Desert World Rebirth (17 page)

“Nagging? Me?” She smiled sweetly. “I manipulate, connive, beguile, control, and finesse. I do not nag.” She gave Shan a haughty expression, but as she stood up, she gasped and grabbed the arm of the couch. Shan sprang forward and caught her, one hand around her waist, but immediately, she started batting at him. “I’m fine. Good Lord, you fuss. You and Kevin are both enough to drive an old woman to drink,” she complained, pushing at Shan until he retreated, all offers to help her withdrawn. “So, go sleep before you fall down, and you.” She pointed a thin finger toward Temar. He expected her to order him to get something to eat, but she surprised him. “Make sure he’s not sneaking out in the middle of the night to sort broken bits.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Temar answered.

Lilian gave him a little wink before she headed for the door. “And I’m telling Hannal that you wanted a celebratory feast, just the two of you. You’ll have Wistia writing new ballads about your grand, romantic gestures.” Lilian snorted to make her opinion on the matter of romantic gestures clear. With that, she left, although Temar suspected she wasn’t through yet.

Shan sighed as the door closed behind her. “Does she scare you as much as me?”

“Yes,” Temar agreed emphatically.

Shan sank back down onto the couch. “Half of me wonders if she wouldn’t be better for this job, even as sick as she is.”

“One of us could develop some pain or something,” Temar said weakly. He doubted that anyone would truly believe either of them succumbing to a convenient attack of inexplicable pain, but no one would force them to go up either. “She’d go if there wasn’t anyone else to take the job.” He didn’t like the idea, but if Shan really thought Lilian was their best choice, he wouldn’t argue with that, either.

Shan looked at him, his mouth open in shock. “You want to try and manipulate Lilian Freeland?”

“Don’t you think it would work?”

Closing his mouth with an audible click of his teeth, Shan shrugged. “It might, it might not. I just want to take a second to appreciate the audacity of anyone with the balls to try and manipulate Lilian. If she guts you, I’ll go to your funeral.”

Temar rolled his eyes as he crossed the room to sit next to Shan. “Are you serious about wanting her to go up?”

That seemed to require some thought. Finally Shan shook his head. “No, but I am going to secretly curse the universe for not having this happen ten years ago. Lilian would have terrified them into handing over entire planets.”

Temar nodded without answering, but he wasn’t so convinced. Ever since Shan had brought up the need to hide their poverty, Temar kept having the strangest thoughts. Watching people slowly bend to Lilian the way hot glass yielded to gravity and fire, he wondered whether she would have the same power on a station. On Livre, her herds and fields were wealth. Her position on the largest council on Livre was power. But would people from another planet see that? Would her fire and gravity be too weak to make them bend the way she maneuvered the people of Livre?

“So, I should clean up, or the sheets are going to be disgusting in the morning,” Shan said, and he suddenly sounded twice as weary, as though the thought of sleep had stolen the last of his energy. Temar watched as Shan used the arm of the sofa to push himself up. Lilian was right—he needed rest.

“I’ll check on the food and power down the computer,” Temar said. Shan nodded without answering as he moved slowly into the bedroom.

Chapter 15

STANDING in the bathroom, Temar watched as Shan rolled to his other side and pulled viciously at the pillow. Hannal had taken the leftovers from their dinner, and Temar was uncomfortably full. Shan seemed uncomfortable as well, turning again.

“I promise to stop rolling around if you’ll just come to bed, Temar,” Shan called. Sitting up, he scooted toward the top of the bed and wrapped his arms around his knees. He had such strong shoulders, but Temar didn’t normally notice. Most of the time, he preferred to watch Shan’s hands.

“I’m really not tired,” Temar said as he came into the room. He hid a small vial in his hands. He didn’t know if Shan had left it for him in the bathroom or if one of their well-intentioned guests had, but it had juice from a gakka plant. They were a relative of the wisp grass that grew in the deepest valleys of the dunes, only a thick, succulent trunklike stalk that rose out of the center and deep roots that could tap into the only source of native water on Livre, an unconfined aquifer that shifted as often as the sands, making wells pointless. Gatherers would sometimes go out and split open a stalk and take some of the thick, saplike juice before carefully tying the stalk back together so the plant could heal; however, doing that meant risking your ankles, if not your life. Sandrats and sandcats always congregated around the gakka.

