by Trisha Telep
He really didn’t have any choice in the matter. And even though he’d offered, he might have done so because of his conditioning, not because of any true attraction he might feel. How could she know for sure? Certainly, they were destined to mate, and they both had an obligation to reproduce. However, deep inside, she hoped they’d find some affection first. Some spark of attraction to make the act feel less like another of her daily mandated chores.
Sitting across from him, she freely admitted more than a spark existed on her side. Although his features were rugged, he was a handsome man. With a square jaw and sharp, blunt blade of a nose, his face was strong and masculine. His cheekbones were as sharp as arrowheads. When he spoke, white even teeth flashed between firm lips. Already, her nipples tightened as she imagined those lips tugging at their tips.
His size alone fed a feminine hunger to feel his weight pressing over her. Thick dark hair caused her fingers to curl against the need to comb through it. His watchful eyes inspired images of him rising up to gaze between their naked bodies as they came together.
He’d be attentive to her pleasure, his training would assure that. But would he really want her?
Mary pushed aside the foolish thought. His wants should be secondary to their mission. They were ordained to mate, to produce progeny and populate this planet, just as they were ordained to nurture the fields.
“Would you like to join me on the porch?” she asked. “The fireworks should begin soon.”
“Fireworks?” A dark brow arched, seeming to mock her flight of fancy.
“Okay, missiles, actually. Seeding the clouds. This will be the first time I’ve seen the seeding since leaving the dome. Would you like to watch?”
In answer, he gathered their dishes without being asked and took them to the sink. Then they both headed to the open door and the dark porch outside. She sat atop the steps, making room for him to join her, then trained her gaze on the sky. “It’s supposed to look like Fourth of July,” she whispered. She angled her head to glance his way. “Where was your home, Colm?”
She was entitled to his answer, but wanted more. Not intending to pry, she glanced away in case her question caused him pain.
“Arizona,” came his gruff reply. “You?”
She smiled. “Iowa. My great-great-grandparents were farmers. It’s partly why I decided to apply for the land grant.”
“Were there other reasons?”
She grimaced. “I wasn’t the best student. No aptitude for math or science. And since I didn’t want to be consigned to factory work, I volunteered for this.”
“Did you leave anyone behind?”
She shook her head. “My parents died several years ago. There wasn’t anyone.” Although she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, she asked, “Did you leave someone behind?”
Colm drew a deep breath. Sorrow deepened the grooves beside his mouth. “My father. He was in enforcement. And my little brother. Also a cop.” His mouth tightened, and then he shot her a pointed glance. “You haven’t asked me the important question yet.”
She swallowed hard. “What crime did you commit?”
His smile was bittersweet, a thin twisting of his firm lips. “My crime was daring to question.”
Shock rattled through her. “You were a rebel?”
“Imagine that,” he said, his tone filled with bitter sarcasm. “They sent one of my kind here.”
She shook her head. “Were you involved with the bombings?”
“No. I chose civil disobedience. I never wanted to harm anyone.”
His glance fell away and she noted the tightness of his jaw. “But you did?”
His glance fell to his hands, which gripped his knees. “I broke into a comm facility. I was the one with the skills to get us inside. We intended to divert the feed and post our own transmissions. Free radio. Tell the truth about what the governments were up to.”
“Up to?” She snorted. Seemed everyone had had a conspiracy theory or two.
His gaze swung her way, his eyes cold as a Martian glacier. “You don’t get it. Whole regions of the Earth were dying. Our only hope was population reduction and plantation projects. Plans were already in motion, plans every single government in the Seven Sectors supported.”
She shook her head. “A grand conspiracy?”
His eyes narrowed. “How about extermination? World population extermination.”
Mary studied his face. Colm believed what he said. How the hell had he gotten past the psych evaluations? “That’s ridiculous. They’re already practicing population control.”
“It wasn’t working fast enough.”
“How do you know?”
“I was military, ma’am,” he bit out. “Part of the group responsible for security around the Seven Sectors summits. I heard everything. That’s why I’m here, and not in some hellhole prison camp on Earth. They didn’t want word getting out before they could begin. While I slept in stasis aboard the prison ship traveling here, it happened. It’s done.”
Cold, like ice water spilling down her spine, shivered through her. “But news feeds . . . there’s been no mention. Something that big—”
“The feeds are fiction,” he ground out. “To keep you happy. To keep you working and productive. The next waves of colonists are already in transit, just as dumb and oblivious. It might be years before you all learn the truth.”
Mary grew still. Everything he said made sense. “Extermination . . .” She raised her glance to the sky, searching for the small speck of unblinking light that was the Earth. “I don’t know why that’s so shocking. It’s what the doomsayers have been talking about for years. The end of the world.”
“No. New life. That’s the name of the initiative. Their comforting spin for those who were allowed to live.”
Mary sat silent for a long moment, and then dragged in a deep breath. “Do I want to know how they did it?”
“I was arrested before I could find out. But it had to be fast, targeted.”
Flares lit the sky above them, and then explosions sounded as the missiles blew apart, delivering their payload. “The fireworks,” she whispered, trying not to imagine how the governments had cleansed the Earth.
