by Mima
The captain laughed softly. “You like me, Becca. I can tell. There’s a spark between us. Aren’t you sick of this pickled asshole? Don’t you want some variety?”
“Don’t worry,” Leo cajoled. “I told him he’d have to suck you off and he said he’s better at clit than I am.”
“Oh!” Her face went scarlet with angry heat.
“Hey, now,” the captain sighed.
Again, Leo pulled her toward him, but she braced her hands on his chest and held herself off against the force he used.
“Will you just listen?” Leo whined.
“Will you just get your hands off me?”
“Fine.” He let her hair go and her entire scalp tingled with relief. “This isn’t an insult, babe. It’s a compliment.”
She ground her teeth together to keep from laughing.
“Becca,” the captain prodded. “Don’t be angry. Do you love him? Were you hoping for a commitment from Leo?”
She looked at him full on, incredulous.
Leo laughed his big, deep laugh.
“I expected to enjoy some companionship. But I’m not a whore. I don’t put out on demand, and I certainly won’t put out for his friends.”
The captain’s hazel eyes had never seemed so hypnotizing as they did here in his dark room. “I understand.” He jerked his chin at Leo. “Go home, Walters. I want to talk to Becca without your charming influence.”
Fuck that. Did he just discount her clear no? She stood. Leo stood much more slowly. Then the captain stood.
“Becca, I merely want to feel good. I want to share that. No strings, no expectations. Please calm down and talk with me.”
Her hands balled into fists against her thighs. Men. Angry words burned on her lips. You can buy feel-good sharing at the next port.
Her feet itched to storm out behind Leo, who was already moving to the door. Would she face repercussions for rebuffing the captain? It wouldn’t hurt to try to calm down and end this on a better note. Did she loosen her tongue with insulted pride, or would she stay put and talk to the captain without Leo’s smirking insinuations?
“I want you. I want to touch you and your tail and be touched. All night.” Becca decided she would commit to experiencing Gage. She knew she could trust him. “I’m up to facing down idiots, and I think there are more people, more bones, who don’t care about stuff like this than you think.”
Gage stared at her, his face closed. “You’re serious.”
Becca nodded. “I am. Why don’t we go for a walk on the viewing deck tonight when you get off?”
He rubbed his forehead. “This is crazy.”
She took small, slow steps up to him. Offering a shy smile, she looked up into his tense eyes. “I like you, Gage.”
“I hope you don’t regret this, because I want you enough to try.”
He wrapped her in a hug, and she closed her eyes, knowing she’d made the right decision.
She helped the kitchen crew clean up and continued to linger in the cafeteria that evening. Gage met her after work, with his quiet eyes and elegant black tail. They walked on the viewing deck amid a few hissed whispers, but most people ignored them. Then he took her back to his tiny room.
“Why is your room so small?” Becca asked as he handed her a glass of red juice.
“Because we need our own spaces, but the captain’s not going to give the rumpy cooks much room.” Gage sat in one of the small chairs at the built-in table.
The juice was sweet and thick in her throat. “So you can’t stay in a pod like I am?”
Gage grimaced. “When someone is in my space, I generally want to kill them or fuck them.”
Becca considered her glass. “You mean, like the attraction we had today during the planetswing.”
“I mean, like the attraction we had from the first moment we met.” He leaned over and touched her cheek, the first time he’d touched her since they’d met that evening. “I would never have invited you into my space if I didn’t like you already.”
He pulled her up and around the table and sat her in his lap. She took in a breath. His musky scent smelled wild and safe. From her perch on his thighs, she lowered her face down to his. They kissed, and she savored the juice on his tongue. His mouth wasn’t hesitant. He lazily and thoroughly explored every inch of her palate, toyed with her teeth, lapped at her lips. She returned the study, and soon they were both trading small moans and quick touches along throats and jaws.
“Why do you like me? Does my tail excite you?”
She nodded. “I like that you’re different. All my life I’ve wanted to be different, be part of a grand group built of different people.” She licked her lips and unsealed her uniform. “But I don’t think of your tail when you’re touching me. It’s about you being a strong man, solid in who you are, that excites me now.”
He took her flight suit down to her waist first and proceeded to gently mold her breasts into points, only to flatten them with a firm massage. When her moans deepened into groans, he abruptly stood her up. He poured the juice left in her cup into his, then tucked it into the heater across the aisle. Sitting her on the table, he took off his own flight suit to his waist and sat in the chair again. Then he just stared at her. She gripped the edge of the table and stared back, her breath coming faster, her breasts aching from her awareness of his gaze and the cold air after his warm touch. “Aren’t you going to do anything?”
“I am doing something. I’m making you wait.”
She licked her lips.
When the heater dinged, he stood and took out the juice. A sharper scent filled the air. Easing his arm around her shoulders, he supported her while he drew her down to lie on the table, but her head didn’t fit, and she had to strain her neck to hold it up. She watched him pour the warm juice onto her breasts. It had thickened into a syrup. When the last lingering dollop stretched and plopped onto her nipple, her head lost the battle and lolled back.
