Calder

by Allyson James

  He stared at her in amazement. “Hurt my feelings? Sweetie, you are the strangest lady I’ve ever met. You’re not supposed to worry about a Shareem’s feelings.”

  “So everyone keeps telling me.”

  Braden shook his head, chuckling, his tension suddenly gone. “I have to see this. He’ll kill me, but…”

  He slid off the stool, crumpled the coffee cup and tossed it at a passing garbage bot. The bot’s metal claw caught the cup and snaked it back into its body.

  “I’ll take you to Calder’s place and I’ll get you into the same room with him. After that, it’s up to him whether to talk or throw your ass out.”

  Katarina exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”

  “If he doesn’t cooperate, you’ll consider my offer, right? You’re adorable. We could tear up this town.”

  Katarina dragged Braden down to her and kissed his cheek. The connection of her lips with his skin sent another river of warmth through her, but it was nothing compared to the volcano Calder had given her.

  “I’ll consider it,” she said with a smile.

  “Gods give me luck.”

  He gave Katarina’s backside a Shareem swat, winked at the outraged patrollers and led Katarina back to Barkelo Street.

  Chapter Five

  Calder sensed something wrong as soon as he stepped into the cool whiteness of his living quarters. The air felt charged, fresher, as though an ionizer had changed the stale molecules.

  He set down the box of supplies he’d gone out to buy, unwound the sun-blocking cloths from his face, and tossed his robes and breath mask to their hooks. Stripping off his gloves, he strode into his front room and stopped.

  “Hell,” he said.

  Braden lounged on Calder’s square sofa, his leather-clad legs propped on the table. He’d folded his brawny arms behind his head and a spill of black hair fell over his shoulder to his lap.

  “Nice to see you too.”

  Braden was the closest thing Calder had to a friend, but Calder was not in the mood for Braden’s sense of humor right now.

  Braden maintained a casual approach to life and didn’t care who didn’t like it. He thought Calder too anal and Calder thought Braden too careless. Usually they got along fine.

  “I knew I should have changed the locks,” Calder growled. “I have a client coming. Whatever it is, make it quick.”

  “She’s not coming.”

  Calder halted in the act of going back for his supplies. His leather-clad body creaked as he turned around. “What do you mean? How do you know?”

  “I found her in your computer. I sent her a message that said you’d been delayed and will call her later.”

  Calder’s rage warred with relief. The client was a woman from Delta-Terra, a high-handed bitch who’d sent him messages specifying what she expected him to do to her. Women sometimes tried to command him—and then Calder taught them that their dictates didn’t mean shit. It was one more way he turned their power against them.

  He hadn’t really wanted to see the woman today, but then again he did, to expunge what had happened yesterday with Katarina. A good hunt, followed by a good fuck, and he’d be all right again.

  He swung toward his terminal but Braden’s next words stopped him.

  “I brought someone else to see you.”

  The door to his kitchen slid open, and Katarina d’Arnal, dressed in a soft silk tunic and pants, with no face veil, paused on the threshold. She regarded him in trepidation, as though she wasn’t sure Braden’s idea of bringing her had been a good one.

  She was right about that.

  Calder watched her give him a once-over, taking in his black clothes and his naked face. His cock was already hardening as those beautiful brown eyes roved over his body. He never covered his face when he was alone, so she saw his scars in all their glory.

  He glared at Braden. “Take her out.”

  Katarina took a step forward. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Book an appointment. Don’t ask my friends to sneak you into my house.”

  “At least talk to her,” Braden said, bringing his feet to the floor. “What will it hurt?”

  Braden, the idiot, couldn’t know how it would hurt. Usually Calder didn’t care about a woman’s fascination with The Beast, but with Katarina he did. She’d want what they all wanted—to touch him and lick him, have him pretend to overpower her.

  “Then talk,” he said tightly to Katarina.

  Katarina wet her lips, making them luscious and red. “I still need to scan you.”

