Release

by V. J. Chambers

  Ariana’s heart thumped in her chest as they walked. She wasn’t sure why everything suddenly seemed so awkward. There hadn’t been any awkwardness all those nights they’d slept in each other’s arms. This was a natural progression, so why did it frighten her? She’d wanted this, so why was she feeling so unsure of herself?

  The beds on the ship were narrow. They both sat down on it and looked at each other.

  Well. Someone should do something, right? Ariana started to reach over to touch Keirth’s shoulder again.

  At the same moment, he leaned over to kiss her.

  They stopped short of colliding with each other.

  They both laughed.

  “Uh, yeah,” said Keirth. “Guess it’s one thing to say you won’t be nervous. It’s another thing entirely to stop being nervous.”

  She giggled. “Yeah.” She scooted closer to him on the bed and lay her head on his shoulder. “I guess I’m not sure what to do. Are we supposed to start ripping each other’s clothes off or something?”

  He put his arm around her. “I doubt there are rules, exactly. There’s no way we’re ‘supposed’ to do it.”

  She turned her face up to his. “Yeah, and neither of us really has any experience, so I guess we should just...”

  He put his lips against hers. They fell back on the bed.

  Ariana hit her head against the headboard. “Ouch.” She sat up, rubbing the bump.

  “Sorry,” said Keirth.

  “No, it wasn’t your fault.” She lay back down more carefully, so that she and Keirth faced each other, both lying on their sides. She put a hand on his chest and kissed him again.

  This time, they both seemed to relax a little more. The kiss deepened. Keirth’s tongue eased its way into her mouth. She loved that, the way it made her feel consumed by sensation. Her hand traveled over Kierth’s arm, feeling his taut muscle, his chest, and his back.

  And Keirth was touching her as well, his hand traveling over her waist, half-tickling her, sending goosebumps up her torso. His hand moved higher until he was cupping her breast.

  She let out a tiny gasp.

  Keirth stopped kissing her. “Okay?” he murmured, and she knew he was worried about the last time he’d touched her here.

  “Definitely okay.” His hand was just resting there, but even so, it sent little tendrils of pleasure through her.

  His fingers began to move over her breast, caressing and slightly squeezing it, and that felt even nicer.

  Her breathing quickened, and she sought his lips again.

  While they kissed, his hand roamed over her other breast. She shifted a little to make sure he could get to it. His fingers danced back and forth between them, rubbing over her hardening nipples, which were pressing against the jumpsuit she was wearing. Ariana was transfixed by the feel of it. It was sweetness and delight. It felt so good. She felt even more relaxed, like she wanted to open herself to him entirely, just come undone under his fingers. For quite some time, she only kissed him and enjoyed his touch.

  Then a thought occurred to her. Maybe she was being greedy. Maybe there were things she should be doing to him to make him feel good too. Her hand was currently flat against stomach. She’d been so distracted by his hands on her breasts that she had stopped moving it a while ago. She dragged her hand lower, searching for the part of Keirth that she’d felt rigid against her in the night so many times.

  When her hand closed over it, it was hot and stiff. She could feel it through Keirth’s trousers, like it was trying to burst out on its own. She wrapped her fingers around it.

  Keirth choked.

  She released it. “Was that bad?”

  He laughed, his hand on hers, urging it back to where she’d been. “Surprising. But very good.”

  With his hand over hers, he guided her to stroke him—up and down over the hard length of him. She enjoyed the sound of Keirth’s ragged breath as she did so, the way he sighed with each touch.

  Ariana thought that she might have been able to do that for a very, very long time. There was something very intriguing about having it in her hand like that. It pulsed against her, like it was alive in and of itself, some subservient being attached to Keirth. And she very much enjoyed affecting him the way she was, knowing that she was bringing him pleasure. But he stopped her, mumbling something about waiting, which she didn’t entirely understand. Were they going to stop then? Didn’t he want to do it after all?

