Orion: Star Guardians, Book 1

by Ruby Lionsdrake

  She lifted her eyes slightly as he rocked in and out of her, and she found him staring down at her, his gaze hungry with need. But more than that, there was appreciation in his eyes. Even… adoration?

  Seeing his naked feelings on his face fueled her own fires, and she went faster, sweeping him in and out. She thought about dropping her hand and rubbing herself while she pleasured him, but she could tell from his flushed body and his ragged breaths that he was almost there.

  He brushed his fingers to the side of her head, the touch surprisingly gentle given how tense he was, how ready to explode he was.

  “I’m coming,” he whispered hoarsely and started to turn his hips away, to pull out.

  She grabbed his ass with both hands, locking him to her and sucking lightly.

  He came then, pouring himself into her, and she welcomed it. His entire body shook with the power of his release, and he threw his head back again, the tendons on his neck standing out. His entire magnificent form on display for her.

  He softened, and she pulled her mouth free, running her hands from his ass to his legs, stroking his lean contours. She was glad she’d slaked his need, but a twinge of disappointment went through her. She was hot and wet, and now it would be some time before she would experience him inside of her. Still, she felt content to have pleased him, and she rested her face against his thigh.

  “My protector,” she murmured.

  He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Juanita,” he murmured, kissing her neck. “I thank you for that, but I confess, I wanted to give you that gift first.”

  “I thought you wanted to give me a shower.” Juanita tilted her head to the side to give him better access.

  “There were to be gifts in the shower.”

  “Oh?” She shivered with pleasure as he nipped at her sensitive spots. “Like scented soaps and loofahs?”

  “On a Star Guardian ship, you’ll be lucky to get soap at all. They tend toward the utilitarian.”

  “Yes, I know. I’ve had the meals.”

  He grinned and picked her up.

  Surprised, she gripped his shoulders. “Shower?”

  “Yes.” He carried her toward the bathroom door. “Fortunately, because the Star Guardian ships sometimes transport admirals, ambassadors, and high-ranking politicians around, the guest quarters are spacious, including the lavatory and the shower.”

  “This passes for opulence, eh?” Juanita wrinkled her nose as she looked around the cabin. It wasn’t small, and there would be room to do some floor exercises on the carpet if one was predisposed, but other than the porthole, she wouldn’t call it luxurious.

  “It’s bigger than the captain’s quarters. And the shower is large enough for two.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Sometimes, those ambassadors are plump.”

  “Ah.” She began to see what he meant by spacious, and she smiled as she got an idea of what he might have in mind. With her body still aching to be satisfied, she hoped his gift was even better than a loofah.

  He stepped through the doorway with her still in his arms, and she smiled at the idea that the bathroom was considered spacious—both the sink and the toilet had to be unfolded from the wall for use. But, as promised, the shower was large enough for two to stand in with elbowroom leftover. The entire bathroom seemed familiar, not unlike what she would expect from her people if they ever managed to travel through space like this, and she decided being kidnapped by humans was better than being kidnapped by aliens.

  “Are showers normal?” she asked as Orion set her down. “Or is it like on our space station? I think they just get wet towels and rinseless shampoo. But they don’t have gravity. I read that people’s pee gets recycled and that they later drink it.”

  “Everything does get recycled on a spaceship, yes, but if it makes you feel better, we’ll probably be getting water that was never peed in, since we just dumped everything and sucked fresh water out of the lake.”

  “Wouldn’t there be fish pee in it?”

  “It gets filtered.” Orion arched his eyebrows. “This isn’t the discussion I imagined having with you after you, ah—” He set her down and waved at his lower regions. He had refastened his belt so he could carry her in here, but she didn’t have any trouble grasping what he was referring to.

  “This is what being with a geek is like,” she said, having no idea what the translator would do to that word. Had there been geeks in Ancient Greece? Had they had a term for them? “You’ll just have to get used to it.”

