Chapter 23: When We Hurt Each Other Part 3
She did the thing where she jerked the lighter back as Trals reached for it. He wasn't expecting it, and those big, fast fingers closed over air. The second time, though, he grabbed her elbow. For a second, his skin stroked the length of her arm, warm and gritty. He pressed against her tendons like the frets of a guitar, and Andrea's fingers popped open.
He caught the lighter, but didn't let go of her. Andrea looked up into his face. Mouth smiling, eyes hard and curious.
Andrea's heart thudded, but she could fake bravado with the best of them. "Careful," she said. "Don't burn yourself."
Those hard green eyes crinkled in real humor, and Trals Scarback released her, laughing.
"It makes fire!" He shouted in Eethlek to his compadres, and flicked the lighter in his hand. "Ow! By the severed gonads of the first caponized triceratops!"