“Bed,” Salomen said in a choked voice.
Tal swallowed hard and nodded. They held on to each other as they stumbled toward the large bed beneath the windows, and Salomen gave her a forceful push backward.
Tal caught herself just in time. “No.”
Brought up short, Salomen frowned, lust clouding over with dazed confusion. “No? What—?”
“My back.”
“Oh.” Her distress was sharp, cutting effortlessly through the sexual haze and pushing them both back to sanity. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking—”
“No, Salomen, I’m fine.” Tal caught her shoulders and held her. “I’m fine. Just don’t throw me on the bed.”
Salomen looked into her eyes for several pipticks, absorbing what Tal was sending her. Her self-castigation abated as the tension left her shoulders. “All right, I won’t throw you on the bed. This time.”
Tal watched in fascination as she flashed that predatory smile again. “I’ve never seen you smile like that. And a good thing, too, because if I had I could never have kept my hands off you. We’d have fried all of our empathic senses.”
“You fried yours anyway.” Salomen urged her into a seated position on the edge of the bed. “Much as I love this look, you still have too much clothing on.”
“I’ll get those,” Tal protested as Salomen began pulling the tabs on her boots.
Salomen looked up. “You’re uncomfortable with this?”
“I’m just…not accustomed to the idea of you doing that. It doesn’t seem right.”
Salomen rose, gently nudged Tal onto her back, and crawled right over her. “Why?”
Tal found concentration elusive as she focused on the breasts hovering within a mouth-watering range. “I…ah…” She gave up and reached for her prize, only to find them pulled away. Salomen sat astride her hips, taking advantage of her position to caress all sorts of sensitive places while Tal shivered and twitched.
“Why isn’t it right?” Salomen persisted.
“Because…” Tal closed her eyes. “If you really want me to explain, you’ll have to stop what you’re doing.”
“Oh, but it’s such fun to feel you trying so hard to think.” Salomen skimmed her fingertips across Tal’s stomach and chuckled softly at the reaction.
Tal opened her eyes again to see a smug grin on her face. “You realize that you’re only getting away with this because I’m under medical orders.”
“And I plan to press my advantage as far as I possibly can.” Salomen crouched down and slid forward, brushing her breasts along Tal’s torso and nearly sending her airborne. “Now tell me,” she said, propping herself on her forearms.
“I cannot believe you want to talk about this now.” Tal sighed in theatrical resignation. “When I was a fresh trainee, new in my unit, I went through all the usual rites inflicted on young warriors. Most of them were designed to teach humility. And one of them was an obligation to remove the boots of any older trainee who demanded it.”
“So taking off your boots is the behavior of a subordinate.”
She nodded. “And you are not my subordinate in any way.”
“No, I’m not.” Salomen seized Tal’s head in an unbreakable grip, the strength in her hands reinforcing her point as she leaned down for a passionate kiss. They were both breathing hard when she finally pulled away.
“I will take off your boots because I want to, not because you demand it.” She released her hold and ran gentle fingers through Tal’s hair. “Power works both ways. Did it never occur to you that while you held the bare foot and leg of an older trainee in your hands, you had an advantage?”
Not once had Tal thought of it like that. “Have you been talking to Micah?”
Salomen chuckled. “Quite a lot, actually, while you were in the healing center. You slept much of the time, so I read up on the Truth and the Path and asked the colonel a lot of questions. I understand you better than I did before.”
“I think I’m nervous now.”
“No, you’re not.” Salomen kissed her again. “I’m sensing many things, but nervousness is not in the mix.” Gracefully she slid off the bed and returned her attention to the boots.
Tal sat up and watched. This was an act of humility, one that she had learned to hate from her first days as a trainee, yet Salomen’s own strength of character had changed it into something completely different. It was caring and seductive all at the same time.
“Just when I thought I could not admire you more,” she said quietly.
Salomen pulled off the second boot and tossed the sock after it. “And we really haven’t gotten started,” she said, her fingers busy at the trouser fastening. “Let’s see how you feel by the end.”
Tal lifted her hips and allowed her pants to be tugged off, along with her underwear. As Salomen stood up and stared, Tal felt a resurgence of her normal self-confidence. Relaxing onto her back, she propped one foot on the edge of the bed and ran her fingertips up and down her thigh. “Do you plan to stand there all evening?”
“Oh, no,” Salomen said in a low voice. “I definitely do not plan to stand here.” She kicked off her shoes and had her own pants off in record time. Tal took the opportunity to pull herself the rest of the way onto the bed, and Salomen joined her a moment later, stretching out beside her with her head propped on one hand. Their faces were separated by less than a handspan, and Tal studied the beauty that was so tantalizingly close.
“I was wrong in that field,” she whispered. “You are my dream.”
“Fahla knew what she was doing after all.” Salomen traced a line down her jaw. “You’re mine as well.”
Tal caught her hand, pressed it to her lips, and pushed up onto all fours. Then she was astride Salomen, smiling as dark eyes instantly focused on her breasts. “Is this what you wanted?” she asked, lowering herself until her breasts were barely out of reach of Salomen’s open mouth. Just as Salomen lifted her head, she pulled back. “Not yet. I have some catching up to do.”
