Tattooed Tryst

by Cynthia Sax

  Lori hesitated. “Promise me you won’t leave me without saying good-bye.” She didn’t meet his gaze, her head lowered.

  “I won’t leave you, Lori.” Trake pinched her chin and brushed his lips across hers, savoring her sweet, wholesome flavor. “You’re my One.” He tapped the tip of her nose and she blinked, her eyelashes fluttering. “Now go. Raff looks as if he needs sugar.”

  “In a bad way.” She smiled, her beautiful face lighting up, and she hopped down from the truck.

  Raff waited until the front door slammed behind her before he entered the cab, filling Lori’s vacant seat. “Don’t tell me where you’ve been, Commander. I don’t want to know.” His friend removed his sunglasses and set them on the dash. “Here.” He handed Trake his communicator, the design emulating a human phone. Bren’s image dominated the screen, his personal information outlined in Orogone.

  Fuck. “What is this?” Trake asked, knowing exactly what it was, having received thousands of these missives over the past thirty-two years.

  “My perfect match from the Orogone dating site. What do you think it is?” Raff rolled his eyes. “It’s my assignment for tomorrow.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Trake stared out the windshield at Lori’s small, rundown two-story house. The flower garden was overgrown with weeds, the paint on the door was chipped and peeling and the fence leaned precariously. I could fix all of that for her.

  If I had more time.

  Damn you, Bren. Trake pinched the bridge of his nose, his plans with Lori, his vow to his mother and even his military ambitions decimated by the action he was about to take.

  “This isn’t my brother.” Trake met Raff’s widening gaze. “It’s me.”

  “Commander—”

  “I’m your assignment.” He cut off his friend’s protest. “And I’m no longer a commander. I won’t be returning to the squadron.” Not after this deception.

  “You wouldn’t,” Raff grumbled. “You and your fuckin’ sense of honor.” He popped a piece of gum into his mouth and chewed furiously. “It could work, you being twins and all.”

  “It will work. It has to.”

  His friend slowly, leisurely blew a bubble, stretching the moment until it snapped, the pop loud in the silence. “Your One—”

  “Give her a choice, Raff,” Trake pleaded, beyond pride, thinking only of Lori, always of Lori. “Promise me you’ll give her a choice.”

  Raff’s blond eyebrows lowered. “Protocol—”

  “Fuck protocol!” Trake roared, his gut churning with guilt and worry. “I have no right to ask this of you, but—” He stopped, unable to say more, emotion choking his reason.

  Raff waved his hand. “No, you’re right. Fuck protocol. Protocol is for people who have no sense of right or wrong. You don’t need it, Commander. You’re the most honorable man I’ve ever had a privilege to meet. If you say you’re my assignment, you’re my assignment. If you wish your One to have choice, she’ll have choice.”

  “Thank you,” Trake mumbled, humbled by Raff’s faith in him and concerned that he might not be making the right decision. “Tomorrow then.” He climbed out of the truck and closed the door between them.

  “Tomorrow,” Raff called out.

  Trake stuck his hands in his pockets and jogged up the front steps, moving through the door with purpose, needing to see Lori, to hold her, to maximize these last hours with her.

  “I found a package of cookies hidden in the back of the cupboard. I think they’re still good.” Lori wandered toward him, shaking the box. “Raff might—”

  Her gaze met his and she stopped, her sneakers skidding on the hardwood floor. The smile on her face vanished. Her skin paled. “When?”

  She reads me as no one else can. Trake exhaled. “Tomorrow morning.”

  “Shit.” She dropped the box of cookies onto the floor and she ran into his arms, burying her face in his chest. “I thought we’d have a couple more days.”

  “I know.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. Her brown curls tickled his nose, and the strawberry scent of her shampoo engulfed him. She was soft and warm and his.

  “I’ll wait for you.” She sniffled, her tears wetting his T-shirt. “I’ll stay right here in Pearl Falls so you can find me.”

  “I won’t be back, Lori.” Trake rubbed her back, pressing her to him, memorizing the curves of her body and the straightness of her spine. “The council won’t allow me to return. It’s protocol.”

