by Kate Pearce
She wound her fingers into his hair as he rubbed his beard down her torso. His short ponytail was easily undone, his dark curls falling into her fingers as he pressed kisses across her belly. He left a wake of goose bumps on her skin as he pressed lower still, her sex flooding with moisture specially made for his tongue.
He veered off to the side, kissing the inside of her thigh, then drifted across her swollen cleft to kiss the other leg as well. She moaned at the tease and he chuckled. “Greedy woman,” he said huskily.
For him? Hell, yes. “Kiss me,” she begged. “Plea—”
He cut her off with a soft, broad stroke of his tongue right up the middle of her bare folds, spreading her slickness up and around her clit. She squirmed under his firm grip on her hips but he held her in place as he began unravelling her from the inside out. All of her fears and concerns fell away as he licked and sucked and fucked her with his mouth, but none of those were quite the right words for way he was making love to her. It was sinfully carnal and stunningly perfect. And when he curved his hands around her thighs and nudged them wider, she didn’t need any encouragement. She slid her hands down her body to tangle with his, holding herself open for him.
Reinn pushed up on his elbows, and his appraisal of her spread out so wantonly should have been embarrassing. But he looked at her body with such raw appreciation that she just arched her back, wanting to preen for him. He glanced up her, his mouth glistening with her arousal and his eyes heavily lidded. “What works for you, min elskede? What will make you come the hardest?”
Anything, she wanted to say, but the empty ache demanded that she be more specific. “Your fingers inside me.”
He teased her with one long, broad finger first, then a second, before resuming his slow and steady efforts with his tongue. It was all so good, so amazing, but also overwhelming, and she twisted her head from side to side, trying to keep from slipping under the wave fast approaching. She didn’t want this to stop, but she also didn’t want to face the emotional reality about to come crashing down on her.
This wasn’t just sex. This wasn’t something easy and simple. This was a giant of a man, worshiping her in the most intimate of ways to prove a point.
He loved her. She could sense it in the air and in his touch. This man loved her and she probably loved him and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to keep their hearts intact. Not at the end of this mission. Probably not even in the next few weeks.
And when she cracked, when his love made her explode into a million pieces…that would be the beginning of their end.
“Ashleigh,” he growled, dragging her attention back to him. Where it belonged. Oh, fuck. His gaze on her amped up the sensations his fingers triggered inside. “Breathe. Let go.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
He slid his fingers out of her sex and trailed them up her cleft and around her clit. “You can.”
She shook her head, eyes wide, as he lifted his hand a few centimetres above her mound.
“Let go.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he murmured, snapping his wrist to lay a barely biting spank on her bare skin. She shuddered as her clit pulsed in response.
“Again,” she breathed.
“Eyes on me the whole time,” he ordered, and she nodded.
He slid his fingers deep inside her, building her up again, and just as it got to be too much, he slapped her pussy again, a little harder this time. The sharpness catapulted her forward, getting her past that scary bit where the wave was getting close but still escapable. Now all of a sudden it loomed above her, big and beautiful and escape was futile. Again he slid inside, fucking her harder this time with his hand, his thumb working her clit as she lost herself in the churn, and then he dealt one final stinging swipe, this time closer to her cleft, and she surged up the bed, back arching as his mouth covered her entire sex.
A million pieces didn’t do justice to how she felt. Every cell in her body hummed with spent satisfaction as he slowly moved up her body, rolling her onto her side and tugging her into his chest. “Sleep,” he rumbled, covering them both with the feather-light duvet. She wanted to protest, but his warmth and his scent—an earthy, sweet soap smell that made her snuggle closer—worked their way under her skin and she started to drift.
“Reinn,” she murmured, her hands sliding under his shirt to find more of his warmth.
Another rumbled response, but this one she couldn’t decipher, and then she realized he was singing in Danish. He cupped her neck and pulled her in tighter and she gave in. One night, she promised herself. A little nap and then I’ll wake up and we’ll make love all night long.
6
Reinn watched Ashleigh sleep for hours before ducking out. He’d expected leaving her room to be hard, but even though he’d done a shit job of protecting their relationship so far, maintaining her privacy was a priority. So he slipped away under the cover of darkness, again finding a maidservant to follow. He had work to do on their itinerary before her and her team woke up.
***
“What do you mean, he’s not coming with us?” Ashleigh glowered at Aldric, ignoring Navena’s pointed look in her direction.
“Reinn has some unexpected business here in the capital. He’ll join us in a few days.” If Aldric thought her disgruntlement was out of line, he didn’t show it.
She loaded her travel bag and her satchel onto the wagon, trying not to gawk at the pink “donkey,” as the Vikings insisted on calling the magical creatures that looked so much like unicorns. Once outside the City Core, they transferred to a high-speed rail car. Navena settled in next to her as they headed north. The city fell away behind them, the landscape green and lush under the purple-hued sky of early morning, and for a while Ashleigh forgot she was grumpy.
“You’re going to miss your Viking, eh?”
