* * *
Calder had coffee and toast sent up and a larger breakfast packed for them to eat picnic style by the stream. Raya pulled the ridiculously heavy riding habit from her closet, but Calder took it from her and handed her breeches and a shirt like his only cut to fit her. “I had these made for you.”
She almost melted right there and begged him to make their engagement real. Leaving him would tear her apart.
Raya expected to ride Obsidian, but Calder wanted to be able to talk to her as they rode so when they got to the stables Finlay had mounts ready for both of them. Calder took her on a different route than she’d been before. They rode through meadows filled with colorful flowers. Exotic butterflies and brightly colored grasshoppers leapt high in the air as the horses approached.
Though he’d professed wanting to talk, Calder said very little as they rode. She enjoyed flying at top speed through fields and making daring jumps, but this morning’s slow pace was just as invigorating. Apparently, it wasn’t just the speed of riding that got her blood flowing. Simply being in an open space breathing fresh air was freeing. She liked the thrill of city life, but Oriana could be thrilling too and not only because of Calder.
She’d truly hated Orianian fashion and she’d have to attend a lot more balls and parties as Calder’s wife, but as she watched him riding ahead, back straight, hair tousled by the wind, she wanted him with a need deeper than any she’d ever imagined possible.
They entered a cool, damp wood. And after a short distance, they turned to follow a narrower trail. “If we kept going we’d come out on Luke Drayton’s farm. I believe you got acquainted last night.”
Raya nodded. “Yes. He told me he owns the neighboring lands.”
“The Techno Laws will help men like him. The class system here is romanticized, but it does a disservice to plenty of decent men. I would do anything to protect my lands and my right to roam free, but I don’t need a title. I took it when it was offered, because it gave me a say in Orianian politics, but I believe men like Drayton should have the same rights I do. They deserve more than a token role in our government. And women like Abigail Partington deserve rights too. The fact that she and Luke can’t marry under the current law is absurd.”
“It sounded as though once the new laws took effect she would marry him no matter the consequences.”
Calder nodded. “I believe she will.”
“I like her. I didn’t want to at first, but I did.”
Calder slowed to walk his horse beside Raya’s. “I’m glad. There are other people on Oriana as amiable as Abigail and Luke.”
Raya reached out her hand and clasped Calder’s. “You’ll have to introduce me to them.”
He smiled, seeming more relaxed than he had all morning. They rode until they came out of the woods and crossed the stream. Then Calder found a flat grassy spot, perfect for a picnic. He spread a blanket and unpacked cheese biscuits, ham, marmalade, muffins, and several types of fruit.
Raya stretched out on her side and sampled a biscuit. It was flaky, cheesy, peppery perfection. Heat rushed to her cheeks when she realized Calder was watching her obvious pleasure. “I bet you can’t get those on New Earth.”
Calder’s comment would have irritated her a few months ago, but this morning, it made her laugh. The cheese biscuits were Calder’s cook’s specialty. Raya had fallen in love with them during her first visit to Oriana.
She finished her biscuit and lay back, looking up at the cloudless sky. She’d wondered what Calder would say or do to persuade her to stay. Now she realized there were no further big announcements like the Techno Laws. He was simply showing her the best Oriana had to offer.
Beautiful land. Stunning horses, better even than those on New Earth. Neighbors she could be friends with. Delicious food by a stream. And Calder. She took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of horses, leather, Calder, and a freshness she never smelled on New Earth. Before coming to Oriana she would have laughed at the idea that she needed to spend more time in the wilderness. Here the idea didn’t seem so crazy.
If she moved to Oriana, she would give up many of the freedoms she enjoyed on New Earth. She’d thrived on the fast pace of life in the city though when she forced herself to take a serious look at her life, perhaps she used that fast-paced life to hide from loneliness. On Oriana, she would never be lonely.
She rolled onto her stomach and selected a cinnamon bun. “Do you really plan to open a branch of IIB here?”
Calder gave her a wary look, but he nodded.
“And you would let me work there if… if I were… here.”
His eyes widened. “Let you? I want you to. We need an interplanetary financial institution regardless, but I want IIB, because I want you here.”
“You wouldn’t expect me to sit in your drawing room serving tea and making inane conversation with other Orianian ladies?”
Calder sat up, knocking over a container of muffins. Raya had never seen him nervous before, and she found it quite charming. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“Lady Hendrix said --”
“Lady Hendrix is a stuffy old bitch. I could have my choice of Orianian women if all I wanted was a lovely piece to decorate my drawing room. But I want you. Your sarcasm. Your ice cold stare. Your inability to filter your opinions.”
Raya tried to scowl, but all she could do was laugh. “So you really want me here?”
Calder tensed. “I do.”
Raya sat up and clasped her hands to keep them from shaking. “You think you could put up with me day in and day out?”
He nodded, his expression guarded. “Call me crazy, but I do.”
She took a breath, gathering her courage. “When you proposed to me, that was just a game, right?”
He busied himself selecting a biscuit. “I wish it weren’t.” His words were soft, barely audible.
