Sometimes, during a tough situation, people had to get inventive in order to keep living. And sometimes, keeping things simple was the best way to go. Not everything required the extensive knowledge of a well-trained survivalist. Fashioning a shower with no running water, for instance, wasn't exactly something that only a NASA engineer could manage. If a person had a bucket, a nail, something to drive the nail, some fresh water and a fire to heat that water up, they could have a functional way to bathe. If you had a handy partner with access to some rudimentary materials found in nearly every home in America, you could even have a privacy enclosure. Throw in a fresh bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo and a girl could have herself a nice, relaxing bath that could make her feel practically brand new. And after that bath, which was had after a hard day's work, lying down in a clean bed with clean sheets and a soft pillow was something akin to finding a corner of heaven.

Lying in her clean, quiet room that was lit only by the single neon green glow stick on her night table, Rainee was drifting on the fringes of sleep, half of her awareness focused on the faint rumble of a military jeep making the rounds someplace out in the neighborhood and the other half focused on the fact that she had forgotten to lock her bedroom door. She wanted to get up and remedy that, but she was exhausted, so she decided to forgo it. Besides, there was really no point. Before darkness had fallen, Elias had gone through the entire house, making sure windows and doors were as secure as possible. He'd even decided to set up a palate on the floor by the foot of the stairs, which meant that anyone coming into the house would have to go through him to get to her.

Despite the fact that he was shirking his duty because of her freckles, and probably all the rest of her, she thought that it was a nice gesture. She wasn't sure that most men would go to such lengths to ensure the safety of someone they had only met that day.  And especially not someone they had no interest in being paired up with.

She kind of wished that he wasn't so uninterested in her. It might be nice to have a partner who was so concerned about her comfort and well-being. He'd even gone to the trouble of making sure the shower enclosure had enough clothes pins so that she could secure the two shower curtains he'd rigged up from the inside, so she wouldn't have to worry about being accidentally exposed by a gust of wind. Of course, he might have done that as much for his own benefit as for hers, but she couldn't waste worry over that. It was what it was, at least until it wasn't, and then it was something else that was probably equally as horrible...

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Rainee felt the air shift in the room...and her brain instantly sent a sharp pang outward through the rest of her body, jolting her awake. Her eyes flew open and her hand instantly reached for the gun beneath her pillow...

"Rainee, wake up," a quiet, coarse voice spoke and another pang shot through her, this one making her limbs go stiff and sending her heart lurching upwards into her throat. "Rainee?"

With her breath coming hard and fast, Rainee let go of her weapon and rolled over to face the figure standing by her bedside...and an inadvertent gasp was pushed out of her as her gaze fell on the man there.  The mostly naked man there...

"Sorry! I didn't meant to scare you," Elias said, wincing.

"It-it's okay," she croaked out, reaching for her quilt and pulling it up to her chin to hide the fact that she was wearing only her panties and a thin tank top.  "Wh-what's wrong? What's going on?"

Oh god.  Oh god, he'd changed his mind and now...she was going to have to...  Oh god.  She'd talked herself into believing she had more time...

"Nothing's wrong," he assured her. "I heard you talking and I came in to check on you."

Hearing those words caused a flood of relief to roll through her. Thank the stars! He hadn't changed his mind! But, her relief was short lived as his words sank in on her. Damn! She was doing it again.

"Are you okay? Were you having a nightmare?" he asked her worriedly.

"I-I don't know. I guess," she answered, finding herself really trying not to let her gaze dip below his face...but it was rough going. The man was naked to the waist and from the waist down he was clad in nothing but a pair of boxers.  And even through the dim light of the glow stick, she could not miss his chiseled, muscular build and his...

She snapped her gaze up to his face, embarrassment washing over her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he repeated. "Do you need some water or something?"

Rainee shook her head. "No. I-I'm good," she breathed, glad that the only light in the room probably wasn't bright enough to reveal the heat she felt throbbing in her cheeks. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"Don't be sorry. I was half awake, anyway," he said, watching her intently. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm...I'm okay," she repeated hoarsely, and she was.

She was simply prone to talking in her sleep when she was going through a stressful situation in her life. Which normally wasn't a big deal because she lived with her parents and they were used to her incoherent babbling. But, now that babbling had summoned a practically naked man into her room. And who knew what he'd heard her saying!

