by A. G. Wilde
He frowned at her, but there was no anger in her eyes.
Perhaps he’d been reading her wrong all along.
Spreading his lips, he tried to mimic her, baring his teeth as he clenched them.
La-rehn’s grinning stopped and her eyes widened. She leaned back a little, slight alarm on her face.
“Maybe you don’t try.” Her shoulders shook with mirth as she smiled instead.
For a few moments, they stayed looking at each other before she finally whispered, “I guess we have a lot to talk about.”
As he looked down at her, his gaze traveled over her features, memorizing every detail.
Pulling her close, he couldn’t think of any talking he wanted to do.
He only wanted doing.
He’d wasted enough time not doing anything at all.
Bending, he lifted La-rehn, despite her protests that she could walk, and despite the looks he got from some of the aliens around them.
As he carried her, he felt a lightness he’d never felt before.
It was a sort of relief he hadn’t been expecting. Relief from finally admitting to himself what his heart had known but what his mind had refused to acknowledge.
This human, this human cradled in his arms, was his.
He held her tight to his chest, not wanting to let her go.
He’d come too close to letting her go, and if he had…
Something constricted within him at the thought.
He’d almost lost La-rehn.
This beautiful, talkative, happy, sweet, hard-working, generous female that had come into his life unexpectedly—he’d almost lost her because of his own stubbornness, his own stupidity.
And he might lose her still.
He couldn’t force her to stay with him on the Sanctuary if she didn’t want to.
29
He’d carried her to the hovercar, kept his arms around her as he’d sped across the plain back to the Sanctuary, and now Riv was lifting her into his arms again as they headed toward his bedroom.
Grot padded in behind them and sat on his haunches by the table, as if he had a good idea they needed some private time.
And they did.
She felt like she’d just entered a new life through a new door.
While they’d traveled back from the exchange, Riv’s friend Ka’Cit had contacted him via comm link, saying he’d taken care of the guards and there was nothing to worry about.
Riv seemed to think something was strange about that but all she could feel was happiness that the guards wouldn’t be returning.
Now, with that out of the way, Riv seemed to relax and when his eyes focused on hers, there was such heat there, she felt her entire body respond.
There was nothing to be said.
She could see it all in his eyes.
“What are you doing?” She knew exactly what he was doing and a needle-like thrill went up her spine as soon as he’d brought her to his room, anticipation flooding through her veins.
“Something I should have done a long time ago.”
He didn’t stop walking till he was standing above his bed. Resting her down, he leaned over her on his arms.
He wasn’t even looking at her body, his gaze was focused on hers, but it felt as if he was stripping her bare.
As his gaze fell to her lips, Riv bent, his mouth hovering over hers.
“This,” he groaned, his lips locking with hers. His kiss was slow, soft, tentative, as if he didn’t want to move too fast and ruin the moment.
But she could feel the tension building between them. The restraint was too much.
What had seemed like it was going to be slow and steady suddenly exploded into a bomb of emotions.
The pressure of his lips against hers intensified as his tongue slipped into her mouth. His hands were suddenly in her hair, moving down her cheek, her neck, and tangling into her tunic.
A moan escaped her, vibrating against his lips and she received a resultant groan.
Riv’s large hand came to hold her head by her chin, the other hand tangled into her hair as his tongue rubbed against hers.
His lips were so velvety, so inviting, just kissing him was making that space between her legs moist and aching as if it needed to be filled with more than promises. She wanted the real thing.
Riv broke the kiss, his lips hovering over hers as both of their chests heaved with exertion, and his green gaze captured hers.
There was so much want there, a shudder went through her belly and erupted between her thighs.
He held her prisoner with his eyes as his hand left her chin.
With deliberate movements, he lifted his hand so she could see.
His four fingers wiggled a little before his claws suddenly protracted, slicing the air. Long and dark, she could hear when they extended and she jerked a little.
Riv studied her.
“Do they scare you?”
She stared at his hand before answering.
“As long as you aren’t planning on slicing me in half, no.”
Riv blinked, his gaze becoming more intense, and her breath caught a little in her throat.
“There is something I’d like to slice with them,” he murmured.
Without another word, he hooked a finger in the neck of her tunic and ripped it in half with one movement.
That shouldn’t have made a throb go straight to her core. It should alarm her.
Instead, it made her pulse increase just enough for her breaths to come deep. Her chest heaved as the fabric fell to the sides revealing her chest and Lauren held back a gasp at his pure ferocity.
As her skin was revealed, Riv tilted his head a little, his gaze becoming more heated as it raked over her.
His finger hovered over her bra next and Lauren’s eyes widened.
As she grabbed his hand, his surprised gaze met hers.
He searched her face, the heat in his gaze slowly dying.
“You wish for me to not go further?”
“Oh, please do continue, but…don’t rip that. It’s the only one I have. It’s almost dead after wearing it for a complete year—I washed it, of course—but I don’t want you to rip it. It’s one of the most valuable things for a human on this planet.”
