Penelope closed her eyes and grimaced at his use of the nickname she hated. “Fine.” She hung up without any pleasantries and strolled inside the nearly empty bar.
It was Penelope’s favorite place partly because the owner was a woman. In fact, many women frequented the place which cut down on all the propositions she usually got from desperate men when she went into other drinking establishments.
An occasional date might be nice, but her work was the predominant force in her life and never more so than with this horrible virus. Lonely or not, she wasn’t really looking for a mate or to settle down. She worked too hard to be distracted.
The only downside to being a scientist in her dream job was Damon. She had to be on guard to keep him from riling her emotions. She loved her job regardless of Damon and all his inappropriate behavior.
Given his connections, Penelope didn’t dare make a formal complaint against him. If any disputes were realized, she would be the one fired in any test of wills between them. She was lucky to have this job. She was continually reminded of her ignoble birth nearly every day, but only by those crass enough to care about class and familial history.
Not everyone had a bigoted attitude. Her boss, Dr. Ledreder, for instance was very tolerant. He’d been the one to search beyond the borders for anyone with the aptitude for science. She’d been one of fifteen candidates invited to the golden city for training. Likely her older brother had lent his assistance in the process. He told her he merely helped get the invitation. She’d won her place in the science field with her sharp mind and a willingness to work hard.
Top of her class, Penelope had graduated with honors including a position at this premier Science lab. She lived very frugally and with the credits she earned, she sent care packages to the family she’d left behind.
Penelope shook off the despair of missing her family and entered her home away from home. Nikki’s Place was the first restaurant she’d eaten at on this side of the border. After three years, it was still the only place she ate when not in her tiny apartment.
Busy pouring a cup of coffee in front of the only other patron, Nikki glanced at her wrist watch and winked, “I didn’t think you were going to make it tonight, Dr. Drake. Want to take a walk on the wild side and get something different for a change?” She put the slim coffee pot back on the laser warmer and approached.
Penelope laughed. Nikki always cheered her up. “I’ll just stick with my usual sandwich.” She’d had as much wild side as she could handle for one night and still had to face one more test with Alice. “Could you wrap it to go? I know you’re about to close.”
“Sure thing. Be right back.”
“Thanks.”
Nikki exited to the kitchen through a set of metal double doors and Penelope glanced at the other patron. A gorgeous guy in a flight suit hunkered over a steaming coffee cup. He was seated at the bar three seats down from where she waited.
Taking a deep cleansing breath, Penelope detected the faint scent of his engaging cologne mingled with the flavor of yummy man. She twisted her head to get a better look. Elbow on the chest-high counter, resting her chin on one hand, she watched as he took a sip of hot steamy coffee. Penelope turned away before he caught her staring and pretended to study the selection of beverages behind the counter, but continued her perusal of the delectable man in the mirrored wall behind the hundreds of bottles.
The highlights in his dark blond hair, cut short enough to be military regulation, yet long enough to run her fingers through, danced even in the low light of Nikki’s. Bent over his steamy beverage, likely nursing it with slow sips until it cooled, Penelope couldn’t determine the color of his eyes, but watched intently in order to get a glance. He lifted his head and Penelope looked away to keep from being caught staring, but sneaked another glance as soon as his head lowered.
The high cheekbones and classically masculine angular shape of his handsome face appealed to her on an I-haven’t-been-with-a-man-in-too-long feminine way. He turned at the sound of an emergency transport passing by and Penelope caught sight of his eyes before twisting to look outside as well. Green. His eyes were a light sea green.
Penelope took a deep breath to calm her riotous nerves and with it came another hint of his masculine scent along with the rich strong coffee he drank.
The end result of her silent evaluation determined he was very attractive, and she wished she weren’t so embroiled at work or she might initiate a conversation. Beyond the fact she hadn’t been with a man in a very long time, Penelope knew she’d been anxious and on edge since watching Alice and Karl through the observation room window. Her heightened feelings were likely a result of what had been on her mind all night from watching people have sex and not because she found the man three seats down so very delicious. Even though, he was completely desirable.
