by Lisa Lace
"Quinn," he said, his eyes full of longing. "Will you forgive me for being a hopeless jerk who couldn't see what he had right in front of him?"
I smiled. "Of course I will, Airik. Now, kiss me like you love me."
He gave me a sexy grin. "That shouldn't be a problem..." he said, his eyes warming. "...because I do."
His lips were on me, and I thought I was in heaven. I had never imagined I could feel this good on any planet.
* * *
"So just like that, you guys neutralized an enormous threat to our civilization?" Neesa said. She looked impressed.
"I guess so," I said. "The people back at headquarters said as soon as our intervention was complete hundreds of Precogs started coming in again."
"This time, the visions were of our population numbers going up. Birth rates will be on the rise again," Airik explained.
"It was pretty good for my first intervention," I said, allowing myself to smile a bit.
"Pretty good?" Airik said, gazing at me with an adoring look on his face. "Rob and I have been on plenty of missions between us. The use of your skills, your presence of mind with Dorelle, and your courage were equivalent to experienced ground team members. You're one of us now."
"I'm not sure I trust your assessment of her skills," Neesa said.
Airik got an exasperated look on his face. "Why not?"
"I don't think you'd be able to give an unbiased opinion. You're obviously in love with her."
My heart warmed, and Neesa smiled at me. Airik walked over to Neesa. He reached out and deliberately messed up her hair.
"Hey," she said, trying to finger comb it back in place. "We're not kids anymore. You can't do things like that to me."
"I can and I will. If you're going to bug me, then I can bug you."
"You're acting like you don't like it, Airik, but I know you do. You want everyone to notice how you're head-over-heels for her."
He shrugged and sat back down beside me on the couch, draping his arm carelessly over my shoulders. Now I could tell he was trying to look nonchalant. Every movement, every look, and every word since the intervention had a subtext and it was always the same. It always said I love you.
I could feel it in his gaze, in the way he touched me, and in the tone of his voice. I had never been happier. Neesa was right. We were a cute couple — maybe even sickening to those who had to watch us.
"You've been moved up from junior Precog to full Precog, Quinn?" Neesa asked from the kitchen where she was making a salad for supper.
"Yes. I'll be doing some work in the office and also going out with ground teams where my particular skills can be useful."
"And they'll be using us as a team of Precogs, as well."
"Because you can amplifying each other's powers. If you're touching Quinn, is your empathic ability stronger?"
"Yes. By the way, green isn't a good color for you, Neesa," Airik commented.
Was Neesa envious of us?
"I'm not jealous. Not really," she said quickly.
Airik stared at her until she relented.
"Maybe I am a little. You guys are happy now, and I wish I were too."
"I'm sure you're going to find someone soon," Airik said. His tone of voice made Neesa glance at him sharply.
"How sure are you?" she said. "Have you had a vision about me?"
"Neesa…" he said, holding up his hands and shaking his head.
"Tell me," she said, coming over to the couch and waving salad tongs at him. "Tell. Me."
"No. You'll see when it happens."
"You can't get anything out of him when he has his mind made up. I guess I'll have to wait," she said, going back to the kitchen with a little more bounce in her step.
"Did you really have a vision?" I whispered.
"You'll have to wait and see, too," he said infuriatingly.
I huffed. "Fine."
"Your anniversary's coming up," Neesa said. "What are you going to do?"
"I have a surprise planned for Quinn," Airik said. "We're going to have a romantic dinner."
"I hope it's after the dinner Mom's planned. She'll kill you if you don't let us celebrate it with the entire family."
"The whole family?" I said, remembering all the people who had been at the wedding. I still didn't remember every name.
"Just the immediate family," Neesa corrected herself.
"Oh, sure. That's fine," I said. There were enough brothers and sisters and their offspring to keep me frantically remembering names. As long as it wasn't the extended family too, I thought I could handle it.
"Don't worry, sis. I'll take care of you," Neesa said. She winked at me. "I got your back."
AIRIK
I checked to make sure everything was perfect and then waited for Quinn to come home. When she finally walked through the door, I jumped up and went to her.
"Surprise," I said, helping her take off her coat. "Why are you late? I was expecting you an hour ago."
"I had an errand to run."
"Are you ready for our private anniversary celebration? Yesterday's dinner at Mom and Dad's was for everyone else. Tonight is for us."
"Oh," Quinn said, and she flashed a beautiful smile at me. Her bright blue eyes twinkled. "It smells good in here."