Moving slowly, Colm placed his arm around her back. Mary sat, stiff, unyielding, then leaned close to his side, accepting his comfort. Maybe his crime had been misinformation. Maybe he was a con man. However, deep inside, she knew he’d spoken the truth.
“So, your father and brother?”
“Dead.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
His chin scratched the top of her head as he folded her closer. “As awful as it is, I won’t let bitterness touch you,” he said, his voice filled with gravel. “My promise. What you have here, what you might share with me, is something . . . hopeful. I get that.”
She tilted back her head. “This isn’t an easy life, Colm. And for most of the time, we’ll be alone out here. I’d like for us to be friends.”
One corner of his mouth curled up, and his gaze narrowed. “Could that be friends who sleep together?”
Relieved he seemed ready to change the painful subject, she arched a brow. “Are you afraid of sleeping on that little cot?” she teased, surprised she still knew how to be seductive.
“Terrified.” A hand cupped the back of her head, and she relaxed, giving him the weight of it, surrendering as bright starbursts of light filled the sky beyond him and he kissed her.
They undressed in silence. Mary was glad he didn’t feel the need to talk. Her mouth was dry, her tongue thick. She thought she’d probably only manage a croak if she tried to enter into any bedroom conversation.
However, the moment he shoved down his trousers, her mouth moistened.
His cock sprang free, tilting toward the ceiling, and all she could think was how relieved she was that there was proof of that elusive spark she’d hoped for.
He climbed onto her larger bed and lay on his side, a curled hand supporting his head, and patte
d the mattress. A faint smile curved his lips as his gaze swept her trim body. She noted his pause when his gaze touched on her breasts, then again when it dipped to the apex of her thighs.
His cock jerked. His legs shifted, opening as he bent one to make room for his burgeoning erection and hardening balls.
Without hesitating, she lay down beside him, rolling to her side to face him.
He cupped her chin and rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip. “Are you sure you want to settle for friends?” he asked softly.
“I hope for more. I do. But for now . . .”
His thumb rasped her lips again. “Yes?”
She rubbed her cheek against his large palm. “For now, I’d settle for sex. Straight up, sweaty sex.”
His smile stretched. “Yes, ma’am.”
Their second kiss wasn’t the sweet, chaste thing they’d shared on the porch. The moment his lips touched hers, his hand smoothed down to cup her bottom and pull her closer. His cock dug into her bare belly, and her body reacted, her sex swelling, excitement seeping from inside her as her hips flexed to bring their bodies closer still.
His mouth pressed against hers. His tongue darted out to push against her closed lips until she opened, then swept inside to tangle with her own. She sighed into his mouth, and he rumbled back.
With a quick breathless movement, he rolled atop her body, nudging with his knees to open her. When the long, thick ridge glided against her folds, she bent her knees and cupped her hips, forming a cradle for him to rock against. Her arms encircled his strong back, and she sought handholds, squeezing his shoulders, running her fingers down the deep indentation of his spine, raking her nails across his buttocks to encourage him.
When he finally rose, braced on both arms, his mouth was tight, tilted on one corner. “I could slow down . . .”
“I want you inside me. Don’t make me wait.” She narrowed her eyes and touched the B-Mod chip, still around her neck – but raised her eyebrows to let him know she only teased.
The growl he gave made her giggle, but she forced her mouth into a frown until he shifted, raising his hips then dipping into her with the blunt round tip of his cock. She contracted, holding him there.
Her breaths deepened; endorphins released. Her lids drifted down as the pleasure prickled her skin and liquid flowed to ease his entry.
Colm dropped to his elbows. His body blanketed hers, warming her inside and out. His movements were small, subtle pulses, enough to keep them both excited, but not so much that they rocketed toward orgasm.
“You’re stronger than you look,” he murmured. His sleepy gaze said how much her sexy inner muscles pleased him.
She gave him another squeeze, and then undulated her hips. “I’m not delicate, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“Are you impatient?”
She shook her head, but then wrinkled her nose. “Getting there, I think.” And she was. Her nipples were tight, needy beads that couldn’t be satisfied with the gentle scruff of the curly hair on his chest. “Colm, please,” she whispered.
“Please? You have only to command me.”
“Not here. Not now.” Her fingernails dug into his ass. “I need you to take me. Move now. Please, Colm.”
He lowered himself further, sliding his hands beneath her body to cup her ass, then began to drive deeper and deeper, sounds echoing against the hard concrete walls.
She moaned in his ear, then sucked the lobe between her lips and bit him. “More,” she whispered.
Colm withdrew abruptly, kneeling over her. Rough hands turned her over and pulled up her hips. She got her knees beneath her a moment before he set his thickness against her and plunged inside.
Mary howled. Not from pain, but from joy. Pushing up on her arms, she rocked backward to meet his thrusts, reveling in the sensations his motions produced. Fierce, hot friction burned inside her; her bottom warmed as his pelvis slammed against it. His fingers curved around the corners of her hips.
She exploded, emitting a wail as her orgasm cascaded over, quivering along her skin, rippling deep inside her channel.
