"Aahh!" With a drawn out sigh of gratification, she wrapped her slender fingers around the length of his shaft. Reve groaned and arched his back as she began to stroke, caress and squeeze him. Exquisite torture! Her hands had the power to drive him to insanity.
With a shout of pleasure, he covered her mouth again and his fingers sought out the moist warmth between her legs. With an acquiescent moan, she allowed him access, spreading her legs for him, even while she continued to torment him with her touch, now soft as the wings of a manti bird, now as fierce as a fabled dragon.
"I would be inside you now," he growled, matching action to words and sinking into her damp welcoming heat with one sure drive. His blood throbbed through his veins--surging until he thought he might die of the experience. Something he would likely do if this lust within him reached higher proportions.
She accepted him--did not shrink from the power of his thrusts, did not draw back from the strength he did nothing to conceal now. With his hands he continued to stroke her heated flesh, while with her body, she engulfed him, her legs wrapped about his middle, her hands about his shoulders. With a cry she dug her nails into his back and he reveled in the sharp pain.
"You are truly my mate," he purred near her ear as he grew and pulsed within the heated heart of her womanhood. Pushing onto his elbows, he drove into her again and again and watched the ecstasy lighting her face. An ecstasy she did nothing to conceal. This he liked about her more than any other trait. This Earth woman matched him in every way that was important.
"Reve!" His name was torn from her throat on a groan of fulfillment to match his shout, as he sent them both to their peak of ecstasy, to the place bequeathed to lovers by the great fabled gods of pleasure.
Was it moments or eons of time later their breathing slowed to normal and the pounding of his blood returned to a gentle flow?
Reve placed a soft touch on her closed eyelids with his mouth as he withdrew, rolling to pull her into his side. He let his hands trace a path from her breast to her hip. Another new phenomenon. Amaryllisan women did not enjoy being fondled after the act had been completed.
But this Earth woman did not like being separated from him, in fact mumbled her displeasure at his leaving her. With her head on his chest and her arms about his middle, she tried to climb onto him as she sighed, and then sank into oblivion.
~ * ~
Melanie awoke slowly, surfacing from a lovely languid haven.
Something was tickling her toes. Kicking out lazily she let out a giggle as she pulled her foot away from the offender. "Go away," she muttered.
"You are awake?" Reve’s voice, deep and full of something sounding like amusement, came from nearby.
"No, I’m still asleep," she assured him, opening her eyes. He was fully clothed and standing at the end of her bed.
A blush rushed up her neck to flood her face as she recalled her wanton behavior all through the night. How many times had he brought her fulfillment? She’d lost count after four or five. He was insatiable.
Peeking up at him she saw his eyebrows were quirked.
"Egomaniac!" she muttered, and his grin showed he had read every thought.
No use now trying to pretend it had all been a dream. No more than the first time. Sometime during the blissful night she had reached the conclusion that on that occasion their lovemaking had definitely not been a figment of her imagination.
Each time he’d awakened her with the promise this time there would be no doubt who was possessing her. Or if it really was happening.
"Come," he ordered, wagging a finger at her imperiously. "I will take you to our mountains now. I must return later to Victus, I am afraid. My duties call. So, this first part of the day I will spare for you."
"How magnanimous of you," she said pertly, pulling the cover beneath her armpits as she put her feet to the floor.
"Why do you do this?" he asked, his lids drooping sexily as he eyed the way she clutched the blanket.
"Do what?" Melanie gave him a feigned look of innocence as the blanket was held more closely against her highly sensitized, hot skin.
He shook his head. "I have seen and tasted every curve and mound, every hair and hidden secret of your desirable body. My tongue explored each of its tasty entrances."
Her skin grew even hotter at this announcement.
"I now know it as well as I know my own, probably better, yet you proceed to show this modesty. I find it very puzzling. Do not your people ever show their skins to their mates in daylight?" He frowned as he bent to tug the blanket from her fingers.
After a brief tussle, Melanie let it drop, biting at her lower lip. While trying not to let her embarrassment show she shrugged as she looked away from his penetrating eyes.
"Of course we do. It’s just, well…just..." With a tiny yelp she jumped back when he ran a fingertip across her stomach and up to just beneath her breasts and made her quiver with remembered delight.
"I have seen and lavished attention on your Earth form, and if I so desire can see you in the false image you admire, which Irena manufactured for you. You have not the smallest secret I do not know about, so it is futile to try and hide behind a piece of fabric." He made a soft sound like a growl in his throat. "Come." Holding out his hand, he waited until she placed her fingers on his palm, and then led her over to the full-length mirror on the wall.
"I know you like the body of mine you see, and also you are happy with the body Irena gave you. So tell me, what have you to be ashamed of in admiring yourself?" He skimmed his fingertips down her sides, then up again, barely touching her, but lighting fires within her nevertheless.
Melanie shivered, watching the journey of his hands as they went from the top of her arms, across her breasts, which were heavy and aching and then back to her navel. His eyes also followed the trail of his fingers as they dipped lower, curling over each hipbone and then skimmed down to spread across the top of her thighs.
"You are a fine specimen of womanhood," he whispered at her ear as he pushed her back until they melded together from knees to shoulders.
