by Elana Brooks
“Yeah.” She’d been unusually quiet all day. They’d been able to follow their routine—Rabbi Sensei and the rest of the Eight had been closeted in the big conference room upstairs since before dawn, and Adrian expected their meeting to last far into the night. There would undoubtedly be new orders for both of them as soon as the leaders emerged, but for now he and Beverly could enjoy a brief, blessed respite.
Guilt kept trying to crop up. How could they sneak off for sex when the Seraphim ship was hurtling closer every second? But he shoved it down. This was a far more productive way to use the next few hours than cramming in a few more karate lessons or energyball bouts would be. Let alone sitting and staring at each other, nervously speculating about what the Eight would decide to do and what new tasks they’d be assigned. It wasn’t going to be just for pleasure. They needed to bring their soul bond to its full potential. If all went well, they’d both end up stronger and better able to fight the Seraphim.
Beverly lay back and closed her eyes. Adrian did the same. He listened to the slow, regular rise and fall of her breath as she settled into relaxation. His own breathing fell into rhythm with hers without conscious effort. Tension flowed out of him, and his astral form floated free.
He opened his eyes to find her hovering next to him, gazing at him. “Where are we going?”
He kept his tone light. “If you didn’t get enough of space yesterday, I thought we might head out there again. Not so far, of course,” he hastened to add, as he saw her smile falter. “Just the immediate neighborhood. Where there’s a good view.”
Her smile returned to full force. “Sounds great. Let’s go.” She grabbed his hand.
They dove through the wall and soared into the sky. The day was gray, with rain threatening, so they pushed quickly upward until they burst through the layer of overcast into brilliant sun. Below spread great billowing puffs like snowfields or huge piles of cotton.
Beverly released his hand to go racing off among the clouds, her laughter drifting back to him. He followed more slowly, watching her play, glad she was able to block out her fear of the looming threat enough to enjoy herself. He would do the same to the best of his ability. This was too special an occasion to let anything, even the imminent fight for humanity’s survival, spoil it.
He loved the way she could abandon adult dignity in an instant and frolic with the gleeful abandon of a child. He got the feeling she’d lost that freedom far too early in her body-bound life. When he’d shown her the way into the astral realm, he’d helped restore a little of her stolen innocence.
She darted back to him with a playful taunt, then dashed away. He chased her, laughing. She outstripped him easily for a long time, twisting in and out between towering cumulous billows. Eventually, though, she slackened her pace enough to let him gain on her. Putting on a burst of speed, he drew close, threw his arms around her, and dragged her to a spinning, tumbling stop.
She clung to him with arms and legs and claimed his mouth for a long, breathless kiss. She tasted like wind and sunlight and lightning. He surrendered to her passion and his body’s response, drinking in sensation and emotion, pouring out ardor and desire. He wanted her, deeply and desperately, and he sought to convey that truth to her so convincingly she could never again doubt it.
She melted into his body. He slowed the frantic pace of the kiss, letting his tongue tease and caress hers, moving to give attention to her lips as well. She remained still for a while, receiving, then shifted to the role of giver as he relaxed and reveled in her explorations. Time and thought existed in some other universe. Here were only endless moments, infinite feelings.
She pulled her head back just far enough to meet his eyes. Her hand came up to stroke across his forehead, down his temple, across his cheek, along his jaw. “Here?” she asked, voice husky. “Now?”
“Let’s take a while longer,” he murmured. This fire could blaze high and explode whenever they wished, but for now he wanted to draw out and savor its slow burn for as long as they could possibly endure it. “We have all the time in the world.”
Her lazy, sultry smile told him she was of the same mind. Without disentangling from her embrace, he nudged them into a gentle ascent. They kissed more, stopping every now and then to watch the Earth fall away beneath them and the stars blossom above.
When they reached the place where the planet arched into a curve and space was deep black between thickly scattered pinpricks of light, he brought them to a halt. Slipping free of her arms, he moved behind her and massaged her shoulders. “Remember the first time we were here together?”
