by Gini Koch
He was on his forearms, his hands in my hair and on my head. “Mmmm, I don’t know. I’m not sure you want it badly enough.” He bent and ran his teeth and tongue against my neck. My body went crazy, and I started my standard cat in heat yowling.
Jeff moved up onto his hands, flipping my thighs up against his arms. He grabbed my wrists in each hand and held them under my thighs, effectively holding me captive. His eyelids were half-closed and the jungle cat look was in full snarl on his face. “You have no choice now,” he growled.
He started to pound into me, and my orgasm hit. It was deep and powerful, and I wailed. He kept the speed and intensity going, and another orgasm crashed. Then another. My fingers dug into the bed—I couldn’t move in this position, I could only let him do whatever he wanted. Another orgasm hit, and my eyes rolled back. He was going faster, and it was incredible. Fireworks went off in my head while my body shook from climax after climax, and I wailed from pleasure overload.
Jeff changed the rhythm of his thrusts, still strong and deep, but slower now, more deliberate. He was building me up again, I could feel it, but couldn’t do anything to affect the outcome. He was in complete control of my body and playing me as if I was a Fender guitar and he was Joe Perry, Carlos Santana, and Eddie Van Halen all rolled into one.
I managed to look at him, and I could tell he was close. He gave me the jungle cat smile again and said one word. “Mine.” Then he slammed into me, still deliberately, but faster and faster with each thrust. My orgasm started, and he flung his head back and roared as he erupted inside me, and my body shuddered and shook in time with his, while I sobbed from the intensity.
Jeff let go of my wrists and let my legs down gently. He slid his arms around my back, and I managed to follow suit as he kissed me deeply and rolled us onto our sides. I was still trembling, and he stroked my back while he wrapped his leg over and around mine, pulling me even closer against him.
He finally ended our kiss and tucked my head under his chin. “Go to sleep, baby.”
I nuzzled into his chest. I was almost asleep when I remembered something. “Have to get Jamie.” Couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about her and figured I was the winner of today’s Bad Mother Lottery.
Jeff kissed my head. “I’ll get her, baby. And, you didn’t forget about her any more than I did. Even at the newborn stage, you’re allowed to think about someone else now and then, including yourself.” He unwrapped from me slowly, rolled off the bed, and went into the nursery. I heard an increase in purring in the baby monitor. “Not now,” Jeff whispered. “No pets now. No, I mean it. Later.” He sighed. “There, happy?” The purring increased. Jeff moved the bassinet back beside the bed, then went and got the Poof Condo and brought it back out. “Figure you want them out here, right?”
I managed to keep a straight face. “Yeah, great, thanks. Are Harlie and Poofikins still in with Jamie?” At the mention of their names, two Poof heads popped up from the bassinet. They mewled at me and then went back down, I assumed to snuggle next to Jamie. Figured I’d better get up to look, just in case.
“No, you stay lying down.” Jeff came over and looked in the bassinet. “Yes, she’s fine, and the Poofs are with her. You need to trust sometimes that everything is as fine as it seems.”
“I suppose.” Jeff got back in bed, pulled the covers over us and me into his arms. I snuggled back into his chest. “I’ve never lived outside the desert.”
He held me closer. “I know. It’ll be fine. We can go back any time you want, you know.”
“Just want to be with you. As long as I’m with you and Jamie, don’t care where we are. I mean as long as we’re safe and secure and all that.” Didn’t figure it was safe to leave that open to interpretation.
Jeff chuckled. “Me too. Go to sleep, baby. Plenty to do tomorrow. Including test the range on the baby monitor.”
I smiled and rubbed my face against his chest hair. “Yeah. This place has a lot of rooms.”
“And we’re going to test out every one of them.”
“I love being married to you.”
CHAPTER 84
WE WOKE UP LATE the next day. Well, that’s not quite accurate. We woke up to feed the baby an hour after we’d made love. Then four hours later. Then another four. To make the waking up fully worthwhile, we made love each time after Jamie was back to sleep. On the next feeding arousal we decided we could get up and function outside the bedroom, which was something of a sacrifice on my part.
