by Bianca D'Arc
“She’s blue,” Jeri observed rather simply as he held her against him, watching the stars. “I’ve never met anyone who was not some shade of cream or brown before. Is everyone on Liata blue-skinned?”
Micah chuckled and squeezed her closer. “Yes, varying shades of blue, but every last one of them is blue. Something to do with their sun, I think. Wait ’til you see the colors of their clothing. They seem to enjoy bright hues that almost hurt the eyes.”
“I like blue,” she said, indicating the mostly blue furnishings of his compartment.
“I’m glad.” His smile warmed her insides as he pulled her toward the console that controlled most of the room’s functions. “Let me show you around. There’s the bathing and reclamation chamber,” he pointed to a small cubicle next to the door. The cubicle next to that was a wardrobe that contained his clothing. She was shocked to realize that he had more clothes in this small wardrobe than she had owned in her entire life.
“You can move my stuff over to make space for your things. I’m not picky.” His offhanded acceptance of her presence in his personal space would take some getting used to. She’d always been solitary since her family’s murder and it would be hard for her to adjust, but beggars couldn’t be choosy, or so she had always thought.
“I have little to disturb your peace,” she said softly, her gaze downcast in embarrassment.
But his hand cupped her chin, bringing her flushed cheeks and sad eyes up for his inspection. “You disturb me in many ways, Jeri. All of them good.” He kissed her sweetly, doing away with her embarrassment and easily turning her mind to other things. “I know you didn’t take much with you. I’ll do my best to remedy that, I assure you.”
Pride made her chin rise further. “I don’t want charity, Micah. I’ll make do with what I have and earn what I need.”
Micah pushed a button on the console and the bed emerged from the wall, folding down and out, taking up much of the space in the cabin. He plopped down to sit on the edge, regarding her with almost tired eyes.
“I understand your desire to make your own way, Jeri. I even admire you for it. And I’ll make this deal with you—you may participate as a member of my crew in whatever way you feel you can contribute. For that you’ll earn a wage, like the rest of my crewmembers. It’s yours to do with as you wish.” He sighed as he leaned back, his eyes serious. “But I’m a wealthy man. I enjoy giving gifts to my friends and companions. Ask anyone on board. They’ll tell you the truth of it. If you share my bed—hells, even if you don’t—I will no doubt want to give you things. But I never want you to feel as if you must repay me for anything I may give you. I’ve never had to pay for sex, and I won’t start now.” His voice grew harsh as he spelled out his thoughts in unequivocal language. “If you stay here in my cabin, you stay of your own will and not out of some kind of perverse sense of obligation.”
She realized that she’d somehow insulted him and she wanted to make amends, but at the same time she was relieved to understand more about how he wanted to proceed. It was obvious to her that their relationship, or whatever it was they had, was very uneven. She was a refugee with few possessions and even fewer credits while he was a powerful starship captain with comparatively great wealth. If she’d known this about him before she left Pantur, she wasn’t entirely certain she would have been brave enough to do so.
She sat gently on the edge of the bed beside him, meeting his gaze with great seriousness. “Since you have set my mind at ease,” she began hesitantly, “let me do the same for you.” She folded her hands in her lap demurely to stop their trembling, but he probably saw it. “I have never whored myself, and I never will. Not even for you.” Her blunt words surprised him she was glad to see. “I am not always comfortable accepting gifts. I have more than my share of pride and I do not want to be a kept woman. I want to contribute, though I will readily admit I have few skills that might be of use to you. I’ve only been on one starship before in my life and that time I was a stowaway.”
He laughed softly as he took her hands in his. “That is a tale I would like to hear. For now, sweetheart, I am just glad to have the air clear between us. I’ll try to comply with your wishes, but I will give you things when it pleases me.” He trailed his fingers over the jeweled collar on her throat, tracing it down between her breasts. “Resign yourself to it.”
Her body shivered as he used one finger to trace gently along the gossamer strand of sparkling stones set about her neck. He followed the tails of the necklace downward, between her breasts and her gaze shot up to his.
“Do you want this, Jeri? Do you want me?” His deep voice sent shock waves through her system. She nodded mutely as he began to undo the lacings of her shirt. “Be very certain,” he said, stopping suddenly, with the loose laces held tightly in both hands. “I want you with me.” His eyes held something in their depths she had never encountered before. “I want you to be mine. For now. And perhaps for a long time to come.” He pulled her forward, resting his forehead against hers. “Tell me if you do not want me, and I will find the strength to let you go. I’ll give you your own cabin and leave you alone. It might kill me, but I’ll do it. But tell me now, Jeri. For once I have you in this bed—my bed—I’ll want to keep you here for a very long time.”
He drew back to look into her eyes. There really was no decision to be made. She’d already made up her mind to take what he offered—transport off Pantur, training for her rogue Talent, and the incredible ecstasy he had shown her last night. They were mixed together in her mind, part of this one amazing man who had stormed into her life and turned it completely upside down. She didn’t want to be with him, on his ship, without being his lover. She would never have left Pantur had she not wanted to share and repeat the pleasure she’d known the night before. She wanted him and she dreaded thinking of a time in the future, whether it was a week or a year ahead, that he didn’t want her in return.
