by Jody Wallace
Adelita waited until he was nearly done with his meal to continue the conversation. “Have you thought about whether a leviathan can be formed after we close la boca?”
“It can’t. That’s not how our scientists believe a leviathan functions.”
“All your scientists?”
His halo pulsed. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to get eaten before or after.”
She wondered how much of a chance he truly had. Should she level with him? Give him the opportunity to sway her, like she’d given Nikolas? If his chances of survival were higher than hers—which Nikolas had estimated at zero—his could be the wiser plan.
But Nikolas was right about one thing. Gregori would never let her be the one to deliver the package despite the fact that she was the best available candidate for the job.
Santa Maria, she was insane to think she could do this. She’d get eaten immediately, sucked up by the black devils before she could play her part. It wasn’t suicide, but it was a suicide mission. She was dead whether she succeeded or failed.
Her stomach flopped and tears threatened again. Again, again, and again. She dashed them away. She never could stand a weeper, and here she was, crying like a widow.
Noticing her preoccupation with sniveling, Gregori caught her face between his hands. “We’re doing the right thing.”
“I know.” She released a long, unsteady breath, miles from feeling romantic. Wasn’t that the height of irony? But it wasn’t 4:00 a.m. She couldn’t give Gregori the tranq yet.
“We should rest.”
She released another breath. “I know that, too.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “May I?”
“Of course,” she whispered.
Hesitantly, he lowered his head and brushed her lips with his. Featherlight. Tender. He slid one of his hands into her hair, tilting her face to his.
She allowed him to part her lips with his tongue. He flicked gently, tasting and sampling, breaking off and returning. Not the raw, hot passion of earlier today, but experimental, sweet kisses. This was a man who’d never gotten his fill of kisses, or of women. One of his arms slid around her until he could rub her back, neck to ass, in a long stroke.
Adelita found herself relaxing in his embrace, closing her eyes, letting her mind drift. He kissed along her jaw and licked her ear until she shivered. Slowly, the hand in her hair fisted, and he drew her head to the side until her neck arched.
His teeth scraped the delicate skin beneath her ear, followed by a kiss. She placed her wrists on his shoulders, hands dangling, as his tongue and mouth worked their way down. He blew heat across her collarbone before his teeth latched onto the joining of shoulder and neck. His fingers in her hair clenched. The double whispers of pain threaded through her like a reminder.
Instead of shifting to her breasts as she’d assumed he would, he returned to her mouth. Now he kissed her with more commitment, demanding that she respond.
She wasn’t feeling it, but twined her tongue around his anyway. He worked the hand on her back beneath the waistband of her shorts. His fingers splayed across the top of her ass, slipping between her cheeks. His halo glowed softly. He squeezed, pulling her toward him, and some of the terrified ice inside her melted.
She slid across the mattress until the inches between them disappeared. Her torso pressed against his armor. It was relatively warm and pliant, but it wasn’t his body.
She broke off the kiss and licked her lips. “You might want to take off the breastplate.”
He released her and ran his fingers down a hidden seam, popping the shell open. Beneath it was a T-shirt he’d altered to allow space for his wing pack. He hesitated a moment before drawing it over his head.
She noticed his hands were trembling.
“Pants,” she suggested.
He didn’t draw it out or make a dance of it. He unbuttoned and removed his shorts and boxers swiftly, reseating himself before she had a chance to admire him.
His chest had almost completely healed from Nikolas’s laser. Redness tinged his pale skin but no scabs, blisters, or scars. She placed her palm over the vanished wound. His heart thudded beneath her fingers, a reminder of how human this alien man was.
How much he wanted her. How much he was willing to sacrifice for her planet. For her.
“I’m pretty sure I love you,” she told him. When his lips parted, she put her fingers over them. “You don’t have to say it back. It’s okay.”
He placed a hot kiss in the center of her palm, his eyelids half-lowered as he watched her. “Undress for me.”
She rose and stood before him. Hair curled on his legs, and his cock jutted up from a nest of dark blond. His skin appeared to be untouched by the sun, unblemished, except for that faint redness on the chest. He was like marble, except warm instead of cold.
Although Gregori had unceremoniously ditched his clothes, Adelita took her time with it. First she unbound her hair, or what he’d left in the braid after running his hands through it. She shook it out, watching him watch her, gauging by his expression what he might enjoy.
Then she eased her shirt over her head. Her red bra matched the underwear. She stroked her hands over both breasts and up, a finger under each strap. She let them slide off her shoulders but didn’t quite remove the brassiere. Back under the cups, she circled her nipples with her fingertips until she felt them harden.
His pupils dilated. Did he like to see her pleasure herself? Adelita slipped the button of her shorts free. The baggy garment needed little coaxing to drop to the carpet. Holding his gaze, she slid a hand into her panties.
He looked down immediately, his attention on her fingers. She parted herself, finding the softness there. With enough motion under the red satin that he’d make no mistake about what she was doing, she rubbed her clit until it felt good before sliding a finger into her body.
He made a kind of choking noise and reached for her. She backed away, her ass bumping into the silent television. With a shimmy, she encouraged the cups and straps of her bra to give in to gravity until her nipples peeped free.
