Their Rebel Mate [Helan Universe 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Lynn Tyler Page A

could name. Some materials she couldn’t even identify. She fingered one made of a lightweight jewel green, marvelling over the color. It matched Thantos’s eyes exactly.
    The door slid open, and the man himself walked in, smiling apologetically when he saw her. “I’m sorry, lira . I would have given you some privacy to get dressed, but I really need to get dressed myself if I’m going to make my lecture on time this afternoon.”
    He opened the closet door and extracted a pair of black pants and a slate-gray tunic-like shirt. The color should have washed him out, but she could already tell he would look gorgeous.
    Thantos dropped the towel around his waist and bent over to shimmy on the tight pants, affording her a spectacular view of his naked backside. He turned around to grab his shirt and smiled when he caught her stare, causing her to blush. Crap. She was probably as red as a fire truck right about now.
    Thantos chuckled, the rich, low sound sending shivers down her spine. “Don’t be embarrassed. I just forget how modest most humans are. As a rule, we Helans are quite comfortable in our skin.”
    The shirt went on next, followed by a pair of socks and a pair of boots. Kim watched in fascination as Thantos quickly began to weave small braids at his temples. The Consort Varin had had the same braids, with little bells attached to the bottom when the Helans had first made contact with Earth. “What are the braids for?”
    “Historically, they were to keep hair out of the eyes during battle,” Thantos explained. “The more braids, the higher the male’s rank in the military. I’m not a warrior by any stretch of the imagination, but my rank as Ambassador gives me the right to wear the braids.”
    She nodded and played with the ends of her hair, cursing herself when she caught the nervous habit. “Is Kerek going to the surface with you?” She was torn about whether she wanted Kerek to be going or not. On the one hand, she didn’t want Thantos to go alone. On the other, she didn’t want Kerek to suffer from the shuttle trips again.
    Thantos smiled and shook his head. “No. He’s needed here on board, so Consort R’oan has assigned me a couple of bodyguards while I’m on the surface. Plus, I’m going to see if I can arrange for the rest of my lectures to be done via satellite so that I don’t have to leave the ship quite as often. Because, just like you, lira , I don’t want Kerek to suffer any more than he has to.”
    Lira . They had both been calling her that since they’d first met. Now that she had the translator, she knew that the word meant “dear one.”
    Before she could puzzle out the reason behind the fact that the two of them were referring to her by an endearment, Thantos bent down so that he could look her in the eye. “Don’t think too hard, Kim. We’ll talk when I get back if you still have any questions. Okay?” He kissed her forehead and left.
    Soft words floated back to her, the men’s low voices arousing and soothing all at once. “You will be careful,” Kerek was saying. “And you will come back to me at the end of the day, ready for me.”
    She crept over to the bedroom door and peeked around the opening. Kerek and Thantos were standing chest to chest, their bodies touching from thigh to shoulder. Thantos had his thumbs hooked into the waistband of Kerek’s pants, and Kerek had one hand cupped around Thantos’s cheek and the other tangled in his hair.
    “Of course I’ll be safe. And I already can’t wait to be back home.”
    Kerek nodded once and slammed his mouth down on Thantos’s. The pair of them groaned and ate at each other’s mouths until Thantos was shifting his hips.
    The sensations that were wracking Kim’s body had nothing to do with simply watching their display. Nope, she could feel a hard bulge against her stomach, the eager anticipation, the soft slide of fingers through her hair, and the silken lips against her own, despite the fact that she was