Nikki burst through the doors from the kitchen with a white takeout bag neatly folded at the top. Without looking, she knew Nikki had put everything she needed inside.
Penelope paid for her food using her thumb on Nikki’s bio-print credit device. She lingered, studying the interior contents of the dinner bag. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Nikki, she merely wanted to see if the man might say something to her. She’d love to instigate a conversation, but besides her current work load, it wasn’t exactly in her nature to be so forward.
“Everything okay?” Nikki asked, jarring Penelope from her seductive thoughts about the man finishing his coffee.
“Yes. Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Heat rose in Penelope’s face at her audacious thoughts regarding a complete stranger. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll take that walk on the wild side you offered earlier.”
Nikki laughed. “I’ll look forward to it. See you soon.”
Penelope smiled in return, glanced at the sexy man once more and turned toward the door, taking slow steps to the exit.
Behind her, Nikki asked the seductive man, “Anything else I can get for you?”
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks for the coffee.” He also paid using the bio-print.
Penelope lingered by the door, pretending to study an ad for Ugrian Crater foxes, a small rodent-like pet, listed for sale and posted in the window. Penelope didn’t have time for a pet, but couldn’t seem to get her feet moving.
The man took one last sip of his drink, slid off the barstool and as Penelope had planned, they exited the café on to the lonely street together.
“Thank you,” she murmured as he held the door open for her.
“My pleasure,” he responded. The sound of his sexy voice penetrated all the way to her core.
Nikki waved from behind the door and pushed a button so the steel security wall came down, shutting her place off from the public eye.
Penelope took a deep breath and with it came more of the man’s delectable and utterly male aroma. He glanced at her and then studied the quiet street around them. The dim glow of the lettering for the Science building cast meager light from across the street.
The noise of distant traffic from the beltway was the only sound surrounding them, and Penelope stared at him with sudden interest wondering if she should initiate a conversation. But then he did.
“Are you okay out here all alone?”
“Yes. I’m fine. I work close by.” She lifted her white bag. “I just came out for a late dinner.”
The gorgeous stranger smiled and nodded. “Do you need an escort back to wherever your workplace is? I’m on my way to the air dock for an off planet trip, but I have a few minutes if you want safe company.”
Penelope narrowed her eyes and unexpectedly knew she had to have this man. He was too perfect to pass up. His intoxicating scent overwhelmed her and trashed the last of her reserve. She took a step closer and put her free hand on his arm. “What’s your name?” She ran her hand to his shoulder squeezing his bicep along the way.
His sudden grin sent a pulse of desire low in her belly. “Nathan Tyndall. I’m the commander of the secondary supply ship, Mirage
, for the Dalton Prime Corporation, and I’m also completely trustworthy.” He glanced at her hand but didn’t lose the smile or seem to mind her forwardness. She took another step closer and trailed her hand to his waist.
An abrupt red haze of lust covered her vision. A pulse of seductive desire shot into her pussy. She needed sex. Penelope slid her hand down to caress his hip and pressed against him seductively. “Know what I want, Nathan?”
By the bulge now evident and growing beneath the belt of his flight suit, Penelope was betting he did. Another beautiful grin shaped his luscious mouth. “A quiet place to eat your dinner?”
“No. A quiet place to eat you up, Nathan. I don’t think I can do anything else until we fuck.”
His eyes widened in obvious surprise. He glanced at the time piece strapped to his wrist and then back at her. “I sincerely wish I had the time to—”
Penelope wasn’t about to take no for an answer. Her body burned with desire for this exceptionally sexy man. “Make time. I need you. Now!” She glanced over his shoulder and spied a dark narrow alley next to the bar. “Come on. Over here.”
She looped her arm through his and pulled him towards the shadowy space. He didn’t fight her off, thankfully, because she was desperate. A blazing sensation began to register in her most private of places. Nathan slung an arm around her shoulders and they headed for privacy. She couldn’t even think straight until she satisfied her hunger and food was not on her agenda.
