Rio swung into a reclining chair, put up his bare feet, and leaned back. “Hey, if I spent twenty years in a box, I wouldn’t know you, either.”
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“Dr. Laas said some memory loss after suspended animation was normal.” He touched the silk of Maia’s black hair. “She also said that with the state the unit was in, the loss might be permanent.”
Rio, as usual, looked for the bright side. “In that case, she’ll just have to get to know you all over again.”
“I’m going to take her to the house. I built it for her, even though I knew she’d never see it.”
“Don’t get maudlin. Take her out there, work your Shareem magic. Within a day, she’ll be begging for you to fuck her. Two days, she’ll be your devoted slave.”
Rylan gave him a sardonic look. “No wonder all the women love you. You’re so damned romantic.”
Rio grinned. “They love me because I know how to make it hurt good. They don’t want flowers and jewelry, they want a collar around their neck and me ordering them to get on their knees.”
“Are all level threes as swell-headed as you?”
Rio considered. “Yeah, pretty much. Swelled heads and swelled cocks. That’s your level three Shareem.”
Rylan knew Rio was being a smartass to keep Rylan’s spirits up. He appreciated it, but he’d never admit it to the egomaniac.
“Come to the house with me,” Rylan said.
Rio’s brows shot up. “Yeah? It will be easier for her to get to know you without me there. I can distract a lady’s attention.”
“Stuff it. I was thinking that if she didn’t respond to me—if I can’t make her remember—maybe she’ll respond to you. You are kind of—unforgettable.”
“That’s one way of putting it. But I’m not the one in love with her.”
Damn Rio and his damned perceptiveness. Rio played the sex-crazed bad boy—and he was—but he always understood what was what.
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Rylan caressed Maia’s limp fingers. “That doesn’t mean she’ll be in love with me.”
Rio sat up. “So what are you saying? If she falls in love with me, you’ll step aside and let me have her?”
Rylan opened his mouth to say, Yes.
Then he stopped. He said, “No way.”
Rio’s grin returned. He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”
* * * * *
Dr. Laas recommended Rylan wait a few days before taking Maia that far. He chafed with impatience, but knew she was right.
Maia never did regain her memories. She had no idea where she was, what her name was, who Rylan was, or Rio or Dr. Laas, people she’d seen many times while growing up at DNAmo.
She could not remember anything before waking up in Dr. Laas’ lab.
She acted grateful to them for saving her life, after Dr. Laas explained it, but she regarded the two Shareem warily and kept her distance.
She did not want to go with Rylan to Canyon Roble. “Why can I not stay with Dr.
Laas?”
Dr. Laas had laughed. “My dear, you would be bored to death. I have my face stuck in my computer most of the time, and I never go out. Rylan has a beautiful house out in lovely countryside.”
“You’ve seen it?” Maia asked.
“Well, no. But it has to be better than here.”
In the end, Maia went, because Dr. Laas made it clear she could not stay, and Maia had nowhere else to go.
Rylan got tickets for three on a cross-world transport, and they left the next morning.
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Rylan hoped that as soon as they reached the peace of the red rocks, the pines and the cool air from the river, Maia would relax, and remember.
She never did.
* * * * *
Maia pressed her hands to the glass wall in the living room of Rylan’s house three days later, and gazed over the canyon. At the bottom, the stream gleamed, dancing in the sunlight. Across the room, a singing sphere, which Rylan had given her the night they’d arrived, wafted soft, chiming music.
“It is all so beautiful,” she breathed.
“All for you,” Rylan said.
She sensed him come up behind her.
She held her breath, waiting to see if he would touch her. He hadn’t touched her since she’d woken up in the bath at Dr. Laas’ to feel his body slick and wet against hers.
She’d been scared at first, but he’d put his hand on her hair and said, “Shh, Maia.”
She’d relaxed, reveling in his skin on hers, his hand cupping her head. She’d relaxed so much, she’d gone to sleep, damn it.
When she’d awakened again, in a bed, he’d been in the room, but on the other side of it, lounging in the recliner. Her bed had smelled of him, though, and she wondered if he’d been there, beside her.
But since then, he kept his distance. Today was the first time he’d approached her.
She remained still, hands on the glass, wondering what he’d do.
Rylan put his hands above hers on the glass wall, and leaned into her.
She closed her eyes. His scent filled her, exciting and relaxing her at the same time.
Dr. Laas had explained that Shareem could send pheromones and other chemicals over a woman’s body to make her pliable and excited.
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Her own Shareem chemistry stirred under his, and she sent pheromones back. She was not sure how she knew how to do that, but she did.
He brought his body closer. His huge cock, behind his tunic, brushed her backside.
She wriggled the slightest bit, pressing her buttocks against the foot-long staff. She wanted to see it. She wanted to hold it. She wanted to feel it inside her mouth.
Touch me. Please.
His body was so large, easily covering hers, the hands placed above hers, powerful.
She sensed him tighten. Then, very carefully, he lifted himself away.
