No Rules (26 page)

Flinging herself forward, Alison rushed into his arms. “You crazy man, you almost killed us all. What the hell were you thinking?”

Moving a strand of hair aside, he examined a sore spot on her cheek. “That I love you and would risk anything for you.”

“I don't deserve you.” She clung to him, though.

He pulled back and grinned down at her. “Since when do we get what we deserve? Come on, we need someone to help us figure out how to land this thing without a central command station.”

He made to pull away but she stopped him. “I love you too.”

Pulling her into his arms, he murmured, “I was wrong. Sometimes we get exactly what we deserve.”

“Y
ou wanted to see me, Empress?” Fenton approached the porch to Gwella's house, the one structure in the settlement that had remained unscathed in the helcat attack.

“Sit down, Fenton.” She indicated the steps beside her.

“Where are your guards?” There wasn't a patroller in sight.

“Busy, elsewhere. I hear I have you to thank for rescuing Thom and Rand. They told me an interesting story, about you and your ‘brother' rescuing them from a burning building after their breeder abandoned them.”

Fenton froze. Damn, he thought the boys had forgotten about that. He offered no explanations or apologies. Having been without his ability for crucial moments, he knew Alison had been right. He needed to accept that part of himself, even if it meant enduring the empress's wrath.

Turning to face her, he raised his chin and waited.

“At ease, soldier.” She patted the air. “No one else is dying today.”

“I'll leave, if that's what you want. One of the shuttle suites is still intact—”

“And by law, mine, for invading my space. I plan on using that to repair the damage you wrought to my ship and rebuild my city.” Her eyes were dark and harder than a winter in the Northern Territories.

Oh, yeah, she was angry.

Again he waited for her verdict. He would acknowledge her wishes as best he could, but Alison and Ari's welfare came first.

Gwella stared out over the trees. “I'm not wrong often enough to acknowledge it gracefully. But I do know when I have made a mistake. If it weren't for you and Alison opening my eyes, there would be no one left to rebuild. For that, I owe you my eternal thanks.”

Fenton blinked. His lips parted, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

“Now, for the matter of Rand and Thom. Their breeder was one of the first slain, so they have nowhere to go once they leave here. You seem to have bonded with them, gained their trust. Both boys were very upset when you left. I wanted to offer you and Alison the option to raise them here.”

“I'd have to ask Alison first.” His voice came out hoarse. She didn't want to have one child to contend with, and now she'd be saddled with three. She'd changed, but so much, so quickly?

Gwella clasped her hands onto her lap. “Good, you do that. I'll keep the boys here another night. Ari too, she's still asleep. They can help Link prepare the meal. For some reason they enjoy sleeping in the cells and playing ‘siege.' You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?”

She rose, then placed a hand on his shoulder. “You're a good man. Treat her right.”

He planned to, if she'd have him.

At least they had the night to themselves. While walking back through the woods he plotted out the evening. He had no idea where she was or what she was up to. Knowing her, she was in the thick of the recovery process, helping situate people in the undamaged rooms and handing out supplies for the night. She promised to return by sunset to the undamaged shuttle suite and make plans for the future.

Over the next few hours, Fenton did his best to ensure her plans would include him.

Everything was staged and he paced restlessly as the twin moons rose higher and the sun disappeared. The snapping of twigs alerted him to her and he turned, blocking her view of the interior as best he could.

“Sorry I'm late,” she said, offering him a tired smile. “There was so much to do and I didn't want to just run out on them. It felt too selfish.”

“It's not too selfish to look after your own interests once in a while. You almost died today. Multiple times.” He pulled her into his arms, glad to have her back, whole and safe.

“You'll be happy to hear the last helcat is dead. Patrollers found it a few hours ago. From what they saw, it suffered some sort of brain aneurism, probably from the mind control.”

“The assassin actually did us a favor then. If he weren't buried in the tunnels in stasis, I might thank him.”

She hugged him fiercely for a moment, but pulled away abruptly. “Your shoulder, I forgot. Did I hurt you?”

He waved her off. In truth he hadn't thought about his shoulder in ages. “I feel no pain when I have you near.”

She smiled, then stood on her toes, attempting to look behind him. “Is Ari napping?”

Caressing her face with the back of his hand, he whispered, “She's at Gwella's. We're alone tonight.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she tilted her head back to look at him. “Really? What shall we do with ourselves?”

Stepping aside he showed her the interior of the shuttle suite. Lit with hundreds of candles surrounding a steaming tub of water and a real bed. She turned and her jaw dropped at the sight. “Oh, Del.”

“I love the way you say my name.” He nuzzled the side of her face, then cupped her jaw and turned her lips toward his. “This is for you. I want to be sure you understand that. We don't have to make any decisions tonight.”

“Decisions? About what?” she murmured, her soft lips following the line of his jaw, up to his scar.

The coarse fabric of her dress irritated him. He wanted to strip her out of it, to touch soft, smooth skin. But he didn't want to pressure her either. She was tired and he didn't want her to feel coerced or pressured. He wanted her to stay with him of her own volition. To choose him, in spite of the three children he'd probably be raising.

Clenching his fists, he swallowed, ignoring the throbbing in his groin. “About the future. Where you want to go from here.”

Her palm cupped him through the fabric of his pants. “Right now, I want us both to strip out of these clothes and get into that big bath. After that, to the bed and we'll wing it from there. Does that sound like a plan you can live with?”

 

He growled and before Alison could move he had whipped the dress over her head, scooped her up into his arms, and carried her to the steaming tub. Reflexively her arms went around his neck. “Del, your clothes.”

“Fuck 'em,” he muttered. Sitting in the water, he held her facing him so he could trail kisses along her collarbones. He pulled her flush against him until she felt the solid length of his shaft pressing into her belly. Fingers traced the bumps of her spine, down to her crease.

