Authors: Jamie Magee,A. M. Hargrove,Becca Vincenza
Tags: #Anthologies, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Collections & Anthologies, #Anthologies & Short Stories, #Romance, #Vampires, #Paranormal, #sexy, #Aliens, #lovers, #shifters, #dangerous
He sliced his head once to the left and then back again.
Her brow furrowed, and she tried to back out of his hold.
“Oh no you don’t. Tell me what’s going on here. The truth Liasare because if you don’t, you know damn well I’ll get it out of you anyway.”
“When you were ... when your tongue was ... oh God this is embarrassing.”
“
Now
you’re embarrassed? Liasare, my tongue has traveled over nearly every inch of your body, and in places I would venture to guess you rarely touch yourself, and now you get embarrassed?”
“Stop! I can’t help it, okay? I’m sorry I’m this way. I just am. I don’t normally have men’s tongues lapping at my innermost sacred places.”
“I should hope not and don’t you ever think of allowing any other man to do that, do you understand me?”
“Oh, cut the macho crap already will you? If you haven’t figured out by now that I’m not that kind of girl, then you are an idiot!”
Their eyes bored into each other and an unspoken battle erupted. He seemed to tell her that she would find out exactly what kind of idiot he was if she thought to test him in that arena. She seemed to challenge his authority, as he stood in front of her with his hackles raised.
“Answer me then. How the fuck did you do it?”
“I’m not sure. Like I said, when you were, ah, yeah, down there,” she dropped her eyes, but he quickly halted her movement.
“Look at me when you speak,” he purred.
She opened her eyes and felt her face spike with heat. Clearing her throat, she continued, “When you were ... when I was ... why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m trying to find out how you did this, dammit. Quit squirming and answer the fucking question.”
She tried to twist out of his grasp, but it was ironclad. Her eyes shot back to his and she decided to be brutally honest. “When your tongue was bringing me the most unbelievable ecstasy I had ever experienced, the only thing I could think of was that I wanted to feel you next to me, to feel your skin on mine. Not our stupid clothes. As soon as the thought entered my head, the clothes flew off so I assumed you’d read my mind. I didn’t think I did it.”
“What about my body?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, now truly puzzled.
“When our clothes disappeared there was a force that pulled me over you, on top of you. Was that something you wanted as well?”
If Liasare could have looked in a mirror, she was sure her face would have been a mottled shade of purple. Of course she had wanted him on top of her, but she didn’t think she had actually made him move there.
“Yes,” she mumbled, “I did. And I wanted to feel your heart beat next to mine, I wanted you to kiss me and if I could have, I would have crawled inside of you and somehow cradled your heart within my hands. Now that I’ve bared my soul to you, do you plan on mocking me, humiliating me or yelling at me?” Standing tall as a soldier, head held high, she waited for his response.
Bending down, he picked up her dress and said, “I would never mock or humiliate you for sharing those feelings with me. I think you need to get dressed. Our dinner is probably here and we need to have a talk. Something is happening that I’m not sure even I can explain.”
Her feelings were so muddled right now, for she was exhausted, physically and mentally, she was frightened of a role she’d been chosen to fulfill but was uncertain she’d be able to do it with any success, and she was also emotionally attached to the man who stood next to her and had every nerve ending in her body rising in anticipation of his touch.
“That’s it? Get dressed because our dinner is here?” now she was pissed. “I think you can go and have a lovely dinner by your own self, Jurek.”
“Liasare, please get dressed. We have things we need to discuss.”
“I don’t think so. I think we’re done discussing. You’re an ass, you know that?” Frustration lacing her words, she finally said, “Look, I can’t do this anymore. I’m tired, scared, and quite honestly, you do things to me that sometimes I’m ill equipped to deal with. My body responds to you in ways that, well, I can’t even explain it to myself. I’m in a constant state of denial and it’s making me crazy.”
“What do you mean denial?”
“Seriously? For God’s sake Jurek, every time you’re near me, I’m in a heightened state of arousal, and then you deny me any satisfaction. I’m like an explosive, getting ready to go off at any second.”
“I never deny you satisfaction.”
“What? You
always
deny me satisfaction. You refuse to have sex with me.”
“That’s because I’m protecting you. But I do other things to satisfy you.”
“I know, but I want
you
. Among those other things. I like those other things too. But Jurek, I. Want. You!” her eyes held his and he felt them touching his soul. Her lips parted and he could hear her breaths as it came out in short puffs.
The dress he held in his hand was gone in a flash. “Did you do that?” Liasare asked him.
He shook his head to the left one time, right before he all but pounced on her. He was kissing her all over, licking her, trailing his tongue along her hipbones. He slid down her body and kissed each leg, all the way to the bottoms of each of her feet, massaging them and then returning to her inner thighs, where he nibbled a path to the juncture of her legs. Spreading them wide, he ran his tongue along her and she moaned as she grabbed his head, pulling him closer. His tongue swirled and delved into her, hitting that perfect spot until she cried out his name again and again. When her climax finally faded, he moved up and pulled her on top of him and began a slow, sensual dance with his tongue and hers. He tasted her sweetness and ran his tongue along her lower lip, as she kissed him back, nibbling on his lip in return. “I can’t get enough of your taste Liasare.”
She moved over him and twisted her fingers in his hair, as she pulled her mouth from him. “I love the way you smell and the way your tongue makes me feel Jurek. But I still want you. Inside of me.”
She slid down his body and began kissing his chest, his abs and she spent quite a long time tracing the outline of that gorgeous tattoo on his hip with her tongue. She used her teeth and lips until she had him groaning and making those sexy sounds in the back of his throat that turned her on so much. Then she inched her way down his body.
