By the time he makes his way back up to my clit, licking, flicking, sucking, I’m teetering on the edge, my breathing shallow. He doesn’t let me come yet, though. Tripoli stands and looks down at my face as he sheds his clothes, his lithe body perfectly formed and toned. His cock is engorged and needs me. I spin my body, remaining on my back, and let my head lean off the bed. I reach for his dick, and he groans as I take him in my mouth. I swallow his salty precome as my tongue swirls around the head.
Tripoli fists the blankets on each side of my waist and moves his hips to fuck my mouth. My hands grip his hips, hanging on tight. Then he’s grabbing beneath my ass and lifting. I nearly choke as he leans forward and climbs up the bed over top of me, pulling my hips. He shoves back into my mouth and his own lips find the folds between my thighs.
Together we suck and lick, our hips and heads moving in a frenzy of sensations. His fingers dig into my thighs, and he pulls back just enough to say, “I’ve waited all week to do this, and you taste even better than I imagined.” I shiver and reach up to take the base of his cock in my hand. He groans as my hand slides tightly up and down the bottom few inches while my mouth devours the top.
He looks down to watch me and groans, his body seizing. Suddenly his hands are around my waist, and he is pulling me up and over, putting me on top. I shout with pleasure as he yanks my hips down so I’m sitting on his face, and he is tongue-fucking me. I ride his face, feeling the rough prickle of his chin hairs against my clit when I move.
Oh, stars.
“Tripoli,” I breath. “Trip…”
“Ah, fuck, yeah, baby.” His breath is hot against my pussy and then his tongue is rubbing hard against my clit. Circling, flicking, sucking, rubbing. His mouth is going crazy on me, and a blast of shivering, pulsing pleasure sparks out from between my legs, shooting up through my abdomen and down my limbs. I writhe and gasp, then I fall forward and take his cock into my hand and mouth again. I’ve barely wrapped my lips around him when he yells between my legs and his hips thrust up. He shoots hot come into my throat and I bob my head, milking every pulse until he’s going still beneath me. As I pull back, I swallow just like Sheralyn taught me, and he shivers.
I roll off him and he guides me to his chest, then presses his mouth to mine. I can smell and taste the sweet muskiness of my own womanhood on him. I wonder if he can taste his saltiness on my tongue. We kiss and my body is still ready. I rub against his hip like a cat. I can’t believe how horny I still am, but I think it’s because the nerves on the inside—at my G-spot—are still zinging with the need to be touched.
“You wanna fuck?” he says low against my mouth.
I nod, and he chuckles. He rolls on top of me and continues to kiss me, rubbing his half-hard cock against my slickness until he’s ready to go again. I’m practically begging for it, and when he shoves into me I grab his ass and raise my hips hard enough to feel my abs working overtime.
“Christ, woman,” he shouts as I use him. And the grin that crosses his face shows me he is more than glad to be used.
He rocks against me until the throbbing zap on the inside of me splinters outward, pulsing hard, and I release a series of moans that has me clinging to Tripoli’s frame. When I finally lessen my hold on him, he lifts one of my legs up to his shoulder and fucks me in long, slow strokes until the tendons in his throat begin to show. He pulls out and groans as he grabs his cock and shoots a stream of semen up my dress. I feel it hit warmly under my chin.
He squats back against his heels and stares down at me, his hands on his thighs. We’re both breathing hard. My legs fall limply to the side.
“Worth the fucking wait,” he says. Then he collapses beside me.
***
I wake with the satisfying realization that as we’ve journeyed into the stars, I’ve now serviced every Vesto aboard who will have me. And there’s not a single one of them I’m opposed to. A week ago I would have shied away from men like them at a sky club. I would have thought I couldn’t handle them. But now I crave their nightly visits, and the need I see in their eyes—the need only I can satisfy—feeds my own desires for their strong bodies.
I’m not sure what this year-long journey will bring, with one man aboard whom I avoid at all cost, and one who avoids me. How long can we keep up the hide-and-seek aboard this ship before one of us is caught?
