“Nollinium.” Ari pressed closer to Assistant. “I didn’t mean to be rude.” Was that huffing noise from Assistant a laugh? “I just wasn’t sure what to think about what’s happening. I don’t—” She couldn’t help hesitating. “I don’t even know what is happening.”
“What’s happening is that you’re about to have a very good time.” Now Assistant brushed a kiss across her temple. It was light and would have been tender if Ari hadn’t felt the edge of her teeth again. “It’s time for you to stop thinking, for once.”
When Assistant’s hands went from around Ari’s waist to stroke and cup her bottom, Ari couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly.
They ended up in the bedroom again, and this time, when Assistant shoved Ari’s skirt up her hips, she found underwear beneath. “Cotton,” she murmured. “The stationmaster’s daughter in cotton.”
“It’s comfortable,” was all Ari could manage to say while Assistant’s fingertips were stroking the hollows by her hipbones.
Assistant didn’t seem to hear her. “You should be in Auroran silk.” She traced over the rise of Ari’s thigh. “I’d like to see that very much.”
As her prefrontal cortex gave its final gasp, Ari vowed to order some Auroran silk panties with her next personal expense allowance. Then thought became impossible.
Assistant slid the underwear over Ari’s hips, down her thighs, with maddening slowness while Ari tried not to squirm impatiently. The experience was strangely sensual—cotton easing down over her skin, pulled by the warm fingers of someone who wanted her, until she was fully exposed below the waist for the first time.
Assistant’s gaze fell on the neat, dark thatch of hair between Ari’s legs. Her lips curled up like she was two seconds away from licking them.
Ari gulped. This morning, she’d been so self-conscious when Assistant had looked at her breasts. Now she knew Assistant found her beautiful, and she wanted Assistant to look, wanted her to see what she was touching.
“Well, well, well,” Assistant breathed, combing her fingertips through Ari’s curls.
Ari’s hips twitched again, and she gasped when Assistant’s fingers slipped down between her lips, where she was slick even though all they’d done was kiss and take off some cotton underwear. Every nerve ending in her body felt alive, and when Assistant traced one finger over her opening, she groaned.
Assistant’s cheeks were flushed as she watched her own hand moving between Ari’s legs. “Have you ever done this to yourself?”
“Some. N-not much.” Ari felt her legs spreading wider apart without any input from her brain. “Not in a long time. It wasn’t…I mean…”
Assistant drew circles around Ari’s entrance, then pressed down a little—not enough to go inside, but enough to make Ari throb. “It wasn’t what?”
“Good enough,” Ari choked. She lifted her hips again. “It wasn’t like this.”
“What a pity.” The hoarse note in Assistant’s voice gave the lie to the coolness of her words. “You’re so ready for this. You should have spent years with your hands between your legs, making yourself come, enjoying your beautiful body.”
I didn’t know it was beautiful. “Uh, sorry,” was all Ari could think to say. When in the stars was Assistant going to do something about all these sensations she was stirring up?
“And now it’s my turn.” Assistant bent down to kiss her mouth. As she did, she pushed forward with her hand and slid one finger inside Ari, who stiffened and squeaked. Assistant paused and pulled out of the kiss to say, “Does that hurt?”
Ari squirmed experimentally. “No,” she decided. “It’s just different. A little weird.”
“Nothing’s ever been in here?” Assistant sounded incredulous, even though Ari had just finished telling her she didn’t have a long history of masturbating.
“No!” Ari focused again on the finger inside her, wishing the fog of desire would envelop her again, instead of beginning to evaporate. “And I guess I wasn’t missing much, because it doesn’t feel—”
Assistant slid her finger almost all the way out, and just as Ari was about to apologize for criticizing her, she pushed back inside and curled her fingertip up. She pressed with surprising firmness against a spot that felt different somehow, eager and responsive to the extra pressure. And then she began to rub it.
Ari’s breath rushed out of her in an “Oh.”
“Doesn’t feel what, Ariana?” Assistant asked sweetly.
