Prime Target

by Monette Michaels

  Because for him, it meant forever. The obstacles they’d both named as keeping them from forming a long-term relationship were now mere details to be worked out—together.

  “Good morning.”

  The sound of her sleep-husky voice shot straight to his cock. She blinked, then smiled, and his morning erection twitched and surged until it breached the top of the boxers.

  Damon willed the ignorant organ to behave, but it remained as hard as the granite bedrock on his home planet and throbbed with every beat of his heart.

  “Look at what I found.” Susa teased in a sultry voice that had him breaking out in an all-body sweat. Then she stroked his hard-on from root to tip. He swore his heart stopped for one brief second from the shock. “Because you took such sweet care of me last night, listening to me, letting me cry all over you, we never got around to serious kissing and petting. I missed it.”

  “It’s all right—”

  She nuzzled his chest as she continued to drive him crazy stroking his cock through the silk of his boxers. “It’s not all right. I figured we’d move to the next level of foreplay last night. I wanted to make you come.”

  She gave his shaft a firm squeeze, threatening the tight control he had over his hunger for her, and then resumed stroking. All the blood in his body fled to his cock, and for a second or two, the room spun around him.

  “Instead I—” Susa trailed off, a look of such sadness in her golden eyes he couldn’t stand it.

  Brushing a kiss over her forehead, Damon cradled the back of her head and guided it until her cheek rested against the area of his chest that craved her touch. The skin warmed and tingled. When she turned to lick a pattern over his heart, the oddest thing occurred—his heart rate matched hers and somehow his mind brushed hers and found—she loved him. Her love was present in every touch, look, and word she shared with him.

  After knowing what Susa had survived, he was awed and humbled she could even trust him, let alone love him.

  While the promised week wasn’t quite up, he couldn’t allow another second go by without giving her the words in his heart. “Angel—I love you. I know it’s too soon.”

  Susa’s breath hitched. “Damon, I—”

  “Shh, no need to respond.” Damon gave her a brief, sweet kiss, because if he kissed her as he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to hold back. “I just needed you to know this is more than physical attraction for me. I want to spend the rest of my life making your days happy and holding you through your nightmares and sweet dreams alike. I want to make a family with you.”

  “I love you, too.” Susa’s eyes glowed with happiness. “I have almost from the very beginning.”

  Joy and love flowed from her, surrounded him from the tip of his head to his toes and then finally burrowed into the very marrow of his bones. The impact was so potent his heart stuttered, and his mind’s eye filled with sparks. After the physical impact quieted, he sensed a part of Susa now resided within him.

  “What just happened?” Awestruck, he found the most beatific expression on her face.

  “My empathic sense joined fully with yours.” She nuzzled his neck and kissed the pulse throbbing there. “It’s a Prime thing. I’m sure you’ve noticed that as time has passed, we’ve been able to sense each other’s moods and our heart rates have attempted to match one another’s.”

  “Like Prime mates?” Damon wasn’t Prime. He also wasn’t sure he believed in all the Prime bonding tales Borac had shared with him. But he had to acknowledge that he and Susa were attuned to one another.

  Susa hesitated and then said, “Very similar.”

  Her answer was tentative as if she wanted to say more, but wasn’t quite ready. Or maybe he was reading too much into her tone. Then why hadn’t she just said “no?”

  “Damon, are you okay with all this?” Her forehead creased with worry and her voice indicated she was afraid—but of what?

  As the days had passed, he’d come to accept the increasing empathic abilities. He’d seen stranger things in the galaxy than two people sensing each other’s feelings.

  He cupped the back of her head and looked into her eyes. “If it’s a part of what makes us us, then I’m fine with it, Angel.” He peppered kisses over her face as he gently stroked her back. “Thank you for loving me and giving me the gift of your heart.”

  Susa twined her arms around his neck. “Will you make love to me now? I want you so much I ache. There’s really no need to wait any longer, is there?”

  Damon looked into her smoky golden eyes. “Angel, before I make you completely mine, I want to put a ring on your finger.”

