Seeing with the Heart Read online

  And then she felt his large, strong hands adjusting the straps between her breasts. He was being extremely business-like and trying not to touch her intimately but she felt her heart-rate pick up anyway as one of his large hands accidentally brushed against the point of her left nipple.

  “Oh!” She gave a little gasp and jumped, feeling the touch almost like an electric shock of pleasure.

  “Forgive me.” His hands stilled at once. “I’m not trying to take liberties. Did I touch—”

  “No, no—it’s all right. Everything’s fine,” Molly said quickly. “I just, um—the harness was pinching me.” Which was a lie but what else could she say?

  “Is it?” He sounded concerned and she felt his big hands sliding along the straps that crossed her shoulders and breasts, making certain she wasn’t being pinched.

  “It’s fine now,” Molly told him. “It was just for a minute but now it’s fine.”

  She couldn’t help remembering his vow to keep her safe…the way he had knelt before her and taken her hands in his. She knew he’d been kneeling or crouching because of where his voice had been coming from and she could almost picture him in her mind, on his knees before her, a serious look in those golden eyes…

  Wish I could see him in something besides my imagination, she thought, feeling wistful. She didn’t usually want so intensely to see someone but the big Kindred was a definite exception.

  She felt his big hands busy clicking another two straps that lay over her hips into the center point between her breasts and then he stopped for a moment and cleared his throat.

  “Excuse me, Molly, but I’m afraid this is a five point harness and I’m going to need to reach between your legs to get the fifth strap.”

  “Oh!” Molly felt her cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Um…go ahead,” she said and shifted back in her seat some, trying to give him room to work. She could feel the muscular bulk of his broad shoulders invading her space and the heat of his breath against her neck as he leaned over her.

  His warm, spicy, masculine smell filled her senses again, making her feel almost dizzy.

  God I just want to lick him like an ice cream cone! she thought and had a split second image of herself kneeling between the big Kindred’s legs with his thick shaft gripped in both hands as she put out her tongue to explore the broad, mushroom-shaped head…

  Whoa—where did that thought come from? She tried uneasily to push it away. Why did his scent affect her so strongly? She barely knew him and here she was fantasizing about sex with him. What was wrong with her?

  Then one of Braxx’s large, warm hands was sliding between her legs—between the hem of her sensible business skirt and the seat—searching for the elusive fifth strap.

  Molly bit back a gasp and raised her bottom some more, trying to give him room to look. It seemed to take a long time but at last he murmured that he had found it and pulled it out from beneath her.

  “I guess…guess I’m overdressed for this kind of ship,” she joked breathlessly as he drew the strap up between her thighs, which caused the hem of her skirt to ride up.

  “I’m afraid you’re overdressed for Tal’oss Trenta in general,” Braxx rumbled as he clicked the fifth strap into place.

  “What? What do you mean?” Molly asked anxiously. She’d been given very little information about the culture she was to study because it had been considered classified. She mainly knew they were sentient beings with a primitive culture which lived on the other side of the galaxy.

  Normally she would never have gone into any field assignment with so little preparation but in this case she’d made an exception. Studying an alien race was the chance of a lifetime so she was willing to ‘learn on the job’.

  “The Tal’ossi don’t wear nearly as much clothing as we do,” Braxx explained as he finished buckling her in. “They have…a different concept of modesty.”

  He shut her door and went around to strap himself in to the pilot’s seat. At least that was what Molly assumed he was doing by the smooth hissing clicks of her door closing and his opening and the musical jingle of his harness as he buckled it. But she wasn’t ready to let his statement go.

  “What do they wear?” she asked when it sounded like he was all buckled in.

  “Well, the last time I was on Tal’os, when I went to negotiate the terms of your study of the Tal’ossi people, I wore a negu which is the native outfit. It’s a garment which cinches around the waist and is made of long, colored strands of the holy tanta grasses. It looks a little like the Earth clothing called a ‘kilt’ I believe.”

  “So they wear grass kilts?” Molly asked. “What else?”

  “Not much.” She could hear clicking sounds as he manipulated the instruments and the little ship lifted smoothly off the metal floor of the Mothership’s Docking Bay. “The females sometimes wear another negu cinched above their chests, but some choose not to and instead wear only elaborate amulets made of bones and feathers and fur. They have…” He cleared his throat. “Very small breasts, so the amulets are often sufficient for modesty purposes.”

  “Fascinating,” Molly mused. “Well, I wasn’t expecting to wear what I have on now to interview them. I do have some outfits for field work packed—mostly jeans and t-shirts.” Most of the cultures she’d studied on Earth had no problem with her field work dress. They accepted that she was an outsider and she dressed like one.

  “I don’t know if that will be sufficient to make the Tal’ossi trust you.” Braxx sounded like he was frowning. “They refused to negotiate with me until I was ‘dressed properly’. I’m not certain they would speak to you if you refused to wear the negu.”

  “Oh. Well, all right.” Molly shifted in her seat, wishing her harness wasn’t quite so tight. “I just hope they have one to fit me,” she said, thinking uneasily of her full hips and large behind. She didn’t normally stress over her appearance since she couldn’t see it herself but she did prefer to be decently covered.

  “I’m certain it won’t be a problem. The Tal’ossi females are about your height while the males are around mine,” he remarked.

  “Tell me more,” Molly said eagerly. “What do they look like? Describe everything in as much detail as you can.”

  “I’ll do my best. Their skin tones range from pale blue for the Top Dwellers to deep indigo in the Deep Dwellers…”

  He spoke steadily, giving her a wealth of information as he piloted the little ship out to the fold in space. This he described, when Molly asked him to, as a long, red slash in the fabric of the universe. And he went on telling her more about the Tal’ossi after they emerged and were orbiting Tal’os Trenta.

  Molly listened raptly and was glad that Braxx had agreed to come with her. Her assistant, Denise, was excellent at describing things to her when they were out in the field. But Braxx was just as good, in his way, which rather surprised her. He had seemed almost taciturn when she first met him but she found he was able to paint a picture she could see clearly with his words when he spoke. It was almost as though he’d had all these thoughts and descriptions bottled up inside him for ages with no one to tell them to.

  “You’re wonderful at descriptions,” she told him as he began the landing sequence. “Please keep it up when we get down to the planet’s surface—I need to try and see through your eyes as I’m making my study and conducting interviews.”

  “I’ll do my best,” he said gravely. “But the Tal’ossi place less of a premium on sight than most other races do—especially the Deep Dwellers.”

  “Really? What do you mean?” Molly was fascinated.

  “Well, their day to night cycle is almost the exact opposite of Earth’s,” Braxx explained as he landed the ship in what he had told her was an empty clearing. “That is, they have only eight hours of daylight and sixteen hours of night due to the rotation of their planet. They have no natural satellites—no moons—so their nights consist of the blackest darkness. And of course, the Deep Dwellers live in the darkness all of the