"I made dinner."
"Sounds great," she said and followed me into the dining room.
After we finished eating, we moved to the living room and sat on the couch. "I have something for you, Quinn," I said. "It's not a traditional anniversary present, but I hope you'll like it."
I held a package out to her. She took it carefully.
"What is it?" she asked.
I gave her a look that said, as-if-I'd-tell-you.
"Open it."
She tore open the box and looked at me in confusion.
"Are these my wedding rings? Why are you giving them back to me?"
I had asked her to give them to me. I told her I would have them cleaned, buffed, and shined. I did all that and something extra. "Look inside," I said.
She picked them both up and rotated them in the light so she could read the engraving.
"Stronger. Together," she read. "Wow. That's beautiful, Airik."
Her eyes filled with tears, and I wondered if the writing had been a good idea. I wanted to explain myself.
"It was supposed to symbolize how we can augment our powers when we're together, and how you and I make each other stronger when we're a couple." I scratched my head, feeling foolish. "I thought it would be romantic. We can have them engraved with something else if you like."
She cut me off with a kiss. When she finally pulled back, I gave her a smile.
"I love them. They're amazing. Now I have two presents for you," she said, handing me a similar box.
When I opened it, I saw my wedding rings, which I hadn't been wearing for the past week. My hands got so dry in the winter that I couldn't stand anything touching my skin.
"You took my rings?"
"I might have gotten them engraved, too."
We laughed.
"Great minds think alike," I said.
"Fools seldom differ," she finished. "We both know I am a fool for you, Airik. Just read them, okay?"
I squinted, turning the rings to make out the words. It took me a minute to realize they weren't written in Standard, but English.
"I love you," I read, pronouncing the foreign words slowly, trying to pronounce them correctly.
"How about the other one?" she said.
"Saransho belava," I said.
"That's 'I love you' in your language, right? It doesn't say your cat has green socks or something?" I joked, repeating his words back to him.
"It is," I said, tears coming to my eyes. I quickly blinked them back but not before she saw them.
"Do you like them? Or should I have gotten you a gift card?"
"I love them," I said. "It's thoughtful."
"So were yours," she said.
"Do you know what I have next
on the schedule?"
"I can guess," she said, starting to unbutton her blouse.
"You read my mind."
"Maybe I had a vision," she said, capturing my lips and kissing me.
We had been together for one year, but I knew — even without a vision — it was only the beginning.
Chapter 19
QUINN
"Come here, sweetie. Daddy's trying to do some work. You and I didn't finish the puzzle," I said, scooping up my daughter and swinging her around until she squealed. She loved being with Airik. Whenever he tried to get some work done at home, Lalla always was stuck to him like glue. She didn't like separation from her father, but she would come with me because she loved puzzles.
"Wait, Quinn," he said, his eyes still on his screen. "I just got the results of the intervention you foresaw. The one you didn't tell me about because it happened before I knew you were a Precog. The little girl got hit by a car, remember?"
I looked at the ground silently. I couldn't stare at him.
"Don't worry. We saved her. The Precogs on the scene are foreseeing a long life for her. She will be an old woman someday."
"Really?" I asked, relief filling my chest. "Thank you so much for telling me, Airik." He winked at me, and I smiled back. I carried Lalla out of Airik's office and felt as light as air.
"One more thing, Quinn." I turned to him. "Rob and Deerva have invited us over for dinner next week."
"Sounds great." After their adventure together, Rob and Deerva started dating almost immediately. They recently moved in together. No one was happier for them than I was. Especially since it meant that Rob wasn't interested in me anymore.
Airik and I had been together for three years. Lalla was fifteen months old. I thought we conceived her on our first anniversary, but I didn't have any proof.
Everyone else had been shocked that we quickly got pregnant, but it didn't surprise me. They thought it was because I was human. I knew we would have a big family like Airik's. I never had any family except my father. It pleased me more than anyone knew to have many people around who loved us and loved my daughter.
It made me happy to see her with all her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her Nana and Papa were over almost every day. Their place was like her second home. She loved them all.
I carried her sturdy little form into the living room, giving her a kiss or two before I set her down in front of our puzzle. She didn't need my help, but she liked it when I watched. After she was asleep and I was in my pajamas, reading in bed, Airik came into our bedroom.
"Is Lalla asleep?" he asked, giving me a kiss.
I nodded.