We didn’t have a baby bath, but Jamie was small enough that we could give her a sponge bath in the sink. She seemed to enjoy it, and I knew Jeff and I did. Opened the drawers to find clothes for Jamie in there. They had to have been from the shower—none of them were black, and there wasn’t that much white, either. Apparently Armani didn’t go for baby wear, or Reader had managed to ensure one of us would be in an actual color, at least for a while. I put my money on Reader.
Called over, apparently all was quiet on our western front. So we made good on the plan to test the baby monitor. That thing was a godsend, and by the evening, I was feeling pretty good about the new penthouse. After all, we’d made love in almost every room, other than the nursery, which just seemed wrong to both of us, or the isolation chamber, which seemed unromantic to both of us and, homey room or not, decidedly creepy to me. The baby was basically angelic, and I was feeling pretty darned good about the way things were turning out, as long as I didn’t allow myself to think about what I’d seen and done in the now-destroyed secret lab.
Dinnertime was upon us. The full-sized fridge worked just like the mini ones, and there had been plenty to eat and drink in it during the day. However, we figured it might be a good idea to see how the others were doing.
Intercommed over to Christopher first. “WHAT?”
“Oh, sorry, guess you two are still having sex.”
“That was the idea, right, Kitty? I mean, why you had us come over last night?”
“Somewhat. We want to get dinner.”
“There’s food in our fridge. Bet there’s some in yours, too. Go ahead, eat up.” Boy, his snark was on full. Must have caught them at a really inopportune moment. Resisted the urge to keep them on the line. Barely.
“Okay, fine. We’ll let you know if something’s going on, but otherwise, have at it. Enjoy yourselves. And all that.”
“Great, thanks.” The com went dead.
“Boy, he was pissy.”
Jeff laughed. “Can’t imagine why.”
Com came back on. Amy this time. “Kitty, I know it’s New Year’s Eve, but are you okay with us just staying in? Christopher and I really don’t want to go out.”
New Year’s Eve already? How had this happened? “Sure, Ames, no problem. Enjoy yourselves. Ring in the new by ringing each other’s bells and all that.”
“Great, thanks, you’re the best.” Com went dead again.
Checked with Tito and Walter. Walter insisted he’d already had dinner and was not deserting his post, regardless of day or time. The kid was dedicated, I had to give him that.
Tito was working out and then had plans to go over to Dulce and hang with Michael and the single flyboys and, as near as I could tell, hit on my cousins and any Dazzlers whose resolve they hadn’t managed to break down yet. Apparently Uncle Mort had left some Marines to keep an eye on things, and the Centaurion boys felt they needed to represent. From what I gathered, my grandparents had also had Uncle Mort bring in New Year’s Eve party supplies—Dulce was going to be party central, to the point where the other A-C bases were going to be running on skeleton crews.
Jeff called Gladys and made sure continuous scans were running for all bases and strongholds, and he also tripled the security around Al Dejahl’s chamber. Felt sorry for the Security A-Cs, but then again, most of them seemed a lot like Walter, extremely keen and more interested in doing their jobs slavishly than partying.
This left Chuckie, White, and the Gower girls. We decided to check on them in person, which was sim
ple because they were all in the group dining area on the first floor. Shockingly, they were all having an early dinner and heading over to Dulce, too.
“Why don’t you come with us?” Naomi asked. “It’ll be fun.”
“It’ll be loud. Jamie isn’t thrilled with loud.”
“There’s going to be a kid’s party, a young singles party, a young marrieds party, and a wild old folks’ party,” Abigail supplied. “Your grandmothers set it all up. On two levels—kids and young marrieds on one, singles and wild oldsters on the other. It’s going to be great; your Nana Sadie said she might have your Uncle Mort bring in more Marines.”
“Oh, my God. Who put my grandmothers in charge?”
“James,” Naomi said with a laugh. “He said he wanted to enjoy a party for once.”
Figured. The King of Planning would know his counterparts, wherever they might be. “Well, have fun.”