“Liasare,” he rasped. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing I don’t want to do,” she said as she took him into her mouth, sliding her tongue over his velvety skin as he groaned her name. His breathing accelerated which spurred her on, taking her strokes to a rhythm that matched it. She lifted her eyes to look at him and just as she did, he moaned in pleasure seeing her watching him. Liasare felt her sex respond as he withdrew from her mouth right before he climaxed. He grabbed her arms pulling her on top of him, and they shared a wet, wild and lush kiss. Holding her tightly, he flipped them and began kissing her cheeks, lips and then nuzzling her neck.
“Oh Liasare,” he said, breathing into her neck. “I want to be inside of you more than I can say.” His words were spoken so quietly, she didn’t think she heard him correctly.
“What did you say?”
He lifted himself up to his elbows and whispered, “I want to be inside of you more than I can say.”
“Jurek, I don’t understand.”
“If we do this there are things that can happen, things that could put you at great risk. Part of my power could shift to you and that could kill you. If by some miracle it didn’t, you could also be vulnerable to my enemies. Once we bind together, and my power is fused in you, my enemies can track me through you. I’m immortal and you aren’t. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you because of me. The risks are too great for something such as this ... a night of pleasure Liasare.”
She cupped his faced between her hands. “Don’t you think it’s only fair that I have a say in this? It’s my life after all.”
“Yes, but I already know what you’re going to say. And I’m not willing to take that chance when we can have nights like this, beautiful nights together with you naked in my arms, allowing me to pleasure you. And if the day arrives when the universe is safe again, then we’ll move to the next step.”
“I won’t feel like you’re mine though.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“If we don’t make love, I won’t feel like we belong to each other.”
“Oh Liasare. Don’t ever make that mistake. You are one hundred and fifty percent mine. And if anyone tries to take you away from me, I’ll kill them,” he swore.
“What about me? Do I have those same rights where you’re concerned?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “So you think I’m out picking up other women? Is that what you’re asking me?” He was out of bed in a flash, eyes blazing silver, anger rolling off of him.
“Let’s get one thing straight right now. You and me, nothing and no one comes between us. I don’t sleep around on my women. And I expect the same. If I find out differently, you’ll regret it, understand?”
“Jurek, I had to ask.”
“Why? I’m here every night, or on Lare-Stell. Or Vesturon. You always know where I am. You don’t trust me yet. I know. I get that. But dammit Liasare, when have I given you cause to think for one second that I’d fuck around on you?”
Liasare didn’t have a good answer for that. “I’m always confused around you. I can’t help it!”
“You’re confused because of you, not because of me. I’ve been straight up with you from the start.”
“What? How so? You’ve sent me mixed signals from day one!”
“No, I haven’t. That’s where you’re wrong. I told you we couldn’t have sex. Yes, we’ve played around and I’ve made you feel good, or I’ve tried anyway. I’m sorry we haven’t done the final deed, but I’ve been up front about that from the start. But I have not hidden the fact that I’ve desired you from the first time I laid eyes on you. I’m sorry you’re confused, but that wasn’t my fault. And why didn’t you come to me and ask me?”
Again, she didn’t have a good response.
“I don’t know. Maybe I was shy. I’m inexperienced with men. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act. I’m inexperienced with every damn thing. You ought to know that by now. I screw everything up. And my body has such a weird reaction to you. Like it
knows
when you’re around. My nerve endings perk up like you wouldn’t believe, I can barely think straight. Sometimes I think I want to have sex with you just to help me think properly again.”
She looked at him and he was smiling. “I do that to your body?”
“Yes! No wonder I’m always so discombobulated.”
He looked like that cat that swallowed the canary. The ass was actually gloating! She should never have told him that, dammit.
“Has another man ever made you feel this way?”
“No!”
“Not even your Shandro?”
“No, and he’s not my Shandro!”
He got a smug look about him, tossed her the dress and said, “We’re definitely going to be eating a cold dinner, although I’ll admit it was worth every bite.”
Liasare watched him as he bent down, retrieved his clothing and headed to the bathroom. She quickly put her dress on and spied her torn panties on the floor. Picking them up, she tossed them on the sofa with a smirk and headed out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Two
A few minutes later, Jurek strode out of the bathroom, fully dressed, into an empty room. He was about to go looking for Liasare when Tak entered his room.
“I’m not in the mood for an interruption right now,” Jurek told him.
“I can see why,” Tak replied as he eyed the torn panties lying on the sofa.
Following Tak’s gaze, Jurek gave a snort of disgust as he shook his head, picked up the scrap of cloth and tossed it on his bed.
“What do you want?” he asked in frustration.
“We’ve found something. A colony on Trakstar 27. It looks like our suspicions are correct. There is a base there with approximately thirty thousand life forms. We’ve sent some men to investigate and they should be back to Lare-Stell in a few hours. I think this is where they’re sending all the abductees Jurek. It all is making sense. We think there are more than just the Xanthians involved here too.”
“Okay, slow down. Trakstar 27 is in the Omega quadrant. That’s nowhere near Earth. We’re talking BFE for Christ’s sake. What the fuck are they doing all the way out there?”
“Trying to stay unnoticed. And it’s worked until now. All those probes have the Trakstar 27 marking on them. They were making sure no one was on to them.”
Jurek began pacing and he ran his hand through his hair. “Damn. Meet me in the kitchen. I need to get Liasare and we need to eat dinner. You can fill us in on all the details while we eat.” Jurek flashed out of the room.
Liasare was in her room, stepping into a replacement thong when Jurek popped in. She screamed when she heard him and her hairbrush went soaring through the air toward his head.
It was difficult to tell who was more shocked, Liasare because of Jurek flashing into her room while she was standing there bare-assed, or Jurek because of Liasare’s hairbrush headed toward his head.