I can smell the scent of her, mixed with the smoke from the fire. It is her hair and skin combined with my own smell on her, but as I inhale deeply—trying to calm myself—I can smell more. My nose tingles with the scent of her sex.

“Beh.”

Another step and she turns to face me. Her feet shuffle backwards, but only slightly.

“Ehd…” Her sounds are so soft, I can barely hear them. It does not matter anyway.

I want her.

I reach out and grab her by her wrist, bringing her close to my side before the fingers of my other hand tangle in her hair. I bring her face close to me and look down into her wide, expressive eyes.

She took the mating gift I gave her and she likes it. I know she does. If she accepted the gift, she is allowing me to provide for her. She gathers with me, cooks my food, and is living in this cave with me. She is my mate.

If she is my mate, I’m going to give her a baby.

It’s what I’m supposed to do.

I decide I am not waiting any longer, and I press my lips firmly to hers as I bring our bodies together. I can feel my length pressed against her belly, and I reach my hand around her back to hold her tightly against me. Beh’s hands move to my chest, but she does not push me away. Using my body as leverage, I maneuver her over to our furs.

My hand drops to the edge of the fur around her waist, and I pull it from her body and drop it to the ground. I know the little scrap of material still covers where I want to be, but it won’t be there for long. Beh moans into my mouth, and her hands push against my chest just as the edge of my foot hits the edge of the furs.

I drop to my knees, pulling her along with me, not breaking apart from her lips. My hand remains firmly against the back of her head as I push her over backwards, laying her against the furs and covering her with my body. Against the flesh of my leg, I feel the edge of Beh’s foot covering. I feel additional pressure on my chest as she presses her palms against my skin and turns her head to the side, breaking our connection.

“Ehd…” Her eyes stare into mine as she turns her head back. Her breathing is labored—just like mine. I can see fear in her eyes, but at the same time, she reaches up and strokes my cheek with her fingers. I don’t know what frightens her.

Images come to my mind—the couples in my tribe as they were newly mated. Living within the close community did not allow for much privacy, and I remember how the females would sometime cry out if their new mate was not gentle with them.

After the boar had attacked her, I had been afraid she would not survive. The need to give her a baby had overwhelmed me, and I had been rough with her. I realize that I probably scared her before, and that is why she is frightened of me now.

Looking down at my mate, I slowly run the tip of my nose along hers. I barely touch her skin as my nose skims across her brow and down her jaw. When my lips cross hers, I lightly press against their warmth.

I want her to know I will be gentle with her.

I won’t hurt her.

I will never, ever hurt my Beh.

Touching her nose with mine once more, I use my fingers to trace over her cheek and neck, down to her shoulder, and over the smooth fabric of her odd tunic. I trace my fingers slowly along her arm to the very edge of the sleeve, and I tug at it as I look into her eyes.

Soft sounds pour from her mouth, her whispered breath covering my lips. She raises her head, and I feel her tongue touch mine. For a moment I am lost in her taste again. She runs her hands along my shoulders and arms as her neck arches her head back into the furs. The foot she has placed against my calf shifts, scraping at my skin with the rough bottom of her foot covering.

It hurts a little, but I don’t care.

Raising myself up on one hand, I look down at Beh for a moment before I run my other hand from her shoulder, across her breast, and down to her waist. I move back and onto my knees as I wrap my arm around Beh’s back and pull her up with me. I tighten my grip around the material at her waist and start to pull it up, but Beh covers my hand with hers, stopping me.

My brow furrows as I look back to her, but I breathe in relief when she reaches to the hem and pulls the whole thing over her head herself. The lovely pink from her strange breast-wrapper looks pretty against her skin, and I find myself peering over the top to see more.

The thought causes the muscles in my stomach and thighs to flex involuntarily, and the head of my hardened penis taps against Beh’s leg. Her eyes drop down and glaze over. I can see her throat bob as she takes a deep breath and reaches both of her hands around her back at the same time. A moment later, the most amazing thing happens.