  “I’m starting to really hate protocol.” She laughed shakily. Her large breasts jiggled against his chest, arousing his desires, reminding him of his constant insatiable need for her.

  “Me too,” he confessed. His cock strained against the confines of his pants, and his souls flew at his physical shell, striving to break free, to join with her, to be one forever.

  “I’ll still wait for you,” she vowed. “I don’t know what else to do.” She swept a wet hand over her face. “And we have tonight, don’t we?”

  Lori tilted her head back and her curls cascaded over his hands, twirling around his fingers. Red rimmed her blue eyes. Tear tracks glistened on her cheeks. The tip of her nose was bright pink. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen and Trake didn’t know how he’d survive without her.

  “Yes, we have tonight.” He skimmed his fingers over her face, smoothed her eyebrows, followed the slope of her nose to outline her lips. Her mouth parted. Coffee scented her breath, rich, dark and appetizing.

  He bent his head until their lips almost touched and he inhaled, taking that piece of her inside him. She breathed out, he breathed in, the exchange intimate and tender. Tears dangled on her long lashes, the drops of water sparkling as though they were tiny stars.

  “We’ll make tonight last a lifetime.” Lori stroked his cheek, her fingertips light on his scar. “Every moment, every touch will have to last.” She handled him reverently as if he was fragile, a gift she cherished receiving, instead of a worlds-weary alien warrior, unable to give her what she most desired.

  Trake glided his lips over hers, awed by her generosity. He nipped and nibbled, tasting sweetness and pain, lust and urgency. She moaned, opening to him, and he slipped inside her hot mouth. Lips pressed against lips, tongue slid against tongue. He tangled his fingers into her hair and she clutched his shoulders, her head tilting back, trusting him to hold her.

  He would. He’d never let her fall. Trake swung her into his arms, relishing her soft form.

  “Are we going to the beach?” she teased, her eyes sparkling with mirth. As she kicked her legs, her shoes flew off her feet and landed with a thud on the floor.

  “Yeah.” Trake carried her upstairs to her cozy bedroom and laid her upon the sand-colored bedspread. He gazed down at her with admiration. The blue on the walls matched her eyes, the painted clouds were as white as her skin, the red highlights in her hair rivaled the most brilliant sunset. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

  “Close your eyes.” Lori ran her fingertips over his eyelids.

  Trake obeyed, following her movements easily with his ears, his hearing more advanced than any human’s. She skipped across the room, socked feet scuffing carpet. Glass dragged against wood and trapped air released with a pop. She wouldn’t. Not her jar of sand. He held his breath while Lori hummed happily. Fabric rustled.

  She took his hands in hers. “Now open.” He gazed into her eyes. “See.” Lori glanced over her shoulder at a bedspread covered with her precious sand, a hoard contributed to by friends. “We really are at the beach.”

  “Smell this.” She gathered a handful of the white particles and held her palm up to him. He obligingly sniffed, smelling salt and the sea. “Doesn’t it smell gorgeous?” Lori threw the sand into the air. “Like paradise.” She fell back into the mattress, her arms and legs extended.

  “You’re paradise.” He covered her bouncing curves with his body. “And we’re overdressed for the beach.”

  She grinned, the dimple in her left cheek enchant
ing him. “Says the alien who went to the beach and didn’t even take off his shoes.” She pushed his jacket off his shoulders. “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking.” Trake hauled his shirt over his head. “That was the problem. Too much thinking, not enough feeling.” He discarded his boots and pants, his cock hard and ready. “Your turn.”

  He ripped her shirt, tearing the cotton from collar to waist, and she laughed, wiggling under him, her ivory skin barely contained in the black bra. “This is beach wear.” Trake grinned, his souls lighter than a child’s. He yanked down her pants, revealing matching panties, her private curls visible through the lace.

  “I need sun.” She scooped up her breasts, generously offering them to him. “I’m too pale.”

  “Your skin is the same color as your coral collection. You’re perfect.” He leaned over her and licked along her neck, sliding his tongue into the darkened valley between her breasts. She shivered and grasped the back of his neck, holding him to her while he tugged on her skin, leaving love marks that would linger long after he’d gone.