She would cross that bridge when she came to it. For now, she would enjoy him for as long as she could have him. If there was one thing she had learned, it was to appreciate the good things while they lasted, for something always came along to change things, and not usually for the better.
She hesitantly reached out with one hand and cupped his face, delighting in the tremor that ran through this strong man as she stroked him gently. She held his gaze with her own, knowing that he needed her unequivocal agreement on some basic level.
“I want to be your lover, Micah. For as long as you will have me.”
He groaned and swept forward, sealing her words with a long, lingering kiss that rocketed through her. He wasn’t the gentle, considerate lover of last night, but rather, a desperate, powerful male who needed his mate on some elemental level she hardly understood. But the fire in his caresses spurred her on and ignited a similar flame within her very soul.
He laid her back on the bed and rose over her, undressing her with record speed until she was naked beneath him. His own clothing was tugged and pulled until it came loose with a tear of ripping fabric. He didn’t seem to mind the destruction of his finery, only groaned when he could finally place his skin against her softness.
“I want to be inside you,” he whispered as he nuzzled her neck, biting down with enough force to make her yelp. He soothed the love bite with his tongue, sliding her up onto the bed as he straddled her legs and brought his chest to rub against her nipples. “I want to live inside you.”
He used one strong knee to separate her thighs, then spread them wide and pushed upwards. His hot, thick sex was pressed against her moist heat. Micah brought most of his weight down to blanket her small body, closeting her within the heat of him, bracketing her head with his arms. His head lowered and he kissed her deeply, stroking her with his whole body.
She felt overwhelmed and incredibly turned-on. Her few experiences with intimacy the night before had not prepared her for this saturation of the senses or the command he had over her responses. He mastered her without any real effor
t and she let him, reveling in his knowledge and control. She knew she would probably never let another man do what he did to her body or her mind, but she also knew that he was way out of her league.
She could have him for now, or perhaps for as long as their voyage lasted. She would enjoy every minute of it, she decided. She would store the memories of him against the future, for she believed she would never find the ecstasy he brought her with anyone else.
“Come inside me, Micah,” she pleaded with him as he bathed her in kisses, using his tongue in ways she’d never dreamed of. But he didn’t move inside.
She opened her eyes to find him smiling above her.
“We have plenty of time, sweetheart. I intend to make the best of it. For both of us.”
She raised her gaze in question, but he simply lowered his head, dragging his mouth down her neck and to the swell of her breasts. He nipped and licked and sucked his way to her sensitive nipples, bathing first one and then the other with his swirling tongue. He sucked hard enough to make her cry out in pleasure. Micah knew just how to touch her.
He raised his head to smile at her before he continued his downward journey, and she reached out to stroke her fingers through his hair. He kissed her belly, making a meal of her softness. After an endless, pleasure-filled time, he moved lower, separating the folds of her pussy with his wicked tongue as she gasped and grasped his head with desperate fingers.
He settled on his elbows between her splayed thighs, using his hands to spread them even farther as he feasted his eyes on her wet pussy. His bed was so large, they could both sprawl loosely over its surface. The crushed deep blue velvet of his bedspread stroked their skin erotically with each movement.
“Look at me, baby,” he said from his position between her thighs, his hands spreading her wide as his fingers stroked lightly along her folds. They dipped inside briefly to bring her moisture upward to the tight bud of her clit and then shockingly downward to rim the rosette of her ass. “I want you to know whose tongue is licking your sweet cream, whose fingers are buried in your hot channel. I want you to know who brings you pleasure, and I want you to scream my name when you come.”
“Micah,” she gasped when he lowered his head once more, licking one long line through her slit. He ended with a languorous circle of her responsive clit, spending long moments swirling his tongue through her soft folds. When she mewled in pleasure, he speared inside her, making her scream as she came hard against his tongue.
He licked at the salty sweetness, lapping up her cream as if it were a rare treat. After a few moments, he brought her to an even higher peak, sucking her clit between his lips and drawing on it with enough force to arch her back off the bed.
“Micah!” she shouted, and then she felt his smile of satisfaction against her softest tissues as he rumbled his approval.
The vibrations against her clit brought her to another peak, this one higher than those that had come before as shudders of completion racked her small body. He didn’t let her go. He rode her through the tremors of her climax and brought her still more.
He licked his way up her body, replacing his mouth on her pussy with one of his hands. Skilled fingers stroked deep inside, then down to poke lightly at her ass, making her gasp, increasing her tension.
“I will claim you here one day soon, sweetheart. But not today,” he whispered against her breast as his finger pushed slightly inside her opening. The sensations were oddly exciting, and they brought her arousal to a new height.
He kissed her lips and she tasted the odd saltiness of herself on him. She squirmed with pleasure as he lowered his weight onto her, surrounding her, engulfing her in his fiery heat.
“I’m making you mine,” he whispered, rising just enough to stare down into her eyes as he positioned his cock at her opening. “Can you feel us joining? Like we were never meant to exist apart.” He pushed a few inches inside, resting and pulling out only to push in again, wetter and hotter than before. “I am part of you, Jeri.” He stroked out and then in again, seating himself fully in her hot core. “You are mine.”
