Rise (Hold Book 4)

by Claire Kent

  It didn’t take long.

  She gave his abdomen little strokes and touches, oddly excited by the response she saw in his cock. She liked how it was hardening. She liked how it took so little for him to get aroused again.

  Her hand got lower and lower until she heard him suck in his breath.

  “You ready for something more?” she asked, trying to sound sophisticated and enticing rather than breathless.

  “Yes,” was all he said.

  He gazed at her as she raised herself up to her knees, and his expression was breathtaking—hot and eager and almost awed.

  It almost scared her—that look of awe in his eyes—but she didn’t let it distract her.

  Since he was still lounging against the pillows and obviously waiting for her to do something, she asked, “How do you want to do it?”

  He gave his head a little shake. “You decide.”

  Men never let her decide the position they wanted. The fact that Desh had was strange and unsettling.

  He hadn’t yet moved though, so she figured he might want her on top. She caressed her way down his body and then moved to straddle his hips. “Do you like this?” she asked, trying to read his preferences in his expression.

  His lips parted as he stared up at her, like he’d tried to speak but couldn’t. He nodded.

  She arranged herself above him and then reached down to fit his cock inside her. She was still wet and pliant from her earlier orgasm, so he slid into her pussy easily, filling her with a pleasurable tightness.

  She wasn’t used to enjoying how a man’s cock felt inside her. She rolled her hips against the sensations and made a little moan.

  Desh moaned too, his hands moving against the bedding the way they had when she’d had his cock in her mouth.

  “Is this good for you?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he hissed, his hips rocking just slightly beneath her, as if he couldn’t hold himself still but didn’t want to thrust. “You feel so good.”

  He seemed so oddly passive that she started to worry. “Do you want to be on top? Do you like it better another way?”

  He closed his eyes and arched his neck, his expression reflecting deep pleasure. “I like it this way,” he rasped after a minute.

  Convinced he was enjoying it, Talia started to move over him. She began slowly, rhythmically, using a number of her practiced techniques. Desh was still making those little rocks with his hips and was clenching his hands in the bedding the way she’d been doing earlier.

  His eyes were open now, gazing up at her, and his expression was so disturbing that she could barely look at it. She didn’t know how to understand it.

  His motion felt almost helpless rather than controlled, but it had the strangest effect on her body. Combined with her own motion, pleasure was starting to tighten inside her.

  She increased her speed, riding him more vigorously to meet the demands of her body. She was making soft, little grunts as she moved, but she couldn’t possibly help it. Everything was feeling so good.

  Desh must be enjoying it too because he was releasing choked moans and clutching desperately at the coverlet. He suddenly gave a few hard pushes up into her, and she cried out loudly in response.

  “Yes!” she gasped. “Do that more. More. I need more!”

  She wasn’t supposed to make demands on a man in bed, but the words were spilling out of her lips. She was riding him almost frantically now, her whole body bouncing as she chased a release that was just out of reach.

  Desh started to thrust up more intentionally, his cock pushing into her from below fast and hard.

  She bent backward like a taut bow as she fell into orgasm, sobbing out a pleasure that was as shocking as it was deep.

  Her pussy clamped down around his cock as she came, and his motion fell out of rhythm almost immediately. He reached up to hold on to her hips, his grip tight and urgent, and his whole body was rocking as he fucked her from below, his groans getting louder and more uncontrolled.

  She had come down enough to watch him as he built up toward climax, and she couldn’t help but love how raw and earnest he seemed, no pretense, no layers of fake sophistication.

  He was completely into this, pouring everything he had into the motion of his body, the sensations he was experiencing.

  She watched as the pleasure of release slammed into him, his face reflecting all of it. He let out a sound that was almost a bellow, holding nothing back as he rocked through his release in clumsy jerks.

  When all the spasms had worked their way through him, he collapsed back onto the bed with thick, breathless groans, one right after the other.

  Her own pussy was still making little clenches of lingering pleasure, and her whole body felt good, relaxed, strangely heavy.

  She started to get off him, but he pulled her down onto his chest.

  So she lay there gasping, his arms wrapped around her tightly.

  It was several minutes before his body really relaxed and he finally released her.

  She lifted her head to smile down on him.

  “You came for real?” he asked, his eyes searching her face.

  It was the last thing she’d expected him to ask, so she didn’t have time to frame an answer. She just told him the truth. “Yes. It was real.”

  The corners of his mouth went up. “Good. For me too.”

  The last words were dry, ironic, and she giggled helplessly, moving to his side where it was more comfortable.

  “It’s been a long time for you, I guess,” she said after a few minutes, following the line of her thoughts.

  “What do you mean?” His body tightened, and she was momentarily afraid she’d offended him.

  She replied quickly, “I just meant I know you’ve been on Mel Tana, and you can’t have sex there. At least you’re not supposed to. You didn’t break the rules, did you?”

  “No. I didn’t break the rules.”

  “That’s a long time to go without sex.”

  “Yes. It is.” There was a strange, stretched tone to his voice that she didn’t understand.

