15 Targeted (38 page)

“The controls are here.” Saskia patted the smooth black wall panel just inside the shower. “They’re very sensitive so tis best to use a light touch. Swipe left to make the water hotter, right to make it cooler. Swipe up to release foam to cleanse your hair and body and down to turn the water off completely.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Emily said gratefully. “Um…should I just get in then? I mean…” She didn’t know how to ask for privacy but she really didn’t want to strip in front of the other girl. No matter how nice and friendly Saskia seemed, she was still basically a stranger and Emily, being a plus sized girl, had more than her share of body image issues.

Once again, Saskia seemed to know what the problem was.

“You seem fine so I’ll step out and give you some privacy,” she said tactfully. “But please call out for me if you need help—I don’t mind.”

“All right. Thank you.” Emily smiled at her as the other girl left, brushing aside the vine-curtain briefly to get out. As soon as Saskia was gone, she quickly stripped and stepped into the flow of the warm, clear turquoise water.

For a long moment she just enjoyed it rushing over her in a long, rippling waterfall. It felt wonderful and warm—like an ocean wave caressing her. In fact, it was hands down the best shower she’d ever had in her life except for the fact that her breasts were throbbing painfully where the water hit them.

That reminded her that she had yet to try removing the silver nipple caps. Should she? Everyone seemed to think it was so important yet she was still strangely reluctant to do it.

But there’s no way they’ll let me keep wearing them—especially not Tragar.
She thought of the stern look in his golden eyes…and that thought led to the memory of him holding her so gently and squeezing her nipples…the tender way he’d licked the droplets of nectar from her breasts…

Stop it!
she told herself.
You’re supposed to be mad at him, remember?
But for some reason, under the warm, rushing waterfall, it was harder to hold on to her resentment. All the anger and doubt and irritation seemed to just float away in her delicious enjoyment of the shower. But she couldn’t stand there enjoying herself forever.

Emily looked down at the silver caps on her nipples and sighed.

Well, guess it’s time to try and take these off…

Gingerly, remembering how much it had hurt to put them on, she stepped a little way out of the water and took the right silver cap with its long golden tassel between her thumb and forefinger.

Now, there should be a hinge somewhere…didn’t Grandy See-er squeeze them to open them up?
She seemed to remember something like that although her memory of her visit with the kindly old lady was still strangely dim and foggy. She also didn’t question how she’d gotten from Grandy’s cottage to the middle of the
Howlund—
it simply didn’t seem important right now.
I’ll think about it later. Right now I have to get these off.

Carefully, she squeezed the silver cap, trying to make it pop open.

Immediately, a bolt of agony ran through her—much worse than anything she’d felt before. It felt like someone was slicing through her tender nipple with a red hot knife.

With a muffled scream, she snatched her hand away and stepped backwards, almost as if she could get away from the pain by distancing herself from her own body. Her elbow went back, knocking against the black wall panel that controlled the shower and sliding over its slick surface in a half hazard fashion.

Immediately she was covered in a mountain of thick, pale blue foam which came pouring out like an avalanche to cover her from head to toe.

“Oh!” she gasped and got bubbles in her mouth and up her nose. They tasted like a mouthful of soapy flowers and there was more and more coming all the time.

Coughing and choking, Emily scrabbled at the black square, trying to stop the mountains of foam that were still pouring out. The whole stall was filling up with alarming rapidity and she was afraid she might suffocate in the billowy blue mess.

The foam stopped when she swiped, replaced by a drenching rain of freezing water that took her breath away. Emily couldn’t even scream this time—she was too shocked as a deluge of what felt like ice water poured over her. Reaching for the panel once more, she tried to turn the cold water off, only to be drenched in more foam—this time purple. A third swipe resulted in water so hot it melted the foam instantly—and felt like it might melt the skin right off her body at the same time.

With a shriek, Emily jumped back. Cornered at the back of the stall, away from the lava-hot waterfall from hell, she huddled in a ball in the half-melted foam, trying not to touch her breasts which were throbbing and aching miserably. So much for the best shower she had ever had! Now she just wanted to cry!

“Emily?
Emily?”

The low, familiar voice filled her with shame. Oh, no—she really didn’t want Tragar to see her completely naked! It was bad enough that he’d seen so much of her when she was only wearing her nighty—but that at least hid her stomach and thighs. Body image issues rose up to crowd her mind and she gathered as much of the melting blue and purple foam around herself as she could before answering him.

“I’m fine. Just…the water got a little hot is all.”

He stuck his head in the shower and put a hand in the steaming waterfall before drawing back with a hiss.

“A
little
hot?” Quickly he did something to the panel and then felt the water again. “All right—that’s more like it. Come rinse off.”

“No.” Emily stayed stubbornly at the back of the stall. “You leave first.”

“Not until I’m certain you’re all right.” He frowned at her. “Come here, Emily—let me be certain you’re not burned.”