Suddenly unable to help herself, she let her gaze wander down the length of him, taking in his broad shoulders and sculpted chest, his large muscled arms, his perfectly ridged stomach that was sprinkled with crisp curls of hair that arrowed downward to disappear beneath the waistband of his boxers, his lean hips and long legs...he was the most stunning man she'd ever seen and she lived on an army base where she was surrounded by men who were unbelievably fit and in shape. But, he left the ones she'd seen far behind. Just looking at him did something strange to her insides, making them tighten in a way that was almost painful, yet was kind of...pleasant.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Elias asked as she lay there, stiff as a board and clutching her quilt as tightly as she could.

She nodded, instantly feeling like a total fool, so she forced herself to try and relax. She was behaving like an imbecile. She had seen half naked men before! And lest she forget, the half naked man standing by her bedside was about as interested in her as he was in contracting the sickness that had destroyed half the world. She could unclench her intestines and take a breath. She had nothing to worry about.

"I'm okay. Really," she answered, releasing the death grip she had on her quilt and pushing herself up onto her elbows. "You can go back to sleep. I'm fine now."

Elias eyed her sharply, the deep shadows etching his face making him seem like a mysterious and slightly frightening entity. He made no move to leave. "I think I'd feel better if I sleep up here, closer to you. That way, I'll know you're alright."

A little jolt went through her, but she paid no attention to it. He was speaking in literal terms. He was definitely not thinking about anything other than making sure she was okay.

When she didn't argue, Elias turned and strode purposefully from the room, leaving Rainee to look after him with her heart thudding hard in her throat. It was nice that he was worried over her, but if he was in the same room and she started babbling again...well, it could be a very humiliating situation. At home, her parents would simply have a laugh if she started going on about the deer that demanded she share her potato chips, or the Golden Delicious apples that were destroying everything as they rained down on the earth, or desperately needing to iron the wrinkles out of the rainbow she'd managed to steal and put in the trunk of her car...but, did she really want Elias Stone to have a front row seat when she started complaining that the talking lizard she'd been chasing refused to allow her to flush him down the toilet?

Rainee cringed at the notion of what Elias would think of her, but there was nothing she could do about it. She talked when she talked and she didn't in between times. Besides, maybe she'd actually be able to sleep fitfully if she wasn't alone in the room and having to keep one ear open because sleeping in a strange house without her parents was giving her the creeps. She could practically feel how close the wall of the city was to her new home and imagining what might be out there, trying to find a way in, was not exactly restful.

In short order, Rainee heard footsteps coming up the hallway and Elias appeared in the doorway, his blankets and pillow in tow. "You can get some rest. I'll make sure you're okay," he assured, stepping into the room, closing the door, and clicking the lock into place. That done, he began arranging his bed on the floor in front of it.

Rainee suffered a pang of conscience. She was sleeping in a nice, soft, queen sized bed and Elias was reduced to sleeping on a blanket on the cold, hard floor. She opened her mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut, only to open it again and again snap it shut. Annoyed with herself, she let out a hard breath and flopped back onto her pillows, staring into the eerie green glow produced by her light stick.

Damn.

"You...you can sleep in the bed, if you want," she heard herself saying to him, wishing that she didn't sound so much like a timid little girl.

There was a moment of silence in the room, a very heavy silence it seemed. "I'll be alright down here. But, thanks for the offer."

Rainee flinched, heat instantly flooding her cheeks. Wow. He really was repulsed by her. So much so that he'd rather sleep on the floor than in a comfortable bed. Rolling over onto her side and squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to pretend that it was no big deal, that Elias Stone couldn't help who he was attracted to, or repulsed by, that he wasn't insulting her on purpose, but it still stung her feminine ego. What girl wanted to know, actually know, that someone found her so unappealing he couldn't bring himself to lay down next to her, even if only to get a little rest?

Maybe she would just go and see Dr. Barnes tomorrow instead of waiting for her next visit. Surely, he would tell the right people and they would send her a different mate as soon as one became available because they wanted to get things moving along. So, she would do that. She would go and ask for another mate first thing, that way she wouldn't have to feel like a hideous troll and Elias Stone could be free to move onto someone else.