  But Keirth’s hands were back on her breasts then, and he was fumbling with the clasp on her jumpsuit. She had a horrible flash suddenly. She was back on Kush, and Risciter was glaring down at her, jeering, “Easy access.”

  She shuddered.

  Keirth must have felt her body stiffen. He pulled away from her. “What?”

  But she didn’t want to give it words. Saying it out loud would make the whole thing have more power. She shoved the thought away. She was with Keirth. Keirth was sweet and good, and he wouldn’t hurt her. She shook her head. Then she unclasped her jumpsuit herself, and it opened all the way to her navel. She could feel cool air against the skin between her breasts, on her belly.

  Keirth gazed into her open jumpsuit with wondering eyes.

  Feeling a little shy, she peeled it over her shoulders, exposing her breasts to him.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered. He lowered his mouth to her nipple, and then he was sucking on it. Tremors shot through her, thrilling jolts. She writhed under his mouth, arching her back to let him have more of her. His other hand teased her other nipple. Both of them being stimulated at once seemed to be too much goodness for words. She found herself moaning, and when Keirth switched and put his mouth on her other nipple, she moaned even louder. She hadn’t realized how much that one had been begging for his attention. This too could have gone on for a very long time without making Ariana upset one bit.

  But soon Keirth was kissing up from her breasts, planting kisses on her neck and jaw, making her shudder from pleasure this time, and then his mouth was on hers again, and her sensitive nipples were rubbing against his shirt.

  Keirth was pushing her jumpsuit over her arms, trying to free her of it entirely. She sat up to help him, stripping it completely away from her torso.

  Keirth yanked his shirt over his head.

  And she had to put her hands on his bare chest. His skin was silky, but just underneath, he was all hardness and angles. She wanted to brush her fingers over every bit of it. She wanted to press her skin against his...

  And so she did. She kissed him, pushing her breasts against his chest. His bare arms came around her. She was encased in soft, silky warmth. Skin on skin. She panted against his mouth, still touching him, gliding her fingers over the muscles in his back, over his rib cage. He was glorious.

  Keirth was tugging on her jumpsuit, trying to push it the rest of the way off. She put her hands on the place where his trousers fastened and undid the clasp.

  Keirth peeled the jumpsuit further over her hips.

  She eased his trousers down a little.

  Keirth tried to help her by lifting his hips up, but it didn’t really work. They both started laughing.

  Keirth kissed her again, sliding his hands over her.

  It made her gasp. She kissed him again, and that was distracting for a little bit. But then Keirth pulled away. “I want to take this jumpsuit off you. Can we do that?”

  She laughed. “Okay.” She lay on her back, and Keirth knelt over her, pulling it over her legs. His trousers were sliding down, but his erection was holding them up. She reached up and tugged them out of the way.

  Keirth looked down at himself. He was in the middle of pulling one of legs of her jumpsuit off. She was one leg in and one leg out. He looked back up at her.

  “I wanted to see it,” she said. And now that she had, she was completely mesmerized. She’d gotten a general idea of it when she was stroking it earlier, but it was much more detailed than she’d thought. She sat up to explore it further, rubbing her forefinger over
its ridges and planes before wrapping her hand around it again to stroke it the way she’d been doing before.

  Keirth groaned and seized her wrist. “Ariana, you are going to make me come before I even get inside you.”

  She let go. “Is that a bad thing?”

  He yanked the leg of her jumpsuit off. “There are things I want to see too, you know?” And he eased her legs apart, one hand inching its way up her thigh.

  She gulped. That felt nice. His fingers brushed her between her legs, and it was intense and sweet, too good. She lay under his exploring fingers for a little bit, her legs opening wider and wider for him. But eventually, she was guiding his hand the way he’d guided hers, moving his fingers higher, so that he was rubbing her in exactly the right spot. And she lay there, squirming under his touch, crying out at the sheer joy of it.

