by Ashley West
“I can take care of myself,” he assured her. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Having that assurance felt good, if she was honest, but she couldn’t see herself ever wanting him anywhere but where he was. It felt like...like he was a part of her. A part that she couldn’t do without, and she missed him when she had to go to work every day.
A part of her wondered if that was normal, and when she’d asked Ava about it, her friend had seemed unconcerned.
“It just means you like him a whole lot,” she’d said, shrugging. “Nothing wrong with that.”
‘Liking him a whole lot’ didn’t seem to do the idea justice, if Katia was being honest with herself. She’d never felt for anyone what she’d felt for Silas.
Her parents were waiting for them when they got there, and Katia hugged them both tightly. “Mom, Dad, you remember Silas,” she said, stepping back so Silas could greet them.
“Mrs. and Mr. Alcott,” he said, bowing at the waist as he always did when he greeted her parents. “A pleasure to see you again.”
Her father sighed, and her mother’s lips were a thin line, but they both managed passable smiles eventually. “Silas,” her mother said. “So nice to see you again.”
“Still here, then,” her father said.
“Dad,” Katia hissed, already annoyed.
“It was an observation,” he insisted. “He is still here. Which is honestly surprising.”
“And there it is,” Katia huffed, shaking her head. “Where else would he be, Dad?”
“I don’t know. Gone back to his planet, maybe?”
“I’ve made a commitment to this one, actually,” Silas said. “I won’t be returning.”
Her parents exchanged glances. “Ever?” her mother wanted to know.
“Never,” Silas replied. “I’ve left that life behind me for good.”
“For our daughter?”
Silas shrugged a shoulder, and Katia had to admire how calm he was being. She felt like breaking something already, and she wasn’t even the one being interrogated. “For her, and for what Earth represents to me.”
“Which is?” her dad asked.
“A new opportunity.”
They exchanged glances again, and Katia sighed. “Can we have drinks now? I think I need one.”
Drinks were served, and they sat in the living room of the Alcott home in awkward silence. Her parents had grilled Silas about his plans before, and Katia was pleased that they weren’t doing it again, even though she was annoyed that they seemed like they wouldn’t even look at him now.
Dinner was uncomfortable, but that wasn’t surprising, and mostly consisted of her mom and dad asking questions that were rude and prying and Silas answering them with as much civility as he could muster.
Of course, that civility seemed to fray as the meal wore on, and soon enough Silas was arguing back with her parents. Using that authoritative voice that he’d used on his troops, she was sure. Her parents were taken aback, and Katia just smirked into her meatloaf, letting him handle it.
Dessert was a very quiet affair.
"Are you upset with me?"
The car ride home had been mostly silent up until that point, and Katia looked up, surprised at the question. Silas wasn't looking at her, which she had learned by now was a sure sign that he was uncomfortable. The man didn't shy away from confrontation at all, usually meeting his emotions and those of other people head on, but when he was uncomfortable, it was obvious, and she could tell that was the case now.
"Of course not," she said. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I argued with your parents."
Katia laughed. "I wouldn't be upset with you because of that, Silas. I've been arguing with my parents on your behalf for months now. They're wrong about you, and there's nothing wrong with you telling them that."
Finally he looked at her and cracked a smile. "Good, then. I just...I didn't want them to think that I'm rude on top of everything else they think about me."
She snorted. "They're going to think whatever they like about you, Silas. That much is obvious. But it doesn't matter to me. I chose you and you chose me, and that's what counts."
"I do want them to like me," he said. "I think it would make things easier for you if they did."
Katia shrugged a shoulder, glancing at him before returning her eyes to the road. "Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. My parents don't dictate my life, you know. When I was working two jobs to save up enough money to open my inn, they were always telling me I needed to work less. They believed in me, but they wanted me to do things their way instead of my own. And I couldn't do that. It's the same thing here."
He nodded slowly at that. "I understand. It's one of the things I admire the most about you, did you know that? The way you just...stand up for your right to do things the way you want to do them. You're so strong."
"Aw, you're going to make me blush, Silas."
He smiled more sincerely at her, soft at the edges, a smile she liked to think was just for her. Whether that was true or not, she liked it, and she smiled back. When he reached for her knee and pressed his hand to it while she drove, her smile only widened.
Silas was very tactile, and she liked that.
Honestly, the whole night had gone better than she'd been expecting. Her parents had been terrible, but she already had expected that, so it didn't bother her as much as it could. It did bother her, of course, but she wasn't mad. Just mildly irritated at their behavior.
