by Imogene Nix
He balled his free hand. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Giving in could never be an option for him. He took another sip of wine, then glanced down at the red liquid in the glass he held. He gathered his wits, looking up to see Duvall watching him with a frown.
“Come on, Gray,” Elara said. “Tonight there’s something completely different planned.” She indicated an empty round table, and the three headed toward it.
He grabbed a seat, Elara sitting on his left. His hand itched to hold hers, but he fought the urge. The young ensign working duty took their orders and returned with another round of drinks. Duvall and Elara keyed in dinner options, and finally Grayson let his mind rest as the other two sat quietly, each probably lost in their own private thoughts.
“So, what’s tonight’s program?” Grayson kept his voice neutral.
Duvall grinned. “We found this ancient concept called a karaoke. It involves everyone getting up and singing a song.” He laughed. “Apparently it makes for a fun evening. And as you know I’ve scoured everywhere for some great ideas to increase the camaraderie, especially with the newest recruits to fold into the crew. Everyone picks their own song and sings it.”
Grayson frowned. “So not everyone sings the same song?”
“Oh no! The words are displayed on the screen so everyone can see whether they get them right or wrong. Of course no one is exempted if they are here.” Elara chuckled. “Start thinking about your song.”
Duvall clapped Grayson on the back, the warmth of the friendship giving him a subtle lift.
“What a fantastic idea.” He forced the words out, but privately he wasn’t so sure about the concept.
He watched as final meals were served to latecomers and the young ensign moved around with plates clutched in his hands. The room filled with the sound of laughter, the chinking of glasses on tables, and the rumble of conversation. Finally, Duvall pushed his drink aside, standing up and moving to the front of the mess.
“Welcome everyone. Tonight we have a treat for you. My good friend, our new ST here, has come up with a new idea. Well, we believe it’s actually a really old one from before our interstellar travel days.” He followed with the explanation of the concept of the karaoke. The crowd laughed, and Grayson could tell the idea went down well with those gathered in the room. Duvall reminded everyone that as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, he alone could exercise his exemption, and a bubble of laughter enveloped the room once more.
Duvall called Elara forward first, and she grinned broadly as she stood, making her way toward the front, obviously primed as she’d already picked a song and was waiting for the beginning beats to play.
The first sounds rang through the air, and he remembered the song from her academy graduation, which he had attended with Duvall so long ago. She danced and gyrated with the song as she sang along, her eyes shining and her hair swinging, her body enticing him further with every movement. Her eyes never left his, and they shined brightly with an invitation his body clamored for him to accept. Dimly, he noted she had a melodic voice. Something inside him broke open, his restraint shattering as she undulated in time with the beat, and the promise of passion shimmered in the air between them.
He started to sweat, and his arousal soared to a feverish pitch. Watching those lips move and remembering the taste of her became unbearable. Unable to contain himself any further, he stood, pushing away from the table in jerky movements. His gaze narrowed as Elara made her way back toward the table, obviously having finished while he’d been lost in the struggle to control his body.
She watched him, her gaze hungry and a slight flush pinking her skin. She was clearly oblivious to those who glanced at them.
Grayson turned and started to move, heading out the door of the mess, when her small hand grabbed his.
“Elara...” Longing filled his voice.
“Please, Grayson.”
He couldn’t contain himself any further. Need sang through him. He surged through the door, dragging her behind him and to the side, roughly pushing her back to the wall.
A victorious groan rose as he plastered himself to her, his body screaming with the lust and passion he had fought for so long. Arousal roared through his system as he pushed up against her, savoring the touch of her body against his.
Opening his mouth and kissing her with every bit of pent-up lust inside him, years of longing poured out of him. The kiss, rocket hot, scorched everything in its path, and he felt it all the way to his groin. His erection strained against his pants.
Her lips parted under his, and he felt the touch of her tongue against his. She grabbed him and pulled him closer. She groaned into his mouth, and he pushed himself closer still, as close as he could get fully clothed and in the corridor of a battleship without completely forgetting himself.
She gave back just as hot. Her touch ignited him as her hands roamed over his body. If possible, his core heated further, demanding release from the torture. Barsha! How he wanted her. He raised his head. He knew she wasn’t unaffected. Her face was flushed, her eyes glittering, and her chest heaved. He swung back to lean against the wall next to her, gasping for breath while his fingers groped for hers.
“So, what now?” she whispered to him. She turned in his direction, and their gazes collided. Her eyes held an invitation he could no longer deny.
He pulled away from the wall and towed her along the corridor toward his cabin. Thank Eshra his cabin was on the main level. She followed him, her hand fluttering in his grasp.
When he stopped outside his door, the last shred of sanity returned, brittle beneath the raging feelings. “If you don’t want this, tell me now. Once I start, I don’t think I can stop.” His voice was graveled and tight, just like his body, and he felt amazed he could even get the words out. His chest shuddered with the effort of stopping himself from throwing her through the door and onto the floor, taking her right there on the carpet.
