by Josie Litton
“I see…” I didn’t really but I was damn well trying to. “How did you become involved in such a situation?”
“I had a friend, we’d grown up together. At the time, we were both working for the man who is at the forefront of first contact with Earth. His name is Korum. My friend, as I thought of him, manipulated the results of tests on his own designs to make them appear successful when they really weren’t. I realized that he wanted to impress Korum but had the designs been accepted, people could have been hurt or even killed. Mindful of our long friendship, I offered him the chance to undo what he had done with the understanding that I would say nothing more about it.”
I had a sinking feeling that I knew where that was going. A moment later, Jarek confirmed it.
“He refused. To this day, I don’t really understand why. Pride, ambition, whatever, in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter. When I exposed him, he challenged me to resolve the matter in the Arena. I thought we would simply fight to a draw.”
“But he had other intentions?”
“He intended to kill me, I think because I was the only person who knew what he had done. If he could silence me, he thought he could still succeed in his plan. By the time I realized that, I was gravely injured. I lost control and killed him instead.”
I couldn’t begin to understand what he had experienced and I didn’t pretend to. But one thing seems crystal clear.
“Jarek, it sounds as though you just defended yourself.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “That’s how everyone else saw it. But I couldn’t get past the moment when I felt everything that was civilized and rational inside me break. For the first time in my life, I had to confront a far darker and more primitive side of myself.”
My sympathy for him was raw and instinctive. I wanted to comfort him in any way I could but at the same time, I needed to know more.
“What did you do?”
“We have places on Krina that are intended for spiritual meditation and penitence. I entered one of them.”
I searched for some equivalent that I could understand. “Is that like a…monastery?”
“Yes, it is in many ways. I underwent the ritual of kusakhina, a cleansing and rebuilding of the spirit. During the final years of that process, I began to write and teach. When I decided to re-enter the world, Ambassador Arus invited me to become his counselor in preparation for first contact with Earth. I was honored to accept.”
A man of conscience so profound that he had remade himself rather than accept his own susceptibility to violence.
And a man of passion who had denied that side of his nature in penitence for actions no one else would ever have faulted him for.
“You don’t…intend to remain celibate?” I asked.
He looked at me across the table, his eyes lit by the shards of gold I was coming to associate with extreme passion. At my core, deep inner muscles clenched.
“I’d have to say that depends on you, Charlotte.”
The rest of dinner passed in a blur except for the part when I found myself telling him about my parents. I rarely spoke of them to anyone but with Jarek I opened up in a way that I could never remember doing before, at least not since I was a child.
So many people I knew mouthed all the right words about longing for peace but they never did anything truly effective to bring it about. He, on the other hand, had faced his darkest urges and moved beyond them to shoulder the task of helping to bring two species together as peacefully and safely as possible. I doubted that I would ever meet someone more genuinely committed to stopping violence.
We were speaking of family--his parents and brother were on Krina; he stayed in touch regularly--when I said, “My parents were both career diplomats with the State Department.”
“Were? They are no longer?”
I nodded against the tightness on my throat. “They were on a second honeymoon twelve years ago when they were kidnapped by terrorists. They were held for a week, then executed.”
I was curious right as I spoke to see if he already knew. With all the resources at his disposal, had he run a check on me? I couldn’t have blamed him; humans “googled” each other all the time. But it still would have felt like a violation. I wanted us to learn about each other from each other, not from impersonal, anonymous sources.
But it was clear to me in an instant that he hadn’t known. The look on his face--shock, horror, compassion--left no doubt of that. He got control of himself quickly but not before I saw how deeply he felt for me.
Quietly, he said, “I’m so sorry, Charlotte. Such things are an abomination. They should never happen.”
I put the crystal goblet I was holding down slowly and stared at the blood red wine darkly reflected in the glow of the lamps.
“Their colleagues worked night and day to identify the location where they were being held. But by the time they found it and got there, it was too late.”
“And the terrorists?”
“They were gone.”
Only the bodies had been found. I hadn’t been allowed to see them. Nor had I ever watched the videos that the terrorists had released during the week they held my parents, including the final one of their beheadings.
He reached a hand across the table and covered mine. My fingers curled around his, holding on tightly. The warmth of his touch chased the chill from my soul.
“You must know how proud they would be of you.”
“Perhaps, but I wonder if in the final days of their lives they didn’t question whether the path they had chosen to follow was worthwhile. The truth is that nothing changed after they died.”
He knew Earth too well to dispute that but he also spoke for a power unlike any the evil that was present in my world had ever faced before.
“Change is happening now. We’ve intervened quietly to shut down such groups. Governments are being told that tacit tolerance of violence for any reason carries consequences that they do not want to face. Reason will prevail.”
Slowly, I nodded. “Good.” If it had taken the arrival of aliens on our world to accomplish that, all to the well and good. Nothing could bring back the dead but at least the living could be spared.
Not letting myself think, I stood, drawing him up with me. The space between us had become intolerable. I needed to touch him, be held by him, feel him skin-to-skin along every inch of my body.