“You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Chuckie sounded mildly concerned. “It’s just going to be the three of you here by yourselves.”
“Christopher and Amy are here. Sure, they’re screwing like it’s nineteen-ninety-nine, but they’re here. And Walter’s on duty.”
“That kid needs to come over to the party. Talk about tightly wound.”
“This coming from you?”
“I’m not now, nor have I ever been, tightly wound.” This was true, I had to admit.
“Yeah, but you’re Mister On Duty.”
“It’s New Year’s Eve, and we’ve taken care of the threats. Sure, it’s a perfect time for the last ditch attempt at a successful end to the elaborate ruse and plans of world domination, and yeah, okay, the Queen’s out and potentially doing something we won’t like. And, yes, the King may be captured, but in our brand of chess, he’s still alive, so that means we haven’t won. But we can’t find her. I already have every agent searching for her. Wherever LaRue Demorte Gaultier’s gone, it’s not out in the open.”
“You know, it’s no wonder she’s screwed up, being named The Street of Death.”
“You sure you can trust the agents you sent, Reynolds? I mean, it was pretty clear you’re unpopular.” Jeff didn’t sound like he was trying to start a fight; he sounded worried.
Chuckie shrugged. “I think the Poofs ate all the problems. But who knows? I don’t.” He didn’t sound right. “I have the files we took from the lab, copied and in various secured locations. I’ll get to them later and hopefully figure out what else we’ve missed, or at least who was knowingly involved, as well as who else in the C.I.A. wants to get rid of me.” The words were sensible, but the way he said them made it sound like he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying.
“Chuckie, are you okay?”
He gave me a long look. “As okay as you are, I’d guess.”
“Oh. Yeah.” I realized he wanted to stop talking about real life and all the things trying to destroy us and just go to the party to avoid thinking about what we’d seen in the Lab of Horror.
White cocked his head. “Perhaps you should join us.”
I heaved a sigh. “No. Jamie really doesn’t want to go.” I didn’t either, for a variety of reasons.
“Well, if you change your minds, come on over. I’m sure you guys will be allowed to drop in on the singles and wild oldsters floor.” Naomi grinned. “We’ll vouch for you, anyway.”
I laughed. “Thanks, you’re the best.”
The four of them finished up, Tito joined them, and they all left for Dulce.
“Entertainment level?” Jeff asked. He didn’t sound like he was interested, he sounded like he was worried about me.
“I just don’t want to go to the party.”
“I know. Totally out of character, but understandable.” We went into the elevator, but since Jamie was with us, Jeff just put his arm around me and held me close. “So, you really feel I’m the pick of the litter, huh?”
“Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?”
“You checked out every naked replicant in that lab.”
“Well, they were all naked. And it was a shock. Besides, I needed to see how well made they were. Not my fault they appeared anatomically correct.”
“Just your fault that you did a detailed visual check. And then complained that you couldn’t see my uncle naked.”
“Hey, every one of them’s seen my crotch, most of them during the most unattractive time to see my crotch. I think it was only fair, turnabout and all that jazz. They stared at me when I didn’t know; I stared at them when they didn’t know. See? Totally fair.”
Jeff laughed. “And here I was worried for a minute there.”
“You’re always worried. Jealousy is your watchword.”
“True.” Reached our floor, went into our rooms. Jeff hypersped through and verified all was well, just in case. Then we went to the living room, turned on the fireplace, and cuddled onto the sofa together, Jamie still snuggled in her Snugli, one little hand on each torpedo, presumably to keep the food nice and accessible.
I leaned my head against Jeff’s shoulder. “Why did they clear out all their belongings?”
He kissed my head. “You know, you’re allowed to take the night off, baby.”
“She won’t. She has to get to Al Dejahl. Or destroy all of us. Or both. So she’s not taking a break.”
“Okay. No idea why nothing’s here.”
I stared at the flames. “They had the place rigged to go up, so maybe they moved all their things so that, should they blow the place, they’d still have their belongings.”
Jeff nuzzled my head. “Maybe the building was supposed to go up, no matter what, not just as a fail-safe.”
