by Karen Kelley
“I love the smell of pizza,” he said as he inhaled, then removed his gloves and rolled a metal disc with a handle over the pizza. “Okay,” he said, slipping the gloves on once again. “This is hot, so wait. I’ll get you a slice.”
“I like the aroma, too.”
He set the pizza in the middle of the table and removed his gloves, tossing them onto the counter.
“Wine,” he said, holding up a bottle before twisting off the cap and pouring the dark liquid into glasses. “It’s not the expensive stuff, but I’ve always preferred this and never felt the need to put on airs and drink something I didn’t care for.”
“It’s pretty—lights sparkle inside it.”
He handed her one of the glasses, their fingers touched, and tingles spread over her body. She quickly set the glass on the table so she wouldn’t spill any of the liquid.
“Thank you for not changing. I like looking at you. You’re quite beautiful.”
“Yes, I know…” No, she wasn’t supposed to know. She frowned, then looked at him. “Please?”
He chuckled. “Thank you.”
She relaxed. “Thank you. Now we’ll eat?”
She must’ve said something funny again because he laughed some more. Then it dawned on her that maybe he laughed at her. She squared her shoulders. “I do not know your customs.”
His gaze dropped. “You’re doing quite well.”
Sam wasn’t looking at her. Well, technically he was, but she wanted him to listen to her. Sex would come later. “Sam!”
He raised his gaze to her face. “I’m sorry; that was rude of me. I wasn’t laughing at you, though.”
He could read her mind!
This wasn’t good at all. If he knew her thoughts, he would know how much she wanted to copulate with him. He didn’t look as if he’d been reading her mind. But then, she’d found he was quite intelligent.
Had this been what Aasera had tried to warn her about? The tricks men used? If so, she was afraid she might be falling for them as well.
Not good. Not good at all.
Chapter 19
“H ere, try this.” Sam put a slice of pizza on her plate. “Be careful. It’s hot. Let me show you.” He took the pronged metal, then stabbed the pizza.
She looked at him for a moment, wondering if this was a trick on his part. She looked at the pizza. It had round things on it, a glob of yellow and green stuff. She’d already discovered she didn’t like green stuff, except for money. “Does it taste like the little trees?”
He chuckled. “No, now take a bite. Just try it. Kia loves pizza.”
She wasn’t so sure about this, but took the bite he offered and slowly chewed. Flavors burst inside her mouth. If this was a trick, then it was a very good one. Different from the chocolate, but this was really good, too.
“Oh, this is fantastic.” She took the fork and stabbed another bite. Why did Nerak ever create food capsules? That hadn’t been a good idea. Not good at all.
“Try some of the wine.”
She picked up the glass and brought it to her lips, taking a tentative sip. The sweet drink had an underlying taste that she couldn’t quite describe. Not unpleasant but not exciting, either. “It’s not as good as the pizza,” she finally decided.
“An acquired taste, I guess.”
She took another drink. The second taste was a little better than the first. Odd.
They had liquid on Nerak. It was a special blend of water, which was in short supply, and chemicals to increase the volume, and had no real taste until it was mixed with a smoothie. The liquid provided their bodies with adequate hydration since water supplies were limited.
There was a ringing noise. She looked up. Sam reached in his pocket and removed a sleek black object.
“Nick,” he said. “I’d better take this.”
She stared at the little box as he flipped it open. Nick did not emerge, though. Maybe it was like their communicators. She’d never really handled one—there was no need. The companion units delivered all messages.
“We’re eating,” Sam spoke into the little box. “Yeah, pizza. Just like Kia.” He smiled across the table at her. “And wine.”
He was silent, then regarded her with a look that was almost like…fear? He began to choke and sputter before grabbing his glass of wine and downing it.
She took another drink also before he reached across the table and grabbed it out of her hand. How rude. She still had at least two more drinks left.
But she began to forget about her thirst as her body started to tingle and burn, but in a very nice way. Yes, she liked the way she was starting to feel. She studied Sam. Did he seem more handsome, more appealing?
“Yeah, but wine doesn’t have that much alcohol in it,” Sam said. “I mean, it’s like what percentage…”
What had him looking so worried?
“But…” He looked across the table at her. His smile looked wobbly.
Suddenly, she didn’t care. If he was upset about something, Lara was certain she could make it better. In fact, she thought she could have him feeling very good in no time at all.
She ran her tongue across her lips as her gaze slowly traveled over him. He’d wanted her to wear her sheer white robe, but he had all his clothes on. She was the superior race. She should command him to remove his clothes so she could admire his body.