With a jolt Melanie tore herself free, away from the sensual web he had spun about her. It was all too easy for him to drag her under, deeper and deeper into his inviting trap. "You make me sound like something you’ve just made up in the laboratory," she said breathlessly, aiming for a tart response, but failing, for her voice was husky and laced with desire. With a huff she retreated to the shower cubicle. His soft chuckle followed her.
It was good to hear him laugh, something he’d done rarely at first. But she noted with a touch of smugness, he was doing it a lot. She intended making him laugh more often.
"Hurry, or I will join you in there and we will never get to see the mountains," he called, a throb of desire making his voice sound even deeper than usual. "I will order you a change of garments to save time."
Within a moment he was standing by her and had a clean pair of pants and a shirt held out for her to take.
"I would like to see where your clothes are manufactured, Reve," she said with a touch of disdain as she pulled the garments on. Thankful he had retreated to the other side of the room, while she dressed. "They could do with a bit of advice on adding to their range."
"Do I take this to mean you have intentions of staying around long enough to visit the factories?" he asked, watching her closely.
Melanie shrugged. "Let’s face it. I’m stuck here until you see fit to take me home, aren’t I?"
"Yes, Mel-aanie, this is a fact." Moving in on her he put one of his hands on each shoulder and gave her a look that could only be called sultry. "I find I like your company, even taking into account your strange habits."
Reve dodged the punch she aimed at his chest. Sparring playfully, verbally or physically, with another person was something he was not used to, and he found it brought him immense pleasure. He would certainly not be rushing to escort her back to Earth. And she was right in saying it all hinged on his willingness to take her. Just
the thought of letting her go, never seeing her again, brought a sharp sensation to his mid section. Another phenomenon, for it had the ferocity of a wound pain, the intensity of a feeling never encountered.
Twelve
"Oh goodness, I see what you mean. Your mountain is a sight to behold," Melanie gasped as the hovercraft neared Tepiri. With a shiver she stared at the imposing sight.
"This is the larger of our two remaining land masses," he said.
"It in no way resembles anything on Earth," Melanie said. "But it certainly has a beauty of its own that is magnificent." Not so much beauty, but an awe-inspiring presence, if a touch frightening.
Sheer cliffs as high as a twenty-story building dropped straight into the dark waters lapping their sides. "What substance is that?" Several colors ranging from a dull green to a vivid orange seemed to glitter and shimmer as the rays of the sun played over them and turned them mellow one moment, iridescent the next.
Reve thought for a moment. "It has no name I can translate into your language. It is just a mountain. "
"They’re a bit like the wall in your home, but not as magnificent."
He smiled. "I’m glad you like my home, as I’ve already said. The craft will traverse the cliffs and come in from the other side where there is a landing platform. At certain times of the day, depending where the light shines on them, the cliffs change their hues even more. Soon the colors will deepen and as the light begins to disappear for the day they become as black as the night sky."
Melanie shivered visibly. "I don’t think I would like to be out here after dark. In fact I’m sure I wouldn’t. I reckon it would be scary." Although awesome, there was a starkness and barrenness about the mountain that was downright eerie.
"Eerie?" He watched her while he read her thoughts. "Certainly it is cold at night, and bleak, but we do not have monsters who rise from the ocean floor to inhabit the mountain. No ghouls or ghosts." His laugh proclaimed her a dope for entertaining such fanciful notions.
"All right, smarty pants, so you don’t have goblins and the rest, but you can’t blame me for imagining such things. This place would give anyone the creeps after dark."
"Agreed. But nobody with any sense would linger here after sundown, unless they had special tasks to perform, and so were properly attired. The mountain is illuminated after sundown anyway."
Extending his hand he enfolded her fingers in his as the hovercraft neared a huge covered jetty. Once ashore, he kept his other palm pressed to her back as they walked up the slope, leading to a huge see-through enclosure, rather like a massive conservatory.
"Wait here." He went to a panel of buttons and tapped in what was obviously a code.
"What was that for?" Melanie asked, when he rejoined her.
"I was simply asking permission to land," he told her. "And also I informed the mining authority we are here for pleasure not business. Come, we will take the elevator to the top and then perhaps you would care to swim. The water of the lagoon abounds with sea creatures. It is safe to swim there."
"Safe? Isn’t it so in the ocean then?"
"I meant it was safer for you to swim in the lagoon," he drawled. "The oceans are what you would call fathoms deep and there are many underwater caves and obstacles waiting to trap the unwary diver. We have the ability to swim with the sea creatures for long periods of time, but as you are not so adept at staying beneath the waters, I thought it would be more pleasurable for you to swim in an enclosed area."
Melanie smiled. "You’re right, I’d probably splutter and flounder like a wounded whale."
They had entered the elevator. When he'd closed the door he said, "See, already you grow accustomed to being enclosed." Wrapping his arm about her waist he pulled her to his side.
Melanie was past the point of thinking of much else when he was this close with his eyes searing hers as he watched her intently. "I guess I’m getting brave," she said huskily. "After all, I’ve come across the universe. It’d really be a bit silly to be scared of a lift, wouldn’t it?"
