Nightchaser

by Amanda Bouchet

  Tess inhaled sharply. Her eyes widened, glittering with anticipation, and her eager nod was the yes he needed to do exactly what he’d said.

  Chapter 19

  I couldn’t believe this was really happening. It was exactly what I wanted, and Shade made me so desperate and hot that I could barely contain the shouts and moans I already needed to let out.

  I gave him the go-ahead, and with two quick zips, he had my boots off. Kneeling, he brought my legs over his shoulders, so they draped down his back. Two big, strong hands gripped my hips and slid me to the edge of the table and right to his mouth.

  His tongue dove straight into me, giving me a hint of penetration before coming back out and moving over me in strong licks.

  “Oh my… Shade!” I gasped out. My legs twitched. One of my hands hit the wall beside me, pressing hard against it. I gripped the table behind my head with the other, grounding myself as I lifted my hips. This was incredible. New for me. Gabe had never done this.

  Shade growled something between my legs. I had no idea what, but it made me forget all about my past and anyone in it. He was both methodical and uninhibited. Making noises. Exploring. Gripping my hips, flicking his tongue. Finding out what made me thump his back with my feet or turn my head into my raised arm with an openmouthed gasp.

  I never wanted him to stop. I also wanted to reach that peak I was climbing fast. Too fast. I wanted this to last.

  He slid a finger inside me. I whimpered, almost in tears. It was too much. So good. More.

  “Shade!” I banged the wall with my hand to get his attention, and his head came up.

  I knew I’d like everything that came after this, too, but right now was my turn to feel amazing. “I don’t want this part to be over so fast.”

  His lips tilted up, and a warm puff of breath raced over my sensitive skin. Slowly, he slid a second finger inside me, and I felt the slight stretch.

  “Baby, if there’s some fucked-up law that says you can’t come more than once, then I’m not following it.”

  He went back to work, and I think my eyes actually rolled back in my head. The crest did come fast, hot and explosive, shattering me like a star at its death. There was definitely that scream he’d been talking about.

  I went limp on the table, naked and out of breath. Little tremors still pulsed through me, making my body clench in places that wanted more.

  “Fuck the Powers,” Shade said as he stripped off the rest of his clothes. “You’re my new goddess.”

  I laughed. I didn’t care if he was blasphemous.

  His eyebrows rose. “You think I’m kidding? Tess of the Table. I’m going to worship you all night.”

  He scooped me up before I got a good look at his body and then strode toward his bedroom.

  When he set me down on his bed, his fingers slid over the scars on my back. There weren’t many, and they weren’t that raised, but he still felt them and looked.

  His countenance darkened. Even in the whole galaxy, there weren’t that many places where a person got whip scars, and I was pretty sure Shade knew that.

  He didn’t ask about them, and I let out the breath I’d started holding. He usually pushed when he saw something he didn’t like. Tonight, though, I thought he had other things on his mind.

  So did I. I got up on my knees and ran my hands all over him, loving the feel of his warm skin. He was strong and beautifully built, sculpted and muscled without being bulky or thick. There was a light dusting of dark hair on his chest, and I speared my fingers through it before running them up and over his shoulders and then down his arms to his hands. He was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever touched.

  Shade let me explore him without trying to hurry me along. I loved that about him.

  I had a sudden, burning desire to find out what his thighs felt like, so I did. Short, springy hair. Hot skin and solid muscle. My gaze dropped to his erection, my hand hovering near it.

  “Can I?” I asked.

  “Starshine, you can do anything you want to me.”

  His words seemed to thump between my legs. The husky rumble in his voice made me burn even hotter. Down low, muscles clenched.

  I wrapped my fingers around him, lightly squeezing. Shade’s nostrils flared, and his whole body tensed. I knew it was in a good way, and I stroked him from base to tip. He hardened even more, so smooth, steely, and appealing under my hand. But I needed more than this. I wanted him inside me. I wanted us to be joined. It was starting to feel as necessary as breath.