“He’s not mine,” she muttered to her 2IC under her breath.
“Sure, whatever.”
Had they been that transparent? “Hypothetically speaking…”
“They’ll probably send you back to Earth.” Navena shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So, hypothetically speaking, what did you do to get yourself kicked off your first deep space mission?”
“We kissed, at the welcome reception. It was caught on film.”
“Does the CO have it?”
“Do you think I’d be on this train if he did?” Ashleigh shook her head. “Just the Midgards. And maybe they won’t care.”
Navena snorted. “Kissing seems like a standard form of greeting here.”
Maybe that’s where it would end.
But it didn’t explain why Reinn wasn’t with them. If this were nothing, he’d know that and carry on with their fling. Or not. But he wouldn’t hide.
She hated the thought that she’d broken their working relationship by giving in the night before. Hated that she might not see him because of what they did. He’d disappeared in the middle of the night and her bed felt empty when she woke up. She wasn’t completely unprofessional, she could put on the mask and pull up her boots and pretend all was fine, but deep down…it really wasn’t.
Three hours later, they arrived at a small station. An Aulbjerg sign hung on the red and white wall facing the tracks, and standing in front of it were six people dressed in ancient garb.
Ashleigh glanced at Aldric who just smiled. They weren’t in Ny København anymore.
In the city, only those within the City Core dressed like this, and even then it was for ceremonial reasons. Ashleigh instinctively understood this was no ceremony. These people authentically lived this lifestyle every single day.
And Reinn didn’t want their faith used as a spectator sport.
She stepped off the train first, intent on setting a good example for her team to follow.
***
It took Reinn five days to make his way to the Artisan Flats. He knew he’d left Ashleigh in
capable hands with Aldric, and the families in Aulbjerg, but he was still anxious to see her.
Not contacting her had been difficult. Worse than that, she hadn’t messaged him, and he knew she must be upset. She wouldn’t want to be left out of the decision making, and it wasn’t exactly fair the way he’d talked his way into her bed and then disappeared.
But life wasn’t fair, and he needed to be sure he could protect her before they spent any more time together. It was a minor miracle he’d heard back from his contact at the Midgard consulate in Florida before the summer solstice. If he hadn’t, he would have headed north anyway. He didn’t want to miss the celebration with Ashleigh.
He wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted him as he rode his horse over the hill and down into the village. He’d taken his private shuttlecraft to his farm, but he left it there, preferring to travel the few kilometres around the lake to the town itself as a settler would. He may have been born in the city, but he’d adopted Aulbjerg as home many years earlier.
And from the looks of it, now so had his woman.
Ashleigh was standing in the middle of the market, her arms full of vegetables. Her long black hair hung in a loose tumble of skinny braids and free flowing waves, and she was wearing a faded turquoise day dress. A Viking dress.
He hadn’t thought it possible to get turned on from such a distance, but one look at her dressed like a settler and he wanted to find the nearest dark corner and bury himself in her slick, wet heat. Kiss her dizzy and damn the consequences.
But if he did this right, there wouldn’t be any consequences that couldn’t be dealt with. Five long days had passed, what were a few more hours?
She turned as he thundered to a stop not far from her and dismounted. Expression guarded, she gave a slight nod in private welcome before lifting her voice. “Reinn.”
“Lt. Tavistock.” He matched her polite tone, but didn’t try to hide the hungry look he knew she’d find in his eyes. “I see you’ve made yourself at home.”
“Agathe and Bern have been wonderful hosts. They speak highly of you, although I’m not sure why.”
His lips quirked. “You have your doubts about my worth?”
She stepped closer and thrust the squash, carrots and hangreet into his arms. “Hardly. You are without a doubt valued at more credits than most men on this planet or mine. But as I’m a woman and not a bounty hunter, I’m swayed by other factors.”
“Like communication, I’m guessing.”
“Got it in one, aren’t you a quizmaster? Take those vegetables to Agathe, I’m going to keep shopping for a bit.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
She scowled at him and he wanted to kiss her pouting lips until she laughed and threw her arms around his neck. Someday we’ll be free to do that. “Really not great at reading the womenfolk, are you?”
“You want some alone time to process my arrival and how best to be cold and standoff-ish toward me?”
“Precisely.” On closer inspection, her scowl didn’t really reach her eyes.
“Fine. I’ll see you there.”
“Fine.”
He stepped back and clicked his tongue for his horse to follow. He walked backwards, waiting for Ashleigh to turn away first. She didn’t, and by the time he got to the corner, his grin was pretty damn big for a man who’d just been told off by the woman he loved.
Agathe and her husband Bern lived on a small farm on the edge of the village. They had a large house with extra rooms, once filled with their five children who’d since grown and moved into homes of their own. And they’d been thrilled when he asked them to host Ashleigh’s team. He knew their home well, having stayed there himself the first few times he came to Aulbjerg for his university practicum placement.