“Of course.” Her muscles tensed beneath his fingers for an instant, then went loose again. “It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come since then.”
“Are you sorry?” His let his hands still. “Would you change what happened, if you could?”
She was quiet for a long moment. Just as his stomach started to clench and he feared he’d spoiled everything, she answered, thoughtfully. “No. It’s been hard, and scary, and not always very pleasant. But it’s also been amazing, incredible, wonderful beyond belief. If things hadn’t happened just the way they did, I wouldn’t be here, now, with you. And I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
He swallowed hard. Wrapping his arms around her, he squeezed her tight. She wriggled her body against his. He relaxed his grip and drew his hands up along her torso until they cupped her breasts. She moaned and dropped her head back on his shoulder, arching into his touch. His fingers kneaded and rubbed and caressed, drawing forth more moans and gasps, making her writhe in his grasp. Her pleasure reverberated along the soul bond, echoing in his own body, traveling back to her magnified. He slid his hands down and under the edge of her shirt, the feel of her bare skin against his palms sending deep surges of arousal through him. Her hips dug into his, and he pressed against her, letting her feel his penis as hot blood rushed to harden it.
She gave a little gasp of surprise, followed by a deeper sound of appreciation. She turned in his grasp and put her hand down to caress it through his jeans, at first shyly, then more firmly. He closed his eyes as washes of pleasure flowed from her touch and coursed between them.
“Here, now?” she whispered.
With a tremendous effort of will he pulled away. “What’s your rush?” he asked, the roughness of his voice belying his teasing words. “Don’t you want to see where else I’m going to take you?”
“You can take me anywhere.” She was breathing hard, and she moved with sultry reluctance, but she drifted back and looked at him expectantly.
Why was he insisting on moving again? He almost reconsidered, but set out, grabbing her hand and tugging her along with him. It would be worth it to see her reaction.
It was. When she saw the bright crescent before them and realized where they were going, she gave a delighted squeal and crushed his hand in her grip. “The moon!”
“It’s yours,” he told her as they zoomed close. Bigger and bigger the luminous white sphere loomed above them, until suddenly it was below, stretching flat from horizon to horizon. They drifted down to hover just above the stark grayscale landscape.
“Can I stand on it?” Beverly asked him, gazing around in fascination.
“Go ahead. Just keep your telekinesis to yourself. We wouldn’t want to leave footprints to baffle some future astronaut.” He demonstrated, touching down lightly, his astral feet leaving the dust undisturbed.
“In a few days the whole world is going to know about psychic powers,” she reminded him, alighting beside him.
“Still,” he said. “Old habits.”
“Oh. You’ve been here before?” She looked away.
“Only with Rabbi Sensei. Never alone.” He took her hands, and she lifted her face to meet his eyes. “Never with someone I love.”
Her lips parted in a wondering little smile, and he couldn’t resist bending to kiss them. His hands roamed her body. When hers came up to splay against his chest, he made the slight mental effort n
ecessary to banish his shirt. She gave a little squeak of surprise when her palms met bare flesh, and she pulled away to look. “How’d you do that?”
“Astral forms, remember? Clothes are mostly imaginary. And optional.” He got rid of his shoes and socks and trailed one finger down the front of her shirt suggestively.
Her brow creased as she concentrated. For a moment nothing happened, then her shirt shimmered and vanished. He gave her torso a long, lingering look, making sure his appreciation showed on his face and flowed from his mind to hers. He let his gaze linger where the lace-edged cups of her bra concealed her breasts, then raised his eyes to meet hers with an unspoken request.
She caught her breath, ran her teeth over her bottom lip, then closed her eyes and nodded. The bra faded away.
“Oh, Beverly.” Adrian couldn’t tear his eyes away. The harsh sunlight, unfiltered by atmosphere, threw every curve into sharp relief, every dip into deep shadow. She probably would have considered softer light more flattering, but Adrian was awestruck by the sculptural beauty of her flesh.