  Putting one hand on his shoulder for balance, I slowly moved my leg over him, straddling him. Shade turned us so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his feet on the floor, stable. He kept his hands on my hips, letting me take the lead. My eyes on his, I rose up and guided him to my opening. I started to sink back down, but then stopped.

  “Did you want protection?” I asked.

  Shaking his head in answer, he curled his hips, penetrating me just a little. The look on his face when we came together was pure heat, and I felt scorched, inside and out.

  I took my time lowering myself completely onto him. The stretch was unpleasant, and the fullness wasn’t comfortable at first, but then Shade wrapped his hand around the back of my head and drew my lips to his. He kissed me hard while he gently rocked his hips, and I forgot all about the initial discomfort. Soon, I started moving faster and sinking down farther. The intensity between us built, and everything else slipped away, replaced by waves of heat and jolts of pleasure.

  Nothing in the galaxy could have distracted me from the slide of our bodies, our panting kisses, our subtle noises, or Shade’s hands on me. I set the pace for a long time, and he adjusted to my rhythm, using his mouth and fingers to drive me wild and move me toward that pinnacle he’d promised again.

  He finally turned us so that he was on top, his weight balanced above me. I drew my knees up as he thrust. He went so deep I gasped.

  “You all right?” he asked, holding my head in his hands.

  I nodded. “More than all right.” I was so all right that I was ready to blurt out stupid things like Wait for me and I’ll come back.

  He started moving again, touching places inside me that made fireworks spark. Between consuming, soul-searing kisses, he breathed heavily against my neck.

  “Shade,” I whispered, wound up so tightly that I shook.

  His big, hard body was a heady weight on mine. His strokes stayed long and deep but went faster. I raised my hips, spurring him on.

  “You’re a dream I didn’t know I had,” he rasped, his stubble grazing my neck.

  My heart swelled. I felt the same way.

  He bit down on where my shoulder met my neck. It didn’t hurt, but it was feral and possessive and perfect. It made pleasure burst between my legs.

  “Shade!” I dug my fingers into his back, arching up into him as I climaxed hard. It was everything the first time had been, and so much more, because he was inside me this time, and the connection I felt to him was starting to both amaze and terrify me. I couldn’t believe how right this felt—he felt.

  I let out a shuddering breath, sinking back down into the covers with a satisfied moan. Pulsing aftershocks rippled through me, heightening every sensation. Shade kissed my shoulder and neck and then slid his mouth along my jaw. I gripped his short hair and turned his face toward mine, claiming his lips and knowing that I was trying to imprint myself onto him—and hoping it worked.

  He began thrusting again, driving himself toward his own release. I held on with arms and legs, my mouth open against his neck. I bit, too. Why not? I’d loved it. Then I sucked. Sucked hard. Shade tasted like a salty dessert. A lusty sound thrummed in my throat.

  “Holy hell, baby.” He shuddered above me, an exhale rushing from his lungs. Then he stopped, and I felt him throbbing inside me. Slowly draining of tension, he groaned in a way that told m
e he was just as lost in me as I was in him.

  The moment was so perfect I wanted to stay in it forever, lovers entwined. For a few seconds, I let myself wish that could be my life.

  Closing my eyes helped cut off that thought, blocking out the dim light and reminding me of the Dark. I still couldn’t help the maybe someday that blew like a cyclone through all the doors I was trying to shut.

  Shade stayed where he was, caging but not crushing. I turned my head to lightly kiss his mouth again, and his eyes opened, warm and brown.

  “You’re something else,” he murmured with a smile. “A man could get used to this.”

  He kissed me back, and I flushed all over, hot with pleasure.

  He eventually pulled out of me, but we stayed all tangled up together, neither of us making any effort to clean ourselves up or talk. I smelled like him, and we smelled like sex, and I wanted to hold on to that. I watched his big hand on my waist, watched his scarred knuckles, watched his thumb sweep slowly back and forth in what seemed like an instinctual, subconscious caress.