“I-I…” Ari walked back every doubt she’d had. “It’s amazing,” she choked when Assistant slid a second finger inside her while nuzzling her collarbone. “Oh! You’re…you’re amazing…”
Amazing didn’t even cover it. Couldn’t Ari do better than that? Why didn’t she read more poetry when she was growing up, listen to more music, something that would let her know what to say in a time like this?
“I’ve hardly begun,” Assistant purred against her skin, rubbing against that sensitive spot again with her fingertips. “Do you know how tempting it is to introduce you to everything at once?”
“Uh…” That did sound tempting. Ari rested her shaking hands on Assistant’s shoulders while she writhed against the fingers inside her. She could only say, “That’s…that would be…” Fine. Great. Perfect. Oh, please.
Assistant sighed as she began to kiss her way downward, pushing the top of Ari’s dress out of the way so she could nibble at the rise of her right breast. “You have no idea how good it can feel. I’m going to show you.” She moved to Ari’s left breast.
“Now?” Now seemed fine.
Assistant chuckled, though it sounded a little strained, and she was breathing more quickly than usual. “So eager.” She licked the very tip of Ari’s nipple, which began to ache—an ache that once again seemed directly connected to the one between Ari’s legs, where Assistant continued to tease her.
Really, really tease her. Just when Ari was on the verge of orgasm yet again, she stopped pressing against that wonderful spot and drew her fingers out.
“Hey!” Ari gasped, grabbing her elbow. “Wait—I was—”
“You were what?” Assistant danced her fingertips over the inside of Ari’s thigh, so lightly it was almost like a tickle. But Assistant surely didn’t tickle people.
“I was about to…um…” Saying “have an orgasm” seemed like the least sexy thing possible. “You know!”
“You were about to come. Say that for me.” Assistant kissed Ari’s hip. “Say you want to come.”
“Of course I—Can’t you tell?” Ari tugged on Assistant’s elbow again. “You made it so wonderful last time.” She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling as she struggled for breath. “I want to feel like that again. Please.”
After a pause, Assistant said with a hitch in her voice, “Close enough.”
She pressed her fingers back inside, stroked that sensitive spot, and to top it off, she swirled her thumb around Ari’s clitoris. Again and again, and Ari’s hands grabbed at the sheets as if that was supposed to keep her from falling into pieces. It was better than last night, even better than this morning, because Assistant’s other hand went to her breast again, stroking and pinching her nipple, so sensitive now that pain mixed in with pleasure and somehow made it feel even better. “Oh,” she cried, “oh.”
“Say it,” Assistant urged. She kissed Ari’s stomach and flicked her tongue in Ari’s navel.
Ari was too far gone to protest anything now. “I want…I want,” she whimpered, “I want to come…please—”
“Soon,” Assistant promised. She slowed her caresses. “Soon. It will feel so much better if you wait.”
She couldn’t be serious. “What? No, please—”
“Wait.” Assistant kissed her. “Trust me to bring you pleasure. Oh, Ariana, if you could see yourself. You’re made for this.” She nibbled Ari’s earlobe and whispered, “Made for fucking.”
Ari gasped and turned her head, nearly whacking Assistant’s temple with her nose. Assista
nt pulled back in surprise.
“Don’t say that.” In spite of her own need, Ari grabbed at Assistant’s wrist to stop her moving her hand. “Oh, please don’t call it that. That’s a horrible word.”
And it was. Not just because it was obscene, but because it sounded wrong, somehow, sounded like something rude and base and meaningless. This wasn’t any of those things.
“No? Then what should I call it?” Assistant asked, her voice light.
Ari wished she could see her face better. “I don’t know,” she croaked, because the words “making love” wouldn’t come to her mouth. She had a feeling they wouldn’t go over too well.
Not yet, whispered that little voice inside her, and she silenced it.
“Then let’s not call it anything at all,” Assistant said softly, and slid one more long, slender finger inside Ari. That made three, and Ari felt so full, so deliciously full. It might have hurt if Assistant hadn’t taken such care, and if Ari weren’t so wet she could hear the soft, slick noises accompanying the movements of Assistant’s fingers.