  “I think I could do that. Especially if you share your stories with me and let me read Herakles adventures to you.”

  “I’m looking forward to it!” She grinned and leaned against him.

  “Excellent.” He kissed her forehead, then pushed her blouse off her shoulders. Earlier, she had distracted him from undressing her, so he hadn’t gotten past unbuttoning the front.

  Juanita shivered as the fabric slipped down her arms, his fingers brushing her here and there to facilitate the process. She wondered if he would have as much trouble with her bra as she’d had with his belt, but after a peek over her shoulder, he seemed to get the gist. He unfastened it with a one-handed twist that would have teenage boys all over Earth sighing in envy.

  Then he bent down to kiss her, and her thoughts jumbled and tangled. Suddenly, it seemed too hard to think about bras or water recycling. She leaned into the kiss—and into him—and wondered if they would ever actually get into that shower.

  Her socks, shoes, pants, and panties joined the bra and blouse on the tile floor. He tugged off the rest of his own clothes, then swooped everything up, only breaking their kiss for a second, and tossed them out the door. Onto the bed maybe. Or maybe a laundry robot would swoop out and clean them.

  “Juanita?” he murmured, his lips against hers, his lashes low over his eyes as he met her gaze.

  “Yes.”

  “I meant to ask earlier…” As he spoke, he slid his hands up her rib cage to stroke the sides of her breasts, and she shivered with hot delight. “Presuming we actually make it to the bed at some point, do you have an internal contraceptive or do you need me to find a condom?”

  She smirked, for some reason amused that the chip in her ear had no problem translating those terms, but she supposed humans across the galaxy would have all the same issues when it came to reproduction.

  “I have an implant,” she said, closing her eyes and relishing his touch. “If you don’t have any weird space diseases, we should be fine.”

  “Oh, good. I wasn’t planning to find someone—to find you—while I was on this mission, and definitely not while on my brother’s ship full of stuffy Star Guardians. So I didn’t bring anything along. I would have had to run to Treyjon and see if he had condoms.”

  “As much as I’d enjoy seeing you running through the ship naked, I’d prefer you not leave me now. I’m…” She slid her arms around his shoulders and kissed him, letting her actions speak for her, letting him know how much she wanted him.

  “Mm,” was all he articulated.

  He shifted to the side, tapping shower controls to turn on a fine spray. They moved as one, stepping under the head. Her shoulder brushed the wall, which she noticed had a textured surface, almost corrugated. Some kind of technology that made the shower more efficient at sucking in the water for recycling?

  She thought about asking, but that would have involved taking her lips from his for too long. She did manage to smile and murmur, “It feels like the tree.”

  His brow furrowed, and he leaned back. “What?”

  She put a hand on the quirky corrugated tile. “It’s a bit like that tree where we almost…”

  “Got joined by a random Star Guardian?”

  “That’s not the part I was remembering.”

  “Good. I want you thinking only about me.”

  “I can do that.” She gripped the back of his head, his hair starting to grow damp, and she pulled him back down to resume kis
sing.

  “Excellent.” He drew back again, laid a hand on the side of her face as water misted down between them. “I want to give you your gift now.”

  “A loofah?”

  He smiled. “No.”

  22

  Orion couldn’t believe he finally had Juanita in his arms, naked and wet and all his. The shower water formed droplets on her warm brown skin and ran down her lush body, following the curves and dripping off. He let his own hands explore those curves, enjoying how she pressed back into him, occasionally squirming as he brushed a sensitive spot. She kept kissing him, hard and hungry, and he regretted that he wasn’t yet ready to take her, but he had no regrets about the steamy way she’d pleasured him.

  It filled him with warmth to know that she’d wanted to pleasure him. To make him happy. To support him.

  He hadn’t quite realized how few people in his life offered him support. Admittedly, he had a tendency to push others away, especially these days, so he didn’t make it easy for them to want to get close and support him, but it had come so easily with Juanita from the beginning. As if being anything other than supportive would be foreign to her.