“You’re not going to go back to that computer, are you?” Shan asked. Temar shook his head. “Good, because I think you’re as exhausted as I am.” With a sigh, Shan threw himself down on his side and pulled at his pillow. “And despite the fact I’m exhausted, I’m never going to get to sleep. I should have taken Hannal up on her offer of a sedative tea.” Shan turned over to face the wall.

The light was low, the red of the setting sun leaking in around the sole window’s covering. It created soft shadows all over the room as Temar sat on his side of the bed. His side. A week they’d both slept here, but other than claiming sides of the bed, nothing had happened. Other than the one night when Shan had rolled over in his sleep, an arm draping over Temar’s chest possessively so that Temar had woken in a cold sweat. But Shan hadn’t tried to push. Then again, Shan hadn’t been sleeping for more than three hours a night, and he’d been too distracted with broken computers and machines to notice Temar.

Temar slipped under the light sheet and inched closer, lust and need and fear all wrapped around his spine so tight that he felt like he might break. He was scared of this, but he wanted it. He needed to stop thinking too much and start acting—start taking back his life. Temar leaned forward and kissed Shan’s shoulder.

Shan started to turn, and Temar caught a glimpse of a smile, but he pushed against Shan’s shoulder, pressing him down onto his stomach before Temar straddled his waist. “Is this an ambush?” Shan asked as he yielded.

“Yes,” Temar said, his voice sounding more firm than he really felt, but watching Shan’s strong back lying under him, Temar’s cock definitely wanted this. “I found this in the bathroom.” Temar put the vial next to Shan, on the pillow, as he rested his hands against Shan’s shoulders, giving him the illusion that he’d pinned Shan to the bed. Shan certainly didn’t protest as Temar started rubbing small circles against his neck.

“Someone likes us,” Shan said with a low chuckle. “Maybe Wistia’s ballads aren’t completely worthless.”

There really was only one activity that people used raw gakka juice for. Leaning close, Temar whispered in Shan’s ear, “Do you want to?”

“Oh yes. I want it, but it’s been a long time, Temar. You probably need to move slow.”

“So, a slow ambush? I can do that.” Smiling, Temar reached down for the bottle and pulled the glass stopper. The unmistakable spice of gakka drifted through the room.

“Do you want—”

“Shhh,” Temar said. “Just let me ambush you here.”

Shan chuckled again and tucked his hands under his pillow. “Feel free.”

Temar let his weight rest on Shan’s back as he pushed the sheet away, revealing Shan’s well-curved ass, barely hidden by thin sleep pants. Temar took a moment to run his hand over the warm flesh, enjoying the feel of Shan shivering below him. Leaning down, he kissed Shan’s shoulder, nipping at the skin before he peppered a line of kisses down Shan’s body, feeling the back muscles twitch as Temar finally reached the small of Shan’s back, just above the waistband. Sucking on the skin, he could taste the salt.

Arching his back, Shan let out a long, hissing breath as Temar sucked at the warm skin for a moment before scooting down the bed and sliding his hand under the fabric of the sleep pants, exploring the curve of Shan’s butt and brushing teasingly over his hole. Making a sound that fell between a gasp and a grunt, Shan spread his legs in invitation, but Temar pulled away and considered the body laid out in front of him, waiting for him. Taking the bottle in hand, Temar let a small amount of thick, white juice run out onto his fingers, the gakka warming his fingers slightly.

Temar slipped his hand back under the waistband and ran his slicked fingers down the crevice to the entrance of Shan’s hole, stroking his finger over the sensitive skin and then farther up to the perineum and to the bulge where the scrotum started. Letting his slicked fingers glide back and forth, Temar gave the gakka time to warm the skin. His finger started to tingle about the same time Shan started squirming, his hips thrusting down into the bed as he made hungry little noises.

Retrieving the glass stopper and pressing it firmly into place, Temar set the vial to one side and started pulling Shan’s sleep pants down over the round of his ass and then down to his thighs. That allowed him to blow over the gakka-stained skin. Shan arched up off the bed, gasping loudly. “God, yes.” Shan’s voice was a raspy cry.

Temar pressed himself against Shan’s back, his hands reaching around to tweak Shan’s nipples while the man was bracing himself on his arms. Bearing down on Shan’s back, Temar could feel Shan’s arms tremble from the effort of trying to hold both their weight, but Temar continued to rest on Shan’s back as he pulled at Shan’s nipples.

