Kraving Khiva by Zoey Draven

Chapter Eleven

Khiva slowly brought her back down from the high of her orgasm. Afterwards, he lightly rested the pad of his thumb between her legs, just a whisper of a touch.

Evelyn huffed out long breaths and Khiva closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the thrumming of her heart vibrate her entire body. Her legs trembled against his and the tips of her nipples were still puckered tight, despite the hot bath he’d drawn for her.

Khiva realized that it should alarm him how right that moment felt. His own hearts were pounding in his chest, as if the human female in his arms was a cherished mate and not a client.

The acute aching in his cock told him that he desired her. Greatly. It was entirely possible that he desired her over any females that came before. In his line of work, it was sometimes difficult to differentiate between desire and necessity, but Khiva knew he didn’t need to question the hot, pulsing sensation that fogged his mind.

Vauk, he wanted her.

But he would allow her rest…for right then, at least. Sex would be virtually impossible at that moment, especially considering his size, the fact that she’d just orgasmed, and the tight, tight heat he’d felt.

Her muscles would’ve clenched up even more after that orgasm.

It still didn’t change the fact that he felt like he was on the verge of his Rut, despite knowing that his Rut wouldn’t hit him for another couple weeks. Still, Khiva worried that it was coming early, brought on by the alluring, maddening female in his arms.

“How do you feel?” he found himself asking her. Softly, unable to help himself, he stroked up her side with the hand not between her legs, caressing her soft, smooth skin.

A breathy sigh escaped her and she tilted her head back to meet his eyes. He was still amazed at the hesitance he saw there. How could she be shy still with him, after what they’d done?

He didn’t mind, however. Once he was finished with her body, there wouldn’t be a strand of hesitation in her when it came to him.

“It was good,” she said softly.

“Good?” he repeated.

“Amazing,” she corrected with a small smile.

He chortled, amused, but then sobered. “Was it painful?”

Evelyn swallowed. “Not painful. Just a little uncomfortable at first. I got used to it. I…liked it.”

Khiva growled, pleased. “Pax?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You still wish to continue later?” he asked.

There was no hesitation that time. “Yes,” she answered.

Khiva recognized his own profound relief, though he felt slightly guilty for it. He didn’t know how he could’ve handled another night without knowing her intimately, without knowing her tight heat clenched around him as he emptied his cum inside her.

It was Keriv’i nature to want to mark their chosen mates and lovers. His race had acute senses, smell specifically. And when it came to mates, Keriv’i ‘marked’ them in their teela, their cum. Other Keriv’i males could scent it and stayed away. Only the foolish did not, since Keriv’i tended to be intensely possessive.

So, it was a dangerous thought for Khiva to want to mark Evelyn in the Keriv’i way. Pax, he orgasmed in every client that visited him because it was expected of him, but he never truly marked any of them. The marking of a lover in the Keriv’i way was…intense. It was vigorous.

He didn’t know if a human female would be able to withstand it.

He had no business thinking about it, however. Even though Evelyn intrigued him and he desired her with an intensity he’d never felt before, there was no future for them. There couldn’t be. She was a human female and he was her Krave whore. And Madame Allegria…she might not ever let him go, even when he eventually saved up enough credits for passage off Everton.

Khiva shifted Evelyn until she was turned in his lap so he could look upon her pleasing features. His cock throbbed between them, but Khiva ignored the pressing need, knowing that they had all night. And he would savor every moment with her.

He lifted his hands from the water and smoothed them over her arms before straying to her heavy breasts. Evelyn sucked in a small breath as he curled his palms underneath their weight.

“Do I take too many liberties?” he asked, his voice dark and soft. “Touching you in this way?”

“N-no,” she replied. Then Khiva watched as she bit her lip. “Do your other clients…do they not let you touch them?”

Khiva smoothed his thumbs over her budded nipples at the same time, watching them tighten even further.

Carefully, he said, “I am a Krave. I do what my clients wish of me. The females that visit me…they know exactly what they want. They do not come for anything other than my teela. So, veki. I do not freely touch them. Not like this.”

Evelyn went silent and for a moment, Khiva wondered if he’d said the wrong thing, if he’d been too honest.

But then she said softly, “I like when you touch me.”

A surprised, pleased trill worked up his throat. “And I like touching you, Evelyn.”

Her cheeks colored slightly and her gaze dropped to his chest, watching the water gleam off his flesh.

“Will you need to oil your skin again?” she asked. “After we get out of the bath?”

His thumbs brushed her nipples again in tandem. “Would you like me to?”