He pulled his T-shirt off, giving me a view of his well-muscled chest. I lifted my eyebrows at him. He gave me a sexy smile that I loved. Then he took off his pants and crawled into the bed wearing only his boxers.
I tingled when I saw the look in his eye.
"Do you remember what it was like before our mission, Quinn? Before I knew I loved you?"
"Yes," I said, dropping my eyes at the memories of the sadness.
"You know what?"
"What?" I asked, playing along.
"I don't. I feel like there's never been a time when I didn't love you. I can't imagine being with anyone else. I'm glad you're the mother of my daughter and future children."
I smiled and put my hand on his cheek. "Future children? That sounds optimistic. Isn't the birth rate on Koccoran something like 1.4 children per couple?"
"I don't know how people manage to have a half a kid, but I'm glad we have one whole little munchkin."
"She's enough of a handful as she is, never mind an extra 0.4. I can't imagine having as many kids as your parents. How did they manage that on this planet?"
"They're an anomaly."
"Maybe it's in the genes," I said, raising my eyebrows.
"It's definitely in the genes. I think a brother or sister for Lalla wouldn't be a bad thing."
"Of course not," I said. "It's just improbable."
"Lalla herself was improbable. I don't believe in limiting ourselves."
"What are you suggesting, Airik?"
"We should get started on a sibling for our little darling."
"I want at least two years between them." His eyes lit up at my acquiescence.
"We should start practicing." He took the computer from my hands and set it on the bedside table.
"I love you," he whispered into my ear. His English made me smile and shiver simultaneously. He trailed his fingers down my shoulder until he came to the thin spaghetti strap of my blue silk tank top. He drew it down slowly. Baring my shoulder, he kissed it, then did the same on the other side.
I slid down until I lay on my back. He sucked on my nipple through the fabric, driving me crazy. The sensations of his mouth through the silky material aroused me, and I moaned.
"Babe, you are smoking hot," he said, pulling the shirt off me to reveal my breasts. His hands covered them and massaged them, making me writhe under his touch.
"Airik," I whispered.
He knew what I needed, and his hands slid into my shorts, pulling them off along with the panties I wore underneath. He disposed of his boxers as well, lying beside me and sliding his hand down my inner thigh. As his hand brushed my sex, I gasped. He reached to cup me, letting one finger slowly open my folds.
I was already wet for him, and he rubbed me, focusing on my hard nub.
"Please," I said desperately.
He rolled onto his back. He knew I liked to straddle him. There were no artificial barriers between us, of course, since it was against the law to have protected sex on Koccoran. All babies were desired, even if the parents didn't want to raise them.
I lifted myself and carefully positioned my opening, letting myself down an inch at a time onto him until we joined. My breath was coming in short bursts. He reached up and twisted my nipples, making me even more aroused.
"I love how you look when you're sitting on me, Quinn. You're a sex goddess," he said, his eyes cloudy with lust.
I didn't answer him. I lifted myself up and took him deep inside me again. Oh, fuck that felt good. I rode him slowly until I couldn't stand it anymore.
"Now?" he asked, and I nodded. I was so close to orgasm that I couldn't speak. He rolled us over, being careful to keep us coupled together. He pinned me under his hard, hot body and began driving into me quickly, the way I liked it at the end.
The pleasure built until I couldn't stand it any longer. When he dipped his head to take one of my breasts into his mouth, I cried out and came. He put his hand over my mouth to stifle any more sounds. He was always paranoid we would wake Lalla. I pressed my lips together as spasms overtook my body. My hips moved against him as he continued to pound into me, looking for his release.
After another minute, I felt him stiffen and fill me with his seed. His orgasm sent me off into another round of aftershocks until finally I lay still in a state of bliss. He kissed my chest, lifting his dead weight off of me. Then he gave one of my nipples a suck, making me spasm again. I moaned, and he smiled, lying down and pressing his body against mine.
"I love you," I whispered to him in English.
"I love you, too," he said in his language.
A vision rocked the both of us, showing our fiftieth anniversary, surrounded by children and grandchildren. We saw ourselves kissing like we were still young.
I looked at him for confirmation that he had seen it as well.
"I counted five, at least," he said, kissing my forehead.
"At least five what?"
"Kids," he said proudly.
"Well," I said. "I'll give you an hour's rest, but then we'll have to practice some more. Five children will be hard work."
"An hour," he snorted. "I'm not an old man yet."
"Oh, really?" I said, grinning. "Why don't you show me?"
And he did.
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