She shuddered. Level one was already driving her insane. She wanted him. She wanted him bad, no matter what the Way of the Star said. And he wasn’t going to let her have him. It wasn’t fair.
He leaned down and twirled his tongue over her breast through the silk. Her heart beat hard, and she was filled with sensations she’d never known. “It feels good.”
“Does it, baby?” he murmured.
“Yes. Yes, it feels good.”
“Yes, what?”
She gulped. “Yes, teacher.”
He whispered something against her, then went on stroking her with his tongue. His eyes were closed, his mouth moving as he sucked her through her shift.
I’m going to suck you raw. The words should frighten her. Why did they excite her?
She moaned, arched back to send her breast deeper into his mouth.
“That’s it, baby.”
His eyes were heavy, his face flushed. He moved both his hands to her waist, caressing the curve of it, then moved to her buttocks. His hands were warm as he stroked her through the silk. “And what’s this?”
“My posterior,” she said.
He chuckled. “Your sweet ass.”
She took hold of her courage. “My sweet ass.”
His eyes flared. “That’s a good girl.” His hands moved in slow motion. “Your ass that I want to paddle. I really want to. But I won’t. Not yet.”
Her belly tightened as she thought about it.
He pressed a finger into the cleft of her buttocks through the cloth. He smoothed all the way down, pushing the silk a tiny way into her hole. “I’m going to go here one day. With my finger and my tongue.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. And my cock. Would you like my cock in your ass?”
She swallowed. “I don’t know. Is that level one?”
“Baby, you keep making me laugh. No, not level one. But I want to do it anyway.”
She shivered all over.
“Am I scaring you, sweetheart?”
He pulled her against him. She rested her head against his hard shoulder, wishing she could pull from the manacles and hold him. “A little,” she answered.
“Shh,” he said into her hair. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. It will be pleasure, pure and simple. It’s what I’m made for.”
She leaned against him, loving his smell, the feel of his bare skin under her cheek. She could hear his heartbeat—thump, thump, thump—fast and excited. His skin was hot, damp with perspiration, even though the room was temperature-controlled.
To be close to him, she loved it. If only they could just do this…
“Why did you decide to stay, today?” she asked.
“Hmm? Because when I saw you before, I thought you were beautiful.”
“In the holo-block.”
“In the holo-block. I wanted to plow you so bad, baby.”
She remembered the low velvet of his voice, the silken sound of his vowels as he’d asked her to stay with him that day.
“Why did you want me?” she asked.
“Because you’re beautiful.”
“I’m not beautiful. I’m…chubby.”
“You’re perfect.”
Not according to Lady Pet, who kept encouraging surgery to get rid of her plumpness.
“Would you have done it, then?” she asked. “If I had asked you?”
“Probably,” Rees murmured. “I wanted you so bad, little girl. I still do.”
She leaned forward and kissed his collarbone. She felt his cock jump against her belly. “Is it different, now that you know why I want you?”
“Yes.”
Disappointment pumped through her. “I wish…”
“You wish what?”
I wish it could be just you and me and nothing between us. I wish it could be real.
“I wish I wasn’t so afraid,” she finished.
“Don’t be afraid, Talan.”
She buried her face in his chest again. “When you talk to me like that, I’m not afraid.”
“That’s because my voice was made to soothe you.” He looked down at her, eyes dark. “But you should be afraid of me, sweetheart. You should be afraid of all the things I want to do to you.”
He’d just told her not to be afraid. “I don’t understand—”
He slanted his mouth over hers, briefly. Her lips opened, wanted more.
“I’ll do what you and your Lady Petronella want, teach you what it’s like to be with a man.” His eyes glittered. “But what I want to do, sweetheart—what I want to do…” He nipped her ear. “I want to fuck you every way there is to fuck you.”
Her heart raced. “Do you? When will you?”
He straightened up, took his devastating touch away. “Not now. You’ve had enough now.”
She cried out in disappointment. “No, I haven’t. I haven’t, really.”
He gave her a severe look. “I said you’ve had enough. I am the teacher, you are the pupil. Right?”
“Yes, teacher.”
He leaned over, picked up the loincloth he’d dropped. How he would fit it over his huge, hard cock, she didn’t know.
He didn’t try. “I’m going to release you, and I’m going to walk out of here. If you want satisfaction, you’ll have to do it yourself. In fact, that’s your homework. You aren’t leaving this room until you’ve made yourself scream. All right?”
She stared at him, eyes wide. Her body crawled with need. “I—”
He came back to her, pinched her jaw between his thumb and fingers. “I said, all right?”
She gasped. “Yes. Teacher.”
“Good. Now, goodnight.”
He turned and strode away. She watched his ass, so tight and fine, his tapering back, his wide, strong shoulders.
Now that he’d stopped talking, the room was too quiet. The soft trickle of the water and the artificial breeze in the trees would never be as soothing as his dark voice.
When he reached the door, he lifted a remote from a shelf near it. She thought it was for the holo, but when he pressed it, her manacles suddenly released.
Her arms dropped, half-painful, half-tingling. She stood there, rubbing her wrists.
