by Kate Rudolph
Andie slid out of bed and slunk out of her room on silent feet. She couldn’t hear Malax and Taryn so she guessed they were in the engine room. She didn’t want to face anyone else while she made her way to Xandr, didn’t want to hear what they thought about what had happened. She had one target tonight.
The journey went smoothly until she made it to the hall that housed the captain’s and first mate’s quarters. Alleyva’s door was open and she sat at her desk, fingers drumming against the surface and staring into space. Andie tried to move quietly, but the newly demoted first mate must have caught her out of the corner of her eye. As Alleyva’s head jerked towards her, Andie froze as if it would make her invisible.
“Come to give him a victory fuck?” the former captain scowled. The rancor in her tone made it hard to believe that Alleyva and Xandr had been—were—best friends.
Andie didn’t want to have this fight, and she didn’t want to kick the woman when she was already down. That had never been her style. Besides, Alleyva still outranked her and could make things unpleasant if both of them remained on the ship. “I just came to talk to him.”
Alleyva snorted. “If that’s what you want to call it.” She turned away and reached out blindly to close her door, dismissing Andie.
Andie took a deep breath to steady herself. This was fine. It was. But the next few steps to Xandr’s door were like walking through molasses and a hundred kilo weight might as well have been attached to her wrist when she raised her hand to knock on the door.
When Xandr answered, her mouth went dry and she forgot why she’d come in the first place. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his pants seemed to be a second away from falling to the ground and exposing all that flesh she loved running her lips and tongue over. He wasn’t like any human she’d ever been with, not that she should have expected it from an alien, but she was quickly coming to know his body more intimately than she’d known any other’s.
The door closed silently behind her as she stepped inside. Despite the weeks of intimacy, this was Andie’s first time in the captain’s quarters. As far as she knew, Xandr and Alleyva had never switched rooms, despite their exchange of duties, but whenever Andie and Xandr had come together, they’d been in her room or in some secluded and not so secluded places on the ship.
It was small, but that shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. The Seventh wasn’t exactly a luxury liner and space was at a premium. He had much more room than she did, with a bed at least twice the size of her bunk and a desk that folded down from the wall. A half-closed sliding door led to a small bathroom, which was the biggest perk of the quarters. She and the rest of the crew shared a communal shower.
But Andie wasn’t there to gawk. Now that she was there, she wasn’t sure how to start, and Xandr didn’t look ready to help her out. She was supposed to say something about how he’d handled himself, about how he’d put the former captain on the spot rather than taking a moment to get his emotions under control. She was supposed to caution him not to act so rashly.
None of that was why she was really there.
“Why do I mean more to you than I should?” It tore out of her, straight from her heart to his ears. That declaration had been bouncing around in her head for hours, and if Xandr didn’t elaborate she’d go mad. She wanted to advance on him, to get up in his space so he couldn’t avoid answering, but she forced herself to stay near the door. She wasn’t about to escape, but she needed something steady to keep her grounded.
Xandr’s stare bored into her like he could see to the depths of her soul. He had a predator’s intensity, a dangerous bearing that should have sent her fleeing or made her want to yield before him. But Andie could do nothing more than stand her ground. She wouldn’t back away, wouldn’t give up, not now that she’d started.
“There are things you don’t know about me. Things I cannot tell you. It would be safer for you, for both of us, if you walked away.” The intensity from his eyes bled into his words and he stood absolutely still waiting for her response.
“I thought this was just something casual, that we weren’t...” She couldn’t even finish the sentence, the sentiment too laughable to say out loud.
“You don’t let me kiss you because you want to protect yourself,” he shot back. “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t need the protection.”
She knew she hadn’t been subtle, but to have Xandr put it out there so plainly was jarring. “Of course I’m trying to protect myself. I’m thousands of light years from home with less than a hundred credits to my name. Most of the time I can’t tell if you actually like me or if I’m just some convenient hole for you to use at your will.” She hadn’t come to argue, but now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop the avalanche of words. “Forget about the kissing, if I let myself─if I─I can’t be stupid, not when I’m the only one I can rely on. I’m the only one who can protect me.”
“Let me.” Now he stepped forward, reaching out until his fingers brushed against her arm, just hard enough to make her shiver. “This thing between us has nothing to do with convenience, and I never want to make you feel used.”
“You don’t.” She might have leveled the accusation, but however abrupt their joinings might have been, Andie had never walked away less than sated.
“Then let me in.” He took another step closer and their bodies brushed together.
She wanted to lean into him. The need hooked her deep in the gut and only all those years of suffering on Ixilta, all that strength it took to survive there, kept her rooted in place. Depending on someone else was dangerous—it led to pain and heartbreak and betrayal. She already knew that Xandr had a secret, something he refused to share that could do her harm. But he was asking for more, his eyes full of an emotion too terrifying to name. “Is that an order, captain?” The question lashed out from the heart of her fear, and Xandr flinched.
He took a step back, not enough to give her space to breathe, but they were no longer touching. “This thing between us has never... I would never order you into my bed.”