“Why? Secret labs and underground elevators are hard to come by.”
“I know you think they were planning to go to Alpha Four. Gaultier sure seemed to think so, too.”
I sat up. “Does the ‘com on’ thing work here?”
“Yeah, I had Gladys make adjustments.”
“I need Christopher on the com!”
“WHAT?” Amazing. He sounded as pissy as the last time.
“Stop having sex, or at least pause. I need you to tell me if Leonidas, Victoria, and Alexander, over on Alpha Four, are all right or not.”
“Come again?”
“Just do it!”
“Geez, fine.” He was quiet. “They’re healthy.”
“When I was in isolation with you, you said Alexander and Leonidas were having some troubles but not with each other. What kind of troubles?”
“They don’t like the people Reynolds sent over to help with interworld politics.” There was a pause. “I don’t think Leonidas trusts them, either.”
I looked at Jeff. “Chuckie didn’t send anyone.”
Jeff pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Christopher, you remember what Amy’s stepmom looked like?”
“Vaguely.” I heard some talking in the background. “Okay, Amy has a picture of her and her father.”
“Can you look at the picture and find her?”
“I’ll try. Why?”
“Because she’s the White Queen, and Chuckie’s people can’t find her. And I think they maybe can’t find her because she’s not on Earth.”
CHAPTER 85
JEFF WAS STILL ON THE PHONE, but he nudged me. “You’re right, Reynolds didn’t send anyone over to Alpha Four.”
“Get him back here, Naomi and Abigail, too. Alexander and possibly Leonidas will need to hear that from Chuckie himself.”
“Ten to one they think they already did. Al Dejahl probably imaged himself to look like Reynolds.”
“That would make sense. Alexander trusts Chuckie, and Leonidas respects him.” Councillor Leonidas probably didn’t trust Chuckie because I doubted Leonidas trusted anyone completely. He was too smart a man and too good a politician to give anyone full benefit of the doubt.
There was a pounding at the door. Jeff got up, and Chuckie and the Gower girls came in. I was happy to see that White w
as with them as well. “Heard you tell Martini you wanted us back here.”
Brought them quickly up to speed. “Christopher, what have you got?”
“Nothing, but I think we need to contact Alexander.”
“How?”
Jeff answered. “ACE. That’s how I asked Alexander to be in our wedding.”
“ACE isn’t the phone company.”
Jeff gave me a long look. “No. However, he’s capable and normally willing.” His eyes narrowed. “Why . . . oh. Baby, ACE handles things like last night better than humans, at least from what Paul’s told me.”
“It was really horrible.”
“Baby, we’re trying to stop the ones who did it, right?”
I sighed. “Right.” Shut my eyes and concentrated. ACE?
Yes, Kitty, ACE is here.
I’m sorry to ask this, but can you connect me to Alexander, over on Alpha Four?
Yes, Kitty. Alexander will be relieved. Alexander has wanted to come here for several days.
Decided not to question why ACE hadn’t shared earlier. Because it fell under the rule of us having to do most things ourselves. I felt another mind, at the edge of my consciousness. Alexander? It’s Kitty.
Kitty, I’m so glad. Councillor Leonidas and I are quite concerned. There’s something wrong with the people Charles sent over.
Starting with the fact that he didn’t. Don’t know what they showed you or told you, or even if someone who looked and sounded just like him was there, it wasn’t the real him. The usual take-over-our-world-and-the-galaxy plans are in place, and we’re foiling them, but you’re involved.
I’m not working against you!
No, dude, seriously, no kidding. And I don’t think Leonidas is, either. I mean the bad guys are trying to take over Alpha Four, too. Who’s there now?
Only one of them. We were told you were moving in an entire diplomatic crew in order to help us maintain good relations with Earth, because the heads of the governments were ready to come attack us.
Untrue. Is it a woman with you?
Yes. I can’t stand her, there’s something about her that makes me uneasy. And I know Councillor Leonidas feels the same way—he won’t let her near my mother, and he hasn’t allowed her to tour the other planets. She’s been demanding it for some time.