  He pressed his fingers against the soap tile, then rubbed the rich liquid over her rich skin, running his hands over her hips and around to her butt, enjoying the physical exploration as he mused about the unique person he’d found on a planet he hadn’t believed existed until a few weeks ago.

  She closed her eyes and made contented noises, so she must have been enjoying his explorations, but from the way she shifted and even writhed against him, he could tell she was antsy for more.

  He trailed his fingers along her waist and to the damp curls of her groin, rubbing lightly, creating a lather with the soap. Her breath hitched, and she squirmed closer to him, looking up, her cheeks flushed. She pulled his head down again for another hungry kiss.

  He shifted so that he stood behind her, and she made a sound of protest when their lips parted. But he cupped her breast with one hand and slid the other lower, slipping through her curls and parting her lower lips. He found hot, sensitive flesh and rubbed gently. She gripped his arm and pushed into his hand, her head falling back against his shoulder as he slid his fingers back and forth.

  “Orion,” she said, half gasp, half groan.

  “Yes?” he murmured, pleased at the way she strove toward his touch and at the way her bare ass shifted and ground against him. At the way her breasts shivered, wet and gleaming under the shower’s light. At the way her fingers curled around his forearm, tight and tense with the same kind of aching need he’d felt earlier. He wanted her to be aroused by his touch, to want nothing but him here with her, rubbing her, teasing her, pleasing her. The fact that she was so enthusiastically showing how hot she was for him made him feel potent and powerful. She did nothing to hide her feelings, her desire. Her eagerness made him want to please her. No, it did more than that. It excited him, and he felt his cock starting to stiffen again as she squirmed against him.

  “Orion,” she groaned again.

  “I’m glad you know my name,” he murmured in her ear, then sucked on her lobe as he continued to rub her, moving his fingers a little faster between her legs.

  She panted, her squirming increasing. He lowered his mouth to her throat, nipping and kissing her warm, wet skin as she pushed back into him. His erection grew thick and full, and it crossed his mind to lift her slightly so he could drive into her right there.

  “I want my gift,” she gasped, fingers digging into his arm. She ground against his hand as she turned her face toward him, “Please,” she whispered, the aching need clear in her voice.

  “You deserve it,” he said.

  And she did. He could have brought her over the edge with his fingers, but he ought to give as much of himself as she’d given of herself. He turned her and pushed her against the shower wall, the spray spattering against her chest.

  “Orion,” she said, reaching for him, her voice a protest at the space between them. Then she spotted his hard cock, upright and eager for her again, and she whispered an, “Oh,” and spread her legs, meeting his eyes with a silent demand.

  He smiled and dropped slowly to his knees as he stroked her breasts and then her hips, finally cupping her ass as he brought his face close to her. He rubbed his chin in her curly hair and smiled up at her, past her full breasts to her eyes. She gazed down at him, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling with her quick breaths. He smiled and slipped his tongue between her lower lips.

  Hot and primed, she gasped at his first light touch, almost startling him when she arched toward him. His cock twitched in response, and that image returned to his mind, of leaping to his feet and ramming into her like a wild animal only thinking of satisfying its own lust.

  Instead, he ran his tongue between her lips, pausing at her clitoris to explore the sensitive flesh around it. Her groans echoed in the shower cubicle, as he licked her long and languorously. Soon, her entire body grew rigid, almost shaking as she strained toward him. She rocked into him, and he quickened his pace for her sake. And maybe for his. A part of him wanted to draw it out, to make her arousal last and last, but with the blood rushing to his cock again, he struggled to focus on her pleasure instead of obsessing with slaking his own.

  He parted her more fully so he could bring his lips in and take her clitoris in his mouth. He tasted the warm water of the shower, but he tasted her, too, heady and delicious.

