by Candace Sams
He laughed and ducked his head. “I must confess … I did awaken on several occasions while you were seeing to those needs. As to watching you, there wasn’t much to see. You cleanse while still clothed.”
“I always keep something on in the event I have to run.”
“I’ll keep watch while you bathe. It isn’t likely anyone would ever find you in this cave, but I can see where you’d be concerned. A woman on this planet can’t be too careful. That’s why I’m going with you to the market.”
Hearing the water boil, Nova picked up a bar of soap and a washcloth and crept behind the blanket.
“How is it? Do you need more water? If you do just call out and I’ll slip another kettle under the blanket.”
“Thank you. It’s wonderful,” she happily replied. “You might want to go to the entrance and gather some snow for your bath.”
“I’ll do that. And I’ll put our pallets closer to the fire. We should be quite warm.”
When she eventually emerged from their new bathing area with a large towel wrapped around her slender body, hugging a damp little pup in her arms, something in Marcos’s chest tightened. Even with the scars on her shoulders and head, Nova looked soft and inviting. She was a slender, tiny thing who looked so very vulnerable while holding her pet. But appearances could be deceiving. He knew her capabilities. She was a stealthy thief by necessity, a brave woman by choice. But she deserved so much more than she’d ever had on this rock in deep space.
When she saw him staring, Nova laughed. “I’ve never bathed Una before. Just brushed her. But the tub is all clean if you’re wondering.”
He shook his head in amusement. The little pup had been sleeping next to them for weeks. If Una bathed in the same tub it wasn’t going to make any difference to him.
He picked up a large blanket, and walked forward. When he draped it around Nova’s shoulders, she let Una jump from her arms. The little dog ran toward the fire and the pallets there and snuggled in for the night.
“I guess she’ll be sleeping very close,” Marcos jokingly replied.
Nova stood still while he wrapped the large blanket around her.
“You’re such a small thing,” he rambled as he pulled the blanket up to her neck.
“Marcos?”
He looped his arms around her body and held her for a long moment before responding. “Yes?”
“I know you’ll be so tired of hearing me ask. But will you tell me more about Avalon and your family? And about your life there?”
Lying to her was wrong on every level. He felt it down to the last cell in his body. But he didn’t want her to hate him. And she would if he told her who he really was.
He decided to take the coward’s way out and keep describing things as if he were a normal citizen of Luster. When she knew him better, and understood the politics of the situation, maybe she’d accept who and what he was. For now, he wanted this closeness between them to continue. It seemed very important that she respect him for who he was right now.
“Ask a thousand times, and I’ll talk about my home.” Just so long as she’d keep talking to him and treating him as an equal, not an enforcer and the son of the king.
“I’ll pass you water under the blanket if you’d like to bathe,” she offered.
“I don’t see the need to have the blanket hanging between us. You’ve seen every inch of me, little thief.”
She shrugged. “That’s true. I just thought you might like some privacy now that you’re healing so well.”
He shook his head, and pushed the hanging blanket separating their new bathing room to one side. “You can ask me questions, and pass me the buckets of snow at the same time. Then, when I’m done, we’ll snuggle under the blankets and I’ll tell you stories of Avalon until you fall asleep. You’ll have pleasant dreams of freedom.”
“What a wonderful thought,” Nova said as she quickly handed him a bucket of snow he’d gathered and watched as he undressed.
He didn’t miss the way she turned her face away when she believed she’d been caught staring.
As he soaped himself and finally rinsed, parts of his body began to tingle. Then the tingle became an outright itch as he dried.
By the time he pulled a blanket around his body and sat next to her again, he almost had to remove the heavy covering altogether. Everywhere the fabric touched, his skin burned and felt tight. He lifted his hand and began to scratch at the scars on his chest.
“Don’t do that!” she told him as she covered his hands. “You’ll open new wounds that could become infected.”
“Can’t help it. I’m starting to itch so badly that I don’t think I’ll get any sleep.”
“That’s a good sign. It means you’re healing.”
Holding her blanket around her, Nova walked to the area where her herbs and medicinals were neatly arranged. She pulled a small bowl from a stack and began to mix some ingredients. “The cold, dry air is irritating the newly formed scar tissue. But I’ll mix something that will absorb into your skin and protect it. Until your exterior toughens, you’ll have to keep applying it.”
By now, Marcos had to toss the blanket aside entirely. The cold air from the cave’s entrance hit his back while the fire in front of him kept that half warm. But neither the heat nor the cold were helping his physical situation any.
“Did this intense scratching sensation happen to you?” he asked as he rubbed one shoulder and the inside of his thigh.
“Yes. Obviously, there wasn’t so much of my body that was burned.”
She approached him with a small glass bowl in one hand, grasping her blanket around her with the other. Marcos put both his hands to his bald, scarred head and began to aggressively scratch.
Once more, Nova sat beside him, pulled his hands away, and began to apply the cream to his head first. “Stop it!”
“I tell you I can’t help it,” he complained.
“The warm bath you took might not have helped. The hot water could have dried your skin even more than the cold air. Especially as your skin is still healing. But you needed it.” She began to lightly smooth the cream over his head, face, and neck as she spoke.