  “I feel perfect when you touch me.” Lori wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing the wet lace of her panties against his skin, branding him with her scent. “I feel needed.” Her voice lowered to a stimulating huskiness. “And desired.” She rocked into him, taunting him with her sinuous undulations.

  “You’re very much desired. I’ve never desired anyone or anything more.” Trake pushed the lace aside and circled her right nipple with his tongue, round and round, tasting the salt of her skin, rubbing his nose into her breast.

  All thoughts of tomorrow, of leaving Lori and Earth, vanished. Pleasing his One was Trake’s sole focus, his reason for being. He fastened his lips over her nipple and sucked. She cried out, arching, pushing more lush breast into his mouth, her fingernails biting into his skin.

  As he feasted on her, she ground against him, the delicious friction tormenting his already rock-hard cock and fracturing his battered control. He yearned to remove the strip of lace separating them and ram into her welcoming body, joining them and releasing his souls, binding them forever.

  Trake breathed heavily, his nostrils flaring as he forced himself to slow down and show her the feelings he hadn’t the words to express. He dragged his mouth over the valley between her breasts and explored the curves of her left breast, nuzzling and licking, flicking her nipple with his tongue. She moaned and squirmed under him, her ass swishing against the duvet, the sand on her skin sparkling as the light caught it.

  “Trake.” His name rolled over him as though it was the sweetest caress. He looked up and met her smoldering gaze, her eyelids half-closed, her eyes the deepest blue. She threaded her fingers through his short hair. His scalp tingled. His heart raced. The tattoo on his chest burned, his souls battling to be freed.

  “My One.” Trake slid his hand down her rounded belly, under the waistband of her panties and twirled his fingertips in her short curls, pulling at her skin.

  “Yes.” Lori wiggled. “Lower.” She pushed her hips upward.

  He chuckled, amused at her impatience, while he accommodated her demands, dipping his fingers into her wet heat, her musk rising from her body. She mewled and squirmed as he strummed her soft folds, drawing more moisture, more warmth and more scent.

  Trake inched backward on the bed, pulled the sodden lace over Lori’s quivering thighs and spread her wider, her pink pussy lips glistening. “Beautiful.”

  Lori’s smile was adorably uncertain. “Only an alien would think so.”

  “Only your alien, your One, would know so,” he growled, the thought of any other being touching her maddening him. He extended his tongue and swept her from ass to clit, scooping up her flavorful essence. She called his name, her body levitating, and he cupped her ass cheeks, holding her in position.

  He nibbled and licked teasingly, escalating her passion upward, and she squeezed her breasts together, her skin flush with arousal. They worked together, combining their efforts to push her closer and closer to satisfaction.

  Trake pushed his tongue inside Lori’s hot pussy, slurping up her flavor as he stroked along her inner-walls. She shook, panting his name, her breathing ragged and harsh. He thrust harder and deeper, tongue-fucking her with a relentless determination, striving to please her, needing to please her.

  She lifted her hips, meeting each thrust, and her pussy lips smacked against his face, her wetness covering his cheeks. A rumble rose from his throat, his mouth vibrating on her flesh, and she twisted, trying to avoid his touch.

  He snarled his disapproval and clutched her ass tighter, his fingertips pressing into her pale skin. Cream gushed onto his tongue. More. I need more. Trake covered her entrance with his mouth, fixing his top lip over her clit, and he sucked.

  Lori screamed and her body stiffened, her spine straightened, her skin quivered all around him. A deluge of delicious wetness rushed down his throat, coating his tongue and sending his taste buds soaring out of the Milky Way. He sucked and swallowed, eager not to waste a drop of her sweet nectar.

  She sagged into his hands and he lowered her to the mattress. Trake crawled upward. Her eyes were closed. Her cheeks were pink. A dreamy smile curled her lips.

  I pleased my One. He captured her beautiful face between his hands, her skin warm. Have I pleased her enough? Trake brushed his nose against hers. Is this enough for her to leave her world, her life, everything she knows? A hard ball of fear solidified low in his gut.