The thirst she had for this man had tripled in three steps. An ache had begun burning her from the inside out. She had to have sex with him. A gush erupted from between her lower lips and her clit twitched with the need to be satisfied. Once they were three steps inside the mouth of the alley, Penelope pushed him against the brick outer wall and rubbed her body against his. His cock had swelled to an impressive erection.
“You’re serious? You want to have sex with me? Right here and now in this ally?”
“Yes.” She dropped her purse and dinner bag next to her feet and started unzipping his flight suit jacket to have easier access to his pants zipper. “I must have you.”
His focused gaze never left her face. “You know, I hear about this sort of thing from other guys, but it’s never happened to me before.”
“Well, now you’ll have a tale to tell all your friends. Now please hurry. I’m beginning to ache.”
“I don’t kiss and tell, sweetheart.” He cupped her head with one hand and pressed his lips to hers for a devouring kiss which only aroused her need further. His tongue licked a leisurely pace inside her mouth, sending her arousal level into the red zone. A seductive kiss, like the lazy one Nathan gifted her with, would usually be appreciated, savored and eventually revered. Currently, it was not either valued or enjoyed. She needed sex. Now. She wasn’t in the mood for any type of slow action.
Penelope broke away from the scorching kiss. “Kiss or tell or not. Whatever.” She didn’t want to kiss. She didn’t want to take time from her primary goal, but when he connected to her mouth again, she didn’t stop him. Instead, she used the distraction to prepare the scene for what she really wanted. Sex. She widened her legs and rubbed her clit against his cock. He moaned into her mouth clinched her tighter.
The motion and subsequent stimulation of her clitoris didn’t result in the typical satisfying pleasure build up as she’d expected. It only increased the ache in her core. No meager satisfaction leading to climbing desire, but instead a pervasive itch flamed inside her pussy to an uncomfortable, and fast becoming unbearable, level. She needed him to fuck her. She literally burned with the desire to fornicate.
She pulled out of his embrace without stopping the kiss, promptly freed his cock from his loosened trousers and flipped her skirt up to pull her panties down to her thighs. Scissoring her knees against each other her panties were soon discarded on the ground between her feet. Penelope pressed Nathan harder against the brick wall and prepared to mount him.
He broke the kiss when her intentions became obvious. “Wait, don’t you want—”
Penelope couldn’t wait. She couldn’t stop. She grabbed his cock and placed it between her aching pussy lips so she could find relief from the burning aching need to copulate. “Can’t wait.” His cock, directed by her eager fingers, slid inside her body an inch, and with the immediate promise of delicious relief, she sighed.
“Ohmigod, you’re so big,” she murmured.
Nathan grabbed her hips, keeping her from impaling herself further on his ready staff. She pulled at his hands, breaking his hold and sank down fully onto his cock with one swift thrust. Another intense wave of relief came briefly once she felt him completely seated, but the urge to move became paramount in the next second.
She squeezed her vaginal walls against his delectable intrusion, and he groaned in response. “Jesus. You’re so tight. I don’t want to hurt—”
“Not hurt. Want. Need you. Please.” Penelope couldn’t even form complete sentences she wanted him so much. She retreated only to slam on to his cock again. The next thrust came from him. This time he gripped her hips and pushed inside her again deeply.
“That’s so good. Don’t stop. Oh God. Please don’t stop!” Penelope held fast to his shoulders as he pumped his cock in and out of her body.
This was the best sex Penelope had ever experienced. Wild. Ferocious. Phenomenal. The only sound she heard was their grunting and panting which only fueled her insatiable desire. The scent of his skin overwhelmed her with need. She buried her face against his chest and fastened her mouth to one flat nipple as he fucked her.
“I can’t hold it much longer,” Nathan panted. He slowed his pace and snaked one hand between them. “Let me—”
“No,” she wailed, “Don’t stop moving!” She was desperate for relief.