Riv looked down at the bra, his brows furrowing slightly.
Extending a finger, he retracted his claws and pulled the cup down. She watched his nostrils flare as her breasts were exposed.
“Why do you cover such beautiful teats with this useless garment?”
She didn’t know if it was a question or if he even knew he asked her something because the way he was looking at her breasts seemed as if he wasn’t aware of anything else.
She could feel her skin tingle underneath his gaze.
As she eased up to slip out of the ripped tunic and remove her bra, he didn’t stop staring and when she eased back down, his eyes fell to her trousers.
He raised a hand to rip those, too, claws protracting again, and Lauren chuckled.
“No. Don’t rip those, either. Let me remove them.”
Riv made a sound in his throat as if it was a great inconvenience but he retracted his claws and allowed her to wriggle out of the clothing.
Naked, Lauren bit her lip as she looked up at him.
She hadn’t been naked before a guy in so long, she’d forgotten how self-conscious she could feel doing it for the first time.
Would he like what he saw?
Would he want her as much as she was dying for him?
But when her gaze rose to Riv’s face, his gaze was filled with such devotion, she felt worshiped and her heart fluttered happily in her chest.
No one had ever looked at her like that before.
Riv was looking at her as if she was a goddess—as if he was the luckiest man to get to behold her in her naked form.
“La-rehn,” he growled, dipping his head once more to take her lips as he crawled over her, bracing himself on his arms.
A deep rumble echoed fr
om his chest as he eased off her to stare at her breasts.
He was looking at them for such a long moment she wanted to squirm. But his gaze was so lustful that her nipples grew hard underneath his scrutiny.
“You’re phekking beautiful…” he murmured, reaching forward and clasping each breast underneath his palm. “These,” he growled. “So soft but firm when I squeeze them.” He shook them and his gaze grew even hotter. “They jiggle.”
She didn’t know how to respond.
She’d have thought that would be a bad thing but the way his eyes widened a little before growing more intense had her nipples tightening even more.
His gaze was making her feel all sorts of things, most of them centered between her legs, and when he suddenly dipped his head, his tongue flicking out to curl around her nipple, Lauren closed her eyes, biting down on her bottom lip from the sheer pleasure.
His tongue was warm. Thick and warm.
He licked her again, before closing his mouth around her nipple and a strangled groan left her lips.
Riv stiffened above her, a soft growl leaving him as he heard her groan. She felt it before she saw it. Taking the soft mound in his mouth, Riv flashed a fang. She could feel the tips of the sharp edges trail over her nipple and the feeling was so different, so exquisite, that her back arched a little as she pushed her head back against the bed.
Riv didn’t move, he let the soft, round mound press into his face and, with a growl, he squeezed the other breast in his hand, kneading it as he rolled her nipple in his mouth.
“La-rehn,” he growled. “You’re phekking gorgeous. So much softer than I’d imagined. So much better.”
Lauren panted, her lashes fluttering as she tried to listen to him.
“You imagined this?”
Riv lifted his head, his eyes filled with such burning lust, she felt like she’d melt.
“Every. Phekking. Day.”
She couldn’t believe it.
Did he really?
As if he saw the doubt in her eyes, Riv eased off the bed and stood.
With one movement, he slipped his tunic over his head revealing his perfectly formed muscles.
She’d stared at those muscles through the window on those first days…daydreamed about them.
In the next moment, his trousers were falling and she must have forgotten that boxers were an Earth thing because the immediate bob of his cock as soon as the trousers fell had her mouth falling open.
Fuck, he was big. Big and thick.
She felt her pussy ache just looking at him, a fresh bit of moisture lubricating her for his arrival.
Thick cords strung around his cock and right before her eyes, as she looked at him, his member pulsed and jerked.
Fuck if this dick wasn’t going to be worth a whole year’s wait.
He seemed to be thicker at the base and her mouth watered just looking at him, that area between her thighs clenching with need.
She didn’t realize immediately that she did it, but when her tongue moved over her lips in anticipation, Riv groaned.
“This,” he fisted his cock, “is because of you.”
Lauren took a few breaths through her open mouth, her eyebrows rising as he pumped himself at the base.
“I want to see you touch yourself again, La-rehn.”
Her cheeks grew warm at that.
“I want to see your hands between your thighs once more.”
He remembered when he’d caught her touching herself.
On another day, at another time, that might have embarrassed her.
Right now? It was fucking hot.
“Please,” he murmured, his voice so tortured, how could she deny him?
With little hesitation, she licked her finger and moved it down her belly towards her center.
Riv watched her finger move, his green gaze bleeding to black as his pupils dilated completely.
As her finger moved over her clit, she touched the little bud and a jolt of pleasure shot through her.
A moan left her lips and when she looked at Riv, he was holding his cock so hard, his teeth were clenched.
His gaze was fastened on her finger moving on her clit now and when she slipped the digit into her burning core, he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, a pebble of pre-cum materializing at the blunt head of his dick.