“Make yourself scream, Talan,” he instructed.
He opened the door, blew her a kiss, and walked out of the room. Stark naked. Metri would faint.
The door closed, and Talan was left alone.
She throbbed with need, whimpering with it. He’d opened something inside her, stirred fires she never knew she had.
She fell to her knees on the damp holo-earthen ground. She could only think of his hands on her, his mouth on her, his voice telling her to say things she’d never have dreamed of saying.
She slid her hand between her thighs to cup her groin. She was slick and hot, and her fingers went willingly into her opening.
She wasn’t sure what to do, but she started to rub, and rub, and so began her release.
Chapter Four
Rees reached the bedchamber they’d told him was his without meeting anyone. Lady Pet must have told the servants to keep clear.
The chamber was plain, though comfortable, the bedroom of a servant. He had a bed, a closet for his belongings, and a monitor. A tiny adjoining room contained the necessaries.
It wasn’t much, but still better than what they’d given him at DNAmo.
They’d been afraid of him at DNAmo.
He entered the room, tossed his loincloth to the bunk, and tried to tell his cock to calm down.
It didn’t listen.
Gods, he needed that girl. He needed to bury himself inside her and come and come and come.
He balled his fists. His cock was acting like one of those magic swords of legend that had to taste battle before it could be sheathed. It told him it had to taste her pussy before he could put it away again.
He wrapped his hand around it. It throbbed and jerked, wanting her.
He remembered running his hands over her warm body through
the silk, the brief, tantalizing taste of her tongue, the longing he could smell and feel in the air.
If you want satisfaction, you’ll have to do it yourself , he’d told her, trying to act like he didn’t care.
He’d give anything to run back, spread her legs, find her release for her.
She would be in there, alone, her hands filled with cream, shaking and sobbing as she touched herself.
He looked at the monitor. He remembered seeing a small round lens near the ceiling of the holo-room. Security, he’d thought.
He found the remote, switched on the monitor. Playing a little, he found the frequency of cameras inside the house. He found the one in the holo-room.
Talan was still there.
She knelt on the floor, her silk shift hiked above her hips, her lovely red hair falling past her shoulders. Her eyes were closed. Her lips had parted, her chest lifting with her rapid breath.
She stroked her right hand over her pussy, moaning with the pleasure of it. Her fingers gleamed.
Look at all that come. Sweet little girl, I want to taste that.
He imagined his tongue between her thighs, cream filling his mouth. His hand moved on his cock.
Yes, baby, stroke it hard.
Her left hand played with her breasts through the silk, fumbling a little, as though she didn’t know how.
“Go on, baby,” he said to the monitor.
As though she heard him, she rubbed faster. Her little cries increased.
Rees rubbed his cock. It tingled and throbbed. “Cream for me, baby. My cock is jumping for you.”
She went on and on. He found out he could zoom in on her. He focused on her hand, watched her push her fingers inside, watched her hips buck as she did.
“That’s my cock, Talan. My cock in you, so hard.”
He imagined it, her hot folds squeezing him tight. She was a virgin. She’d be so tight, as tight as her ass.
She started to scream. It startled her, her eyes flew open. She shoved both hands hard against her groin, keeping up the agonizing strokes on her clit. Her hips moved, little female noises escaped her mouth.
In his room, Rees also came. He imagined squirting high inside her. His own hips moved, as though she was wrapped around him.
He licked his shoulder, tasting his hot skin and wishing it were her.
In the holo-room, Talan lay on the earth floor, her hair damp with humidity and sweat, her hand still pressed to her clit.
She was quieting now, her gasps winding down into little sighs. She lay there, a small smile on her face, her eyes aglow with wonder.
Gods, he wished he could be holding her in his arms right now. She’d kiss him gently, wrap her arms around him, hold him close.
He had not needed to leave her, but his nature had wanted to torture her a little.
So who’s being tortured here?
Sha king like he never had before, he pressed a kiss to his fingertips, then touched them to the screen.
In the morning, Rees found the garden. A real one. He reached it through a maze of hallways, passing through an unmarked door.
Holo-outdoor scenes looked and felt real, but they could never be perfect. The shadows would be wrong or the water not quite right or the sand the wrong temperature.
But this was completely real. Trees grew along a fence line, blocking the garden from the reality of the harsh street. A canopy of shade cut off the heat of the sun, the cool scent of rich earth and grass pervaded. Roses twined through a trellis and climbed the trees, their red and yellow blossoms lending perfume to the air.
Rees stared in wonder. He’d never seen a real garden before. He wondered how they kept out the desert sands, until he watched an insect bounce off an invisible field far above.
What must it be like to have so much money you could have a permanent garden? Not only did Talan live in a huge, mazelike house with every comfort, but she could go outside and still have the heat and sands kept at bay.
This was how Talan had grown up. Privileged, pampered, her every need met. And yet she was not spoiled or grasping, as she could have been.
She was sweet as spring sunshine. Her skin was a joy to touch, her cries the most exciting sounds he’d ever heard.
He grinned. Listen to him being poetic. Rio would die laughing.