  That especially could have gone on for eternities. Ariana knew that if that particular spot was handled for long enough, she’d experience this kind of amazing burst all through her body. It was a sort of shameful thing she’d discovered that she’d never really shared with anyone. And she figured that if Keirth did it, it would feel even more amazing than if she did it herself. But Keirth stopped before it happened.

  He lay the length of his body over hers, propping himself up on his elbows, and he kissed her. She lost herself in his kisses, feeling him press against her between her legs, urgently. Of course. It was going to be that. That was what Risciter had done after all. But only for a second—only a second. And she hadn’t felt like she did right now, bursting with pleasure, relaxed and open, ready for it.

  Still, when she felt Keirth push into her, she bit her lip hard, a little frightened.

  Risciter had ripped into her.

  Keirth slid.

  And once he was there, all the way in, he kissed her again. He murmured her name against her lips. She forgot all about Risciter. Keirth was all she could think about. Keirth was over her and in her, touching her, and she was lost in it. She clutched him to her, and outside their ship hurtled through hyperspace, colors streaming past it madly.

  * * *

  Keirth wrapped his arms around Ariana, feeling warm and drowsy. He wasn’t sure why he’d held back for so long. It wasn’t exploitive. He hadn’t hurt her. He wasn’t a bad man. It had been about the two of them together, not simply about him. The way she was gazing adoringly at him was proof enough of that. He kissed her forehead.

  “See?” she whispered. “Nothing to be nervous about after all.”

  He had to chuckle. His eyes felt heavy. He closed them, pulling her against his body. It made sense, he supposed, why men would pay for this. But he didn’t think it could possibly be this nice if he thought the woman was only in it for money. The way they felt together, the fact that they’d been joined completely, it was like they’d been melded together for a period of time. And Keirth thought that, instead of the pleasure of orgasm, was what made it so powerful. Being part of someone else, someone else being part of him. His thoughts began to fray at the edges as sleep claimed him. He didn’t resist it. Everything was perfect.

  Ariana was shaking him gently. “Are you asleep?”

  “Not anymore,” he muttered. He opened his eyes.

  “I think we’re going to come out of hyperspace in a little bit,” she said.

  “No way,” he said. “I only closed my eyes for a second.”

  “No, you didn’t,” she said. “Because I’ve been lying here next to you for at least an hour. I might have fallen asleep too.”

  Keirth rubbed his face. Great. So he’d slept for a while. And sure enough, the ship started beeping to let him know that they’d be exiting hyperspace in a half hour. Keirth jumped out of bed and pulled his trousers on. “Stay here,” he told Ariana. He ran to the bridge, turned off the alarm, and checked to make sure everything was in order. Then he climbed back into bed with Ariana, who was propped up on the only pillow in the bed.

  “You gonna share that?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “Not sure.”

  He put his head on her shoulder instead. She wrapped her arm around him. Now he was pillowed on her breast. Nice. He couldn’t resist lifting his head to put his mouth on her nipple again for a second.

  She squealed.

  He rested his head on her breast again. “We should get married.”

  Ariana laughed. “Is this a proposal, Keirth, because I feel like they usually involve asking questions.”

  “Do you want to get married?”

  “Keirth...”

  He repositioned himself so that he was facing her, propped up with one arm. He kissed her. “Seriously. We’ll have new names, and we’ll be legitimate, and we’re going to travel the galaxy together. Doesn’t it make sense to get married?”

  She was grinning. “I guess so.”

  “Is that a yes?” he asked. “Because usually they sound more certain.”

  “It’s just backwards is all. I think people usually meet, fall in love, get married, have sex, and then maybe they save each other’s lives. But we’ve got it all jumbled.”

  “Would it make you feel better if I got down on one knee?”

  She laughed again. “No.” She kissed him. “Yes.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Feeling confused?”

  “I mean, yes, I’ll marry you, you idiot.”

  “Good.” And they were kissing again, and she was naked against him, and Keirth let his hands sweep searchingly over her glorious skin. If they weren’t going to be out of hyperspace soon, he’d... He forced himself to pull away.