He slowed further and she felt his fingers slide between her legs and graze her clit. The sensation, while nice, wasn’t what she craved. The intense burning increased as he slowed his thrusts. The scorching painful sensation intensified within the wall of her pussy as he slowed to a virtual stop.
Penelope screeched in pain and lifted her hips to initiate his thrusting again. She slammed down on him and he made an inarticulate noise. She did it again, and he resumed his fevered thrusts. Five strokes later, Penelope found what she sought. Nathan growled and came inside her. The shower of his climax cooled the burning need in Penelope’s body instantly as if a frigid torrential rain filled her body with fresh, cooling relief.
The red haze of lust lifted immediately and Penelope woke up from the dream she’d been having where she had wild, wicked sex with a stranger while standing in an alleyway.
Only it wasn’t a dream.
Completely out of breath, Penelope rested against the heaving chest of a complete stranger whom she’d lured into a sexual conquest in an alley next to her favorite restaurant. Good lord almighty what had she just done? Why had she done it?
Alice’s agonized face filled her memory and she realized exactly what had happened.
She was infected with the SOS virus. Oh God. How could that be?
No time to analyze now because she currently had a stranger’s cock shoved all the way inside her body and delicate explanations would have to be rendered.
“I’m so sorry you didn’t come.” He panted. His hand slid to her head, and he cupped it gently. He pulled her close as he messaged her scalp. “I can’t believe it. I swear I never do that. I never release without—”
Penelope broke into his self regret quickly. “Don’t worry. It was great. Just what I needed.” She didn’t have the courage to look in his face, but the first thing she did see at her eye level was the insignia for his ship, the Dalton Prime Corporation, fastened to his flight suit. She recognized the company name. She’d spoken to the logistics point of contact on one of the ships in the company once or twice for deliveries to and from the labs.
A sob rose inside her. Alice was right about this virus, and Penelope clearly understood her suicidal
desire if this was the permanent life she faced.
Penelope separated herself from Nathan carefully. As his still semi-hard cock slipped from her body, she found she lacked the courage to look him directly in the eyes after what she’d done. Face pointed to the ground, she saw her purse and dinner bag hastily strewn to the side of where they’d copulated against the brick wall.
A new wave of horror over what she’d just done in the name of relief for her utter agony swept across her conscience. Instinct to flee overwhelmed her and propelled her to action. Penelope bent in half, grabbed only her purse and ran out of the alley without another word.
Nathan shouted after her, but she was too embarrassed to respond or return. Fearful she would run into another man fitting the attraction criteria, she took the long way. She ducked into the science building using a side access to avoid the main entrance. Even at this late hour there was the possibility of people, especially men, coming in and out. She couldn’t chance running into anyone else. Especially men. Ohmigod. What was she going to do?
In the short term, she’d have to sequester herself in a containment suit and carry extra oxygen mix tanks to be safe. Pheromones and scent set the virus in motion. Nathan had been the one in four males Penelope was attracted enough to which signaled the virus to attack her system and seek relief.
The memory of Alice and the last dose of cure being gone assaulted her. Damon taunting her for using the last dose instead of saving it for someone more important punched her already heart-sick, aching insides. Not that she would have failed to try to cure Alice, but God help her if she couldn’t find a way to cure herself.
Chapter 2
Penelope sprinted into the building where she worked and headed to her private office using the most obscure path. The horror of her new reality pounded in her conscious.
Oh God. She had the SOS virus. Oh God… The phrase repeated in her mind.
Entering her office, Penelope shot towards her gear closet to retrieve her containment suit. About to strip down to her bra and panties, she realized she wasn’t wearing panties. She’d discarded them during the frenzied sexual encounter along with her dinner. A minor problem. Luckily, she had a couple extra pairs in her office locker for late nights. She had the suit zipped and was breathing oxygen from a tank through a filter mask inside of a minute.
Sex or Suffer [Dark Colony 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3
