BloodandPassion (2 page)

* * * * *

“Seal-skin poisoning,” Rish said, his deep, rich voice
snapping Xyla out of her fantasy and right back into the AllStore.

She forced her eyes open and blinked repeatedly to clear her
arousing vision, only to be met by the flames in Mikal’s eyes. She tried to
distance herself from both her fantasy and his kiss.

Not that it worked. Still his arms, his kiss branding her
lips and Rish’s body heat soaking into her body, she couldn’t forget the feel
of their bodies, their hard, masculine physiques, their wet, hot skin,
pressing, sliding against her in her fantasy.

Mikal had lifted his head, breaking their kiss and she
followed his gaze to Rish. “She’ll be all right?” Mikal asked.

“Her health nannites will flush it out of her body in a
minute or two.” Rish cupped her cheek. “Too much seal-skin makes for a loopy
girl.”

She laughed, grabbed his head and kissed him too.

Unlike Mikal, Rish responded, probing her mouth with his
tongue, nipping her lower lip with his teeth, purring as he kissed her.

“You’re taking advantage of her,” Mikal said from somewhere
far away.

Rish came up for air and she panted, watching him as he
said, “Damn right. How many years have we wanted her? Looks like she wants us
too. I’m going for it.”

“It’s a side effect of the seal-skin.”

Before she could deny Mikal’s accusation, Rish said, “The
med removed her inhibition. Nothing more. It didn’t make her lusty. And it sure
as hell didn’t make her want us.”

“Yes.” She lifted her head to kiss Mikal’s cheek, his chin,
the apple of his neck. But even as she kissed her way to his pecs, the
seal-skin haze was wearing thin, leaving her embarrassed by her bold actions. A
human making out with two Ivec men in an AllStore for everyone to see? Never
mind the see-cams everywhere.

She pushed off Mikal’s chest and landed on unsteady feet,
her left shoe slipping in a little puddle of her own blood as pain rocketed up
her leg. “S-sorry,” she said, grabbing the shelf to stay upright. “I, uh,
sorry.”

“I’m not,” Rish said, his voice like hot chocolate. He took
her hand, kissing her knuckles as if she were an Ivec lady instead of just a
human commoner. “You sorry, Mikal?”

She looked at Mikal through the fringe of her lashes, afraid
of the feelings she’d see flitting across his face. With a light touch, he
lifted her left hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss so soft, so sweet to her
fingertips that Xyla thought she just might swoon like the long-limbed,
ethereal Ivec ladies from the upper classes—the same set these two men belonged
to. But she was their antithesis. Short. Wide-hipped. Big-breasted. Rounded
arms and butt. She was all curves where the women of Rish and Mikal’s race were
all smooth lines and perfect angles.

“You think I’d regret finally tasting the most blissful
woman at peacemaker school? I’m not an idiot,” Mikal said before stalking down
the aisle, leaving her to stare longingly at Rish.

“Don’t look at me,” Rish said, “I’m not an idiot either.”

Holy spacesuit! Mikal and Rish both had crushes on her in
school? How had she missed that?

“Why didn’t you ever say anything? Do anything?” she asked.

“The government hadn’t issued your adult status yet,” Rish
said as Mikal returned, an expensive emergency aid kit gripped in his hand.

Shocked by their revelation, Xyla stood complacent as Mikal
broke the seal on the EAK and tended to her hip. Quickly and efficiently, he
stemmed the flow of blood and mended the wound so that within a few short
moments, it didn’t hurt anymore. Instead, the pain from her injury was replaced
by a deep ache that swelled her breasts and dampened her panties.

Mikal’s warm breath on her outer thigh made her think about
the possibility of his exhalation warming her inner thighs; his fingers probing
her injury made her think of his fingers probing her lower lips. His tongue—

“Enough!” Rish hissed, pulling her back against his chest
and into his arms where the smell of him—citrus and spices—made her mouth
water. Startled by the hard length of his cock pressed against her lower back,
she looked up at his face, finding a tic in the muscle of his jaw. He cleared
his throat and rasped, “Good enough, Mikal.”

Still kneeling in front of her, Mikal stared at the apex of
her thighs. She shuddered. He gave a slow, sexy smile before lifting his
quicksilver gaze to meet her eyes. “Do you think so?”

“What?” She felt like an idiot, staring down at him without
a thought in her brain.

