by Tasha Black
“It’s so peaceful in here,” Hailey said softly.
He smiled.
“What?” she asked.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he told her softly.
She smiled back, but it was a wistful half-smile, not the radiant look she’d lavished on him this morning when they were sitting by the fire.
The nanny had done some damage with her poisonous words.
He watched, feeling helpless, as Hailey placed Opal on the changing table and unbuttoned her bodysuit to remove her diaper.
She paused before the diaper was off. “I, uh, I don’t really know how to do this.”
“That’s okay, I’ll show you,” he said, feeling proud to display his skills.
She stepped back slightly, still looking embarrassed.
“I didn’t know how either,” he confided. “One of the nannies had to show me. I wasn’t expecting to be a parent so suddenly. But we’ll learn together.”
She nodded and smiled, and it went to her eyes this time.
“I grab a fresh diaper first,” he advised her. “Then I lay it out under her.”
He went through the process, showing Hailey how to wipe Opal down and get her dressed again without any fuss.
“There you go,” he told Opal with a smile when they were all finished.
The baby made a raspberry sound with her lips and waved her little arms.
But he could tell by her drooping eyelids that she was sleepy.
“Let’s get you back in your bed,” he told her.
But when he laid her down, she began to cry once more, legs out stiff and tiny fists clenched with fury.
“Can I try?” Hailey asked.
He stepped back, reluctantly, knowing Hailey’s instincts were good.
She leaned over the crib and placed her hand on the baby’s belly.
“We’re here little one,” she told Opal in a singsong voice. “We’ll be here as long as you need us.”
Opal stopped crying and looked up at Hailey with interest. It was her lilting voice that the little one couldn’t resist.
“Do you want to hear a song?” Hailey asked the baby.
Opal smacked her lips and wiggled her fingers before yawning a big yawn.
“Okay,” Hailey said. “My mama used to sing me this one.”
Orion stepped back, meaning to give them space, but when Hailey began to sing, he was mesmerized.
Her soft voice filled the room, and though the words were silly, they made him feel small and safe again.
Opal drifted off as they both stood over her crib. For a long time, they watched over her, the miracle of the little chest rising and falling, tiny hands open like starfish.
“It’s not true,” he said quietly, at last. “What that nanny said. You aren’t hired help.”
“I know,” she told him.
Her newly pale, pink hair was luminous in the starlight that flowed in through the window over the crib. He missed her dark tresses, but she looked older this way. It was harder to remember why he shouldn’t touch her.
“But it’s not easy to think of myself as your fiancée when you don’t really want me,” she added quietly.
“What are you talking about?” he asked her, stunned.
She shrugged and headed out of the room, leaving him reeling.
“Hailey,” he whispered, following her into the hallway. “Please.”
She stopped at the please and he moved quickly to reach her, taking her hand in his.
“It’s not that I don’t want you,” he murmured.
She turned away but didn’t let go of his hand.
Furious, he marched for his room, with the little Terran in tow.
She gasped, but didn’t fight him, and something in his chest surged at her submissiveness.
He pulled her into the darkness of his room and pressed her small form against the wall before the door slid shut behind them and the soft night lights came to life.
His body was tight to hers and he could feel her small breasts heaving against his chest, and the wild thrum of her heartbeat.
This wasn’t just any warm body, this was the kind, humble woman who was winning his heart.
“I want you so much,” he growled.
“I’m yours,” she whispered back. “Nothing is stopping you.”
Lust surged and all he wanted was to do just that. His own heart was thundering, and his body throbbed with desire.
“You didn’t choose me, and you hardly know me,” he bit out. “You only came here because you had to. It’s not right.”
“You don’t know me either,” she murmured. “If it weren’t for the baby, you wouldn’t be getting married at all.”
She was right. But she was also young and beautiful, and powerless. Touching her was taking advantage.
“I feel very lucky to be marrying you,” he told her softly.
“Show me,” she whispered. “Show me how lucky you feel.”
Gods of the rings…
He clutched her hips, trying to remind himself that he was a decent man.
“I’ll show you,” she murmured, going up on her toes to nuzzle the place where his neck met his shoulder.
He went still, every fiber of his being focused on her warm mouth.
Hailey brushed soft, slow kisses along his neck and jawline.
When she finally pressed her lips to his, he passed the breaking point of restraint and kissed her back, wrapping a hand around her face, thumbing open her jaw so he could taste her tongue.
Hailey moaned lightly and the sound of it set his blood on fire.
He fumbled with the buttons on her pajamas and then gave up, ripping them open to get to her breasts.
She laughed, a shivering bell-like sound that awoke shimmering happiness in his chest.
She was so beautiful that it made his mouth water. Terran women were usually much smaller and more delicate than genetic Arkadians, and Hailey was no exception. But there was such power in her small form.
He ran a hand down her side as he kissed her again, allowing the pad of his thumb to skim her nipple.