Andie’s tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. Why was this so hard? So terrifying? Why couldn’t she just let herself take this step and for once seize the happiness that was being offered to her? “I know that,” she promised him. “But this thing, if we let it be more, it could all go wrong. It could...”
“It could go right, too. Let yourself hope, cavria.” He cupped her cheek, tilting her head up until their eyes locked.
Andie’s translator didn’t define what cavria met, but from the way Xandr was holding her, the way he was looking at her, she could guess it was an endearment, one too complex to translate into simple words.
And Andie’s fear gave way just enough for her bravery to surge forward. She leaned in close, her lips just a breath away from Xandr’s. “Okay,” she whispered, “okay.” Her lips brushed against his as she spoke, but that wasn’t enough.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, crushing their mouths together and seizing the hope of their future with both hands.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
XANDR’S TONGUE PLUNDERED her mouth like he’d been waiting a lifetime to kiss her. Maybe he had. With each second and stroke that went by, Andie wondered why she’d been denying this pleasure. Her body melted against his and she clung to him to keep from collapsing into a puddle at his feet. If he could do this to her with a simple kiss, she almost feared what would happen when their clothes came off.
His naked skin was hot through the material of her top and Andie wanted to be skin to skin, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop kissing him, to stop running her hands over the planes of his back and enjoying the coiled strength that lived in each of his muscles. He was a being of pure strength, designed like a warrior of old who wouldn’t have looked out of place covered in furs and riding atop a warhorse. But he kissed her like a lover, taking his time and savoring her.
Already this felt different between them, and only a part of that was be
cause she was finally allowing them to kiss once more. Everything was more intense, more present, more important. After that first night, they’d come together to come together, their actions fast and hard and intent on their goal. But Xandr wasn’t hurrying things along right now, and Andie could stay here all night if it meant that she got to keep holding him like this.
His thick cock was an insistent reminder through the thin material of his pants that he wanted something more, and though he rubbed against her, he didn’t make any other moves to hitch her legs around his waist or get her naked enough to get this thing done.
But that sounded like a great idea, and Andie loved to show initiative.
She lifted her leg and hooked it over Xandr’s hip, pulling him flush up against her until they were practically one body. His kisses left her breathless and her heart pounded, but she didn’t want to move, not unless they were stumbling back to his decadently large bed. His cock pressed against her, tantalizing her with its presence, and she wanted to touch, to taste, even as imagining it was sweet torture.
Xandr made a noise in the back of his throat and thrust against her hard, as if they were both naked and he was entering her with wicked intent. But he got himself back under control and stilled, his teeth nipping at her bottom lip as he kissed her and his tongue swirling around hers. It was almost impossible to believe that two people from such different backgrounds, different planets could be so sexually compatible, but when Xandr held her tight in his arms, she was sure that there was no one in the universe who could ever know her as well as he did.
He swung her around and shifted her until she was sitting in his desk chair, and Andie tried to follow him up as he broke their kiss, her ass barely coming off the seat. Xandr offered her a rakish grin and used his knee to nudge her legs further apart until she was spread open in wanton display. Or, it would have been wanton display if her damn pants hadn’t been in the way.
She reached for the clasp, ready to get this party started, but Xandr put his hand on her wrist and stilled her. “Let me,” he said, voice just on the edge of an order. “Hold on to the seat.”
He got that way sometimes, taking charge, making her hold still until she was begging to come, a writhing mass of flesh that forgot everything but him. Andie had never surrendered like it before, and while she didn’t want to do it every time, Xandr seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing just when he could take control. Or maybe their needs just lined up that perfectly.
Andie had to adjust to hold onto the seat and keep her legs spread. It ended up putting her on display for Xandr, thrusting her body out so he could do whatever he wanted to her. Her body throbbed just thinking about it. She thought she knew what he had in mind with her legs splayed like that, but instead of kneeling down in front of her, he loomed over her, reaching out to undo the tie at the side of her wraparound top. The fabric sagged and loosened as he pulled open one end and then the other, leaving her chest exposed to his hungry gaze.
And, god, he devoured her with those shining blue eyes of his. How she was going to survive when just a look made her quiver, she didn’t know, but she was sure as hell going to enjoy the ride.
He ran a finger down her cheek to her chin and tipped her head up, stealing a quick kiss as if he couldn’t resist now that she’d given him permission. Andie didn’t know how she’d have any discipline around him once they left this room. He was hers now, and she wanted to shout that claim from the top of a mountain.
His finger trailed lower until his hand cupped one of her breasts, thumb brushing over the nipple until it came to a stiff peak and Andie had to hold back a whimper. He was barely touching her, but her mind reeled with all the thoughts of what he could do to her that it heightened the pleasure until she was on the edge already, ready to beg him to fuck her.
He only teased her until she couldn’t hold back a moan, and then his hands darted away again and she cursed. Xandr gave an almost cruel chuckle that curled her toes, but then his fingers found the clasp of her pants and he slid them down, guiding her legs close enough together for the moment to get the job done and tilting up her hips until her pants came off.