“Ahh,” she moaned. “Oh, it’s so…” She spread her legs wider. Assistant hissed in a sharp breath. “It’s so good. Please—”
“Yes,” Assistant said hoarsely.
Assistant thrust her fingers slowly in and out until Ari forgot about words and language and anything but how Assistant made her feel. It wasn’t like last night or this morning, when Assistant had brought her to the peak as fast as possible. Tonight, she drew it out, and it felt like the pleasure had lain in wait until finally—finally—
Ecstasy bloomed inside Ari, sweeter and hotter than she could have imagined. Assistant had been telling the truth. Waiting had only made it better, and after all the teasing, it was arriving tenfold. Ari arched up, clenched around Assistant’s fingers, and writhed on them while Assistant rubbed against the spot inside her that drew the ecstasy on and on.
“Yes,” she heard herself gasp. “Yes—more—” Though how could she ask for that? How could you survive more than this? She’d thought she’d be ready for it by now. She wasn’t. She’d never known it was possible to feel this way.
Assistant slowed her caresses and nibbled the side of Ari’s neck, making Ari’s whole body twitch in the aftermath. It was almost too much. “There will be more. So much more.”
“Oh,” Ari whispered as she sank, trembling, back against the mattress. She wanted to describe how she felt, but only one metaphor came to mind, and it wasn’t very poetic. “Bees and pollen and…and stuff…”
“And stuff,” Assistant agreed, kissing her yet again. She was panting too, and her skin was even hotter than before.
“Is—” Ari laid a hesitant hand on Assistant’s leg. “It’s your turn now. Right?”
Assistant hesitated. Then, to Ari’s surprise, she took Ari’s hand and gently pushed it away. “No.”
“What?” Ari said. “Why not?” Then she figured it out, and flinched. “Well, I know I don’t know how to do it.”
“That’s not—”
“But I learn fast. You know I do. And I want to.” She’d seen Assistant’s shapely legs (or parts of them), had felt Assistant’s breasts and thighs against her. Was it so wrong that she wanted to touch and taste them as well? Wasn’t that fair? Part of the deal?
“No,” Assistant said, firmly now. She pressed Ari’s hand down on the mattress. “Perhaps later. But not now.”
“Oh.” Maybe that made sense. Assistant had said they weren’t going to do everything all at once. Perhaps Assistant was just trying to get Ari used to this whole thing and show her what to do before she let Ari fumble around with her own body. In fact, maybe Assistant was showing Ari what she liked herself. The thought made Ari flush all over again.
In any case, Assistant had said “later,” and that was that. How could Ari think about pushing the boundaries when she’d spoken of not forcing Assistant into anything? She could be patient. Instead of pressing the issue, she sighed again and consciously relaxed the tension that had started to gather between her shoulder blades. When she relaxed, so did Assistant, who settled down next to her.
“This is nice,” Ari murmured.
“There will be more.”
It sounded like a promise, which was great, but… “I just meant this.” Ari rested her head against Assistant’s shoulder. Then she added, “Unless you start snoring.”
“I don’t snore,” Assistant said flatly.
“Maybe not usually, but you did last night.”
“Nobody has ever accused me of snoring before.”
“Well, I heard it. Anyway, if you start, I’ll just go sleep on my cot.”
But like last night, Assistant hooked her arms and leg around Ari just at the suggestion. “You’ll grow fur and live on Theti Six first,” she said.
“That’s not fair,” Ari protested. Then she added, “You know, I’ve got some stuff you can put on your nose—”
“Go to sleep,” Assistant growled. That tone of voice meant business. And since Assistant’s arms felt so very nice around her, Ari decided she might as well obey.
CHAPTER 9
Seven days felt like seven dreams.
Nice dreams, Ari guessed. Well, maybe not “nice.” Sometimes she felt bubbly and fuzzy and downright romantic. This was usually when she was by herself and thinking about Assistant, however. When she was with Assistant, nothing seemed romantic at all. Then it seemed scary and thrilling and not at all safe, no matter what Assistant had said before.
