“I didn’t think I’d enjoy this meal but I have.”
“Good. Dining in company should be companionable.”
“Companionable? Is that all?”
I looked at her. “It can be more… or less. It depends.”
“Oh?” The coolly raised eyebrow again. “What does it depend on?”
We were back to Crawford-baiting.
“You know as well as I. You must have had your share of meals.”
“I know from my perspective. I was interested in yours.”
“Why?”
She sighed. “Because I don’t know you. Because I can’t read you. Because I don’t understand you.” She paused.
“Then it’s mutual. I can’t read you and I don’t understand you either.”
She gave me an enigmatic look. “When you look at me, what do you see?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I should answer that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it isn’t very favourable… to me.”
She gave a tight smile. “Does that matter?”
“It does. Despite the fact I don’t think you think much of me, your opinion matters. I don’t want to make it any worse.”
“Now I’m concerned. I might even be insulted. Do you think that badly of me?”
“No, no.” The pit I was digging for myself was getting deeper. The only thing I could do was be honest. “Lorca, there’s something about you that by-passes all the civilised bits of my brain and triggers the primitive caveman in me. I want to drag you back to my cave and… and… make love to you until neither of us can stand. I’m not proud of it but that's the truth. I want you so badly, I ache.”
She was silent for such a long time I thought I’d really blown it.
“It’s in the contract that we must spend the night together. Will you give me your word on this; that we’ll finish our meal here, which I have really enjoyed, and go back to your hotel and you’ll behave like a civilised being? I’m serious. I need your promise.”
I nodded once. “You have my word. You’ll have no cause for complaint.”
“Thank you. Do you eat or drink anything after you meal on your planet?”
I gave a mental sigh. I’d blown it. What I really wanted to do was take her back to her dorm and try to forget today ever happened. The thought of spending a night with her while being ‘civilised’ was not one that filled me with enthusiasm. Still, I had given my word.
“In my part of the planet, we often drink coffee or a liqueur. I think I’ll have a coffee,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
“I’ve no idea what it is but I’d like one, too. In return, you must try athirabba.”
I ordered espresso. It seemed appropriate. Athirabba turned out to be a plain biscuit with a nutty flavour. It went well with the espresso.
It was time to leave. I didn’t want to because I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the night but I couldn’t justify staying. To make matters worse, I suddenly realised I’d have to pay for the meal and didn’t know how.
“I have a terrible confession to make,” I said. “Up to now I’ve been freeloading and I don’t know how to pay.”
She looked amused and explained the procedure.
“Is it customary to leave a tip… add something on as a ‘thank you’ for the good food?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It isn’t on my world but customs vary.”
“Then I’ll leave one. At the worst they’ll think I’m an uncivilised barbarian.”
My protectors were dozing in a corner of the foyer.
“Have you been here all the time?” I asked.
“Yessir,” one said. The other was on his communicator.
“Have you eaten?”
“Nossir. Can’t eat here,” he added at my enquiring look.
“Then I insist you have a meal on me.”
“No need, Sir. S’all part of the job.”
“I know. But I insist.”
“Very kind of you, Sir.”
I turned to Lorca. “I’m sorry, I need your assistance again. How do I do this?”
“You transfer funds to his communicator.”
“Much easier just to slip him twenty quid,” I grumbled.
With much amused prompting, I managed the transaction.
“Thank you, Sir,” the protector said. At least he’d managed to keep a straight face.
“What about the driver?”
“He’ll have gone home, Sir.”
“Right.”
The car arrived and we stepped out. Lorca shivered. Her shoulders were bare and the underground car park was cool. I really wanted to take her in my arms to keep her warm. Instead I slipped off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said with a surprised look.
“You’re welcome.”
We said little on the journey. I was too busy trying to reconcile myself to a night on the settee to be interested in small talk and Lorca seemed to be in a strange mood. We said goodnight to the protectors and driver and made our way up to my suite. I was careful to keep a discreet distance between us. I wanted no accusation of impropriety and, besides, I knew if I touched her I’d never let her go.
“If you wait a moment I’ll get my things from the bedroom. You can have that. I’ll use the settee.”
“Crawford,” she said and touched my arm.
I looked at her hand with its unnaturally long fingers. “Please don’t. This is hard enough as it is.”
She took a deep breath which did amazing things to her bosom. “Crawford. Please. Come and sit down. I need to talk to you.”
I’d promised to be civilised so I did. She took off my jacket and dropped it on the settee. She sat primly, looking at the floor and twisting her fingers together.
“I’ve given the impression I didn’t like you much. It was deliberate, at least partly and I’m sorry about that. But there’s a reason.” She paused as if gathering her thoughts. “You remember that being who interrupted us after the concert? He started talking to you but he really wanted me.”
“I noticed.”