Later, I could question the wisdom of that…maybe. But just then nothing mattered but the swiftly passing, elusive moment that could so easily be lost.
Stepping into the circle of his arms, I murmured, “Take me to bed, Jarek, please.”
Chapter Ten
Jarek
I hadn’t forgotten how good sex could be. I’d just never experienced it like this before.
Charlotte was fire in my arms. Strength and softness, surrender and demand. A dream I had been carrying inside me without ever knowing of it.
Her passion and honesty, the fierce heat of her response, the knowledge of how much she was trusting me all fed the raging hunger that had been building from the first moment I saw her. Then a wall, a mob and two worlds had been standing between us. Now I was determined that nothing would be allowed to do so.
I was beyond questioning my need for her but that didn’t mean that I was without any concerns. The thought that I could hurt her was unbearable. And yet…we barely reached my quarters on the top floor of the embassy and stepped inside before I pushed her against the wall, hiked up her skirt and thrust my leg between hers.
To my infinite relief, her urgency was as fierce as my own. Even as I tugged off her jacket she did the same to my shirt. Human clothes were unfamiliar to me but I managed to find the zipper at the back of her dress, yank it down and pull the garment off over her head.
The sight that greeted me sent a bolt of red hot lust straight to my already aching groin. Her high, full breasts were barely contained by an enticing bit of lace and silk that matched a similar scrap of fabric between her legs. I ha
d never seen such garments, if they could even be called that. The way they half-concealed, half-revealed was most… alluring.
Giving into irresistible need, I slid my hand over the curve of her hip and between her thighs. The silken covering over her mound was wet. I felt the heat radiating from her through it.
My cock was harder than it had ever been, my balls tightening. In an instant, I could lift her, wrap her legs around me, and plunge into her.
Rather than give into the all but irresistible temptation to do exactly that, I sank to my knees in front of her. One quick tug and the lacy scrap between her thighs was gone. She was almost bare beneath with just a narrow, trimmed strip of light blond hair that I instantly found fascinating.
Looking up I saw her shock and more…the smoldering fires of passion about to explode within her. Her hands gripped my head as her own fell back, revealing the slender line of her throat. Pre-cum seeped from me as I thought of raking my teeth over that exquisite flesh, piercing her…taking her blood…
Not this first time, absolutely not. Fortunately, her body offered other delights great enough to strengthen my resolve. Parting her folds, I flicked my tongue over her swollen clit. At the first taste of her, my body ignited. I heard the drumming of my own heart, the bellow of air in my lungs, the rush of blood through my veins. Every part of me was more vividly alive than I had known was possible.
Ruthlessly, I pursued her pleasure, stroking all along her slit, finding the most secret, mysterious parts of her. My thumb teased her bud as I speared my tongue into her, savoring the first convulsive tightening of her orgasm.
“Jarek!” My name on her lips, torn from her by ecstasy, was the sweetest sound I had ever heard. Her entire body quaked as she came, clinging to me, sobbing with the intensity of her release.
And still I refused to relent, driving her higher and higher until finally her strength gave out and she collapsed. Even as she did, I rose quickly and caught her over my shoulder as she fell forward. Standing, I kept an arm wrapped snugly around her thighs as I carried my prize into the bedroom.
Charlotte
Lying spread-eagle on my back, I stared at Jarek dazedly. He stood at the foot the bed on which he had deposited me, his gaze raking over every inch of my body. I should have been embarrassed, as exposed as I was, but I couldn’t muster the strength to even try to draw my legs together. I felt so swollen there and so sensitive after an orgasm that I was sure must have altered the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Or at least of mine.
I was vaguely aware that we were in his bedroom but all I could really see was Jarek himself. Tall, powerful, his bronzed skin glowing with a fine sheen of sweat as he undid his pants and slipped them off and--
Oh, my. I’d felt him through the layers of our clothes but that hadn’t prepared me at all for…
That wasn’t going to fit, no way, no how. If I had an ounce of sense, I’d be on my feet, heading for the door… it’s been fun but hasta la vista, hot alien guy.
“Relax,” he said, grinning. “You’ll be amazed how good this is going to be.”
If the preview was anything to go by… Maybe I’d just stick around in the interest of interstellar relations or…whatever.
Naked, he crawled up the bed until he was over me, holding his weight on his chiseled arms. His powerful legs settled between mine, spreading me yet further. The thick, rigid length of his cock and the weight of his balls made me gasp. After what I had just experienced, how could I possibly be so aroused again so quickly?
“Do you have any idea how extraordinary you are?” His voice was a rough rasp that sent shivers all along my skin.
Faintly, I said, “I think you have it backwards.”
His smile deepened. He moved slightly, enough to reach around and dexterously undo the clasp of my bra. As he slipped it from me, his eyes glowed even more deeply.
“These garments are fascinating. Do you possess many of them?”
My nipples were so hard that they ached. My back arching, I rubbed against him helplessly. Somehow, I managed to say, “I have a weakness for lingerie.”
