The time flew by. She was a very stimulating person to be with. We were lingering over our second, or possibly third, cup of coffee when I looked round and realised the restaurant was practically empty. I called the owner and his wife over and apologised for keeping them up so late.
“I can only blame the relaxing environment and the superb food,” I said. “I’ve enjoyed myself so much, I’m reluctant to leave.”
“One can’t help but think that a beautiful companion helps too,” the owner said, with a sly glance at Ymar who blushed.
“That I can’t deny. But a budding friendship can flourish in the right environment and wither in the wrong one. I… we must thank you both for everything. Not just the meal, which was superb, but also the chance to enjoy it in peace and privacy.”
“Thank you, Sir and Madam. You honour us with your presence.”
“I am honoured to be here.”
Our protectors were dozing in the hall. I apologised for keeping them so late and got a grunted acknowledgement.
In the car Ymar snuggled up to me.
“Do I threaten you?” she asked.
“You’re being pushy. Just accept it.”
“But I want to know.”
“Well you don’t. Intelligent people don’t intimidate me. Besides, you may be a genius but I’ve got something you’ll never have. Actually I have two things.”
“You’ve caught my interest. What two things.”
“The first is that I’m the Lottery Winner, something you can never be and the second is you.”
“You conceited…”
“Whoa. Stop a moment and think before you get all high-horsey. Have I, at any time, shown signs of a big head?”
“No, but…”
“No buts. I’m the Lottery Winner. Fact. I’m one in 57 septillion. Fact. You can’t be a Lottery Winner. Fact. Now, you’re committed to going through with the rest of the evening anyway but the truth is that you’re looking forward to it. I’m not an ogre or a weirdo and I’m not put off by your intellect. Fact?”
“Yes, but…”
“No buts.” I leaned over and kissed her gently. “You’re a very attractive and desirable woman and I’m glad I’ve got you.” I kissed her again.
“You’re a smooth bastard,” she said with a sigh. “I hate to admit it but you’re right. I’m looking forward to the rest of the night.”
We spent the rest of the journey necking gently. Some instinct told me I needed to take things easy and build her up slowly and, in truth, I was happy to do that for I found, yet again, I was connecting with my temporary lover in unexpected ways.
The slow build-up continued in my bedroom. Ymar wasn't an experienced lover. Neither was I and I had to work very hard to try and gauge her mood and sense what she wanted; when it was time to move on and when it was time to hold back. She had never experience oral sex before, judging by her initial reaction, but rapidly became a convert. Underneath the cool, intellectual exterior was a very sensual woman, as I was finding out to my delight. She pulled me up after I’d brought her to a second orgasm with my mouth and kissed me passionately, thrusting her tongue into my mouth, then licking the remains of her fluids from my face.
“So that’s what I taste like?” she murmured.
“Nectar of the gods,” I said. “You taste as good as you look and that’s very good indeed.”
“I wonder if you taste as good.”
She held my face between her hands and stared into my eyes. I didn’t know grey eyes could smoulder but hers did.
“I think I’ll find out,” she said, licked my nose and started kissing her way down my body. She even licked my armpits which was strangely erotic. She may not have been experienced at receiving oral sex but she was an expert at giving it. It wasn't long before I was clutching her head, arching my hips off the bed in response to her ministrations. She wriggled up the bed and kissed me again. I tasted myself. Not my favourite flavour.
“You do,” she said.
“I do what?”
“Taste as good as me.”
“Oh, no I don’t.”
“You’re right,” she said in a very serious tone. “You taste much better.”
I laughed. “There we’ll have to agree to disagree for I think you taste better.”
“We don’t disagree at all. We each think the other tastes better. We’re in complete agreement.”
I pulled her to me and hugged her.
“Ymar, you’re a wonder. You’re beautiful and smart and sexy and, more, you’re fun.”
She frowned. “Isn’t having fun in bed against the rules?”
“We’re in bed. We’re having fun… or at least I am. Fuck the rules.”
“I’m having fun, too. And I don’t want to fuck the rules, I want to fuck you.”
I kissed her gently. “And I want to fuck you but I’ll need some recovery time.”
She gave a wicked grin. Her hand slid down between our bodies. “I’ve been told I’m good at this.”
She was. As I prepared to enter her, she pulled her knees up to her chest and stretched her ankles above her head.
“My artist taught me this,” she said.
“Ooh,” she hissed as I eased into her hot, wet depths. “Nice.”
“Better than nice,” I groaned.
I moved slowly. It seemed appropriate, somehow. Her large, grey eyes never left mine. With her ankles resting on my shoulder, she couldn’t move much but it didn’t matter. I seemed to know exactly what she wanted; her eyes told me. The room disappeared and we entered a little world of our own where every subtle nuance of our rising passion was communicated without words. Her hands were at my hips, urging me on. I knew I was close and groaned.
She nodded, her head bobbing in time with my movements. “Yes. Yes. Yes,” she hissed.
“Oh, yes,” I gasped in agreement.
Her legs slipped limply from my shoulders. I pulled out and rolled off, my heart hammering, the sweat pouring off me. She rolled over and showered my face with little kisses.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” She punctuated each kiss. “I just knew it would be good.”