Assistant had developed the habit of grabbing Ari and making free with her whenever she felt like it. Although after the first time she’d surprised Ari with a trowel in her hand, and had nearly received a black eye as a result, she chose her times more cautiously, no matter how much Ari had apologized. And the things she did…Ari would never have imagined, never at all. And until Assistant did them, Ari was fairly sure she’d never have given her permission because some of them, on paper, seemed shocking.
But in actual practice…
It was like getting down in the earth and planting flowers, and getting the thrill of watching them flourish, compared to sitting down and reading about botany in a textbook. It wasn’t the same at all.
Nothing could have prepared Ari for Assistant’s hands and mouth on her, all over her, in broad daylight next to a malinusis shrub, or in Ari’s bedroom at night, where somehow the utter darkness brought out darker impulses, where Assistant did things she didn’t do in daylight, things that made Ari howl like an animal. Fitting, since sometimes Assistant had her get on all fours.
That should have felt humiliating, wrong, but it brought such pleasure that Ari did her best to maintain the position as long as possible. It let Assistant stroke that little spot inside her more firmly while she rubbed her thumb against Ari’s perineum, and the combination never failed to turn Ari’s arms and legs to soup. Then she inevitably came, collapsed, and Assistant purred wonderful things in her ear about how delectable she was.
On the third night, Assistant put her mouth between Ari’s legs. At first, Ari cried out and tried half-heartedly to wriggle away because… Well, she didn’t know why, exactly, just that it was more intimate than she’d thought anything could ever be. More than fingers, more than rubbing against someone’s thigh. And it didn’t seem possible that Assistant could enjoy it all that much—surely it didn’t taste good?
But Assistant seemed to like it just fine. She laid one strong arm over Ari’s belly and held her down, kissing and licking until Ari wasn’t protesting, wasn’t doing anything but sobbing and staring up into the darkness and whispering the occasional “Oh please, oh gosh, oh please.”
It was incredible. Sometimes Assistant was gentle, kissing as softly and as tenderly as she kissed Ari’s mouth after sex. Sometimes she pointed her tongue and used it like a whip. By the time she was done, Ari’s lungs were aching from her cries. It felt marvelous.
Afterward, Assistant kissed her. Without washing her face or mouth or anything. Sh
e kissed Ari, and Ari tasted the sticky fluid on Assistant’s mouth and cheeks, fluid that had come from her.
So that was another thing that should have been repellant, but wasn’t. Not at all.
The next night, Assistant told Ari to get on all fours and licked her again, only from behind. This meant she worked at a new angle and could get at new bits of Ari, tease her in different ways, which felt amazing. And then—oh, then—she moved her tongue up until it was doing something that had to be unclean, licking at Ari’s anus, painting patterns like a five-point star until Ari could feel herself twitching back there. She couldn’t believe something like this was making her so wet, but it was.
Assistant kept her tongue moving, but she reached down and slid one, two, and then three fingers inside Ari, pumping them in and out—it stretched and burned, and she was still licking and nuzzling—
Ari grabbed on to a pillow for comfort as she buried her face in it and screamed and screamed while she came. When she opened her eyes again, Assistant was soothingly rubbing her back and whispering praise into her ear. She didn’t try to kiss Ari this time, and for that, Ari was profoundly grateful. Getting down and dirty was turning out to be lots of fun, but it had its limits.
But sometimes Assistant suggested stuff that was weird. Not shocking or wrong, necessarily, but just plain weird.
“Tie me up?” Ari asked over the dinner table. Assistant liked to bring these things up while they were eating, as calmly and casually as if they were discussing a new shipment of seeds, while Ari trembled and blushed. But tonight, Ari wasn’t sure what in all the stars she was talking about, so there was no blushing at all. “Why would we do that?”
Assistant blinked. Evidently, she had expected the usual response, and Ari felt foolish, sure that she’d missed something. And Assistant’s retort—“Why not?”—was a little weaker than her usual.
“But…I mean, okay, I guess,” Ari said, and shrugged as she took a sip of tea, deciding to be accommodating. No doubt Assistant would find a way to make it as pleasurable as everything else, even if Ari couldn’t currently see the appeal. “If that’s what you want.”
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