by Cathryn Cade
She glared at them. “I’m not a licensed sex partner, you know.”
The two of them looked at each other, then back at her. Izard shook his head sadly.
“Cadet, are you sure you want to say no to your superiors?”
Tessa held her tongue. She knew even Sirena would not rescue her from hazing, as long as she was not physically endangered. And the couple wouldn’t come up with anything too humiliating—would they?
“Mm-hm, I think she’s ready.” Yvene patted her shoulder.
“In-deed.” Izard nodded with satisfaction. “He won’t be able to resist her. I’ll bet a week’s wages on it.”
Tessa wanted to scream. “Who is he?”
Yvene tried, and failed, to assume an innocent look.
“Oh, did we forget to tell you that? The basket, and…whatever else you choose to give, are for the captain.”
Izard opened the door behind Tessa, and Yvene pushed her out into the passageway. The door closed, and she stood, holding the festive basket.
“Oh…my…goddess,” she said faintly.
She turned and started along the passageway to the elevators, her mind racing ahead of her feet. She knew Izard liked the captain. She had even heard the Serpentian teasing Craig after their last practice. Now he and Yvene were using her to try and suborn the captain’s solitary tendencies—serving her up to him with drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
She was torn. She didn’t know Craig well, not really. There were other males on board the ship she knew better, but she wanted none of them. After her night with Raile, she now realized that mere liking was not enough for her to have sex with a male. To be held in the captain’s arms…the thought made her knees feel weak. Arousal curled low in her belly, and her skin flushed, so that she wanted to rip off her jacket and toss it aside. She would deliver the gift, and then, if he wanted her, for once in her life she was going to experience her sexuality to the fullest.
This time, when she walked the short passageway to his quarters, she didn’t even notice the spectacular view of stars and planets sailing majestically in the black velvet space over her head. All she could see was the door waiting for her.
Scala knocked at Yvene’s door and entered. She regarded Izard with disfavor, but accepted the glass of wine Yvene held out to her, curling up on the low bed settee next to her friend.
“What have you two been up to?” She eyed them. “You look like a pair of boas who’ve been in the aviary.”
“Just having a glass of wine together,” Yvene said, but Scala didn’t miss the quick look she exchanged with Izard. They were up to something. She didn’t trust Izard any further than she could throw him—he was too friendly with their precious captain. She also knew he had been assigned to be Tessa’s mentor. Something slithered into place in her mind, and she slitted her eyes at him.
“You’ve been setting up your little cadet with the captain, haven’t you?”
Yvene glared, but Izard smiled blandly.
“Why would we do that?”
Because you’re a busybody who should be making a living as a virtual match-maker instead of a ship’s guard. She had too much respect for Yvene’s temper to say it aloud, so she swallowed the words with a long drink of wine instead.
“Why would you, indeed?”
She took another drink. Seven hells! This meant the end of her plan to seduce Tessa. Of course, it was nearly going to be worth it to see the look on Ssaar’s face when he realized the captain had gotten the tender morsel before him. She had an idea that Tessa would no longer have that untouched look when she and the captain were through. If she knew men, and she did, Craig would be an unforgettable lover.
Whom she wanted for herself. She threw the rest of the wine down in a gulp and rose, handing her glass to Izard. She smiled at him.
“If you two ever grow tired of being guards, perhaps you can set up your own escort service.”
Chapter Seven
Steve Craig was having a hellish evening—just as he had expected. He could only retreat from his duties with a bottle and let the black hole of the past swallow him. It would spit him out again. The drink would eventually allow him to sleep, and he would wake in the morning, this dark anniversary past.
He lay sprawled in his recliner, staring at the holo-video image playing out before him. He wasn’t sure why he always replayed it on this date. Perhaps he hoped for answers, or some kind of benediction. A triumphant parade of warriors from the Alliance planets wheeled across his darkened room, on aircraft and armored land vehicles, with flags and pennants flying in the bright sunlight of a Solarian winter day. Thousands of cheering Solarians, Earthlings, Pangaeans and other beings crowded the desert plain, greeting their soldiers returning in triumph.