“And I don’t?” Salomen’s voice cracked as Tal began kissing and gently biting her waist, sides, and the ridge just above each breast…and then reversing direction before coming within range of a certain questing mouth. “Andira, this is cruel. Just give me one tick, please.”
Tal made no answer, but the next time she worked her way upward, she did not stop at the chest ridges. Her movements became more urgent as their arousal merged again, and she left marks on Salomen’s throat without meaning to. She bit her on the jaw before taking her mouth in a fiery kiss, then positioned herself where Salomen wanted her.
“Finally,” Salomen murmured, reaching out and lifting her head.
Tal closed her eyes at the sensation of warm lips on one breast and a firm hand on the other. Her nipples seemed to be attached directly to her groin, and every tug of Salomen’s lips and tongue sent liquid heat coursing through her veins.
She gave herself over to pure sensual enjoyment and might have stayed there for a hantick had an urgent desire of her own not taken precedence. Ignoring Salomen’s groaned complaint, she pulled out of reach.
“You said one tick,” she admonished.
“I didn’t think you’d time it!”
Tal nibbled a chest ridge. “I didn’t. We have all night.” Just to make her point, she abandoned Salomen’s torso entirely and moved down to her legs, running her fingertips along their length. Though the burns were faint, she was looking through the eyes of a new lover and saw them all too clearly. Her sorrow rose again, but Salomen was there instantly, smoothing her emotions with her own acceptance. Tal bent to kiss the marks, touching them with all the tenderness in her heart, then wrapped her hands around one smooth calf and lifted it.
“There are no burns on that side,” Salomen said.
“No, but there�
��s this.” Tal ran her tongue across the back of Salomen’s knee and had to tighten her grip as it was almost jerked from her hands.
“I didn’t even know—” Salomen’s breath hitched when Tal began sucking. “Oh, good Fahla.”
Smiling, Tal let go and licked the spot. “That you were sensitive here?”
“Yes! How could you know that when I don’t?”
“Apparently, I’m better trained than your prior lovers.” Tal took considerable pride in that.
Salomen laughed. “You are so smug. I did have some good lovers, you know.”
“They couldn’t have been that good if they ignored these legs,” Tal murmured between kisses. “I’ve been watching them for a moon.” She set the leg down gently and touched the other, smiling when Salomen quickly lifted it up.
“You’ve been—oh—staring at my legs? I had no idea.”
She loved the way Salomen’s breath kept catching, and chased that moment again and again with her lips and tongue. “How could I not? Besides the fact that you look better than anyone has a right to in muddy work boots…” She ran her tongue across the crease and listened for the gasp. “…every night you came into my room, sat in that chair, and crossed these long legs in front of me. You flaunted them.”
“Now you’re just making it up. I never flaunted my legs. My breasts, maybe.”
Caught by surprise, Tal laughed too hard to continue the light touch she needed. She held Salomen’s leg against her neck and rested her cheek on it, smiling down at her tyree. “I knew you chose that dress for a reason.”
“And it worked. Your eyes nearly fell out of your head.”
“I never quite got them back in again.” Tal kissed her leg and brought it down, then crouched to touch her lips to a soft inner thigh. She followed a steady path upward, moving from one leg to the other, and studiously ignored the way they shifted apart to invite further exploration. Instead she focused on the tender skin of her stomach and sides, noting all of the sensitive places and revisiting them several times just to be sure. At last she straightened, watching Salomen’s flushed face and half-closed eyes with a mixture of awe and pride. She was the reason for that expression; it was her hands and mouth that had left this amazing woman limp with pleasure.
Salomen reached up to brush the backs of her fingers against Tal’s cheek. “I knew you’d be like this,” she whispered.
“Like what?” Tal leaned into the caress.
“Considerate. And bossy.”
Tal chuckled. “You haven’t seen bossy yet.” She caught Salomen’s hand and sucked in one finger, deliberately recreating a moment they both remembered. By the time she released it, lust had chased levity from their emotions.
“Now, there’s the matter of these breasts you were flaunting.” She bent to take a nipple into her mouth. The gasp was arousing enough, but when Tal pushed the nipple out and then forcefully sucked it back in, Salomen’s cry sent a wave of heat surging through her.
Salomen bucked, her hands coming around Tal’s head and twisting almost painfully into her hair. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”
“I won’t.”
Tal lost all track of time, unable to tell how much of her white-hot arousal was her own and how much was Salomen’s. She had never experienced this before, not in a mere joining. When a Sharing and a joining were combined, yes, but she and Salomen weren’t there yet. This was simply their normal tyree connection, ratcheted up several levels by their physical contact and excitement.
When she reached down with one hand to caress skin she hadn’t yet explored, Salomen could take no more.
“Andira, please…I need you inside,” she said hoarsely.
Tal lifted her head. “Now?”
“Yes!”
“But I’ve just gotten started.” It was a cruel tease, but she couldn’t help herself. An aroused and frustrated Salomen was a sight to behold.
