Greenshift
Page 7
“Such a sweet, little body,” he said. One of his big hands cupped her breast while the other one gently pushed her thigh aside to spread her legs. She hadn’t realized she’d had them squeezed closed. He kept his hand there for a while, brushing the inside of her thigh with the back of his hand and his fingertips. She felt the wetness already trickling out of her as her folds started to open. And he hadn’t even touched her there yet.
When he slid his hand between her legs, a little whimper of anticipation escaped her lips. With the first brush of his fingers against her clit, the whimper became a moan. Sensation shot through her body as two of his big fingers made delicate circles, teasing her open further. As he increased the pressure and speed of his massage, she closed her eyes with the delight of it.
She ran her hands down his back to the top of his backside where she squeezed his toned flesh as her body built to climax. How many times had she wanted to touch him, to have him touch her just like this? Part of her couldn’t believe it was actually happening. As if to convince her of reality, her orgasm hit, rocking her body until she was squeezing David’s hand between her legs as each wave swelled and crashed.
She was still writhing with pleasure when he withdrew his hand and shifted position. But, when she felt his hardness press at her opening, she froze. Almost reflexively, she pulled her knee up to put distance between their bodies.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Sorry. Some of this is just a little new for me.” She slid her knee from between them, but couldn’t force the stiffness from her body. Or the sudden bout of shivers.
“What are you saying, Mari?” David sounded tentative, as though he already knew the answer.
“I haven’t…exactly done this before, but I want to,” she said quickly, tightening her grip on his neck to emphasize her enthusiasm. “Please don’t be mad. You could show me what to do.” Her emotions were getting the better of her as disappointment and embarrassment flooded through her. That’s when the tears blurred her vision. She felt foolish admitting her inexperience to a man like David. Well, maybe to any man, but especially David.
“Mari, honey.” David brushed away the tears on her cheek with his thumb. “I’m not angry with you.” He kissed her forehead then both of her closed eyes. “I’m just surprised.” He stroked her hair and spoke in a soothing tone. “It means we should take this all a little slower.”
“I’m tired of taking it slow, David. You were the first guy I wanted to do this with. And now I’ve ruined it.”
“You haven’t ruined anything.” He kissed her slowly and with such tenderness she knew he meant what he said.
“Slow can be fun,” he murmured.
His mouth trailed down her neck. She’d always seen couples do this on the Media and sometimes in public spaces at Shiraz and outside the high end shops of Latulip. It had looked blissful to her. When David went from kissing to gently sucking at the sensitive skin below her ear, she decided bliss couldn’t come close to describing the sensation.
“Slow is definitely fun,” she whispered.
He ran a finger between the hollow of her breasts and down to her belly. She sucked in her abdomen as he traced circles around her belly button and continued lazy swirls until his hand slid between her legs again. His fingers stroked lightly over her still sensitive clit, teasing her back to a state of arousal, but then he stopped and lifted her chin so she could look directly into his eyes. “If anything doesn’t feel right to you at any time, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”
“Yes,” she could barely get the word out.
Spreading her folds, he touched her opening with his middle finger. Still looking at her, as though watching her reaction to his every touch so closely, he pushed his finger inside her.
“Did that hurt?”
“No.” It actually pinched a little, but maybe because she was still a bit tense.
He slowly pulled his finger back out, creating a sensation that was much more pleasant, like she had expected. She felt the pressure of two fingers just below her clit this time, exciting her.
“What about this?” he asked, carefully sliding both fingers into her heat.
“It’s a little tight,” she said, “but it feels good.”
As he continued to work his fingers inside her, he kissed her softly on the lips then on her throat then in the valley between her small breasts. His lips reached her belly button and she sucked in her breath and clenched against his penetrating fingers. How he thought this would slow things down for her mystified Mari. His trail of kisses only managed to inspire urgency within her and made her skin hot under his mouth. But not as hot as the blood which swelled into her clit when his last kiss landed there.
“David.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders and said his name over and over as his lips and tongue moved against her, accentuating the push of his fingers. Before she realized it, she moved her hips in time with him. The rising pressure of another climax built within her.
To her shock, David pulled his hand away from her completely.
“What….” She felt abandoned.
He moved his body over hers and whispered, “Do you trust me?”
“More than anyone,” she whispered back.
That instant when he first entered her brought on a wave of unexpected emotion. She felt tears roll down the side of her face into her hair, but she was smiling because she had waited for this moment for so long.
She pressed her back into the soft cotton mattress at first, hesitant to give him full access. He stopped, letting her get used to the feel of him. She relaxed as he kissed her and caressed her arms, her neck, her face with a light touch. Sliding her hands down his back, she did her own exploring, ending at his rounded backside. She moved her hips toward him and pressed her hands against his bottom to let him know she was ready for more of him.
