“Thank you, Dawa!”
Nirvana knew she had given her hiding spot away when she saw Zane under the tree, looking up at her.
“We have our space craft!” She beamed at him and made her way down. “Dawa said it should be ready in two days.”
Zane smiled exhaustedly. “What were you doing in the tree?”
She opened the flap of her bag-sack and showed him. “I was picking baruns. Let’s head back and take a break.”
He nodded and walked towards his logs.
“You can chop them into smaller pieces and take a few trips to move them. I can also help you carry some,” she suggested.
Zane nodded, but he continued to drag the logs using a contraption he had fashioned out of some vines. The vines acted like a rough net under the logs, and he made the straps go around his back, shoulders and waist like the straps of a backpack.
Nirvana walked up to him, feeling puzzled. Surely, he wouldn’t be too stubborn or egoistic to take advice from a woman, he had shown no signs of such a personality so far.
“Zane, let me help. Pass me the ax.”
He stopped reluctantly and handed her the ax that was strapped to his back. That was when Nirvana realized in horror that his hands were badly blistered.
“Why didn’t you say something?!”
He shrugged. “I can still pull this back without using my hands.”
Nirvana was about to take the ax from him when he stopped her.
“Let me try,” he said. “I’ll ask you for help if I can’t make it.”
She frowned at him and crossed her arms. “Does it hurt your fragile ego to let a woman help you?”
“It’s not an ego thing. It’s just… Let me try. If not, I’ll never know if I could have done it on my own.”
“Alright.” This, she understood. She would have been peeved too if someone just assumed she couldn’t get the job done and took over without giving her the opportunity to try.
With a look of determination, Zane leaned forward and dragged the logs.
Nirvana walked slightly behind him, observing the vine contraption he made. It was brilliant. The weight of the logs was evenly distributed on his back and hips. He was the most intelligent person she’d ever come across.
He did manage to pull the logs all the way out of the woods to the logging area.
“Good job! I’m really impressed.” Nirvana patted him on the back. “This vine thing.” She picked up the complexly knotted vines and studied them. “This is mad innovative.” She looked up at him. “You have the most brilliant mind,” she told him, meaning every single word.
Zane bit his lips to try to tone down his smile, but it just made the dimples crease deeper into his cheeks. He quickly shifted his gaze to the logs and busied himself with trying to shift them into a neater pile.
“Later, now we rest,” she said.
Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him away from the logs, led him into the yurt, and made a beeline for the bathroom. She flipped the tap and placed his badly blistered hands under the running water. “It’ll sting, but let the water run for a while to remove the dirt and debris from your hands.”
She rotated his wrists around so that she could angle his hands in such a way that it would allow the water to dislodge the dirt stuck between the flaps of broken skin. Goosebumps started to appear on his arms, indicating the level of pain he was trying to put up with.
“I have a spray somewhere,” she said, rummaging through the bathroom cabinet. “I hope it’s not expired. Ah! Found it!” She rushed over to the sink, only to realize that she couldn’t spray the painkiller because he was still washing his hands. He needed to dry them first. Where were the towels? She grabbed one and wanted to dry his hands, but he was still washing them.
“Hey,” Zane called her gently.
She looked up at him and froze. His face was just an inch away and the look in his eyes was doing something to her heart again.
“I can handle it. Thank you.”
It took her a moment to comprehend the words coming out from his delectable lips before she blinked her eyes quickly to break out of the trance.
What in the world was wrong with her? Why was she fussing over him? Why was she feeling so hot and flustered?
She looked down at the towel, hung it on his arm and headed to the kitchenette to wash the baruns.
Chapter 15
Nirvana was confused. She’d only met Zane two days ago, and she hardly knew the man. Where were all these feelings coming from? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen men before. She’d worked with more men than women all her life.
When she was growing up, all the men on the ship behaved like they were her dads. Later on when she recruited more men, they respected her as a captain. She never had a crush, never developed any feelings towards any member of the crew.
The lack of opportunity for a relationship made her take her own virginity in the privacy of her own room with a full-sized dildo she bought. She didn’t want to give any men that honor.
After she got her virginity out of the way, she explored having flings with random attractive men. Her heart raced every time she managed to hook up with someone. The excitement was more from the thrill of the chase and the triumph of having yet another hunk in her bed. She had never felt all this fluttering and tingling nonsense that Zane made her feel.
What was it about him?
She cut up the baruns after washing them and put them all in a big bowl. She turned around and was greeted by a half-naked Zane standing at the dining table. Ching’s pants were hanging precariously around Zane’s hips, putting his abdominal muscles on full display. As her eyes travelled upwards from the deliciously sculpted body, she saw a bespectacled nerd reading the instructions on the can of spray with his nest of crazy hair sticking in all directions.
His face and body were such a jarring mismatch that she found it hard to suppress her laughter. She placed the bowl on the table and walked over to smoothen his hair with her fingers.
“I should probably shave my head soon,” he mumbled.
“What?!” she reacted a little too quickly.
“I shave my head every time my hair gets too long.”