"As you say." With his finger he traced a path from her brow, down the bridge of her nose and then let the fingertip linger on the soft inner flesh of her lower lip. A smile curved his mouth when her lips trembled beneath the soft but sensuous touch.
"Have you any monsters in the deep? You said there are many creatures beneath the sea, but didn’t say if they are all friendly."
"What is a shark?" he asked instead of answering her question.
"Why do you ask?" She gave him a sidelong glance as they left the elevator. He kept his hand at her back as he led her along a corridor whose transparent sides gave a view of the mountaintop. It was breathtaking. For a moment Melanie forgot their conversation as she stopped to stare at the vista. Rocky outcrops dotted a treeless plain stretching for miles. "I had no idea it would be so huge." Her voice was soft.
"Ten of your land measures."
She gave him a dirty look. "How come you can read every thought in my head, but I can’t see now what’s going on in yours?"
"It’s as natural to me as breathing. Soon you will be adept at it." He nodded when she gave him a skeptical look. "You thought of a creature called a shark when talking of danger beneath the water. I see it is a large sea monster with vicious teeth, and has a habit of biting humans who venture into its habitat."
"Well, seeing as you know the answer to your question, I won’t waste my time explaining," she snapped huffily, turning her attention to a tower pointing skywards a couple of miles in the distance. "Is the high contraption the mine-head?"
Various buildings were dotted about on this plateau. There was no foliage as far as she could tell, just rocks, and rough terrain, and here and there small pools, which had probably been left by last night’s downpour. On the outer rim of the mesa she could see what was obviously the beginning of the retaining wall. Many people worked industriously around this wall. It was hard to tell their sex as they all wore overalls covering them from top to toe.
The large robots doing the manual labor were operating huge machinery, toting great slabs of the substance that looked like steel, but was like nothing on Earth, into position. They made this metal, or whatever it was, from sand brought up from the bottom of the ocean and combined with a lot of other Amaryllisan inventions beyond her scope of understanding. Reve had explained, or tried to, the calculations and procedures involved, but she’d lost track after he got to the part where the sand was put into a vat and heated to about a thousand times the temperature a mortal could withstand.
"I see you have already worked out that the wall is under construction there," he interrupted her thoughts to say.
"The cliffs were so high, Reve, I find it hard to believe it will only be two hundred years before this is all under water."
"Take me at my word, Mel-aanie. Statisticians with brains far more advanced than yours have worked it out. Come, let us go on. As I told you, my time is limited." He stroked his hand over her back and let it stray to her bottom, where it lingered.
"You’re getting fresh, mister." Melanie gave him a haughty look over a shoulder as she walked ahead of him.
"Fresh? What is this? Ah, I take liberties with your person," he said with a nod. "You didn’t complain through the night, so why do so now? What a strange mixture of contradictions you are, Mel-aanie Ross."
"There’s a time and place for everything," she told him primly. He laughed roguishly and said something highly provocative inside her head. She couldn't help blushing.
They rode to the lagoon in a sort of buggy that floated over the terrain, like a small hovercraft.
"This is the only land transport on our planet," he told her, as it whizzed across the rocky ground at a rapid pace. Reve was in charge of the controls and she was sure he was showing off as he swerved around jutting rocks and just missed crevices.
"My God! Where did you get your license?" she demanded just as he stopped it, with a soft whirring noise, beside another, smaller, glass dome.
&nb
sp; "License?" he queried, looking innocent as he helped her out.
"No, I guess you wouldn’t have need for those when you flit between planet and planet with the speed of light." Then they entered a door set in the dome. "Oh Reve, it’s beautiful."
Nothing she’d seen before on Amaryllis prepared her for this. The pool before them had water of the deepest green; so clear she could see fish of exquisite colors swimming near the surface. These water creatures dipped and dived like nymphs, their colors changing as the light reflected on their backs. They didn’t appear to have fins of any sort, but moved as if guided by an inner motor.
Flowers of every shade and size had been planted around its edges, some similar to those in Reve’s home, but most more exotic looking with long stems and layers of petals in every hue imaginable. This certainly made up for the bland corridors and lackluster scenery of the mountaintop they’d seen so far.
Birds, no bigger than butterflies, flew over and around them, and Melanie ducked her head when a few came close enough that she could feel the breeze caused by their flapping wings.
"The small birds will not harm you. They are without bacteria, specifically bred to fly here," he said.
She sighed. "It’s wonderful."
"I’m glad you like our lagoon." With a flick of his hand he gestured about them. "This is the largest of four equipped for swimming. I brought you here as I guessed it would be more secluded at this time of day. I see I was right. We are alone. Come, disrobe and we will go in. You will find it comfortably warm."
"Disrobe?" Melanie swallowed and glanced about. There wasn’t a soul in sight. But it didn’t mean someone wouldn’t appear at any moment. "I’ve never swum in the nude before." Her voice was a whisper and he laughed, which made her indignant.
"You have never gone across the universe in a space craft before either. You have never made love to what you consider an alien, have you?" His tone held a touch of indulgence. "There is a first time for everything in this life, Mel-aanie. I’m sure you will enjoy the experience."
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