The rock hard perfection of his chest lightly overlaid by taut, warm skin was more than I could bear. I was throbbing with need. The reality of him, so close, so powerful, no barriers between us… I could feel the orgasm already beginning to build in me. The sheer enormity of it stunned me. How was this possible…?
I had no time to wonder about that before Jarek encircled both my wrists with one of his powerful hands and stretched my arms over my head, holding them in place.
When I tried to object, needing so badly to touch him, he said, “I have very little control left. myklyra. I don’t want to lose it, not with you, not this first time.”
Even in my acutely aroused state, I recognized the sense of what he was saying. As much as I wanted to make this powerful, extraordinary man come apart in my arms, I had just enough instinct for self-preservation left to realize that we needed to take matters a little more slowly. At the very least, my body needed time to adjust to his.
In the next moment, I forgot all about that. His tongue flicked all around both of my nipples before subjecting each in turn to the fierce demand of his mouth, sucking, biting lightly, tormenting both into stretched, hardened peaks of fire.
If that wasn’t enough, as I writhed helplessly under him, the angle of my arching pelvis brought my clit into direct contact over and over with his cock. The sensation was indescribable. I gasped, struggling against the wave after wave of pleasure building in me.
When the second orgasm hit, I saw bursts of white light swirling against darkness. Distantly, in some still functioning part of my brain, I heard myself screaming. Heard, too, the deep caress of his voice telling me how beautiful I was, what I did to him, how perfect we were together.
I had barely begun to recover when I felt the thick crest of his cock pressing into me. A flicker of anxiousness remained but it was dwarfed by my desperate need for him. He went slowly, so slowly and so carefully. Sweat beaded on his forehead. I could see the intense restraint he was exercising.
Even so, I was aware of my body stretching to accommodate him as inch by inch he thrust deeper. The sensation of being so filled, so taken, so completely penetrated was beyond anything I could have imagined. Added to the deep, surging pleasure once again building in me it was almost unbearable.
“Come for me,” Jarek murmured hoarsely. “Again, sweet, beautiful girl. Come on my cock.”
Heaven help me, I did, helplessly, unable to deny him anything, my entire body convulsing as a cascade of pleasure overwhelmed me. When I was next aware at all, he was fully inside me, an impossible length that I could scarcely contain. The heavy weight of his balls pounded against my bottom with every thrust he made.
Held pinned under him, my arms still restrained, I stared up at the harsh beauty of his features taut with the onrush of his own release. When it came, it took me with it, hurtling me into yet another shattering orgasm. My last thought before unconsciousness seized me was that my alien lover had stripped me of all defenses. I truly was his to do with as he chose.
That realization should have been terrifying. Instead, all I could manage was a faint flicker of surprise at how utterly right it felt.
Chapter Eleven
Charlotte
The hazy gray light of pre-dawn was filtering into the room when Jarek slipped inside me again. His nearness in the hours that I lay cocooned in the curve of his body had been enough all by itself to assure my arousal. I was wet, hot, needing him more intensely than ever. Dimly, through the haze of mounting pleasure, I wondered if it could always be like that, the two of us bound together on a level that transcended everything that should otherwise have kept us apart. It seemed far too much to hope for yet I dared to do so all the same.
The lingering reverberations of yet another overwhelming orgasm were still echoing in me when I turned to him, cupped his face in my hand and murmured, “For someone who hasn’t had sex in half-a-century,
you’re showing a real talent for getting back on the bicycle.”
He laughed. “I have no idea what that means but thank you.” Pressing a kiss into my palm, he added regretfully, “This will have to sustain us for the moment, myklyra. Duty calls.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ten hours later, I looked across the floating conference table in what had become the operations center of the joint task force and reflected that Jarek was as coolly gorgeous and in control as he had when we’d stepped out of his quarters that morning. I, on the other hand, could only hope that I didn’t look as frazzled as I felt.
The physical space we occupied kept expanding over the course of the day as more Krinar joined us and the pace of our efforts increased. At first, I thought I had to be imagining it, then I tried to discover how it was done. But either I was too busy--which I was--or the process was simply too fast. The closest I came was once when, just out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw an entire wall dematerialize in milliseconds and reform ten feet farther away than it had been.
Jarek looked up from what he was doing just then, saw my surprise, and grinned. Apart from little moments like that, we kept our interactions strictly professional. Or at least we tried. I had to hope that the furious pace all around us prevented too many people--human and Krinar--from noticing our preoccupation with each other.
Not that I kidded myself. From the glances that did come my way, it was obvious that my “sleep over” at the embassy hadn’t gone unnoticed. Assuming that I could read Krinar facial expressions correctly, reactions varied from the mildly curious to the outrightly assessing but nothing more. Certainly, no one looked in the least dismayed or disbelieving. That puzzled me. Were they really so comfortable with the idea of an inter-species relationship?
Jarek appeared completely unfazed by any of that. I, on the other hand, was just grateful not to be wearing the same clothes as I had the previous day. Somehow, garments of perfect human design that also fit me perfectly had appeared. I’d have to ask him how that was possible but for the moment I just accepted them as yet more evidence of his thoughtfulness.