“You good?” Mikal stood and cupped her cheek.

Her gaze dropped to his full bottom lip. She swallowed hard.
“Yeah, thanks.”

He smiled, flashing sharp teeth and pink tongue. “The EAK
recommends plenty of fluids and max oxygen to top off the treatment I just gave
you.”

“Let’s go to a sky bar,” Rish said against her ear, his
voice making her shiver. “There’s one a couple minutes away in lower
atmosphere.”

“Perfect.” Mikal kissed her knuckles. “You can breathe and
we can watch.”

Chapter Two

After sending her crappy ship home using autopilot, Xyla
boarded Rish’s ride—the Mustang StarRunner she’d admired when docking—and sat
hip-to-hip between the men, feeling more than a little out of her league. No
doubt she’d make a fool of herself before the night was over—a bigger fool than
she already had—but she couldn’t convince herself to bail on the quasi-date,
not when she’d lusted after these men for so long.

Take a chance
, her girly hormones insisted.
A
little embarrassment is worth the possibility of getting laid by these two.

Yeah, right
,she argued with herself.
I’m
risking more than mortification. I’m risking my silly, sappy heart. I haven’t
just lusted after them. I’ve loved them. Always.

She winced. Even admitting to herself that she had feelings
for them was awkward. She couldn’t imagine confessing her affection to either
of them. Ever.

Mikal wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her
against the warmth of his body.

She groaned.

“Sorry. Did I hurt your hip?” Mikal scooted away from her,
putting an inch of space between them as Rish docked at the sky bar.

“I’m okay,” she said, forcing her scowl into a smile. “Just
thinking.”

“I think you think too much,” Mikal said as he took her hand
and guided her to the porthole, which opened with a hiss instead of the groan
her ship made.

Biting her lip, she dropped into the crowded lobby of the
oxygen-rich bar and wobbled. Pain from her left hip radiated up and down her
leg, causing her to grit her teeth to prevent cursing in front of the hostess,
a ring-eyed Blavedian. Blavedians were a super-sexual race and the hostess
sported a skirt so low on her hips that if Xyla had worn it, the material
wouldn’t have covered her injury let alone her small triangle of blonde pubic
hair.

A whoosh and Mikal and Rish landed on either side of her.
The hostess’s blue-ringed eyes widened and a smile stretched her unnaturally
plump lips. “Mikal. Rish. Welcome.” She offered them the palms of her
well-manicured hands. For a Blavedian, this was an intimate greeting between
lovers.

As if of one mind, the men offered Xyla their arms, giving
the hostess a polite nod only. Xyla watched as the hostess stepped back behind
the counter, her intimate smile changing to one of polite interest.

Before taking their arms, Xyla hesitated. Unlike the men,
she didn’t know her own mind. On the one hand, her injury and the meds made her
unsteady on her feet, so taking their arms would be practical if not completely
necessary. On the other hand, she was put off that Rish and Mikal had brought
her to a bar where a current or past lover worked.

Even if this wasn’t a real date and they were only worried
about providing oxygen to help her heal, single Ivec men did not knowingly
bring a woman they accompanied in contact with past or present lovers. Not if
they wanted to show her respect. Xyla had learned that much about Ivec behavior
in social studies.

“We should go,” Rish said in a low voice.

Mikal gave a single nod. “Our apologies, Xyla. This woman,
Teon, is in our past. We did not know she works here.”

Rish tapped the implant in his wrist to open the port to his
ship, but Xyla laid her hand over his, stopping him from boarding. She met his
gaze and saw the regret there. The hostess was an accident, a mistake.

“Forgiven,” she said softly as she took their arms. “Let’s
stay. I need oxygen more than I need my pride.”

The hostess of the sky bar led them through a maze of
cloud-covered tables, cutting through the fog that glided like smoke across the
white marble floor. They slid into a low booth.

Xyla admired the perfect view of the evening sky, which looked
like a bright watercolor painting, before an oxygen-enriched cloud billowed
from the ceiling to engulf them in moist air, blocking out their surroundings.
She inhaled deeply, wanting to reap the benefit of the cloud combining with the
medication, working to knit the damaged muscle and skin on her hip. Almost
immediately, she could feel her body relax. The last of the pain in her hip
subsided.

A silver mechanical bird winged into their cloud and chirped
a one-note greeting, its beady black eyes whirring as it matched each of their
identities with their appearance.