The strange material that has always wrapped around Beh’s breasts suddenly pops right off of her!

“Hoh!” My eyes widen as my breath escapes from my throat. Beh’s lips squish together, and her eyes sparkle as she watches me look at her. My eyes jump from her face to the perfectly round, dark pink circles in the center of her perfectly round, lighter pink breasts.

I move my hands slowly, reaching out for them.

I stop with my fingers almost, but not quite, touching them.

Beh wraps her fingers around the backs of my hands, and she pulls forward until I’m touching them both.

They’re so soft!

My chest rises and falls as my breathing increases, and my hands slowly push against the supple flesh. I gently touch their centers with my thumbs, and Beh lets out a gasp. Her hands grip my upper arms, and when I look at her, I can see her eyes are focused on my hands, and the colorful parts of them are shielded by their dilated, black centers. One of her hands releases mine and trails down my chest, leaving a ticklish trail that makes my abdomen clench.

Then she wraps her hand firmly around my erection.

Slowly, Beh’s hand strokes over me, and I feel as though I will lose my balance and fall back into the furs. It is a good thing I’m holding onto her breasts, or I might. Beh’s eyes remain cast down as she touches me. The combination of watching her face, having her breasts in my hands, and her hand on my penis all at once is more than enough to cause the tightening in my stomach that is usually followed by the release of semen.

My eyes close and my head tilts upwards as my muscles clench. I try to hold back—because I’m not ready yet. I need to be inside of her first, or I can’t give her a baby. But it feels so good…

I groan and drop my head to her shoulder. Beh’s other hand moves up my back and into my hair, and then she tugs me toward her and our lips meet again. She feels so warm, and when my thumbs run over her nipples again, they harden and Beh moans into my mouth.

Her hand strokes me again, and the tips of her fingers roll around the head. She breaks away from my mouth and looks down again, and I follow her gaze. She uses her fingers to trace over the skin around the tip, and when her hand strokes back toward the base, the head is revealed.

Beh makes another quiet sound, but I barely hear it. The sight of her hand on me is too much, and the pressure collects in my knees and abdomen before it rushes to meet in my groin. My lower body tightens, and I cry out with her next forward stroke, spilling my semen to the furs below us.

As I try to control my panting, Beh runs her fingers over my softening member. When our eyes meet, hers still dance with firelight, and there is a slight smile on her lips. I am torn, for the feelings she has induced are beyond compare, but I am disappointed I was not inside her body when the feelings overtook me.

I’m also exhausted.

I drop down to the furs, trying to pull Beh with me at the same time. She makes a bunch of sounds—some of them kind of loud—then grabs the soiled top fur from the rest of the bedding and tosses it toward the back of the cave before joining me. My arms go around her, and I snuggle against her shoulder for a moment before I hear that no sound again, and I flinch.

I look quickly to her eyes, cringing from her and wondering what I have done wrong. She had been smiling, but is she angry I did not give her a baby yet? When I focus on her, I am further confused. She made that sound, but she does not appear to be upset. Her lips are pursed together like she does when she is trying not to laugh out loud.

Her head moves slowly from side to side, and she reaches out her hand to take mine from her waist. She brings it back to her breast, and I am again enamored by the soft feel of her flesh there. Examining her nipple a little closer, I watch the skin around it further tighten, and I run my finger around the hard nub in the center, and Beh hums.

I look to her face, and she is smiling now, her eyes hooded. Does she like this? I do it again, and her back arches a little, pushing her breast harder against my palm. I try doing the same with her other breast, and Beh rolls her shoulders to place herself flat on her back, which gives me better access to both breasts at once. The other nipple also hardens when I touch it, and Beh moans.

I watch her face as her teeth bite into her lip, and her hooded eyes close for a moment before she looks back to me. Her hand slides down my arm, over the top of the hand that covers her breast, and then down her own stomach.

My eyes widen as her fingers disappear inside of the little pink fabric covering her sex. When I look back to her face, there is a grin on her lips, and she makes more sounds at me. I look back to her hand, and I can see her fingers underneath the fabric as they move in a little circle.

