GalacticFlame (12 page)

“Colin.” She cleared her throat. “His name’s Colin.”

He arched an amused brow, “Of course it is.”

“I guess Colin will have to earn your trust,” she countered.

Just the same as I hope you’ll give me that courtesy once
I admit my ruse.

He stepped close, his outspread hands taking hold of her
hips. “I’m not leaving you until the storm passes—until I know your safe from
that much at least,” he said, determination glinting in his eyes.

She nodded assent, all too relieved.

Colin snuffled, clearly anxious but probably hungry too. She
smiled at Genesis. “I think he’s hungry.” She indicated what little there was
left of what she’d gathered. “I’d better cook him some of the
nepsh
.”

Genesis clasped her chin and brought her gaze back to his.
“Allow me,” he murmured. “You look exhausted,” his stare moved downward, over
her body, “and you’ve lost weight.”

Genesis retrieved the pelt and straightened it back into
position on the other side of the
donya
. Colin hissed when he stepped
close to retrieve the bowl outside that was full of water. Genesis ignored the
animal as he emptied the water into a bottle and placed the bowl back outside,
before retrieving the other bowl with its sorry looking bits of leaves and
berries.

Emptying the contents into a pile on the floor, he strode
toward the door. But before he exited the
donya
he suggested over a
shoulder, “Rest. Have a sleep. I’ll collect enough plants, herbs and nuts to
make you a decent meal.”

It was nice lying stretched out on the luxurious pelt and
watching as someone else prepared a meal…especially when that someone happened
to be Genesis.

Muscles flexed and shifted along his bare, still-damp back
as he knelt on the floor and concentrated on the task of grinding some herbs or
nuts—whatever the hell he’d found, right then she didn’t much care—into a
paste. He lifted the other bowl, which she’d left outside to fill with rain,
and tipped some of the water into the clay -red-colored paste.

She sniffed the aromatics released into the air about the
same time as Colin did. The
zadmet
mightn’t be a cat, but he had taken
on all a cat’s qualities as he snuffled at Genesis’ heels, his fear and
distrust now superseded by his hunger.

Genesis turned around, shook his head at the animal and
mused aloud, “You’re little more than claws and teeth in a docile body.”

“He’s a gentle soul,” she corrected distractedly, dragging
her gaze from the corded lines of his back to defend her friend.

Genesis smiled at her, expression knowing. “If you say so.”

He proceeded to toss some plant shoots into the bowl before
placing it under the
syklak
and allowing it to do its thing.

As the leaves shimmered and the concoction he’d made began
to sizzle, she was glad for the heavy rain outside covering the sound of her
growling stomach.

Genesis poured the remaining water from the bowl into one of
her empty bottles, then placed the empty bowl back outside in the rain to
refill.

She stuck a hand under her head and propped up on an elbow,
she asked, “What was your life like, growing up on this planet?”

He shrugged. “I had a great, loving mother and three
fathers. I couldn’t have been more spoiled if I’d tried.”

“And yet here you are,” she said softly, “an amazing man and
a great prince whose people love you.”

His eyes glinted as he hunkered beside her and asked
huskily, “And what about you? What made you such an intriguing woman?”

“I definitely wasn’t the spoiled one in the family,” she
murmured, thinking back to how much she envied her sister for their parents’
devotion. She’d never been a jealous person at heart, and she knew her mum and
dad had loved her dearly, but still the pain of their inattention stabbed deep.

Oh their neglect had never been deliberate, they’d just been
so caught up in the knowledge Aline would be taken from them that sometimes
they overlooked the quieter child in the background, who’d wanted their
attention desperately but didn’t want to take it away from the sibling who’d
one day be gone.

“You weren’t an only child?”

Even over the heavy rain drumming on the
donya
, the
question rang in her ears as though gunshot. She swallowed, realizing too late
her stupid slip of the tongue. Genesis was smart, clever and astute. He
wouldn’t let this one slide by.

