Finding the Jewel Read online

  “Wuh-wuh-welcome.” Tark nodded at her, wishing he could say more. Wishing he could tell her that he would never have left her there—it would have been like leaving a gentle bilib alone with a ravenous xenox.

  Her eyes were so lovely—such a deep blue—he found himself bending down to get a closer look. As they locked gazes, he saw a warm pink blush, a few shades darker than her hair stain Chloe’s cheeks. Biting her lip shyly, she looked away.

  “Well…let’s see if we can get you cleaned up,” she said, suddenly businesslike. “How does this sink work?”

  Tark started to reach out to help her but she had already grabbed the spray stick and was fiddling with the handles. Unfortunately, she had the stick pointed right at herself.

  “N—not that wuh-way,” he started to say but before he could get the words out, a strong spray of water shot out of the stick and drenched her completely from neck to heels.

  “Oh!” She gasped and fumbled with the stick, which was on a long, snaky metal hose, trying in vain to shut it off.

  Tark reached over quickly and slapped the water off with his right hand. Then he plucked the still-dribbling spray stick from her grasp and put it back in its stand.

  “Oh my God!” Chloe seemed completely out of breath—and completely mortified. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed and he thought she looked close to tears. “I didn’t mean to…I was just trying to…you must think I’m an idiot.”

  Tark shook his head strongly.

  “N-no,” he managed to get out. “N-n-not an i—i—i—” But his throat locked up, as it did sometimes when he had to get out an especially difficult sound. Tark clenched his jaw in frustration. “N-not,” he finished lamely.

  “Thank you.” She looked down at herself—which made Tark stare at her too. Had he thought the little black garment she had on was see-through before? Well, it was doubly so now. The thin material molded lovingly to her full breasts and her pink nipples were tight and erect from the chilly water. The fabric clung to her lower down too, showing that she was wearing a matching pair of panties which were currently clinging to her plump pussy lips in a most distracting way.

  “Oh…Oh dear, I…” His eyes on her seemed to make Chloe nervous because she took a step back and put her arms around herself uncertainly.

  “S-suh-sorry,” Tark offered, dragging his eyes away by sheer force. He could feel his shaft stiffening in his trousers until it was achingly hard. Goddess, but she was beautiful!

  Beautiful but not for you, he reminded himself sternly. Turning, he went into his room and dug in his clothing storage unit for a clean shirt. When he found one he brought it and a towel out to Chloe who was still standing there, dripping and shivering in front of the sink.

  She was trying to wring the water out of her flimsy top, which left her little black panties completely bare. Trying manfully (and not completely successfully) to keep his eyes away from her crotch, Tark handed her the towel and shirt.

  “Oh, thank you.” She took them but just held the towel uncertainly to her chest. “Um, do you have someplace I can change?”

  Tark nodded his head and pointed at the door to the fresher, which was located down the hall from the food-prep area.

  “Thanks,” she said, smiling and nodding her head.

  He shrugged a welcome and she nodded again and ducked into the fresher.

  Chapter Seven

  God, what an idiot I am! Chloe looked at her dripping visage in the mirror—or the weird 3-D thing that apparently passed for a mirror, anyway. What was wrong with her, fumbling all around and spraying herself like that? She’d wanted to seem cool and collected around the big Kindred. Plus, she’d wanted to help treat the wounds on his hand which he had gotten while protecting her.

  Well, that and she wanted an excuse to get close to him. She had to confess there was something about him that drew her like a magnet. Maybe it was his scent—it was dark and smoky and spicy with a hint of animal musk underneath. Was that some kind of cologne he had on or was it just the natural smell of his skin? Whatever it was, it made her want to climb the big guy like a tree—even though she barely knew him. Which was probably stupid—but not as stupid as the way she had just acted.

  He probably thinks you’re a bumbling idiot, she told herself angrily as she stripped off the soaked black nighty and the panties that went with it. She blotted herself dry with the thick blue towel he had given her—which seemed to soak up moisture like a sponge—and then pulled on the shirt he had given her which was obviously one of his.

  It was made of some soft cottony material and had short sleeves—they would have been short on Tark, anyway. On Chloe, they fell to her elbows. The hem hung down to her knees. All in all, it covered way more than the black nighty she’d been wearing when he rescued her had, so that was good. The only uncomfortable part was that the material seemed to cling to her breasts and outline her nipples, which were still tight from being drenched in cold water.

  But on the whole, Chloe thought it was a big improvement. She even found a type of brush with short, spiky bristles to comb out her long pink hair. She hoped Tark wouldn’t mind her using it—she felt about a thousand percent better once she had straightened herself up.

  “Okay,” she muttered to her reflection in the 3-D viewer. “Now you’re going to go back out there and not act like an idiot this time. He probably already thinks you’re a spaz and a basket case so be cool and calm and professional and try not to embarrass yourself any further.”

  Pep talk over, she hung her wet things over the top of the little shower cube to dry and went back out to face the big Kindred.

  To her surprise, Tark had bandaged his own hand and was in the act of laying some plates out on the small table. Plates heaped high with steaming fresh food— not dry, crumbly protein pellets but real food!

  Her stomach rumbled again but this time she was so hungry she barely noticed.

  “Oh my God, that smells divine!” she exclaimed. “But…when did you have time to make it? Did I spend that long in the bathroom?”

  Tark started to open his mouth, then shook his head. He opened the cabinet and took out a small white cube, the size and shape of a sugar cube. He pointed to a microwave-type machine and mimed putting the cube inside and pushing buttons. Then he pointed at the plates of steaming food on the table.

  “Really? All that from one little cube?” Chloe came forward and took the cube from his hand, examining it. “I heard the Kindred had amazing technology but this is fantastic!”

  He nodded and smiled at her, then motioned for her to have a seat.

  “Okay, but only if you join me,” Chloe told him. “I feel bad enough that you had to bandage your own hand and cook for me. I ought to be the one trying to do things for you—you rescued me from those horrible little blue bastards and that awful tentacle monster!”

  He shrugged and nodded but there was a frustrated look in his golden eyes which told Chloe he wished he could say more. He was really very good at miming things to get his point across but naturally it would be easier to talk.

  “They h-h-hurt you?” he asked at last, raising his eyebrows as he sat across from her. “C-cuh-mmercians?”

  “Hurt me? No, not really I suppose—if you don’t count a month at fat camp as hurting,” Chloe said lightly. She took a bite of her meal which looked like some kind of blue noodles with green sauce and crunchy red things on top. It was a little strange in appearance but it tasted amazing—kind of like lasagna with meat sauce if someone had also added crispy toasted walnuts to it.

  When she looked up, Tark was frowning as though trying to understand her statement.

  “F-fat camp?” he asked, shaking his head.

  “Oh—” Chloe sighed. “Mostly they just wanted me to lose weight so I would fit the ‘ideal’ body image and they could sell me for more. Unfortunately, that’s not how my body works. It doesn’t seem to matter how much lettuce I eat or how many laps in the pool I do—my butt doesn’t get any smaller.” S