“I’m glad,” I said, caressing her back. “I knew it would be, too.”
She rolled onto her back.
“I can feel your seed inside me making me pregnant,” she said. She shivered. “I feel hot just thinking about it.”
What had happened to the shy, retiring woman I met earlier?
Chapter 14
Mornings were becoming fairly routine. Taragis would arrive before I was ready. A woman would emerge from my bedroom with a dreamy expression on her face and Taragis’s face would take on a look of admiration and envy. This morning was no different. Ymar floated in, gave me a soul-searing kiss and drifted off to the kitchen.
“I don’t know how you do it,” he said.
“To be honest, I don’t either. I’m not the Galaxy’s greatest lover…”
“You’re heading that way.”
I shook my head. “More luck than anything else. What’s on today’s agenda.”
“Nothing this morning. You’re opening a factory in the afternoon and you have a party this evening.”
“A factory?” I pulled a face.
He shrugged. “I’ve no idea how it was approved but you’re opening a factory.”
“Could be that someone on the board knows someone in the Commission?” I said cynically. His look was noncommittal. “I’m afraid I’ll need another speech.”
“I took the liberty…” He handed me some magnifying cards.
“You’d do well on Blue Peter.”
He didn’t understand the reference, well he wouldn’t, and I didn’t explain. I read the speech.
“This is even more obscure than the hospital. What are these thingummies it makes?”
“Components for ibics. Other than that I know as much as you.”
We went over the speech, correcting my pronunciation.
“I wouldn’t
have thought pronunciation mattered with a translator,” I commented.
“Of course it does. For a start, the names of people and things don’t always translate. They’re transmitted as spoken. Also, there are words that sound almost the same but not quite. It could be quite embarrassing if you wanted to complement a lady on her hat but said it looked like a small vicious predator. The two words are very similar in my native language.”
“I see what you mean. It’s even worse in English. We have words that sound exactly the same but can mean a number of different things according to the context.”
“Well, there you are, then. Now, the party. There probably won’t be any food so I’ve arranged for you and Madam Thy’stiatya Mnorganit, your escort, to have an early dinner here in the hotel. To be honest I’m not certain a party is a good idea this early on so I’d advise you not to drink too much.”
“I’ll be careful. Who’s the host or hostess?”
“Sir Tutivillen Adderhay. He’s a very successful businessman who made a fortune in the commodity market. He’s known to be cool toward the lottery but it’s rumoured that he’s considering running for public office.”
“Which would explain why he wants to host a party for me.”
“Possibly. Well, I think that’s everything. I’ll be back later to collect you for the factory visit.”
“Thanks, Taragis.”
“I think you should be careful,” Ymar said, emerging from the kitchen. “I’ve heard that name before but I can’t remember where.”
She plonked herself in my lap.
“I promise I won’t get drunk and make a fool of myself,” I said. “Besides, there’ll be lots of people there. Nothing’s likely to happen in public.”
We were gently necking when Barbita arrived. She smiled at the scene of domestic bliss. Ymar reluctantly gathered her things and left but not before draping herself over me and bestowing a parting, searing kiss.
“I’ll miss you,” she said.
I’d miss her, too. In some ways I was glad I’d met Flerrionna before my breeding partners. I was committed to her and she to me. It made parting with my partners easier to cope with for I could easily have fallen in love with any or all of the three I’d met. They were all different yet all were beautiful in their own right and all were women I’d be happy to get to know better.
Having a morning off, I went to keep the cats company and work on the spaceship. Stardust, unusually, claimed my lap. Trying to operate a display unit with a cat on your lap isn’t the easiest of tasks but I didn’t want to disturb her as I knew I’d been neglecting them. She seemed content enough and went to sleep, purring softly.
I had taken a fanciful notion to have a nautical theme in my spaceship. Well, it was a ship of sorts. The main hall and passageway I envisioned with a wooden plank floor and lots of brass. I wanted a brass handrail to run along the passageway. There would be pictures of sea-going ships on the walls; but not the Titanic. In a fit of whimsy, I decided the bridge should have a ship’s wheel and a binnacle. Second thoughts dictated I should consult Hermes. He might not be too happy having his control room cluttered with worthless bric-a-brac. I rejected a Star Trek theme as too tacky.
The unit had a really nifty modelling application which let me try out different ideas and Hermes’ database of Earth miscellanea was comprehensive. Drawing in three dimensions was tricky but fun.
The stateroom had to have a large bed. I wanted it to be luxurious and comfortable without being ostentatious and decided, diplomatically, that I should consult Flerrionna about colour schemes.
The rec room I left as Hermes proposed except I wanted a table-tennis table. Table-tennis is good fun, good exercise and doesn’t require a huge amount of space. Table-tennis tournaments would help to pass the time on the long journeys between the stars. I gave some thought to the idea of servants. It wasn't something I’d considered but the idea of having someone to cook and tidy was appealing. The ship’s designers had designated the three lower rooms as servants’ rooms so I left them as that.