“I…I might want to help you,” she responded, a little breathlessly.

Heat flooded his flesh at her words. He swallowed, hard, at the image in his mind of her helping him with something so intimate as that.

Still, he couldn’t help but say, “You surprise me, female.”

A slight frown crossed her features. “Why?”

“At times, you seem shy, hesitant. Other moments, you are not.”

“Oh,” she said softly. “I guess, I’ve always been a little shy. But…”

She trailed off and he shifted his body under her. “Pax?” he urged.

Evelyn met his eyes. Finally, she finished with, “But with you, I don’t want to be. You make me feel comfortable.”

Khiva remained quiet, but kept his hands on her. Her skin was impossibly soft and she had the most lush body he’d ever seen.

“Can I ask you a personal question, leeldra?”

He’d lived on Everton long enough to understand the human need for privacy, long enough to know that many preferred not to talk of intimate subjects.

But Evelyn nodded, so Khiva asked, “How is it that you are still untried?”

“Untried?” she asked, her small brows furrowing.

“A virgin,” he clarified, using the human term.

Evelyn’s eyes dropped briefly to Khiva’s throat, thinking over his question. Her lips parted, like she was on the verge of answering, but no words came out.

“You do not have to answer, female,” he said after a brief moment, giving her a pass.

“It’s not that I don’t want to answer you,” she replied. “It’s just that…it’s complicated. I guess it’s for a variety of reasons, not just a single one.”

“And what are those?” he asked, his head cocking to the side. He wanted to know more about her, about her life. It wasn’t something he was used to feeling with his clients, but he felt this compulsion to learn as much about her as possible, to learn as much as she would offer.

“The main reason is that I’m shy, as I’ve told you.” The corners of her brown eyes tilted upwards even though the lift of her smile was small. “Really shy. I find it hard to talk to people, to connect with them. And I always feel…lesser when I try to.”

Khiva frowned, making a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. “Why?”

Evelyn sighed. “I’ve always kept to myself, even when I was little. I was an outcast during my early years. I didn’t talk much, only really to my father…and so, my peers began to believe that I couldn’t talk at all, or that something was wrong with me. And children can be cruel when they sense a weakness.” Her eyes flickered away from his gaze for a brief moment. “My peers would try to taunt me into talking once they knew I could. It became a game to them, but I didn’t like the attention or how they would bully me into it. So, I didn’t talk to anyone except my father, for a long time. After a while, talking to anyone but him became something that frightened me.”

“You talk to me perfectly,” he murmured, his hands settling around her wide hips, pulling her closer into her body, his hearts thrumming restlessly at the childhood she described. A lonely one.

A flit of a smile passed over her lips. “I’ve gotten better. I had to. Eventually, I made a friend. Her name is Genni and she helped me because she’s the opposite of shy. I got a shop job, doing something I really enjoy, but one that requires me to speak to people everyday. It got easier. But still…I’m most comfortable in my home, alone. And well…it wouldn’t be very easy meeting a potential lover or husband there, now would it?”

“Veki, I suppose not.”

Evelyn continued after a brief moment of silence. “On Everton, it’s expected that women marry young. I’m only 25, but even I know that my time has passed for that kind of life.”

Softly, he said, “I confess that your culture confuses me often, Evelyn. Humans are very strange in regard to matehood and sex. There are species that are stranger, pax, but humans are singularly…repressive.”

She raised one brow. “How different is it for the Keriv’i?”

“Was, you mean. That part of our culture is long past.” Khiva’s fingers clenched into her hips and slowly, he said, “Even still, I see a beautiful female right at this moment, one who I wish to mate…and it is that simple.”

Even though Evelyn flushed, she whispered, “Is it that simple though? Because I think that some very non-simple situations led us both here. To this very moment.”

Khiva sobered. Then he said, “Pax. However, when we are together, it does not have to be anything but simple. Nothing and no one needs to penetrate these walls when we are here.”

Evelyn’s shoulders were tense, but they relaxed slightly at his words. Slowly, a small smile spread over her lips and she said quietly, “That’s true. I’d rather it be simple.”

Khiva pulled her closer, his hands straying around her hips to settle on the curves of her backside. Water trickled between them, the temperature still hot. Hot for a human, he knew, but cooler than his species preferred.

Evelyn’s eyes flashed to his as he said, “Shall I get the oil then?”

A melodic sound fell from her lips and Khiva’s chest expanded at her laugh. He had a feeling he would remember it for a long while after she was gone from his life.

She was still smiling when she said, “I guess you should.”