“No!” She didn’t know why she had any business dictating what he should do with his hair but she knew he wasn’t allowed to cut it. She loved his hair. “No shaving. You can tie it up. Here, I’ll show you.” She marched quickly to her dresser to pick up a hair tie and went back to him.
“Sit down,” she ordered him.
He gave her a look of amusement, removed his glasses and sat on the stool obediently. She raked his hair with her fingers and gathered it into a bunch. Despite the thickness of it, his hair was really soft. She secured the tie around his small ponytail.
“There!” She walked around to take a look at him from the front. Oh hell! He looked even better with his hair all tied up. “Yep, you shouldn’t shave or even cut your hair.” She patted his cheek and sat down at the dining table.
“I’ll take you somewhere later for a hydro-massage,” she said, seeing how he was trying to ease his aching body by rotating his shoulders and twisting side to side to stretch his back.
“A massage sounds really good right now,” he groaned.
Nirvana scooped up the pulp of the barun and brought it to Zane’s lips.
“I can feed myself,” he said, but leaned forward to eat from her spoon.
“I know you can, but the acid from the fruit is going to sting your blisters.” She scooped another spoonful of pulp and fed him.
Zane chewed and mumbled, “We don’t have to keep up with the act when no one is around.”
“What act?” she asked, pausing.
He pulled her hand towards him and took another mouthful. “This lover thing.”
It didn’t occur to Nirvana that Zane thought all her actions were just pretense. As far as she was concerned, she wasn’t acting at all. But he was right. He had been keeping his mind straight and focused whereas she
was the one who’d blurred the lines. She needed to remind herself that he was still a stranger.
Fighting to keep her expression nonchalant, she picked up another barun and scooped the flesh, “We don’t have to, but based on my experience, it’s easier to keep up the act if we are consistent with how we treat each other.”
Zane raised his eyebrow at Nirvana. She raised hers back.
“Would you get offended then, if I kissed you?” he challenged her.
She smiled a little and scraped the remaining flesh from the shell. “Depends on how good a kisser you are.”
“We could practice, and you could tell me what you like,” he grinned.
“We’ll do that, but after eating. Then we can wash up, practice kissing and maybe other things.” She winked at him. She wasn’t going to lose in the flirting department.
Zane grinned and pulled Nirvana’s hand towards him. Holding her gaze, he licked and slurped the juices that were running down her fingers.
Her eyes widened in surprise at first, then her lips parted as she watched in a mixture of amusement, disgust and horror at what he was doing. When she came to her senses, she tried to pull her hand away, but his grip on her wrist tightened.
“Ewwwwww, Zane! Stop!” His tongue was doing something to her. “Eat from the spoon, you disgusting man!” She tried to sound annoyed, but her voice was too wobbly for that.
“You don’t like this?” He ran the tip of tongue along the length of her finger.
“No!” Yes. Yes, she liked it. It was ticklish yet sensual at the same time. “Let go! I can feel the blisters on your hand squishing on my wrist. Ewww!”
“Yep, no sudden movements or you’re going to break more blisters.” He smirked, unrepentant, and continued eating off her hand. “Note to self, she’s not adventurous in bed. Do not try kinky stuff.”
“What?” Nirvana retorted indignantly. “What has this got to do with whether or not I’m adventurous in bed?”
He gave her finger a little nip. “I’m only licking your fingers and you’re squirming. Have you had a man go down on you?”
Her eyebrows twitched at the thought, a reaction he didn’t miss.
“Too adventurous?” he asked a little too smugly and wolfed down the rest of the barun from her hand.
Zane had hit the nail on the head. She’d had many flings, but never tried oral sex in all the thirty-six years of her life.
Foreplay was mostly done via flirting at the bar. By the time they got to bed, it was wham-bam-thank-you-for-a-good-time. She didn’t trust any man enough to spend the night, and she left immediately after it was over. In fact, she took charge most of the time so that she wouldn’t be caught in a vulnerable position in case it was a trap to capture her.
For the last ten years, she’d only slept with Ching, even when they decided to have an open relationship. The number of bounties on her had increased to the point where she decided sex with strangers was just not worth the risk.
Ching was not exactly adventurous in the bed, but Nirvana was not going to tell Zane that.
The velvet warmth of Zane’s tongue sliding between her fingers pulled her back from her thoughts.
Sensing a flush of heat crawling up her neck, she crammed the rest of the pulp into Zane’s mouth and stood up. She tugged her hand a little and this time, he let go. “I need to wash my hands.” She fake-glared at him and went to the bathroom. She could hear him sniggering as she closed the door behind her.
While washing her hands, she leaned in closer to the mirror to examine her face. She could see the fine lines at the edge of her eyes. Signs of age. Age had never really been an issue with her when it came to her flings. She didn’t know why she was so bothered by Zane being more than a decade younger than her.
In fact, she didn’t know why she was thinking about a fling with Zane when she shouldn’t. She took a deep breath and straightened her body. There was no reason why she should be dwelling on her looks in the first place. Running her damp hands through her hair to neaten it a little, she reminded herself that she dressed and preened for her own pleasure, and no one else’s.