It took a while, but finally, Rainee began to drift off into the shadows of sleep, feeling herself floating on a cloud of softness, feeling her mind begin to relax now that another presence was in the room and she didn't feel quite so alone. 

At some point, she became vaguely aware of a weight on the mattress next to her and a deep voice speaking words that she couldn't quite catch, but she couldn't bring herself out of sleep enough to be sure she wasn't dreaming, so she let herself drift back off into the blackness...

*   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

The chill began seeping into her skin just enough to interrupt her sleep and make it uncomfortable. She burrowed further down beneath her quilt and tried to get back into the deeps she'd been pulled from, but she couldn't quite make it. She hated to be cold and there always came a time, every single morning, even in the hottest summer months, when the temperature seemed to suddenly plummet and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't just ignore it and keep sleeping.

But, something was different this time. Her bed wasn't as cold as it should have been. In fact, she was aware of a sense of warmth from behind her, touching her skin and prompting her to scoot backward across the mattress. It only took a second to find what she was searching for and as she snuggled against the source of that warmth, a deep sigh filled her ears and strong arms wrapped around her, encompassing her in a wonderful heat that made her ignore the warning bells that were suddenly going off in her head. At the back of her mind, she knew who those arms belonged to, she knew that he wasn't aware of what he was doing, but she was so comfortable and snug that she wanted to lie there for a minute, just a minute, just to enjoy the heat that was surrounding her...

It was such a nice feeling...that warmth...those arms wrapped around her so tightly...

Rainee slowly pulled herself out of the depths, feeling her awareness steadily increasing even though she tried to fight against it. She didn't want to leave the darkness and the...refuge...of the fog of blissful sleep that was cocooning her...the refuge of a pair of strong arms tight around her.  But, her mind was tugging her toward wakefulness, urging her to open her eyes, warning her that something wasn't right. 

She didn't want to leave that soft, easy place, but the sudden memory of how close she now was to the city walls zipped through her mind, sending sharp shards of panic stabbing through her stomach. Her eyes flew open and a gasp burst out of her, but she quickly realized that it wasn't a frothing monster who had hold of her, but instead a ruggedly handsome man whose large, spring green eyes were watching her intently. She opened her mouth to let out another gasp, but the sound stuck in her throat.

"It's alright, Rainee," Elias told her in a voice that was scratchy from sleep. "You were having a dream."

Rainee, panic still shooting through her limbs and mortification beginning to roll over her in a painful wave, felt her body go stiff as it prepared to scramble away from the man next to her, while in the same instant an apology was forming in her mind and readying to tumble past her lips.

"Rainee, don't. It's okay," Elias cut her off, his arms tightening around her, keeping her pressed against him. "You can stay here next to me."

There were so many things racing through her at that moment, she could barely comprehend what Elias was saying to her. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but she was not prepared to wake up glued to a practically naked man who found her repulsive! And come to think of it, why in hell was he in her bed anyway! Hadn't he opted to sleep across the room even after she'd offered her bed to him?

"Wh-what are you doing? I-I thought you slept on the floor," she croaked out, still stiff as a board and trying to decide whether or not she should fight her way out of the arms that were wrapped around her. And as a matter of note, why were his arms around her at all? Shouldn't he be as far away from her as he could get?

"You were having a hard time resting, so I came up here with you," Elias said to her, looking at her in a way that had her already racing heart speeding up just a fraction more. "Did you know that you hold entire conversations in your sleep?"

Rainee's breath caught in her throat and a cold numbness swept through her. Oh god. No. Please, no! "I-I...I'm sorry," she whispered, wishing she could drop dead right there on the spot. "I-I...it happens sometimes when I'm...overly stressed."

Oh god. Why? Why! She felt her face beginning to throb dully as her mind began to race over all the horrid possibilities of Elias' statement. There was no telling what she'd said! She could have been talking about anything from flaming turnips taking over the world to what happened the last time she'd eaten too many canned beans. And Elias Stone had clearly heard every single word!

"You're blushing," Elias quietly pointed out. "It blows my mind that you can actually blush."

Rainee didn't know how to respond to that, so she chose to ignore it and instead decided to find out just how completely she had shamed herself.

"Wh-what...was I saying?" she breathed as a small piece of her mind that wasn't focused on her shame was becoming aware of the very male body that was touching hers.

