Cosmic Sex (21 page)

“Can you believe he streaked through the hospital? I know these interns run on very little sleep, but I never expected this one to go off the deep end.”

“It couldn’t have happened to someone more deserving.” The little blond nurse bobbed her head. “He cornered me in the elevator once and made some suggestions about what he could do for me. It was enough to turn my stomach, and after working in the emergency room and seeing mangled bodies all shift, it takes a hell of a lot to make me throw up.” She rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, he was always winking at me.” The other nurse grinned. “But after seeing him in the buff, I don’t think he could do a whole lot for anyone. Give me a break!”

They both laughed and were quickly out of hearing range.

“Streaking.” Letty shook her head. “This has been a strange night. There must be a full moon.”

Streaking? That didn’t sound good. If Kia had turned her phazer on the guy...

He looked at his watch. Damn, had he been away from her that long? Sometimes he forgot Kia wasn’t from Earth.

“Hey, Mom, I think I’ll drop by to see Becca in the morning. You were right about Kia not looking so good. Maybe I should get her home.”

They said their good-byes and he hurried to the elevator. When he saw Kia downstairs, leaning against the waist-high wall, he breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and smiled after he called her name. Maybe she had just needed a little air. She looked better than she had upstairs.

“They’re doing all right?”

“Fine. Are you ready to go back to the apartment?”

“Yes.”

But she was silent on the way to the car. They got in and he started it up, turning the radio to a classical station. Maybe the soothing sounds of Chopin would relax her.

His mind stayed busy as he pulled into the steady flow of traffic. But as soon as he hit the expressway, he had a little more time to think about what he needed to do.

He had to tell Kia about her locator.

The car wasn’t the place, though. As soon as they were in the apartment, he would tell her.

And she would probably leave.

He drew in a deep breath. What if... No, there weren’t any what ifs. They’d had fun together. But it was over now. His life would go on as before.

“The baby was really okay?”

Some of his tension eased.

“Nick?”

He glanced her way. “The baby has all the parts he’s supposed to have. Becca and Jack will make great parents.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Someday you’ll have your own child. I think you will also make a good parent.”

His gut tightened. “Someday.” She was ending their relationship. The way she’d said he would make a good parent. Not they would make good parents. That told him everything he needed to know.

He wouldn’t make the same mistake his parents had made and get serious about a doomed relationship. Maybe his way was better after all.

He pulled in the garage and parked, glad the conversation was over. He didn’t want to think about getting married or having kids.

Silence reigned as they rode the elevator to his floor, each lost in their own thoughts. Nick felt as if he was walking toward the electric chair. All he needed was a priest to offer the last rites.

Chapter 23

As they went inside the apartment, Nick knew it was the time to tell Kia. He shut the door and turned around. His mouth opened, but the words wouldn’t come as he watched her slip her coat off and lay it across the back of the sofa.

When she turned around, their gazes met and locked. Something he couldn’t really describe passed between them. A need? A longing. Maybe she’d already sensed the time for her to leave was nearing because she moved toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his face close to hers.

“Make love to me,” she said.

For a moment, his brain clouded. A reprieve. He envisioned slowly stripping off her clothes and sinking deep inside her hot body.

It was an effort, but he managed to restrain himself. “I have to tell you something. Weldon... ”

“Shh.” She placed two fingers on his lips. “It’ll wait until morning. I want you.”

Maybe it would wait until morning.

He lowered his mouth to hers. God, she tasted so frigging sweet. Her tongue slid across his, sending spasms of heat down his body. He ran his hands through her hair, pulling her closer. The rain-forest fragrance of shampoo wafted to him, mixing with the scent of their need.

She slipped her hands beneath his shirt, touching, caressing his back, lightly scraping with her fingernails. Shivers of pleasure ran down his spine.

They were both panting when he ended the kiss and stepped back. “If I don’t slow down I’m going to rip off your clothes and take you right here, right now.”

Her eyes half closed. “Would that be a bad thing?”

He almost did exactly that, but stopped at the last second. “I want this night to last.”

She turned and sauntered toward the bedroom. Now what was she up to? At the doorway, she turned and crooked her finger. Oh, yeah, she learned real fast.

He immediately followed.

Once inside the bedroom, she went to one of the bags from the clothing store and brought out the bottles she’d said Sherry the store clerk had talked her into purchasing. He’d forgotten about them. Apparently, Kia hadn’t.

“She said to light the candles. They smell good.” She innocently smiled. “You wanted to make the night last, make it special, right?”

“Every night with you is special.” He took the candles and lit them. Their cinnamon fragrance soon filled the room, along with a soft warm glow. When he turned back around, Kia had set the bottles on the dresser.