His muffled shout followed, but he continued to rock against her. When he slowed, his body bent to blanket her back. His arms encircled her in a crushing hug.
She didn’t mind. Inside his strong embrace, she felt a sense of welcoming, of peace, of pleasure shared.
They fell to the bed, bodies still connected. With his arms around her, she snuggled her bottom into the cradle of his thighs and slept.
Rain pattered on the metal roof, a soothing sound that had Mary nestling deeper against Colm’s chest. With a thigh trapped between his and an arm around his waist, it seemed she was every bit as content as he was.
For the first time since he’d awoken aboard his transport ship after the liquids had cleared from his lungs in the stasis cell, he didn’t awaken with his chest tight with sorrow. The woman nestled so closely against him was an innocent, as much a pawn in this grand scheme as he was. There was no war to fight. No cause to herald.
All that was left was surrender.
As he lay there with his mistress wrapped around him, his body began to shake. Tears eased from his eyes and seeped into the pillow beneath his head. He closed his eyes and willed himself to lie still so as not to wake her.
“What’s wrong?”
He couldn’t answer for the lump lodged at the back of his throat.
Hands cupped his face. Thumbs swept away his tears. Then soft kisses peppered his cheeks, jaw, mouth. “Tell me.”
He opened his eyes to find her soft green gaze glittering with concern. “This will be our life.”
“And that saddens you?”
“God, no,” he blurted, shamed by the ragged texture of his voice.
Her mouth pressed against his again, then she rose beside him, kneeling. Her hand closed around the controller chip and she lifted the chain from around her head. Without a word, she handed it to him. “I never wanted a slave. I didn’t lie when I said I wanted a partner, but more than anything, I would like for you to be my husband.”
Colm breathed deeply, blinking away his tears. He gave her a nod, then reached to pull her against him. “More than anything, I want to be your husband.”
Her smile crept slowly across her face. Moisture gathered in her eyes, and she laughed and wiped it away with the backs of her hands.
Colm’s chest expanded. Happiness lifted guilt and helpless anger from his soul – borne away by the radiance of her smile. “What shall I call you?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Getting tired of ‘ma’am’?” she teased from beneath her dark lashes.
He nodded.
“Me too. I’m Mary.”
A sweet name for a woman who hid all her softness behind a facade of brisk competence. “I like it,” he murmured. “Do the fields need us, Mary?”
“Not until the rain stops.”
He narrowed his eyes and reached up to palm a small, round breast. The nipple was soft as velvet. The tip hardened beneath the press of his thumb.
Her breath caught and held. She tossed back her head, shaking her hair behind her.
“Grow it long,” he said.
“For you, I will.”
“What else will you do to please me?”
She arched a brow then slowly straddled his body. “Whatever you desire.”
“Am I now the master?”
A sexy grin stretched across her pretty face. “If it pleases you.”
Colm raised himself on his elbows and drew a turgid nipple between his lips, not relenting until she sighed and clutched his hair.
When he drew back, he lifted her, urging her down his body.
She needed no further instruction, kissing her way down his chest, teasing his belly with gentle bites and wet kisses until she knelt between his legs and took him into her mouth.
Colm groaned as she devoured him, sifting her hair with his fingers, pinching her ears to pull her deeper. Her hands surrounded him, her sweet mouth
locked beneath the sensitive ridge and suckled while her tongue lavished him with wet sliding caresses.
Joy like he hadn’t felt in years poured through his veins. He gripped her hair and pulled her from him. Then forcing her to her back, he ravaged her breasts with hot flicks of his tongue and stinging pinches which caused her to yelp and giggle.
Smiling, he worked his way downward, hands caressing her smooth belly, fingers digging into her firm bottom and thighs as he opened her. Arousal, potent and spicy, filled his nose as he buried his mouth between her legs until she squirmed and bucked beneath him.
When she was breathless and he was so hard he couldn’t wait a moment longer, he brought her over him, watching as she guided him inside her. She let go, leaned back her head and sank deep, gliding downward in a single stroke. She paused, swaying over him. “Do you think they planned the rain to happen today for just this purpose?”
He grunted, not fond of the Company, not wanting the big consortium to intrude into their bedroom, but what she said held merit. “Perhaps. But we had the choice of how to spend the downtime, Mary.”
She began to move, slowly at first, inching up, then down. His cock warmed inside her snug hollow. When a wave of heat swept through him, he decided he’d let her savor the ride another day.
He flipped them, relishing her cry of surprise. Without pausing he stroked into her, clutching her buttocks to hold her close so that each roll of his hips tunneled deep. The push-pull of his motions drew sighs and groans. Her legs moved restlessly, inner thighs rubbing his legs, then rising higher until she gripped his waist.
Her small hands pushed against his chest, and he lifted himself, bracing on his arms, increasing the length of his strokes and giving each forward thrust a snap that shoved her body up the bed. Before long, the bed frame groaned, pounding against the wall.
Mary’s breaths were shallow, open-mouthed. Sweat slicked both their bodies as they writhed together. When the first internal flutters heralded her blooming orgasm, Colm pounded harder, deeper, not satisfied until a garbled scream ripped from her throat.