  When I shivered, Shade got us under the covers and curved himself around me until I slept.

  Chapter 20

  Shade had to wake her up. Tess had told him she needed to leave for Starway 8 today, and past a certain hour of the morning, she’d have to pay for another whole day on the Squirrel Tree. She couldn’t afford that.

  Lying there, she was so still. It made him realize how kinetic she usually was, always in motion. Even when she wasn’t actually moving, there was a nervous edge to her, making her seem active. Not now. Not sleeping. Sleeping, she didn’t look like she’d been orphaned and imprisoned and hunted and who knew what else.

  Propping himself on one elbow, he leaned over her and stroked a hand down her arm. “Tess?”

  She mumbled something and curled up on her side, her back to him.

  “Does that mean leave me the hell alone and let me sleep?” he asked.

  Her lips curved up. “Maybe.” There was morning gravel in her voice.

  He liked hearing how she sounded when she woke up. There was something intimate about it, like he was gaining another piece of her. He wanted to collect them all.

  That terrifying thought felt like a ticking bomb inside his chest, and his heart started to pound. He’d only made one decision in his life that he truly regretted, but right now, he was afraid he was barreling toward a second one that might be even more disastrous than the first.

  Tess shifted, and her hips moved against him, distracting him back to better thoughts. She went still against his groin, but then slowly rubbed, as if she couldn’t help herself. His balls tightened, and his already hard cock grew heavier, filling even more. He pressed closer to her, and warmth tingled at the base of his spine. He wanted her. He couldn’t imagine not wanting her. They were a flawless fit.

  She was so greedy for physical contact. That was perfect, because she also gave. Humanity seemed brainwashed these days into thinking anything beyond tidy, boring sex and orderly touches menaced society. Sometimes, he was surprised babies were even still being made. He had no interest in that kind of dull, passionless contact and hadn’t pursued a woman in so many months that his own dry spell seemed long, although it was nothing compared to Tess’s seven years.

  Shade swept his hand toward her belly and splayed his fingers over her abdomen, letting his thumb tease the undersides of her breasts. Dipping his head, he kissed her shoulder, inhaling her scent. She didn’t smell like peaches anymore. She smelled more like him than anything else, and something possessive yanked hard at his gut.

  The raw, primitive feeling reminded him of stories he’d read about the first Earth men and how they’d lived like animals in caves, hunting and killing and fucking and dragging their women around by the hair. He could almost see the appeal of it. He basically had the cave. He could hunt for Tess. Get rid of anyone who threatened her. They would fuck. He could probably skip the hair part, although she might like a good tug.

  Only a little distracted by his strange ideas, Shade slid slow, hungry kisses up Tess’s neck. Her skin was warm and soft, and he nuzzled behind her ear. She started moving, writhing in place, straining in that completely uninhibited way of hers. The need to satisfy her blazed through him, and he moved his hand between her legs.

  He pressed and stroked, smiling a little against her hair when he found the right spot, making her gasp and jerk. The whole back of her body was like a branding iron against his front. He knew she’d left her mark on him, and she sure as hell went more than skin-deep. There was no getting Tess out of his system. He didn’t want to. He just wanted more.

  Shade kept her tight against him as she jumped like a live wire, full of electrical shocks. The sexiest noises whispered out of her, getting louder the more wound up she got. He wanted to lick them up with kisses that went so deep they touched her throat.

  He was about to turn her around and do his best to devour her when she lifted her leg on top of his in clear invitation, quickly derailing his last thought. He didn’t have to wonder if she was on board for sex, because Tess was the one reaching down to guide him inside her. She arched back, opening herself up and taking him in. She didn’t need to ask twice, or even out loud. With slow thrusts, Shade worked his way deeper, and his mind blanked to everything except for how good she felt around him.

  Rocking his hips, he kept rubbing his fingers above where they were joined until she shuddered and came, gasping his name. He absorbed her tremors, feeling her body clench around him and pull him toward his own release.