Silas' rebuttals to their questions and the way he'd stood up for their relationship and all it entailed had made her proud, though. Proud...and a little horny.
She couldn't help it. When Silas was commanding and logical, he was so hot, and Katia hummed to herself as she drove, already planning how their night would go. She was sure Silas wouldn't have any objections to it.
"Have I ever told you," Katia said, pausing between words to kiss Silas' neck. "How hot I think it is when you get all 'captain-y'?"
His chuckle was deep and appreciative, fingers tight on her waist as he held her in place. They were sitting on the couch in their living room.
Well, he was sitting on the couch. Katia had made his lap into her seat, and she was straddling him with her legs splayed wide open, the angle making her skirt hike up, showing off her thighs. She smirked every time she caught him looking at her body.
"I'm not a captain anymore," he reminded her. "But you can tell me how hot you think it is."
"Doesn't matter," Katia said, her mouth pressed to his skin again and again, her hips moving in small circles. "Still hot. You've still got the captain attitude."
"Ah, so it's the attitude and not the title that appeals to you," he said, fingertips skating under the hem of her shirt.
"Maybe. Could be."
"I think it is."
Katia could already feel him getting hard under her, and she gasped softly when he rocked his hips up, pressing down with her own to meet him right there in the middle.
They were good at that.
"I don't need you to think," she said.
Silas' eyes had bled dark with his desire for her, and it stole her breath to see it. He was so attractive like this. Skin dusky in the soft light from the lamp on the end table, hair curling gently over his collar, eyes like deep pools.
"What would you have me do, then?" he asked, and his voice was so deep and low that it sent shivers racing down her spine and straight to her core.
It seemed effortless, how good he was at this, and she was stunned, even now, at the reactions he could pull from her, just with his voice or his hands on her or a look.
When she didn't respond right away, he leaned in closer, catching her chin in one hand and holding her in place. "Tell me," he said, and it was half an order and half a passionate request.
Either way, there was no question of her not obeying. She licked her lips and then swallowed hard. "I need you to take me," she whispered, her own voice rough with how much she want
ed this man.
Silas chuckled. "It would be a pleasure. But first..." He kept his hold on her chin and then slid a hand down from her waist to her butt, groping it before he managed to work a hand under her skirt. "Lift up," he murmured.
Katia complied, raising her hips and letting him pull her underwear down. Together they managed to get them off and tossed to the side, and Silas brought that questing hand around to the front of her body.
She could feel her pulse in her crotch at this point, her body primed and tight like a bowstring, aching for his touch. Without her panties in the way, it was clear that she was wet for him, and she bit her lip when his fingers rubbed between her folds.
"Look at you," Silas murmured. "So good for me. So wet. I love you like this."
"Do you?" Katia asked on a gasp as he worked a finger inside of her and then rubbed her clit with his thumb. Sparks of pleasure danced up her body, and she shivered at the sensation.
Silas inclined his head. "Yes. But mostly I just love you."
They had never said those words so directly before. It was sort of understood that they were in love, even if they didn't say it, but it felt so good to hear it. Katia bit her lip, and tears welled in her eyes. She brought up a hand to brush them away, but Silas caught it with the hand that wasn't busy between her legs and then released her to wipe her eyes gently himself. "Don't cry," he whispered.
"I love you, too," Katia said and leaned forward to kiss him hard. It was such a contrast from the gentle way he was teasing her with his fingers, but she liked that. She liked that the kiss turned biting and messy while he stroked her like she was something soft and delicate.
"Good," he murmured back hoarsely when the kiss finally broke, and they were both short of breath.
His fingers were getting her all worked up, and she moaned his name when he added another one, stretching her just the slightest bit and making her rock her hips almost like she was riding his hand.
"Is this because I argued with your parents?" Silas asked when she was nearly an incoherent mess in his lap.
"Don't talk about my parents when you're—mmm, god right there—when you've got your fingers in me."
He laughed at that and pulled his fingers free of her, making a show of drawing them up to his mouth and licking them clean.
Her face flushed, and she only wanted him that much more.
In another stunning act of teamwork (and coordination since both of them were so far gone with lust), they got Silas' pants open and his cock out.
Katia didn't ever think she'd get tired of looking at him like this. He was flushed and hard, jutting up from out of his pants just for her. She'd done that to him, and it made her smug and even hornier all at the same time.
"I want you," she said, looking up to meet his eyes.
"You can have me," he replied, and he held himself steady while she sank down onto him.