He watched her, waiting and holding his breath, praying she would accept, yet something in the darker recesses of his brain cried out what will I do if she turns away now?
“I’ve never wanted anything more, Grayson.” Her eyes softened, and her hand, so dear to him and yet so scarred, reached up and pushed away a lock of his hair, brushing against his face. “I want what we can have.” Then she smiled.
He palmed the door, and they entered together.
Chapter Seven
Elara’s heart thudded and thumped in her chest. He’d accepted it, this passion she’d carried for him for so many years. She was exulted.
When they entered his cabin together, he turned and she reached out with a shaking hand. Grayson moved closer while she caressed his back with her thumbs. He pulled her toward him, their lips meeting and clinging.
The kiss deepened. Heat seared her, while their mouths opened, and tongues danced. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her against his body. She could feel his strength, and she shivered with anticipation. Her body tightened as his hands traveled down her back, toward her butt, pulling her even tighter so there was no doubt of his body’s reaction.
“Oh, Grayson!” She couldn’t help it, as she exhaled the words, the feeling of his erection through his flight suit, so hard against the softness of her body had her straining for more.
Her back arched and his lips skimmed from her mouth across to her cheek and down her throat, scorching her; everywhere they touched, her skin burned.
Grayson’s hand slid up her body and around to grasp her breast underneath the light top, kneading and firming. The ache inside her intensified, and she cried out. She squirmed, trying to reach him, the sensations coursing through her body, firing her at his touch.
“Perfect. So damned perfect,” he muttered, and the secret recesses in her body melted. “By Eshra! I’ve wanted you for so long, Elara. Let me see you. Touch you. I need you.”
His words were guttural now, and she looked up. His beautiful blue eyes glittered with the light of need.
She fel
t so womanly, something she’d never before thought she could feel. Her scars had turned off so many men, but Grayson... He’d always looked beyond them to see her. He alone saw the person within, and finally, the woman with needs and desires. She let the thought skitter away as he once more touched her, no longer tentative, his blunt fingers exploring slowly.
Her answer was to simply help him peel her top over her head. To begin undoing her loose pants, slipping the buttons through their loops slowly while watching his face as his hands traveled her body. She only got two undone before he pushed her fingers aside and completed the task.
It was as if his whole being focused on watching her. Slowly, oh so slowly, he brushed the open sides further apart, his features hard with need.
She reached for his suit, and he allowed her to slip the buttons through. “You are so beautiful,” she said, her voice husky as inch after glorious inch of his magnificent chest appeared. No hair, she noted, just beautiful chest shining in the half-light of the cabin and waiting for her hands and her mouth.
“No, that’s you, Elara. You’re beautiful inside and out.”
Then there was no room to talk as their mouths fused. His mouth held hers captive, his tongue dancing with hers in a rhythm that aroused as Grayson pushed her gently down to the bed. His hands shook as he peeled away her pale pink bra and slid the panties from her body. The ones she’d chosen to wear for him.
She reached for his underwear and pushed it down. Finally! He was hers. Her body shivered with anticipation. She gloried in his hot looks, the long, drugging kisses, and the scorching touch of his hands.
His fingers trailed up and down her body, arousing her to a fever pitch, touching her breasts. He bent forward to dot tiny kisses on her nipples, blowing, then opening wide to suck her nipples inside his mouth.
She writhed beneath him, clutching his body closer to hers, burning hot with a passionate fever only he could quench. Coherent thought fled as she moved beneath practiced hands, heaving each breath and glorying in his touch. “Please!” Her entreaty was breathless, but his hands still moved slowly, finding their way down her body to the juncture of her thighs.
He carefully pushed them apart before brushing over her most intimate skin and laying the head of his cock against her empty core. As he slid within, she arched again, needing the connection of skin to skin.
Elara cried out as her orgasm rippled through her. “Grayson!”
He moved slowly, letting her settle, and she gripped him tightly as his thighs trembled, her brain once more consumed with need. She shuddered as she touched him, running her hands down his body to grasp his erection. She rubbed him and told him with quiet words how much she wanted him.
“I’ve wanted to touch you for so long.” She looked into his eyes.
He moved inside her faster once more, and he murmured incoherently as she twined her legs around his hips, his words of love spilling from him as she arched, orgasming once more with a cry. He rubbed over her while she regained herself, heart thudding in her chest, but he didn’t release the sensual tension fully.
His mouth found her collarbone, and she shivered as he laved it. When he pulled away, she was mindless as sensation after sensation washed over her, lapping at her beleaguered mind.
“I’m going to make you want only me. My cock, buried deep inside you.”
She moaned low in her throat.
One of his hands gripped her breast, fingers finding her sensitive nipple and flicking gently while the other gripped a buttock, Grayson’s hand silently urging her to slide up and down his length. Then he kissed her, wild and dark. She angled upward, wrenching her mouth from his, and watched his face.
He stilled his actions and reversed their positions so she splayed over his supine body.