He reached over and turned his CD player on. The music was something he’d picked up when he was in New Orleans on vacation a few years ago. It was a throbbing, sensual beat that touched deep down into a person’s very soul. The kind of music that set a person’s inhibitions free. The kind of music that made a person wild with sexual desire.

Kia began to sway to the music. He sat down on the bed, leaned back on his elbow, and watched her.

The top she wore had a front zipper. She slowly tugged it down and slipped it off. Again, she wasn’t wearing a bra. His mouth watered. Her impromptu striptease was amateurish... and sexy as hell.

She raised her hands, running them through her hair, letting the silky tresses fall in disarray. Lights and shadows touched her, kissing her naked skin. Slowly she slid her hands over her breasts, tweaking the nipples, then moving her hands downward.

This would be a good time to breathe.

He slowly drew air into his lungs, not wanting to draw attention to himself. No, he wanted all the focus to be on Kia. The way she trailed her fingernails lightly over her abdomen. The way she swayed to the music, completely absorbed by the beat, the sound.

She pushed her slacks over her hips and down her legs in one smooth movement. When she straightened, all that was left was a black thong. A very skimpy black thong. His pulse quickened.

She looked at him, hooked her thumbs in the elastic, and slowly tugged the tiny scrap of silk downward, exposing the dark curls that covered her mound. His dick throbbed with the need to fill her body, enclosing him in a cocoon of intense heat.

As she closed the distance between them, he stood. Tugged his T-shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. He didn’t waste time stripping out of his jeans and briefs. They landed on top of his shirt on her side of the bed.

While he was removing his clothes, she watched, not making a move to touch him. Hell, she didn’t have to. Her eyes said it all. Telling him exactly how much she wanted him. It was a hell of a turn-on.

She picked up one of the bottles of oil. “What does it do?”

“Let’s find out.” He untwisted the cap, which he tossed on top of his dresser before pouring a little of the oil in the palm of his hand and setting the bottle back down.

“This is very exciting. I never had to oil Adam-4.”

He frowned, not really liking the fact that she had a life-size vibrator waiting for her on Nerak, but it did make him think of something he’d been meaning to ask. “Why do you call him Adam-4?”

“Adam-1 got too close to an incinerating machine and melted into a shiny blob, Adam-2 overheated, and Adam-3 wore out. Now I have Adam-4.”

“So are you going to get me overheated?”

Her gaze slid sensuously over him. “Yes, I think I will.”

He grinned as he began to massage the oil onto her shoulders, making her skin slick. The more he massaged it in, the more it warmed on his hands.

“That feels good,” she moaned, arching toward him. “It heats my skin, making me feel hot all over.”

How could he resist her breasts when she pushed them right at him? He reached for the bottle again and slowly poured the oil down her front.

She gasped, her eyes flying open. “Now, what will I put on you?” She eyed the empty bottle.

“Oh, I think we can find a way to share it.” He pulled her down onto the bed with him so that she landed on top.

She laughed, sliding up and kissing him on the lips. Cinnamon. Sweet and sassy.

“Are you having fun smearing me with oil?”

She nodded and began to slide lower. She flicked her tongue across one nipple. It beaded to a nub. Her gaze met his. Her smile was more than a little wicked. He couldn’t wait to see what she’d do next.

She moved up a few inches, rubbing her sex against his erection.

“Oh yeah, baby, just like that.” Lights swirled above his head. Fiery reds, passionate blues, and hot pinks. Ah, yes, this was good.

She inched her way down his body, nipping and kissing his chest, his abdomen. He held his breath. She licked down his length before drawing him into her mouth. He arched his hips; the breath he’d been holding rushed out.

The lights danced above him. Heat spread through him like fire through dry brush. “Ah, man, that’s it.” She sucked him in deeper. “Right there. Ah, damn.”

She nibbled and licked at him while massaging his balls at the same time. For a novice, she learned damned fast, but if he didn’t stop her right now, the night would end a hell of a lot sooner than either one of them wanted.

“Baby, you have to stop.”

“Don’t want to.”

She slid his foreskin down and licked coming back up. He drew in a sharp breath. His eyes fogged over.

“No, baby, you have to stop,” he managed to say again, then tried another tactic. “I want to kiss your sex, run my tongue up and down your clit, and suck on you.”

She paused. It was long enough for him to lean forward and slide her slick body up his. Damn, even then he almost lost it.

No, it wasn’t going to end this soon. He wanted to taste every delicious inch of her body until she begged him to bury himself deep inside her.