He had been one of the conquering heroes saluting the crowds from the cockpit of his fighter. They had beaten back the dark tide of the Quark Ogre’n—a ferocious race of predators that over-ran and destroyed any planet not strong enough to fend them off. Joy and relief had swept them all, nearly washing away the memory of the things they had done to get there.
Nearly, but not quite. He had discovered that day, and so had many of his fellow pilots and soldiers, that the living hell they had fought through would haunt them for years to come.
Solaria had been the turning point of the Solar Wars. Ogre’n and Alliance met on the sparsely populated planet to battle for the frontier. The Alliance was desperate to hold back the Quark. If the Ogre’n gained Solaria, it meant control of a fertile planet that the Alliance had begun to settle. The enemy would also have a base within range of Earth II, Pangaea and Bryght to launch further attacks.
So the battle raged over the planet. The Ogre’n took a small settlement, using the settlers’ stores of fuel for their fighters. Fierce combatants without conscience or regard for life, they maimed Craig’s fighter squadron. The only hope the Alliance had was to destroy the fuel source, and thus take the Ogre’n out of commission.
Craig flew in low through enemy fire, lasers at the ready, knowing that this mission would almost certainly cost him his life. As he reached the target, he saw on the holo-vid screen a terrible sight. The Ogre’n had rounded up all the inhabitants of the settlement—men, women and children, to form a living screen around the fuel depot.
With a split second to decide, and knowing he had no real choice, Craig pushed the button to deploy his laser missiles. The entire settlement, along with a huge number of Quark fighters, exploded in a blast that lit up the night.
The Quark remaining on Solaria were quickly destroyed by the Alliance. Craig and the remainder of his squadron received heroes’ welcomes, with a huge celebration. It was glorious to know they had done their part to win the war.
But even then, he knew he would live the rest of his life with the choice he had made to do so.
Sometimes when it was very bad, he saw the faces of innocents staring in terror at his approaching fighter. Logically he knew that it had been the blackest of nights, and his ship just another streak of light in the sky. But he still saw their faces and their fear.
He had just poured his second glass of potent Earth II whiskey when the motion sensor chimed in his private passageway. The holo-vid screen flashed from the parade to the person standing outside his door. He stared, drink forgotten in his hand.
It was Tessa Alligon, bearing gifts. He blinked. She was real. He wasn’t that far gone into the bottle.
He wondered what the seven hells she was doing there, and then realized he didn’t care in the slightest. She had caught him at his nadir, and he would accept any rope to pull him out of the dark pit.
She looked good enough to eat. He might just start at her beautiful breasts, ready to burst out of the little green thing she was wearing. He would work his way down to her little pussy. If it tasted as good as she smelled, he would probably come just from licking it.
“Look out, Little Red,” he growled softly as he rose. “The wolf is in, and he’s hungry for more than you’ve go
t in that basket.”
He bared his teeth and pulled open the door.
At least, Tessa saw, he was smiling. His mouth turned up at the corners, two little creases framing it. The smile didn’t reach his ice blue eyes, though. They were dark, shadowed with pain. Suddenly she wanted desperately to chase the shadows away—wanted to see his eyes light up with pleasure for her.
Izard and Yvene might have conspired to send her here, but she would stay for herself.
“Come in, Tessa.” His deep voice was gravelly, as if he had not used it for hours.
He stepped back, and she walked into the room, sure that he could hear her heart pounding. The room was larger than her tiny cubby, with a table, easy chairs, and a huge holo-vid screen. She turned back to him and saw the bed. The sleek grey coverlet was smooth, the pillows piled invitingly.
He followed her gaze.
“Like it?”
“It’s certainly bigger than mine,” she said, and then blushed as he smiled again.
“Good size for sharing,” he agreed.
