Barbarian's Bride (Ice Planet Barbarians)

"We'll practice," I promise him. "Unless you don't want me."

"Practice," he muses thoughtfully. "This is a good idea." He clasps my hand in his. "I wish to be a good mate to you, my No-rah. Forgive how I touched you earlier?"

"I…guess? Okay? I swear it was fine—"

He shakes his head, his khui singing loud in the quiet of the cave. "It was not. It can never happen again."

Never is an awfully long time. "What about it was so wrong? Can I ask that? Because I don't understand. I feel like we're both new to each other and we need to talk this out."

Dagesh nods at me, his thumb stroking over my fingers. I have to admit, I love that he's grabbed my hand and keeps touching me. I love all of the gentle caresses and how he can't keep his hands off me. It makes me feel cherished…despite his worrying words. "I was rough with you," he confesses. "Your back is scratched up. You have bruises. I did not take the time to be gentle with you. This was my mistake. Next time, I will be gentle."

Oh. I exhale deeply, relieved. "But we're still going to have sex, right?"

"Do you still want me after the way I treated you?"

Do I still want him? Is he kidding? Right now, I would cheerfully shuck the remnants of my clothes and climb all over him if I knew it wouldn't freak him out. I have to remind myself that he' was a virgin as of an hour ago. This is all new to him. If he just wants to do sweet, gentle sex because he doesn't like how rough turns out, I understand. He won't be the first vanilla guy I've ever dated.

Except…this is my mate. I'm still humming, my cootie singing as much as ever.

But then again, this is also an ice planet. Maybe it's time to give up the past. Maybe I just couldn't have fantastic sex with human guys because they couldn't fulfill my needs. Maybe an alien can.

I grab his braid and drag him toward me, smiling. "How about we kiss and I show you just how much I want you?"

His gaze slips to my mouth and then back to my eyes again. "This is…a mouth-mating, yes?"

"Oh yes." Actually, a mouth-mating sounds a lot sexier than just kissing.

"I have never done this before."

I'm dying to point out that he'd never had sex before and he did just damn fine with that, but it's clear that Dagesh doesn't think so. And now that I've brought up kissing—excuse me, mouth-mating—I really want to see what it's like to kiss him. I get on my knees and crawl over to his side, mindful of the fire. He stays seated, his gaze locked on me, but I can hear his khui humming wildly. His tail flicks and I glance over at it…and realize that my mate is completely and utterly naked and I hadn't noticed until just now.

Okay, he's not completely naked. He's wearing his furry boots. But his loincloth and leggings? Gone. I vaguely remember him tearing them away just like he tore mine, and my breath quickens. "I'll kiss you first," I offer to the fascinated alien. "Then you can tell me if you like it or not."

And I place a bold hand on his thigh. His very naked, very big and muscular thigh.

Dagesh's breath quickens. Mine does, too, and I reach up and brush my fingers along his jaw, guiding him toward me. Our faces are more or less level, but I'm on my knees and he's seated on his ass because he's so much bigger than me. I guess I'm a size queen, because I absolutely love the size difference between us. It turns me on like crazy. "Just a quick kiss," I whisper to him. "Nothing big."

I keep my hand on his thigh even as I lean forward. I want to reach over and grab his cock, to stroke him until he's hard and aching and so he'll take me hard and fast like he did before. He's an until-very-recently virgin, though, and I have a feeling I should move a little slower. So I brush my lips over his in the lightest of kisses. I press my mouth gently against his once, twice, three times. Then, I pull away.

He looks confused. "Why is it called a mouth-mating if that is all it is? Not that it was not nice—"

So greedy. I press my lips to his again, and this time I use my tongue. I make the kiss deeper, wetter, my lips moving over his in utterly explicit ways. I mouth his full lower lip, then tease it with the tip of my tongue. I run it along his upper lip, and I tease him with tiny flicks. I make the kiss as utterly filthy and blatant as I can until he opens up for me.