He pushed in a little further, but let her set the pace for the joining of their two bodies. As her hips urged him deeper inside her, she kissed him harder, finding his tongue with hers. He took over the rhythm of their coupling and filled her in every way—her body, her mind, her heart. Not in her wildest fantasies could she have imagined this sensation, this overpowering feeling of connectedness. As David moved within her, she was closer to him than she had ever been to anyone in her entire life. This was what it meant to be part of a couple.
She would remember this moment for the rest of her life. That David Anlow, the retired fleet captain who had become a fast and dear friend, taught her more than just piloting a ship, he taught her about the beauty to be found in this unity.
As if to seal the memory, she kissed him with as much passion as she contained. The building pressure between her legs returned and brought her thoughts to more base pleasures, making her awed that David and his body could evoke this kind of reaction from her. She broke away from the kiss when the sweet spasms of release rolled over her. Without thinking, without caring, she cried out in a fit of ecstasy.
A low growl rumbled through David’s chest that she as much felt as heard. Within seconds his body joined hers in climax.
A strange and wonderful feeling of empowerment flooded her system as he came. She understood now. Coupling evened the playing field between partners, between castes, between ages. David had shown her this new truth when his body responded to her. She could give him as much pleasure as he gave her. She giggled with the delight of discovery.
Mari also knew another truth—she wanted David as her prime, but not just her first amour, her only amour.
SEVEN
Last night was unexpected.
David had never been someone’s first, had never wanted the responsibility. After coupling with Mari, he couldn’t imagine the experience being any more satisfying…and emotional. Not just for her. Sharing her first coupling made him regard her with awe and respect, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, it made him want to make their new relationship a little more permanent. Suddenly he didn’t care if his hormones were tel
ling him to settle down—so was his heart. It was his head that kept getting in the way. If his decision to retire early was what brought that settling down idea front and center, it meant he shouldn’t even be considering it until he’d had enough time away from the fleet to clear his head.
His contentment upon waking faded a little as he worried that what he felt for Mari was simply an emotional fallacy. Not that he believed his feelings for Mari were false, he just didn’t trust them to make any life decisions for him after Lyra. The fact that he was already contemplating taking his prime based on how he felt in the afterglow of a night of coiting with a teenager practically screamed for him to put as much distance between Mari and him as humanly possible.
She was already acting as though their tryst had sealed some sort of deal. When she spoke of it, he hadn’t discouraged her, though. Instead, he let her indulge them both with her fantasies. Even now, with his rational mind reprimanding him, David still wondered how it might feel to wake up next to her each morning, her tousled blonde locks hiding her face and her thin arm thrown possessively over his bulky chest. Just like now.
He slept over very few nights with women, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave Mari alone after her first time. At least that’s the lie he told himself when he agreed to stay last night. Was that also the reason he kept her curled next to him, never taking a hand off her the entire time?
She gave him a new purpose. Mari was the first person he had met who didn’t worry about his rank, about his influential family, about what he could do for her—well, she did like what he could do for her. He smiled because the feeling of being wanted by a woman just because he was a man was new to him, despite, or maybe because of, the hundreds of trysts he’d had over his years in the fleet. His own family joked about him being somewhat of a whore, but what they didn’t realize was that, in the beginning at least, he was just looking for a companion.
After too many disappointments at a young age, he gave up on the more meaningful part of sex and pursued just the physical side.
Until Lyra. Lovely Lyra. He’d never called her that to her face because she would have thought the endearment too sentimental.
He admitted he steered their relationship in a direction she hadn’t wanted—she was a career military woman, ten years younger than him. A family life didn’t register in her plans any time soon. Sometimes, in reflective moments like this, David feared he pushed her into mutiny. She made their stifling relationship part of her warped reasoning for trying to take over his ship. Maybe that’s why the fleet washed away the incident…and promoted her. Better than dealing with a possible harassment suit, though he’d never overstepped his boundaries. It wasn’t in him to break the rules, even for Lyra. He’d probably never know the truth of what happened with her upward mobility within fleet ranks. That was fine with him. In fact, David hoped he’d never see Lyra again.
Mari lifted her head and blinked sleepy eyes through the hair tumbling over her face. “Good. You’re still here,” she said.
Her sweet voice and genuine delight in seeing him, instantly banished cold thoughts of Lyra. Even at nineteen, Mari was ten times the woman Lyra would ever be.
He pressed his lips against her tousled hair. “I don’t think I could have gone anywhere if I wanted to.” He looked pointedly at her arm and leg flopped over him.
She smiled and rolled off him, pulling the sheet with her. Her shyness transferred to David and he kicked his feet over the other side of the bed and grabbed his shorts and pants.
“You don’t have to go,” she said as she made her way into the bathroom.
“I need to check with the dockmaster this morning, let him know we’ll be staying a little longer.”
Mari poked her head out of the bathroom and said, “That’s right. I forgot about that meeting with Dale today.”
Wish you would forget about Dale permanently.
