by Malcolm Moss
Nearly blinded by whiplash from his eager kiss, Alice let her hand lower to caress the bulge created by the limp cock buried in his sweatpants. To her dismay, he pulled away quickly.
“Whoa, hey now. Gotta let it rest.” Like nothing had happened, Weston returned to his plate and pulled up the chair next to her. “Now, what?”
“Maple syrup and strawberries.” While she was thinking about it, she decided to ask, “Where did you get strawberries by the way. I’ve never heard of a long flight with fresh fruit.”
“This is your first right?”
“Yeah, I’ve had a pair of three-months and the last was a six-month, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“Can we talk about it in a minute?” Alice had no idea what he could mean, but became distracted by the total look of ecstasy that filled his face when a syrup-laden pancake entered his mouth.
“Oh my god. Oh man. That’s– Wow, that’s amazing,” Weston began raving as soon as he’d tasted it. He quickly stabbed another bite and popped it in to follow. “You ate this when you were a kid?” he asked when he had only a few left.
“Yeah, my mom made them.”
“I think you’ve converted me.”
“You mean, you think pancakes from scratch are better than some powdered paste from a machine?” Alice punched his arm lightly for effect.
Weston visibly savored the last bite with eyes closed and elbows on the counter before eventually swallowing. “Alright, come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To show you where the strawberries came from.” Alice could only watch in confusion as Weston stood and turned toward the corridor rather than toward the kitchen storeroom.
“But–”
“Come on.” Weston pulled on her arm to get her out of the chair and down the corridor behind him. At the base of the ladder to the upper levels, he turned and let her climb first.
“Where am I going?”
“Third level.” Alice heard him and climbed up as she was instructed, but it made no sense. The top floor of the ship was for the automatic programming and computer storage. It housed all the hardware that kept them online and fully functional. There was no way they’d find strawberries in the motherboards.
As expected, the third level opened into a corridor that led to the Nav system, flight module, and data storage on one end, and the oxygen tanks, water filtration, and other life support systems on the other side. “Uh, are you lost?”
“Hardly. This is my ship, remember?” Weston looked rather pleased with himself as he sauntered down toward the guts of the life support system. Alice allowed herself to gaze upon the fine ass as it moved before falling in line behind him.
Weston stopped at the door with the LSS plaque and turned to face her. “Close your eyes.”
“I’m good. I know what O2 tanks look like.”
He made a grand show of rolling his eyes and waving his hands in frustration though his easy smile never dimmed. “God, you’re such a science geek. Can’t you have a little fun? Close your eyes.” Rather than wait for her to oblige, Weston moved around her and covered her eyes with his sizable hands.
“Open the door,” he instructed since his hands were both occupied. A moment of feeling about discovered the smoothness of the panel where she was able to find the button from memory.
Alice never heard the door open over the roar of the mechanisms churning inside the expansive room. Water raced loudly down pipes at least a foot wide as air purifiers hummed so that Weston had to speak loudly into her ear. “Forward a ways.”
After a few steps, it became clear that it was easier for the blonde to lead her with his own movements than his voice. Weston navigated her through a veritable maze of pipes, wires, and panels before finally arriving at the door nearly hidden along the back wall.
Again, Alice keyed the door to open, but this time, only a penetrating quiet filled the space. She eagerly stepped in and let the door close behind her, drowning in a sea of silence and fragrance she hadn’t thought she would ever experience again.
“Weston Ramsey, is that mint?” Even with eyes covered by his hands, Alice knew what she smelled.
On cue, Weston released her. An intense, yellowish light blinded the unadjusted eyes of the cryogenist. Blinking quickly and using an arm to shadow her face, Alice gazed out on the amazing sight. Row after row of greenery filled the space. Vines clung to the walls and arbors while saplings proudly displayed their flowering branches. A six-foot band of grass lined the periphery.
Alice covered her mouth with her hands in shock. “You like it?” Weston asked though she had no words to respond. She hadn’t seen such a garden since her mom got sick a decade before.
“Come on, I’ll show you what they are.” The engineer continued to talk for several minutes as they walked down the rows, describing what each plant was called and where it originated. Alice barely heard him as her hands graced the delicate leaves and she bent to take in the smells of each and every flower.
“These will be watermelon in a few weeks. And here are all the berries: strawberries and blueberries. For some reason, the blackberries would never keep.” Alice was thankful Weston was content to hold the conversation on his own. Her voice caught in her throat, and all she could offer was to slide her hand into his as they walked.
“The lettuce heads are here. They’ll be ready in a few days, actually. Just before launch, I planted the spinach so that’ll take a while. I had radishes here before, but you know, they aren’t very good. Have you ever had a radish?”
Alice had to smile. He was trying, really trying, and after their last conversation, she had to believe it was all for her. Though she supposed planting a garden of impossible-to-get plants was pretty easy after altering your entire career and giving up two years of your life. She was quickly getting the idea that Weston didn’t want to just have casual sex.