She arched her back, as if she hungered for more contact.
He went down on his knees, yanking down her pajama pants and panties at once.
“Orion,” she murmured.
He gazed up at her, racked with desire.
Her lavender eyes were fixed on his, her pale mane mussed, and her lips swollen from his kisses. Only the torn pajama top covered her arms. The rest of her was fully exposed to him.
He feasted his eyes on her breasts, the delicate pink nipples hardened to hungry little points. Her belly was taut, and he swore he could feel her desire swirling there.
She wiggled and he admired the rippling movements of her muscular thighs. This was a woman who was used to regular exercise, a woman who could make love all night without tiring.
Gods, how he wanted to find out if he was right about that.
He leaned forward, took her hips in his hands, and licked one nipple into his mouth.
Hailey moaned and arched her back and he fed on her breasts like an animal, devouring one and then the other until her hips began to tremble in his hands.
Sliding his hands up to continue toying with her breasts, he nuzzled his way down to her belly and thighs.
Her scent was making him wild with lust. He had just begun licking her inner thighs when she froze up.
“O-orion,” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her, sitting back on his heels. “Do you want me to stop?”
Lust pounded in his blood, but he would stop instantly if that was what she wanted, even if it killed him not to taste her.
She bit her lip.
He stood and pressed his forehead to hers.
“We don’t ever have to do this,” he whispered to her. “You have nothing to prove.”
“It’s just that… I’ve never done this before,” she whispered, closing her eyes as if she were ashamed.
&n
bsp; “You’re of age,” he reminded himself out loud.
She shrugged, still not looking at him.
He felt pleasure flare in his chest at the idea of being her first, her only.
“We can go slowly, whenever you’re ready,” he promised her. “I’ll make it feel good, just like when you’re by yourself.”
“By myself?” she echoed.
“When you touch yourself,” he told her gently.
“I haven’t done that either,” she said miserably.
“It’s okay, Hailey,” he chuckled. “Everyone does that when they’re alone.”
“Our house is only one room,” she whispered. “I’m never alone.”
Gods of the rings.
He forced himself to drop his hands from her.
“Please don’t stop,” she murmured.
“Lie down on the bed,” he growled. “Now.”
He wasn’t sure how he was going to teach her about her own body when he was on the edge of madness himself just from touching her, but he prayed the gods would grant him the strength and patience to show her what she needed to know.
18
Hailey
Hailey’s senses were reeling, but she nearly cried in relief at Orion’s gruff words.
Lie down on the bed. Now.
She scrambled to obey. She had been so afraid he would send her away for her ignorance. Any woman in Upper Arkadia would be an expert in pleasing him. She didn’t even know how to please herself.
She lay back and he was on her in an instant, his big body caging her down, his lips crashing into hers.
She grabbed at his shirt, wishing she could tear it to shreds as he had torn hers.
He pulled back, chuckling, and peeled it off over his head, his normally dark eyes glowing that hungry green. Even in the soft light, she could see he was bristling with muscles. She was in awe all over again at the sheer scope of him.
She reached for him, and he fell on her, pressing kisses to her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks.
Tentatively, she smoothed her hands down his biceps and up again to stroke his chest.
He shivered and held himself still, as if he were drinking in her touch.
Emboldened, she let her hands move down, stroking the ridges of his abs, following the light trail of hair that led to his waistband.
His hand moved as quickly as a sand cobra, pulling hers away before she could explore the part of him she was most curious about.
“No,” he scolded. “Tonight is about you.”
She fell back against the bed, sure that couldn’t be right. Sex was about both people. She was pretty sure.
But when he began to lick her breasts, she lost her train of thought.
His tongue swirled and teased, leaving her satisfied and desperate all at once. She slid her hands into his hair and arched her back for more.
He growled and let his teeth scrape her nipple.
A bolt of electricity seemed to go through her and she cried out helplessly.
But he only abandoned her breasts and nuzzled her belly, her hips, her inner thighs.
Hailey’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest. This was what he had been doing a few minutes ago when the tension ratcheted up so much that she’d had to stop him.
She was determined not to stop him this time.
He nudged her thighs apart and inhaled.
Is he smelling me?
He let the breath out with a sound almost like a purr.
“I need you to hold still for me, Hailey,” he told her, his voice dark and low. “Can you do that for me?”
“Yes,” she whispered, shocked at the needy sound of her own voice.
He nuzzled her sex gently, his hot breath sending a tingling sensation through her whole body.
She held her own breath, trying to take it in.
Orion shifted his hands, opening her to him and then pressing his lips to her.
Hailey moaned lightly, feeling herself melt like butter in a heat box.
She could feel his jaw clenching against her thigh. Then he licked her, the sensation was even more shocking than his action. She felt the wild pleasure wash over her - the slow, soothing movement of his mouth at odds with the frantic hunger it inspired.