She almost cried.
“Rio should be back soon,” he said.
She turned. He had moved away from her, his footfalls muted on the woven straw matting that covered the floor.
Rio had gone down to the town to buy things. She did not care about Rio.
Or at least, not much. He made her shiver, but in a different way. But Rylan…
She leaned back against the glass, feeling it cool her through her sarong. Rylan was turning away. He was going to leave the room. She would be alone. Again.
“Rylan,” she said hurriedly. “Will you kiss me?”
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Chapter Four
He came toward her, moving as deliberately as a panther in the canyon.
“You really want that?” he asked.
“Yes.” Maia swallowed. “Please.”
She felt his raised body heat as soon as he neared her. He cupped her face in hands that shook. “Make sure you want it.”
“I do want it,” she babbled. “I wanted you to kiss me on the transport. I wanted you to touch me in a dark corner where no one could see. I want—”
He stopped her words with his mouth.
His tongue jabbed, rough and hot, between her lips. He tasted her whole mouth, licking every corner and the moisture behind her lower lip.
His body pinned hers against the glass wall. She felt the whole length of him, his hard pectorals, his ridged abdomen, his thighs and his cock jammed against her stomach.
She felt possessed, she felt wanted. And for the first time since she’d awakened, safe.
He ravished her mouth, lips bruising. He hurt her, he caressed her. He pulled her lower lip between his teeth and bit down. She cried out.
He released her, then hovered over her, his lips an inch from hers. “Rio will be back soon.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
“I’m giving you a chance to get to your room, to be safe from me.”
“I wan
t to stay with you,” she whispered.
His eyes were so blue, irises enormous. He wanted her.
She wanted him just as much.
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“I feel safe with you,” she said.
He shook his head. One lock of his sun-streaked hair fell along his cheek. “You are anything but safe with me.”
She slid her hands up his chest, tracing the hard ridges of muscle. His skin was fever-hot under the thin fabric. “Rylan, tell me the truth. Back when we knew each other at DNAmo, were we lovers?”
He stilled a long moment. His eyes darkened, and beneath her hands, his heart pumped harder.
“Yes,” he said.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Shh.” He lowered his mouth to her cheek, licked away a tear. “Dr. Laas thought it better. She thought it would make you feel pressure to remember.”
“I want to remember.”
“Not all of your memories will be happy.” He traced her cheek. “I brought you here to remember this. To remember now.”
She longed to scream that she wanted to remember something, not this blank void, not these flashes of white that terrified her.
She’d been a lover to this man, and she knew nothing about him. Had they been close? Or casual—friends with a twist? He and Rio seemed to take sex, and nakedness, so matter-of-factly.
The two males were comfortable with their bodies and the sexual aura they exuded.
In the last three days, they’d lounged about the house dressed in very little, oblivious to her hungry stares.
At least Rylan was oblivious. Rio grinned, liking her watching him.
Women of Bor Narga were supposed to abjure sex, Dr. Laas had explained—in a world in which children were created outside the woman’s body, sex was not 30
Maia and Rylan
necessary. Among the upper classes it was considered gauche, if not completely forbidden.
But Maia had noticed the looks women had given Rylan and Rio as they’d caught the transport in Pas City, even though both men had been fully clothed.
The women in their layered robes had swiveled their heads and pulled away dust veils to look. Rylan had strode through without noticing. Rio, on the other hand, had winked and smiled, not minding the attention.
The upper-class women were not alone in their interest. Maia’s gaze riveted to Rylan’s body every time he came into view. She loved it when he abandoned his clothes to wear only a loincloth.
A tall, big man with only a piece of cloth between him and the world made her heart beat fast and her Shareem temperature rise. She kept having to go downstairs and dive into the cool pool, built from an outlet in the mountain stream.
The water was at the exact temperature needed to take Shareem blood back to normal. Rylan swam there often.
I brought you here to remember this, he’d said . To remember now.
She slid her hands down his tunic and pressed her palms over the ridge of his cock.
“That’s dangerous,” he said. A glint entered his eye, one she’d not seen before.
She wanted dangerous. She stroked downward.
“Maia,” he growled.
“Can we play a game?” she asked. She did not know where the question came from, but it was suddenly important to ask it.
His cock jumped. “Don’t tempt me.”
She gave him a little smile. “Why not?”
She rubbed his cock up and down, up and down, feeling it throb with his pulse.
“I play for keeps,” he said huskily.
She squeezed her fingers, hard, over the tip of his cock.
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“Damn. ”
He stepped back, then in one move, he stripped off his tunic. He unfastened his loincloth and tossed it aside. His cock fell heavily into his hand, a bead of moisture on its tip.
He was so beautiful.
Every muscle, every ridge, was sculpted for perfection. His cock was so huge she could barely get one hand around it.
He made a raw noise at her touch. His hands found the fastenings of her sarong, then he deftly stripped it from her body.
“What game is this?” she whispered. Her voice croaked—she probably sounded as sexy as a dry-frog.
