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Starcrossed
by
Lanette Curington
©
(a work-in-progress)
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J'Qhir smiled as soon as he understood the joke. His mouth curved slightly
at the corners, the lipless edges parting to reveal two rows of sharp teeth,
shining white in stark contrast to the tawny scaling of his skin.
"You smiled!" Leith cried out in delight. It hadn't taken decades after all to find a way to make him smile. It had only taken the right kind of humor--a pun. Before she could consider the implications or the consequences, acting on pure instinct, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. Something sharp raked across her lip as his body went rigid and he stumbled backward away from her. "Ow!" she yelped and clamped a hand to her lips. When she drew it away, a drop of blood stained her fingers. "You bit me." "Lh'eith, b-beg forgivenesss!" he stammered. Then he drew himself up into his full dignified stance. "I did not bite you. Your flesh ssscraped acrosss my teeth. What did you expect when you attack me in thisss fassshion?" "Attack you?" Leith tried to control the laughter, but couldn't. It escaped in short bursts and she clamped both hands over her mouth to suppress it. He stared at her, his crest knotted in confusion, his eyes unblinking, his mouth a grim line. His serious expression sent her over the edge. Laughter burst out of its own volition, so that she nearly doubled over. Shocked, J'Qhir watched her. Leith was finally overcome by the hysteria that it was said human females sometimes suffered. Liquid streamed from her eyes and her arms wrapped around her waist. Her body jerked spasmodically and strange sounds emitted from her throat. He damned himself as she had explained he should do when one caused a terrible calamity to befall another. He had provoked her attack then caused her hysterics. All because he smiled. He did not know what to do to help her. He could only watch her collapse to her knees upon the grass-filled pallet they shared, then fall back in a coughing fit. Between hacking coughs, her body shook and those guttural noises continued to escape sporadically. He eased himself down beside her, letting his good knee and arm support his weight. She glanced at him occasionally, but each time her body convulsed and she quickly closed her eyes against the sight of him. She could no longer look at him without being reminded of his gruesome smile. He turned away from her. His chest tightened and he found it difficult to breathe. He would have to leave her so that she would never have to gaze upon his frightful countenance again. He had nowhere to go except deeper into the caves. And that, he decided sadly, was exactly what he must do. Without his horrible visage to look upon, she would recover. "Lh'eith," he whispered, trying not to scare her again. His fingers found the ends of her brown hair and ran through them as they so often did during the night when he lay awake and she slept. "I will go into the next cave. I will not frighten you again." He glanced back at her and her wet round eyes popped open. A gurgle caught in her throat and she coughed once to clear it. "What?" If she didn't look at him, she would not become hysterical again. He forced himself not to turn toward her. "I'll move into another cave. You won't have to sssuffer my uglinesss any longer." There. He'd said it. Among his own race, he was considered neither comely nor homely. All Zi looked remarkably alike. But to humans, especially a female, he had to appear brutish. How had she withstood his physiognomy this long? He felt her stir behind him, no doubt preparing to pack up his share of their supplies and send him on his way. Suddenly, she was upon him; her hands latched onto his shoulders, pressing him back until he lay supine beneath her. Brown hair brushed his cheeks and neck. His vha'seh tightened and his jha'i threatened to release. He lay as still as a stone so that he would not disgrace himself beyond redemption. "Are you crazy?" she snapped, her full lips parted, showing square teeth so unlike his own. He did not know if her people considered her beauteous. To him, humans were so different from Zi, there was no way to compare. He only knew his heart beat faster whenever she looked at him and his blood pounded through his veins whenever she was close to him. And his jha'i felt as if it might explode at a single breath. He shook his head and turned away from her. "Lh'eith--" Warm fingers cupped his chin and brought him around to face her. "I didn't attack you, J'Qhir. I kissed you." "Kisss?" The touching of lips, a custom of many races, including humans. "Yesss. . ." she murmured subconsciously mimicking his sibilant speech pattern. "I'm sorry I laughed. It's been so long since I've had something to laugh about, I couldn't stop once I started." "You--You were laughing?" Blood rushed to his face and burned hotly. Only under two circumstances did a Zi give off any extra heat: acute embarrassment and rhi`ina`a, the mating ritual. Blood vessels expanded and engorged. The dense accumulation of blood caused the extra warmth. Stimulation of certain nerve endings--sss't! Recitation of his ancient studies did not lessen the expansion and engorgement of either set of blood vessels at this moment. "It's been so long I just couldn't stop," she repeated as she rubbed the back of her hand over his cheek. "That you thought I attacked you was just too funny. Don't the Zi kiss?" "No. Full frontal approach isss consssidered an act of aggresssion." Leith nodded and sighed. "You're not ugly, you know. I bet all the Zi girls back home think you're quite a catch." "A catch?" "An expression. Remember, humans have one for every occasion." "I remember." Leith shifted until she lay beside him, her side pressed close to his, her chin propped in her hand. She frowned slightly. "Is there a Mrs. J'Qhir back on Zi?" "No, Lh'eith. Or I could not have held you clossse thessse many nightsss passst." "No younglings?" "No. I have never taken a lifemate." She made a strangled sound in the back of her throat. "Um, just because you have never taken a lifemate doesn't mean there couldn't be younglings." He felt his face grow warm again. She could not truly believe he would dishonor himself or a female in such a way! "No no. It isss qa`anh'al--forbidden." "But accidents happen, no matter how careful one is--" "No. It never happensss becaussse it isss not done." "Never?" "Never." "Oh." Her lips remained pursed and her round eyes blinked languidly then widened. "Oh!" she said again and started to move away. Quickly, J'Qhir rolled his bulk over until he had captured her. He lay along her length as he had envisioned so often. Not forced by unnatural gravity, not as a haphazard result of falling, but simply to experience the pleasure of her softly rounded body beneath his. He blinked once when she did not resist. He was careful to keep most of his weight off her as well as his injured knee. He slipped his arms underneath hers, which raised to accommodate him, and planted his elbows on either side of her chest. His hands entangled in her lustrous hair, cupping the back of her head. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, the sweetness of the jhuhn'gha flower. His body absorbed her wonderful heat through the woven fabric of their clothing. He wondered what it would be like with nothing between them, to feel the prickle of her body hair, to touch the fleshy globular mounds that rose and fell within her shirt. He wondered why she had allowed the impropriety to last this long. Expecting a cry of outrage at any moment, he searched for a way to prolong their position. "Pleassse explain what isss kisss?" He mangled the Terran standard syntax but he was too distracted to care. Her fingers lazily traced along his jaw, around the sweeping eye socket, over his crested brow. Her accidental touches had driven him mad but her deliberate caresses plunged him into incoherent insanity. "A kiss can mean different things at different times. It can express respect, affection, passion, or love." Her fingers found his ear canal and explored it thoroughly, delicately, erotically. "I finally made you smile. I was excited and got carried away. So a kiss can also express joy at accomplishing something one sets out to do. I'm sorry if I frightened you. Is kissing qa`an'hal?" "No. We know nothing of kisssing." He opened his eyes and looked directly into Leith's. "Would you ssshow me how to kisss?" A tingle had already worked its way through Leith's body, down to her toes. If she taught him how to kiss, including demonstrations, she would be on fire with unfulfilled longing. She suspected he would, too. Becausse it isss not done. Didn't that mean premarital relations were qa`anh'al? If they continued the kissing lesson, but could go no further because of his mores, they would be left physically frustrated. Was it wise to teach him how to kiss? His amber eyes watched her expectantly, his mouth slightly parted, sharp teeth gleaming. The scratch on her lip was no more than a small sore spot now. Kissing him would be a dangerous adventure. . .
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