  Her fingers found his hair, gripping him hard as she panted above him. The sounds, the scents, her eagerness… Everything fueled his own desire, and he found himself trembling with such intense need that he almost had to back away. He’d only meant to give her pleasure, not to be aroused by it, but he was the one who couldn’t take much more of this. Gods, she tasted so good.

  “Come for me,” he murmured, his mouth still against her. He gripped her ass hard and sucked on her clitoris.

  She obeyed instantly, crying out as her fingers tightened in his hair. Waves of ecstasy seemed to go over her, and then her legs weakened, and she might have collapsed on the floor of the shower with him.

  But he kept her pinned against the wall. He still needed her. Badly. Would she be ready for him after that?

  He stood, slapping the controls to turn off the water so it wouldn’t wash away her own moisture, then he pressed his body against hers, capturing her mouth for a kiss. She seemed startled, eyes flying open when his tongue thrust into her mouth as his hard penis pushed against her groin. It wanted to push into her. Damn it, how had he grown so hard and demanding again so quickly?

  He started to back off, sensing that she hadn’t expected him to be ready again so soon, but she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gripped the back of his head, pulling him close.

  “I’m here for you,” she whispered and kissed him. More than that, she lifted one leg, hooking it around his hip, opening herself to him in invitation.

  Heat and emotion surged through him as she once again showed her willingness to support him.

  “I’m falling in love with you, woman,” he growled against her lips, his voice hoarse with lust and other less familiar emotions.

  He gripped her leg with one hand and shifted his cock to find the right spot, so eager to thrust into her that he could barely control himself. He tried to go slowly, to make sure she was comfortable, but he wanted her so badly. His lower half took charge, diving into her slick, tight passage.

  She welcomed him, taking him in fully, just as she’d done before. When he rocked in and out, his pace frenzied from the start, she matched him and even drove them faster. She gripped his shoulders, her fingers digging into his muscles, and they shared hard and demanding kisses even as they thrust, their damp bodies crashing together, fitting each other perfectly. So eager for him, so pleased to be with him, she came first, crying out her pleasure as an expression of ecstasy took over her face. Seeing her pleasure, seeing her gazing at him with adoration, brought him to his own climax, an
d for the second time that night, he poured himself into her.

  He collapsed against her, holding her ass with his hands to keep her from sliding off him and down the wall. Not that she would have. At some point, she had lifted her other leg so that they were both wrapped around him, claiming him. It felt amazing to have someone that wanted to claim him.

  “Are we sufficiently clean yet?” Juanita asked, her arms linked behind his neck.

  She grinned, her cheeks wildly flushed.

  “I think so,” he said, but reached back and turned on the water again, then carefully pulled out of her and set her down.

  “I want to do that a lot more.”

  He found himself returning her grin, her honest enthusiasm filling him with warm emotions again. “Well, I probably need a few minutes to recover first, but then I’m game.”

  “I didn’t mean tonight. Well, I wouldn’t object to tonight, but I also want…” She bit her lower lip in a gesture that was becoming familiar to him, one he took for uncertainty.

  “Yes?” He pulled her into his arms, then shifted around, so the spray of water would hit her back instead of getting in her eyes.

  “I don’t want to go home yet.”

  His breath caught. He didn’t want to assume she meant she wanted to stay with him forever, but her words kindled intense hope.

  “It’ll be a couple of weeks before we get you back to your world,” he said slowly, touching the controls to turn off the water and dry them with the heat jets, “but did you mean… you want to stay for longer than that?”

  “I want to see my family, so they know I’m all right, but I’d love to see more of the galaxy after that.” She met his eyes. “With you.”

  He opened his mouth to enthusiastically agree, but she rushed to speak again, as if she was worried about his response.

  “I mean, I know I don’t have any galactic money, whatever it is, and I’m just a writer, and not even a published one, but I know all about culinary stuff if someone needs a cook, and I don’t mind doing other work too.”