“I love you, Grayson. I always have, and I always will.” She moved around him, undulating over his body. He pushed upward into her, and suddenly the fire took them. He pushed and pulled, and she met every thrust with her own. Her legs gripped his hips.
Her hands twining in his hair, she rode him furiously. Finally, when they both thought they couldn’t go any further, with one tremendous burst, they both found heaven.
Chapter Eight
Resting in his arms afterward, Elara turned to him. “I do, you know. I love you. I always have.” Her eyes burned with tears and her chest swelled.
For so long he’d denied them both. She needed to make sure he understood both the depth of her emotions and the relationship she wanted with him. It would take time to grow a secure relationship, but if they were committed to making it happen... She smiled.
“I love you too, Elara. I really want this to work.” His words took her by surprise, warmth filling her.
She rubbed her hand over his chest. “If that’s the case, then why did you run?”
He grunted. “It’s hard...”
“No, it isn’t. You’ve already done the hard bit.” He blushed and she almost choked on a chuckle. “I don’t mean that!”
“I was afraid.” He paused and she waited, knowing he had to say the words to understand his fears fully. “I thought... I thought it was because I was there, you know. On the day you were found.”
She sighed, appreciating just how much the words hurt him. It only increased her tenderness. “I can understand that. From a purely psychological perspective, I can tell you that if that were the case, I’d probably feel the same for Duvall.”
He stiffened beneath her gentle touch.
“I don’t. You do understand that, right?”
For a moment her breath stuck while she waited, her whole body tense. How would he respond? Her breath escaped on a sigh when he nodded. “I do.”
“Good. Then that’s one thing out of the way. So let me be clear, I know you’ve worried that my feelings came because you were the one that saved me all those years ago. It’s more and bigger than that. It’s... Every time I saw you, I needed to be with you. Not all the time, because I know that’s not healthy. But the connection between us, the friendship, it was never enough. It didn’t fill the hunger inside me.”
His face took on a surprised look, and she thought it was time to take pity on him.
“Besides, if that’s all it was, I think it would have worn off by now with all the chasing I’ve had to do.” Her voice was tender but filled with a soft humor. “Only my love has pushed me through the years to get to here. Where I need to be. With you.” She lifted a hand and slowly, carefully, brushed a strand of hair away from his face.
He held her tightly in his arms, and she knew he was finally ready. The man of her dreams had accepted everything she held in her heart.
Chapter Nine
Elara rested beside Grayson while he lay there thinking over all the things she’d said. How she loved him and had waited, even when he’d stubbornly refused to accept the truth.
“I should have done this sooner,” he said.
“Yes, you should have.” She gave a snicker and rolled over, drawing a path along his chest. Tiny flickers of fire followed the trail.
“I need to think.” He groaned at her muffled laugh. “Tomorrow, we sit down and work out what we’ll do. How to make sure we stay together.”
“Or we could talk now.”
“We could. But right now I have other plans.” With a lightning quick roll he surged above her, her gasp of surprise filling the cabin. “Elara, through my stupidity I nearly lost a treasure I didn’t know was mine. Stay with me. Share my forever.”
“Yes.” She reached up and tugged him closer.
He sealed her answer with a kiss.
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Miss Isabelle’s Craving
The Search Duology Book 2
* * *
Two sisters, one driving desire for passion.
After her sister’s successful marriage, Isabe
lle Forster is sure she’ll only ever be an old maid aunt. That is until she meets Langdon Deveraux. He’s tall, he’s dashing, and he excites her enough to take a walk on the wild side. But with only a month to explore Shanghai before her sister and brother-in-law have decreed they must return to England, time is short.
Langdon wants Isabelle from the first moment they meet, but with the news that she’s leaving shortly, he’s propelled into action after she makes an advance that leaves him reeling. Marriage is the only answer, but he’s got other pressing issues: hunting down the opium importers and pressure from his superior to see if the Forster sisters are involved.
Between the opium problem and issues with running Forster Shipping, Isabelle is learning to accept her sexuality and changed circumstances. It’s going to make the first weeks of marriage full of adventure and danger.
Chapter One
* * *
Isabelle’s hand hovered over her journal page, the fountain pen—a relatively new invention—sitting just above the heavy paper.
January 1879
It’s been difficult since my illness in Calcutta and Bombay. I have had so few opportunities to write openly about the time since we left England. Even though we are now bound for Shanghai, and quite close according to the captain, my excitement is dimmed. I fear my illness returning, and though I have Jacinthe here, the thought of any further debilitation fills me with dread.
I find the long hours of this voyage taxing—the hours without actual occupation tedious. Without much to do, I read and draw, yet I yearn for something to capture my attention. A way to fill my mind, so I may rest easy.
In the darkness of night, I also find myself fearing the sounds I sometimes hear emanating from the cabin next to me. The one Aeddan and Elspeth share.
They do try to be quiet, but sometimes, I cannot help but hear. I am not unaware of the hungers of the flesh.