Which gave credence to his logical reasoning of postulating what had happened to Amory.
Now, how did he use this?
Zelda wasn’t dumb, nor was she usually distracted. Gemini had lucked into coming onboard when she’d just found a mate.
She’d start to notice lots of new faces on the mine that she hadn’t approved. Gemini was also denying passage to some of the passengers looking for their heartstone. They’d thank him later when everything blew up.
Everyone would thank him for leveling the playing field.
What was the best way to ensure she didn’t notice the legions of badasses he was unleashing on the mine?
Get Zelda off the mine.
How could he do that?
She rarely left. Bren never left without her.
He leaned back in his chair as he flipped off the sensor.
How could he get Zelda away from her baby? Get her away from Settler’s Mine for enough time to get all his pieces in place?
Release a reluctant mate.
Amory would leave once he’d been released.
Bren and Zelda would pursue Amory, seeking to reclaim their mate. They’d never let Amory go free. Might keep them busy for years. No, Zelda wouldn’t leave the mine for that long. Regardless, they’d go off the mine even if the period of time was short, and that was what Gemini needed them to do.
He’d keep scanning, and keep tabs on Zelda and Bren’s positions. He had some portable links he could carry with him. Once they’d left Amory alone, he’d go in and set him loose.
And they would leave Settler’s Mine ripe for the taking.
Chapter Nine
Amory watched as Zelda brought in food. His cock jumped to attention at the mere sight of her.
Not to mention his first orgasm was never far from his mind. What a mind-blowing experience. Yeah, blowing, that was the word for it. He’d had no idea sex could be like this. And he hadn’t even had the full effects yet.
Though from the way Zelda was eying him, he didn’t think he had long to remain a virgin. Who would get to him first? Zelda or Bren? And how much fun would he have while they were doing it?
His resolve had been tossed out the window. They were his mates, why shouldn’t he enjoy them? They seemed to be avoiding coming together as a threesome. Probably because of the journey to come. They still didn’t want him to make the trip, but he had to. He didn’t see any way around going home.
“I brought you some lunch.” Zelda turned to face him. She wore black skintight leathers that could have been painted on. The shirt went down in a V between her ample breasts. So much skin revealed. So much lickable skin. Wasn’t even that showy but the sight of her captivated him, as it always did. Why did they both have to be so magnetic to him? Then, maybe he could have resisted their allure.
Maybe because they are your mates.
He licked his dry lips. He’d never get used to hearing that. He wanted to see more of her skin revealed. How easily he’d gone to the other side with them. Couldn’t resist either of them. When they all came together, it was going to be so good. “Good. I’m starving.”
“Are you now?”
He nodded as she set the plates down. He hadn’t had anything since a leering Bren had brought him breakfast. The man was miffed he’d missed the blowjob. Bren would be taking advantage the next time they were alone. That much could be sure.
Zelda leaned over him to reach for something.
He looked down her shirt into the creamy valley between her breasts. There was a freckle on her right breast. The mounds tantalized him.
Her head lifted to raise her eyes level with his. “What are you hungry for, Amory? Your eyes say it’s not only food.”
He swallowed with a wince. He was hungry. For her. For them both. But, he still didn’t want to be with them both before his journey. However, she was alone. Maybe the time had come to experience Zelda in all her glory.
She lowered her mouth toward his, stopping a mere few millimeters away. “What do you say, Amory?”
He moved his mouth in to close the distance she’d left between them. His lips brushed hers, tingling at the contact. His tongue ran across the seam, seeking entry to her mouth.
She parted her lips under his to grant him what he most wanted.
So sweet.
She tasted better than any concoction the best chefs in the galaxy could ever come up with. Bottle her and she’d be priceless.
Only, she was his.
Her tongue slipped in to play with his as their lips pressed against one another. She kissed him back, meeting his every stroke, giving back each nuance of the embrace.
After a few minutes of frenzied contact, he pulled back. “I say I’m hungry for you, and lunch. Both.” He had a way of feeding both his desires at the same time. Would be fun for them both.
She pushed back her hair with a swipe of her hand. “Oh?” A fine eyebrow went up in the air.
He nodded again. “Yep.” His stomach rumbled. She could see his cock lengthen so she knew both parts were true.
She settled on the bed as he pulled his feet up to lie down. “How do you propose we sate both your desires? I do have a mine to run.” Her hand reached for his calf to stroke under his pants. “You should leave these off.” She picked up a piece of bread. “Why don’t we get you fed? I do have to go back to work today.”
He took a bite of the bread and chewed. With his free hand, he rubbed up her leg under her leather pants, letting his hand revel in her soft skin.
Her scent intoxicated him.
Food didn’t seem as important as it once had been, but he did need to eat something. After pulling his hand away, he picked up a sorbet of some kind. Held it up to his mouth to test the temperature. Chilled but not cold. “What flavor is this?”
Zelda appraised the cup as she moved away. “I’m not sure. Maybe cherry? Or a raspberry?”