She let out her breath on a long sigh, which rose to a high moan as he bent to take one nipple in his mouth. He thrilled to the firm shape of it against his tongue, the rush of her pleasure in his soul, the way she cried out and pressed into him, demanding more.
He bore her down onto a soft stretch of moon dust. Even though their astral forms were unaffected by gravity, he wanted to lie beside her. She dropped her head back and relaxed as his mouth wandered over her chest, moving from breast to breast. Her voice hummed deep in the back of her throat, rising and falling with the surge and ebb of the sensations he evoked.
He moved down to her belly, making sure to lavish it with plenty of sensuous adoration. Her skin was silken against his cheek as he stroked his face in long sweeps across the soft expanse. He teased her navel with his tongue and nuzzled lower until he came to the waistband of her jeans. He ran one finger along it, slipping it a little way underneath the fabric.
“Here, now?” she breathed, need turning it into a plea. Her hands groped for him. He shifted over her until she cupped his buttocks.
Adrian lowered his lips to hers and murmured, “Here. Now.” He sent jeans and boxers together into nothingness.
Beverly gasped as her palms touched warm, soft skin. Her fingers flexed, digging into Adrian’s hard muscles. She felt his penis pressing into her belly, blocked from full contact by the denim of her jeans.
She’d clung to that last barrier, not quite ready to let it go. Now, suddenly, she was. She felt as if she might die if his body were kept even that far apart from hers an instant longer. She mentally stripped away her jeans.
His hips moved, sliding against the satin of her panties. She’d chosen her nicest pair, knowing he would be looking at them. She wanted him to look before she got rid of them, too. And yet she didn’t. Some deep insecurity that refused to die despite all evidence to the contrary feared that he would suddenly come to his senses and realize her body disgusted him.
His dark skin shone where the light hit it and vanished where it was swallowed by shadow. He lifted his mouth from hers and smiled down at her. She put her hands on his chest and ran them through the springy hair over his pecs. His small flat nipples brushed her palms. Were they as sensitive as hers? She ran her thumbs over them and he closed his eyes, drawing in his breath. The surge of his pleasure through the soul bond assured her his reaction wasn’t exaggerated.
She rolled them to their sides. He opened his eyes and sought hers, questioning. She pushed him down and he lay back, closing his eyes, vulnerable to whatever she chose to do to him. One hand trailed through her hair and along her back.
She pressed her lips to the slight roughness of his lightly stubbled cheek. She kissed the crook of his jaw and the hollow of his throat. With her tongue she caressed the soft hairless skin of neck and shoulder, lapping up the salty, spicy taste of him.
Working her way down, she gave careful attention to each nipple, listening to his responses, feeling every flex and lift of his body, enjoying the echoes of each sensation in her mind and body. The muscles of his abdomen were marvelously firm under her kneading fingers.
Nervous but curious, she looked at his penis, just a quick peek at first, then a longer gaze. She glanced up to his face, but his eyes were still closed, his expression relaxed. She’d never had much chance to really look at one before—guys had generally brought them out, done their business, and put them away.
She laid her hand on it. It jerked up into her palm, and Adrian gave a little gasp. A sweet intense rush poured across the soul bond, bounced from her soul back to his, and returned again even stronger, until she had to dampen the spiraling echoes lest they both be swept into oblivion. She’d always wondered what it felt like for guys; now she knew. She smiled and stroked it more confidently, from the base up toward the tip. The skin was marvelously thin and soft, over a rigid yet slightly yielding core.
She played with him a while, testing how far she could open the soul bond before the feedback overwhelmed them. If it got out of control she feared it might knock them both out the way her anger had, and there was no way she was going to lose any of this to unconsciousness. She experimented with stroking him lightly, then harder, enjoying his moans and gasps, his flexes and thrusts. She even dared to lean down and run her tongue over that velvet skin. She thought about taking him all the way into her mouth, but shied away. She wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
If not now, when? She crushed the thought and accompanying pang of grief before it could seep from her mind into his.