  Calder stared. Of all the things she could have said, he wasn’t expecting that. “You thumbprinted the exam. It’s finished.”

  “Because you forced me.”

  Braden’s black brows rose. “He forced you?”

  “He grabbed my thumb and pressed it on the handheld.”

  “Calder, you shithead.”

  “I don’t need to be scanned,” Calder said. “You already have records of my body. It hasn’t changed.”

  “But those aren’t the rules.”

  “Fuck the rules.”

  Damn it, his control was slipping—again. What did this woman do to him?

  “If I reported you—”

  Calder was across the room, pinning her to the doorframe before she could complete the sentence.

  “Are you threatening me?” he growled.

  “I’m saying that if someone found out, if they’d seen you do that, you could get into trouble.”

  Braden returned his booted feet to the table. “She has a point.”

  Calder released her. She smelled too good when he stood close to her. His cock danced.

  “What do you want, Katarina?”

  “I told you. To scan you.”

  “And if I don’t want you running your wand over my naked body?” Gods, I shouldn’t have put it like that. “Will you report what I did to you in my pleasure rooms?”

  She reddened. “No.”

  Calder remembered how pink her other cheeks had gotten when he’d spanked her. He’d wanted to get her ready to take him in her ass, something that would be as unfamiliar to her as flapping her arms and flying.

  He’d known Katarina had never been fucked, not properly fucked in her pussy. A highborn woman got her hymen removed at a clinic when she came of age. Women made a big deal about it, pretending that losing the hymen taught them all the mysteries of womanhood. They forsook sweet cock-in-pussy fucking so they could study philosophy and learn how to create children without touching a male.

  “Then what will you do?” he asked.

  “Nothing.” She folded her arms, which pushed her breasts into luscious mounds. “I’ll scan you privately and enter the data. After that, no one can accuse you of breaking the rules.”

  She was serious. Her pretty eyes regarded him worriedly.

  Calder leaned over her. He liked the way her breath smelled, spicy and sweet. He wanted to put his tongue in her mouth.

  “No,” he said.

  “I know your body has been burned. I don’t mind seeing that.”

  Old rage boiled up inside him, the rage that had kept him alive when the scientists in the lab thought he was a write-off. “But I mind.”

  “I’m not trying to humiliate you.”

  Calder straightened up. “Braden take her home.”

  Braden grinned from the sofa and didn’t move. “Nah. She’s right. How come I have to get scanned and you don’t?”

  “What you do when you go to the clinic is your business,” Calder said.

  “I think you’re missing a fine opportunity here, my friend. Maybe you two can strike a bargain.”

  Calder looked back at Katarina. She stood still, folded arms shutting him out.

  But he felt her pheromones, double-strength almost, her wanting pouring from her. His own body couldn’t help reacting. He wanted to rub his cock against her, first on her pussy then her bare ass.

  Straddle me, he’d say. Ride me, sweetheart.


  Braden was here, but Calder didn’t mind him watching. Having Braden’s hungry eyes on her might turn Katarina on.

  He let his voice grow dangerous. “You’re right, Braden.”

  Katarina looked at them nervously. “What are you talking about?”

  “What kind of bargain can I make with her?” Calder asked, looking at Katarina. “What do you think, Braden?”

  “I think if you don’t want her, I’ll take her.”

  Katarina broke in. “Would you two please not talk about me like I’m not here?”

  “Ooo,” Braden chuckled. “She has a temper too.”

  Katarina stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Bring that over here, baby. I have a few things you can lick.” Braden smiled as he spoke, the blue of his eyes getting wider every second. His cock showed hard at his crotch, and he unashamedly adjusted it under the leather.

  “Not without my permission.” The tug of possessiveness surprised Calder, but no way would he let Braden simply have her.

  Braden switched his gaze to Calder. “I like that idea. Will you order her to pleasure me? Pretty please?”

  Calder sensed Katarina’s heightening pheromones, could taste them on the air. Braden turned her on, did he? Calder wasn’t sure whether the twinge in his heart was jealousy or excitement.

