Rio

by Allyson James

  “Save them for later,” Rio said.

  He lifted the unresisting Nella into his arms and walked to the lift. The others let him go without a word.

  * * * * *

  Nella felt slightly better by the time Rio carried her into her room again. The sparse, pale room was somehow comforting, somehow safe. Even the spicy scent of the air encouraged her to relax.

  She knew the feeling was false. Decorators on Ariel used chemicals in the air and even in paint on the walls to calm a room’s inhabitants. Some restaurants did that so the diners could leave the stress of the day behind and better enjoy their food.

  “I have to leave,” she told Rio.

  His lips curved to a smile that nearly knocked her over. “Not in that sheet.”

  “In the clothes that Baine—that the computer found.”

  “Later. Maybe.”

  She folded her arms, hugging the sheet close. “I am a prisoner here, then?”

  “No.” His eyes darkened, and he closed the space between them. “Unless you want to be. I’ll bet Baine could fix us a holo-room where I could chain you to the wall, and we could play some fine games.”

  She stared at him, unable to imagine what kind of games he was talking about. He was so close to her that she could not tell where his body heat left off and hers began. When he slid his strong hand over her backside she wanted to jump away, but at the same time, she craved his touch.

  “I have to go,” she repeated, but her voice had weakened.

  “Where to?” Rio asked. He caressed the hollow of her hip with his warm palm. “Out to be chased by assassin bots again?”

  She fell silent. She had nowhere to go, and she knew it. Ariel had no embassy on Bor Narga, the two planets being ten stations remote from each other. She hadn’t even been able to send a message to the consul on the next station in line, 657, because Linginian had paid men to make sure she could not get near a call terminal.

  “You see?” Rio said, as though he could read her thoughts. “This compound is hidden. No one knows about it but Shareem. It’s a good place to hide. Consider us friends.”

  She wanted to sink into his warmth and lay her head on his shoulder. She found her body doing just that, even though she told it not to.

  “My friends betrayed me,” she said. “They sold me out to a man who wanted to make me his slave.”

  “They don’t sound like very good friends, then,” he said in a reasonable tone.

  “And you are?”

  “I’m the best friend you’ll ever have, sweetheart.”

  His voice slid over her like a warm blanket, and his body urged her body to relent, to melt, to submit.

  The last thought caught her by surprise. Never in her life had she thought of submitting to anyone.

  She looked up at him. His blue eyes were watchful, his smile just this side of dangerous.

  “Are you an empath?” she asked. “Are you putting thoughts in my head?”

  “No. I’m Shareem.”

  “You keep saying that. What does that mean, exactly?”

  He traced the hollow in the small of her back. “It means I can make you feel better. It means I know how to pleasure you in the exact way you need, even when you don’t know yourself. It means I can teach you to want pleasure, and crave it, and be fully satisfied by it. It means I can teach you to trust, deeply, without fear.”

  “Trust?” She shook her head. “I will trust no one ever again. Only myself.”

  “And me.” His voice was soft in her ear. “You will trust me.”

  “I am grateful to you for helping me when you didn’t have to. But the cautious—no, the very frightened part of me—reminds me that you did not know who I was at the time.”

  Something flickered in his eyes, not anger, but something darker. “So, you think I’ll take you out and leave you for the assassin bots, now that I know you’re a princess? No way. I’ll take care of you, but you have to trust me. You have to give yourself to me.”

  “I have to submit to you?”

  He grinned, the darkness gone. “Exactly. Took the words right out of my mouth.”

  “Rio.” She stepped away from him, facing him on shaky legs. “You want me to submit to you?”

  “It’s what you need right now, to put yourself in someone else’s hands. Admit it.”

  Perhaps he was right. Perhaps it would be soothing to hand over her troubles to someone else, even for a little while.

  “What exactly do you mean when you say submit?” she asked.

  “Oh, I mean a good many things.” He sounded as casual as if they were discussing what they had for breakfast. “You’ll kneel to me when I say, you’ll let me bind your hands, you’ll obey my every command. I’ll train you to the whip, and you’ll respond to me, whenever and wherever I want.”

  She drew a sharp breath, her lungs suddenly needing air. “You think I will do that?”

  “I know you will.” His voice was so deep and sensual that she felt her knees bending already. “You will want to.”

  Her words came out a croak. “I think we do not have such things on Ariel.”

  “I bet you do, love, you just don’t know about them.”

  She thought suddenly of the whispers of her ladies-in-waiting about the men of the court, how they’d break off and blush when she entered the room, and how, annoyingly, they’d never tell her what they were talking about.

  She imagined Rio in her court hall, in the glass and crystal palace that nearly sang with light, the floors spiral mosaics like colors of the gods. Rio would stride into the elegant hall in his leather tunic and tight leggings, and all the ladies would faint.

  Nella alone would stand before him, while sharp light fell on his black hair and golden skin and blue, blue eyes. He’d gesture with his strap of leather for her to kneel, his face hard, and she would lift her chin and defy him.

  Her vision suddenly changed to her dropping to her knees in front of him. He’d lay the leather strap on her shoulder while opening his leggings, letting his cock fall from its confinement. He’d be huge—she already knew he was, his cock full and firm and reaching toward her.

