Purity (Pure and Tainted) Read Online Free Page A

and her vision was blurred but she no longer felt like her
body was turning itself inside out.
    K didn’t care. She wanted the pain back and his hands off .
    “You may be the Goddess damned physician, Boone, but I’m the one
from Eros.” Loki sounded smug. “I know touch deprivation when I see it and
she’s got the worst case I’ve ever seen.”
    “Touch deprivation? Thought only you Erians got that,” the giant,
whose name was apparently Boone protested. “She’s a Purist.”
    “Purist or not, she’s got it all right. Got it bad . Look, she’s still having a
hard time. It’ll be better if you take off your shirt and hold her.”
    “What?” Boone sounded shocked—almost as unwilling to touch her as
K was to be touched.
    “Skin-to-skin contact is the only thing that eases it. You don’t
do it, she could die.”
    “Why me though?” The hands left her for a minute and K heard a
rustling sound. She turned her head to see a broad, muscular expanse of tan
skin being revealed as Boone removed the dark red shirt he’d been wearing. Bare skin. More
bare skin than she’d ever seen in her life. K felt like she was going to die. Wished she could die.
    The one called Loki shrugged—an effeminate, almost cat-like
gesture. “You touched her first. She’s imprinted on you.”
    “ Imprinted on me? Oh
great—this just gets better and better.” But despite his protests, Boone
scooped her up again. Before K could try to get away he was cradling her in his
arms, her entire right side pressed against his bare chest.
    “No, please. Purity help me, please no .” Her voice was little more than a
whisper and to her horror, she actually felt a lump in her throat. She hadn’t been
subject to such strong emotions since before she had first been fitted for her skinsuit.
Somehow she choked the unwanted feelings down and tried to make her voice dispassionate.
“Let me go.”
    “Can’t, darlin’. Much as I hate to admit it, seems
like Loki’s right about this. You do better when I’m touching you.” Boone
peered down at her, his blue-green eyes filled with a mixture of irritation and
concern. “Don’t worry that I’m getting off on it, though. I don’t want to be
near you anymore than you want to be near me.”
    “Put me…put me down.” K struggled weakly against him. The wall of
his chest was solid and warm and his scent was like nothing she had ever
smelled—spicy and ineffably masculine somehow. It was very different from the
bland smell of her own suit-cleaned skin. Vital. Alive. Bare . Contaminated . Contaminated beyond hope
of cleansing. They’ll have to purge me. I should purge myself.
    The thought penetrated her brain with a finality that made her
stop struggling and go limp. Her head dropped against Boone’s chest and she
heard a slow, steady drumming in her ear. At first she couldn’t think what it
was and then K realized it must be his heart. A random thought skittered across
her brain. Never been
close enough to anyone to hear their heartbeat.
    No, and she had never wanted to be either. The very thought of
this much skin-to-skin contact was alien to her. Unthinkable. Deplorable. And yet it was happening and there was no
way she could stop it. She, Commander K, who had always been so strong and in
control of herself was suddenly too weak and sick to
avoid contamination.
    A wave of self-loathing rolled over her and then she was disgusted
with herself for feeling any emotion at all. But without the suit she couldn’t
seem to help it—the feelings just came and there was no way to push them away. Anymore than she could push away the giant who was holding her.
    Gradually her disgust and horror faded and K just felt numb.The pain was completely gone but there
was no hope for her now. The stitches in her thigh were nothing compared to
this…this full body contact. She would have to die. She was already dead.
    * * * * *
    Boone was relieved when she finally stopped fighting him. “That’s
good,