He smacked his lips, deciding on the taste. “Cherry. I love cherries.” If he was going to join their side, he might as well go all the way. Maybe he had things he could teach Zelda. A smile reached his lips at his plan.
“Glad we could please you.”
He took the spoon and corralled a bite of the sorbet. “You do.” He lifted it and went over Zelda’s chest. “Lift your head.”
“What?”
“Lift your head?” He motioned with his hand for her to hold up her neck.
“Why?”
“Because you please me.”
She lifted her head, displaying her neck and chest for his questing eyes. “Don’t you get that on my leathers.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He drizzled the sorbet down her neck and into the V of the shirt, down the hollow to her breasts.
She didn’t move her head, but her eyes looked down. “I’m a mess now. Guess you’ll have to clean me up.”
“That was the intent.”
He lowered his head to her throat to lap at the sorbet on her skin. Zelda tasted of vanilla, and it mixed with the cherry flavoring to treat him. He licked all around her throat, paying attention to the hollow. He discovered a sensitive spot under her ear that made her shiver.
So even Zelda had a sweet spot.
Did she have one lower?
He couldn’t wait to discover all her sweet spots.
“How soon do you have to go back to work?”
Her gaze shifted to him. “Keep doing that and never.”
He smiled and licked further down the bottom of her throat, kissing and laving her skin under his tongue.
He nipped at her collarbone, enjoying the hard feel under his tongue.
He could make a day of simply tasting her and never get enough.
Slowly, his fingers grasped the zipper and tugged it down. The whirring sound sent a tremor down his spine all the way to his cock.
She leaned her head further back as he finished unzipping the entire shirt.
Splayed it apart to gaze at her exposed chest.
Beautiful.
&
nbsp; He’d seen her a few times now, but he still couldn’t get over the wonder that was her body, especially her breasts. Heavy with large nipples, they were the stuff of fantasies.
A drip of sorbet pooled on the top of her right breast, right near the freckle.
He leaned over. “You’ve got a drop of cherry there.” His tongue lapped the drip off, lingering to press against the freckle, before moving around to the nipple.
“Glad you could clean me up.” She sounded breathless. A pulse hammered under her throat. The cool unflappable Zelda was no longer so.
Pleasure waves raced through him.
He’d done this to her. Him and only him.
He’d made her lose that businesslike persona that never had her showing the trueness within.
He tugged her nipple into his mouth, tonguing each depression on the textured tip. Suckling, he drew the point out as far as he could in his mouth.
She wiggled beside him, a pant singing from her lips.
He scraped his teeth across her nipple, being gentle, before pressing softly into the edge of the tip.
She rewarded him with a full-bodied moan. The deep sound echoed. He’d never heard that pitch in her voice.
The other side of her chest didn’t have any sorbet, but he moved his mouth over just the same to take her other nipple into his mouth. He wiggled his tongue quickly across her tip before drawing it in to suck intensely.
He pressed his tongue up in to flick as he suctioned her nipple, increasing the pull as much as he could to make her writhe.
He pushed her arm down to slide the limb from the shirt. Time for her to get a lot more comfortable.
The shirt fell off her shoulders with his help.
Her heavy lidded eyes sought his out. She licked her lips. Her small pink tongue torched off such a firestorm by a simple movement.
Did she taste him?
He still could taste the intoxicating flavor garnered from her body and the sorbet he’d licked off.
Yes, he needed to be with her. Needed to feel her skin against his.
He reached down to unzip her leather pants.
As quickly as he’d ever seen a woman move, she shrugged them down and off. Her chest rose and fell with varied pants, bobbing her breasts.
She turned toward him, slender legs spread apart. The curve of her thigh as it rose to meet the center of her body fascinated him.
He’d never seen anything that came close to Zelda. She outshined the Spelio moons in all their glorious splendor. He blew out air to release the pent up longing inside him. “Breathtaking.”
Her face glowed with a lazy smile.
He stood on shaky legs as he pulled his shirt over his head. Yanked down his pants so they fell to the floor at his feet.
His first time.
Would he be able to satisfy her? He’d never done anything sexual before. Would he be able to give her as much as she’d given to him already? She deserved a man who could make her scream with pleasure. He knew the hows of sex, but would that be enough to give her all she so richly deserved?
His gaze sought out the woman in front of him.
Her eyes shone with desire like the stars in the heavens. And the pleasure in her eyes was for him and him alone.
And suddenly, he could do anything as long as she kept that look in her eyes. He could even fly up to touch the galaxies without need of a spaceship.
She gracefully approached the bed with a dancer’s walk. Winking at him, she sat down and pulled him in front of her. Her cool arms wrapped around his hot body, as she urged him to the bed.
Bodies wrapped around each other, skin sliding against skin as they held onto each other as if they’d never let go.
Her skin singed him with internal heat.
Eternal heat like a volcano from within.
Delicious.
She shifted and her mouth moved across his.
Barely a kiss.
Yet, the contact intensified his desires so much, that as he met her mouth, the kiss turned frantic. He couldn’t get enough, couldn’t kiss hard or fast enough to keep up with the spiraling passions inside of him.