Elias didn't answer right away. He seemed to be studying her with such focus and intent that Rainee's pulsating cheeks began to beat in time to her heart. Oh god. Not only did he find her physically repulsive, but he undoubtedly also found her to be completely insane, especially if she'd spent the night babbling on about a horde of angry hushpuppies biting at her ankles.

It suddenly struck her that nearly all the dreams that she rambled on about had to do with food. And well, the reason behind that probably wasn't all that mysterious and deep.

"Rainee, I don't think you're repulsive," Elias finally spoke and had he not had his arms around her waist, she would have leapt from the bed and fled the room. "That's not the reason why I didn't want to have sex with you."

If she had been given the choice of staying there and continuing the conversation with Elias or being dragged off by a Nefer, torn limb from limb, and then devoured bodily, she would have chosen the Nefer without so much as blinking.

"I think you're...beautiful," Elias stated, his brows drawing together and his green eyes darkening so that they looked as deep as emeralds in the dim light. "And when you blush...when I saw that yesterday, I almost turned and walked out of the house."

Was this confession supposed to make her feel better? Because it was making her want to throw up. Or reach for her Bowie knife that was wedged beneath the mattress and plunge it into her own neck.

"I-I...it's okay. We don't have to talk about this," she rasped, beginning to try and wiggle her way out of his grasp, but without actually touching him. She didn't want to put her hands on his naked chest. She was embarrassed enough as it was.

"We need to talk about this," Elias stated seriously, his arms tightening so that she couldn't make her escape.

"No, we don't," she cut in, a measure of desperation in her voice. "It's alright. I-I understand. I'm going to ask the physician to put me with another partner, so you don't have to explain anything."

And he certainly didn't have to lie right to her face. She wasn't a child. She could accept, and she had accepted, that she wasn't the most attractive looking girl around.

Elias' brows shot upwards and before Rainee could react, she was lying on her back and Elias was on top of her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. A gasp flew out of her, delayed by a few seconds, and though her first instinct was to start swinging as hard and fast as she could, her brain began tossing up reminders that she'd been brought into the sanctuary for this very reason, so she went still and tried to brace herself for whatever was about to happen to her.

"You won't be going to anyone to ask for another partner. I am your mate," Elias quantified as he gazed down at her, his expression one she'd never encountered before, but one that caused something very confusing to waft through her belly. "And you can get the notion that I think you're repulsive out of your head. I don't know who would say that to you, but...you're beautiful, Rainee.  And your freckles only make you more beautiful."

Rainee was flushing so hard she thought Elias must be able to feel the heat radiating from her. She seriously wanted to curl up and die.

"There's no reason for you to think you've been cursed with demonic markings," he went on in a chiding tone. "I think you've been blessed, not cursed. You shouldn't be ashamed of the way God made you."

At that moment, it wouldn't have taken much to talk her into punching Elias Stone in the mouth. She didn't believe an imagined deity had anything to do with the hideous stains marring her flesh.

"You are beautiful. And the way you can blush kind of drives me crazy," he whispered, shaking his head slightly.

Rainee was swept with a feeling of alarm as she suddenly became aware of Elias' body pressing against hers, of the sheer size of him in comparison to her, of the way the hairs on his legs were rough against her skin, of the way his lower half was...firming up.

"The fact that I didn't want to lay you down had nothing to do with you, Rainee," Elias explained earnestly, his large eyes studying her face, which was pulsating like a flaming sun. "It has to do with me. I didn't want to force you to do something you weren't ready to do. It wouldn't be right, considering your...condition."

"What do you mean?" she croaked, hoping she didn't sound like a terrified little girl. She didn't have a condition. And she wouldn't if he refused to do his part.

Elias' features hardened a touch, his eyes darkening so they appeared nearly black. "The doctor told me that my new mate was...untouched. I-I...I don't know how I feel about taking that from you under these circumstances."

Rainee didn't think she could blush any harder, but she was wrong. "Dr. Barker told you? Why would he do that?" she rasped, wondering just what had happened to doctor/patient privilege. 

 She had no intentions of telling her mate about her...condition! She was planning on doing what was expected of her and moving on from there, no muss, no fuss. She thought...she hoped...it would be easier for her that way.

