The Initiative: Book One of the Jannah Cycle

by D. Brumbley

  Mercury raised an eyebrow, since she didn’t believe that they would leave her alone if they were given the chance to investigate freely. “Aren’t ferrets curious creatures that like to get into trouble?” Apparently she’d read up on the animals somewhere.

  “Well, yes, but they’re also closed in a fairly small residential unit. The amount of trouble they can get into is pretty limited.” He shrugged and moved to stand up again, going to work on some of the fastenings of the coat of his uniform. “One thing to know, if you’re walking around in a skirt or a dress while they’re out loose, that…that will end in trouble.” He chuckled at that warning, since it had obviously been something he had seen before. “They tend to get a little more friendly when that happens.”

  “Something they learned from their owner, I’m guessing.” She laughed and stepped up to him after that, then reached out slowly once he was halfway through unfastening. “Can I help?”

  His fingers stopped working as soon as she offered, and he held his hands up as if to surrender. “I’m all yours.”

  Mercury wanted a chance to explore him, but she moved slowly as she finished taking off the coat. When he was actually barechested, it was difficult to breathe. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen a man’s chest before, she was a doctor. But Orion…he was a different kind of man. Instead of touching him immediately, she took the pieces of his uniform and placed them over the back of a chair so they wouldn’t get dirty or ruined.

  He stayed by the edge of the bed, watching her the whole time. When she turned back to face him, he lifted his arms so she could get a good look at him, and even turned around for good measure. On his right shoulder, he had a flaring kind of tattoo. It was all in black, but the symbol was one she had seen during their walk to his unit, painted on various walls like some kind of graffiti. On either side of his ribs there were phrases in Arabic calligraphy designed to flow with his abs, which might as well have been chiseled from stone. On his back, the only visible tattoo was a pair of hands pressed together in prayer. Other than the tattoos, he had no marks or scars except a few small patches low on his left side that looked like badly-healed gunshot wounds. He held her eyes as she looked him over, since it was the first time she’d gotten a proper look at him, after all. “Not sure if you’re into tattoos or not.”

  “If they’re on your body, I like them.” She smiled at him and moved close to him again so she could explore his ink with her fingers. Mercury ran her fingers over them slowly, memorizing them and him. “You’re the most attractive man I’ve ever seen.”

  “Apparently the program is really, really good at guessing physical attraction.” He certainly didn’t mind her exploration, and stepped in to kiss her and encourage her to explore further. “You’re easily the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. If somebody were to sit me down and tell me to design the perfect woman, I would not have been able to do this good a job.” He ran his hands up her sides to accentuate everything about her that he was talking about, and each kiss lingered longer than the last.

  “Didn’t you say you dated models?” Mercury didn’t think she could be the perfect woman against models. She had more curves than models did. Mercury didn’t have any problems with her body, but she didn’t consider hers to be photogenic or anything. Her hands trailed to his waist where she dared to tug at his belt, but then she decided things should only be fair. If he was shirtless, then she should at least get down to her underclothes. She reached back for her zipper and started tugging it down the best she could on her own. “I don’t look like a model.”

  “Thank god for that.” He said with an earnest smile, turning her around to take over taking off her dress. His fingers moved even more slowly than hers had on the zipper, but it was clear from the caress that followed down her back that he was taking his time with her. “They live their whole lives making sure they can fit into size zero clothes. Fine for fashion, people can do what they want, but it’s…not fine for everything else. You…” he actually moaned quietly once her dress was unzipped far enough for him to push it forward over her shoulders, his hands following over bare skin as he freed her from it. He tossed it with the rest of his uniform, but he didn’t take his eyes off her. Had she not looked at herself in a mirror? All of her? “You…I mean, seriously. My god, you’re incredible.”

  Mercury wasn’t wearing a bra, since the dress was cut deep and had parts of the back left open. She turned around slowly to expose more of herself to him. His expression as he looked her over fanned the newfound heat inside her. “You look at me as though you want to devour me, and I want to let you. That look drives me crazy.”

  “Get used to it.” His hands moved to her waist, provoking completely different sensations moving over bare skin rather than the fabric of her dress. “You’re gonna be seeing it on my face a lot. Like every single time I look at you.” The kiss that followed was hungry, and only got hungrier as he held her more tightly against him, her breasts moving roughly against his rock-hard chest.

  Mercury had plenty for him to hold onto, and when he finally moved a thumb over one of her nipples, the moan that escaped her lips was uncontrolled. It was like he had lit a match with one touch, and she wanted more. Her skin was a creamy white, her nipples hard, pink and just as needy for him as the rest of her. “I don’t know very much.” She reminded him between kisses. “But I want you to teach me.”

  He couldn’t imagine having the kind of sexual history that she described herself as having, but he had no problem working with curiosity as a starting point. “You want me to teach you something, then lesson one starts right here.” He kissed her again and took her hand, guiding it to his groin, where she could feel for herself the effect she was having on him. “This is yours, along with the rest of me. You do with it as you please, and you come and get whatever you want from me. I’m not gonna be shy with you, and there’s no reason for you to be shy with me.”