“Yeah, they’re kind of gross,” she finally said.
Without missing a beat, Weston smiled and continued. “Back here are all the flowers. Sunflowers over there, and these’ll be roses after a while. Gladiolas in the back corner.”
Alice let her toes sink into the soil pathway as she admired the vision before her. “Wes, how did–I mean, Nobbert let you–”
“Well, I wouldn’t say he let me, but I can be very convincing.” Weston raised his eyebrows a few times for effect. “Besides, you wouldn’t believe what they were willing to do once I mentioned you’d like it. The IGEA is very interested in keeping you happy.”
She didn’t really want to get into why they would be interested in her happiness and decided she would rather savor the live plants around her. “Can we come back here?”
“Of course, as often as you’d like.” Weston’s hand fell to the small of her back but didn’t stay for long.
Alice turned and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. While she was extremely grateful for the work and effort he had put into the garden, she doubted she’d ever be able to express what such a space meant to her.
Strong hands arrived on her hips and lifted her up so that she could wrap herself around him entirely. He rubbed over the fabric across her back as he dipped his face into her neck.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked after several minutes. Alice didn’t want to peel her body away from his, but had to admit she had things to do.
“Ugh, work. You?” Sliding her feet back into the soil was delightful and excruciating at the same time. Somehow, Weston was quickly becoming an integral part of her experience on the flight. Though she stood only inches from him, it felt like far more distance than she would like.
Weston smiled wide as he said, “Work. You want to burn a few hours and then I’ll meet you in the galley for dinner? Dress up?”
“Sure.” As much as leaving the garden felt like a punishment, she refused to let her swimming head get distracted by the engineer. They were
only three days into the two-year trip. She was on the flight to get three people to Proxima Centauri under cryosleep and no well-endowed, muscled man was going to keep her from it.
Determined to get control of herself, Alice walked back out of LSS, climbed down the ladder, and entered her small office just outside the CryoRoom.
Door closed, music on, Alice pulled up the last forty hours of data from Villareal and began configuring the numbers into her graphs. While computers had long been used to process the numbers in their complex formulas and evaluate the patterns, Alice didn’t trust them. Machines could never understand the intricacies of the human mind. People’s lives and minds were in her hands, and she knew better than a computer how to care for them.
Alice let herself get lost in her work, but nonetheless, she found herself excited to have dinner with Weston. To keep her mind occupied, she burned an hour on a good run hooked to the cardio sensors; she’d have to have the data for Nobbert in a few weeks anyway.
Covered in sweat and satisfied with the heat in her muscles, Alice slipped into her room a few minutes early for a much needed shower. She exchanged her leggings and tee for a simple blue dress. Her hair would have to suffice in its half-dry curls skimming her shoulders; it wasn’t worth the time to mess with it and she was far too interested to see a certain engineer.
As dressed as she was going to be, she strode into the galley to see Weston hard at work as several pots simmered on the cooktop. A grey button-up and casual jeans gave him an old-movie star look. His eyes rose to take her in as she entered just before he drew in a sharp breath. “Damn, babe.”
Weston immediately abandoned the cooking food to scoop her up and slam her back into the wall as his lips slammed into her mouth; a hungry kiss from a man desperate to have her. Alice’s head spun from the intense, swift motion but she didn’t complain and kept her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. The pain between her shoulder blades only heightened her senses as a handsome, capable man took control.
Already, Alice could feel the pooling fluids that would render her panties useless for the rest of the evening. Weston’s unapologetic desire left her dripping. Pressed between Weston and the wall, she would leave a spot on his shirt before too long.
The capable man pressing her against the wall used a single hand to hold her while he worked to lower the waistband of his pants, and Alice found herself grateful for his strength. Not many would be able to pull off such a maneuver.
Too soon, his enticing lips pulled away to fall on her neck, her collarbone, her shoulder. Teeth cut into her skin enough to offer a sensual pain. She let her mouth fall onto the exposed flesh beneath his ear and sucked hard.
Just as she’d hoped, Weston’s engorged cock made no apologies when it slipped inside her and pushed against every nerve she possessed. If her head hadn’t already been pressed against a wall, it would have fallen back as she let out a healthy moan for more.
A strong arm held Weston from the wall as he brought his hips to slam into hers offering a delightful renewal of fullness. Alice would have thought holding another person up for so long would get tiring, but he showed no sign of defeat. Voracious lips sought out any exposed flesh and latched on painfully as heated grunts erupted from the engineer. In the depths of orgasm, he didn’t notice how deep his teeth cut into her.
“Fuck, babe, fuck, I–” Weston began when his breath returned but he never finished as he set Alice back on her feet and dove into her pussy. Two fingers entered her slick cunt as his tongue darted across her clit and she raced her own hands into his mess of blonde hair. He only stopped to suck at the juices that flowed out of her before lapping at her folds again. She didn’t make it very long before her fingers clutched around strands of hair and her knees threatened to give out as her muscles clamped around him. Never had anyone rendered an orgasm from her so easily.