  Tears sparkled in her eyes. Thank fuck, they were happy tears.

  “Lubho, there’s no need, I don’t want to wait to marry in the Terran way. Our empathic senses touching, the commitment which that entails, is enough for me. It is the Prime way.”

  Damon framed her face with his hands. “Angel, I don’t want to wait, either. But I need to put a ring on your finger as a symbol of my commitment to you.” He rubbed her lush lower lip lightly with his thumb. “I want you to look back and truly understand that our first time together meant more than mere physical gratification. You’re not a body to be used. You’re the woman I adore and honor above all others.”

  “This is important to you?” Susa stared into his eyes as if she could see into his very soul.

  “Yes, very.”

  Damon’s love, his commitment to her, his need to make her feel special threatened to take her to her knees. No man had ever said such beautiful things to her and meant them.

  “Damon, I love you and will be honored to wear your ring.” Taking a deep breath, she caught the scent of his arousal, felt the evidence of it nudging her lower body. “But could we anticipate our lovemaking a bit?”

  “What do you have in mind, love?” His indigo blue gaze smoldered.

  She trailed one hand down the middle of his torso until she reached the line of golden-brown hair leading to his groin. She smoothed a finger up and down the silky trail. Every muscle in his body tensed at her touch.

  She peered at him through the veil of her lashes. “May I take care of your morning erection?”

  “Are you trying to kill me?” The words were uttered in a low, strangled tone.

  “No, I want to pleasure you.” She slid her hand inside his boxers and fondled his erection, using her thumb gently to swipe the precum off the head of his cock. “Each morning, it’s driven me crazy, imagining you naked, wet, hard—pleasuring yourself.”

  “Angel.” Damon covered her hand, stilling its motion. “Take my boxers off.”

  Susa mentally shouted, “Yay.”

  Removing her hand with one last long stroke along his shaft, she rolled away from Damon and got to her knees at his side. She tugged at his underwear, but couldn’t get them past his hips. Biting her lip, she looked at him. He was smiling, one golden-brown eyebrow arched. “Damon?”

  “Ask for my help, love.” He idly traced a finger around her breasts, then up and down her sternum. The sensation tickled and gave her chill bumps.

  Then she understood what he was doing, what he wanted her to acknowledge. He would be in charge in the bedroom, just as he was in charge of her safety. He wanted her to trust him completely. And she did.

  “Damon, would you please lift your hips?”

  “Of course.” He tweaked one of her nipples.

  The touch, a sharp bite, shot straight to her pussy. The sensation ramped her arousal up another notch. Her clit throbbed rapidly, and her folds grew wet.

  Shifting her focus back to showering love on his cock, she pulled, with his help, his boxers down his legs and off. His cock was thick and long and lay against his lower abdomen with the tip of his cock stopping just short of his navel.

  Her inner muscles clenched with anticipation and some trepidation. She’d never taken a cock that size inside her.

  “Susa?” Damon tugged until she fell across his torso. He tipped her face to meet his
gaze. “Talk to me. I sense your apprehension.”

  “You’re so big. I mean … I knew you were big, I could tell through your clothes, but—”

  He leaned in and nipped her lower lip, then licked it. “Stop worrying. We’ll fit, in all ways. Do you still want to handle my morning wood?”

  She nodded.

  He smiled. “That’s my brave Angel.” He ran his fingers through her hair until he got a firm grip and then guided her to the spot over his heart. “You can start here. Lick it like you did earlier. It was very erotic.”

  The spot was where a Prime male’s gemat mark appeared. The fact Damon found it arousing was a good sign that their mate-bond would be a strong one.

  Susa licked over the area by instinct alone and traced a pattern that evoked an answering response over her right ovary. She rubbed her inner thighs together as her folds grew creamy wet, and her pussy clenched around an aching emptiness.