I suppose only time will tell.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Months pass in an erotic blur. I learn I can withstand more than I thought possible. I can take the discomfort of my hair being fisted and pulled. I can handle the hefty sting of an ass slap or a passionate grip on my tender skin, even the hard graze of teeth. I know how to please my men, and I trust them to please me in return.
Life aboard the ship would be perfect if it weren’t for Yahni’s frightening stares, or the captain’s discomfort in my presence. But life moves on. I’m stronger than ever.
After a grueling series of resistance training in the gym, I’m worn out, laying back on a bench, sweating and trying to catch my breath. I hear the door swish open and closed again with a snick. I look over and quickly sit up, heart pounding. Yahni is standing at the door, just watching me. He has never closed himself in a room with me. I peer around, stupidly, and a wicked grin tilts his lips.
“What are you doing?” I ask, standing. “You shouldn’t be in here. The captain—”
“The captain is busy on an intergalactic conference call.”
He pulls his shirt over his head, and great galaxy…this close I can make out through the swirls and spikes of tattoos that his skin is marred with various scars showing he’s been in fights. Battles. Pain. My stomach drops and a sizzle of fear rushes across my skin.
I swallow hard and grab my towel. “I’m finished so I’ll go.” But when I move forward, his body remains in front of the door, and I’m afraid to get too close.
“Let me pass, Yahni.”
His eyes narrow on me, and it’s as if I can see he’s realized I’m comfortable here on the ship. My confidence has grown. He scares me, but not as much as he used to. I’m not as soft or timid as I was months ago. That realization transforms his face and icy eyes into a tight rage.
Before I can blink, Yahni lunges and grabs me, one hand tightly over my mouth, and the other arm is curling my body into a ball on the floor. He’s across my back, holding me down. These men and their damned wrestling moves! I’m completely at his mercy, barely able to breath.
Panic seizes me and I try to thrash against him, but I can’t get an inch of wiggle room. His limbs are like ropes around me. And then I feel his hand push between our bodies, over my hip to my lower back, where he yanks my workout shorts down over my ass.
Oh, shit. I shout into his hand and buck like crazy now, but it only makes him chuckle darkly. I can feel his crotch hardening at my hip. Yahni never makes a move to fuck me, though. Instead, his hand squeezes one of my ass cheeks so hard that I scream against his palm. And then with a quick move, he brings his thumb to his mouth, wets it, and I feel pressure of his thumb tip…against my anus.
I try to shake my head. My throat burns from useless screaming. I struggle uselessly, but the first digit of his thumb presses through my tight ring with a pop. I’m breathing erratically, sweating like crazy. He’s not allowed to do this!
“I’m willing to bet,” he says gravelly against my ear. “Nobody has ever done this to you. Am I right? Because you’re as tight as a closed fist.”
I shut my eyes tight and refuse to answer. He’s in so much trouble. I will tell the captain. Anal play is not expected from regular Nevestas. It’s considered a fetish, and right now his thumb is stinging me, a twinge of pain and pressure that has my entire body and mind alight. I stay very still, afraid my thrashing will make the sting worse, and he lets out a low malevolent hum.
“I thought so.” A sound of spitting, then he thrusts his entire thumb in my ass and my eyes fly open. The sensation is wholly different from regular fucking. A thumb is so much s
maller than a cock, and yet I feel so full. He slowly slides it out to the tip and back in. So slow. Again, and again. I stop fighting, my eyes shut, concentrating on the feel. My body softens, then tightens in all the right places.
No. Stars above. I will not enjoy this man’s touch! He’s breaking every rule!
“You like it,” he says in a low voice.
I shake my head hard against his hand.
“Liar.” Still, his thumb moves maddeningly slowly in and out. I’m ashamed how wet he’s making me. “I wonder if you’ll like it when I shove my entire cock in your ass. You’re likely to tear. And bleed.”