David had to remind himself that her enthusiasm was for the job, not for the man, but that didn’t make him any less annoyed. After last night David’s protective instinct sped into high gear concerning Mari. He had never felt this need to be so shielding of any other women he’d been intimate with. He explained it away because of her age and her inexperience, because she was a Socialite not a competent battle maiden, but his instinct came from a place inside him that housed much deeper feelings, a place he wasn’t ready to visit just yet.
She bounded around the corner, her red-tipped blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, a short, flower print robe in place of the sheet. As she chattered about plans for that day, he imagined having many mornings like this with her and it made him happy.
Except not in this room.
Seeing Mari’s bedroom in full light, with blues and greens in wild prints and patterns covering every available square centimeter, even creeping onto the ceiling, would have been somewhat comical if it weren’t almost terrifying. The fuzzy throw pillows alone would have sent a lesser man running for the door.
“Maybe we could get lunch after I see Dale? You could either come with me to Wright’s Landing or we could meet in the Hub.”
Stay out of her business.
“I can go with you to see Dale,” he said.
“Great.” She bounced up to his chest and gave him a peck on the lips. “Meet you in half an hour under the trees?”
She confused him again until he realized she meant the giant glass trees in the Bard‘s foyer. The azure arcs of light flowing inside them still mesmerized him from time to time, just like watching Mari did.
“Under the trees,” he said.
David couldn’t believe he had to ask Sean for another reporter. The mech tech would never let him hear the end of it. At least it would be a good excuse to ask for an interface with the Bard again. He pressed the entry sensor and heard a tell-tale chime on the other side before the door slid open.
Sean stood fiddling with some piece of circuitry in the middle of his sitting room, which was still decorated in the gaudy style of an old pleasure cruiser—one that hadn’t been visited by housekeeping in the last twenty years. Alcohol bottles and empty droppers added to the narcotic den ambiance and confirmed David’s suspicions that Sean Cryer was a doser and an alcoholic.
“I lost my reporter,” David said.
Sean never looked up from the mass of wires and parts splayed across his coffee table. “When did you lose it? I need to lock out all the codes so someone can’t access the ship.”
“No worries there. It’s completely obliterated.”
“How did you manage that? I thought you were used to running an entire war ship.”
“It’s a long story, but since you bring up the war ship thing, can you finally update my cerebro implant so I can interface with the Bard directly?”
“Is that still illegal for civilian pilots?” Sean asked.
They both knew it was, but Sean didn’t seem like the type of guy who cared much about legalities. David thought after a couple of weeks the younger man would start to trust him. Sean’s substance abuse made him paranoid. Maybe he thought David was testing him. Whatever Sean’s problem, David didn’t have time to argue with him today.
“Then just give me another reporter. They’re still legal, aren’t they?”
“Last time I checked.” Sean disappeared into a back bedroom. When he emerged, he tossed a thin silver bracelet at David.
He snatched it up before it hit the tile floor. “Thanks. You’re all kinds of helpful.”
“Works best if you use this finger.” Sean held up his middle finger in a crude good-bye.
“You’re an ass. By the way, we’re staying an extra day here at the Hub.”
That got Sean’s attention. “What the hell for? So you can make a point?”
“It’s for Mari. She’s meeting with a client.”
Sean didn’t say anything more, but his expression said he wasn’t happy. That would have normally made David smile, but he was too wrapped up in thoughts about Mari’s meeting.
“The name sounds familiar. Why?” Sean asked.
“I met him last night. Something’s off about him, but he seems to be interested in Mari doing a job for him, bringing his latest ship up to greenshift code,” David said, agitation working into his jaw as he remembered Dale’s sleazy advances toward Mari.
Either David’s thoughts showed on his face or Sean came to the same conclusion. “You think he wants to dock her.”
“Seemed that way when he was talking to her. But I don’t think Mari got the same impression from him.”
“She probably didn’t. Mari’s naiveté is going to get her into trouble one of these days. The wrong guy could take advantage of her trusting nature.” Sean’s tone gave David the impression that Sean was hinting at someone a little closer to Mari.
Does he know about last night? Because Sean’s attitude could be construed as jealousy. The idea that Sean might be interested in Mari struck David hard and it came out in his tone.
“You don’t know her as well as you think you do.”
Sean did something then that David had never seen the mech tech do in the month he’d known him—he smiled. Just a little upturn to the corner of his mouth, but it was enough to nearly drive David into a rage. He shoved into the commonway before he used his clenched fists to smash that smile right off Sean’s face.
EIGHT
Sean tapped his palm to activate his implanted wrist reporter, making the already loud music raise to ear-shattering heights within the confines of his bedroom. The pounding beats and anti-Embassy lyrics spat out on angry tongues soothed him…or maybe it was the restor patch he’d just jabbed into his hip. Whether through narcotic bliss or aural disorientation, he relaxed against the bed’s bare mattress and took a deep breath. He snagged a case from the empty night table and popped the metal clasp. A tinny smell accosted him. Inside, swimming in clear conductor fluid, were what looked like two silver, opaque contact lenses. They were v-mitters and they allowed his consciousness to merge easily with an electro-magnetic stream opening directly to the V-side.