When she was on Nerak and she looked around for sexual relief, he wanted her to remember him. Damn it, he didn’t want her to forget about this night. Not ever.

“I think you tricked me.” She eyed him.

“I think you’re right.” He cupped her breast, massaging before tugging on her nipple with his thumb and forefinger.

“That feels nice,” she moaned.

“Only nice? I guess I’ll have to do better.” He rolled her onto her back and licked across one nipple before sucking it inside his mouth. He continued to massage her other breast.

“I like the way you taste,” he said as he pulled back. “Cinnamon was a good choice of the flavored oil.” He palmed one breast. “And I like the way you feel. The way you moan when I do this.” He tugged on her nipple again, rolling it between his fingers. She didn’t disappoint. A moan escaped from between her parted lips.

He moved to his knees, staring down at her. Fucking fantastic. He moved to the end of the bed. “Open your legs for me. I want to taste you.”

She spread her legs without hesitation. He started at her ankles, running his hands up her legs, up her thighs, then down again.

She whimpered.

“Soon,” he breathed. “Just feel the sensations and know that I’ll be tasting all of you.”

He moved closer, resting his knees on the bed, between her legs. She was so damn sexy lying on the bed wide open. It was all he could do to keep from plunging into her hot body. She would have an orgasm, but he wasn’t through looking at her, wasn’t through tasting her.

He dragged his finger through her silky, oil-damp curls. She arched toward him.

“Please, Nick.”

“Please what? This?” He lowered his mouth to her sex, running his tongue over the lips, then the fleshy middle. Sweet. Cinnamon... and Kia. A heady combination.

She whimpered. He knew she was getting close. No more torture. He sucked her inside his mouth, his hands sliding beneath her buttocks to bring her closer, to hold her tighter against his mouth.

She cried out, her body convulsing as the first wave hit her. He continued to taste her for a few seconds more, then grabbed a condom and slipped it on.

He thrust inside her once, twice. She wrapped her legs around him and he sank deeper inside her heat. Their ragged breathing filled the room. Lights flashed, candles flickered. Again and again he thrust. Harder and harder.

She arched her back. He watched the expression on her face when she came. Saw the rapture and then the air around him seemed to explode as his orgasm grasped him.

He collapsed to the bed with a low groan.

When his world righted itself there was only one thought running through his mind. How the hell was he ever going to be able to watch her walk away?

The next morning Kia rolled to her back and stretched. Sex with Nick got better each time. No, he was right. It wasn’t just sex. They’d made love and created a bond.

But now it was time to break it.

The room swayed, then righted itself at the thought of leaving him. She closed her eyes tight against the pain. Never in all her years had she felt anything that hurt this badly.

But she could never be what Nick needed in a life mate, and he deserved the best. And she’d figured out that when he used protection, it stopped her from having a baby. It was for the best but it left an emptiness inside her.

Small barks reminded her the puppies would want out to play. She glanced at Nick. He was still sleeping. She eased from the bed, trying to be as quiet as she could, trying to pretend her heart wasn’t breaking.

But as soon as she stood, Kia planted her foot on Nick’s pants and whatever he had in his pocket. When she moved his pants out of the way, the object slipped out.

Her locator.

She could feel the color drain from her face. She thought they would at least have a few days together. Leaning over, she picked the device up and flipped it open. The screen came on. So Weldon had fixed it. It would seem they only had hours left.

A spurt of anger burned through her, making her wonder if it was because he hadn’t told her or because it was time for her to return home.

“I was going to tell you when I got home from the station.” Nick spoke quietly, as if he’d read her thoughts.

Her anger evaporated at the sound of apology in his voice. “But Becca had her baby,” she said, filling in what he’d left unsaid.

“And when we got back to the apartment... ”

“... I wanted to make love.”

“You’re not angry?”

How could she be? Not when they had precious little time together. She shook her head. To be angry would be to dismiss what they’d shared last night, and she would never do that.

“I’ll insert Mala’s DNA.” She stood, going to the other room and retrieving her satchel. It only took a few seconds to process.

Nick joined her in the next room.

“Do you know these coordinates?” She handed him the locator.

He took the locator and went to his desk. “I have a map here somewhere.” He searched in several drawers before he brought one out. After looking once more at the locator, he scanned the map. “That’s going to be close to San Antonio. About four hours from here.” His expression was solemn.

The time frame would be close. “You can take me there?”

He nodded. “I’ll shower and get dressed.” Just as he reached the door, he turned. “Don’t go. Stay here. With me.”

His words startled her. For a moment, she imagined spending the rest of her life on Earth, living with Nick, loving Nick—having his children.