“A game of you taking me in your mouth,” he said.
She smiled hotly. She knelt, brushing her tongue over his hard abdomen and across his navel.
Her knees rested on the floor mat, her feet pressed against the cool glass. His cock stood out, firm and heavy from his tight balls and golden-brown hair. She kissed the tip, and he flinched.
She did not know quite what to do, but she wanted this inside her, wanted to shape her mouth around it.
She leaned forward a little and sucked the large tip into her mouth.
Rylan nearly went insane. He wanted to rock back, to fuck her mouth and her pretty lips, to come now all over her face.
He drew a ragged breath and willed himself to still.
She opened her mouth a little more, sliding her tongue along his cock. He braced his hands against the window glass, widening his stance so she could take more of him.
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She did not remember what to do. She explored him, licking and nipping down his length. She teased his balls with her tongue, the wet tip flicking over him again and again until his body was sheened with sweat.
His hands shook, perspiration beading on the window. His hips moved of their own accord, pressing himself into her mouth again, a little further this time.
“Take me,” he said raggedly. “Take more. You know how.”
Obediently, she opened her mouth wider, let another inch slide in. Gods.
He wanted to pump inside, feeling her teeth scrape him, until he came, hard.
Play with her. Don’t hurt her.
To hell with games. He needed her. He’d needed her for many long, lonely years.
Outside, down the long path that led to the house, he saw Rio come around a curve, a package tucked under his arm. Rio looked up, and abruptly stopped.
Rylan slid one more inch into Maia’s mouth. She sucked him readily, her questing tongue all over him.
He imagined what Rio saw. A beautiful, naked back. A rope of black hair falling to Maia’s shapely ass. Rylan’s hands pressed against the glass, his body rocking slightly while Maia sucked him.
Rio grinned. He laid his package down, lounged on a rock, resting one arm on his bent knee.
Ready to enjoy the show.
Against every screaming nerve in his body, Rylan backed out of Maia’s mouth.
She looked up at him. Her Shareem eyes were wild and blue, her lips parted, her face flushed. “What—?”
“Stand up,” he ordered. “Turn around and put your hands on the window.”
She stared in surprise a moment, then rose to her feet, turned, and placed her palms against the glass.
He saw her start. “Rio’s down there.”
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Allyson James
“I know.” He grasped her hips. “Lean over. Walk your hands down the glass. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
Maia gulped. Rio sat about ten feet below them. Even from here, she could see his grin. He was enjoying this.
She scooted her feet back and slowly moved each hand down the glass. Rylan held her hips in powerful hands, guiding them.
“Stop,” he said.
She froze. Her butt was thrust our behind her, her legs straight, her breasts swaying.
Below her, Rio shifted, folding his arms across his chest, his grin fading.
Rylan pushed her braid aside, then his long cock landed across her back. He couldn’t fuck her like this, could he? She was too short—his hips and hers did not match.
He seemed in no hurry to enter her. He slid his cock across her back, the warm heaviness intoxicating.
Then he leaned over her. She shivered, legs weak, anti
cipating.
She nearly groaned aloud as he touched his lips to her nape.
He moved, dragging his tongue down her spine. He stopped to lick the small of her back, as if sensing the heat gathered there.
The hot wetness went farther, dipping between her buttocks, tickling her anal star.
Then he dropped to his knees, still holding her hips.
Please. Yes.
Slowly, Rylan traced the lips of her opening with his tongue. It felt incredible. She wiggled her hips, wanting him to slide inside.
Maddeningly, Rylan stuck to the outside, lapping up her cream as it came out of her.
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Maia and Rylan
She pushed at the glass, wanting to shove her cunt right over his mouth. The dark slice of his tongue flicked into her, and she squealed.
Below her, Rio watched avidly, his gaze intense.
“Rylan, please,” she panted.
Rylan ignored her. Stroke after stroke he licked her, his practiced tongue covering every inch of her. He slid himself under her and raised his face to tease her clit.
She wriggled and gasped with wanting.
“Do you want to play with toys, Maia?” he asked, his lips brushing her clit.
“What kind of toys?” She could barely speak.
“The best kind. I’ll get them. Stay here. Do not move an inch.”
He rose to his feet, his glorious warmth leaving her. She whimpered.
He leaned over, putting his lips close to her ear. “Not an inch. Or I will punish you.”
Her cunt squeezed and parted again.
“All right,” she breathed.
He straightened, not answering. She heard his soft footfalls on the matting, then the door opened and closed.
The empty feeling in the room told her he had gone. She always knew when Rylan was near, or not. She’d noticed this at Dr. Laas’—how her body stirred whenever he entered a room, how the joy went out of it when he left it.
Her legs ached from holding her stance. She nearly relaxed to the floor, cheating, but then she wondered if the room had monitors. Perhaps he watched her even now, to see whether she obeyed.
Besides, Rio was out there, watching, and he’d tell Rylan what she did.
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