  She saw herself leaning forward, closing her mouth around him, licking and suckling and feeling so very happy.

  With effort, she shoved the vision aside. “Never.” She drew herself up. “I am a princess of Ariel. I would never—”

  “Yes, you would. You will. But I’m glad to hear you get mad at me. That means whoever is chasing you, whoever is trying to make you his slave didn’t break you. You’re whole and strong.”

  “Then why do you want to break me?”

  “I don’t.” He stepped closer to her. “I want you to submit to me.”

  “What is the difference?”

  “Oh, there is a big difference,” he said softly. “Submission is complete trust. It’s giving yourself and your pleasure to the hands of your lover. You’ll free yourself, and give yourself entirely to me.”

  “If it is so freeing, why do you not submit yourself?”

  He laughed, a sound filled with true mirth that made her want to smile along. “Tell you what, beautiful. You submit wholly and completely to me—let me train you to be my sub—then I’ll submit to you.”

  She gave him a suspicious look. “I do not believe you will do it.”

  “I never go back on my word, sweetheart. We’ll get Rees to help out if you don’t believe me. He’d be happy to chain me up, although not for the same reasons. He thinks I’m a pain in the ass.”

  Nella started to smile. Maybe, but… She remembered when he’d faced the assassin bot, snarling curses at it and daring it to come after him. She’d wanted to wrap herself around him and not let go.

  She felt the same way now. She wanted to hold onto him and let his strength leach into her.

  He wanted to make her his submissive. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, here and now. As princess, she always had to be strong, always had to smile no matter how she felt, keep going in
the face of exhaustion and hold her head up to inspire people to hold up theirs.

  She had to be strong now, to stay alive and get back to her planet. She’d been running for weeks since she’d escaped Linginian, fleeing wherever she could with no money or resources or any way to contact those who might be trying to find her.

  How heavenly to lay aside her panic and fear, to totally give herself to whatever he wanted, which would free her in ways she couldn’t fathom.

  All she had to do was agree, trust, submit…

  “You have the most beautiful smile,” he said. His eyes had gone deeply blue, his irises spreading to blot out the white.

  “You are putting thoughts in my head again.”

  “No, darlin’. You’re putting them there all by yourself.”

  “You are making me want to obey you.”

  “Maybe giving you a little nudge.”

  She wet her lips, which were so dry for some reason. “What—what exactly would you want me to do?”

  He came closer, and she could smell the leather of his clothes, the musk of his body, feel the heat of his fingers before he even touched her. “Anything I can think of to make you do.”

  His temperature seemed higher than that of a normal human. Humans were actually a little cooler on Bor Narga, she’d learned—an adaptation against living in an extreme desert climate—but Shareem skin was hot. Especially Rio’s, especially now.

  “And if I refuse to obey? You—punish me?”

  “Maybe. I’m not like some Doms, who reach for the whip every time their ladies disobey.” He leaned to her, his voice velvet smooth, his breath hot spice. “Punishment is so much sweeter when it’s begged for.”

  Nella tried to draw a normal breath and couldn’t. She hadn’t felt normal since she woke up here. “I would never ask to be punished.”

  “Beg, I said. And you will.” He touched the swirl of hair above her ear. “You will, sweet darling. I guarantee it.”

  She saw herself again on her knees, her hands behind her back while he stood over her, leather stretching hard against his bulging cock. Please, Rio, she’d babble. Please punish me. I need you to.

  “How about it, darlin’?” he asked, breaking her vision. He nuzzled her temple, his breath scorching. “Are you going to tell me to make you obey?”

  Confusion washed through her. Perhaps her translation chip didn’t work correctly. “You wish me to command you to begin commanding me?”

  “That’s right. You got it.”

  His answer didn’t help. “I thought you would simply start.”

  He chuckled, a rumbling sound. “The thing is, love, being Shareem, I have rules to follow. It’s in my programming.” He slid his arm around her again, tracing a circle at the base of her spine. “I can do this, but only if you ask me to. So how about it, babe? Let me teach you to trust me?”

  Her heart hammered. Never in her life had she been this close to a man, especially not this kind of man. Whenever a young man had been allowed to escort her to an event, he’d been handpicked by her castellan. They’d been nervous, or overly proud, and usually the sons of other rulers. Most of them, unfortunately, never had much in the way of chins.

  And now Rio.

  He was definitely different from what she was used to. He was powerfully built, from his strong shoulders to his hard, tapered waist, to thighs that threatened to split the leather any moment.

  He was almost animal-like in his ability to read her moods, to tell whether she was aroused or not, and to arouse her just by looking at her.

  His touch on her skin made her want to scream that she’d submit to him, and please, please be gentle. But not too gentle.

  He smelled of masculinity, and his body held warmth that flowed so easily over hers. She wanted to press her nakedness against him, to feel the cool leather that covered his skin, to peep upward and see his eyes, so dark and blue, watching her.

  He was everything she’d ever dreamed of, deep in the night when no one saw her, and like no one she’d ever met in her life.

  But he had this one vulnerability. She could send him away with one word, and he’d have to obey.