“Temar,” Shan gasped out, and Temar pulled his hands out of the way just as Shan collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily. The vial bounced and started to roll for the edge before Temar grabbed for it, saving it at the last second. “Oh God,” Shan gasped, thrusting down into the mattress again. His back was fever-hot now, sweat gathering along his spine.

Licking his lips, Temar considered his next move. Shan writhed on the bed, the gakka doing its work. Moving to the foot of the bed, Temar pushed Shan’s sleep pants off, and immediately Shan threw his legs open wide, his hips slowing, although he still made little thrusts down into the mattress. Temar ran his teeth over Shan’s backside, his right hand over the small of Shan’s back before trailing fingers down the crack to his entrance. Shan started moaning softly, pressing his face into the pillow.

Temar ghosted his finger over Shan’s entrance before slowly pressing one finger against the ring. The muscle yielded easily, and Temar slipped his finger inside that warmth. Shan allowed him in, opened to him, and Temar pressed his finger deep into that heat as he pressed kisses against Shan’s back.

“Please, Temar,” Shan moaned. “Please. Please.” Every breath turned into a plea, a mantra that Shan murmured continuously as Temar pressed deep inside, letting the gakka warm the skin, relaxing it so Shan would open easily. Temar had felt the rushed pain of a hurried coupling and the incredible pleasure of a slow one, and he knew what he wanted for Shan. The moment he nudged the prostate, Shan’s pleas grew in volume, and he arched his back, his shoulders coming up off the mattress again. The hairs at the back of his neck curled and stuck to the skin as the sweat soaked into them.

“Ready?” Temar asked.

Shan groaned louder. “I want you in me.”

Retrieving the vial, Temar poured another dollop out onto his fingers and then put the rest on the side table, knocking a datapad off in the process. Temar figured Shan was truly lost in his own need when he didn’t even react to the sound of the datapad clattering against the tile floor.

Gently pushing two fingers back into the hot hole, Temar probed deeper, twisting as the heat made the gakka start tingling faster. Shan’s cry muted into little mewls that matched each thrust of Temar’s fingers deeper into his body. Carefully scissoring his fingers, Temar used his free hand to stroke Shan’s side and ass, to feel the muscles straining. Once again, Temar found the prostate, and this time Shan rounded his back, his face pressed to the mattress and a bead of sweat rolling over his dark skin. Reaching down, Temar ran two fingers from the back of Shan’s scrotum to his hole, one on either side of the center tendon. Shan’s whole body started to shake, and Temar pulled his fingers out, rubbing the remaining slick over his own cock.

He had been ignoring his own body, but now that he stroked his hand up the hard shaft, Temar could feel his balls tighten, and he leaned forward, struggling against his own need to come. He wanted this. He needed to feel Shan around him, but his body almost slipped out of his control. It took some panting and some time before he could move without being in danger of coming all over the back of Shan’s thighs, and by that time, Shan had sunk back down to the bed, panting so heavily that his shoulders heaved with each breath. Spreading Shan’s legs more, Temar pressed in slowly, the tingling and the heat and the tight passage forcing him to control every movement as he fought his own body for control. He wanted to wildly thrust, to claim, to come. However, he pushed deliberately and steadily, his cock vanishing into Shan’s body.

Temar watched as their bodies joined, Shan stretching to take him in. Shan started making an atonal hum that replaced the cries and moans and pleas. His hands clung to the edge of the mattress, and his forehead was still pressed against his pillow. Temar pressed forward until his thighs pressed up against Shan’s backside, and then he stopped, panting, as need threatened to overwhelm him. Shan’s movements, like his cries, were almost muted now, a twitch of his shoulder, a tightening of his fingers into the edge of the bed, a fast rise and fall of his back as he gasped for breath. It was as if the desire had reached a point where he couldn’t cry out anymore, and Temar rested his hands against Shan’s hips as he squirmed. The sheets were too slick and he didn’t have a good angle for thrusting, but he pulled out a little, pushing back in immediately. Shan shivered, the motion traveling down his back, and his legs spreading more. Temar grunted as he realized he might have to pull out to reposition himself, and he didn’t want to.