His promise of pain and violence is like an icy shower over my warm arousal. Enough. I take him by surprise, thrusting my head forward and sinking my teeth into the small bit of flesh I can manage to get on his palm. He hisses and pulls away enough for me to roll, his thumb popping out of my ass and making me gasp.
I scramble to pull my bottoms up and face him. I’m by the door now. All I have to do is reach up and touch the wall panel. But I take a moment to look at him, there on his knees. Yahni’s clear blue eyes are sparkling with lust and pride. The bulge behind his leathers looks painfully big. I can still feel where he was inside of me. My ass remembers and it’s not nearly as angry as my mind is. As I glower, Yahni raises his thumb, and puts it in his mouth, sucking it clean as he watches me.
“You’re disgusting,” I whisper.
“So are you, Reesa.”
I scowl and smack the panel, rushing out and leaving him as quickly as I can. I go straight to my room, still breathing hard. Before I can lose the nerve, I text Captain: I need to speak to you at once.
I pace for ten minutes until my door abruptly slides open, making me jump. Captain Lexon grazes me from top to bottom, then says, “In my office.”
I cross my arms and follow him. His presence is so large. So comforting and safe. By the time we get to his office I felt almost foolish to think I’d ever been in any kind of danger aboard his ship. He motions me to a tall, black chair and walks around the modern desk. Before regarding me, he turns to his wall screen and flicks his fingers, surfing efficiently through images on the ship, rewinding until the screen shows Yahni going into the gym and closing the door.
Captain Lexon’s eyes narrows on the time, fast forwarding to the moment I came rushing out of the gym. His face has turned to a stone mask while watching. Nine minutes. That’s all the time Yahni had been in there with me. It had felt so much longer.
Without looking at me, Lexon asks, “Did he hurt you?” The words are slow. Controlled.
Had Yahni hurt me? My face flushes with shame. No, he’d nearly pleasured me. It was his words and threats that hurt me. Scared me.
I shake my head, suddenly embarrassed.
“I need the verbal words, Reesa. Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I breathe, and Lexon’s face relaxes a fraction. I try to explain, feeling foolish. “It’s the first time he’s…been alone with me. He’s refused to visit me during our allotted times.” I should tell the captain how he’d touched me inappropriately, but I can’t bring myself to get the words out.
“Captain,” I say. “Yahni, he frightens me. I know I’m being silly—”
“You’re not,” he assures me in a deep grumble. “Yahni is an excellent soldier, but he’s never been one to follow rules outside of work, and he can barely contain the shitstorm inside himself.”
I chew my lip and the captain pinches the top of his nose. “Listen, Reesa.” He leans back and crosses his huge arms. “I shouldn’t tell you this. Each of my men has my confidence, and trusts me. So I need your word this will stay between us.”
“Of course,” I say.
“Yahni, in particular, is extremely private. He’s got a fucked up past, and it bleeds into everything he does. Yahni’s father was among the first elite soldiers from Keplar. Highly trained. Highly lethal. And while he was an outstanding soldier, no amount of social training could prepare him for the sort of freedoms and lifestyles he’d find when he got to Mars for extended training. I don’t know how much you know about…” He clears his throat. “About mating on Keplar, but it’s not the same as it is for humans.”
I nod, remember what I read. “I know some.” I swallow hard, hanging onto every word that spills from his serious face.
“There’s no notion of rape on Keplar.” He clears his throat. “Unlike human women, Keplar women have no sex drive. No capacity for that kind of pleasure. So the men literally take the women by force for procreation of the race to take place.”
Bloody stars. My book did not mention this. I shiver as he continues.
“Yahni’s father raped a Mars humana woman behind a club. He knew it was wrong. All of the Keplar soldiers are trained about the social norms of humans, and consensual sex versus nonconsensual, but he followed his base instincts. He was executed the next day as soon as he was identified by the woman. She was a newly retired Nevesta who’d just come off birth control.”
“He got her pregnant,” I whisper.
Captain Lexon gives a curt nod. “His mother chose to have him, but she couldn’t handle how much he resembled his father. His eyes, in particular.”
