by Grace, Viola
She chuckled and took a bite before licking the energy tentacle. “You know, in case of that happening, there is twenty-four-hour room service. All we would have to do is cuddle for twenty minutes, and then, we could be back on track for the rest of the evening.”
His limbs lifted her until she was hovering over him, and he grinned. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“You never asked.”
She looked at him. “Your place?”
He grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I want to make sure that we aren’t disturbed.”
She thought for a second about all the equipment and toys housed in that bungalow, and she shivered. “I could go for a little quiet time.”
He grinned, “Ah, angel, quiet is the last thing I want.”
He brought her in for a kiss.
* * * *
Ledia looked at the image of an angel caught in the grips of a sea monster. Her mind took in all the angles, calculated the stone usage, and she knew what she wanted to sculpt next.
Juro chuckled and glanced over his shoulder. “They would make an excellent statue.”
She nodded. “I will have to do a sketch before I go to bed, but it will be something if I can find the stone.”
“What do you mean, find the stone ? You carved off a bunch of it in the details this afternoon. And rock is just rock.”
She laughed. “No, it isn’t, but it is cute that you think so.”
Juro blinked. “Cute. No one dares call me cute.”
Ledia shrugged. “I am not one of the escorts. I can call you whatever I like.” She chuckled, and then, the wheezing started. She bolted to her feet. “Excuse me.”
She ran to the restroom and used her inhaler.
When she came out, a bottle was pressed into her hand. “Drink that.”
She titled her head back and drank the entire bottle in twenty seconds. “Rathnard’s Syndrome?”
Ledia nodded. “Uh, yeah.”
“I thought that all folk with Rathnard’s Syndrome were supposed to be evaluated by medics from Hyreno.”
“Oh, I have been evaluated. I am an excellent candidate for their artisan program, but Uradda won’t let me go. They want me dead, but they want work out of me first, so tomorrow, I go home, and Monday, I get back to work.”
“When do you return here?”
“Every three weeks, I get two days off. I will spend it here until I populate their statue garden for them.”
“What happens after that?”
She shrugged. “Based on the progress of the syndrome, I should be confined to Uradda after about six months.”
“You accept it?” He was leaning on the wall, glowering down at her.
She looked at him. “Some things in life are worth fighting for. Friends, family, things we care about, and life. Sometimes you fight, and you still can’t win. My syndrome started at activation, and I am getting tired. I have gotten those I care about into safe situations, and I am ready to let go as soon as I finish my task. The last thing that I want to do is to leave a little bit of me behind, so I have to stay alive to do it.”
His appalled expression made her laugh.
“Well, to stay alive, I have to eat, and I think the food just showed up.” She moved to pass him, but he wrapped an arm around her waist.
“You are very confusing, Miss Ledia.”
She grinned. “I get that a lot, and I am tired of that, too.”
The pretty couple were gone when they got back to the dining room, but Ledia had her mental image. She would get some stone when she could and do a tiny mock-up.
She returned to her seat, and a quiet Juro sat across from her. She consumed the four servings worth that heavy lifters used, and Juro did the same.
She laughed. “I thought you would eat more fish.”
“When I am on the land, I eat the land beasts. When I am in the sea, I eat the sea creatures.” He chuckled. “When I am in the cities, I eat hot dogs.”
She snickered. “You are wrecking all kinds of mystery here.”
He shrugged. “If you are hell-bent on dying, you will take my secrets to your grave.”
“I am not hell-bent on dying, but I have escaped a number of times, and they keep bringing me back, threatening my friends and family and becoming more invasive in their tracking methods. It is amazing that the resort was even able to get me here.” She finished her second steak and potato.
Juro sat back and sighed. “I may regret this in a few months, but for now, I am glad they did.”
“Don’t worry about it. I am certain that you have an escort waiting in the wings. Those ladies work hard so that you don’t notice your hair has flipped the wrong way and ruined your look.”
He blinked. “It did?”
She nodded. “It did.”
He leaned forward. “Help.”
She reached out and touched him, flipping his hair back into the smooth arrangement and getting the errant coil under control. “There you go. All tidy.”
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles, grazing her knuckles with his lips. She felt a tiny pinprick of pain and stared at him. “What was that?”
“Sorry. With all of these teeth, they sometimes get out of control.”
“What, like going on a rampage?”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
The server took the empty plates away and brought in dessert.
They talked late into the night, but when she went to bed, she wasn’t as exhausted as she normally was. It appeared that good company made the difference in her recovery. She looked at the knuckle where he had nicked her. There was something in there, and she headed for her med kit. It took something sharper than a razor to get through her skin, and he had done it with a kiss. It made her pity the steak she had eaten, mashed to pieces by grinding teeth when it could have been done so much more easily.
She smiled as she fell asleep. It was nice to have a good day to look back on. Her aunt would love to hear about meeting the ambassador of Hyreno. She loved everything regarding the ocean, and Juro was definitely from the ocean. He might have been born on land, but he was definitely built to cruise under the waves.