As she withdrew her finger from her vagina, she was gratified to feel some dampness as she became involved in the proceedings. She let out a small, satisfied hum.
He didn’t give her a chance to arouse herself further. He jumped up and stripped her naked quicker than she could blink, throwing her onto the bed. She tried to sit up, but in the space of another blink, he was atop her, pinning her down.
His hard length poked her thighs. Adelita licked suddenly dry lips. If he planned to start the intercourse part of lovemaking immediately, this might not be as entertaining for her as this afternoon had been.
She parted her legs for him anyway, letting his heavy organ fall between them. She felt the head at her entrance. His hands gripped her wrists like two iron bands.
“I want you,” he said softly. “I need you now.”
She nodded, raising her knees and tilting her pelvis. “Yes.”
He closed his eyes, his throat working, and prodded into her. She hissed as she stretched for him. He pushed harder, letting go of her wrists to reach around her hips, dig his fingers into her ass, and pull her against him. He didn’t stop until he was seated so deeply she could feel the hair on his groin against her flesh, his balls against her ass. Her intimate skin burned as she adjusted to his heft.
“Ay.” She closed her eyes, too, and bit her bottom lip. “It’s very good.”
He laughed softly. “No, it’s not.”
Her eyes flew open to find him watching her. “Then what are you—”
He silenced her with a kiss. Another. He kissed her until she was breathing heavier and kissing him back of her own volition, without having to fake enthusiasm. She drew her knees up, feeling their bodies shift where they were joined, and wrapped her legs around his lean hips.
He groaned into her mouth. Inside her, his cock seemed to swell. “You can’t move like that. You have to be still.”
“What if I don’t want to?” She wasn’t ready for heavy thrusting, but she could feel a deep glimmer taking spark.
“Adelita,” he said, turning her name into a caress. “For once, just do what I tell you.”
“Okay,” she agreed, and kept the “for now” part in her head.
He kissed her hard then, openmouthed and purposeful, licking her bottom lip after he caught it between his teeth. One of his hands clasped her breast. He caught her nipple between his fingers and rolled it. Delightful sensations arrowed to her groin, where she was so conscious of his inches inside her body.
She sighed. So did he.
With a lift of one eyebrow, she slowly tensed and released her inner muscles. Flutters of pleasure curled through her privates. It felt so nice she did it again.
The corner of his mouth curled up. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
He pinched her nipple, and she gasped. Then he bent to kiss her, a smile on his handsome face.
She clenched. Hard. It felt better each time she did it.
His cock pulsed, and he blew out a breath. “Adelita, I’m not ready.”
“You feel ready.” He was big and stiff inside her. Sweat had begun to coat his skin. The hand on her ass gripped her as though he was holding onto a cliff.
“You’re not ready, either.”
“I am.” She dug her heels into his taut ass. “Move your hips and fuck me.”
“No.” He shook his head while he said it. “That’s too fast.”
First he’d insisted on putting his cock inside her before she was wet enough. Now that her pussy ached and her body needed to rock, he was refusing her? “You’re wishy-washy now?”
“I want this to last. I want to be inside you for hours.”
He kissed her. Between every kiss, he told her how magnificent she was, how hot and wet she felt around his cock, how the taste of her pussy was musky and delicious. He muttered something about chemicals and DNA that went over her head, but she understood him perfectly when he told her he’d never craved a woman the way he craved her.
When he told her he loved her.
His words soothed everything inside her that was frightened and unsure. They didn’t change anything, but they changed everything. How could he be more a part of her than he was right now?
He grabbed both globes of her ass, tilting her where he wanted her. Then he arched, drawing his cock out of her. When only the wide head remained inside her, he let out a long, shuddering sigh.
“Kiss me,” she demanded, because she didn’t want him to talk anymore. She couldn’t hear any more of those words or it might dissolve her willingness to go through with tomorrow and deny herself this.
He bent his head, occupying his tongue and hers. Every thrust of his hips was deliberate and unhurried and long, even though her heart raced, as did his. In so deep, and out again. Filling her, leaving her. Driving her, completing her.
She tightened around him, her pleasure spiraling like a top about to take flight. As if he knew, and maybe he did, he shoved into her roughly. She clutched his back, urging him with her hands to keep going.
“Gods.” He was panting now, and he’d stopped kissing her. His thrusts turned short and deep. “I want to feel you. I want to make you come.”
“Please,” she begged. “Harder.”
He did as she asked, biting her neck below her ear. His body pistoned into her. His powerful strokes inched her across the bedspread. It was too much.
Adelita cried out as her orgasm spilled over. Quakes throbbed through her, wave after wave of sensation. Gregori rocked against her pelvis, deep, drawing the bliss out of her like a magician. When the convulsions slowed, so did he, until he was motionless. His cock was like hot steel inside her.
“But you…” Adelita needed to catch her breath. “You’re erect. You didn’t come.”
“I want more,” he told her. “If you’ll let me. I want to—”
“Yes,” she said instantly. Didn’t care what it was. He could have it.
He withdrew more quickly than she expected, and she yelped.