Hailey whimpered, her hips trembling with her effort to hold still. It was all he had asked of her, but now it felt impossible.
On and on he went, slowing each time it seemed the tension in her was about to reach its breaking point.
Hailey lost track of her own sounds. The pleasure was delicious but cruel, and she wondered how she would survive it.
Orion held back again, just as she thought her body would splinter, and she moaned with need, lifting her hips helplessly to his mouth.
“Be still,” he warned her again.
Desperate to please him, she lowered her hips, shame heating her cheeks.
“Good girl,” he told her, his voice husky.
He slid a finger against her opening and began to lick her again.
When she was desperate with the building tension once more, he pressed his finger inside, massaging her with his finger while his tongue fluttered and circled as before.
Something was building inside Hailey now, powerful and inevitable. She moaned and sank her fingers into his hair, jogging her hips up to meet his mouth and hand, no longer caring if he wanted stillness.
He groaned against her sex, the vibration of his voice elevating the sensation to another level, and she felt the dam burst.
Pleasure erupted from her, rocketing her into the stars and then crushing her down again with wave after wave of ecstasy.
“Orion,” she murmured when it was done.
He crawled up beside her, smiling.
“Was that sex?” she asked, her heart still pounding.
“It was a kind of sex,” he told her, his eyes still glowing green with hunger. “Did you like it?”
She stared at him, wondering how he could even ask the question.
“I-I loved it,” she told him. “Can I do it to you now?”
“Gods,” he groaned, a dark look crossing his face.
“I know I can’t do it as well as that,” she amended. “But can I try?”
He closed his eyes and his jaw tightened.
When he opened them again, the emerald glow had faded a bit.
“I think you’ve had enough new experiences for tonight,” he told her. “It’s time to sleep.”
She wanted to protest, but when he pulled her against his chest, the warmth of him permeated her mind and body, and she found herself drifting off before she had time to form any kind of argument.
19
Orion
Orion jogged down the stairs the next morning with Opal in his arms, feeling fantastic. He could hear the sound of the shower, where Hailey was humming as she bathed. And he could smell the coffee brewing in the living room.
The cries of the little one had woken him. Without a night nanny, he had been free to go to her himself and enjoy the sight of her happy movements when she spotted him - the first person she laid eyes on to begin her day.
Unfortunately, bringing the baby back into their room had meant he couldn’t offer Hailey a repeat performance of last night. But she was radiant when he gave her Opal to hold while he showered.
When he had returned to the room, Opal had already had a fresh diaper and a bottle and the two of them were chatting away. His heart was full just looking at them.
“Hey there,” Kypha called to him from the kitchen island.
“Leave it to you to get the first cup of coffee in my house,” he teased.
“Get up earlier and you just might beat me to it one of these days,” she teased back.
He shook his head and grinned.
“Someone had a good night,” Kypha said with a smile. “Let me guess. You liked Hailey’s new look?”
“Her hair is lovely,” he said. “But if I’m being honest?”
Kypha nodded.
“
I liked her hair better just the way she was,” he confided.
“That’s very romantic,” she told him approvingly. “But remember, Hailey is brand new here and she’ll want to fit in with the other wives and moms, and make friends. That hair job was the easiest way to get her off on the right foot.”
“You’re right, as usual,” he told her, heading over to grab coffee.
“Can I hold Opal?” Kypha asked.
He handed the baby over and attacked his coffee with both hands.
“Listen, I need to tell you something before she comes down,” Kypha said, after giving Opal a kiss on top of her fuzzy head.
“Yeah?” he asked, taking a sip of the heavenly bitter brew.
“Bragg Zigon managed to leak footage of Hailey spilling that pitcher of mimosas,” she said quietly.
“How?” Orion asked, furious.
“It looked like he posted it to his personal account before he left the room,” she said.
Orion clenched his hand so hard that his coffee cup cracked.
“Shit,” he said, dumping the mess in the sink and wiping his hands on the towel.
“Easy big boy,” Kypha teased. “I pulled some strings and had it removed. But now he’s all up at arms about being censored. So, he’ll have it out for you. Stay sharp out there.”
He growled as he finished cleaning up the coffee.
“Oh, and one more thing,” she added, her face taking on a thoughtful look. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I watched the video, and… it almost looked like she fell on purpose.”
“Why would she do that?” he asked in disbelief.
“I could be wrong,” Kypha shrugged. “Ask her about it if you want.”
He frowned. Hailey was just beginning to know and trust him. The last thing he wanted was to question her about something that might make her feel embarrassed. Besides, who in the rings would fall down on purpose?
“Hi, Kypha,” Hailey’s voice floated down the stairs.
He turned and felt a surge of pride, all questions forgotten.
Hailey wore a flowing white dress with a purple belt and scarf that brought out her lovely eyes. Her cheeks were pink with pleasure, as if she knew just how beautiful she looked.