He filled her so completely, like nothing else she'd ever had before. Two of his fingers hadn't been enough to get her completely open for him, but he knew that she liked it like that. She liked to feel him inside of her and feel the stretch and the way it lingered for hours afterwards.
They took it slow, Katia lowering herself inch by inch, shuddering and whimpering at how good it was. "Silas. Silas, oh my god," she gasped out, and she was already right on the edge of falling apart for him by the time she got all the way down.
His head was tipped back, chest rising and falling quickly as he panted. Silas always seemed composed, but she could see the signs that this was affecting him as well. The way a flush had risen in his cheeks, the way his hands shook on her waist, the way his lips were parted as he panted. It was a good look for him, and she loved knowing that she was the one who got him to this state. Just her.
When his fingers tightened around her waist, she couldn't be still any longer. With exaggerated slowness, she worked her way back up his shaft, the drag of his hard, heated flesh against her inner walls was sweet, sweet friction, and she moaned and then sank back down.
The pace was slow and measured, taking time to savor every movement and really get all she could out of each one.
Silas let her move as she pleased, groaning her name and pushing his hips up to meet her.
Of course, that didn't last for very long.
Sometimes Silas was impatient, and she'd already told him how much she liked it when he was in control.
In a matter of moments he managed to get her off of his lap and switch their positions on the couch so that she was on her elbows and knees and he was kneeling behind her. The height difference made it so he had to urge her hips upward and her legs open, putting everything on display for his gaze.
And he was definitely looking. She could feel those eyes on her intimate places, and Katia knew she was soaking wet for him at this point. She could feel it on her thighs, and Silas would know that was all for him.
"I like you like this," he said, aiming a slap to her bottom that made her moan and press back for more. "You seem so eager for it."
"I am," she groaned. "Silas, please. I can't take the teasing, I'll lose it."
"Maybe that's what I want," he said, definitely still teasing.
Katia snorted, and it was half muffled by the fact that her face was in a couch cushion. "You like it when I lose it on your cock," she said. "So please, can I?"
Her voice was pitched in supplication, and Silas groaned in response, letting her know that she was definitely on the right track.
"You are a tease, did you know that?"
"No, I didn't, because you're the one doing the teasing," she pointed out.
That seemed to be enough to get him to do something, because before she knew it, he was pressing back inside of her. This angle offered all kinds of possibilities, not in the least, a deeper angle. When he pulled back and then pushed in again, she could feel it in every part of her, and that white hot tide of pleasure built and built and built until she was breathless with it.
Whatever evenness had been in Silas' pace before was gone when she started going tight around him, and he pounded into her in a way that ensured she'd feel that in the morning.
She lost control of herself, moaning and crying out for him, and when she came, it was with a rush and a near scream of his name, the pleasure threatening to overwhelm her and drag her under.
Silas wasn't far behind, his breath catching as he followed her over the edge.
Later that night, they lay entwined in bed together, holding hands, legs tangled, and Katia's head on his chest. She was tired and pleasantly sore, and the irritation from the visit with her parents was long gone.
Spring was in full swing now, but it was still chilly enough that they had the blankets pulled high, and Katia was grateful for Silas' considerable body heat. It had kept her warm all winter, and she was rapidly becoming dependent on it to help her fall asleep. In the summer, when it was too warm to be this close, she was going to be unhappy. Or she'd crank her air conditioning. Either one.
"I meant what I said," Silas murmured into the silence when Katia was nearly asleep, and she opened her eyes, but didn't move.
"About what?" she asked.
"About loving you."
The smile that spread over her face was warm and soft with sleep. "Good. I meant what I said, too."
"I'm glad. Because I want to stay here with you for as long as you'll let me. I know I said I wasn't going to pressure you, and I meant that, but...I don't want to leave you."
That suited her just fine. At this point, she couldn't imagine her life without him in it. "What if you get bored?" she asked, just because she needed to know.
"I won't. You're never boring."
She dropped a kiss to his chest and snuggled almost impossibly closer. "Good. How does forever sound?"
"Like an excellent plan."
About the Author
Ashley West was raised in a small Midwest town. She has always been a big fan of science fiction and paranormal books and movies. Her all-
time favorite movies are the first three Star Wars movies. She started writing at a young age and has not looked back since. Ashley brings her worlds to life with vivid details and likeable characters.
On her spare time, she enjoys painting, jogging, and curling up next to her favorite books. If you enjoy Ashley’s titles and wish to receive Free Sci-Fi Alien Romance, stay updated on all her new releases and book giveaways, please visit her website.
ashleywest.net