He looked startled, as if he’d read her thoughts. She didn’t care about that, either. She wanted to copulate. She needed to copulate, have sex, make love. She didn’t care which one, possibly all three at least once, maybe twice or more times tonight.
She was really horny.
“I think I’d better call you back,” he mumbled.
She could hear laughter coming from the box before Sam snapped it closed.
“Uh…Nick said it wasn’t good for Nerakians to drink alcohol. It makes you…”
“Take off your clothes,” she ordered.
He raised an eyebrow. Surely, Nick had only been pulling his leg. No one became a nymphomaniac on just a few sips of wine. She still had at least a half…maybe a fourth of a glass left.
Okay, he’d always been in the driver’s seat. The seducer, not the seducee. But there was something in the way she looked at him that said she’d taken control.
Damn it, what the hell was happening? He could feel her need. It swirled inside him a lot like the lights he saw whenever she was having intense pleasure.
No, there wasn’t anything strange going on with him. Hell, he could see she was horny. That was pretty obvious.
The feeling inside him grew stronger. He couldn’t lie to himself any longer. It was like that day when she’d joined their thoughts. They’d made some kind of connection that didn’t completely break when she moved out of his head. He’d been sensing what she felt before she voiced her thoughts. Problem was, it was getting stronger.
Just like now. He could feel her burning need.
She stood, walking toward him. Her nipples were hard little nubs poking at the transparent material. Her near nakedness was a hell of a turn-on. He’d barely made it through dinner. All he’d wanted to do was stare at her. He wanted to do more than that now.
He scooted back in his chair, but b
efore he could stand, she straddled him, rubbing against his erection. He grasped her bottom, pulling her closer.
“I need to have sex,” she said, then ran her tongue up the side of his neck. “My body is burning.”
“It’s the wine. Nick said alcohol heightens sexual desire in Nerakians.”
“I ache. Down deep.”
“I’ll make it okay, baby.”
She brought his hands up to cover her breasts, moaning when he automatically began to massage them. “Don’t talk. Just touch me,” she said right before she covered his mouth with hers.
Lara even tasted hot. Her tongue caressed, then stabbed at his. She devoured him with her lust. He ran his hands through her hair, pulling closer as they sparred, her breasts crushed against his chest, her sex rubbing harder against his erection.
When he ended the kiss, they were both breathing hard. “I have to get out of these clothes,” he said, words raspy.
She scooted off his lap and stood, then untied her robe and shrugged it off her shoulders so that the silky material caressed her body before it puddled at her feet. Even that faint touch drew a whimper of arousal from her slightly parted lips.
He couldn’t move. Damn, she looked like an alien goddess standing on a cloud. A very sensuous alien goddess with her long blond hair draped across one breast. His gaze skimmed over her tiny waist and gently rounded hips to the thatch of blond curls between her legs, then down her long, slender legs.
“Sam?”
That was all it took to break the trance she’d enveloped him in. He ripped off his shirt and let it fall to the floor. Toed off his boots. Socks, jeans, and briefs were off in record time.
“Yes,” she breathed.
He shoved the dishes to the end of the table and went to her, picked her up, and set her on the wooden surface. Would he ever get enough of her?
Make love to me.
Had she spoken aloud? He didn’t think so, but her thoughts were becoming his.
She flicked her finger over one of his nipples. He sucked in a breath, then she was covering it with her mouth, sucking, teeth scraping across the hard nub. Her hand slipped between his legs, fingernails trailing up his erection, then encircling him and sliding downward.
He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes as his body quivered with the restraint it took to keep from pushing her down onto the table, opening her legs, and plunging inside her again and again.
Damn, he’d wanted her since last night. Since the last time they’d made love. It seemed like forever. He only knew he couldn’t hold out much longer if she kept this up. He gently nudged her shoulders until she lay back on the table, letting go of him.
A feast for his eyes.
He ran two fingers down the middle of her chest, circling around each nipple, tugging, then taking them into his mouth one at a time and sucking.
She whimpered.
That’s what he liked. To hear a woman crying with need. Wanting release as much as he did.
He ran both hands down the sides of her hips, planted his palm against her mound. She cried out, arching, wanting more.
“I need you now, Sam,” she whimpered. “I ache so much.”
“I know, baby.” He quickly slipped on a condom, then stroked between her legs, sliding a finger inside. She was already damp and ready.
He entered her slowly, deeply, then eased out. She brought her feet up, resting her heels on the edge of the table. When he sank inside her again, he went deeper.
The lights swirled around them: deep fiery reds, hot pinks, wild orange…
“Ah, damn, this is so friggin’ good,” he groaned.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Very friggin’ good.”