Standing, Weston kissed her again so that she could taste herself on his lips. He gently helped her bring down the blue fabric and straighten out her dress, a stark contrast to his aggression a moment before. “Now, how am I supposed to cook you dinner when you wear things like this?” he asked as he grabbed her waist and pulled her in for another kiss.
“Oh, so now this is my fault?” Alice teased.
“Get out of here so I can concentrate!” He all but pushed her back toward her room to get cleaned up.
Walking down the corridor with a ridiculous grin plastered across her face, Alice knew she would never be able to find anything close to what had just happened with Weston. No man had ever been so attracted to her that he had to take her just from the sight of her. No one had ever thrown her against a wall and fucked her senseless in the throes of passion. Only three days into deep space and Alice Hill knew she was in for some of the best sex of her life.
In fresh underwear and a more casual pair of jeans, Alice returned to find a lovely plate of roast chicken with vegetables waiting for her on the table. A glass of bourbon on ice sat next to it.
“How’s this?” she asked with a spin. His eyes fell all over her as he took her in.
Weston pulled her close again, though slower this time, and kissed her firmly before replying, “Barely tolerable.”
“Are you keeping chickens on board somewhere?” she teased as she sat.
“No, but that’s a good idea. These were expensive.”
“You mean to tell me, you got Nobbert to approve a budget for live plants and authentic cuts of meat?” Alice knew there were few enough places to get real food anymore. Almost everything was the nutritionally-complete garbage they served at the outposts. There just wasn’t enough for everyone anymore.
“He was pretty against it at first, but like I said, I’m pretty persuasive. The plants produce oxygen to keep us alive for a while if there’s an issue with LSS. I rigged the water to filter through the soil and the refining layers beneath it. Theoretically, the two of us could survive with just the heaters.”
“And the meat?” As she asked, Alice placed a bite into her mouth and savored the texture of it. Scientists could get close to the flavor, but the feel of it in her mouth was never right. They just couldn’t fake real meat.
“That’s where you came in. I think he wouldn’t have budged if it was for anyone else, but he’s pretty interested in keeping you on board IGEA.”
“Wes, this is great,” she said honestly, but more to change the subject.
“I’m glad you like it. You know, I’m not sure I’ve had real meat before.”
“Never?” she asked, attempting not to gape too much.
“Nope. You’re making me branch out.”
Alice smiled. “You know what that means?” When Weston shook his head, she continued, “To branch out, like a tree branch. To grow in a new direction.”
“That makes sense. I can think of another way to branch out.” A wiggling eyebrow told her he had something exciting in mind.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“You’ll see.” After the supreme happiness experienced the last time Weston made her wait for an explanation, she was content to let it play out on his terms.
When they had all but licked their plates clean, Alice helped him load the dishes into the sanitizer. Each time she bent over to set in an item, Weston’s hand squeezed an ass cheek playfully until they both laughed.
“How about a shower?” he asked between teasing kisses.
“Go ahead.”
“No, I mean you come with me”
“I just had one. Look, my hair’s not even dry.” Alice lifted a patch of damp hair to show him. She should have known Weston would have things his way.
Bending at the knees, Weston pressed his shoulder into her waist and easily lifted her off the floor and walked to his quarters. She squealed and laughed as she dangled upside-down over his expansive shoulder. Enjoying the ride, she pretended to beat her fists against his back in protest until he tossed her onto the bed and began stripping her clothes.
&nb
sp; Lost in a fit of laughter, Alice only caught her breath when fingers ran across the denim over her pussy. Weston’s eyes kept their playful glint, but the hunger was there as well. She put up no fight as he lifted off her top and slid the jeans over her ankles.
A strong hand helped pull her to stand, where Weston still towered over her. Bearing all in front of him, she pulled on his shirt but was too short to remove it completely; he smiled at her attempt to reach.
Turning her attention to something she could handle, Alice set to those delicious jeans. She graced her hand across the taut muscles between his hips, delicately tracing her fingertips and bringing a spray of goosebumps to the surface. She only focused on the denim when he recoiled slightly from her touch.
Alice dipped her hands between the pants and Weston’s toned waist, slowly drawing them down until they fell uselessly to the floor. His cock already throbbed as it filled with blood, the head swelling with each passing moment.
To draw it out and make him wait, she slid her small hand into his large one and pulled him toward his shower; she wouldn’t make it easy on him this time. Alice shot him a smirk as she reached in to adjust the water.
“You look fucking amazing, babe.” Weston leaned in to kiss her but she turned and let him have her neck instead. He grunted in feigned frustration as she pulled away and slipped into the stream of water with a smile.
The engineer followed barely a second later, the water splashing onto his chest and falling into the pool at his feet. Droplets clung to his arms and chin before he turned and dropped his head into the stream to wet his hair.
It was just the moment Alice had anticipated. She lowered her knees onto the abrasive flooring and placed her hands on his unbelievable legs. It was easy to slip his cock into her mouth and tease it with her tongue.