  He put his hands on Katarina’s shoulders and leaned toward her. Her lovely scent made it hard for him to remember how to speak. “You agree to do what I tell you now and I’ll submit to your scan.”

  “For how long am I agreeing to do what you tell me?”

  For the rest of my life.

  “For the afternoon.”

  “And then you’ll come back to the clinic for your scan?”

  “Yes.” Fuck that. By the time he was done with Dr. Katarina d’Arnal, her thoughts would be far from her clinic. He’d finish what he should have yesterday and she’d never want to see him again.

  He had no idea why his heart constricted in that annoying way when he thought of never seeing her again.

  “All right.” Katarina drew a breath that pushed her breasts toward him. “I agree.”

  Calder straightened up. His heart pounded. “Go on then. Pleasure Braden. Suck his cock for me.”

  Katarina stared, mouth open, her body temperature climbing. “But—”

  “Do it,” he said. “I want you to.”

  Braden closed his fist. “Yesss!” He started unhooking his leggings. “The carpet’s soft. We’re good.”

  Katarina moved to him woodenly and Calder watched, holding his breath. Would she do it? Would she and Braden get so turned-on by each other that they’d go away and leave him alone? Then he wouldn’t have to think about her anymore.

  No, came a voice in his head. Mine.

  Braden paused, his hand on his fly. “You want to do this?” he asked Katarina. “Make sure. I have to have your permission, like I told you. If you say no… I’ll probably die right here, but hey, no pressure.”

  “What about Calder? Do I have to give him permission?”

  “You signed the consent forms,” Calder reminded her.

  “I didn’t. Someone forged my print.”

  Braden laughed. At least someone thought all this was funny.

  Calder strode to his terminal, loaded a blank form into his handheld and brought it to her. He slid his arm around her waist and thrust the handheld under her nose.

  “It’s all here. You agree to let me do to you anything I want, including telling you to pleasure Braden or a wooden pole or whatever I think of. You agree to obey me and accept whatever punishment I dish out if you disobey. In return I’ll visit the clinic.” He leaned closer. “Yesterday, I decided to be nice to you because you’re cute. Today, I’ve changed my mind.”

  Braden uttered a small moan. He thrust his hand down his half-open leggings. “Hurry up. You’re killing me.”

  “Decide,” Calder said, ignoring him. “Go and never seek me out again, or stay and I do whatever I want.”

  She turned her head, her hair brushing his nose. “I want to stay.”

  “Thank the gods,” Braden breathed.

  “Good.” The word brushed Calder’s lips against hers but he did not kiss her. He held up the form. “Thumbprint.”

  Katarina raised a shaking hand and pressed her thumb to the lighted pad.

  Chapter Six

  Katarina couldn’t believe she was doing this. She watched Braden hurriedly pull open his leggings as Calder tossed the handheld aside.

  Calder lowered her to her knees. As he had yesterday, he didn’t exactly push her, but his grip loosened her legs until she glided down where he wanted her. He dropped to one knee next to her, thigh planted firmly behind her back.

  Braden sighed with relief as his cock sprang out, hard and needy. It was dark red, the engorged tip almost purple.

  “Take it in your hand,” Calder said. “Get to know it. He doesn’t mind.”

  Braden spread his arms over the back of the couch and parted his legs. “Nope. Don’t mind in the least.”

  Katarina reached out a shaking hand. Again she reflected that she’d seen plenty of holo images of penises in her medical studies, could name all the parts, inside and out. But that had been theory only.

  Braden’s swollen cock was no theory. Calder’s breath brushed Katarina’s neck as she touched Braden’s tip.

  “Gods,” Braden groaned. “Don’t let me come too soon.”

  “Did you hear him?” Calder asked in her ear. “Don’t let him come too soon, or I will have to punish you.”

  Katrina nodded. She’d never been so aware of feelings—the silk of her own hair on her neck, the heat of Calder’s breath, the soft rug beneath her knees, the blood pounding through the cock under her hand.