  Already satisfied as hell, he rolled on top of her. Tess went easily onto her stomach for him, leaving her hands beside her head and him between her legs.

  Shade curled his fists around her hands and pumped into her until heat swept up his thighs, shot through his dick, and he came so hard it was like an explosion inside him. Tess cried out, her head turned to one side. He didn’t know if she was climaxing again. His own throbbing overwhelmed everything else, and the thud of his pulse echoed like thunder in his head.

  Sweating, his muscles spent, he bowed his head, breathing rapidly against her shoulder. His heart hammered, and he held on to her hands, not wanting to let go yet.

  “Come back,” he murmured before he knew what he was saying. “When you’re done on Starway 8, come back here.” Then he’d at least know she was still safe.

  Her body seemed to soften even more under his. “You want me to come back?”

  “Baby, I don’t want you to leave in the first place.”

  She smiled. He made her smile. His chest seemed to grow ten sizes, and he knew he was in deep, deep trouble. He hadn’t had a weakness in years, not one fucking thing he couldn’t stand to lose, because everything he cared about was already gone.

  Fear started to run like ice through his veins. What had he done to himself?

  A second later, he realized it didn’t matter—because he’d do it all again.

  Shade rolled them back onto their sides and wrapped his arms around her, those few long whip scars hidden against his chest. After a moment, he threw his leg over both of Tess’s, thinking that its heavy weight pinning her to his bed was about as caveman possessive as she’d let him get.

  “I’ll try,” she finally said, not making any move to wiggle free from his near-full-body grip.

  Trying was better than nothing, he guessed.

  “Go to Nuthatch,” he said. “It’s as good as the Squirrel Tree and less expensive.”

  She nodded. “Why do all the docking towers have such weird names here?”

  “My—” Shade cleared his throat and started over. “The person who built the docking empire on Albion 5 was a naturalist at heart, even though he ended up in urban construction and then got involved in the terraforming next door. He studied the old Earth species, those that survived the fallout and those that didn’t, and even wrote a
few books about them in his spare time. He was fascinated by birds and small mammals—I guess because they’re tough little critters that can apparently make it through almost anything. He named the towers after them.” Shade chuckled. “Avoid the Rat Hatch. It’s as bad as it sounds.”

  “Interesting.” Turning her head toward him, Tess asked, “How do you know all that?”

  Shade tried to keep the glumness from his face and voice. “Read his books.”

  Tess seemed to accept that. It was the truth, even if it wasn’t all of it.

  “Thanks for the tip.” She smiled. “I’ll remember—Nuthatch.”

  He smiled back. “Anytime, starshine.”

  Both their smiles slipped from their faces. Anytime was as up in the air for them as the stratosphere.

  Shade’s lungs contracted almost painfully. Tess might fly off in an hour, and he’d never see her again.

  * * *

  That hour came fast, and as the elevator tube swept them up to the three-hundred-and-fourteenth level of the Squirrel Tree just after sunrise, Shade had no idea how he was going to let go of Tess, especially knowing the danger she was in.

  She used a hand scan to open the new starboard door of the Endeavor. A beep sounded from somewhere deep inside the ship, signaling the door opening from the outside.

  He didn’t know if anyone was awake inside, but he moved Tess a little farther out onto the platform before stopping again. Their goodbye seemed more private that way.

  “Stay safe,” Shade said, his voice coming out gruff. It didn’t seem like enough, but he didn’t know what else he could add. Don’t kill yourself for orphans? If you see anyone who looks like a bounty hunter, run? Ditch the rebellion and hide out in my basement?

  As much as he wanted her tangled up with him in his bed, only a jackass would suggest that.

  Tess moved forward and threw her arms around his neck. “You, too, Shade.”

  His arms were up and around her before his brain caught up. With Tess, he seemed to function on a primitive level with instinct driving him. Help. Protect. Fuck. Keep.