Lexon looks at me, and I slowly nod, my stomach in a slew of knots.
“Yahni was raised by a mother who never looked at him, and would often break down and cry in his presence. At the age of seven she told him she couldn’t take it anymore, and gave him to the Parliament officials. As you know, there’s no foster care system on Mars. No orphanages. No need for them. An older woman, a government official with no children of her own, took him in, but she wasn’t what I’d call nurturing. And while Mars humana are liberal minded and equitable in nearly every way, their acceptance does not extend to non-humans, or even half-humans.”
It’s true. Mars humana are basically scared of all extra terrestrial beings. I feel my eyes burning as the pieces of Yahni fall into place, revealing a larger picture that tugs reluctantly at my heart.
“Yes,” Captain Lexon says, “Yahni is a dangerous man. But he also has more self-control over his emotions than any person I’ve ever met. I don’t think he’d hurt you, but I’m not willing to take the chance that if, and when, he finally snaps, it will be on you. I will take him out of the rotation and speak with him about steering clear—”
“Wait,” I say. My heart is thumping with fear and nerves as the captain eyes me. “Maybe…” I swallow. “Maybe I can help.”
“Reesa.” He sighs and leans forward, elbows on the desk. “You just told me he scares you.”
“He does. I mean, he did. But…”
He shakes his head. “Don’t feel sorry for him. That’s the worst thing you can do. If he feels pity from you, or has any idea you know all of this—”
“He’ll never know,” I promise. “But now that I understand him a little better, I feel like there must be some way.” I chew my thumb nail and think. Yahni will never come to me of his own free will, to my room, for traditional pairing. Any relief Yahni gets will have to be untraditional.
“What if my time with Yahni was not inside my room?”
His fingers link, and his eyes narrow. “Explain.”
“I mean…what if I sort of…bait him. Outside of my room, so that he still believes he’s breaking rules, but you turn a blind eye.”
He blinks at me with those big brown eyes. “I don’t think you understand how Yahni works. Regardless of whether it’s in your room or not, he’s not going to be happy with a simple fuck. His tastes are darker than that.”
“I know.” I look away, my face heating all over again. “But I think we both agree he won’t kill me. I can handle it.”
His eyes bore into me, and I can’t look up. What kind of foolishness am I talking? Of course I can’t handle it! I can barely handle his thumb in my ass.
“I don’t like this,” the captain grumbles.
I sit up straighter and force myself to look him in the eyes. “It’s my choi
ce—”
“It’s my ship. I must have rules and order.”
“With all respect, sir. Can we at least try it and see? I’ll tell you honestly if it’s a failure and we need to keep him away from me.”
His stare nearly knocks me back. “He’s become volatile, Reesa, his sparring more vicious than ever.”
“Even more reason to give him the touch of a woman.”
Lexon lets out a caustic laugh. “You won’t get to touch Yahni,” he says evenly. “From what I know, only Yahni does the touching.”
I feel myself go pale and cool, skin prickling with trepidation.
“So be it,” I whisper.
“So be it.” His response is gruff. Unhappy. “On his rotation days, I’ll pretend to be on conference call during the day hours. But Reesa?”
“Yes?”
“Keep your touch gloves on.”
I stand and give him a nod, then turn to leave. And I can’t help but wonder—what in the bloody stars have I insisted on?
My palm is nearly on the panel when Captain Lexon calls my name again. He’s standing, watching me with a mix of admiration and consternation.
“Perhaps you’d care to join us for dinner tonight? Unless you prefer to continue eating alone.”
“Oh.” His request completely takes me by surprise, but I see no harm in it. “Yes. Thank you.”
With a curt nod, he turns his attention to his files. I am dismissed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I’ve bedded all but two of these men, and yet I’m nervous as I join them in the dining area. Their loud voices hush when the door slides open. From their looks of shock, they weren’t expecting me. I dash a glance to Captain Lexon and he nods.
“Reesa will be joining us. Try to be gentlemen.”
Into the Stars Page 7