  “I would like a ring, though, I think,” said Ariana. “I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter—”

  “Of course it matters,” said Keirth. “After all, I have to make sure other men know you’re spoken for.”

  She smiled at him, running her hands over his chest. “We couldn’t have that, now could we?”

  For a man who’d been pretty sure his life would be over after he completed his revenge, things were certainly looking up. He thought that with Ariana with him, he couldn’t possibly be happier. “You and me,” he whispered. “Together, traveling wherever we want, seeing the universe.”

  “It sounds perfect,” she said.

  And it was perfect. There was nothing more perfect than the two of them together in their narrow bed on the ship as it streamed through space. Nothing. But eventually, they had to get up and get dressed. There were guns to be sold.

  * * *

  “Sorry about the visual,” said a voice filtering through the ship’s comm in the bridge. “We’ve got a bit of a malfunction here. Hasn’t worked in a week.”

  “That’s fine,” Keirth said. They’d just come out of hyperspace near the planet Eron. Once in regular space, Keirth had made contact with the people they were smuggling the guns to. “Just send me some coordinates and we’ll touch down and get this show on the road.” The people he was working with were touchy, apparently. They hadn’t wanted to give their exact location to Itrick Monthow because they were paranoid. Instead, they’d indicated that Keirth would need to contact them once he was in system. Keirth wasn’t sure if this was standard practice or not.

  “Transmitting now,” said the voice.

  Keirth checked his console. “Yep. Got it. See you planetside.” He plugged the coordinates into the ship and told Ariana to strap in. Going back into an atmosphere was usually a little bit bumpy.

  He didn’t have trouble landing the ship. There was a nice big field to set her down in. Once they’d landed and powered down, he and Ariana went to the cargo bay. “They’ll probably meet us down here,” he told her, opening the hatch so it would be easier to unload the gun crates. He wanted to reach over and grab her hand, or pull her close, but he didn’t think it was a great idea for them to look like lovestruck idiots in front of the men who were buying guns, so he squelched the desire.

  The hatch opened. Keirth peered out to see if anyone was there. He didn’t see—

  A man appeared from
around the side of the ship. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit. He had a blaster trained on Keirth.

  Keirth backed away from him, hands up. They were going to get robbed? This was great. They’d never get the money or their identities now. That is, if these guys even left them alive. They might decide to kill Keirth and Ariana, so as not to leave loose ends.

  There was another man behind the first, similarly dressed, also holding a blaster. As Keirth watched, more poured in. He kept backing up, glancing for Ariana. He wanted to tell her to run. He wanted to do anything to save her.

  And that was when he noticed the lettering on the black jumpsuits. Intergalactic Police. Keirth’s heart sank.

  “Keirth Transman,” said the first man with a blaster, “you are under arrest.”

  The visual. No wonder they hadn’t used a visual. If he hadn’t been distracted by the fact he’d just been with Ariana, maybe he would have realized something was off about it. The whole thing had felt off, hadn’t it? Itrick Monthow must have sold them out. Probably he could make more money turning Keirth in than he could from selling guns.

  There were so many blasters trained on him, Keirth didn’t have a chance to make a move. Someone was behind him, fastening cuffs on his wrists.

  Ariana charged forward in a blur. Keirth only caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye. She lunged at the man cuffing Keirth, knocking him to the ground. She was screaming, “No, no, no!”

  “Ariana,” he yelled. “Stop it.”

  But another man was pulling her off the first man. “You hold still, or we’ll cuff you too, little lady.”

  Keirth caught her gaze with his own. “Don’t,” he said.

  She stared at him, agony all over her face. She was crying.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ariana had struggled and cursed and fought so hard that they’d stuck her with a needle at some point, and she’d lost consciousness. She didn’t know where they’d taken Keirth. One of the men had recognized her during the arrest and made sure she wasn’t cuffed or arrested. She heard words like “victim” being thrown around. No matter how hard she’d screamed or what she’d tried to tell these men, it hadn’t mattered.