“So do I.”
Chapter 6
Calder choked on his biscuit. Raya sat up and pounded him on the back. “That is not the response I expect when I tell a man I want to marry him.”
Calder’s warm hands clasped the sides of her face. “Raya, are you serious?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
“You want to marry me and stay here on Oriana?”
She smiled, even more certain now. “Gods help me, I do.”
“What changed your mind?”
“No matter how much I love the thrill of life in the city, no matter how hard it is for me to survive without constant access to the data I need, being without you is worse. I’ve been a mess for the last two months. People keep asking if I’m ill or suggesting I need a vacation. I can’t go back and try to hold myself together without you again. I don’t want to need anyone, but I need you.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure that’s a ringing endorsement of your feelings for me.”
Raya ignored him. “I’ve spent my whole adult life fighting to be in control, to be the only person I depended on. I never planned to marry or fall in love. I thought --”
“That it would weaken you?”
She nodded.
“Do you think it has?”
“When I fought it, it did. Now, I think not. I… I feel strong enough to take on the whole of Orianian society. Maybe I can introduce a new style of reticule designed to hold a comm.”
Calder laughed and shook his head. “What have I unleashed?”
Raya smiled and glanced pointedly at the juncture of his thighs. “I’m not sure, but I know what I want to unleash.” She wanted him desperately, and always would. She could fly home to New Earth and get a fix of the city, but if she left Calder again, she wouldn’t be able to come get a fix of him. She’d screwed him over once, and instead of giving up on her, he’d rearranged his world for her. It might be arrogant, alpha male behavior, but it was sweet and sexy too. No way in hell would he do it again.
Raya loosened the ties of Calder’s breeches, keeping her gaze locked with his. He braced himself on his hands
, leaning back to give her better access. She pulled his shirt loose and tugged his pants down enough to free his cock. Breathing deeply of his scent that made her think of cool barns and early morning gallops, she ran her tongue along his length, loving the feel of him hardening under her caress.
She drew his shaft into her mouth while he was still semi hard, cupping his balls with one hand and tugging gently. She wrapped the other hand around the base of his thick cock. Delicious heat raced through her at the thought that all this was hers. She sucked on the tip of his cock, letting him feel her teeth, but not hurting him. Loving the sensation of him growing fully hard under her lips, like steel under silk. He groaned as she increased her suction, taking him deeper.
When he started thrusting into her mouth, she pulled off and sat back on her heels.
“Raya.” The word was breathless, needy.
She grinned. “You’ll get what you need. But first I need to get you undressed.” She pushed at his chest. “Lay down.”
He did as she asked, and she bent to tug off first one boot and then the other. Her body thrummed with desire and something else, something she only felt here, in the wild. Warm breeze, fresh grass, a hot, sweaty man who smelled like the best kind of dirty sex. She couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.
He lifted his hips when she jerked on his pants. She slid them all the way down his legs and tossed them onto the grass beside them. Then she settled between his legs, enjoying the feel of firm hair-covered flesh as she slid her palms up his thighs and forced them wide. She circled his shaft and worked it while she nuzzled the juncture of his thigh and pelvis, taking deep breaths of his musky scent then sinking her teeth into the tender flesh of his inner thigh.
He sucked in his breath and pumped his hips, pushing his cock through the circle of her hand. “Suck me, Raya.”
“Not yet.” She nibbled at the loose sweaty flesh surrounding his balls, loving how it made him squirm beneath her. She drew the tender globes into her mouth, one at a time. He made a strangled sound almost like one of Obsidian’s soft whinnies.
She circled his cock with one hand, pumping it slowly while she coated the fingers of her other hand with saliva. Then she teased his cockhead with flicks of her tongue while she sought his ass with her slick fingers.
When she penetrated him with a finger, he pushed back, forcing her deeper. “Fuck, that’s good!”
He squeezed his eyes shut as she worked deeper into him. His mouth hung open, and his chest rose and fell with his rapid breath. She lapped up a drop of sweat that rolled down his abdomen before turning her attention back to his cock and adding a second finger to the one in his ass.
“Raya!” He bucked against her. She sucked him as she thrust her fingers in and out, matching the rhythm of her hand as it worked the lower half of his cock.
“Need you. Want… to taste you.” His words were low and desperate. “Please.”
She pulled her fingers from his ass and gave the tip of his cock a final lick before standing up and shedding her clothes. He sat up and pulled his shirt over his head while she stripped. She paused for a moment to admire the gorgeous expanse of his chest before dropping to her knees beside him.
“I want you on top of me.” His eyes were dark with passion. She did as he said, taking his thick cock back into her mouth while offering him her pussy. She shivered in anticipation of what he would do to her with his skilled tongue.
Raya gasped as he dug his fingers into her ass and pulled her to him, burying his face against her pussy. His tongue teased her clit, and she moaned, grinding her hips against his face.
She balanced herself on one hand so she could hold his cock with the other while she wiggled her tongue into his slit, loving the softness of his skin there.
