Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (books to read to get smarter txt) 📕

slowly. His hand had released mine and was now on my hip, his fingers firm but not forceful, while his other hand cupped the back of my neck. I returned the kiss, taking cues from him. Opening my mouth when his tongue brushed my lips, moving closer when he pulled on my hip. Like every other time we’d touched, there was a slight tingle in my stomach, which only grew more intense with the deepening of the kiss. It felt good. Better than when I’d allowed Kael—the Veilorian Ione had set me up with—to kiss me. Better than the few guys I’d gone to bed with.

Finally, after a few seconds, Dean broke the kiss, but he didn’t step back or release me, and the slow smile that spread across his face had me flushing.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for months.”

“I had no idea.”

“Really?” He sounded surprised and maybe a little disappointed. “I guess I kind of thought you were interested.”

“Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it.” I scrambled for something to say that would massage his bruised ego. “I was so focused on Ione, you know?”

He nodded, but like the other times I’d mentioned my cousin, something about his expression changed. “That’s understandable.”

His hand was still on my hip, but he’d moved the other one, running it down my shoulder and arm until he was able to lace his fingers through mine.

“I had a good time.”

“Me, too,” I said. “Thanks for sharing someplace so special with me.”

“I wouldn’t bring just anyone here. I hope you know that.”

I did, and even though I wasn’t totally sure if this thing between us had any long-term potential, it softened him in my eyes.

He cleared his throat. “I know you had a fight with your mom, so if you don’t want to go home…”

He let the sentence trail off, but his meaning was loud and clear. It was also tempting, even if most of it had to do with my desire to avoid my mom. But I wasn’t ready to sleep with Dean, and not just because this was a first date. Doubts still lingered in the back of my head that refused to be pushed away no matter how attractive I found him.

“I think I should go home and make sure my sister’s there,” I said.

He forced out a smile as disappointment flashed in his eyes. “Okay. I get it.”

“But I wouldn’t be opposed to going out again,” I added, hoping to save his feelings. “When you have time.”

Dean’s grin widened, finally reaching his eyes. “For you, I’ll make time.”

Chapter Nine

Dean and I went out again only three days after our first date, catching a classic movie from the twenty-first century at the five-dollar theater. He reached for my hand the second the lights went out, holding it as the long dead actors tried to figure out how to defeat the magical killer clown terrorizing their town. By the middle of the movie he’d shifted, slipping his hand free so he could put his arm around my shoulder, and less than ten minutes later, his other hand was on my knee. I let it happen without resisting, but when he leaned over and planted a kiss on my neck, I knew it was time to put a stop to things. I was attracted to Dean and appreciated him spending so much of his hard-earned money to take me to a movie, but I wasn’t about to fool around in a theater like a horny teen.

He was in the process of kissing his way up my neck, his hand now on my thigh, when I shifted away from him.

“I want to watch this,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low.

He sighed and pulled away, removing his hand from my leg but leaving his arm around my shoulders.

The movie was relaxing after that. Well, as relaxing as it could have been, considering how bloody the flick was. It was like the people of the past had never had to endure any kind of real tragedy and had some kind of sick desire to revel in it. It didn’t really seem like entertainment to me with all the death, disease, and poverty that had always surrounded me. I preferred the romances and comedies from the past.

After the movie, we walked down the crowded streets hand in hand, chatting as we dodged the people still out and about. It was Saturday night, and since a lot of the city had Sunday off, things hadn’t settled down the way they usually had by this time of night. A group of rowdy teenage boys were in front of us, brown paper bags that held bottles of booze clasped in their hands. Occasionally, one of them would jump in front of another pedestrian and yell or pull some other obnoxious move, and the rest of the group would burst out laughing.

I rolled my eyes, but Dean only chuckled and said, “They’re just kids having fun. Don’t you remember those days? Before you had to be an adult, I mean. Back when things weren’t so difficult.”

“No.” I thought back to the day my mom had decreed it was my turn to get a job. “I’ve been working on the cleaning crew since I was fifteen. It didn’t exactly leave a lot of time for a social life.”

Dean kept walking, but he slowed so he could look at me. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said. “My mom insisted I drop out of school, so I had no choice. I’ve been working ever since.”

“What’s her deal?” he asked, disbelief ringing in his voice. “I mean, is she sick or something?”

“She’s an alcoholic, so I guess you’d call her sick.” I shrugged because I didn’t really have any other way to explain my mom. “She’s mostly an unhappy person, though. I think it started when my dad left, but it got worse when my sister’s dad ran off. He didn’t even wait around until she was born.”

“Sounds like a winner.”

“What I