  “That feels so fucking good.” He groaned, and his body stiffened. “Too much more of your sweet tongue teasing my skin, I’ll come all over my stomach before you ever reach my cock.” He gently pulled her head away from his chest and guided it down his torso until her mouth touched the tip of his cock. “Lick the head, love.”

  She twined her tongue around the dark plum-colored glans. His pre-cum tasted salty with a spiciness that was pleasing. She lapped it up like ambrosia.

  “That’s the way. Hold my shaft and take my cock in your mouth.” He changed the grip on her hair to give her more range of motion. “Take as much as you can, love. Use the hand on my shaft to keep from choking.”

  She nodded and smiled around the mouthful of cock. So bossy—yet caring. She began sucking his cock, twining her tongue around the girth, as she took him in and out of her mouth.

  Damon controlled the tempo, his hand on her head. “Fuck, yeah. Just like that.”

  His voice was sex personified—the sounds he made as she laved and sucked his erection were sexy and added to her own arousal. Their strong mind-body connection had her clit throbbing in sync with the blood pulsing in his cock.

  Even if she’d told him they were mating in the Prime way, Damon wouldn’t fully believe her. But he would if the marks appeared, and they should. She’d felt not only warmth, but also movement under Damon’s skin when she’d tongued his chest—and sensed a nascent gemate mark responding, in kind, over her right ovary.

  “Cup my balls.” Damon’s words were guttural, barely recognizable.

  Susa continued to suck his cock and used her free hand to fondle his testicles.

  “Fuck, yeah. Gonna come. Swallow every drop, love.” He held her head in place and thrust his hips to meet her mouth. As he came, he threw his head back and roared, “Susa.”

  She licked his spent cock as it twitched with small after-shocks, cleaning off every bit of his cum.

  “So good.” He groaned and petted her hair as she cared for him. “Thank you, Angel.” In an act of sheer strength, he pulled her body up and over his, settling her until her knees were on each side of his head and her pussy over his mouth. “Grab the headboard and hold on. It’s my turn to care for you.”

  Susa clutched at the headboard. With Damon holding her hips steady, he began to lick and suckle her folds. The sensations were gentle at first, small rivulets of pleasure rolling over the surface of her mound, but soon grew fierce and became waves crashing into the deep recesses of her pussy. With each circle around her opening, he avoided her clit which quickly swelled to the point of pain. For what seemed like forever, he teased her, driving her upward, but never letting her reach the peak.

  “Damon … please.”

  His answer was to squeeze her hips and nip the inside of one of her thighs. “Not yet.” He gave her one long firm lick from the bottom of her opening to just below her clit and then fucked her lightly with his tongue four times. “Fuck, love. You taste so good. I may have to spend several hours a day between your thighs to get my fill.”

  Susa moaned. “Please … more. I ache. I need.” Blessed One, she wanted his big, thick cock inside her now.

  “Let go of the headboard.”

  She did.

  “Good girl.” He gave her clit a quick kiss. “Let me do all the work.”

  Before she understood what he meant, he’d shifted her off him and placed her on her back next to him. Leaning over her, he latched onto a nipple and suckled. She moaned and reached for his head and held him to her.

  He pulled his head out of her hold and gave her an admonishing look. “Hands over your head, love.”

  She complied. Her reward was his lips back on her nipple and a finger in her wet, puffy slit. She thrust her hip to meet his finger which was soon joined by another finger. He stroked the two fingers in and out of her. With consummate skill, he finger-fucked her until her whole world was centered on her nipples and pussy.

  “Yes … yes. So good.” Susa moaned. Her eyes closed, she strained for her climax.

  Releasing the nipple, Damon growled, “Come for me, love.” He pumped his fingers in and out of her faster and added his thumb to rotate over her clit.

  She arched into his touch and screamed. “Blessed bakking One. So good. So good.” She shuddered, moaned, whimpered, and shook through wave after crashing wave of pure ecstasy.

  As the waves turned to ripples, he gave her pussy one last gentle pet, then pulled her against him as he lay on his side.