Oh, hell, he’d just taught her another word he shouldn’t be teaching her. Kia was definitely going to kill him. But right now, he didn’t friggin’ care as he sank into the wet heat of her body. He slid in faster and faster. The lights swirled around him. Their heat intensified until all he saw were flashes of brilliant colors.
Lara cried out, her body tightening as she took all of him. He came at the same time, could feel the intensity as his orgasm hit him like a jolt of electricity.
As his body came back down to Earth, a wave of exhaustion swept over him. He was drenched in sweat. He leaned forward, not wanting to break the connection with her yet, and rested his elbows on either side of her, his head on her stomach.
“That was friggin’ good,” Lara said.
He laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty damn hot.” And this position was getting uncomfortable. “I’ll be right back.”
Sex with Lara just got better and better. He quickly used the bathroom, then went back to the kitchen. He was starved. Good thing he liked cold pizza.
She was sitting on the table when he returned. The heat building inside her was almost palpable. Nick had said this would happen, that he should prepare himself for an all-nighter, but Sam hadn’t really believed him. Nick was always trying to pull something. Of course he’d been lying.
“Sam?”
Or maybe not.
“A cold shower. That’ll help,” he told her.
Lara didn’t think it would. The heat was rapidly building inside her. “Sex will make it better, I’m positive.”
“Ah, man, Nick wasn’t pulling my leg when he told me about Nerakians and alcohol. Damn,” he muttered.
“We can have sex again?” She looked down. “How long before it will rise?”
“Let’s try the shower. I swear I can’t have sex for at least an hour.”
“My body is starting to burn and tingle again.” She didn’t know how much longer she could last. She didn’t think pouring cold water on herself would make her less horny.
They went to the bathroom, and he turned on the water, then pulled back the curtain. She wasn’t too sure about his plan. When she stuck her hand beneath the water, she immediately jerked it back.
“I don’t think so,” she told him, arching one eyebrow. “That’s friggin’ cold!”
She wanted release, and she wanted it now. She cupped him in her hand. He began to stiffen. She smiled. Her superior intelligence proved Sam wrong. He could get hard again.
He groaned. “I swear I’m not up for a marathon of sex, Lara.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You look up to me.” She turned the handle that would make the water warm, then as soon as the spray was a more reasonable temperature, she stepped beneath it, raising her arms above her head, then slowly lowering her palms over her body, lifting her breasts, offering them to him.
“Make love to me, Sam,” she said, her words throaty, husky with need. “I want to feel you buried deep inside of me.”
“Screw it. If I go blind, I’ll always have this to remember,” he mumbled. He stepped into the shower with her, grabbing the shower gel. He poured a good bit into the palms of his hands, then began to lather her body. “I fantasized about this once.”
He soaped her breasts, massaging, tugging on her nipples, sliding his thumbs to the underside before cupping them.
“Yes, this is what I need,” she moaned as sensations flooded her body. She wasn’t so lost in her own pleasure that she didn’t want to give back. She took the bottle and squirted the gel onto his chest, then ran her fingers through the hairs, creating more bubb
les.
“Having fun?” he drawled.
“Yes.” She looked into his eyes and saw the heat. She had known she could make him want her again. Her hands slid behind him, cupping his butt, bringing him closer, rubbing herself against him. “This is good.” She clasped his shoulders.
“Yeah, it’s real good.” He reached up and grabbed the nozzle, spraying the soap from her body. “But the shower is getting slippery.”
She didn’t care as she moved back so he could spray her front. She liked the way he sprayed water against her breasts. But then he lowered the nozzle. She gasped.
“Do you like that?”
She nodded. He brought the nozzle closer until it was against her sex.
Sam didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay right here in the shower and watch. He’d never seen anything so erotic as right at this moment, watching Lara in the throes of passion.
He ran the nozzle slowly up and down her sex. Her hands slid up her body, caressing, touching her breasts, massaging them. He leaned forward, sucking a nipple into his mouth. She moaned.
That’s when he knew the bedroom was out of the question. He took her hand and guided it down to the nozzle.
“Right like that,” he told her, tugging on her earlobe with his teeth. He jumped out of the shower and grabbed a condom from the cabinet, then slid it on. When he looked at her, heat coursed through him. She leaned against the yellow tiles, her leg raised on the edge of the shower stall, the nozzle against her sex, her other hand caressing her breast.
Her eyes slowly opened. “Sam, I need you inside me.”
He swallowed past the lump in his throat as he went to the stall and stepped inside. She let go of the nozzle and stepped closer, kissing him just above his right nipple, then dragging her tongue downward and encircling it before sucking on it.
His ass clenched. Oh, yeah, this was good. He took her leg and brought it to his waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he braced her against the back of the shower.