She suddenly remembered the basket in her hands and held it out to him.
“From Izard.”
He took the basket and set it down on the table.
“Dark berry wine, my favorite. May I pour you a glass?”
She nodded because she was afraid if she did not, he would come closer, and she thought she might melt. Part of her longed for just that.
He uncorked the bottle with swift economy and poured a glass of the dark wine. Holding her gaze, he lifted the glass to take a drink. His chiseled lips pursed, then relaxed as he tasted it.
“Good,” he approved. “Have some, Tessa.”
She took the glass, lifted it to her lips, and took a sip. The flavor exploded on her tongue, intensified by his nearness.
He waited, so she took another drink. He grasped the glass, his hand encircling hers, and lifted it to his lips again. His hand was warm and powerful, enclosing her smaller one.
“Smooth,” he commented, his gaze drifting down to her lips and past. It lingered on her breasts, and she remembered what Izard had said. “Full bodied, yet supple on the tongue, with just…a hint of sweetness.”
Heat flashed through her at his words. Was he commenting on the wine, or her?
As he took the empty glass from her hand, she saw the answer in his eyes. He set the glass aside.
“I hope you’re here for the reason I think you are, Tessa Alligon,” he said, his eyes searching hers. “If you’re not, leave now. Because if you stay, I’m going to have you…every way I can think of.”
At his words, she felt a jolt of arousal such as she had never felt before. It rolled down through her, settling in a hard throb of need between her thighs.
She looked into his blue eyes and took a step toward him.
“And I—I will have you, too.”
One of his powerful arms curved around her, his hand flattening on the small of her back. The other lifted, his hand cupping around the back of her head. She lost her breath as he pulled her against his hard body, and her head rolled with his hand as he tilted it to the side, bending to bury his face in the curve of her throat. He was so warm, so much larger than she.
He opened his mouth on her skin, and inhaled, drinking in her scent. Tessa felt as if he were drawing everything within her to the surface with his breath.
A soft, aching sound built in her throat. He laughed, a low wicked sound against her ear.
“I knew you’d respond to me this way,” he said triumphantly, his tongue following his words into her ear. “I knew it.”
Her hands rose of their own accord to grasp his lean flanks, then slipped up over the long muscles of his back, digging into the thin fabric of his flight suit. He flexed his hips against her, hard, his hand tightening on her back. She felt a long, thick shape prod into the vee of her thighs. He rubbed it against her again, raking her clitoris through her thin tights. She whimpered, lifting her leg to curl it around him, pulling him closer.
He groaned and lifted his head enough to look down at her, his eyes glittering with blue fire. His nostrils were flared, his face a taut mask.
He drove his hand between them, cupping it over her mons, stroking and squeezing her. She jolted with the shock of being touched there so suddenly, but then tilted her hips helplessly, inviting his touch even as she blushed, feeling the hot color spread down her throat and over her chest.
He followed it with his eyes, and then released her just enough to pull down her zipper.
“May I?” he asked.
She nodded. He pulled her jacket off, dropping it on the floor, and backed up, pulling her with him until he was sitting on the edge of the bed with Tessa leaning between his powerful thighs. She wasn’t sure what to do now.
Craig barely noticed. He stared at her lips, still parted, and the pink tongue within. The arousal that gripped his body deepened even more. She didn’t have the reptilian tongue of a true Serpentian. God beyond, a woman with the sensuality of a Serpentian, and yet the most attractive attributes of a human.
“Open your mouth,” he urged, staring at her lips. His thumbs moved, caressing her bare waist as he waited.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head.
“Open it,” he repeated, drawing her closer. He wanted to laugh. She looked like a pouting, distrustful little girl.
He thrust out the tip of his own tongue and waggled it at her teasingly. “I’ll show you mine, if you’ll show me yours.”
“I don’t like my tongue. You don’t have to kiss me—I will understand.”