Salomen closed her eyes. “If you don’t go inside right now, I will hurt you.”
Tal nibbled the lobe of her ear, then whispered, “If you hurt me, do it for a better reason than that.”
“I don’t—”
“Shh. Spread your legs.”
She slid to one side, giving her room to shift, then knelt between her legs. Salomen’s stomach was flat enough to show the full length of the pelvic ridges, and Tal followed their converging lines with her fingertips, finally allowing herself to go where they both wanted. Her fingers met on the curve where the pelvic ridges joined, just above the entrance into Salomen’s body, and she gently slipped one finger inside.
“Oh, sweet Goddess,” she groaned. The inner ridges had already pulled back, opening the passage. Salomen was so far gone that she wouldn’t even feel one finger; her body was ready to complete the act. Of course Tal had known she was that aroused, but feeling it this way, from the inside, was like throwing accelerant on her own fire.
“Not enough,” Salomen managed.
“I know.” Tal added a second finger, watching in awe as Salomen’s hips rose to meet her.
Two fingers fit perfectly, guided on their path by inner ridges that seemed to be made just for her. She reveled in the ease of it, slipping inside with almost no resistance. She understood the biology—when the inner ridges pulled back, they released a powder that filled in both their micropores and those of the penetrating fingers, reducing the friction to nearly zero—but as far as she was concerned, it was simply magic. There was no feeling on Alsea to compare to this effortless, smooth slide, to the sense of being welcomed inside a body.
She pulled her fingers nearly out, then pushed them back in as far as she could, thrilling at the touch of her fingertips to the pouch at the back wall. With any other lover, she would have asked if such a depth was all right, but with Salomen there was no need. She felt the explosion of pleasure and began moving her fingers in and out in a slow, controlled motion that stimulated the inner ridges.
Salomen’s hands clenched in the sheets. “Yes, just like that.” She could barely get the words out.
“Just like this? Because I was thinking about trying this instead.” Tal increased her speed.
Salomen brought up her knees and dug her heels into the bed as her back arched. “Goddess…”
Tal had never seen anything so beautiful as Salomen’s body moving under her hands. She watched avidly, trying to commit every detail to memory, wanting this first time to be something she could recall for the rest of her days. She varied her motions, never letting them get too much into a rhythm, drawing out the pleasure for both of them. It could not get any better than this, she thought—until Salomen reached down and began rubbing the curved ridge just above Tal’s fingers.
Alseans of both sexes had this curve. It was called by many names, but she had always preferred molwine, a reference to the sacred tree of Fahla. It was the source of the most exquisite sensations of a joining, often leading to a quick finish, which was why she had avoided it until now. Watching Salomen rub her own molwine threatened to finish her on the spot.
Swiftly, she seized Salomen’s wrist and slammed it onto the bed, then pulled out her fingers and caught the other hand that was making its way down.
“You’re not doing that. I am,” she said.
“Then shekking do it!”
Tal wasted no time following that order. She pushed up and covered Salomen’s body, both of them gasping as their molwines made contact.
Salomen wrapped her up in a tight embrace. “It has never felt like this.”
“For me either.” Nothing had even come close. Tal’s hips were moving without conscious thought, and she rose up on her forearms, wanting to see Salomen’s eyes in this most intimate of connections.
A muscle in her back protested the new angle, sending a sharp spike of pain through her. Tal took a b
reath, looked down at Salomen—and froze.
It was the position. The last time she had been here, lying atop Salomen, braced on her forearms with pain in her back, her world had been coming apart. She knew what was happening, but her breath still quickened and the fear drove everything out. The air reeked with the stench of burning hair and charred flesh.
She dropped her head and nuzzled into Salomen’s throat, seeking that warm, spicy scent and desperately telling herself that she wasn’t there, her back was not on fire, Salomen was fine…
Hands touched her back, and she went rigid, bracing herself for the excruciating pain when Micah tore her skin apart.
But the hands vanished again without causing damage, and Salomen’s voice was in her ear, saying things like safe and home. She pushed her hands beneath Salomen’s shoulders and held on, needing the comfort. The voice repeated words that meant nothing, because all she could hear was the tone. That calm tone didn’t go with the terror that had paralyzed her limbs and left her panting for air. It also didn’t go with the deep concern swamping her senses, pouring out of Salomen and taking on its own shade of fear.
They couldn’t both be afraid. Her protective instinct surged up, ready to do battle with whatever had Salomen feeling that way. She tensed her muscles in preparation, then gasped as a new reality slammed into her. For a moment she was in two places at once, utterly confused until one reality faded and the other solidified. She was in her dimly lit quarters…on top of a very worried Salomen.
Her terror drained away, leaving behind the oily residue of humiliation. It was a relief to breathe normally again, but she could not bring herself to lift her head. For Fahla’s sake, she was the leader of her caste and she’d just had a flashback in the middle of their joining. That sort of overwrought dokshin happened to warriors in weepers, not to her.
Without a Front: The Warrior's Challenge (Chronicles of Alsea Book 3) Page 10