"I don't know why he told me," Elias answered with a shrug. "But, he did and that changed how I felt about this situation. I'm not sure I can do what they want me to do to you. It wouldn't be right."

She could not believe she was having this discussion with a man who was lying on top of her, with his...pieces...growing firmer by the second, which was actually belying what his words were telling her.

"But, this is our duty," she breathlessly pointed out, trying not to allow herself to squirm in an effort to get away from that part of him that was now as hard as a rock and pressing into her thighs. "I wasn't going to make a big thing out of...it."

"It's a big thing to me, though," Elias confessed, his gravelly voice deepening so that it sent shivers along her arms. "You have something special that most women just give away without even thinking about. It feels sinful to take it from you."

Maybe it was wrong to give her purity away to a man she'd only met a few hours before, but the circumstances they were facing were not normal. In what normal world did the dead walk and seek out the living to feast upon? But, no matter the circumstances, she wouldn't beg someone to help her fulfill the responsibility that was being placed upon them.

"You don't have to do something you aren't comfortable with," she told Elias, feeling slightly awkward at the turn of the conversation. "I can ask for another partner and you can have someone more suited to you."

Something incredibly...menacing...rolled over his rugged face, making Rainee's stomach jump inside her. "You're my mate now, Rainee. I won't hand you over to some man who'll treat you like his whore instead of treating you like the mother of his children."

Those words sent a jolt through Rainee, but before she could respond, Elias shocked her by moving his hands up to cup her face and carefully lowering his mouth to hers. The feel of his lips, warm and firm, pressing against hers brought a choked sound up from her throat...and she instantly regretted that sound, but there was no taking it back. 

Elias, hearing that little noise, pulled back just a fraction, putting just enough distance between them to allow him to speak.  "Rainee, you've never even—"

"No. I-I haven't," she broke in weakly, not wanting to have to endure hearing him say it out loud.

She was humiliated enough as it was, forget about having to discuss the fact that she hadn't ever kissed someone before, especially with a ruggedly beautiful man who had probably had more women than he could count.

Elias stared down at her, his sandy brows drawn together and his thumbs beginning to stroke both her aching cheeks. "What have I gotten myself into?" he whispered to her.

"Nothing that you can't get yourself out of," she whispered back, amazed that she could still use her voice, especially considering that she could feel Elias' lower half beginning to pulsate against her.

Elias failed to respond. Instead, he bent and captured her mouth beneath his in a kiss that had every nerve ending in Rainee's body screaming out. He was moving his lips back and forth across hers in a slow and steady way that had her stomach clenching into a painful knot. She'd never been kissed before, but this was the way she'd imagined a kiss should be. Firm and sure, but with enough softness to take her breath away and cover her entire body in goose bumps. And it seemed to go on and on, with those sparkling green eyes burning into hers in a way that made her head swim.

It suddenly hit her that she probably shouldn't have her eyes open. She'd seen enough movies to know that people closed their eyes when they kissed...but, Elias was watching her, so she fought the urge to shut him out, not wanting to put herself at more of a disadvantage.

After what felt like forever, Elias carefully tangled his large hands up into her hair and parted his lips, allowing the tip of his tongue to slide along her bottom lip. The sensation of that caused her breath to catch loudly in her throat, which made her flinch, but it didn't seem to bother Elias, who ran his tongue along her lip again before easily urging her mouth to open so that he could deepen his kiss. And then his tongue was invading her mouth, running along hers in long, slow strokes that made her head swim and her heart skip several fast beats. The sensation of those tender strokes was astonishing to her, but more astonishing still was what happened inside her belly when he used his knee to gently part her legs, allowing him to settle himself between her thighs...and allowing her to feel a very intimate part of him touching her in a way she had never been touched before. The hardness of him, the way he was pulsing like a small heartbeat...had something warm and sharp slicing through her, bringing that part of her to life in a way she'd never experienced before.

Elias must have been able to sense the sudden awakening in her center because he began to move, slowly and steadily moving his hips so that he was carefully apply pressure to a spot that sent a wave of something blissful washing over her and that wave pushed a little groan up out of her throat. Elias lifted a brow as that sound escaped her and a second later, he repeated what he'd done before, moving his hips against her and using his body to apply just the right amount of pressure in just the right place, which had a spasm of pleasure uncoiling inside her, prompting another groan to sound out in the back of her throat.