The trivee lounge I also left. I hadn’t even had a chance to see trivee, in fact I didn’t even know if there was one in the suite, so I had no interest in the lounge. I also approved his designs for the fitness room and the kitchen. I wondered about a sauna but reckoned it would need too much water. The only change I made was to incorporate a bathroom for use by whatever servants I had and anyone wanting to shower after exercise. I would leave Hermes to work out the logistics.
I spent some time playing with the lounge. I knew the atmosphere I wanted to create but had no idea how to achieve it. Lounges are, by and large, formal, functional or sloppy. I wanted something that was inviting and luxurious and sensual and informal. Somewhere you wanted to take off your shoes and lie back and relax. It took a while but I managed it with a combination of drapes, lighting and soft furnishings against a back-drop of wood-panelled walls and a richly-coloured carpet. I was getting quite enthusiastic and Stardust was not pleased that her comfortable lap was bouncing around. She gave a meow of disapproval, jumped off and started to wash her face.
Hermes had commandeered two of the larger rooms on the upper deck for his suite. That was fine. I’d told him to do that. I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest so I simply turned two of them into bedrooms, just in case, and left the rest. I called Flerrionna and asked if she could assist me for half an hour but didn’t tell her what with.
“You’re still taking me with you?” she asked when I showed her the plans.
“Of course. Do you still want to come?”
“Silly man,” she said, ruffling my hair affectionately.
“Mind you,” I said slyly. “I might just fill the rest of the rooms with eager teenage nymphomaniacs. Just to keep you on your toes, you understand.”
She slugged me. I suppose I deserved it. I showed her images of sailing boats from Hermes’ database and explained my vision. She rather liked it, or said she did. She genuinely liked the wood, though. She would have to, working in the Bartimarm Piety with its acres of golden gleaming wood. She suggested I transfer my lounge idea to the master suite and make the communal lounge less personal. We agreed to half-panel the bedroom. She loved the colour of the sea so we agreed that blue and gold would be our theme offset with warm yellow, red and green. She asked why I was having to do all the work myself. Didn’t the manufacturers have professional designers who could take my basic ideas and make them work? I managed to get hold of Madam Wispwilliss, the only Zofi-Brennan employee whose name I could remember, who agreed that they could take my ideas and polish them. I had a sudden brilliant idea of putting fake portholes in all the rooms and wondered if they could contain view screens showing the sea as if we were in a real boat. She didn’t have the faintest idea but suggested one of the design team visited me tomorrow to discuss my concept.
The factory visit was boring. A factory is a factory no matter how exotic its product and as I didn’t understand what they made, I was glassy-eyed by the end of the guided tour. Still, I tried to be a professional and made appreciative and enthusiastic comments where appropriate. The media presence was smaller but still large enough to justify the expense of having me there so everyone was happy. The anti-MacAdam brigade were also there; nearly twenty of them this time. They didn’t do anything other than shout abuse and wave banners so I wasn't really concerned.
For once I was glad to get back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. I had just finished dressing when Barbita arrived with tonight’s companion. As on the first night, I had to take a deep breath and swallow hard. For a start Thy’stiatya Mnorganit was blonde; genuine, full-blown, spun gold blonde. For seconds she had curves everywhere. There wasn't a straight line or sharp angle on her body. For thirds, she was wearing a shimmering, slinky, figure-hugging cocktail dress. It wasn't risqué; it didn’t need to be. She could have made sack-cloth look sexy.
“I think he likes me,” she said to Barbita with a grin.
“It
would appear so,” Barbita said with an amused smile.
“Hi, I’m Tansy,” she said to me, kissing me on the cheek and stepping into the suite. She didn’t walk, she undulated. Every curve swayed sinuously and gracefully.
“You can close your mouth now, Crawford,” Barbita said.
I did. Giving myself a mental shake I closed the door.
“Tansy?” I said. “Good. I don’t think I could have coped with Thy’stiatya, especially after a few drinks.”
“Yeah. It’s quite a mouthful. Some place you have here.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s okay.”
She glanced at me and grinned. On someone else it would just have been a grin. On her, it opened up a world of erotic possibilities.
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Barbita said. “Your table’s booked for twenty minutes and the car will be here at eight. I think Taragis is going with you.”
“He is. Thanks, Barbita.”
She left with a cheery wave.
“Shall we go down and have a drink before dinner?” I asked.
“Sure. What’s it like living here? We live in a barracks in the back of beyond. I bet you meet all sorts of famous people. This is the top hotel in Bartimarm.”
“To be quite honest, I’ve hardly been out of the suite except to go on official engagements.”
“That sucks. If it was me, I’d sneak out and explore. Have a drink at the bar and see who’s there. I’m really pleased I was chosen for tonight. Do you like parties? I love parties. I love meeting folk and having a good time. D’you think there’ll be lots of famous people there tonight? Like trivee stars and that?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea. The only thing I know is that it’s being hosted by a millionaire businessman.”
“There’ll be lots of rich people anyway. Is being rich better than being famous? I suppose it must be. Being famous doesn’t last very long but being rich does.”
I Won A Spaceship Page 30