Shalia's Diary Book 10

by Tracy St. John

  I appreciated that they were giving me space to spend some time with my stepmother. I already knew quite a few things about her due to our commed conversations, but it didn’t replace face-to-face interaction.

  She’d been a waitress in a small-town bar, not far from where I’d been living when Armageddon struck. Her parents had both suffered from ill health from the time she’d been a teen. She’d made taking care of them her main purpose in life, putting aside any thoughts of romance and marriage.

  “I just couldn’t leave them, not for any reason,” Joelle sighed. “They were my everything. None of the men I dated seemed to understand that I wasn’t going to walk away from Mama and Daddy. My beaus wanted me to wrap myself around their lives, have their babies, and put my folks on the back burner.”

  “Not very understanding of them,” I noted. “It makes you wonder how they treated their own parents.”

  Joelle shrugged and offered a little smile. “In a sense, I can kind of see how they felt. Relationships are about devoting most of your time and energy to that one person. I couldn’t offer that. I don’t regret it.”

  “You told me your parents didn’t live to see Armageddon. You didn’t have a sweetie after they were gone?”

  “Daddy died fourteen years ago. When that happened, Mama and I needed each other more than ever, and I never searched for anyone else. Then two years ago, she went too. I was lonely, but when I looked around, I didn’t see anyone I could imagine sharing my life with.”

  I chuckled. “I had the same problem with that. None of the men I knew seemed worth the effort.”

  “Well, I’m glad it wasn’t just me and my high standards,” Joelle laughed. “I thought it was because I was older and maybe a bit too cynical when it came to relationships. I’ll admit, I probably didn’t try very hard either. I’d never been on my own, so I thought it was kind of important to be that way for a while. By the time I was ready to really look for someone special, the world had ended. It was all I could do to survive.”

  “And then, my dads came into the picture.” I gave her my best sappy expression.

  Joelle laughed at my silliness. “Yes, they did. I’d caught a little bug going around the rescue site and went to see Nayun. I’d not had a second thought about a relationship with Kalquorians. I was past childbearing age anyway, and the idea of three men to clean up after and take care of? Oh, heavens no.”

  “My dads are charmers to have changed your mind.”

  Joelle’s eyes went distant as she lost herself in the memory. “It started with Nayun. I took one look at that big teddy bear of a man and was gone. ‘Look at this giant of a sweetheart,’ I said to myself. I’d only gone in to get something to stop me from coughing my lungs up, but I ended up complaining about every little ache and pain to keep him talking to me. He was so nice, and I thought maybe I’d been sticking too close to home when it came to finding the right guy.” She grinned mischievously.

  I grinned back. “What about the whole two-men-too-many issue?”

  “For a little while…like all of twenty-four hours…it felt like a deal breaker. Then I started thinking that if Nayun was so wonderful, what might the others be like? I found out soon enough. Nayun enjoyed talking to me so much that he arranged for all four of us to ‘accidentally’ cross paths the very next day. Soon I figured out it wasn’t a case of me picking up after three men…they wanted to take care of me. I feel like the luckiest woman alive.”

  “My dads are the best,” I said. “I’m glad they found a woman smart enough to recognize that.”

  “I’m glad they did too.”

  While we talked, Cifa had taken Anrel away and was feeding her near the group around the rest of his clan. Joelle and I decided to join them. Seot waved me over so I could sit between him and Larten.

  “What do you think so far, Mataras?” he asked.

  While Joelle gushed over the ship, much to Cifa’s delight, I took it all in. The sky was blue and endless. The sea was glass except where disturbed by our wake. The music was as sprightly and joyful as ever, and Bazi and Ila continued to dance for the enjoyment of their Nobeks and Imdikos. Candy and Stidmun had disappeared, probably for a little personal celebration. I was in the midst of my doting suitors, my daughter, and my stepmom. I had a drink in my hand and no pressures.

  “It’s paradise,” I said when Cifa turned to me for my answer.

  December 13 (later)

  There is only one thing better than taking a sea cruise under a sunny blue sky, and that’s taking a sea cruise under the stars. Being on the looking-glass expanse of water reflecting the night sky is astounding.

  There was a dining room inside the cabin on the bottom deck, but the crew set up a circular table in the open air. They served one of the most incredible meals I’d ever had. Course after course of delectable fruits, soups, vegetables, and meats were placed before me, each dish better than the last. Dessert was a kind of pastry filled with a chocolate sauce. It had a spice element that left my tongue tingling with both a hint of heat and sumptuous enjoyment.

  The festive Zelts had retired, making way for a Plasian man who played a stringed instrument that wove enchanting melodies over our meal. I learned that the musicians and staff had their berths below decks. Our quarters were also there, but passengers had the outer rooms. “For windows?” I asked.

  Cifa shook his head. “We use window vids rather than the real thing for safety reasons. But there is a special accommodation that requires being near the hull. I’ll show you when we retire for the night. I want it to be a surprise.”

  Since I like the surprises I’ve gotten from him so far, I didn’t press for details.