His arm pulled from beneath her shoulders and he tossed the cup to the floor. Bending at the waist, he engulfed one breast with his whole mouth. With his cheeks working hard at strong suction, his tongue lashed her nipples. Sensation exploded through her torso. His teeth closed around the whole upper tip of her breast. He sucked, slurping, only to push down and grab more with his lips again. As he drew up the rise of her over and over, she lifted her hips in time to the long strokes, while the blood pounded in her dangling head. Her hair swished below her, her back arching as she gripped his head in both hands and gasped.
It took forever for him to clean one breast to his satisfaction. With fantastic strength he pulled her upright and swung her so her back was against the wall. Everything swirled dizzily. He tore off his flight suit, kicking it aside, and stroked his rigid length before her. She cried out with wild need, clutching at the edge of the table, and watched as his hand pumped, pulling the skin tight, making the head of him swell while his balls swayed.
Without warning, his hand flashed out to cup her breast. His other hand scooped behind her still wobbly neck. His palms burned with an extra warmth from the friction he’d used on himself. Clenching her breast high in a tight grip, he pushed her head down toward the flushed, swollen nipple. Straining forward, she opened her lips to taste herself.
She kept her eyes on him as she opened her mouth and flicked her tongue across her own tangy-tart tip. His lips lifted off his teeth, dark eyes narrowing. She licked herself clean, her other breast still throbbing from his attentions. When the syrup was gone, he pulled her into his arms and triggered the slide-away bed.
As it filled the width of the narrow room, heading toward her, he lifted her up onto the bunk, then jumped up beside her and pulled her fully onto the mattress. He moved to his knees and pulled her flight suit off her hips. Her shoulders swayed against the soft, male-musky blankets. The enclosed narrow bunk echoed their heavy breathing back
.
The smell of her soaked lips hit the air and made them both groan deep. He pushed one of her legs up against the wall, spreading her hips wide, and lowered his face over her core. Watching Gage inhale her private scent was one of the most erotic things she’d ever known, and he never even touched her. Crying out, she arched her hips up, offering herself.
He looked up at her from between her legs and growled. His tail lashed in the dim light, and as he prowled forward up her body, her skin sizzled with expectation.
“Touch me,” she urged breathlessly. “Fuck me. Take me.”
His nose wrinkled, giving him a feral look that made her shiver. Ever so softly, he settled between her legs. His hips swung subtly until his erection found her valley, and then, very gently, he bobbed the head of himself against her. Her thighs clamped on his hips, and her hands clamped on his shoulders, but he took up a faint rocking motion and eased himself bit by bit inside her. By the time he was lodged deep she was drumming her heels against his solid ass.
“Touch my tail.”
Struggling to focus on him, she reached farther down his back and encountered the muscular, flowing fur. She held him loosely, his fur flickering through her fingers. She gasped, clamping on him inside. It felt like a furred rope, only alive. She stroked one hand up over the fluffy end of him, and his eyes slitted.
“I don’t want to come first. Let go.”
She did, instantly, shocked by the strength of the pull when his tail lashed with irritation. Slowly, he eased back out of her. When his tip rested on the verge of her body, he balanced on one arm and reached his other hand down her belly. His fingers swirled into her private folds.
“You’ve got an open heart, Becca.” His fingertips danced over her clit, plucking.
Her body jerked. Her belly locked. Her thighs strained as he flicked nails and knuckles around the tiny mound of needy flesh.
“Look at me.”
His order focused her dizzy gaze onto those green eyes. His stare was bestial, hot and primal, his teeth bared. He was not the same sort of human she knew. Becca’s adrenaline spiked with every pumping grind of his touch.
“Pretty blonde sweet woman.” His words growled into the hot, ripe scent of her juices, mixed with the sloppy sounds of his touch. Her hips arched higher, reaching for his otherness.
With one steady press of his fingertip, she came. It was light, and singing tension, her body taut and straining, glowing.
When she could breathe a bit more steadily he brushed his lips over her cheek to whisper in her ear. “That was for you. This is for me.”
He pulled away and flipped her to her belly with a twist of her hips. Another yank, and she was on her knees, ass in the air. He pried her cheeks open and then punched deep into her softened secret places with one grunt. She screamed, but he didn’t even pause. He pumped in her deep, slamming his hips against her ass in a brutal pace that tossed her breasts beneath her and drove the air from her stunned lungs.
Sometimes he’d press on her shoulders, leaning his whole weight against her back, and sometimes he’d kneel high, crashing against her so hard she could feel the smack of his balls on her thighs. Then he’d hunker on all fours, swaying into her until the bed groaned and her vagina heated and juices dripped. Desperate, she reached beneath herself and grabbed her clit. A few wild strokes of her frantic fingers and she came, losing all her strength, collapsing.
But he caught her under her belly and hissed. With astounding strength, he pulled her back to meet his jabs, ramming himself home against the end of her. When he came a few beats later, she felt the burst of his hot ejaculate on her swollen inner tissue. His guttural groan was low and long, and hearing him made her shudder again in an echo of the tendrils still winding through her breasts and belly.
He fell to his side, pulling her against his chest, and curled around her. Snuggling his face into her neck, he seemed to melt into relaxation. A long while later, her heart finally steady and her breathing normal, she still lay wide awake. That had been the best sex of her life. But it had definitely been sex.