It was so overwhelming and dizzying—the weight of Elias Stone's body, the way he was kissing her so deeply that she could barely breathe, the feel of that part of him right up against her—she almost wanted to shove him away from her and jump out of the bed, just so she could take a second to catch her breath and come to terms with what was happening. But, she didn't. And she wouldn't. She'd been brought into the sanctuary for this very purpose and she would not shirk her bounden duty.

Elias finally broke the kiss, but only pulled back enough so that he was able to speak. "Was that alright for a first kiss?" he asked her, his voice thicker than before and his breath coming quicker, but that could have had something to do with the fact that he was still rolling his hips against hers, which was obviously pleasant for both of them, judging by how taught his handsome features were.

Rainee felt that she needed to give him an answer, but she couldn't seem to get her voice to work, so she wound up nodding like some sort of mute imbecile.

"Well, this is a nice way to start things.  The rest can wait," he said in an almost pained way, capturing her in a quick kiss that ended with him drawing her lower lip into his mouth for a fast second and suckling at it with just enough force to pull the blood into it, making her gasp in surprise.  

Rainee, breathing hard and with her heart pounding against her ribcage, very swiftly decided that she didn't need to dwell on it before she answered him. "They said we're not supposed to wait," she whispered unevenly, wishing her senses weren't being so overwhelmed by the size and the feel and...the scent...of him. He smelled like the soap they had both showered in the night before, clean and sharp, but there was a certain masculinity intermingled with that clean scent that all but made her mouth water.

"I don't care what they think we're supposed to do," Elias stated firmly, again moving to take her mouth in a kiss, but he suddenly stopped himself short. "I want you to have all the time you need. I-I...I don't want you to look back and hate me for pushing you into anything."

"You're not pushing me," she said, trying to put a bit of strength behind her words, but it didn't work. She wound up sounding like an uncertain little girl. Her voice even quavered! "I-I want to do this. I do. It's my responsibility as a carrier and a human to do my part to try and preserve our future."

She sounded idiotic, quoting what her father had been saying since the implementation of the breeding program, but that was how she honestly felt about the situation. She and the other carriers could help ensure that humanity had a place on earth in the years to come. They could bear children who could fight the sickness and make life worth living again, bring people out from behind the walls they had barricaded themselves behind.

"I just want you to be sure," Elias urged worriedly. "You have something special that you should be able to keep for as long as you want to, no matter what's happening out there in the rest of the world."

"I-I know," she told him seriously. "I've had a few weeks to think about this. And I haven't changed my mind since I tested positive. It's my responsibility. I'm no different than any of the others."

Elias looked down at her for a long minute, his features focused and intense, as if he was trying to decide whether or not to believe her words. "I honestly feel like I'm committing a sin against you, Rainee. Taking this away from you...especially like this...its shouldn't be done."

He was saying those things with his mouth, but his body seemed to hold the exact opposite opinion because he was still moving against her, pressing his hardened body into hers and doing his best to stifle the sounds he obviously wanted to make.

"You're barely past grown. What kind of man would I be if I laid you down so soon?" he asked, but the question seemed to be rhetorical. 

What could she say? He was clearly uncomfortable with having a virgin in his bed and she didn't want to talk him out of how he was feeling.

"I shouldn't even want to do this to you," Elias went on, ever so slowly circling his hips against hers and trying hard to keep his eyes from drifting closed. "I shouldn't want to. It's wrong of me."

Rainee didn't know what she was supposed to do right then. Was she supposed to be quiet and resign herself to waiting until he felt comfortable with having her? Or was she supposed to try and give him a little push that would bring him around to see her side of the situation? She didn't think it would take very much to get him to give in...

"Would you want to if it wasn't for...this one thing?" she asked in a barely audible voice, feeling her cheeks once again beginning to throb with heat. 

Elias pressed his body against hers in just the right way, sending an unexpected ripple of bliss through her and bringing a groan spilling out of her.  Elias suddenly made much the same sound, only it was a long and slow and deep and for some reason it caused the heat in her cheeks to increase three fold. 

"I-I'm only human, Rainee," he whispered hoarsely, his eyes dark and slightly unfocused. "And you're so small and...breakable. And the way you blush... What man wouldn't want you?"