When he’d built his own farm out here, knowing he’d need to travel back and forth, it had been with their approval and support. Their youngest son, Jannick, had even taken the job as his foreman.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he thought of Agathe as a second mother. So when he found her waiting for him in her garden, arms crossed and lips pursed, he knew he was in trouble. He hitched his horse to the fence and slowly approached with a grin. “God morgen,” he said in greeting, ducking down to kiss her plump cheek before leaping out of reach of her light slap on his chest.
“Barely. It’s almost noon. And five days after we were expecting you. What happened?”
“I had work to do.”
“Last week you said this was the most important thing for you, convincing the Earthlings of the value of our community and others like it.” Her voice was gentle but her words carried a serious thread of worry.
“It still is. Life got a bit complicated. And did you not see me walking down the lane and still come running out?”
“Only for the armful of vegetables you carry.”
“Ashleigh asked me to bring them back.”
Agathe stopped walking and gave him a raised eyebrow. “Ashleigh?”
Instead of answering her, Reinn stepped over the raised threshold into the comfortable common room. The cooking fire was outside today, as it was most of the summer, and the room was cool and dark. Comforting. “Is Bern around?” he called out.
“He’s readying the boats at the dock. Jannick brought yours over, in case you want to sail home tonight.”
Reinn turned, touched at the thoughtful gesture. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You just dumped those poor people here with nothing more than their briefing reports on what to expect.”
“It looked like they were fitting in just fine. You sent their leader vegetable shopping.”
“She insisted.”
That made him smile. “Good.”
“Who is she to you?”
Right. They needed to move on this betrothal as soon as possible. They were totally transparent. Instead of answering, he dug in his pocket and handed over a special packet of batteries and data sticks. “I brought you a present.”
Agathe gasped and did a little dance as she ran across the room. “The new season of Asteroid Belt?”
“Bern’s favourite.” Reinn let her do her darnedest to squeeze the dickens out of him, then settled in a chair at the table. She brought him a glass of her husband’s special home brew beer. No modern Viking would choose authenticity over a nice cold one. Or a secret TV show addiction.
There was a data port at the train station, and tablets could be loaded there with entertainment content, but Bern was set in his ways. Agathe sometimes sent her children and now grandchildren to load data sticks for her stubborn husband, but this series had just released. Reinn was pretty sure none of them would have it yet.
As he was finishing his beer, Corporal Chin and Private Worst came in. Unlike Ashleigh, they still wore their uniforms, but they greeted Agathe with affection and joined him at the table. With some prodding, they shared what they’d been up to the last few days. Ashleigh had been busy, touring farms and visiting with individual families.
Ashleigh returned in time for lunch, but she stuck to the far end of the long plank table and he gave her the distance she wanted. It wasn’t until they all headed to the square for the solstice celebration and everyone was well into the mead and beer that he drifted to where she was sitting on a bench. She held herself with regal posture, her back tall and straight. Her dark braid curved over her shoulder and fell beside her breast, drawing his gaze to the slight shadow of cleavage above the silver clasp at the front of her dress.
She glanced over, then returned her gaze to the party.
“I like the dress,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“I didn’t wear it for you.” She stared straight ahead. “I’d cover my face on Drendali 3 and my hands on Arbhar. Here I wear a dress when I go into someone’s home.”
“Our women wear pants, too.”
“Maybe I like the dress.”
“Good, that makes two of us.”
“You keep saying that.”
> “You know my favourite thing about a dress?”
“Don’t.”
“Easy access.”
Her eyes flared at him. “Reinn.”
“What?”
“You snuck out of my room in the middle of the night and then avoided me for five days. You can’t just show up and start flirting again.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry for making myself scarce. I promise I had good reason.”
“Secret-keeping reasons?”
In a manner of speaking. “I’ll tell you more about it tonight.”
She sighed. “More waiting?”
He made an affirmative noise, hoping it sounded regretful, and changed the subject. “You’ve kept yourself busy in my absence. Everyone seems to like you.”
She bit her lip and shot him a sideways glance. “Can I tell you something?”
He nodded. She could tell him anything.
“I was expecting more hostility. From some of the attitudes in Ny København, and even your attitude when we first met—”
He leaned in to cut her off. “That was just frustration at wanting you so damn much it hurt.”
She blushed and shook her head. “Even so.” She laughed. “God, I’ve lost my train of thought.”
“Hostility.” He joined her, his own laughter warming him all the way from his toes up.
“Right. But without exception, everyone here is welcoming. Gracious and open.” Her face settled into a more serious expression. “I can see why you’re concerned about tourism running rampant.”
In a selfish way, he was glad he hadn’t needed to explain that to her. “With the increased speed of starships these days, the trip from Earth is no longer so substantial. Extended star cruises from other planets have been lobbying for port rights here for decades. We can turn them away, but there’s no way my father will refuse Earth ships access. For all our independence, we share the same blood. We are cousins, and that matters. I get that. But this…” He waved his hand across the market square at the celebration. “This will disappear. Credits talk. I want us to be more profitable, more stable, before we start to invite tour groups to our solstice celebrations, if that makes sense.”