  “Hold on to it,” Calder ordered. “Squeeze it in your fist.”

  She gripped tentatively. The cock head moved upward and Braden’s skin tightened around it. Braden closed his eyes, making a sound of pleasure.

  “Stroke it,” Calder said.

  Katarina’s hand moved all the way down to Braden’s scrotum then back up the length to his tip. And again.

  “Stroke his balls.” Calder touched the soft ringlets against her neck. “Put your finger around them, like this.” He held up his forefinger and thumb, making a ring.

  Katarina moved her hand down to Braden’s scrotum and tried to do as Calder instructed, but her fingers were clumsy. Calder moved her hand into the right position, making her ring Braden’s balls with finger and thumb.

  Braden’s eyes were half closed, his cheekbones flushed. He kept his arms stretched across the back of the sofa but watched Katarina intently. He was having the time of his life.

  Fuck Braden. Calder wanted her, of course he did, what man wouldn’t? But he wasn’t about to rip open his fly and beg her to rub her hands and tongue all over him. No matter how much he wanted to.

  That’s not what Calder did. He controlled the situation and let the lady have only what he wanted to give her.

  “I’m going to come,” Braden said. “Damn it, I don’t want to, not yet.”

  “Don’t let him come,” Calder growled.

  “How do I stop it?”

  Braden moved his large hand to the base of his scrotum. “Hold me here. Pinch it.”

  Katarina kept the ring of her thumb and finger on Braden’s testicle and used her other hand to pinch where Braden showed her. His cock stood up on its own, so tight it must hurt him.

  Calder’s own cock pounded, but he didn’t dare touch himself. He knew he’d squirt all over inside his clothes if he did, and damned if he would let her know that.

  “Lick it,” Calder said, continuing to finger Katarina’s warm brown hair. “Lick his head, suck it into your mouth. Taste it.”

  “Gods, you’re evil,” Braden said.

  But Braden made no objection as Katarina, moving hesitantly, leaned down and curled her mouth around the head of his cock.

  Calder rubbed his erection
against Katarina’s body, sucking in a breath at the wild tingle the action generated.

  “What does he taste like?” he asked her.

  Katarina looked at him, her hands still firm on Braden’s balls. “Smooth. Kind of sharp at the same time.”

  “Bite it. A little nibble, around the flange.”

  Katarina moved her head back down, sucking the head between her lips. Braden brought one hand down to stroke her hair, eyes closed. He swayed on the couch, murmuring, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  Suddenly Calder couldn’t take it anymore. He was as Shareem as Braden, which meant he was as desperate. He had to either stroke himself off or have her do it for him, didn’t matter, he needed release now.

  He made himself calmly unfasten his leggings. No ripping them open, no thrusting them down and begging for her.

  Calder had designed his clothes so that his cock alone could be released but his scarred thighs would remain hidden. He pulled the leggings open.

  “Suck this one too.”

  Katarina flushed then she leaned down and closed her wet mouth over his cock.

  Mistake. Katarina traced Calder’s flange with her tongue, sucking and biting the head as he’d ordered her to do to Braden. He was amazed Braden’s come wasn’t all over her by now. The man had more control than Calder thought.

  “Slowly,” he growled. “Make it last for me.”

  Katarina toned down the suckling but the slow tasting didn’t make Calder any less needy.

  “Hey,” Braden said petulantly, eyes opening a slit. “What about my needs?”

  “Suck him too.” Calder edged toward him so she wouldn’t have to turn as far. “Suck both of us.”

  Katarina took Braden’s cock into her mouth again, cheeks moving as she sucked. She released Braden’s cock and did the same to Calder.

  Gods, who was in control here? Calder and Braden, getting more and more turned-on every second, their Shareem blood pounding fire-hot…or the lovely wench licking and sucking two Shareem cocks?

  Braden clutched the back of the couch, hips rocking, jaw clenched. Calder couldn’t come before Braden did. Braden would never let him hear the end of it. Calder was the one with rock-hard control, right?