  For this moment, she had the power, not him. When she decided, when she told him yes, she would relinquish the power to him, but for now, she held it.

  “Why?” she asked, her voice low. “Why should you stop because I say no?”

  “Because I am Shareem.” He gave her the maddening explanation. “We are dangerous, made for sexual satisfaction and nothing else. So the researchers put in an off-switch. We start only at the lady’s pleasure.” He slanted her a wicked smile. “No matter how horny we are.”

  “An off switch?”

  His fingers drifted slowly up her spine. “Some Shareem were programmed without one, to make them more dangerous. That was one of the reasons DMAmo’s work was outlawed.”

  She shivered. What would it be like to be with one of the Shareem who seduced without asking first? “I am not likely to meet any of those, am I?”

  “You already met one,” Rio said. “Rees.”

  She jumped. “Rees doesn’t have—an off switch?”

  “No. He knows it, and that’s why he’s always so damn polite. He keeps hard control of himself all the time. The only woman who ever made him lose it is Talan. But he loves her so much that he keeps hold of himself.”

  “What would make you keep hold of yourself?”

  His voice went soft. “I don’t know. Why don’t we find out?” He moved his fingertips to her earlobe, playing gently. “Tell me, love. You want to switch me off, or switch me on?”

  She closed her eyes. She thought a long moment, weighing what she needed to do against what she wanted to do. She could barely breathe, but she somehow knew that if she said yes, she’d have all the oxygen she could want.

  She opened her eyes, drew a ragged breath, and said, “On.”

  Chapter Five

  The Sweetness of Trust

  Oh gods. Oh yes. Oh perfect.

  Rio’s hormones were raging, but he told himself to take it easy. She was innocent. She’d never met anything like a Shareem, and she had no sexual experience. He had to go slow.

  Rio had never gone slow in his life. The women who wanted Rio knew what they were getting themselves into. No woman picked a level three Shareem without already knowing about sex—most of them were bored with sex, and wanted something more.

  They wanted a sexual ride that put them over the top, that would make their bodies hum and dance. They wanted Rio to whip them, to command them, to make them do things they’d never dreamed of doing.

  The women who wanted Rio wanted it rough, and they could take it. He remembered one highborn woman who’d come to him every day for twenty days, in secret. She asked him to whip her, and nothing else. She never climaxed, she only took it with head bowed and tiny tears coming from the corners of her eyes, but she always left with a relieved smile. One day, she said she’d had enough, thanked him graciously for helping her, and departed. He’d never seen her again.

  What this girl really needed was a level one Shareem. Sex with level ones was no less intense, but level ones were all about sensuality. They could make a woman come just by touching her hand.

  Rio went straight to bondage and didn’t look back. He didn’t know much about being level one. He knew obedience and fucking, not massaging and caressing.

  But that gave him an idea. He smiled to himself. He said he’d teach her to trust him, and he would, in a big way. She’d have to trust everything he did, and he’d make sure she didn’t regret it.

  He backed away from her, far enough that he could look at her without touching. Deprivation was as arousing for him as it would be for her.

  “Take off the sheet,” he said.

  She jumped, fingers tightening on the cloth. “What?”

  “Take off the sheet and let me see you.”

  For a moment, he thought she’d disobey. He hoped so. He wanted her obedient to him, but on the other
hand, he wanted her to defy him so he could punish her. Either way was good with him.

  She looked him up and down, her eyes hot. She must be imagining one hell of a fantasy from the pheromones pouring off her.

  She hesitated one more moment, then slowly let the safe folds of the sheet slither to the ground. A lush, beautiful, naked woman came into view.

  “Oh, darlin’,” he breathed.

  The mounds of her breasts were full and firm, perfect for his hands. He’d felt them while she watched Rees and Talan enjoy each other, heavy and smooth, the nipples hard little buds.

  Her nipples were even harder now, the tips dark brown. He imagined them under his tongue, rough and tight.

  Her waist was rounded and plump, and her hips were round, leading to strong thighs and calves. The swirl of hair between her legs was red, bright red.

  “I like it,” he said.

  She blushed. “What?”

  “Your pussy.”

  Her color increased. “Oh.”

  “Do you like it?”

  He reached into the inner pocket of his tunic and withdrew the thin leather strap that he always kept on hand.

  She bit her lip, her gaze going to the strap. “I never thought about it.”

  “Touch it,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Touch your pussy.” He unfolded the strap, then refolded it once, halving its length.

  Rees had whips made of woven cloth—effective, and they would never leave a mark. Rio preferred leather, though he used woven ones on more timid ladies, or ones who had to visit Shareem in complete secrecy.

  Slowly Nella’s gaze met Rio’s, and equally as slowly, her fingers moved down her body to rest on the swirl of hair at her quim.

  “Get to know it.” Rio strolled closer, holding his whip in both hands. She glanced at it.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he said. “Not now. Do you believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t. I’m scaring you. But you shouldn’t be scared, Nella.” He stopped behind her, leaned over and spoke into her ear. “Never be afraid of me, love. Stroke your pussy a little.”

  The muscles of her right arm moved as she complied. A little whimper escaped her throat.