  “I’m confident in what I know. When I’m learning something new, it takes time for me to acquire confidence about it.” Mercury admitted, though she didn’t let go of him right away. She was in front of him in her underwear, but she stripped him down to nothing quickly and eagerly, then tentatively touched his growing cock so that she could explore some more. “I know I want you.”

  She could feel his hips shudder against her as she stroked him, and the rest of his touches became that much more heated as they wandered over her body. When she let go to move her hand along his hip, he reached down and picked her up by the waist, tossing her onto his bed in a tumble before he grinned and followed. He kissed her roughly until she settled in place beneath him, but he didn’t stop there. His lips moved down over her jaw to her collarbone, stopping to give attention to her incredible, full breasts as he continued down over her body. When he got to the underwear she was still wearing, he peeled it down over her thighs, following every caress, every gesture, with his lips.

  Mercury wasn’t expecting him to kiss any further down than her waist, and while she’d heard of such things, she hadn’t exactly let a man put his face near her private parts before. “Are you sure you want to…” She was all sorts of aroused by the back and forth game they had been playing, and the thought of him getting so close was…

  His lips moved along her inner thigh as he pulled her underwear free, and he chuckled at the question before he started working his way back up her body. “Oh, I’m sure I want to, but maybe not just yet. I think that might break you for life.” He kissed his way up between her breasts and stopped to find exactly where she liked to be kissed on her neck before he returned to her lips. “I’m gonna take a leap and guess that neither of your other lovers managed to make you come when you were with them.” He said between kisses, moving himself between her legs to let his weight rest against her in the low gravity.

  “They’re both doctors. Just because we know how bodies work doesn’t mean they always know what to do.” She said as he continued to tease her neck, which was driving he
r crazy. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about that. I know how to take care of myself.”

  He rose up sharply on his hands and gave her a look that was half-surprised and half-amused. “Knowing how to take care of yourself is one thing. Knowing what it’s like to be taken care of is something else.” He kissed her again deeply, writhing against her until she could feel the tip of him pressing against her core.

  Mercury actually whimpered when the tip of him teased her, her hips reacting on their own to rock up against his. His teasing had her so slick that she had no fear of handling even a man of his size. “Don’t tease me.” She met his eyes, her breaths coming quickly as she held onto him by the shoulders. “I want to feel you inside of me, Orion.” That was definitely a first for her.

  He nodded as he kissed her again, spreading his knees between hers to open her legs even wider for him. “No teasing.” He said breathlessly, then reached down between their bodies to guide himself into her, watching her eyes the whole time. He took his time, since he knew how difficult he was to handle from past experience, but he wasn’t in a hurry with her, and he loved the way he made her writhe beneath him.

  Mercury moaned loudly as he slowly slid into her, and she gripped his dark sheets beneath her so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “Oh, god…” She wrapped her legs around him as he sunk himself deeper. He felt so…good. He was beyond everything she’d ever felt previous, everything she had thought she would ever feel. His size made it possible for him to hit every sensitive spot inside of her she had never even known she had.

  Every time she thought she had all of him, there was more to be had, and he rolled with her on the bed to make things interesting for her in the lower gravity. He moved in bed the same way he moved everywhere else she had seen him, with an easy fluidity to his motions and an intensity of focus when it came to watching and listening to her pleasure. His kisses never stopped as he worked inside her, letting her get accustomed to him a little at a time. Finally, she could feel his hips pressing hard against hers, and his arms wrapped beneath her shoulders to tie her up completely in him.

  He moaned loudly against her ear, obviously not shy about letting her know how she made him feel. “Holy fuck, you feel amazing.” He managed to gasp between the moans that even small movements brought from them both.

  She shuddered in pleasure from both the feeling of him entirely inside of her and from hearing him growl into her ear. There was something incredible about hearing how much pleasure she was giving him, being taken by him, being…possessed by him. Thankfully, the eradication of nearly all STDs and standard birth control protocols for all citizens made for more pleasurable sex without the weight of worries. “You…actually fit.” She replied with another moan, because she couldn’t help but move, and every movement sent electric pleasure through her body.

  He gave a shuddering laugh, but it was overridden quickly by how incredible she felt beneath him, and he couldn’t help rocking slowly inside her. It didn’t take much at their kind of angle to feel incredible, so he didn’t push things too wild too fast. Especially with her lack of experience. “That’s a first.” He managed to say against her lips, every motion on his part hungrier for her the longer he stayed inside her. “No woman…ever…” he devolved into moans after that, his hands wandering up over her chest and teasing each nipple as they kindled the fire between them ever hotter.

  Soon enough, slow movements were more torture than pleasure, and Mercury wanted more. She gripped her hands against his back, her fingers digging slowly into his skin as she picked up the pace. Mercury was learning quickly and eagerly the things that made Orion moan loudest and what seemed to please him the most, and she repeated them often with every twist of her hips. She could feel the tension inside of her building with each stroke, and it amazed her. Could it be possible for her to achieve orgasm while having sex with Orion? She’d achieved it on her own a few times, but it wasn’t a regular occurrence. It certainly hadn’t happened before during sex. With him, she might actually find enjoyment.