“Three long lives on me, please,” Mikal said to the bird,
then turned to Xyla and asked, “Celestial all right with you?”

She clenched her teeth to stop the gasp that tried to
escape. Produced and distributed by Ivecs, Celestial was the galaxies’ most
expensive, sought-after long-life drink. It had the ability to extend a
person’s lifespan for dozens of years. It was rumored that whatever was in the
drinks was the secret to the Ivec race’s long lifespan. A human commoner like
her could work a lifetime and not earn enough credit to buy a watered-down
shot, let alone a bottle. She couldn’t let him spend that kind of credit on
her. “I’ll just have whatever the house long life is.”

Rish frowned at her before saying, “We’ll have three
Celestials.”

The bird gave a two-note, high-low chirp of confirmation and
flew out of their cloud to place their order. Xyla sat back and took another
deep breath of oxygen-rich air. “You didn’t have to do that, you know. I would
have been just as happy with the house brand.”

“You say that only because you’ve never tasted Celestial,
have you?” Rish asked.

“May I ask you something personal?” Xyla looked from one to
the other. Ivecs usually didn’t do personal.

Mikal’s jaw worked, a muscle twitching just below his ear,
but he said nothing. Rish left Mikal’s gaze for Xyla’s and gave a short nod.
“I’ll answer if I can,” he said.

“With the credit you two obviously have, why go to
peacemaker school? Why work as peacemakers?”

Beneath his golden eyebrows, Rish winced, his deep-blue eyes
narrowing. He sighed before saying, “Our government asked for volunteers, as
Ivecs needed to be intimately involved in the peacemaker system, specifically
in lawmaking and peace patrols. For appearances, yes, but for the sake of
equality too.”

“So you became a lawmaker?”

“Yes,” Rish said.

“And you, a peace patroller?”

“The jobs appealed to us,” Mikal said.

The fact that they were peacemakers hardly made them her
equals but Xyla just shrugged. Ivecs did not discuss politics outside their
race. She was surprised Rish had said as much as he did. Besides, she didn’t
want to ruin her night out with them just because she was intimidated by their
credit.

Wondering how much they were willing to share with her, she
asked something she’d been wondering since she’d met them. “It’s more than your
education and jobs that brought you together, isn’t it? I mean, you’ve always
had this…bond.” She blushed. “When I first met you, I thought you had a
romantic relationship. But you’re not…” she floundered.

Rish cleared his throat. “Humans typically create family
units with one or two adults and whatever children they produce or procure.”

“You mean adopt,” Xyla said. “Humans produce or adopt
children, not procure.”

Rish smiled.

Mikal said, “Ivecs generally create family units starting
with two or more adults of the same gender and one of the opposite gender. The
most common unit among our race is two males and one female.” He paused, looked
at Rish. “We decided as childhood friends that we wanted to create a family
unit with ourselves and a female. We knew that we belonged together as a
family.”

She stared at him.
That has to be the most I’ve ever
heard Mikal say in one sitting. Ever.

Rish made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
She faced him to find a wide smile lighting his face.

“What’s so funny?” She frowned.

He cleared his throat. “You don’t find the flexibility with
which we create our family units…odd?”

She shrugged. “It’s different. I’ll give you that. But I
think it’s kind of nice.”
It’d be even nicer if I was the girl you were
looking to start a family with,
she thought.

For the next couple of hours, she pretended she belonged at
the table with Rish and Mikal, drinking her iced bottle of Celestial, breathing
oxygen-rich air and reminiscing about their days at peacemaker school. The more
time she spent in the clouded booth with them, the less she thought about their
difference in race and class and the more she seemed to belong between their
hard bodies.

She hoped what she’d heard about Celestial causing memory
lapses was unfounded because she wanted to remember tonight—especially when
Rish closed the small distance between them and kissed her neck. It felt
natural for her to lower her eyelids and lean back into him, shivering at the
sensation of his warm mouth pressed against her sensitive skin. Mikal’s hands
on her waist made her tense and blush, but she didn’t deny him, couldn’t when
she wanted them both so desperately and had for so long.

This feels so right
,she thought.
Perfect.