“Nirvana!” Zane banged on the door, causing her to jump a little. “If you’re pleasuring yourself in there, I want in! I can help!”
“Go away!” she yelled back, glad that he couldn’t see how much she was grinning like an idiot.
He laughed in response and called out in a more serious tone, “I need to pee, babe.”
She flung the door open and walked straight to the closet, ignoring him. But she could imagine the grin on his face, dimples and all. Damn it.
She pulled out some clothes and towels and put them into a small duffel bag. She was about to zip up her bag when she stopped and pondered whether she would need her bikini. She had always gone for her hydro-massage alone. Never needed a bathing suit before. Never had an issue with nudity, even if someone were to run into her.
Oh well, she’ll put it on just in case. She thought about waiting for Zane to come out of the bathroom, but what the heck, just change quickly. She’d yell at him to look away if she heard the door opening.
She peeled off her yoga pants and slipped on the bikini bottoms. Looking over her shoulder, she checked if the coast was clear before pulling off her tank top. She adjusted the flaps under her breasts and tied the lower strings behind her back. Pulling the upper strings behind her neck, she tried to flick her shoulder-length hair out of the way so that it wouldn’t get caught in the knots.
“Can I help you with that?”
She yelped and jumped a little, clutching her hands to her chest. “Why didn’t you warn me you were there? Make some noise or something like that?”
“It’s not like you’re naked. I’ve seen breasts, Nirvana,” he mocked her using the tone she used on him yesterday when she stripped his pants.
Nirvana bit her lips and turned around. “Ok, you can help hold my hair.”
“Are we going to swim at the river?” he asked, sweeping her hair from her neck.
“No, somewhere else. Not swimming. I’m taking you for the hydro-massage I told you about earlier.” She finished tying the top part of her bikini and put on the clothes she’d worn earlier. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 16
Nirvana led Zane into a different part of the woods. Along the way, she pointed out the edible plants and fruits to him.
“No animals?”
“Not here. They erected a fence around the residential areas. It keeps out both animals and people.”
“Then why did you say there were animals roaming around when Eryn said she wanted to come on her own yesterday?”
“I was helping Ching.”
“You seriously don’t feel a single ounce of jealousy towards Eryn?”
Nirvana gave it some thought. “No. I really don’t.”
“Ten years,” he gasped, “and you could both just walk away like that?”
“Maybe because we both tried, and it didn’t work out. It was bound to end at some point. How about you?”
“I thought I told you I never had a girlfriend.”
“So you just sleep around.”
“Not really.”
Nirvana looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate but again, he didn’t. “You’re the pot calling the kettle black,” she scoffed.
Zane gave a chortle. “I don’t sleep around, but I get plenty of action.”
“What do you mean?”
He gave her a wink and a sly smile.
“So you’re not going to share stories about your exciting sex life?” she asked indignantly.
He shook his head and gave her a heated look, “I’ll save it for our pillow talk tonight.”
Nirvana reached up to smack the back of his head since she had no clever comeback for that.
“Ow!” He laughed and caught her hand as she was about to smack him again. Still chuckling, he held onto her hand as they walked.
It felt weird to her. He was probably holding it to
stop her from smacking him again, but they’d walked for some distance, surely he knew that she wasn’t going to smack him anymore. Did he?
Zane probably sensed her discomfort and let go. They walked in awkward silence until Nirvana couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’ve never held hands with anyone before,” she confessed.
He snapped his head towards her, looking surprised. “Not even Ching?”
“We didn’t date or anything like that. No public displays of affection, although everyone knew we were sleeping with each other. We kept everything in the bedroom.”
“I’ve never held hands with anyone before either,” he admitted sheepishly. “I guess my attempt just now was an epic failure.”
Nirvana grinned. “Maybe we should try this out. Here. Stop walking. Let’s figure out how to hold hands.”
Zane held his hand out happily, but withdrew it slowly when he saw the blisters.
“I’ll hold your arm,” she offered, not wanting to ruin the moment.
She slipped her arm around his and they tried a few positions before settling on a comfortable one where her arm was behind his and curled around to rest on his wrist.
This time, when they walked, it wasn’t awkward at all. She talked about her colorful exploits in Chikara, he told her what the local news reported about her and the sentiments of the people she helped, in between they shared a joke or two.
Nirvana enjoyed their physical closeness. She also noticed that her cheek was at his shoulder’s height, so if she wanted to, she could rest her head on his shoulder. She didn’t know why she was thinking of such rubbish when she shouldn’t, but she liked having the opportunity to try this out.
Eventually, it got harder for Zane as they moved uphill. Nirvana could hear his breathing getting louder and the experimental handholding became a necessary one for giving him the support he needed as they continued climbing.
He was visibly relieved when they finally reached their destination—a small but fast-flowing stream which ran into a small pool before continuing as a stream on the other side.
She pulled off her clothes and hung them on the low branches of a tree nearby.
Fatal Extraction Page 8