Tallusian Nights [Xihirian Shifters 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Ciara Lake

What can I do? The furry things are cute as long as they don’t eat us.”
    “Don’t worry. You’re safe from them. Sit here, out of my way, just look beautiful for me.” He pointed to the bag spread out on the ground. “Just having you here with me is helping me.” He put his hands on his hips as he watched her.
    “Okay.” She shrugged, ignoring his comments. “I guess I don’t know how to build a tent or make the fire pit work.”
    “I’ll show you how to work the fire pit.” He pulled the apparatus out of their other bag then demonstrated how easy it was. It was as simple as opening the can and flicking a switch. “You could collect some of those amber leaves? We’ll burn them. They do smell nice. It would be helpful. ”
    “Yes, I can gather leaves. I can collect some to cook, too.” She grinned.
    “Sounds delicious.” He winked. “Not really, but go ahead eat as many as you like.” Chuckling, he handed her a metal disk then showed her how it expanded to a pot. “Collect your leaves in this. We have four pots. If you want, you can collect some water in this one.” He sat it next to the fire pit. “We’ll cook the meat in one of these other pots.” As he constructed their tent, she filled the pot with leaves nearby, tossing a few in the fire.
    The pleasant aroma of the leaves filled their camp. Sitting her pot down, she picked up another one to fill it with water. “Okay, our tent’s up.” He walked over to where she was standing by the fire. “If this wasn’t war, our disk hadn’t been shot down, and your planet hadn’t been under attack, this time together would not have happened. This time has been an extremely enjoyable experience. I like being outside like this. I like this forest.” He watched her stir the leaves. The fire was putting out nice heat.
    “I do, too. I’ve never done this before, but I can see where it’s fun to camp out. Especially if it weren’t cold, dreary, and I wasn’t afraid Realmist were lurking everywhere.” She removed her coat. “But I guess if all those bad things hadn’t happened, I’d never have met you.” She smiled wide. “It’s funny how things work out. My mother used to say good always comes with bad. You just have to look for it.” Her sight got blurry with sudden tears.
    “Your mother has wisdom.” Val unbuttoned his uniform. “Let’s take a bath.” He handed her his cleaning bar. He nodded toward the creek.
    “Yes, my mother was wonderful. She died when I was fourteen annums. I miss her.” She took her boots off followed by her pants. “Let’s go see how cold it is. You go first.” She nodded to the water. “I’ll let you test it out for me.”
    “You want me to go first huh?” He shook his head, grinning. His hair fell down into his eyes, making him looking younger. “Thank you.” His eyes flared to bright amber, and then he completely stripped. He had mischief written all over his expression. With absolutely no regard for his nudity, he walked toward the creek. Hesitantly, she followed, reluctant to get naked and cold in the water. He walked into it slowly. When he got to the middle, it was at his upper thighs. “It’s not very deep.”
    “Is it really cold?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “Not too bad at all.” He splashed the water up on himself. Zalora removed her shirt then her pants. Val watched her every movement. His cock sprung to full attention. Now it stiffly stood against his taut, muscular stomach. Carefully she stepped in.
    “Oh no, it’s too cold. You tricked me.” She giggled, rushing to him. “You said no. You really fooled me. How can you behave as if it wasn’t this cold?” She cut her eyes at him.
    “I didn’t lie. It’s good to me. It feels fine.” He splashed her playfully
    “Right?” She rolled her eyes. “Stop with the splashing.” She reached down to splash back.
    “Here, soap up then rinse quickly.” He handed her the cleaning bar. She soaped her arms.
    “I’m not going