“Was I that rank?”
“No. Not any more than I was, I suppose. Living like this has some disadvantages. Now be still.”
Marcos let her apply the herbed cream. It quickly absorbed into his flesh. He didn’t think she could possibly have enough in that tiny bowl to do any good. At least not the way he was itching. But soon after she began to apply the remedy, the burning stopped. He sighed in relief, then did as she requested and kept his hands off his healing flesh.
Nova pulled the blanket away from his chest and began to smooth the mixture over his skin there as well as his arms and shoulders. “Turn around. I’ll get your back.”
He shifted his weight until his back faced her. The soothing ointment not only took away the painful tightness, but her hands were having an effect he hadn’t planned on at all. Something in his posture must have alerted her because she stopped and leaned forward to look at him.
“What’s wrong? This shouldn’t be hurting. Is it?”
“No. It isn’t … no.”
“If you’ll lie down I’ll take care of your legs.”
“Uh, I can do that myself,” he said and simultaneously reached for the bowl.
She pulled it out of reach and arched one brow. “I’m the healer here. Is there something wrong with your limbs you don’t want me to know about? Have you opened a wound?”
“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s just that you should be getting some rest. You walked all the way to the marketplace and back carrying supplies. You’ve got to be tired. I can start looking after myself now.” He reached for the bowl again and frowned when Nova moved back, pulling his blanket with her.
She stared at his nude form and put the bowl down between them. “I-I see you are getting better.”
Marcos tried to pull the blanket back over his erection, but she was sit
ting on most of the fabric. “For a time, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever achieve an erection again.”
She didn’t take her eyes off his swollen cock. He sighed heavily in response and pulled another blanket toward his lower half.
“Do you mind?” he muttered.
At any other time in his life he’d have welcomed the steady gaze of a woman in such a situation. But this was different. She wasn’t just any woman. And his opinions about life—at least his attitude about the way he’d led it—were quite different now. As he attempted to wrap the covering around himself, however, she put out her hand and stopped him. Then, her beautiful amethyst gaze roamed slowly over his body, finally meeting his.
There was hunger in her expression that quite astounded him. She’d seen him nude many times while tending his wounds. Her healing skills had probably required seeing a good many injured men whose clothing had been removed for one reason or another. “Nova?”
She simply blinked. “Th-the man I was to wed wasn’t half so endowed.” She briefly paused. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me say that.”
He stared at her for a moment. “You miss him? Being with him?” For some reason, that thought didn’t sit well. He didn’t want her looking at him and being reminded of some dead lover.
“I miss everyone I lost.”
“What was his name again?” Marcos softly asked.
“Aeson.”
Marcos put out one hand and placed his palm against her cheek. “He must have been a very good man for you to have cared so much.”
She remained silent.
Marcos placed his index finger under her chin and forced her to look back again. “You miss having sexual relations. That would be quite understandable. You’ve been lonely a long time, Nova. I … I shouldn’t mind you staring at me. In fact, it’s only natural given the circumstances. After all, I’m much better now, and we aren’t exactly in the position of healer and patient any longer. Are we?”
“I understand all that. You just reminded me of something I’d rather not have remembered.”
He moved closer. “You can tell me anything. Whatever it is I’ll help if I can.”
For a long moment, Nova chewed at her lower lip and twisted the edge of her blanket in her hands. “I-I don’t think I can speak about it,” she quietly told him.
Something in her eyes worried him. He placed both his hands on her shoulders to get her to talk. “Did this man ever do something that made you uncomfortable? Something that maybe you weren’t ready for?”
She stared into his eyes. “No. He never did or would. It’s just very personal. And you’re right … from now on … y-you can put the cream on yourself. I should be getting some rest.”
Marcos watched her turn away, pull the blankets around her small body more closely, and reach for Una.
For a long time, he watched her lying there, knowing she wasn’t asleep. And while he finished smoothing the cream over his legs, time and the cold didn’t diminish his erection one bit. Sad for him, it began to itch too. Though only tiny spots of his genitalia had been exposed to the plasma, what was burned needed the comfort of the cream even more.
There was nothing to do but spread the stuff over his cock and balls. To do it, he needed to stretch out on his back.
While he’d always known the healing properties of an incubation unit would eventually put him to rights again—as a man—it was still good to know that he was responsive now. The emotional drain wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been while wondering when he’d see rescue, a healing unit, or medical technician again.
He vowed that whatever happened under the blankets, after Nova fell asleep, would be his problem. He wouldn’t ask her about her man again unless she broached the subject first. There was something in her gaze that made him believe talking about him was painful for a number of reasons not having to do with his death.
Long after he believed she was asleep, Marcos stroked and smoothed the cream over his testicles and inner thighs.
He closed his eyes and relished the feel of his ministrations; the warmth, and relief at being able to enjoy this simple pleasure was wonderful. He couldn’t help a small moan that escaped his lips. The cessation of the burning and the effects of the cream were heavenly.