Rish cupped her breasts and she arched into his possessive
hold, moving onto his lap while Mikal smoothed his hands down to her thighs,
making her warm and shivery. Later she might go home and sleep alone in her
thrift-store bed with only blankets to warm her, but she would have this dream,
this amazing gift of making love to Mikal and Rish in a cloud to fall asleep
to, instead of the unfulfilled fantasies that usually kept her company on
lonely nights.

She refused to live in her solitary past or her hope-filled
future when her present held two men who’d had her back in hand-to-hand combat
classes, who’d fallen into step with her when walking the school’s long,
bully-filled corridors, who’d shared a smile with her after particularly grueling
days of memorizing all-race Milky Way common laws.

In fact, most of her school memories contained Mikal and
Rish, she suddenly realized. One or both had always been nearby befriending
her, protecting her, laughing with her…but they’d never been as close as they
were right now.

Rish nipped her earlobe before kissing a path down her neck
to her shoulder, gently massaging her breasts, tweaking her nipples, rocking
the hard length of his cock against her bottom.

Her pussy throbbed and wept as Mikal ate at her mouth,
kissing and nipping her lips, thrusting his tongue inside to tease hers as he
gripped her thighs and spread her legs beneath the table.

The sound of conversation from a nearby table spilled over
into their booth. She gasped and jerked away from them, eyes tightly closed,
unable to meet the men’s hot gazes and still deny them.

No one could see them in the dense cloud. No one would know
that two Ivec men were having sex with a human woman in the expensive sky bar,
still Xyla felt vulnerable and exposed. Hooking up in a public place wasn’t
against the law or uncommon for Ivecs, but it was a human taboo. Regardless of
what Ivecs would call her human sexual eccentricities, she shook off her fear,
deciding to follow her wayward heart and the passion Rish and Mikal built
inside her.

She wanted them. And, miraculously, they wanted her too. She
wasn’t smart—or was it, stupid—enough to screw this up. Putting aside her
doubts, she reached behind her to cup Rish’s head and brought their mouths
together, kissing him softly at first and then deeply, groaning as he made her
heart skip a beat before it pounded out her lust, her need.

Blindly she reached for Mikal, caught his hand in hers and
brought it to the hot juncture between her legs. He didn’t hesitate, his
fingers sliding open the tabs of her slacks and slipping beneath her panties to
test the slick heat waiting for him between her folds. She quivered beneath his
touch, burned for both of the men.

He slid one finger up inside her as he thumbed her clit. Rish
rolled her nipples, bit her bottom lip. Her body clenched. She strained between
them, against them. Her pleasure built at light speed. And just that quickly,
Xyla came, shivering then shattering between them. Gasping for breath, blinking
back tears, holding them to her until she crashed from the pleasure and drooped
within the circle of their arms.

Birdsong filled the booth. Xyla jerked upright. Rish and
Mikal angled their bodies to block the bird’s view of her as its wings cut
through the cloud and it hovered over the table. It tilted its head to the side
and whistled a high questioning note, asking if they were ready for the bill.

Xyla straightened her clothes, trying to put herself back
together as Mikal transferred an obscene amount of credit from his account to
the sky bar. Enough to pay her salary for six months, enough to remind her of
their class difference and put distance between them again. But the slowing of
her heart rate, the cooling of her ardor seemed a temporary condition. The
tension in her muscles, the clenching of her pussy at a simple glance from Rish
and a slight brush of Mikal’s fingers against her skin told her cultural
differences were weaker than the bond she had formed with these two men years
ago in peacemaker school and renewed just now in a sky bar.

The bird left. The cloud lifted. The night waited.

* * * * *

Outside the StarRunner’s panoramic viewscreen, the night sky
was dominated by moons that glittered with bright lights from white cities.
Inside the ship’s dark cabin, Xyla couldn’t suppress her need—despite
differences of race and class—to be with Rish and Mikal again. And they seemed
of the same mind.

“How you have haunted us,” Rish said in his midnight voice
as he entered her home coordinates and engaged the autopilot.

Alone with what were literally the men of her dreams, she
tipped her head to accept Mikal’s kiss.
Our third
,she thought
wistfully as he cupped her face and drew her to him with enough finesse to make
her heart flutter and her mind flash upon fairytale fantasies of the
happily-ever-after kind. The brush of his lips against hers, warm and soft, the
subtle scent of masculine, aroused male, the thump of his strong, steady heart
beneath the palm of her hand, all combined to destroy the last few shreds of
her reservation.