  We’d partied pretty much the whole day…some of us more sedately than others. Cifa, Erom, and Ila had kept their heads as the new ship went through her paces. Joelle and I had our fun, but we also stayed sober to care for Anrel. I was touched to see Joelle take her responsibilities as a grandma seriously, though I hadn’t asked her to do so.

  I got the idea that Seot and Larten had kept themselves from getting plowed as well. They and Cifa were as devoted to Anrel and me as ever, making sure we had everything we needed or wanted. Even with that, I couldn’t complain that they smothered me. When I separated to have a conversation with someone, they didn’t hover, letting me have space to get to know their clans-in-law…or however they refer to it.

  We’d had a glorious time, but I think everyone was more than ready to retire when it grew late. I certainly was glad to take Anrel on her off-to-bed tour for one last round of adoration from everyone. Then I descended to below decks to where our stateroom awaited.

  Cifa led our little entourage down a corridor that was as impressive as any place I’d ever seen. At first I thought the walls were all vids, the panels depicting aquariums of several small types of sea creatures from many different worlds. A few were even Earther species.

  Anrel leaned in the Imdiko’s arms to yell excitedly at the fish-things. Cifa paused to let her have a good look at one panel showing colorful amoeba-like blobs. She banged her hand against it, and the blobs scattered.

  “Are those actual aquariums?” I asked.

  “Absolutely. It isn’t feasible from a cost standpoint for the larger ships to have entire corridors of tanks, but we were able to make it happen on this one. I always wanted to do this, and Erom finally relented on the funding for it. He even complimented me on pushing for it after he saw it.”

  We continued on, and I looked at the walls with more appreciation than before. Cifa had outdone himself with this decorative idea.

  We entered our stateroom. I hadn’t expected a whole lot, due to it being a ship. I knew space would be at a premium. What a pleasant surprise to see how wrong I’d been.

  We came into a nice living-type space, what the Kalquorians term a common room. There was an enclosed and vented firepit in the middle of the room, surrounded by two semicircle loungers. A low table with billowy seating cushions took up one corner. A full bar too
k up another.

  One wall was taken up by a vid entertainment system. Across from it, the massive window vid showed us the black expanse of the nighttime sea. I looked forward to seeing it during the day.

  I wasted no time looking at the rest. There were two sleeping rooms, and one had been outfitted for Anrel’s use with a crib and toys. The bin I’d packed for her was empty in a closet, where her clothes had been neatly hung by the room’s attendant, Imdiko Matoso. He had joined us to make sure we had all we required.

  “You’re up,” Cifa told Seot, offering the yawning baby to him. “Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention.”

  I watched with at first amusement and then approval as the Dramok got Anrel ready for bed. I have to say, he handled it pretty well. He was almost a pro, in fact. What kept me grinning was Larten anxiously watching over his shoulder, studying everything that went on. I think a certain Nobek is nervous about proving himself to Cifa and me when it’s his turn.

  A gentle cleanup, a soft nightie, a last bottle, and two billion kisses later, Anrel was down for the count. We crept out and had a look at our sleeping room. The silver and black color scheme was elegant and somehow sexy. Everything in there seemed in order, with a massive sleeping mat, a dressing table for me, a cooler of refreshments should we need them, and a small table we could sit at if we wished. Larten switched on a small vid, and a monitor sprang to life, showing Anrel sleeping. Perfect. With everything accounted for, Matoso was excused for the night.

  As soon as he was gone, three pairs of purple eyes riveted on me. My stomach churned a little to see the men looking at me so intently. I had been promised the extended foreplay that had been our sex life would lead to the real thing tonight. I was suddenly, ridiculously nervous.

  “What about this surprise you were going to show me?” I asked Cifa.

  He grinned. “I think you’re going to love this,” he said. He walked over to one black wall that was undecorated except for a silver panel full of buttons. He pushed one.

  The wall suddenly receded, pushing back to give the room more space. Then the floor, or at least a thick portion of it, rose up. It went up to ceiling height and stopped. There was still a floor to step out on, but it was about three feet lower until it rose…or actually, the whole of the extra space rose until the floor was level with the one we stood on. Cifa stepped into the space and pushed another button on the panel.

  “Watch the window vid,” he said.

  I turned to see an outside view of our ship. It zoomed in to show a large, black platform about five feet above the water’s surface.

  “That’s the floor piece that rose from this spot,” Cifa told me. “Now for the magic.” He pushed a third button.

  The platform opened up on three sides, becoming wider than the sleeping room. I could hear dull thunking noises coming from over Cifa’s head. “That sound is the pieces locking into place.”

  A hum filled the air. As it did, I watched railings emerge from the platform, surrounding it from the open ocean. A panel opened on the floor and a sleeping mat also rose in the middle of the platform. It was an outdoor bedroom, for heaven’s sake.