  Chapter Five

  I love him.

  Lori opened her eyes. Trake watched her, an open yearning reflected in his normally stoic face. How will I live without him? She tilted her chin upward and puckered her lips. He, always knowing what she wanted, what she needed, covered her mouth with his.

  So in sync. She sighed, tasting her satisfaction on his lips. Yet doomed. Lori rubbed her hand over the tattoo on his chest, feeling the raised brand, the curls of the blue flames and the blazing circle of the red sun.

  “I wish to join with you completely, Lori.” Trake’s words were weighed down with meaning. Blue and red flickered in his black eyes.

  He’ll be inside me…finally. Excitement fluttered in her stomach. “Yes,” Lori agreed, trusting Trake not to hurt her. “Will it be similar to a human joining?”

  “When I come, you touch here.” He flattened her palm over his tattoo, powerful heated alien energy pounded against the inked skin, energy he’d release into her hand.

  Will I survive the joining? Fear edged Lori’s anticipation. “The light—”

  “My souls,” he corrected. “One of them, my innermost soul, will enter you, become part of you, binding us together.” He moved his fingers over hers, massaging her knuckles and pressing her fingertips into his skin. “You’ll know what I know, feel what I feel. We’ll be one.”

  “And when you leave?” Can I bear to lose that closeness? She nibbled on her bottom lip, weighing today’s pleasure against tomorrow’s pain.

  “That soul, that connection will remain.” His gaze met hers, his eyes burning with intensity and a painful sadness.

  He needs me. “You’ll stay with me. I won’t be alone.” She smiled, comforted by that realization.

  “You’ll forget me…eventually.” Trake traced her lips with his fingertips, his skin rough, his touch gentle.

  “I won’t,” she vowed. “I’ll remember you and I’ll remember this.” She pressed a kiss on his tattoo, his skin, his souls pushing against her lips.

  “When I dream at night, I’ll dream of you.” She swirled the tip of her tongue around his flat male nipple, the sugary flavor of his sweat bursting in her mouth. “When I look at the stars, at the sky, I’ll think of you.” Her heart ached with each promise, good-bye unspoken yet coloring each word. “We’ll be together, always.”

  He sighed. “If that is your choice, it will have to be enough.”

  Choice? She gazed up at him.

  Trake kissed her, scattering her questions
and her thoughts, his mouth tasting of her pleasure and his sweetness. She sucked on his tongue hungrily, feasting on his unique flavor, the hint of his alien nature encased in his human form, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, his hard shaft pressing against her pussy lips.

  He had pleased her already and she didn’t expect more, but as she rubbed into him, the seed of desire grew. Her nipples, sensitive from his earlier assault, brushed against his chest. Her hips were spanned by his large hands, his grip reassuringly secure. Her ass ground into the spilled sand, the texture a gritty deviation from her fantasy.

  “I need you inside me, Trake,” she shamelessly begged, reaching between them. She curled her fingers around his shaft, relishing his girth, and guided him into her.

  God. Lori bit down on her bottom lip as he eased into her deeper and deeper, stretching her to the point of pain. Too big. Her eyes watered, the progress slow, his cock never-ending.

  “This is paradise,” Trake groaned, sinking into her. “You are made for me, Lori.” Blue-and-red blazed in his eyes, his tattoo singed her skin, and his cock burned her pussy, her skin pulled unbearably tight around him. “You are mine.”

  Her pussy lips finally touched his base and she sighed with relief, her body fuller than it had ever been. “I’m yours.”

  “My One.” His kiss held gratitude and reverence, as though she’d given him a gift he’d treasure for all eternity, and she glowed, feeling needed and desired. With Trake, her alien warrior, she belonged.

  They remained locked in a tender embrace, his muscular form blanketing hers, protecting her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Lori’s body eased, adjusting to contain him, and the pain flowed to pleasure.

  She stayed motionless for as long as she could tolerate, hesitant to hasten this first and perhaps last fuck, but she throbbed, she burned and she needed. Lori shifted under him, angling her hips to take him deeper, and he groaned.