Battling Rapture

by Stormie Kent

  He eased into her slowly. She was tight, wet and perfect. She moaned into his mouth. He concentrated on not embarrassing himself before he could bring her to release.

  Chapter Eleven

  Niki felt every inch of him entering her pussy. His body was hot even through his clothes. He scorched her even as the coolness of the metal at her back caused her to shiver. She pulled him closer and the crispness of his cotton-like shirt teased her sensitive nipples.

  She propped her feet against his ass to give herself the leverage to move. She met each of his thrusts forcefully. She pulled away from their kiss and leaned her head back against the smooth surface of the battleship. She sucked in gulps of air. Her heart raced and she knew her first orgasm was approaching.

  His hands were clutching her ass. He turned one cheek loose and smoothed it up her slick skin until he was tugging her nipples. It felt damn good. Everything about him felt right, his breath against her face, his hands against her breast and ass and definitely the way he stroked her pussy.

  “You can do it, love. Come for me,” he said.

  She exploded. Her climax went on forever. He continued to thrust faster and she couldn’t catch her breath. The hand at her breast moved and he hooked her leg over his arm, lifting it, and began plunging into her at a new angle. The new sensations were exquisite combined with the aftershocks from her climax and she came again.

  “I’m coming,” he whispered against her neck.

  She kissed his ear as he jerked and spilled his seed deep within her. She stroked every part of him she could reach as his breathing calmed. He kissed her neck and her body shook.

  One day she was going to have his gigantic, smart babies.

  And that was how she knew she wouldn’t let anything rip him from her. She’d never looked at any man before and pictured having anything to do with his offspring.

  Her entire world shifted, completing the change which had begun when she realized she loved Rhine. He was hers. She was his. If she had her way, they would be together forever.

  He held her close for a while longer before pulling from her body with a sharp inhalation. Slowly he lowered her legs back to the hangar floor. His hands came up to rest on the ship at either side of her head. He kissed her forehead, her temples, her cheeks, her nose and finally her lips. Then he pulled away and helped her back into her clothes.

  “I suppose everyone is going to know what we did out here,” she said.

  “If we don’t meet anyone before we get to our bedroom, we can shower and change and no one will be the wiser.”

  She loved the way he said everything was theirs as if she had anything to do with what he already had before she came. She watched him close the ceiling on his hangar before opening the door. He grabbed her hand and they raced back toward the mansion. She couldn’t call a home that big a house. He paused at the rear door and they flattened against the wall while he listened for movement. They entered the mansion and sneaked up the stairs. She was giggling by the time they closed the bedroom door.

  *

  Niki’s breath caught in her throat and she gripped the sheets under her hands. She pressed her forehead to the bed and arched her back. Rhine slammed into her with each thrust, the action punctuated by the sound of his pelvis slapping against her ass. She didn’t know what had gotten into him, she just hoped she survived it.

  Pleasure and pain mixed deliciously. She was building to her fifth orgasm and they’d each seemed forced from her body and unnaturally intense. Tears mingled with the sweat pouring over her face. She’d passed moaning and was actually screaming. He never let up and didn’t seem as if he would stop any time soon.

  She loved it, but she was afraid she was going to have to tap out soon. She was tiring and the man apparently meant business. Yeah, there might have been some loving even the super-supreme bitch of the galaxy couldn’t handle, no matter how much she wanted to continue.

  He pulled from her abruptly and she groaned as her achy, but apparently stupid pussy protested and tried to clutch around air. He rolled her to her side, lifted her leg and filled her completely in one long stroke. She whimpered. He pushed her leg closer to her chest and held it there. She twisted her torso so she could peer up at him. Sweat darkened his hair and coated his chest. He reached a hand up and laid it at her neck.

  She stared into his eyes and he gazed back. His eyes bore into her and she couldn’t look away. There wasn’t a damn thing sweet about the way he was fucking her and she wasn’t sure what was happening. His palm against her throat was heavy, but not painful.

  “This is my pussy,” he whispered.

  Electricity raced up her spine and the pussy in question tried to clamp down on his cock, creating friction which dragged a hoarse grown from her lips. She tried to speak. She didn’t know whether she wanted to deny him or affirm his statement, but she couldn’t. His thrusts stole the air needed for her to form coherent words.

  “When we’re done here, you’ll know exactly who you belong to.”

  His hand moved from her neck and slid heavily down her breastbone and across each of her jiggling breasts. His calluses teased her nipples even though she wasn’t sure that was his intent. She wasn’t sure of anything at the moment. He’d been aggressive before, but there was definitely a message he was trying to send her.

  His hand traveled down her sweat-soaked belly and he rubbed her mound before beginning to rub and finger her clit. It felt as if each muscle in her body stiffened in anticipation of her next release.

  “You won’t try to hide yourself from me.”

  His words sounded important, but she didn’t care as her body leaped into another climax. For a moment she heard nothing. The only things real were his eyes. She’d never stopped staring in them. He wanted something from her, and as his face blurred behind the tears she was unable to keep from her eyes, she gave in.

  He could have whatever he wanted. He just needed to tell her.