The commanding tone of his voice couldn’t be disobeyed. Reluctantly, she rose and stepped forward into the water which was now barely tepid. She turned her back to him and rinsed away the foam but Tragar wasn’t to be denied. He was half in the shower with her now, staying mostly out of the flow of the water though he didn’t seem to care very much if he got wet.

“Let me see you,” he said, a little more gently. “Please, Emily—I just want to be sure you’re all right.”

“I don’t want to.” She could hear the tears in her own voice but couldn’t seem to stop them. “Please, Tragar, just leave me alone!”

“I can’t do that. Not until I know you’re not hurt.” His voice became gentler still. “What is it,
Khalla?
I’ve already seen and tasted your breasts—why are you afraid to let me see you now?”

“It’s just…” Years of unhappiness with her body rose in her until she almost couldn’t breathe. “It’s just that I’m not someone you really want to see naked,” she finished in a defiant voice that still wavered just a little with tears. “I’m not exactly
thin
, you know?”

“I know—you have ripe, luscious curves.” He put a hand on her shoulder, turning her gently around. “You’re what the Twin Kindred call an ‘Elite’—a female the Goddess has blessed with a fuller figure than most.”

Emily gave a little laugh that was almost half sob.

“Seriously? Well, I guess that’s a nice way to put it.”

“It’s the
only
way to put it.” His golden eyes roamed over her hungrily. “And besides, all
Khalla
are shaped as you are. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your curves or try to hide them.” He nodded at her arms, which were still crossed gingerly over her chest, hiding the silver nipple caps. “Now, what happened with the water? Were you trying to boil yourself alive?”

“No. I was trying to get
these
off.” Reluctantly, she dropped her arms, revealing that she still had the silver pinchers on. She was glad that the metal dildo-like thing Grandy had given her to wear was safely hidden inside her—she really didn’t want him seeing that part of her as well.

“Won’t they come off?” He frowned in concern.

“Not for me, anyway.” Emily sighed. “I seem to remember that they hurt a lot going on. But that’s
nothing
to what it felt like when I tried to take them off.”

The big Kindred swiped the water off and reached for a towel. “Come—let’s get you dry so I can have a look.”

Emily stepped, shivering, out onto a green and blue vine bathmat and saw that the towel he was holding out for her seemed to be made of a hundred thousand tiny pink and orange flowers which had somehow been woven together into a rectangular piece of fabric.

“What are those?” she asked uncertainly. “Uh—how can flowers dry me off?”

“They’re water-mouth blossoms,” Tragar rumbled patiently. “They’ll suck away any moisture they find. Come…let me dry you.”

Still feeling incredibly self conscious, but not
quite
as bad as she had before about being naked around him, Emily raised her arms slightly and allowed him to wrap the strange pink and orange flower-towel around her body.

At once, she felt a light, feathery sensation as though a million tiny mouths were sucking at the moisture left by the shower. It didn’t hurt at all but it
did
feel strange and a little tickly.

“Oh!” she looked down at herself but the towel didn’t seem to be doing any harm. In fact, as soon as she was dry, the tickling sensation stopped and it felt like any other towel. Well, if a towel had been made out of cool, waxy petals that was. Again, not uncomfortable but not exactly what she was used to either.

“Come into the sleeping chamber where the light is better,” Tragar said. “Let me see if I can get those damn things off you.”

He held the vine curtain aside and she stepped into the room and went to sit on the high bed which seemed to have a coverlet much like the towel only this one was made of larger, white blossoms with green centers. Emily didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed it earlier—probably she’d still been disoriented from fainting.

She still felt hungry but not nearly as lightheaded now. The shower had certainly woken her up and she
did
feel refreshed—although she could have done without the avalanche of foam and the freezing and scalding water at the end.

“Now, come…” Tragar sank to his knees before her, just as he had back on his own ship, and gently parted her towel, baring her breasts.

Emily caught her bottom lip between her teeth when she saw how much bigger her breasts had grown. Pretty soon there wouldn’t be a bra anywhere that would fit her! And they ached so
much.
Though the little voice inside her was still insisting she needed to keep the silver nipple caps on, she began to feel that it really was time to take them off.
If
they would come off, that was.

“Please, be careful,” she said when he reached for her with his big hands. “I…it hurt so much when I even
tried
to get it off. I…I’m just so tender right now.”

“I know you are, my
Khalla.”
His deep, rumbling voice was gentle as he cupped her full breasts in his hands, being careful not to touch the nipples just yet. “I believe that is because your nectar is ready to flow but the star-silver pinchers are keeping it in.”

Emily shook her head.

“But I don’t
want
it to flow. I’m
afraid
to let it flow.”

“Change is always hard,” Tragar murmured. “But you cannot stop it from happening, Emily. The nectar
must
flow.”

“But I don’t want to be pumping out that weird honey-looking stuff like a fountain,” she objected as he took the first nipple cap between his thumb and finger very gently. “I’ll be leaking and making a mess everywhere and my nightgown is already ruined!”