  “Why did you go there? And why did you stay there so long?”

  “I… I don’t really know.”

  That sounded like a hedge, like a stall, so she didn’t reply right away.

  After a moment, he continued, “I told you I was on that primitive planet with the tribe that slept in the cave. I was there for three years, and it was… it was really hard coming back. Life was so raw and intense and… hard on that planet that I couldn’t really adjust. Everything felt too… rich, too soft, too… fake. I felt sick all the time. So someone told me about Mel Tana and the rigorous nature of the training there, and I thought it would work as a transition, help me get used to the developed world again.”

  She was listening intently, fascinated by what he was telling her. “Did it work? As a transition, I mean.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I… couldn’t seem to leave.”

  “Did you even want to learn how to fight?”

  “I’ve actually never been very physical. I was academic growing up. Pretty much a nerd, really. But I felt helpless on that planet, having to rely on stronger men for food, for protection. I didn’t ever want to be that way again. So the training on Mel Tana helped. A lot. I never cared that much about fighting, but I wanted to be… strong. I don’t ever want to feel helpless again.”

  “What made you leave Mel Tana at last then?”

  He sighed and gave her a sheepish smile. “I… A couple of things happened. I got some… some really bad news that made it impossible for me to keep doing what I’d been doing. And then I got kicked out. The Master said I was hiding from the world and it was time to stop.” After a pause, he added, “He was right.”

  She thought about this for a long time. “What was the bad news?”

  He shook his head silently. He wasn’t going to tell her.

  They weren’t that much more than strangers, after all.

  Accep
ting this, she asked, “Are you glad you left?”

  “I… I don’t know yet.” He ran his palm down her long ponytail. “But I can say that nothing on Mel Tana ever made me feel as good as you did just now.”

  She smiled at that. “So it has been a long time since you’ve had sex?”

  “Y-yeah.”

  His tone was strange, so she lifted her head to study his face. “You had sex on that undeveloped planet? In the cave with everyone else?”

  His mouth twisted strangely.

  Her eyes widened as she realized what he didn’t want to tell her. “Have you never had sex before, Desh?”

  She saw him swallow. Then something relaxed on his face and he admitted, “No. This was my first time. I’m twenty-eight, and I was a virgin until tonight. Pitiful, isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not pitiful.” She was surprised but also something else. Something that felt a lot like delight. She was the only woman he’d ever slept with. She couldn’t help but like that fact. “One thing I’ve learned from my work here is that everyone has their own reasons for having sex or not having it. Some people just aren’t that interested. Some people just don’t want it.”

  He gave a huff of ironic amusement. “Oh, I was interested in it. I was very interested in it. I wanted to have sex every single day.”

  “Then why did you stay on Mel Tana?”

  He shook his head and stared at the ceiling. It took him a long time to answer. “I wonder if part of me… wanted to deprive myself, like maybe I deserved it.”

  She stiffened. “Why would you possibly deserve to be deprived like that?”

  It was too intimate a question, and she knew it as soon as she voiced it.

  Desh’s lips tightened, and he murmured, “I don’t know.”

  He did know. He just didn’t want to tell her.

  And she had no right to know something so private anyway.

  She relaxed beside him and gradually felt him relax too.

  She really liked how sated his body felt beside her, like she’d given him a really good time.

  She wanted to make him feel really good.

  She wanted to keep making him feel good.

  It just wasn’t right that he hadn’t been letting himself feel good for so long.

  Maybe he would want her to help him make up for lost time.

  She’d be very happy to oblige.

  Four

  The next evening was another round of the Tournament, and Talia didn’t feel her normal reluctance about attending.

  She wanted to see Desh fight.

  She wanted to see him win another round.

  She was absolutely sure that he would.

  It was a strange feeling and one she couldn’t remember ever experiencing before. Something akin to pride.

  She didn’t mention it to Jenelle as they took their seats in the leisure suite section. In fact, except for telling her friend that last night had gone well, she didn’t talk about Desh at all.

  But she felt restless and jittery as she looked around at the packed arena and waited for the fights to begin.

  “What happened last night?” Jenelle asked out of the blue.

  Talia stiffened her shoulders. “What do you mean?”

  “You think I can’t see how you’re feeling? I told you not to romanticize. It’s work, Talia. Nothing but business.” Despite her words, Jenelle’s voice wasn’t sharp. It was almost gentle.

  “I’m not romanticizing. I’m not doing anything at all.”

  Jenelle slanted her a dubious look.

  “All right,” Talia admitted with a sigh. “I’m feeling… I do like him. I… I enjoyed last night more than I’ve ever enjoyed being with a man. But I’m not being stupid. I promise. I thought it was all right to enjoy it.”

  “It is.” Jenelle’s expression was subdued, but she didn’t continue the conversation. That fact alone was enough to make Talia worry.

  She didn’t have time to worry much, however, since the announcer was speaking and the Combatants were starting to enter the rings.

  Five combat rings this week.