“No,” she said slowly, mind spinning. This was the perfect
opening to tell him the truth, all of the truth. But doing so meant she’d
probably lose him, sooner rather than later. That stood to happen eventually
anyway, but until then she’d soak up every minute with him. And while there was
a chance she could still save Aline, she had no choice but to spin her web of
lies further. “You surely didn’t think they’d only have one child?” she asked.

His eyes hold hers, searching, searing. “A sister?”

Something inside died a little even as she boldly held his
stare and said flatly, “A brother.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s a shame. Trasean and Auron were
next in line for an Earth woman.”

He straightened as the mouthwatering aroma of cooked food,
vague hints of garlic, caramelized onion and something she couldn’t quite
define, filled the
donya
. He returned, sitting back on his haunches
beside her and placing the bowl between them. With an encouraging smile, he
said, “Eat.”

She sat and dipped a finger into the bright paste before
sucking it clean. Her eyes widened. “Wow.”

A muscle ticked into life on one side of his face. “Wow,
indeed.”

She dipped again, a larger dollop this time. The flavor
exploded in her mouth, smoky, charred and just about better than anything she’d
tried before. She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring every molecule.

“The secret is in the combination of plants,” he murmured
throatily. “I guess you could say it’s the same way each intended is fated to
be together, a joining of souls.”

Suddenly the food didn’t taste so good. She looked up,
changing the subject as she bit out, “In the old days on my Earth you could
have been a chef.”

His chuckle was disbelieving. “My skill lies in memorizing
recipes handed down from past generations, I don’t have the natural flare for
cooking that some do.” He dipped a finger into the bowl and placed another
dollop between her lips. “Have some more,” he prompted.

She accepted, opening her mouth a little and trying not to
think on how sexual the act felt as she suckled his finger clean. Empowered by
his shuddering breath and gleaming eyes, she was unable to stop just at that.
She finished with a swirl of her tongue around the blunt-ended tip, the simple
act causing her own breath to squeeze tight from her lungs even as her nipples
spiked, her pussy flooding with wet lust.

Rubbing her clit with anxious fingers in the days she had to
imagine what sex would be like had nothing on the real thing…nothing even on
the innocent foreplay to the real thing.

She grazed her teeth along his finger as he pulled it free,
his expression fierce and all kinds of turned-on as he dipped once again into
the mix and had her suck it clean off his finger. And all the while she
imagined it was his cock she sucked the delectable mix from, his cock she
licked clean.

“You’re playing with fire, Princess,” he rasped.

“Must be the hair,” she quipped a little too breathlessly.

The same finger he’d inserted into her mouth reached beneath
her dress, drifting along the petals of her sex. “I wonder what your pussy
would look like with its own thatch of flame-red hair?”

Oh God.
Emotions too complex to be examined burned as
if acid in her gut. Her sister, his real intended, sported a fine triangle of
pubic hair. “You’d prefer me like that?” she asked hoarsely.

His grin was all sexual heat. “No,
Sheehar
. I prefer
you just exactly how you are.”

Relief thundered through her body. But when he slid his
finger deep inside, her pelvis rocked forward involuntarily, her mouth falling
open on an, “Oh,” as desire eclipsed all else.

His thumb swiped across her clit and her mouth fell apart
wider still.

“You like,
Sheehar
?”

She nodded. “I really, really do.”

His finger still inserted deep, his free hand held the bowl
to her as he said hoarsely, “Hold the bowl and finish your food while I make
you come.”

She did as he asked, her hand trembling as she scooped up
more of the amazing mixture with a finger before sucking it clean, barely
restraining a moan as he fingered her hungry cunt with leisurely strokes,
completely at odds to his serious expression.

It was beyond arousing, eating while the suctioning sound as
he pushed his finger in and out filled their enclosed little world. But she
could no more hold the bowl as she could eat what was left of its contents as
lust built and built.

The bowl thudded unnoticed to the floor as she spread her
legs wide, dizzy with the escalating needs about to completely overwhelm her.

She wanted to grip his shoulders, his hips…anything. But he
was just out of reach, his arm that was much longer than hers put to good use.
She all but sobbed resentment, only vaguely aware Colin had taken hold of the
bowl’s rim with his teeth and tugged it away from them to lick clean its
contents with his back to them.