He kissed her as if he’d die without her mouth on his. Might not have been true, but it damn well felt like that.
She was the air he breathed.
She returned the kiss with the same frenzy.
It drove him even more into the stratosphere, seeing that her reactions to him matched his for her.
His hands moved up to run down her sides, touching bits of her flesh. His hips bucked against her in a match to the thrust of his tongue into her mouth.
She broke their mouths apart to urge him on top of her with hands that stroked all the right nerve endings.
Never had anyone touched him like this. Touches that went straight from his skin to his heart.
Their heartstones glowed in pulsating time to each other. He didn’t have to look to see the light. Too much passion flowed between them for the stones not to illuminate.
Not yet.
He wanted to be on top. Wanted to slide into her wetness.
But first he needed a taste. A sip of the woman.
He slid down her body.
Her breathing quickened in anticipation. She knew exactly what he’d planned. Her legs slipped apart to widen her hips, giving him as much access as he could want.
He slipped a hand in to part the way. Couldn’t help but stare at her loveliness. So red and moist. And just for him.
“Do it.” Her grainy voice railed at him from her position further up on the mattress. “Do it.”
He let his tongue out to slurp her up and down her length.
Her entire body bucked.
Another pass of his tongue, and her torso arced more.
He sucked her clit into his mouth, sucking on it much as he’d done her nipple. Such a little flap of skin to cause so much pleasure.
Zelda’s body shook as sensations must be rolling across her.
He’d done this to her. Him. Again. Brought her to the brink.
He pulled his mouth from her pussy.
Her creamy, dark skin had a rosy cast. It glistened, covered with sweat. So hot to the touch.
Such a woman.
His woman.
The power in his hands against this mighty woman was phenomenal. And he wanted to explore all nuances of the mating bond they shared.
He wanted to become one with their bodies.
Damn him, he wanted to become one with both of them.
That would come later.
As would Amory.
He lifted himself up to slide on top of her and as he shifted back down, his cock met her entrance. Barely inside, he stilled.
Warmth enveloped him all over his length.
A wet channel slipped around him to welcome him into her body as she thrust up to meet him.
His entire body shook with the feel of her surrounding his cock. He was encased within her body. The ultimate act of giving and trust.
Slick. Hot. Tight.
He lifted up to come back down on her. Slowly, he went up again only to fall back down, penetrating her to her very core.
She tightened her muscles around him, clenching as a moan burst free from her lips. He couldn’t pull out or move until she released him.
His back spasmed with tremors.
Not long now.
No way could he last at the rate the explosion was building up inside him.
Her muscles relaxed as the climax faded away. Up again, his body went before sliding back down against her.
Pounding.
He needed to pound against her. To stop this gentleness and take her by storm. Oh, gods, did he ever.
As he rested inside her, lying against her, with a wheeze of breath, she nipped at his throat. “Quit being so damn polite and fuck me.”
The words were what his body needed to hear. What he needed to hear. And they drove him further into the haze of passion he’d been creating. Been craving.
Risi
ng up, he came back down so fast, neither of them had time to catch their breath. His caught at the back of his throat as he thrust against her hard. Not taking his time or managing his body so he wouldn’t crush her. Instead, his moves were fast and frantic. Needed to be as close to her as he could get.
Needed to be one with her. So that there was hardly any space between them. No beginning and no end. Only a mass of flesh joined into one.
As the whole of his body clenched in great need of finding that right spot to spill in release, her fingernails raked down his back. His name burst from her lips in a scream of unending pleasure.
And over the edge, he tipped.
When he came back to himself, he lay on top of her, still resting inside her. Her body cushioned him and provided home for his still tingling cock.
She pressed a kiss against his shoulder.
“Sorry, I guess I kept you from mine duties.” His back stung from the scratches she’d made in the throes of her passion. But it was a good sting. One he’d treasure forever. Their first time had created memories. And soon, they’d be working on more.
“Don’t ever apologize for that.” She pursed her lips, tasting his sweat-covered body. “Besides, I can’t wait for round two.”
Even as he opened his mouth to say he’d need a few minutes, his cock swelled to life inside her.
He was reminded that someone had once said, “What Zelda wants, Zelda gets.”
It must be true. His cock agreed.
* * * * *
Gemini leaned back in his desk chair in his office. The back of it let out a long squeak, which made him wince. Least the mine could do was buy a decent quiet chair for the security chief. Maybe even a padded one. Not that the mine would be here long enough for him to enjoy the luxury.
His plan was almost ready to go. One more tweak here and there, and the execution would be flawless. All he needed to do was wait for everything to be in place and the perfect time to launch. Waiting was something he was good at. What was a little more time?
He tapped his foot along the bottom of his desk.
The doors whooshed open.
Zelda strolled into his office without a knock or a chime to alert him he was about to get company.
He quickly hit a button on his computer, taking down the programs he’d been running. His password would need to be generated before the screen would come back up.
Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers Page 13