She hugged her pillow and imagined being there with him. Her application to be an escort had been her last frantic attempt to get her free of the Uradda government. If she was suitable for the Blind Date Corporation, they would bring political pressures to bear that would get her loose. It was a dream she was going to hang on to.
Chapter Sixteen
Eighteen was nervous. Really nervous. He had taken her back to his bungalow and escorted her inside.
Her dress slid from her shoulders at his light touch, leaving her in the underwear and stockings. He put a robe over her shoulders, and she looked down.
“A robe?”
“I don’t want you getting cold.” He stripped off his jacket, loosened his tie, and unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it free of his trousers.
She licked her lips. “Getting cold?”
“Sure. I think we need to take the edge off outside, and since you are such an expert in all things local, I thought I would be nice enough to give you a running start.”
She took the out, and her wings snapped in. She bolted out the door without a giggle. He had wrapped his tie around one fist, and as much as she enjoyed it, there was a hard aspect to his expression. He wanted to hunt her, so she was going to run. She flicked off her mask on the porch, and her shoes were left behind as well. The monster was waking up behind her, and she needed to make him work for it.
She darted through the ornamental gardens and up to a clifftop. She was just looking for a tree to climb when a loop of crimson caught her and pulled her back against him. Her heart was pounding, and the fabric held her in place. “P-p-patron?”
“Mask is off, Tirra. You are you, and I am me.” He pressed a kiss to her neck and cupped her jaw, turning her head toward him.
She looked up at him, and he smiled. “Those are the eyes that I have been missing all ni
ght.”
She twisted toward him and reached up to hold his jaw. “I have been missing the blue in your eyes as well.”
“It has been forever.”
“It has been two hours.”
He grinned and slipped a hand between them, opening her robe.
She looked down and watched narrow tentacles slide into her robe, and they tickled as they moved behind her. The strapless bra gave way and dropped to the ground.
“Talented.”
He lifted her while two more sneaky tendrils removed her panties. “Oh, I have been looking forward to this day since I activated.”
She leaned forward and rubbed herself against his skin, stifling the moans and groans as she tried to get more of him. Where they touched, she felt electricity, and when they kissed, her mind first went blank and then filled with fire. She pressed herself to him, gyrating her hips against his.
His hands gripped her hips then one slid between her thighs. She gasped with short, sharp inhalations, pressing her forehead to his as he tested to see how ready she was. Tirra let out a low, whining moan as his fingers moved inside her.
“Oh, angel, you have been waiting for me for a while.”
She rode his hand and nipped at his lips. “How long will you keep me waiting?”
He shuddered. He pulled his fingers out of her, opened his trousers, and pushed them down so that when his cock pressed against her, there was nothing in the way.
He stood and lowered her onto him while his hips pushed up.
Tirra’s eyes widened as the sensations twisted, and her focus turned inward. Her body was making room for him, taking him in, and holding him tight. He growled as he gripped her until he was in her to his base, and they were shaking as they held onto each other.
“Fuck.”
She kissed him, nipping at his lips. “I was hoping that you would get to that part.”
He whispered, “Which part, angel?”
“The fucking. I have been waiting a really long time.”
He grinned. “Can I have your wings?”
“The second time. For now, I want you as you come.”
“That is my line for you, angel.”
She nuzzled her head along his and pressed her ears to his lip. “Then, get to it.”
He chuckled. “Greedy thing.”
“No point in not being greedy. Good girls don’t get to fuck their dream partners at the top of a cliff.”
He grinned. “Then I had better start moving.”
“Good plan. I might fly away otherwise.”
He gripped her hips and lifted her before sliding oh-so-slowly back in. His energy tentacles wrapped around her, lifting and teasing her breasts as their bodies found the rhythm that suited them both, and they drove for release.
When Tirra was covered in sweat, gasping, and her legs were firmly locked around Gorith’s waist, her orgasm struck, tension snapped, and she wailed as her wings sprouted with the extra energy.
She kept her legs around him when he groaned and held himself still as his cock pulsed inside her. She was wrapped around him, the golden columns of his tentacles around her, and her wings slowly opening and closing.
Gorith chuckled. “Was it a good first time?”
She sighed. “Lovely.”
“Everything you had hoped?”
“I wasn’t hoping for anything other than you. Now that I have the benchmark, you can start offering me to other patrons.”
His arms clenched on her. “Why would you say that?”
“Wasn’t that what was going on with Juro?” She looked at him with her brows raised.
His golden cheeks coloured to bronze. “Perhaps a little, but I don’t want to share you.”
She smiled. “That is all well and good, but now, I am on the books at BDC, so if the date is reasonable and to my tastes, I will take it. I can’t go through life with you being the only person I date. Patrons are not expected to be exclusive, so escorts can’t be.”
He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You couldn’t have waited until I wasn’t inside you any more to tell me that?”