Genesis abruptly pulled his finger free, gently rubbing at
her clit and keeping her dangling close to release…so close.

“Not yet,” he said throatily. “Not without me.”

He pushed into a kneeling position and pulled his pants down
one-handed. His erection sprang free, the shaft hard and knotted with veins.
When she licked her lips, he laughed as though in pain. “I want to be inside
you now, filling you,” he said, withdrawing his hand.

The musky scent of her arousal drifted to her nostrils as he
entwined his fingers with hers, then pulled her up and around in one swift
motion, so that he lay sprawled on the pelt and she on her knees above him.

“Ride me, Eden. Take all of me.”

She closed her eyes for a second against the tantalizing
image of him nude and redolent, all for her. She only wished he really was all
hers to take.

He clasped the base of his cock when she knelt either side
of his hips, his skin hot against her inner thighs even as she lowered herself
onto him, bit by bit. His entry burned a little and yet felt oh so good. Fully
seated, she watched his face tighten with restraint, his jaw clenching in what
appeared an obvious effort not to spill inside her.

God she missed this, missed him. Missed everything about
being together. Her breath hitched. She couldn’t even think about him casting
her aside for another. Not right then.

Clasping the hem of her dress, he half-sat and in one slick
motion dragged the dress up and over her head, discarding it nearby. His eyes
devoured her, even before she began to move, finding her rhythm, her bouncing
breasts soon caught up in his large and calloused hands while his thumb and
forefinger pulled and tweaked her nipples, distending them further.

Blood, thick and hot, poured through her veins, nerve
endings once again flaring into wanton life.

But it wasn’t until he bucked to meet her rhythm, then
jammed against her G-spot before shocking her with his charge, that she fell
completely apart, yelling his name while his seed spewed deep inside, flooding
her already wet channel.

Long moments later, with his fingers interlinked behind her
head, he coaxed her downward so that he could kiss her, nibbling and stroking his
tongue over her lower lip. She sank against him, taking his all and returning
it in full.

His mouth left hers as he pressed kisses along her jaw and
up to her ear. When he pulled her earlobe into his mouth and suckled hard,
instant shock waves danced straight to her toes and back, shivers cascading
along her spine.

She reared back, his serious gaze catching hers before he
said gently, “I really do love you, Princess.”

She swallowed, a whole maelstrom of emotions threatening to
overcome her. “I know you do,” she said weakly in reply. “And I really do love
you too.” At least those words weren’t a lie. Had never been a lie.

But a worried frown met her words. It wasn’t until he raised
a hand and carefully wiped a tear away from her face that she realized why.

“Come here and lie with me,” he said huskily. “Let’s sleep
while the rain still falls.”

She sucked in a shuddering breath. For one last time, she’d
enjoy the novelty of falling asleep his arms, but come tomorrow there’d be no
more lies.

Come what may, she’d tell him the truth.

The decision lifted a great weight off her shoulders. And as
calm descended she drifted asleep…

It was a delicious sensation, waking to Genesis’ arms around
her, his thigh stretched possessively across her legs, holding her to him.

“Wake up, my sleepy princess
,”
he murmured.

Colin lay on his back alongside her outstretched arm and as
she turned in Genesis’ arms to face him, the
zadmet
grumbled with the
odd snuffling sound she’d grown used to. She smiled at Colin’s jealousy, but
her smile soon died at Genesis’ somber expression; at the realization the rain
was no more.

And at the piercing knowledge it was her time to confess.

“You’re leaving,” she stated matter-of-factly.

He nodded. “Yes. I shouldn’t be here, the storm passed long
ago. And besides which, you have only a short sentence left now to be served.”

She nodded, not surprised her half a
mera
was almost
done. “Of course. You should go.”

Maybe once he was on his
cercanne
and about to leave,
she’d have the guts to speak the truth.

She watched as he climbed to his feet, his cock already
thickening as he looked down at her naked form. He shrugged. “Seems there are
some things I can’t control.” He proffered a hand. “Come, get dressed, I want
to show you something before I leave.”