  Orion had had more than enough lovers to know exactly what a woman’s body wanted and needed, and at Mercury’s encouragement, he was more than happy to comply. He pushed himself up away from her with his fists bunched in the sheets, and drove himself into her with longer, harder strokes, growling himself at how amazing it felt to be able to take her completely. His own orgasm wouldn’t be too far away if he kept up his pace. It had been a long time since he’d been with anyone and he certainly hadn’t anticipated things going so incredibly well with Mercury, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was driving her wild.

  It had been over a year since she had slept with Greg, and half that since her last orgasm, so it didn’t take much longer for Mercury to reach what her body was craving. His exploring hands helped, keeping her on edge as he drove into her. As her orgasm broke over her, her moans turned louder and more desperate, since nothing she had ever achieved on her own had ever felt that good. Her fingers were scouring down his back, but she didn’t know what was going on with her body other than extreme bliss. “Orion…” She repeated his name a few times, worshipping him each time.

  She felt him reach his own orgasm while her legs were still shuddering, and she could feel every muscle in her temporary husband’s body go taut all at once against her. He gasped through his release, and laid himself against her heavily, moaning her name against her shoulder and neck as he kissed every part of her he could reach. Some part of her mind latched onto the soft shadow he cast over her of the light from the Earth in the window, eclipsing the world for her with his long, lean body, but pure physical sensation quickly overruled all such abstractions.

  Once his lips reached hers again, Mercury kissed him feverishly. Her breathing was heavy and her chest was heaving with each breath, but she clearly enjoyed every moment. It had been quick, but enjoyable nonetheless. “That…was…” She muttered between kisses, with her arms still wrapped around him. She didn’t want to let him go.

  He still couldn’t talk for a while himself, but eventually his kisses calmed, even if they didn’t cool in the slightest. “Little better…than your other…experiments, I hope?” He pressed his hips into hers one more time as if to punctuate his point.

  Mercury groaned in pleasure as she held on to him. She could tell that her body was going to be sore, but it was worth it. “I didn’t know…sex could be like this.”

  “Hell yes it can.” He moved his hands over her side as if to take in the feel of her entire body, memorizing her part by part. “Can be and will be, so long as I’m the one you’re having it with. I’ll make sure of that.”

  “Mmmm. That might be dangerous.” She rested her head back against his pillows and took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. “I always wondered why people made such a big deal out of sex. Now I have an idea.”

  “You don’t know the half of it yet. But you will.” He finally moved to slide out of her, groaning the entire time, since they were both still incredibly sensitive and there was a lot of him to move. He went to lie on his back next to her, stretching out on his bed with his feet hanging off the edge, even with his head up by the wall. “God, that was something new. Phew.” He reached up and put an arm around her back, moving her to lie back against his chest so he could continue caressing her as they talked.

  Mercury rested there against his chest with her red hair splayed out against his skin, some strands sticking to the sides of her face. “Is it strange that an experience like that makes me want to understand you even more? It makes me want to know you. I know not everyone can feel the kind of intimacy we just had.”

  “I think everyone can, but not everyone does.” He reached up with one hand to comb her hair over his chest, leaving caresses along her neck and cheek as he brushed it aside so he could see her clearly laid out against him. “You’ve gotta make a choice to be as into another person as I’m into you right now. Matching helps with that, I’m sure, but matched or not, there comes a poin
t where you’ve gotta look at another person and decide you’re gonna give that person everything you’ve got. That you’re not gonna hold back. Sometimes that ends well and sometimes that ends really, really badly. But if you’ve got two people with no holds barred like that…” he reached up to caress along her neck, his fingertips whispering over the rest of her bared torso freely. “Well, some good things can happen, I’m guessing.”

  “I’m interested in a successful match, not a fling or just a good time. I want to make this work, and I think it can. Unless you have some dark secrets lurking around.” She kissed his hand as it ran back up over her cheek, then nipped at his fingertips playfully. She was completely bare except for the necklace he had given her, and she found that it made her feel sexy. Had she ever truly felt sexy before? Not like this.

  “I’ve got secrets, but I hope you don’t think they’re too dark for you. I don’t think they will be.” He promised, leaning up to kiss her cheek. He chuckled afterward without explaining why, and turned her over on the bed to lay her out on her stomach on the sheets. “In fact, I’ve got one secret I’d like to share with you right now.” He kissed the back of her shoulder, then got up and rolled her back over, with a playful hand over her eyes. “Close ‘em. I’ll be right back.”

  “I really don’t do well with surprises, but I’m choosing to trust you.” She said with a slight smile as she laid back on the pillows. She felt like she needed a shower, but the thought of getting under a hot stream of water with Orion only made her start to feel needy all over again. “You better not have a ferret behind your back. That would kill my libido.”

  That made him laugh, and she felt him kneel on the bed beside her and set something down on the bedside table. “No, no ferret. I promised I would warn you first.” He ran a hand up over her chest to her lips, separating them with his thumb. “You can trust me. Open your mouth.”