  “What…is…it?”

  Hell, had she managed to get the words out? He smiled and pulled from her quickly.

  “No,” she gasped.

  Was she crazy? He pushed her tired body onto her back and her legs up and out. Rhine intertwined his fingers with hers over her head and slipped back into her body. He long-stroked her now and she held on to his hands as every press of his groin rubbed her sensitive clit. He kissed the corners of her eyes, licking the tears away. His torso was pressed against her, heavy even as he held the bulk of his weight away with his forearms.

  She was dying for him to come inside her. She wanted to see the fierce look on his face as he found completion. She wanted to feel him stiffen over her and hear his shout as his warm seed bathed her insides.

  And then he was coming and she watched in tired wonder as he stiffened and jerked over her. He shouted her name and she listened for the slight emphasis he always put on the last syllable.

  They lay there for long moments. He remained within her. His breath tickled her neck as it evened out. Their hands were still joined on the bed above her head.

  “What just happened?” she whispered.

  He pulled his hands from hers and cupped her face. They stared at each other.

  “It has been weeks and you still hide something from me.”

  “I’m not hiding anything,” she said carefully.

  “What worries you, Niki?”

  She was a coward. That was her problem. She didn’t have the stones to ask him how he felt about her and how he felt about her sister. She was scared to know, and if she asked about his feelings, she might have to share her own. Not good.

  “This is what I mean. What is going through your head?”

  “Can I sit up?”

  She definitely wasn’t having this conversation lying flat on her back with his dick in her. She wanted to have as rational a discussion as possible and she couldn’t achieve that under these conditions. He slowly slid from her pussy and she closed her eyes. Her flesh was a little sore and she marveled
that the little bit of pain was also pleasurable.

  She carefully rolled onto her hands and knees and eased herself from the bed. She headed for the bathroom. She wasn’t asking him if he was in love with another woman with his cum dripping from between her legs. She would wash, put on clothes and then have the awful conversation.

  “Where are you going?” He grabbed her arm.

  “I’m going to wash and put on clothes.”

  “Why do you need to wash my seed from your body to tell me of your worry?”

  His brows drew together over confused eyes. Boy, he was going to derail her attempts to get the truth out if he kept stopping her.

  “It’s the same as the bathroom door thing. It will make this easier.” She hoped.

  Mouth tight, he nodded. He let her go and she felt reluctance in the way his fingers lingered against her skin. She walked into the bathroom and braced her palms against the sink. She leaned her head forward and tried to breathe.

  She had to talk to him. She needed to face the issue head-on. She didn’t want to. She hated that being second best to her sister, an issue which had marred her entire life, touched her relationship with Rhine. She shouldn’t have to deal with it with the man she loved. Tears gathered in her eyes and pressure tightened her throat. But more than sadness filled her. Rage and bitterness coursed through her, making her limbs tingle with the desire to act. Yet circumstances would force her to leave the bathroom and begin an extremely painful conversation.

  There was no way she would get the smell of him off her without a shower and she knew she didn’t have time for one. He wasn’t going to let her hang out in the bathroom for long. Just the thought of him matter-of-factly confirming she wasn’t what he wanted while she wore his scent in her pores as if it was a perfume was too much. She swept everything off the sink and onto the floor. Glass and plastic containers clattered and shattered to the floor. She spun around, picked up anything she could find and flung everything against the shower stall wall.

  She heard the door slide open behind her. She didn’t turn. Anger was better than shame. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything left to hurl and she was too tired to fight him.

  “I’ll be out in a minute.” She said the words calmly, as though she hadn’t just destroyed his bathroom.

  “You’ll cut your feet in here.” He replied just as calmly.

  “I’m not finished.”

  “There isn’t anything left to destroy.”

  She was left.

  “Come out, Niki, and use the bathroom next door.”

  She turned, avoided eye contact and stepped around him to leave the room. He followed and she headed for the door.

  “Here.” He placed a plush robe around her shoulders.

  “Thanks.”

  She pushed her arms in and tied the belt before leaving the room. She went to the bedroom on the right. She entered the bathroom and washed her face and the evidence of their lovemaking from between her legs. She should have been gentle with the flesh there, but she wasn’t.

  She’d expected him to be right outside the door when she exited the bathroom. The room was empty. She wanted to fight her way out of the situation. Battling through problems or leaving and ignoring them were how she normally dealt with the churning in her gut. Fighting wouldn’t work here. Her love for him wouldn’t let her leave. Not without knowing the truth. Was she screwed again? Yeah, she knocked over a few things on her way back to their bedroom. She’d pick them up later.

  He sprawled on the sofa, arms across the back and legs spread wide. His chest was bare. He wore pants, but no shoes. She walked over to the armchair across from him and squeezed the back under her hands.

  “Do you feel better?” he asked.

  “No.”

  He leaned forward with his elbows braced on his thighs. “Before you say anything, I want to reassure you that you are the most important person in my life. Nothing you could say to me will change my mind.”

  Her already thudding heart raced. She licked her lips.

  “What about Camryn?”

  His face contorted, showing his confusion. “What about her?”

