have sex.” And I put my hand boldly on his cock again.

  He grabs me by the wrist and stares down at me. “I do not understand.”

  “I dunno, I thought I was being pretty obvious,” I mutter.

  “You said you wished to only be friends!”

  “Yeah, well, maybe I changed my mind? I’m allowed to do that!” I jerk my hand back from him, my frustration bubbling to the surface. “You’re really hard to freaking read, you know? I’ve been throwing myself at you over and over and all I get is blank looks. I don’t know if those blank looks mean you’re not interested or you’re just clueless. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that you’d still be interested, but you can just tell me outright, you know. I can take a hint. And if you—”

  He flings me onto my back on the furs, cutting off my words. His intent face looms over mine, a scarce inch from my nose. Taushen’s curious gaze devours me. “You…have been trying to get my attention?”

  “Uh, duh? Washing your back? Feeding you? I figured since that wasn’t direct enough I’d just grab your dick, but even that didn’t seem to work.” My hurt feelings are surfacing, and I push at him. “Get off me.”

  “No.” His lips twitch with amusement.

  “I’m serious. You may think this is funny, but I don’t.” I actually kind of feel like crying with disappointment. “I get it. The window has passed. I snoozed, I, uh, losed. You can let a girl down easy. I—”

  His mouth covers mine.

  23

  BROOKE

  I’m so startled that I don’t even kiss him back. He’s…kissing me? But I thought he was shocked that I’d touched him. I thought he didn’t want anything to do with me. “What,” I murmur as his lips slick against mine and his hand goes to my waist. “Taushen…”

  “You said,” he murmurs between kisses, “‘I wish to be friends, Taushen. It was not me that craved your touch that night.’” Over and over, his mouth dips over mine, until it’s hard to concentrate on what he’s saying. “You said that you wanted no mate. You said—”

  I grab him by his ears and hold his face an inch away from mine, breathless. I need a moment to think. “I also said ‘Pull my hair, you dirty freak’. I say a lot of things.”

  As if I’m telling him to do that right now, he slides a hand into my hair and grabs a loose fistful and…I don’t hate it. I swallow back a whimper of delight. It’s like his big
hand in my hair just emphasizes how strong he is, how brutal, and yet he’s so utterly gentle with me. It’s the contrast between the two that makes me insane with lust.

  “If you say so many things, then tell me you wish to be my mate,” he demands, leaning in and brushing his lips over mine once more.

  “I want to be your mate,” I tell him, grabbing a handful of his long hair and twisting it around my fingers. “Mine and only mine. No looking at other women. Not Tiffany, not any of the new chicks. Eyes firmly on me. I’m possessive like that.”

  He presses a light kiss to the tip of my nose, and I nearly melt into goo at the sweetness of that little gesture. “I have not looked at another female since you touched me.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” He kisses lightly across my brows.

  “Then what was all that, ‘Oh, my perfect woman is brown-haired and brown-skinned and blah blah blah—”

  “Because if I said my perfect female has pink hair and pink-tipped teats, that would tell you that I wished to be more than friends, would it not? And I was doing my best to be a friend.” He chuckles, his warm breath fanning across my face. “It was very hard. I have stroked my cock many nights in agony.”

  “You have? Why didn’t I see this?” Damn, I would have watched that for years.

  “You were too busy snoring—” At my indignant squeal, he breaks off into laughter. “I have lived in a village full of others all my life. I share a hut with many other males. You think I cannot stroke my cock quietly? I have become an expert at using my palm in silence.”

  “That is a terrible thing to tell a chick when you’re making out with her,” I say to him, letting my fingers tickle up and down his side. He’s smiling at me, so big and happy and carefree, and his words are so teasing…I’m just utterly fascinated. I think of what Harlow said before, how happy Taushen used to be. Is this the man he’s supposed to be? Teasing and full of joy?