“He was relatively polite. Most of them are worse.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I made you tell me what you felt about me. You were honest and admitted I appealed to something primitive in you and you wanted to ravish me. Most males do. Most males want to drag me off and ravish me. And mostly they’re less subtle about it and more… insistent. The problem is that they assume that they affect me as much as I affect them. To put it more bluntly, they assume I’m a slut or a whore or worse. I’m not. I’m very particular about who I sleep with.” She gave a humourless laugh. “I’ve had to learn a lot about male psychology and one thing I’ve learned is that males are easily intimidated. That’s why I’ve developed this rather cool, sardonic persona. Men find it off-putting and it’s normally enough to discourage them.”
“I’ll vouch for that,” I said more bitterly than I intended.
“I’ve not been very nice to you, I’m afraid.” She paused. “Before I met you, all I’d seen of you was on trivee. I saw you hamming it up at the Presentation ceremony and playing to the media at the press conferences and at the hospital. I even saw the unofficial recording of your performance in that restaurant. Oh, yes…” she said to my surprised look, “…it was recorded. I saw these and I saw an empty-headed poseur. I saw a man who, coming from a small, backwater planet, was lapping up the public adulation. I saw a man with an ego as big as a planet.”
She paused again. I was quiet. I had no idea where this was going although I understood her problem.
“Today has been a revelation for me. When you started off with the charm offensive I thought my impressions had been correct but, since then, you’ve done nothing but refute them. You’ve convinced me that you’re a professional. You accepted the rebuff and treated me civilly all day.” I wasn't certain I agreed with that but… “Finally, I wasn't cer
tain how you’d take the news that we couldn’t breed. You floored me when you said you already knew and didn’t care. Now I’m confused and in a quandary and I don’t know what to do.” She raised her head and looked at me with a gaze that was frightening in its intensity. “Crawford. Tell me how I affect you. Tell me what you want to do to me.”
She was in a quandary? Last time I’d been honest she’d told me to grow up and behave like a ‘civilised’ adult.
“I thought we’d covered that. You asked me to be ‘civilised’ and I’m doing my best to be just that, hard though it is.”
“But what if I don’t want you to be civilised?”
“Lorca, I can’t take much more of this baiting. I’m nice to you; you treat me like I’m some sort of bug. You ask me to be honest; you tell me to grow up. Now you want me to grovel again. Why? Do you get a thrill out of it?”
“No. You don’t understand. I had to do these things.” She was almost pleading. “I had to keep my distance because… because… I just had to. But it’s different now. Please. Humour me. Tell me again what you really want.”
“I want… I want…” I’d had so many surprises I was having difficulty in articulating my desire. “I want to rip your dress off. I want to sling you over my shoulder and haul you into the bedroom. Hell, forget the bed. I want to spread your thighs and take you hard. I want to lose myself in you. I want to hear you scream, not in pain, but in passion and lust. I want…”
“Crawford.” Her voice had an odd, throaty commanding quality. I looked up. She was standing. “Do it.”
I looked at her in disbelief. She wanted me to ravish her? After the way she’d fended me off all day? She straightened her shoulders and arched her back making her breasts thrust out and up. She turned her head slightly and her mouth took on a sultry pout. She placed her hands flat on her stomach and slid them slowly up to cup her breasts. The invitation was blatant. I could take no more. With a low growl, I lurched to my feet and stumbled towards her. She fell into my arms. I bent and scooped her up. She wasn't particularly light but I managed it anyway. She clung to my neck. The elastic weight of a breast pressed against me.
“Yes,” she husked. “Take me. Ravish me. Make me scream. Oh, make me scream.”
I staggered into the bedroom and dumped her on the bed. Then reality set in. How was I going to ravish her when we were both fully dressed? The ludicrousness of the situation hit me and I laughed. She didn’t look amused.
“Sorry,” I gasped. “But it’s a bit difficult to ravish someone when you’re both fully dressed.” I held out my hand. “Come, let’s be civilised for five more minutes. God, how I want to feel your skin next to mine.”
She smiled and let me pull her from the bed.
“I don’t think I can wait that long,” she said in a husky whisper.
She stepped towards me but I avoided her. “No. If I touch you, I’ll never let you go. You are beautiful in that dress but, please, take it off.”
I started pulling off my clothes, tossing them heedlessly into a corner. I was unfastening my trousers when I realised she hadn’t moved.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need your help to undo me.” I started forward but it was her turn to stop me. “No. You first. Once you touch me I don’t want you to let go, either.”
I swallowed hard and continued undressing. I was so hard I had to restrain it so I could remove my boxers. Naked, I straightened. Her eyes devoured me. It should have been embarrassing but was strangely exciting. She turned her back and instructed me on how to unfasten her dress. There were a number of laces and eyelets to navigate. I could feel the heat from her body and smell the scent of her perfume and her arousal. Like her appearance, there was something visceral about her natural scent that aroused the primitive in me. She also smelt of garlic and that was sexy, too.