  “Oops!” Cifa laughed. I turned my attention to see him wobbling on the floor shifting beneath his feet. He jumped out of the alcove as a louder droning sound filled the room. Two of the walls and the floor collaborated to produce stairs leading up. The ceiling opened and I could hear the surf outside loud and clear.

  Cifa held his hand out to me. “Shall we go up?” he asked.

  Believe it or not, I hesitated as a moment of disquiet filled me. “I won’t be able to hear Anrel out there,” I said, reluctance quelling curious excitement.

  “There is a monitor system out there,” Cifa reassured me. “We’ll be able to see and listen in. Our girl won’t be neglected for a second.”

  I still felt unwilling to climb those stairs. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why I wanted to drag my feet. I’d been wanting this moment since I’d first set eyes on Clan Seot. And the idea of sex under the stars while on the sea? What more romantic setting could a gal want?

  I suffered from performance anxiety, I guess. We’d put off sex for so long that I’d gone timid. Nympho Shalia had become the blushing neophyte. Silly me.

  I shook it off and took Cifa’s hand. “Amaze me.”

  His grin did its best to stretch from ear to ear. He led me up the gray stairs, lifting me towards the satiny black sky with its glitter sparkles of stars.

  The sea breeze was cool, but not uncomfortably so. It ruffled against my scalp and the bare areas of my body: face, neck, arms, and legs. It was like being covered in kisses from the air. It smelled of the freedom I associated with vacation: soft brine and warm skin. I inhaled deeply, all the strange trepidations floating away like nonsense vapor.

  I looked at the endless heavens. I floated on Cifa’s arm to the rail and stared all about me. I compared the crushed velvet sky to the glossy mirror of black that made up the sea. Its reflective surface was interrupted by the luminous wake that sprang from the ship’s bow, rills springing away from the deep cut of the arrow tip of our vessel.

  There was no sound but that of the breeze whispering through our hair and the cymbal shimmer of the waves. Clan Seot and I might have been the only people alive in this dark, mysterious world of sky and sea. It took my breath away.

  “It’s like looking at eternity, isn’t it?” Cifa said in a hushed tone.

  I looked at him, enthralled by the awed expression he wore. He’d gone on so many cruises he couldn’t give me a count. Who knew how many times he’d seen this view? And yet he seemed stunned by it still, as reverential as a pilgrim first entering a holy place and viewing relics. How wonderful that he’d not grown jaded to this astonishing world.

  I looked over my shoulder to see how the other two felt about our surroundings. Larten wasn’t checking out the scenery at all. He was tapping on a panel on the side of the ship. A vid appeared against the silver surface. It was the baby monitor, just as Cifa said. Anrel was curled in her crib, sleeping like an angel. Sweet baby. Larten went still and looked at her, seemingly mesmerized. Aw.

  I glanced at Seot, our steady and strong leader. He wasn’t looking at either the seascape or Anrel. He looked at me with warm eyes and a soft smile. It made my heart beat fast, him gazing at me like that. I went all gooey warm inside. Had a man ever stared at me that way before? Well, Betra and Oses had been devoted lovers, so I’m sure they had…but looking in Seot’s face, I couldn’t remember it. I couldn’t remember anything as we gazed at each other from across the little balcony.

  He held out his arms to me. I drifted away from Cifa’s side, scarcely feeling the release of his hand or my feet on the soft flooring. I floated to the stunning Dramok who summoned me without speaking a word. His power was benevolent but absolute. There was no question of my obedience.

  I drew near enough to feel his warmth. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me up against him so I could feel the hard planes of his chest and abdomen, the swollen desire he had for me. I went pliant all over as his kiss descended on my lips, his tongue sweeping in to taste me. I felt I could have melted in his arms right then. I was boneless, my body weak with desire. Though I hadn’t felt battered or hurt in any way, it was still as if I’d found welcome shelter in a raging storm. That was how good it was to be held and kissed by Seot, as if we hadn’t done this numerable times before.

  Ah, but tonight was not going to be a tease. Tonight was the consummation of all those episodes of innuendo, of cuddling, of climax without penetration.

  His tongue stroked mine, making love already. I gathered the little strength I had left to wrap my arms around his corded neck, my fingers twining in his long, black hair. I pulled at him to bring him closer, though we were already as close as we could get with our clothes still on. I couldn’t get enough. My body yearned to absorb his, to make him a permanent part of me.

  Seot pushed me gently away, breaking the kiss. “If you�
��re not too cold, I’m going to undress you,” he said.

  “I’m not cold,” I gasped, my vision hazy. I was flushed and feverish from head to toe. Hell, I was on fire.

  Seot tugged at my tank top, which was tucked into my skirt. He tossed it at the opening in the floor, sending it down the stairs to the room below. “No worrying about your clothes blowing out to sea,” he chuckled.

  “Thanks. I’d hate to see a rizpah wearing my skirt,” I teased.

  Said skirt went the way of my top, as did my bra and panties. I’d taken my shoes off earlier in the day. I suppose they were still on the main deck…not that I spared much thought for those poor abandoned slippers when I was naked before Seot.