“I wanted privacy,” she said deliberately. “Because I’m through resisting what we both want. The timing is a bit off and the setting leaves much to be desired, but are you willing?”

“To do what?”

“To touch each other. And experience pleasure.”

“Yes. I want that. I wanted it on Tiralan, enough to learn what this body can do on my own.” His voice softened. “I heard you. Doing the same. It…intrigued me.”

“Oh.” Qalu ought to be abashed that he’d caught her relieving such intense need–need that he’d created unwittingly, but instead the knowledge stoked her excitement. “Did you learn how to satisfy yourself?”

“Yes. But I had to replay the sounds you made, think of you doing the same. Then the feelings came.”

Her entire body quivered. “I’m glad. Because I was imagining you.” She stepped into his space carefully, watching his face. “May I touch you now, Helix?”

“Please. I ache for you.”

That was what she needed to hear. His head tendrils surged to meet hers. Already he seemed to know how good that felt, and he must want more. She certainly did. The sensitive, nerve-rich strands slid together, sending hot pulses of pleasure through the rest of her body. Little fires, kindling an urgent need.

Qalu moved until their chests touched and she could breathe in the spiced scent of his desire. Every moment his pheromones burned hotter, creating a glow of arousal between them. Her hormones would be affecting him the same way, hazing his thoughts and intensifying his need to mate. First, she exhaled on the soft skin of his throat, then she touched him beneath his swator as their head tendrils massaged and pressed, heated foreplay that hinted at deeper pleasures. Soft caresses, along the line of his neck scales, then downward into the smooth skin above his sex.

Helix couldn’t seem to catch his breath, his eyes widened and glossed over with desire. “Yes. Touch me, please. It feels so much better when you do it.”

“Do you have a preference as to where I stimulate? Does one feel better to you than the other?” She’d had gender neutral lovers before, but sometimes they had specific preferences, and sometimes those changed according to their moods.

“Both, I think. Together.”

Delicately she touched him, stroking each sex with luxurious care. He trembled. His eyes locked on hers as if he couldn’t get enough of her. His gynosome was stiff, quivering, and lower, he was softly swollen. “Like that?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s…” A helpless noise escaped him, as if he couldn’t create words anymore.