I untied the last lace and pushed my hands between the folds. The touch of her skin, as I’d suspected, was magnetic. It was warm and velvety-smooth. I wanted to touch her all over. I slipped my hands around her waist. The dress fell away and slithered to the floor. She stepped backwards out of it and kicked it away. The movement brought her in contact with me. The cheeks of her bottom touched me.
“You smell delicious,” I said as I bent my head and kissed the side of her neck while sliding my hands up to cup her large, firm breasts.
Her hands sought mine and gripped them, pressing them more tightly to her.
“That's another reason I have to be careful,” she murmured. “When I’m aroused I give off an odour that drives men wild.”
“It’s working on me.”
I inhaled her intoxicating scent deeply. I felt giddy and light-headed.
“Then why aren’t you assaulting me?”
“It’s the anticipation. Knowing it’s going to happen but not when heightens the tension. Besides, I’m drunk.”
“How can you be drunk?”
“I am. I’m intoxicated with you. I want to do everything with you.”
I began to knead her breasts. They were impossibly large and firm for a human girl’s with almost no sag. I peered over her shoulder and nearly embarrassed myself. Her areolae were huge dark purply-brown circles and her nipples stood out like thumbs. I instantly want to suckle them. She groaned and began to grind her bottom against me.
“Please,” she gasped. “Don’t make me beg.”
I didn’t want that. On the other hand, I didn’t want to stop. Ymar was the only one I’d spent any time with getting to know her body. All the women I’d partnered had beautiful bodies worthy of time and attention but, with only a night and the imperative to make them pregnant, there hadn’t been time for finesse. Lorca’s body was so outrageously sexy I knew I could spend many happy hours exploring it. Then again, she was so outrageously sexy that it was possible I’d embarrass myself without even entering her. I spun her round and pulled her into my arms. She pressed herself against me, her breasts squashing against my chest. Her arms curled round my neck and she pulled my face down to hers. I had a momentary glimpse of her glistening lips half parted, before she fastened them on mine and kissed me as if she wanted to suck me inside out.
“My God,” I gasped as we parted.
I felt as if my eyeballs were spinning round and round. I propelled her towards the bed, half lifted, half pushed her onto it and fell on top of her.
“Yes,” she cried.
Her hand scrabbled between our bodies as she wriggled around until she was properly under me.
“Yes,” she cried again as she set me at her entrance and I pushed into her.
She seemed to suck me in like a hungry baby at a mother’s teat. I groaned and began to move.
“Yes,” she cried a third time but it was more of a moan than a shout.
Nothing in my previous experience had prepared me for Lorca. My nights with Cherevine, Jarmasin and Ymar had been wonderful, more fulfilling than any sex I’d had before, but Lorca was in a different league altogether. It wasn't just that she was physically demanding but she instinctively knew exactly how to cause both of us the maximum pleasure. Yet it wasn’t simply mindless sex; we seemed to communicate at some subliminal, visceral level that I didn’t understand. She seemed to wrap herself around me, absorbing me into a single organism whose purpose was to seek the ultimate release. I could feel her fingernails sharp against my skin but it hardly registered. We moved harder, faster. I became aware of her voice pleading with me to finish.
I did… in great, shuddering pulses, each one feeling as if I was being turned inside out as she milked me dry. She cried out. Her fingers dug painfully into my skin. The scream was abruptly cut off as she buried her face in my shoulder. Her whole body convulsed and she arched off the bed.
She held me for a long time as we slowly relaxed. Our bodies were slick with sweat and we were both breathing heavily. Little aftershocks ran through her body, making me twitch. Eventually I managed to lever myself up and slide off her. I looked at her. Her eyes were closed and
the expression on her face was of pure bliss. I felt a great swell of pride that I was the reason for it. I pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. Her eyes flickered open and she smiled lazily and sensually. Suddenly they widened.
“Your shoulder. Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“What’s the matter with my shoulder?”
As I spoke I became aware that it was painful. She touched it gently then showed me her fingers. They were stained with blood.
“I’m sorry. I bit you.”
I managed a shaky laugh. “Well, at least you didn’t eat me. Ouch.”
She was looking contrite. “And that’s the third reason I need to be careful about my lovers,” she said a trifle wistfully. “I get… engrossed and don’t know what I’m doing.”
“It doesn’t matter. You haven’t actually bitten a bit off, have you?”
She shook her head. “No. You've got a nice set of teeth marks though.”
“A small price to pay.”
“You mean that?”
I stroked her face. “And how. I told you how you affected me. And the fact that I brought you pleasure too makes a few teeth marks irrelevant.”
Her smile had genuine warmth. “I’m glad I turned out to be wrong about you. Go and fetch a towel.”
I clambered off the bed and staggered to the bathroom. The bite looked bad but after I’d cleaned it, it turned out she’d only punctured the skin in one place. I’d have a dandy bruise, though. She placed the folded towel between her legs, concentrated for a moment, her abdomen tense, then relaxed and mopped herself.
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