He’d toyed with her, pleased her, then thoroughly used her for himself. He’d been quite clear about it. She didn’t know how she felt about him. He’d been intense, nearly wild, and she was a little uneasy at how she’d enjoyed thinking of him as an animal. He’d challenged her with how hard it could be between a human and a rumpy, and she’d generally disregarded his warning. But the difficulty wasn’t only in the racism of others. She was a little afraid of herself.
When he woke up awhile later, he bussed her on the shoulder. “Are you staying the night?”
“I—No, I think I’ll head back.” Coward, her conscience shouted. She’d seduced him in her fascination, and now hid from what she’d started.
He stilled behind her, then said, “Fair enough.”
He triggered the bed to close. He helped her down and let her clean up, then cleaned himself while she dressed.
“Why are you so quiet?” he asked, studying her.
She shrugged. “Just tired.”
He leaned against the wall. “I freaked you out.”
She shook her head. “It was really good, Gage.” Still, she couldn’t summon a smile at the moment. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He raised one brow. “I’ll walk you to your pod.”
“No, that’s—”
“I’ll either walk beside you or behind you, your choice.”
She sighed. “Thanks, then.” He was honorable and decent, and if he didn’t have a tail, would she have been happier with their feral sex?
They were quiet as they walked through the mostly empty halls. Only a small shift was on at this hour. But when they got to a central junction that connected levels, they were greeted by three guys lounging on the floor and against the walls.
“Ah, here’s the fur-whore now.” A skinny dark-skinned man announced his hate loudly.
Shock kindled in her belly.
“Sonofabitch,” Gage muttered quietly.
All of the men got to their feet eagerly.
“Hoo-hah. Some fur’s been getting uppity and this bitch needs to be reminded what a real cock can do.” A huge treetop cracked his fists, while a short, muscular man next to him nodded and rubbed his crotch, grinning.
Her breath caught in outrage.
Gage looked at Becca with fire in his eyes. His face was tight against his stark cheekbones, and his tail angled toward the floor in a sinuous wave. “Your choice, my friend. Do we stand and fight or get out of here?”
“I’ve got to get out of this mess. Sex and money aren’t worth the fear.” She told the ceiling her resolution. Dread filled her belly.
Her brain frozen, she focused on the fact she was on a ship in space with no allies. None. There was no way she was calling Mr. Junior Admiral. How Rex would laugh to come help her just one full day after she left home. She’d have to bluff like she’d never bluffed before. London Moon was their first stop. By the time she got off the ship, they’d have to believe they were safe and she’d have to have proof to take them down.
Step one to managing this bluff was to get away from the captain. She simply could not have sex with him again. She’d puke or cry or generally get herself killed. And it had been so good. She needed to get over this attraction to danger. Her excuse had to be believable or she’d look suspicious.
She hauled her lame ass out of bed, washed again, and put on her pretty dress, a grass-green one from her mother’s shop. It clung to her boobs and ass with a silky jersey. Then she went to Cal’s pod, but they told her he was in the lounge. She found him there playing domino strike. She walked up and stood next to him, watching his hands work the six levers with lightning precision. When he finished the game a long while later, flushed and collecting money from the muttering crowd, she followed him to a lounge chair.
“What do you
want, Boss Lady?” He scrolled through his plax-page with little more than a glance at her.
“I need help.”
“Whatever.”
“I need a lover.”
He looked up and she had to work not to smile at his surprise. She shifted, crossing her arms under her breasts. She was cold, but the position made the most of her nice chest.
“So why are you talking to me?”
“Because I want to have sex with you.” Lord, lord, lord. She was scared. And she was pissed that this turned her on.
“Cargo Overseer Sharpin, you ain’t had Darnell yet, so what is going on?”
She sat down by his side, squeezing into the plush chair, and he let her. She leaned in close enough for her lips to brush his jaw. “Cal, the captain killed Darnell.”
He went very still. Then he slid his arm along the back of the lounge and pulled her close, nuzzling into her ear. “Talk,” he breathed.
Time to spin a mix of lies and truth. “I know about the cryo. I went to him. I told him how I figured it out. I said I wanted a bigger cut and he agreed. Then he fucked me. It was awful.” She didn’t feel particularly bad implying a murderer was a rapist. “I was there when he ordered Darnell’s death. He laughed and said Darnell had let me figure it out, so I’d get his cut.” She nosed his thick throat in return. He smelled so good, fresh and male, but different from the captain. Gooseflesh rippled down her arms from his breath in her ear.
“I’m so afraid, Cal. He’s going to come back to my room again tonight. He thinks he can just use me because I’m new. I hate him.” Her anger bled out into a nip at a sinew of Cal’s neck. “You said you wanted me. Help me get away from the captain and I’ll be very, very good to you.” It was only for six nights. She could stall and manage him for six nights. She gave his neck a small lick.
He pulled her in closer. “That sumbitch. Always going on so proud of how he doesn’t fuck his crew.”
Cal seemed more concerned with the captain’s hypocrisy than with her alleged rape. “Will you help me?”