Beh moans softly, and when I look back at her face again, her eyes are closed and her lips are slightly parted. She breathes deeply, but quickly, too; I can hear the panting sounds between her moans. My eyes quickly shift from her face to her hand as I watch, fascinated, until Beh’s hand retreats as a soft sigh comes from her mouth.

“Ehd…” she whispers as her hand touches mine. Her fingers are wet. I can see them glistening in the firelight. They wrap around my hand and guide it down over her smooth stomach and to the edge of the little pink thing at her waist.

I swallow hard as understanding comes over me.

She had been touching herself, and I cannot help but think of times I had stroked my penis with my own hand the way she did with her hand wrapped around me. Even though I didn’t have a mate to give a baby to when I had touched myself, I had still done it just because of the feeling it produced.

Does Beh get that feeling, too?

Does she want me to make her feel like that, the same way she did for me when she touched my penis and brought about the climax of feelings that made my body shudder?

Can I make her feel like that?

If I touch her the same way she was just touching herself, would she make that same noise? Would her face contort with pleasure the way it just did, and would it be because of something I did to her?

If it’s possible, I definitely I want to try.

Beh’s hand pushes the pink fabric down her legs as she guides my fingers toward her sex. My fingers touch short, coarse hair along their journey, which causes me to gasp. Beh hums again, and then shifts her legs, using her toes to push off her foot coverings and the little tubes of cloth that encircle her feet beneath the thicker coverings. The pink scrap also falls to the side.

Beh’s eyes meet mine, and she offers me a quick smile as she pushes my hand further down. With her fingers atop mine, she slides them across her outer folds and then back up before settling at a spot right at the top.

As she rolls the tips of my first two fingers in a circle, I can feel a small bump hidden just below the line of hair. This is the spot where Beh seems to focus my touch, and she guides my hand and fingers with hers on top of them. With a little more pressure on my knuckles, she leads me lower, and I feel the end of my finger touch her opening.

“Mmm…Ehd…”

“Hoh!”

Her moan, combined with my name-sound, creates a stirring that starts in my stomach but quickly spreads. It warms my skin and makes my heart beat faster. Though her hand had brought my essence from me only a few minutes ago, I can feel my penis begin to stiffen again.

I rise up on one hand so I can see our hands better, and I watch as she brings my fingers back up to the top of her folds, circles them around, and then leads them back to the opening just below though she does not push my finger farther inside of her than just the first knuckle.

As she sets a steady rhythm for me to follow, she stops placing pressure on my hand and eventually lets go, allowing me to touch her without assistance. I circle the nub hidden at the top, move down to touch her opening, then back up again several times as Beh shifts and moans against the furs.

She is glorious.

With her hand, she reaches out and wraps around my neck, and she pulls my lips to hers. Beh bends her knee and brings her foot up close to her buttocks and lifts her hips to push against my hand. I continue the same rhythm until she puts her hand back over mine and pushes the heel of my hand against the top of her mound to add more pressure.

She arches her back a bit and groans out my name-sound again.

I clench my fingers and move them against her faster as she holds my hand against her flesh and tilts her hips. Her face and breasts are flushed and beautiful, and her eyes—nearly closed—look down at our joined hands. I have pushed the tips of two of my fingers just inside of her—a little farther than they were before—and they move in and out of her.

Again, she arches her back, but this time she also lifts her hips to press my hand harder against her sensitive flesh. I don’t slow my movements, but I look back up to her face and see her eyes closed and her head tilted back into her furs. Her hips jerk once more, and I watch her mouth drop open as she cries out.

The sounds she makes are both fluid—like those she makes often—and guttural. I recognize my name-sound amongst them, and it makes me smile as she collapses against the warm furs of our bed. Her hand covers the center of her chest as her panting breaths begin to slow, and I recognize that she has experienced the same feeling I get when she has her hand on me.

I made her feel like that.