  The tears at the corners of her eyes were unacceptable. She dug her nails into the chair’s upholstery until she heard a satisfying rip.

  “When I first met you, I was under the impression you had feelings for my sister.” She’d said it. Her stomach was queasy.

  His eyes pleaded with her. “If I explain, will you listen completely before making any judgments or decisions?”

  She might as well. It wasn’t as if the problem was going away. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Sit down, please.”

  She preferred to stand, but sat anyway. She perched on the end of the chair.

  “When your sister dropped into our lives, I’d never been around a woman like her before. She was strong without being harsh, gentle without being meek. Up until then, all I’d known was my mother, who couldn’t defend herself or me from my father. Lady Helsa ignored me or referred to me as the exile when my uncle wasn’t around. Any woman I met wanted the prestige of sleeping with the second or carried the hope I would marry her, cementing her place in the tribe or elevating her to an edela. Even Bronwyn was not as you see her now. Before your sister came, she was Lady Helsa’s clone.”

  He ran his hands harshly through his hair before they fell back between his knees. She was beginning to get a picture of what had happened when her sister burst on the scene. She had questions, but remained quiet. She could tell that saying these things was hard for him. It sounded as if he’d never felt any woman had ever loved him.

  She sat back in her seat. He’d been abused as a boy and then denied a tender word or sincere touch from the women around him. It was amazing he wasn’t cruel.

  “I had carried out my duty to women before. Uncle Ivan made sure we understood responsibility to those weaker than we were. He said it was easy to abuse the weak. He said a man would be shaped by how he treated those in his care. I’d seen and felt what my father had done and I’d watched my uncle. I knew who I wanted to be as a man. I had it all figured out. Then your sister demanded I respect her by being different than the mold of women I knew. I loved her, but I knew it was different than the way Venn loved her or the way she loved him.”

  He stared down at his hands and she ached for him.

  “It wasn’t until Bronwyn began to change and grow into a caring person that I realized I felt for your sister what I would feel for a treasured female family member.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, she was also an exotic so, in effect, my signals got crossed. My biological nature failed me and created a situation that I regarded with extreme embarrassment and dishonor.” His hands formed fists as the lines of his face pulled taut to the point of bleakness. He unclenched his hands and his face softened. “And then I met you. It was as though I’d awakened from a dream in one-dimensional black and white and straight into four-dimensional full-color-spectrum reality.”

  She wasn’t going to pretend like she could sit across from him as he bared his soul. She would put money on the fact that no one else had ever heard him say and admit any of these things before. She stood and crossed to him. He watched her and it broke her heart a little to see the uncertainty in his gaze, like he expected her to reject him.

  She moved one of his arms and sat on his lap. He gathered her tightly to his chest and she didn’t protest that his hold was a little too tight. He kissed her cheek, then turned her face and kissed her lips.

  “I love you, Niki. I love you beyond duty and the love I would feel for a treasured female family member. I couldn’t see my life without you in it. I love that you are strong and protective of those you care about. I love that you can be sweet and giving. I love you. No one else will do in your place.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she didn’t try to stop them. The man she loved, loved her back. She believed him. He’d been attempting to show her how he felt for some time. If he could lay it all out there, she c
ould as well.

  “I love you too. You’ve been special to me from the start. It hurt me to think I was just a standin for my sister in your eyes when I loved you so much.”

  “Don’t be hurt. I keep saying you are perfect for me.” He kissed her again.

  She laughed.

  “Next time you are worried about something, just tell me. Maybe I can help and you won’t have to destroy anything,” he said.

  “Maybe.”

  “Will I have to tie you up to get you to tell me what is wrong in the future?”

  She perked up.

  “Without the pleasuring part.”

  Her face fell. “I thought we agreed never to do it that way.”

  “There was no agreement.”

  “There should have been,” she muttered.

  He pulled one of her curls. Then he kissed her with passion, igniting a fire deep within her belly. His hand parted her robe and trailed down to cup her mound before exploring her pussy. She winced and clutched at his wrist.

  “The mind is willing, but the body is too sore. I got the point, by the way. I belong to you. You belong to me,” she said.

  “Poor baby.” He kissed her neck and lifted her as he stood. “We’re going to soak in the tub, but in another room. Someone made a mess in our bathroom.”

  “How long are we going to talk about this old stuff?”

  He chuckled softly before carrying her from the room and into the next. He stopped for a moment in the middle of the room and looked around at the things she’d knocked over. The little sofa table might have been overkill.

  “Don’t ask.”

  He sat her on the bed and went into the bathroom to start the water in the tub. She walked into the room behind him and watched as he opened the ornamental bottles of bath salts and sniffed each one. He sneezed when he opened the purple bottle. He set it down and chose one with sand-colored contents, then sprinkled it liberally into the water.

  There was more than one spigot, so the bath filled quickly. She took off her robe and entered the tub. There was room enough for four people. She sighed as she sat and the water’s warmth soothed her sore places. Rhine stripped and stepped into the tub. He sat and settled against the side. She waded closer and he pulled her between his legs so she rested against his torso.