She sobbed as he sheathed himself fully, his body possessing hers as his eyes allowed her no escape. Everything she felt, everything she thought was there for him to see as he held her gaze with an almost hypnotic pull. She saw his desire, his passion and lust, as well as something more tender. She felt his need to possess and claim and was touched by his passionate words. In fact, his words alone were almost enough to bring her to climax yet again.
When he started his slow pulses inside her, she reached a peak so quickly she almost forgot to breathe. Through it all he kept steadily increasing his rhythm and strength, giving her as much as she could handle. Before long, he was pounding into her with a rhythm that made her scream. It was his name that she screamed as she came to the highest climax yet.
She felt him pulsing within her as he groaned heavily, spurting his seed in jetting waves. At length, he relaxed in slow increments, his muscles unclenching one by one as she stroked his skin. He surrendered to her embrace, collapsing onto her for a few glorious moments.
He rolled them to their sides but did not leave her body. He simply pulled her close, positioning one of her legs over his hip and settling her head on his shoulder. Nestled together, they drifted in a daze of completion, gazing into each other’s eyes and eventually sleeping softly.
Just before she dozed off, Jeri thought being in this huge bed of his had to be the most comfortable she’d ever felt in her life. It was a happy thought. Almost as happy as the thought of the man who even now rested within her. She smiled as she drifted into sleep.
It was at least two standards later that Micah finally showed Jeri to the bridge of the Circe, much to the delight of his grinning crew. Darak went so far as to snicker as he greeted his captain and turned over the command position to him.
Jeri couldn’t help the scarlet flush that heated her cheeks. She hadn’t ever been in the situation before where everyone obviously knew she’d just been having hot, steamy sex with their captain. She’d avoided just such situations since she’d fled her homeworld and made a cold place for herself within the Hill Tribes’ only slightly more reserved culture.
Her own homeworld’s customs regarding sex had been much stricter. The priests taught abstinence until marriage and then sex only as duty, not to be discussed except between man and wife and then only quietly. She’d just been coming into her teens when her family had been killed. Reaching puberty had brought about the maturation of her Talent as well as her desire to know more of the opposite sex. The Wizards’ arrival and brutal slaughter of her parents had destroyed any semblance of a normal life, and she’d left thoughts of boys behind as she hid and then later fled for her very life.
“If you’re through grinning like a fool, may I have your report?” Micah stepped up to Darak and held his hand out for the datapad his XO held. The smirk never left Darak’s face as he looked from Micah to the small woman standing uncomfortably behind him.
Micah took the datapad with a lingering look meant to caution the often brash warrior. He scanned the pad, then handed it back.
“I hope you’ve found everything to your liking so far, milady.” Darak leered comically at Jeri over his captain’s shoulder. She nodded, blushing once more as he chuckled, and Micah sent him a quelling glance.
“Ignore him, sweetheart. It’s what I do when he gets like this.” Micah put one hand on the small of her back to guide her around the bridge.
It seemed the entire crew had assembled to meet her. The state-of-the-art ship required only a few people to man her, and they were all there, watching Jeri with varying degrees of amusement and interest.
Micah escorted her to the line of computers along the starboard wall and the tall, sandy-haired man sitting before them. He rose as they approached, leaving his work for a moment to formally greet her. She saw sparkling intellect behind his pale eyes and an otherworldly cast that was somehow as comforting as it was eerie.
“This is Specitar Agnor,” Micah said softly though the titles meant little to her. Still, the reverence with which he spoke the honorific indicated this was a man he held in deep respect. She bowed her head briefly as she’d been taught back home but was surprised when the other man smiled widely and reached out to take her hand in his, moving close.
“I look forward to working with you, dama,” the tall man said with a deceptively gentle voice as he drew closer and kissed her lips once, sweetly. Jeri was overwhelmed by the gesture, which was so different than any custom she had seen on her homeworld or even among the freewheeling Hill Tribes.
“Agnor runs comms for the Circe as well as diagnostics and scientific studies. He will be working with you on testing your Talent and to what path it will lead you.”
Jeri jerked her attention to Micah as he spoke, questions running through her mind that she didn’t dare voice yet, lest she look stupid in front of these sophisticated beings. She was feeling very much the backwater hick at the moment, though the pale man’s sparkling eyes made her feel a little better, as did Micah’s supportive hand at the small of her back.
“I’m pleased to meet you, sir.” She squeezed his hand as he smiled and then released her, letting the captain maneuver her to continue the introductions.
He brought her to a small glowing table on which several displays were layered. A woman stood before them, making some sort of calculations, but she straightened and smiled at them as they neared.
“Seta,” he said softly, smiling at the gorgeous woman, “this is Jeri. Jeri, Seta is our navigator.”
The woman stepped around the table and took Jeri’s hand much as Agnor had. She also leaned close to kiss her lips, but where Agnor’s lips had been cool and dry, hers were plump and moist. Jeri had never been kissed this way by a woman, and it was oddly enchanting. But what was more disturbing were the clothes this woman was wearing. Or perhaps not wearing would be a better description.