Rainee felt taken aback. This man...this ruggedly beautiful man...wanted her, in spite of her freckles and her inability to control her bodies blood flow. She almost didn't want to believe him, even though his body was letting her know that he was speaking the truth.

"The way you blush, Rainee, I just...it's about the sexiest thing I've ever seen," Elias told her, breathing more heavily now. "But, I-I don't want to do something to you that'll take that...innocence...away."

She'd trade a week's worth of rations if he could do something to fix her blushing problem. But, he was having such a hard time, it seemed cruel to drag it out any longer. "It's okay. We don't have to do this now. I'll wait if it will be easier for you."

She felt kind of...weird...having to soothe a man who was older than she was by several years and who was most certainly far more adept in this particular area, but it was what it was. Elias Stone's rugged looks obviously belied a sensitive nature, so this wasn't going to be about her innocence. It was going to be about his conscience. And maybe she should just be thankful that he possessed a conscience.

Hearing her utter those words, Elias visibly relaxed, some of the tension draining right out of his taught features. "I think we should wait. Just for a little while." he agreed, dipping his head to press his mouth to hers in a soft and lingering kiss that made Rainee's stomach dance.

Almost, she felt a bit disappointed. If Elias Stone could make her insides dance with just a kiss and a little bit of pressure applied in the right way, she couldn't help but wonder just what else he would be able to do to her. And she didn't even feel bad about having that thought. She might be a virgin, but she wasn't completely innocent. She had been on the earth for nineteen years. She'd had urges that she had dealt with on her own, which was nice as far as that went, but she thought having Elias involved would be far better.

Elias took his time kissing her and even though she thought she should be viewing anything intimate between them as a civic duty, she allowed herself to enjoy the feel of his firm mouth moving overs hers and the way his size dwarfed her, making her feel small and breakable indeed. "I'll go down and get some coffee going," he finally stated in a breathy, gravelly tone, but he made no move to go. He stayed right where he was, his mouth hovering a mere breath away from hers, his large hands still threaded into her hair so that his thumbs could caress her cheeks.

"I could use some coffee," she said weakly, feeling a bit like she'd been wrung out and left lying. She had no idea something as theoretically easy as having sex with an assumedly willing partner would be such a drawn out, stressful ordeal.

Elias caught her mouth once again, pulling her lower lip in and suckling on it until it throbbed with blood. She gasped because it hurt, but the hurt was kind of nice. Again, she was swept with a small measure of disappointment. She hadn't expected to be paired with a mate who could make her...want him. But, she wanted Elias Stone. She could feel that want beginning to pulse between her legs, like a heavy heartbeat that was thrumming in time to her racing pulse. And the longer Elias kissed her, the more he toyed with her lower lip and ran his tongue over hers, the harder the pulsing became until she thought Elias must be able to feel it. And to make matters in that area worse, he was still rolling his hips against hers and every time he touched the most sensitive spot, the more...willing...her body seemed to become and before she knew what was happening, she felt her hands touching his bare chest and her were legs moving farther apart, allowing him to settle more fully against her.

That movement brought Elias' head up and had his slightly unclear eyes widening. The questioning look on his handsome face brought a fresh flood of heat rushing into her cheeks and she instantly felt as if she had been caught doing something utterly embarrassing.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Rainee. I-I shouldn't be doing this," he rasped and he was suddenly off the bed and out of the room, though he had to stop to struggle briefly with the door lock.

And then Rainee was left alone in the room that was being lit by the first hint of dawn breaking outside the window, with her body throbbing like a toothache and her ragged breathing echoing through the space. Feeling oddly near to tears, she flung the covers back, the chill that had settled into the house biting at her exposed skin. Putting her feet on the floor, she pointed herself toward the closet, feeling uncomfortable and uneasy in her own skin, which annoyed her. She had been aroused before—who hadn't awaked in the middle of one of those dreams with all her pieces throbbing—but, in that instance, she could take care of things herself. In this case, it just didn't seem as if dealing with it on her own would make her feel better. She felt it would take something...more...something she couldn't give herself, like having an itch that only someone else could reach.

Letting out a long sigh, Rainee acknowledge that she was probably looking at a long day in front of her and even though something was telling her she'd be better off going to back to bed and staying there, she chose not to listen.