“You knew it. What were you expecting?”
He ran his hands up and down her back. “I expected to have a lifetime of moments with you, thousands of encounters like this one.”
She stroked her hands through his short hair. “Then, would it make you feel better to know that while I am authorized to have sexual encounters with patrons, I have not signed that contract. I am still in the platonic date zone until I sign it. Tonight was at my discretion.”
He blinked. “So, you aren’t a full escort?”
“I can be if I want to be, but it doesn’t matter to me. Now, does it matter to you?” She looked at him seriously.
He blushed. “I know you have my history with the escorts, but, yeah, keeping you to myself does matter.”
“What about make-out sessions with Khytten or fooling around with Torenne?”
“Torenne I am iffy about. She was a jackass during training.”
“She took agent training?”
“Yeah, but she had a problem getting a handle on her body, so she focused on the medical stuff.” He smiled. “You don’t have designs on Salat?”
“Nope. He’s Khytten’s. I liked the bodysuit, but Torenne’s design sense is prettier and less dramatic.” She smiled. “I liked the leather and heels.”
He hugged her. “How about our next coupling be in a bed with rustling sheets?”
“Fine. Just one thing though.” She looked at him with a serious expression.
“Anything.”
“Get that tentacle out of my ass before you take a single step, or I am going to see if I can fly with you attached.”
He laughed and did as she asked. It was a good thing. They were on a cliff, and she was a woman of her word.
His energy on her skin was one thing; his mouth on her was another. His tongue flicked her nipples in a delightful way, and she rocked her clit against his thigh while he confirmed that her modest endowments were perfectly fine with him.
Every brush of his lips and caress of his tongue told her that he wanted her exactly the way she was, and she wanted him, psychotic tentacles and all.
She whimpered as her body crested and peaked at the mercy of suction and friction.
“Oh, Tirra, look at me.” His words were dark.
His blue eyes were intense as he lined up the wide head of his cock against her, and when their gazes were locked, he thrust into her, pinning her hands beside her head as he rocked into her with slow undulations. She gasped, “Patron.”
“No, say my name, Tirra.”
“Gorith. Oooh, Gorith.” She arched against him, and he thrust into her, shuddering as he groaned and flexed inside her.
She caught him as he dropped on top of her and nearly squashed her flat. She wrapped him in her arms and legs and kissed his cheek. “You okay?”
“I have imagined what it would sound like to have you say my name in this particular situation, but I did not think it would have that effect.” He turned his head and kissed her.
She sighed. “But, Gorith, if I want to say your name, what will you do?” Her exaggerated confusion made him laugh.
“I will just have to work on desensitization. I will have to hear it so much that I stop cumming when you moan it in my ear.”
“Maybe I should be on top. You might be able to keep it together while I am riding you rather than—” He gripped her butt and rolled.”Yikes! She giggled and sat up, bracing her hands on the cobbled skin of his abdomen. There were muscles on his muscles, and she stroked her hands up his chest, thumbing his nipples and leaning forward to kiss him, nearly letting him slip out of her before she slid back onto him.
“Let me get the rhythm. This is my first time with an actual practice subject.” She smiled.
“What does the BDC normally do for newbies?”
She started moving, and she said, “Team members. We get team members or retired members like Ha
rmik to volunteer. They aren’t into the idea of relationships, and they love being experimented on in this particular way.”
“What particular way?”
She swivelled her hips and then started to move in earnest. “This particular way.”
His hands gripped her hips. He arched back and said, “I am a huge fan of experimenting.”
“Ah, Gorith.” She stretched her arms behind her head as she moved on him and crossed her wrists over her head before bending her elbows and cupping the back of her skull. “Well, since that didn’t have any effect, I will have to think of something else.”
His hands shot up and gripped her wrists, pulling her hands behind her and holding her wrists together with one hand. He pulled her down to him and kissed her as she continued to rock with him deep inside her. He held her, supported her, and kept her from calling out his name until she moaned and shuddered around him.
She whispered, “Gorith, your turn,” in a low husky tone.
His hips jerked upward, and he was deep inside her while he throbbed and groaned. He breathed deep, and the scent of sex was heavy in the air. “I think if I could bottle that scent, we could kill humans at twenty paces.”
“Why would we want to do that?”
He laughed. “In case they ever rise up against us again. Kill them with sex.”
“But, you can tear them in half.”
“It’s messy, and humans don’t tear in half; it is usually off to one side or the other.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds likely.”
She nuzzled at his neck and nipped lightly.
“Not tired out?”
She lifted her head. “No. I have been waiting for this for a while since Khytten first started tinkering with me.”
“Is that what you call it? She was making out with you pretty intently.”
She blushed. “With some notable exceptions, I am one of her preferred body types for lovers.”
Gorith chuckled. “Yeah, I could see that. Torenne also has an appreciation for you.”
“Yeah, she’s a little more aggressive than Khytten is. Don’t mistake me; Khytten is plenty aggressive.”