She took care of her own shirt and he shot her a look, as if reminding her that he’d commanded her to stay still. Andie just grinned. She loved when he showed his power, but she wasn’t some plaything with no will of her own.
And then Xandr knelt before her and her breath caught. With her legs splayed out to the sides she was completely open to him, and he knelt like a supplicant before her. He ran his cheek against the inside of her thigh and Andie shivered at the contact of warm skin on skin. He took his time, dragging it out, kissing her legs and all around until she couldn’t help the involuntary movement of her hips, begging him to give her pleasure where she really needed it.
She wanted to reach out and run her fingers through his hair and guide him to the heat of her sex, but he’d told her to hold still, and this time she wanted to follow the order. He knew how to make things last between them, even if they’d rarely taken their time. They’d earned it now, and they could go fast later. Now that Andie was sure there’d be a later, many laters, she wanted everything he would give, everything she could take.
The shout that ripped out of her when his lips found her sex was a surprise, and little gasps of encouragement lodged in her throat as she gave herself over to the pleasure. Her mind was focused on nothing by the feel of Xandr’s lips on her flesh, his fingers digging into her thighs almost hard enough to bruise, to mark her as his for anyone who saw.
She would have promised him anything for more, but he gave it for free. Andie’s legs shook and she couldn’t control any part of herself, but it didn’t matter, Xandr had her and she was so gone with the pleasure that she was willing to believe he would keep her.
She sat on the edge of release for long enough that tears pricked her eyes and her throat made gurgling, wordless gasps as she lost control until finally the floodgates opened and she came, her body shuddering as Xandr brought her to her peak.
Breathing heavily, she looked down to see his head buried between her thighs and had never felt more powerful or more in someone else’s power. It was a dichotomy she couldn’t have understood without knowing Xandr, without giving him some bit of herself that she hadn’t realized was there for the taking, if the right person wanted it.
The bed was right there, practically within arm’s reach, but Andie slid off the chair when Xandr pulled back and ended up sitting on his thighs, perched there and staring at him with fresh eyes. Xandr looked right back, his face flushed with arousal and lips swollen from the pleasure he’d just given to her.
His pants had slipped down to reveal more of his purple skin and Andie reached out to do the rest of the work, pulling them off until his cock was freed. It was still a bit of a shock, even after all these weeks, to see it there, glistening with the natural moisture it seemed to produce, something which she was beyond grateful for when she considered just how big it was. From base to tip it was covered in ridges and veins and terminated at a head that was more conical than she’d thought to expect. It was also a deeper purple than the rest of him, flushed with dark, almost sinister veins running all through it. Some women might have been intimidated, but looking at it made Andie’s mouth water.
But later. Right now she needed him inside of her, needed to be joined with this man in the most basic way possible.
And with her perched on his lap, it was only a matter of a little positioning before she was positioned on top of him, her legs on either side and feeling that tip teasing her entrance. Xandr’s hands gripped her sides as if he was afraid she’d sink down onto him too fast. But she knew what she could take, and she wanted it all.
Xandr moved within her as she lowered onto him and then they moved, finding their rhythm together and flying. Andie had the control now and she used it, setting the pace and challenging Xandr to meet her thrust for thrust. Their lips crushed together, tongues clashing as their bodies joined. It w
as carnal and intimate and more honest than anything she’d ever felt before.
Her body already sang with the release he’d given her, but it built again as she rode him, and she clutched his shoulders and writhed as she came again. Xandr wasn’t done with her. He surged forward and flipped, careful enough to make sure she ended up on the ground as comfortably as she could before he had his way with her, pumping in and out, his face a mask of pleasure until he finally came with a roar, emptying into her and breathing heavily, his cock seeming to swell even further within her as they found their pleasure.
He ended up lying beside her, both of them recovering from their lovemaking. And that was what this had been. Before they’d been fucking, but now it was something more, something different. Andie wasn’t ready to say those words, but she knew she was on the road, had been on that road since they’d found one another, no matter how dreary the circumstances.
“The bed’s right there,” Xandr said with a vague nod to the other side of the room.
“We’ll get there,” Andie murmured, but right then she wasn’t sure if her legs still worked. She turned to her side and curled up against Xandr, letting his heat keep her warm in the chill of the ship.
“Stay with me tonight?” he asked, and there was a vulnerability in his voice she’d never heard before.
Andie glanced up and saw him studying her, but maybe that vulnerability had been imagined. He looked just as he always did, intense and in control, if a bit mussed. She offered a smile. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
The truth was, she had no idea if she’d ever be able to leave.
CHAPTER TWELVE
XANDR WOKE NEXT TO Andie and breathed her scent in deep. She was warm beside him and he would have traded a dukedom to stay in bed with her all day. But he was the captain now and duty was not something that could be so easily put aside. When he shifted and sat up, Andie stirred, making a mewling protest and curling up tighter as if she could ward off the morning by keeping her eyes shut tight.