He flicked one thumbnail up across her nipple, and she gasped, her pretty eyes drooping, her lips parting again. He deliberately repeated the motion.
“I want these in my mouth. But first, Tessa…”
She pouted, but thrust out just the tip of her tongue. He stared, rapt. She did not have the narrow, leathery tongue of a true Serpentian, as he had feared. Her tongue was soft and pink, just the way it should be, but instead of the round tip of a full-blood human’s tongue, it had a shallow fork in the tip!
He felt a shudder of sheer anticipation. Ah, he wanted to feel that tongue dancing across his skin, like wet butterfly wings. He chuckled with sheer bawdy delight in her.
Her high cheekbones flushed, and she pulled against his hands, her eyes flashing.
“Don’t laugh at me!” she hissed. “I told you it was ugly.”
He held her, careful not to hurt her. She was damn near strong and lithe enough to get loose, but he had no intention of letting her go—not now.
“Ah no, baby, your pretty little tongue is nothing to be ashamed of. That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen.”
He tugged at her, his big hand slipping up the back of her neck. “C’mere.”
He loved kissing—loved the feel of a woman’s soft lips under his, loved her tongue tangling with his, her mouth opening to let him in, letting him thrust his tongue in that small mimic of the sex act. And he loved a woman’s mouth, her tongue, on his body. He was going to have this one all over him, every place he could talk her into fluttering it.
Chapter Eight
Tessa let Craig pull her down to him, but watched him warily as his face tilted before hers. He pressed those mobile lips against hers. Oh. His mouth was so warm, and firm, much softer than she had thought a man’s mouth would be. She waited eagerly for more. He obliged, parting his lips to brush them over hers from every angle, until her lips were parted and quiescent.
“Tessa,” he murmured against her mouth.
“Hm-mm?”
“Kiss me back, hmm?”
“Oh. I am to do the kissing, too?”
One of his brows flew up. “You’re telling me you’ve never been kissed before?”
“No. Not…like this.” She certainly was not going to tell him about Scala kissing her.
“Huh.” He drew her closer. “Just do everything I do. If you like it.”
She more than liked it. It was en
thralling, consuming. He enticed her into tasting him, tangling her tongue with his, learning every nuance of his mouth as her arms slipped tighter about his neck, and she leaned into his embrace, her breasts pressed against the hard breadth of his chest, his powerful arms holding her close.
She quickly learned that kissing was not all exclusive. It left hands free, to roam, to incite, to explore. His found her ass, and squeezed, pulling her tight against his groin. The other slipped between them to cup one of her breasts, squeezing, stroking until both of them were panting into each other’s mouths. Without taking his mouth from hers, he pulled her cami up, and then let her go enough to pull it up and off as she raised her arms.
He tossed it aside, and then, his eyes still devouring her breasts, he pulled her tights down, peeling them off her like the husk of a tropical fruit.
Tessa stepped out of her tights and stood before him. Arousal warred with embarrassment at being held before him, his big, hard hands on her bare hips, while he looked her over like a harem prize. At that moment, she felt that anything he asked of her, she would gladly do.
“When we sparred,” he said, looking at her breasts as he pulled her into the vee of his legs, “you were perspiring. It trickled right down here.” He touched one finger between her breasts. “I wanted to lick it off.”
Her breasts tightened in an agony of anticipation. ”Do it now—please.”
“Oh, I will.” He pulled her closer. “I’m going to eat you up like a creamsicle, baby.” He put out his tongue and licked up through her cleavage, his tongue like wet silk.
She swayed against him, held in the vise of his thighs, his powerful hands hot on her bare bottom. His lips closed over her nipple, drawing it into his hot, wet mouth, and she whimpered with delight as his silky tongue worked the hardened tip, his lips sucking on the areola. Oh, it was so wonderful, especially when his other hand closed on her other breast, cupping, squeezing, pinching the nipple. The tugging sensation reached deep inside her, twining down to her womb.
“Oh, Captain… I like this kind of kissing, too.”