She was ready for something else, though. She moved back to his mouth, stretching her body against his, pressing her hips into him.
He rolled to face her and pressed her back. She went willingly, expecting him to move on top of her. Instead he kissed his way down her body again. It still felt wonderful, but impatience edged her answering moans. Enough of that now. She wanted more. She wanted everything.
He moved down to where her panties still shrouded her hips. She snapped them away and let her legs fall open. He drew in his breath, and his hands stroked the inside of her thighs.
Had he ever had a chance to really look, either? She hoped he liked what he saw. The warm hum of wonder along the soul bond seemed to indicate he did.
He ran a finger down the inner crease of her leg on one side, then the other. Then he gently stroked the folds of her labia, spreading them apart. His head lowered.
Oh, god. She’d read about guys going down on girls, but no one had ever done it for her. His tongue caressed her, finding new sensitive spots with every movement. Was he feeling this, too? He’d better be damping, because she couldn’t, and she couldn’t bear to miss even an instant of this ecstasy. She writhed, pressing up to him, needing more, more, more.
He gave it to her. The slightest twist of her hips was enough to guide him to just the place she wanted at any particular moment. Pleasure shot through her, building higher with every stroke.
He shifted, and she nearly begged him not to stop. He didn’t, though. But now, in addition to his tongue on her clitoris, he slid one finger deep inside her vagina and pressed firmly up.
Oh, god. She was going to die. Nothing had ever felt this good. She wanted, desperately needed, to reach the peak he was driving her toward, yet at the same time she wanted the climb to last forever.
Abruptly the need was everything. His tongue touched just the perfect place, once, again, once more, and she exploded. Fire washed over her, hips, belly, legs. Air burst from her lungs in a scream.
She lay, panting, feeling the fire ebb, leaving her limp and drained. Adrian lightly kissed her and shifted back up beside her. When she could open her eyes she found him smiling down at her, eyes and lips soft.
“Oh, Adrian,” she said. “That was… that was… amazing, incredible…”
“I’m glad,” he said, and bent to kiss her lips. She wouldn’t have thought she would like tasting herself on him, but s
he did. It marked him as hers.
“I want you in me,” she whispered. “Now.”
“Yes.” He rolled on top of her. She wrapped her legs around his hips. He shifted a little to find the right position, then slid smoothly into her.
It felt so—right. This was where he belonged. This was where she belonged. Right here, where they met and merged, was the center of the universe.
He moved, sliding slowly out and back in, his eyes closed in intense concentration. She flexed her hips, matching his rhythm, feeling the pleasure sweeping through him as it had through her. She took over damping when he lost control of the soul bond and the wild surges threatened to spiral beyond their minds’ ability to endure. Only a little, though, only the minimum required to stay conscious.
She closed her eyes and rocked with him, on and on, lost in their shared sensations. She wanted it never to end.
After a timeless interval, at some inner prompting she opened her eyes, and found he was doing the same thing in the same instant. Their gazes met. She saw deep into his soul, their souls, bonded together, now and forever.
He closed his eyes and cried out, shuddering. She held him tight as his orgasm burst through them both. It ricocheted back and forth through the soul bond for an endless glorious time. Then it was gone.
For a long time they clung to each other. Beverly never wanted to move. She would be perfectly happy if she could freeze time right here forever.
But of course she couldn’t. Eventually even her astral form became a little uncomfortable. Adrian shifted and slid out of her. She wanted to cry out at his leaving, but she bit it back.
He must have understood, though. He brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “This is just the beginning, my love,” he said, stroking her cheek. “We can come back here any time. Next time it can be physical bodies, if we want.”
She didn’t trust her voice. She just closed her eyes and nodded, reinforcing the thick shields that concealed her guilt and pain from him.