He groaned, the sound vibrating across her tender, wet flesh. He pushed his tongue deep inside her as he scissored her clit between his fingers.
She squirmed, moaning around his shaft. Need knifed through her. She wanted to fight, to beg, to demand he make her come. And she wanted him just as crazy as she was. She sucked him hard and fast, as desperate for the hot explosion of his orgasm as she was to come herself.
He sucked her clit into his mouth, and she nearly choked on his cock, the sensation too intense: pain, pleasure, pure need. She struggled to get away, but he held her hips immobile.
She swallowed him nearly all the way, and his rhythm faltered. She held him deep as long as she could, sucking hard when she pulled back.
He took her clit in his fingers again, squeezing hard enough to make her whimper.
She teased his cockhead with her teeth while tugging firmly on his balls with the other hand.
He licked at her wet flesh, pulling her even tighter against him. When his tongue swiped across her ass she gasped. “Fuck!” No man had ever licked her there.
Calder let go of her clit and pulled her ass cheeks apart, circling her tight hole with his tongue before driving it inside her. Raya slammed back against him, frantic with need. She’d never imagined rimming would feel so fucking good.
She lost the ability to do anything but feel while his tongue fucked her with short hard strokes. “Fuck, Calder! Don’t stop! Amazing!”
She was so fucking close. If he would just touch her clit, she would go over. But he pulled back. “Suck me.”
She took his cock in her mouth, using all the tricks he liked best. She rolled them to the side giving her access to his ass. She reached between her legs, sliding through her wetness and slipping two fingers into her pussy.
Calder pulled her hand away and replaced her fingers with his own. She circled his asshole and pushed her wet fingers past the tight ring of muscle.
He groaned against her and buried his face against her pussy, drawing her clit into his mouth. When he flicked his tongue across the tip of her clit she screamed around his cock. He laughed against her dripping wet flesh and drove his fingers into her, curling them against her G-spot.
She retaliated by thrusting deeper into his ass. When he jerked against her, she knew she’d found his sweet spot too.
They worked each other in a fevered rush, each determined to make the other come so hard they saw stars. Raya tried to hold back, wanting Calder to pour himself down her throat before she lost it, but he drove her mad with tongue, fingers, lips, and teeth.
Sweat dripped down her body. Calder pumped his hips, pushing his whole length into her mouth. The dirty thrill of him fucking her mouth did her in. Her muscles tightened around his fingers, and she fell, like a diver leaping from a high cliff.
She backed off, needing to scream, to call his name, but she kept stroking his cock with a firm grip. Seconds later, he tensed. Hot come shot from him. She let it cover her breasts and then wrapped her lips back around his cockhead, drinking down the rest of what he had to give, pumping with her hand until she knew he was thoroughly spent.
She let his softening cock slip from her mouth and lay her head on his thigh, too tired to move. He rolled over onto his back and covered his face with his arm to block out the sun. “That was…”
“Yeah, I know.”
They both lay still for a few moments, taking long deep breaths of sunshine.
“Calder?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
His thigh muscle tensed under her. “Sure of what?”
“That you want me here.”
“Stand up.”
Raya’s heart revved up again. Had he changed his mind? She did as he said, grabbing her shirt, suddenly feeling too exposed.
He didn’t stand or dress. Instead he walked toward her on his knees. Then he clasped her hand and brought one foot under him so he was on one knee. “Raya Varvara, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
All the emotion she’d held inside -- the fear, the anger, the need -- welled up, and tears ran down her cheeks. Several seconds passed before she could speak. “Y-yes.”
He stood. “I’ve wanted you here since we first
met. I know this won’t be easy, but --”
She placed a finger on his lips. “I wasn’t ready to see the good in Oriana when I was here before. This time, I was ready to admit that I loved you, and once I did, I saw the planet and myself differently.”
Calder smiled. “There’s a wildness in you that matches this place.” He gestured to the land around them. “I felt it the first time I saw you.”
Raya grinned, bursting with happiness. “When you tricked me into riding you.”
He grinned. “Best damn ride you ever had.”
“Arrogant bastard.”
“Techno snob.”
She squeezed his hand. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, so much I want to share all this with you. I also want you to take me home with you. I want to meet your father and see if I can figure out what you love so much about the whirlwind of traffic and the suffocating tangle of buildings on New Earth.”
Raya didn’t think she could love Calder more than she already did, but she was wrong. “Really?”
He stroked the side of her face. “Yes, really.”
A warmth deeper than that of the sun spread through Raya. She’d never been so sure she’d done the right thing in her life. But she didn’t know how to express what she felt. “I don’t… I can’t --”
Calder kissed her, and she said it with her body instead, pulling him against her and returning his kiss with an exquisite gentleness born of love, passion well spent, and the knowledge that there was no need to rush because they had a lifetime.
Silvia Violet
Silvia Violet writes erotic romance and erotica in a variety of genres including sci-fi and paranormal. She can often be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like “Do you write children’s books?” She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she’s actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinful chocolate treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading children’s books to her wickedly smart offspring.
Oriana's Stallions (Collection) Page 7