Her breath hitched as she stared down into his face, knowing instinctively what he wanted. “I'm yours, take whatever you want from me.”

Another set of hands cupped her breasts from behind, pulled her off his lap and against a very naked and familiar male form. “I don't want to take anything from you, only to give, to share with you,” he breathed into her ear.

His doppelgänger shed his clothes in record speed and before she could blink, she was the filling in a Fenton sandwich, surrounded by his heat, his scent. Calloused hands swept over her skin. Like she was a feminine
pasha
being ministered to and cleansed by her sexy bath attendants. Her head fell back against his shoulder. He held her breasts on display from behind even as his lips closed over the peaks of her stiffened nipples. The thrash of his tongue over the swollen little buds made her sex clench in need.

A small bottle of oil sat on the lip of the tub. She focused on it when he switched to the other breast. “Is that . . . ?”

Following her gaze, he nodded. “It's yours. I snagged it that first night. I'll never forget the scent or the scene that drove me out of my mind with lust.”

“And for a while I thought it didn't have any real effect on you. I thought I wasted it, my last tie to home, on a bad bet.”

Taking the bottle up, he rubbed it between his palms. “Oh, I'm a bad bet, all right. I intend to use my superior numbers to keep you interested, pampered, and spoiled on this backwater planet for the next twenty years at least. Because, lovely, you do have an effect on me. Here.” Taking her hand, he placed it over his heart.

The steady thrum of his heart drew her forward until she was inches from him. Fisting his hair in her other hand, she let their mouths meld together until their tongues danced together in a fierce mating until she ground against his cock, needing it inside her, craving the feel of him inside her as deep as he could go. “Don't wait.”

The version behind her took the bottle of lube. She expected to feel him prodding against her ass but as usual Fenton surprised her. His fingers dug into the tense muscles of her shoulders, prompting her to break the kiss on a moan.

“Don't rush me. I have a strategy.” He smiled, then climbed from the tub, dried himself, while she melted in a puddle of goo under his hands.

The warm water and his deep tissue massage relaxed her to an almost comatose state, so much so that when he whispered, “Time to get out,” she groaned in protest.

Chuckling, he helped her from the water, swathing her in warm towels. With two of him on the job, she was dry in no time.

Candlelight danced across his features as he pressed her down onto the bed, brushing his lips over hers. “Spread your legs.”

She did and shivered as cool air made contact with her wet sex. Then his mouth was there, warming her, flicking over the blood-engorged tissues, sucking her juices and licking around all her tingling nerves. The other Fenton watched, his gaze hooded, and it was his sharp, intense focus that sent her hurtling over the edge.

She'd barely come down when he pulled her limp form up and settled her across his lap. His cock aligned perfectly with her clit. “Put your shield up, lovely.”

She thought about it for half a second, then shook her head. “No.”

Two sets of cerulean-blue eyes went wide. “You could get pregnant.”

“I hope I do.” Taking advantage of his astonishment, she gripped his shaft on one hand while raising her hips. “I told you, I'm in this for good. No more lying, no more running. Me and you, it's a done deal.”

He kissed her then and drove deeply inside her at the same moment, cementing their arrangement. Pulling her down until she was astride him, she almost forgot about the other man until he gripped her ass cheeks, spreading her wide.

The maneuver helped him fuck more deeply into her, at the same time exposing her puckered ring to his other self. Teeth sank into the rounded curve of her buttocks, a little hint of pain tightening the coil inside her. Then the wet rasp of his tongue across her clenched muscles, coaxing her to open for him, pressing inward with what felt like his thumb.

Her body yielded to his onslaught, letting him in. She'd expected discomfort but there was only the odd sensation of being filled. The stretch of her muscles around various parts of his body, the scrape of a callus over her sensitive flesh. All of it designed to make her aware.

The thumb invaded her, massaged her, pressing against the thin wall where his cock filled her. He moved completely in tandem, working her body over with his. Every time she sank down, the cock and digit went deeper until she writhed. It wasn't enough.

“More,” she gasped, throwing her head back and staring down into his eyes. “Give me more.”

The thumb retreated, only to be replaced by two oil-slicked fingers, driving deeper. Her body contracted sharply, adjusted. It wasn't enough to send her over, though. She wanted his heat pressed against her back, his rod thick and spearing deep inside her, filling her to capacity.

She told him so.

Pulling her down against him again, the Fenton buried deeply in her pussy kissed her while the one about to penetrate her ass slathered his cock with oil. Then the crown pressed in, gripping her hips to hold her still. She'd thought she was ready, but he was so big, the ridged flesh unyielding.

He stopped, sensing the revival of her tension. She could hear him grit his teeth and broke the kiss. “I'm sorry,” she gasped.

“Ssshh. None of that. Rub your clit, lovely. Come hard on my cocks.”

She nodded and taking a deep breath, wound her hand between their bodies. Her clit was hard and stiff. It jumped beneath her fingers.

“That's it.” He swept her hair back from her face. “Make yourself feel as good as you make me feel.”

It wasn't a challenge when surrounded by a patient, sexy man. Just a few strokes sent her over the precipice, the clenching of her muscles drawing him deeper into her pussy and ass.

They moved in unison then, retreating slightly before plunging forward, gaining more ground. Ever the soldier, the tactician, his strategy worked, and she let him conquer her body fully, just as he had her heart.

With a dual roar he came, fountaining hot jets of cum inside her. She bucked, orgasming again, this one shaking her from head to toe until she nearly blacked out. He held her to him as the form behind her was drawn back to himself. His softening cock remained inside her and she held still, not wishing to dislodge him.

“I love you, Alison.”

Lifting her face just enough to see into those hot blue eyes, she grinned, knowing she would feel his love for a long time to come. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”