Rees walked across the leaf-strewn path to the opposite door, reveling in the cool joy of the garden. No sign or force field had forbidden him to walk there, so he assumed it was open to anyone in the house.
The door on the other side led to a dining room. The room had a clear glass wall so that those inside could look out to the pretty garden. The door stood open.
The people in the dining room, Metri and Talan, did not see him approach. They were too busy arguing.
“There is no reason why he cannot take meals with us, Metri,” Talan was saying. “Why should he eat with the servants? He is not a servant, any more than you are.”
Metri turned bright red behind his beard. It must have rankled to be put in the same category as one of the Sha reem. “Lady Petronella does not wish it.”
“Did she say she did not wish it?”
“Not in so many words. But Sha reem do not share a table with high-born ladies. It isn’t done.”
“High-born ladies should not even speak to them. Are we to be hypocrites then, and pretend he isn’t here?”
Metri looked exasperated. Poor man.
Rees entered the dining room. Metri’s bearing became stiff.
“I heard,” Rees said. “Your majordomo is right, Talan. Sha reem should not share tables with high-born ladies.”
Talan’s face blossomed bright pink. Her eyes went all starry when she did that. He remembered the feel of her skin beneath his hands, the salty taste of her lips. She had a great capacity for pleasure. He had barely tapped it.
“Ridiculous,” Talan said breathlessly. “Sit next to me, Rees.”
Sweet girl. Was she being generous, or trying to put one over on her guardian’s majordomo?
“Please,” she said. She slid out the chair next to her, patted it.
Rees winked at her, shot an apologetic grin at Metri, and sat down.
At least Metri did not have to worry about Rees being naked. Rees had found, when he’d risen and washed, a clean, insulated tunic and dark blue outer robe with a finely woven belt. He’d donned all this, thinking that living like a rich boy wasn’t such a bad thing.
The food was already on the table, kept warm or cool in its own programmed dish. Talan nibbled on a piece of bright orange hothouse fruit. Her soft lips closed around it, as she gently sucked.
He watched her a minute, enjoying it.
Then he piled his own bowl with fruit and covered it with cream. Her pheromones were thick in the air. That and watching her suck on the fruit made his already stiff cock throb even harder.
She was driving him crazy.
But it wasn’t just her pheromones. It was her. When he’d watched her in the monitor last night, not one pheromone had reached him in his remote part of the house. He’d gotten off just watching her stroke herself and come for him.
The fruit and cream gave him good ideas, too.
Metri left the room. Probably to lie down and get over his shock of a Sha reem in the dining room.
“Did you sleep well?” Talan asked Rees.
Rees took a bite of fruit. The juices filled his mouth. “Not really.”
“Why not?” She looked concerned. “Was the bed uncomfortable? The room too hot? I told Metri to adjust the temperature—”
“The room is fine. I spent the night thinking how much better the bed would be with you in it.”
Her face went rosy.
Why had he said that? He was here to train her, to rid her of her fears about sex. Not to blather like an adolescent about how much he wanted her.
The situation was deteriorating fast. He should leave.
But if he left, Talan would simply hire another Sha reem. That Sha reem would touch
her, would teach her…
No! came the explosive thought. Mine.
He heard sardonic laughter in the back of his mind. Yours? You are Rees. If you really want to be nice to this woman, you’ll walk out this morning and leave her alone.
Fuck that.
“I did what you told me,” Talan said shyly.
Rees dipped a hothouse strawberry in the thick cream, popped it in his mouth. “What was that?”
“I touched myself.” She closed her eyes, drew a breath that raised her chest against her thick garments. “I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
“I know. I saw you.”
Her eyes widened. “You saw me?”
“In the monitor. I watched you.” He chewed the strawberry, swallowed. “You were a good girl. I won’t have to punish you. Not yet.”
Her mouth became a round, pink “o”.
Down boy , said the voice inside him. Stick to level one.
“What do you want to do this morning?” he asked her, trying to make his voice normal.
“Lady Pet has gone out to shop,” she answered, a little breathlessly. “I thought I would study.”
“A good idea. Yes, let’s study.”
She blushed. “I mean my texts. Philosophy.”
“Mmm. Sounds boring.”
“Oh, no, it’s quite interesting. About how to free your mind from the body and become purely intellect. No emotions, no feelings to drag you down.”
He took another bite of fruit, enjoyed the bright taste of it. “But your mind is always connected to your body,” he said. “Unless you cut off your head.”
“Don’t be silly. You have no idea of the freedom and bliss that comes with following the pure intellect.”
He looked at her narrowly. “Is the bliss anything like what you felt last night?”
She blushed. “That was different. I have not yet learned the discipline to pull away from my body. That is one reason I wanted to bring you here. To learn to resist. I want the discipline. I don’t want—” She broke off, looked embarrassed.
“To be like me?” Rees shook his head. “Talan, you’ll never be able to separate your intellect from your body. You have to learn to enjoy your body, learn to live in it every moment. Not become separated from it.”
“You are Sha reem. You say that because that is how they train you.”
Rees Page 4