  Talia waited breathlessly until she saw Desh walk out in his mask. The other Combatants were playing to the crowd—shaking their fists and raising their arms—but Desh didn’t do any of that. He ignored the cheers and walked over quietly to take his place.

  He looked almost small next to the monster of a man he had to fight tonight. For a moment Talia was worried.

  Then she remembered he’d spent years on Mel Tana. He’d taken less than a minute to defeat his opponent last week.

  He was better at this than anyone.

  He would be fine.

  As the Combatants waited in place for the buzzer to sound, Talia noticed Desh turning his head in her direction. From this distance, she couldn’t imagine he could actually see her in the audience, but the move of his head seemed to acknowledge her, as if he were thinking of her.

  She hugged her arms to her chest, trying to hide a shiver of pleasure.

  “Damn,” she heard Jenelle mutter under her breath.

  Talia would have turned and asked about the soft curse, but the buzzer was sounding the beginning of the fights.

  She was excited as the Combatants advanced, but her excitement soon transformed into something very different.

  After the first couple of minutes, she was concerned. Desh didn’t seem to be doing as well.

  After another few minutes, she was cringing, her heart racing up in her throat. Desh’s opponent was twice his size, and Desh couldn’t seem to get a handle on him.

  After a few minutes, Talia was hiding her eyes, peeking out from between her fingers and trying not to whimper.

  Desh had gotten thrown bodily across the ring, and before he could get to his feet again, the big man had grabbed him in a ruthless hold that looked like it would break his back.

  As Desh struggled futilely to free himself, Talia had to look away, closing her eyes and afraid she might be sick.

  She was going to be sitting here while the man killed Desh. Combatants weren’t supposed to kill their opponents, but it did happen occasionally.

  There were no real rules or boundaries in these fights. Combatants could do what they needed to do to win.

  “What’s happening with him tonight?” Jenelle asked breathlessly. There were four other fights going on at the same time, but she was obviously focused on the same one Talia was. “He did so much better last week.”

  Talia tried to answer but couldn’t. She’d glanced back over and almost choked as she saw the big man had forced Desh to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to any force in the universe that might hear her.

  “He’s got it,” Jenelle said in a different voice. “He’s gotten control of it again.”

  Talia breathed again as she opened her eyes to see that Desh had indeed regained his footing. She watched openmouthed as he evaded his opponent’s reach once. And then again. And then again.

  Then Desh managed to get behind him and, with some fancy footwork, kicked out at the other man with a sharp impact on the back of his neck.

  The big man went down and didn’t get back up.

  Talia slumped in relief as the crowd roared in excitement.

  Desh was hurt. She could see it in the way he stood, the way he walked.

  But he’d won this round, so she could breathe easy again.

  ***

  Two hours later, she went to Desh’s room.

  They hadn’t made a firm appointment, but the way they’d ended the night before had made it clear Desh wanted to see her again. Even if he wasn’t up to sex tonight after the fight, she needed to make sure he was all right.

  When the door slid open and Desh wasn’t in the doorway, she stepped in, looking around.

  She gasped when she saw Desh sitting on one of the straight metal chairs.

  She’d assumed he’d gone to get medical treatment for his injuries, but he clearly hadn’t. He hadn’t even washed up after the figh
t.

  He still wore the trousers he’d worn to fight in and nothing else. Blood was drying on the side of his face and the back of his shoulders. He was leaning over, supporting his head with one hand on the table.

  “Desh!” she cried, hurrying over. “What the hell are you doing?”

  He didn’t answer. Just stared at her with pained blue eyes.

  “You’re hurt! Why didn’t you go to the med unit?”

  He opened his mouth and then closed it again.

  “Desh?”

  He finally rasped, “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re bleeding. Let me take you to—”

  He pulled away from her hands with a slight wince. “I said I’m fine.”

  “Well, you’re not fine.” She stood and stared at him, anxious and confused. “You really won’t go let them fix you up?”

  “I don’t need to be fixed up. There’s nothing serious.”

  He didn’t sound like himself. He sounded tense, clipped.

  She was too worried to work out why though. She went to the sink in the nook with the bathroom and wetted down a soft cloth. When she returned to Desh, she started to wipe the blood off his face.

  He leaned away from her. “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Would you just shut up?” She was so rattled she sounded almost bad-tempered. It wasn’t the right way to talk to a guest in the Residence, but she’d completely lost her patience with him. “If you’re not going to go to the med unit, you’re going to put up with me.”

  He started to object again. She saw it in his face. But then he stopped himself and sat still as she wiped the blood off his face.

  He had several cuts, but the deepest was on his temple and just above one of his shoulder blades.

  The skin was ripped too much for a cloth and bandage to do much good.

  She looked up and saw that Desh’s eyes were focused on her through the mirror over the table.

  She shook her head at him. “You really won’t go to the med unit?”

  “I said I’m fine. I’ve been injured a lot worse than this, and there are no med units on Mel Tana.”

  She gave him a little scowl, fed up by his stubbornness, but then she saw him cringe as he shifted in his chair.