“So phekking sexy,” he whispered. “You have no idea.”
“Tell me,” she whispered, “tell me why you like it.”
Riv swallowed hard, his jaw clenching, his cock still held hard in his hand.
As he watched her finger, his fist moved down his shaft and she heard him hiss in a breath.
“You owning your pleasure, making yourself hot while you look at me, wanting me to fill that slick hole of yours…it makes me want to spin you over and mount you right. Now.”
Mount her?
Fuck if that word didn’t make it feel so, so dirty and like it was going to be so, so good.
Running her finger up and over her clit as he watched, Lauren inhaled deeply at his words.
Riv’s eyelids fluttered.
“You have no idea how much I want to replace that finger with my tongue.” Riv shuddered. “I want to feel your softness against my lips.”
Lauren let out a moan as what felt like a current of lust passed through her.
The thought of his mouth on her giving her pleasure was almost too much to bear, and she squeezed her eyes shut at the thought.
When she felt movement and Riv nestled between her legs, kneeling so he could watch her pleasure herself up close, she clenched again in response.
Riv grasped her hand, stopping her ministrations.
A growl rumbled through him as he brought her finger to his nose, inhaling her scent.
Dark eyes moving to hers, he brought her finger to his lips, his tongue moving out as he licked her finger clean.
She didn’t know how to react but watching him do it again, it still remained so deliciously dirty that she began to ache for his tongue.
“Let me,” he said, but that wasn’t near enough warning.
When his tongue flicked out and moved against her, running from her entrance right over the hood of her clit, she jerked against him.
She didn’t need much more than that, the buildup had been too great and she screamed, shamelessly grinding against his tongue as her orgasm rocked through her.
Riv groaned. “More,” he rasped.
Spreading her thighs, he covered her completely with his mouth, his tongue rolling over her core and Lauren cried out as she bucked against him.
Threading her hands through his hair, she pressed back into the firm cushion of the bed, hoping, praying that he’d fill that aching hole that wanted something long and thick inside.
And at that moment, as if he was a mind reader, Riv groaned, grasping her hips tight so there was nowhere for her to go. His tongue speared her, pushing into her, pushing deep as he delved his tongue into her heat.
“Riiivvvv!” She screamed his name and a resulting rumble came from his chest.
He was moaning with her, almost as if he was enjoying it as much as she was.
When the pleasure became too great and she tried to pull away, he held her fast, his tongue rubbing against her clit before spearing her once more and lapping up any escaping juices.
“Fuck, Riv.”
Another orgasm came crashing through her as he tongued her, not pulling away even when she pushed against him out of pure ecstasy, the pleasure feeling too good, the pleasure just too much.
When the worst of the tremors rocked through her body, Riv slipped his tongue from her and ran it over her softness again, wet slick sounds filling the air as he cleaned her with his mouth.
Lauren collapsed against the bed. Undone.
She couldn’t move even if she wanted to.
Everywhere ached that sweet, sweet ache a truly good orgasm left in one’s bones.
Riv kissed both sides of her thighs as he released her slowly.
“Wh-where did you learn to do that?” Her glassy eyes met his.
“Mouth phekking.”
Lauren blinked.
“Mouth what?” A lazy chuckle left her. “You mean kissing? That was nothing like kissing.”
Riv climbed over her slowly, so slowly she almost felt stalked, but it only made a new set of pleasure jitters run through her.
“You didn’t like it? Did I do it wrong?”
She couldn’t believe he was asking that.
“Wrong? Oh Riv, that was…phenomenal.”
He was on all fours over her now, his gaze traveling over her face.
Against her belly, something thick and hard jerked.
“We can stop there, if you want to,” he said. “You seem…tired.”
She smiled at him lazily. The feel of his cock against her belly was creating a new ache between her thighs.
“It’s a good tired.” She moved a hand between them to run a finger down his shaft, and Riv’s breath hitched.
Her finger moved over the ridges he had there and she realized they were corded underneath his skin in the actual muscle. They weren’t like surface veins.
That caused her to bite her bottom lip.
She couldn’t imagine what he was going to feel like.
“Are you sure you want this?” he asked as he looked down at her. “Are you sure you want me?”
“More than anything,” she whispered.
He let out such a low moan she couldn’t hear it. She could only feel it vibrating off his skin.
In one movement, he spun her around beneath him and her yelp was stifled in the bedding as he positioned himself behind her.
The brush of his cock against her entrance made her grip the sheets beneath them as she braced herself.
He was big and she hadn’t had sex in so long.
She’d orgasmed twice but…
Riv’s finger slipped inside her and Lauren moaned out loud.
“You’re so small,” his voice sounded strained. “You squeezed my tongue.”
One hand caressed her back, running down her spine as he worked his finger within her.
When he slipped another finger in, his free hand clasping around her waist as he swayed her against his digits, Lauren buried her face into the bed to stop from screaming.
He was going to make her cum again.