He rose to his hands and knees over her. His hair, loosened from his queue, fell around his face. His eyes, normally so light blue, had darkened, the pupils huge. His nostrils flared as he stared down at her, taking in every inch of her form.
Very slowly he lowered his head over her breast and drew her nipple into his mouth. Though she’d just climaxed, his tongue and lips sent pleasure zinging through her. As he pinched the other nipple, he sucked until it hurt, and Adelita gasped, arching her back.
He released her, teeth scraping.
“Roll over,” he ordered, his voice husky.
She wasn’t quick enough to do it. He flipped her himself, his grip forceful. Once she was on her belly, he pulled her hips until her behind was in the air. His hands rubbed her back and ass, and his breath came fast as he positioned himself. Fingers probed her pussy, flicking her clit.
She hummed as he stimulated her. She was slick and wet; his fingers slid over her tender skin easily. He rubbed fast, drawing a groan out of her, and the head of his cock probed her slit.
She wiggled her ass to encourage him. As he continued to rub her, he slid into her body. Her head cushioned by a pillow, she blew her hair out of her face and tilted her hips to accept him.
He grabbed her bottom and squeezed. With motions she could only feel instead of see, he thrust hard. His cock stroked all the way into her and out again, like before except the angle hit new spots. He drew her cheeks apart, pushed them together, kneading and massaging.
She felt the heat of renewed pleasure spiral through her as his actions reawakened her passion. When she whimpered, he thrust, his motions growing faster, less regular. Finally, at his peak, he gasped and jerked. She could feel his cock twitch and the moisture increase as he continued to stroke.
“Are you…” His body bent over her as he panted. “Are you close?”
She licked her lips. Her spine was beginning to protest the position, though it felt so, so good. “I don’t know.”
“You will be.” He withdrew—more carefully this time—and spun her around, lowering himself into a sitting position and dragging her hips above his still-hard cock. “Wrap your legs around me.”
Adelita scrambled to comply. He eased her down, his body sliding home like a key into a lock. Seated on him, his hands framing her face, Adelita almost flinched from the intimacy of his stare. She could read his face and feelings like a billboard and prayed he couldn’t sense her lies. Only her desire and her love were relevant right now.
“Te amo,” she whispered.
His halo glowed, and he kissed her, fierce and hungry. As her fingers tangled in his soft hair and held his lips to hers, he found her clit with a clever finger. Between their bodies, he caressed her slick flesh over and over, accompanied by rhythmic thrusts with his hips.
She rocked with him. Her pleasure sizzled like the fuse of a firework, growing hotter and tighter. He kept it up, never slowing, until she exploded.
Her whole body stiffened as she spasmed around his cock. Ecstasy shuddered through her. The orgasm was so intense she felt dizzy and had to cling to his shoulders to remain upright.
He rubbed her until she was finished, kissing and murmuring in her ear. When her body went limp, he arranged them more comfortably, side by side on the bed. Adelita wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in his arms.
But that would mean, possibly, the end of her world and his Ship. She kissed him several times and squirmed out of bed. She’d hidden the tranq in the restroom.
“I have to take care of business,” she said in complete honesty. “I’ll be right back.”
Adelita was so tired. And scared. And so freshly in love with him, it filled her more than he had. It filled her until her heart floated above the fear and the exhaustion and there was only one thing left she could do.
Save him.
Chapter Fourteen
Gregori opened his ey
es so he could see Adelita’s face one more time before he slept. He didn’t know how long it would be before Niko stole the bomb. Until then, they’d rest. When Niko contacted him, he’d creep away and leave her here, safe. She’d never know he was gone until whatever happened…had already happened. He’d write her a note as to where she could find the vehicle and supplies he’d stashed for her, enough to get herself to one of the refugee camps.
He wasn’t going to survive this. It only mattered that she did, and her planet along with her.
Adelita stared down at him, her eyes and eyelashes wet. She was crying. Again.
She crawled onto the bed. A tear rolled down her nose and hit his chest.
No one had ever cried over him or for him. A strange lump formed in his throat. This feeling he had, this overwhelming need to be with her, to touch her, was why soldiers emigrated to population Ships and planets. Their priorities shifted. Their lives shifted.
“Come here.” He reached for her.
“In a minute.” She cupped his cheek, her slender fingers caressing him, before she leaned down and kissed him. Her supple lips left a tracery of moisture.
Something wasn’t right. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” More tears. “I love you so much. I wish things didn’t have to be like this.”
Something niggled at his heightened senses. She wasn’t being honest. He started to sit up, and she rubbed her finger across his mouth. Slipped it between his lips. She tasted of their bodies and…
His vision blurred as he realized what she’d done.
“No,” he managed, activating his combat adrenaline to fight the drug, but it was too late. Everything faded to black.
…
Adelita, fingers trembling, fastened the large mesh bodysuit Nikolas said would help her survive a daemon attack if he couldn’t hold them off. It covered her from head to toe, after a fashion; the sleeves were overlong, and it had a hood. While she did this, Nikolas checked Gregori’s slumbering form, holding one of his silver bands to her angeli’s neck and peering at a readout before he was satisfied.