Too late, he realized that she wasn’t asleep at all. The woman was only lying there quite still, keeping her breathing even and steady so as to mimic slumber. But the slow rotation of her hips beneath the blankets gave her away.
He watched as she slowly turned to face him, but he didn’t stop what he was doing. It just felt too damned good.
“I … I can’t stand it,” she whispered. “I … I want to see you touch yourself.”
He slowly smiled and nodded. “It’s all right, Nova. If it pleases you, watch. If it pleases you more … touch me.”
She swallowed hard and crept on her hands and knees toward him. It was a small distance to cover but it seemed like such a long time until she was close to his body. Just a few inches more … closer and closer still …
Chapter 8
Marcos’s heartbeat quickened. Nova’s beautiful amethyst gaze swept over him and steadied on that part of his anatomy jutting straight up. Molten passion lit her features. He’d never seen a woman’s eyes so hot with raw desire. All his previous encounters had been with women who easily chose their men on any random occasion. Nova, however, had been without any kind of male encounter for quite some time. At least that was the only conclusion he could glean from what she’d told him and from her current response.
He watched her move closer with excited expectation. In his heart he knew her caress would be different. Not only because of her enforced, lonely situation, but because instinct told him she wasn’t that experienced, or that someone, probably the man known as Aeson, hadn’t serviced her and seen to her needs in a way that captured her passion. He silently swore to do everything to satisfy her, and not just because she’d saved his life.
She had a strength to survive that intrigued him beyond any sexual interlude. She could make a home from a small cave and dare to dream. Her mind and heart held qualities that mesmerized him. He wanted to reach deep inside her and blend those qualities with his.
What he felt toward her was more than sexual need. It was a deep, intrinsic bonding he wanted. And he believed he could share it with no one else.
She’d seen him at his worst and still wanted him. He’d seen her at her best and now craved her. But more. He desired her respect and for her to see him as the new man he’d become. Gone was the self-centered egotist. That man had been burned away, and a new one had risen in his place.
He waited for the first touch of her small hands, and knew it’d be something special. He slightly thrust his hips up in expectation, but couldn’t help a small moan escaping as her knees grazed his thigh.
No heaven would be any better. So sure her first touch would be fantastic, he held his breath in anticipation.
• • •
Nova knelt beside him. Her breathing came in small gasps. A desire so deep overtook common sense. Even scarred and burned nearly to death, this man had summoned the will to live, and he was still every bit the warrior she’d seen face down that slug in the marketplace. The muscle, brawn, and carriage of a fighter were all there. The fire hadn’t burned that out of him. So many others she knew had never been touched by the plasma, but their will had turned to ash anyway. Not so with this man.
She’d long craved such a man but had given up hope of finding him among the sheep of Delta Seven. She now included herself among that lot. But the fear that’d kept her from speaking up, while watching him do so on everyone else’s behalf, vanished. He’d given her hope for the first time in a very long while. Next to her was the nearest thing to a god she’d ever seen. If others had been as inspired by his act as she, then what he’d done might spark a new revolution.
Instinct told her he wasn’t telling the truth—or all of it—but desire wouldn’t be quelled. Whatever or
whoever he claimed to be, the man had his reasons. She no longer cared what they were, if he’d just stay by her side and chase loneliness away.
Death was just outside the cave entrance and all around them. If it should come tomorrow, she vowed to know this man tonight, in any way he wished. He represented strength, pride, gentle kindness, and caring. He was a man to trust. And what beguiled her most was the fact that his striking green eyes flared with the same desire she felt. He didn’t see her as so many had: just another scarred woman slinking about the fringes of society. He saw the real her despite the scars. And when he offered his hand, she eagerly took it.
She gently ran her palm up the inside of his leg. He briefly closed his eyes and nodded for her to continue. His words, like all his actions so far, were encouraging and tender.
“That’s it. Touch me however you will. I’ll do anything you ask, Nova. We’ve nothing to hide from one another. We can be one.”
She gazed into his beautiful eyes and saw his soul. Emboldened, she took the advice her mother had given so long ago when the facts of life had been explained.
She took his erection in one hand, and caressed the length of it. His hips rotated and lifted as her fingers explored his body. The soft moan escaping from deep in his throat emboldened her.
“I was taught the loving ways of my mother’s people. I’ve never had the chance to use that knowledge … never wanted to. Not even with the man I would have wed. And not even when he tried to entice me into loving him. But I want to now, Marcos. I want that more than anything.”
“Ask of me whatever you want, and it’s as good as done.”
She continued to slowly stroke him. “I … I want to mount you.”
“Take your time,” he whispered.
Nova took a deep breath, released his erection, and quickly lifted her caftan over her head.
“Your body is so small,” he murmured as his gaze wandered over her. “I swear to you I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life, Nova.”
She smiled and blinked away tears. Then she slowly straddled his upper thighs, but just below his erection. He lifted his hands and palmed the outside of her calves. Her gaze never left his as she moved one of his hands toward the juncture of her thighs. Her head fell back when his fingertips touched the moist folds of skin there. Excitement claimed her, even as he gasped and his breathing quickened. She had to have him.