  Limp with satiation, she nestled her face against his neck and covered the sensitized spot on his chest with her hand. The skin pulsed under her touch as if greeting her.

  “Considering that was fairly vanilla foreplay,” Damon chuckled, “we’re going to burn up the sheets when I really get down to some serious lovemaking.” Despite the small laugh, his tone held notes of shock and awe.

  Susa knew what he meant. No sex had ever felt that good. The actual act of joining might kill them.

  Their bodies continued to vibrate in post-orgasmic bliss. Their breathing and the rapid beating of their hearts, still in concert, fought to slow down.

  Damon’s body was a warm, comforting weight that slightly surrounded her. She could lie with him like this all day. It would even be better if his cock were lodged inside her pussy.

  Susa tilted her head and licked his throat, tasting his clean male sweat. She sighed with contentment and placed little kisses along his clavicle as she absently petted his chest.

  “That feels so good.” Nuzzling her temple, he muttered, “I’ve discovered the urgent need to wash every inch of you and—to make you come at least two more times. So, round two will take place in the shower.”

  “Do I get to wash and pleasure you?” she returned.

  Damon lifted his head. His blue eyes sparkled with love and delight. His emotional aura infused with the same emotions wrapped around her heart and mind. “I think that can be arranged.”

  Evening, Day 6

  At the craps table, Damon stood behind Susa, his hands on her hips, his erection prodding her sweet ass, an ass that was covered in the black gown he’d bought her on Laguna Orgais. He liked being able to touch her and surround her with the protection of his body, which wouldn’t have happened if she had chosen to play cards.

  After the sexy start to their day, he’d managed to beat back his need for her. He’d have her, and soon. But first, he’d arranged a special surprise for Susa in Sessions. After which, they’d retire to their suite where he’d finally make her completely his.

  He leaned over and whispered against her ear, “Wrap it up, love.”

  Susa turned her head and brushed a kiss over his jaw even as she rubbed her bottom over his erection. Focusing on the table, she said, “My last throw, gentlemen.”

  Several of the men groaned with disappointment. Those were the ones who’d learned to follow her lead. The rest of the table breathed a sigh of relief.

  Then the woman who’d become more important to him with each breath he took shoved all her chips on Pass. The ring he’d placed
on her finger before lunch sparkled brightly under the casino lights. She picked up the dice, threw—and won.

  His Angel and her mathematical mind were sexy. He’d enjoyed watching her treat the other players to a school on how to play the odds in craps.

  While Susa counted the chips with the floor manager, Damon eyed Roc, Tor, and Celeste. The trio had joined the crowd observing Susa’s run of luck. The three had also followed him and Susa around most of the day. Roc and friends had missed the dinner seating, but he’d sensed them as soon as they’d entered the casino.

  Their stalkers were bold, but without any overtly threatening actions on their part, he could do nothing. He made a mental note to contact Wulf again and see if the man had found anything on the trio since Damon had spoken with him last evening after Susa had fallen asleep.

  Susa’s “Good luck, gentlemen and ladies” brought his attention back to the here and now.

  “Damon?” Her low, atonal murmur carried only to him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Our shadows are back.” He lifted her hand bearing his ring and brushed a kiss over the back of her fingers. “Nothing I can’t handle. Ready for this evening’s show?”

  “Yes.” She smiled, but he sensed her unease simmering below the surface. “The description posted on the electronic bulletin board sounded exciting.”

  Well, it had, but after several evenings of observation and some discussions of their likes and dislikes, he knew what his Angel wanted, needed from her man. Needs she’d only get met with him and no other.

  While she had taken a nap guarded by Geep, Damon had approached the Dom/sub couple from the previous evening and requested a scene tailored to Susa’s sexual turn-ons. He expected they’d both be so aroused by the time they retired to their suite they might not leave the confines of their quarters for days.

  Damon placed an arm around her waist and guided her through the crowded casino. He nodded casually to Mori and the Volusian casino manager, a man he’d make an offer to come to work for him and Borac before the cruise was over.