Best Friends (New Species #15)(77)

“What are you? Twelve?” She swatted his hand away.

He shrugged. “I don’t know my age. That doesn’t matter. You’re still mine.”

“I am not.”

“Mine.”

“No!” she yelled.

She could be loud. That didn’t bother him. He could be, too.

He threw back his head and roared. He looked down…and hated the fear he spotted in her eyes. He scowled. “Weren’t we having a contest on volume? I win.”

She watched him warily. He understood that she didn’t know what to think of him, and it would take time to gain her trust. He sniffed. The sweet smell of fear brought out the urge for him to hold her close and pet her until it went away. It had scented good on her at first. Appealing.

Now he knew she smelled much better when she became aroused.

“I make sounds. I’m Species.” He rolled to his side next to her. “Pet me.” He figured that would make her angry. Females didn’t like being given demands.

It worked. She sat up. “Pet yourself.”

She looked as if she wanted to crawl away from him and hide. He’d have to work on her acting like prey. He’d find it amusing to constantly hunt her around his domain but doubted she’d enjoy him pouncing on her as much. It would also take longer for her to learn he’d never hurt her. She was a jumpy little thing.

“Fine.” He ran his hand down his stomach to his groin, gripping his dick. He watched her reaction, figuring it might ease her fear. He’d heard human females were shy about sex. It was a good time to find out and break her of it, if need be.

She looked surprised. “What are you doing?”

“What you won’t.” He was semi hard but he stroked his shaft, ran his palm over the tip of his dick, and looking at her helped his arousal grow. “Petting myself.”

She still looked a bit stunned. “I thought you meant rub your chest or something.” Her gaze kept flicking from his dick to his face.

He became hard. He arched his hips a little, toward her. “Want to pet me now? I’ll let you.”

“You’re nuts.”

He spread his legs. “What about them?”

“You’re such a man!” She rolled onto her hands and knees and crawled away from him.

He grinned, staring at her ass. He wished it were more meaty and bigger, but it was all his. He wasn’t going to complain. He sat up and followed her. He was afraid she’d get too near the edge and fall. He’d have to tell someone to order him protective mats to place under his bed.

She stopped when she had nowhere else to go and peered down. It only took her a second to jerk back. His female didn’t seem to like heights. She’d have to adjust to them, because he wasn’t having his bed lowered. It was a safety feature he’d insisted on—along with a lot of others—to live inside the hotel basement. He kept back, but close enough to grab her if she were in danger.

She cursed under her breath and sat up. He didn’t startle her when she realized he had moved a few feet away from her. “Why are we so high up?”

“In case of attack.”

“What?”

“There are secure locks on the doors but those can be destroyed. I sleep here because it makes me a difficult target.”

She just stared at him.

“Humans have attacked us before. I wanted to be prepared, since I agreed to move to the hotel. It closes me in. I don’t like that. I put my bed where humans can’t reach it without a lot of effort, and they would be dead long before then.”

“They could just shoot your ass,” she snapped.

“Bullets won’t penetrate the platform. The cables themselves are three inches thick. They could shoot at me with their guns but they wouldn’t hit me up here. I’d leap down on them when they ran out of ammunition and needed to reload. Then I’d kill them.”

She blinked a few times. “You really thought that out.”

“I did.”

“I don’t have words that are kind right now.”

“Say one. Let me decide.”

“Paranoid.”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t say them.”

He reached over to the edge and slipped his hand between the bed and the three-foot-tall wall that enclosed that side, feeling around. He found what he searched for in a hidden section of storage and pulled out a bottle of lotion. It was right next to one of his guns. He decided to move those in case his mate found them. She didn’t look as if she knew how to use one, but if she did, she might be tempted to shoot him until she liked him better.

She looked at the bottle in his hand. “What is that for?”

He squeezed some lotion onto his palm. “This.” He wrapped that hand around his dick and sat back, stroking his shaft.

“You’re really going to jack off in front of me?”

“You told me to pet myself. I’m doing what you asked. Don’t be difficult.” He really was having fun with her. “You didn’t want to nap, either. Now I’m aroused.” He leaned back a little more and straightened his legs. “Do you want to help me?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You’re a mean mate.”

“You’re a…” She sealed her lips together in a tight line.