Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers

by Mechele Armstrong

  A surprise. He’d not been expecting a visit. Good thing he’d been prepared. “Zelda.” He got up to shake her hand with a tight grip, which she returned twofold. “How nice to see you.”

  Why was the bitch here? It was all he could do to paste the smile on his face and not let his emotions show through his expression. He was too close to his ultimate goal to be stopped now.

  Had she noticed the influx of new people on the station? People she hadn’t approved to come onboard? Zelda might depend on others for some things, but she was a hands-on lady when it came to her mine. That was the reason that the large mine only had one security officer, two, when she and Bren did the job, and the situation worked. She handled troublemakers first off, either not letting them onboard, or meeting them when they landed. Control of her mine was essential to her. Or she had done things that way until Amory had come into her life. And Gemini’s underhanded approval of people granted visiting rights to the station.

  She smoothed down her jacket before sitting in a chair in front of the metal desk. Crossing her leather-covered legs, she said, “I haven’t seen your reports yet. The ones we talked about when you took this job.” Her posture straightened. “The first report is long overdue. So is the second one.”

  What reports? His mind called up the events of his hiring. Reports had been mentioned. Being important and due. He let out a held breath. That’s all this was about? He’d been too caught up in his own plan to worry about the details of something like a report. Leave it to Zelda to nit pick the details. “Ah yes, reports. I think I’m running behind in the computer work. I’ll sit down now and do them. Get them on your desk by this afternoon.” Now she could leave his office, expecting the promised paperwork, and he could get back to the business of taking over the mine.

  She changed the order of her crossed legs, but didn’t change her position to get up. “See that you do.”

  Now, she’d berated him even. She could leave him in peace to go have sex with her mates like the whore she was.

  They sat there, passing another moment in silence.

  Why didn’t she get out of her chair and leave? Why did she wait here, not looking at him, but surveying the front of his desk? The questions were over. Time for her to saunter her way back out of his office.

  He tried to wait it out, but the quiet got to him after a few moments.

  Something fell with a noisy ping out in the hallway.

  He broke the uncomfortable quiet to try and get rid of the woman. Put the most saccharine expression his face he could muster. “Was that all, Zelda? Especially with the paperwork backlog, I’m quite busy. I need to…”

  “Stay on top of your duties.” She looked him full in the face. “That included computer work. Which you failed to turn in.” Her hand lifted to rest on her knee. “What I’m curious about is what the fuck has kept you so busy you couldn’t fill out the reports? I’ve not heard anything about hell breaking loose on my mine. Or anything else that would take that much of your time. Other than that time you broke up the fight before I arrived and berating your men in the bar, I’ve not heard about you doing any busting of balls.” Her eyes glinted. “If I’d had those reports, I’d know that for sure what you’ve been up to.”

  He thought out his reply carefully. The things that had kept him busy were the things she couldn’t know about yet. Letting people onboard without her knowledge. Faking her approvals so that the other employees wouldn’t get suspicious. And most of all, planning to set their captive free, so that she’d be even more distracted. “I’ve been doing preemptive work. Trying to keep any hell from breaking out. Meeting with people to let them know a new security chief is onboard. Not to worry about anything now that I’m on the job. Networking. Putting out fires before they start. That sort of thing.” Yeah, he’d been networking all right. Networking with any enemy of Zelda or Settler’s Mine he could.

  She didn’t look convinced by his assurance. Instead, she looked furious. “I’m sure you’ve been busy with those things. But when I hired you, I made it clear afterward what your duties are. I expect the duties of your job fulfilled. Don’t get behind again. Or I will fire your ass.”

  Without another word, she stalked out of the office, leaving him alone.

  The doors pressed closed with a hiss behind her rapping heels.

  He picked up the stylus to his computer and tossed it across the room. The metal rod hit the stone wall with a thunk and hit the floor. The act wasn’t enough of a hit to satisfy his frustrations. He needed something bigger, to make more noise. More breakage when the article hit the wall. He reached for another object and clenched his hand around the arm of his chair.

  “Bitch.” He simmered down his breathing, which had escalated like a motor in hyperdrive. His fingers tensed on an empty glass resting on his desk.

  He could throw a few more things to break against the stone.

  None of the items he could break and throw would be Zelda’s head. Which was the only thing that might make him feel better than he did right now.

  How dare she question him? Take him to task over a damn report. Like all he had to do was her bidding. Her tedious reports, amounting to nothing more than her keeping tabs on anything that the security chief did.

  Like he was a pussy.

  Her head would soon be rolling from her body. He’d see to that. And gloat over her carcass. While the mine crumbled in around her. She’d die in the mine that had taken so many souls by false promises.

  Like his.

  He would have his due and the due of everyone promised a heartstone who’d never located the missing rock.

  His hands let go of the glass.

  She wasn’t worth the time pitching the glass would take.

  He got up and went over to pick up the stylus from the floor. Dusting it off, he trotted back to his chair. He needed that for his computer.

  He opened his reports and began to fill them out. To satisfy the bitch. Along with creating his masterpiece of deception. To satisfy the need to revenge himself upon the mine that had betrayed him. Like the heartstones and the Fates had betrayed him.

  Zelda’s voice sounded through his computer speaker. “Amory, it’s time you left. Sorry we couldn’t be more than that. Get your ass away from my mine. Don’t come back.”

  Still not perfect. The words lacked a certain Zelda touch. But, the speech was getting closer to sounding authentic. More convincing. Time to find some more spoken words and eliminate the pauses between each phrase. Should be easy enough to do.

  He grinned as he pushed another button to see what other stored words he’d recorded from the bitch, who was about to be taken down.

  Chapter Ten

  Bren rubbed his face as he watched Amory sleep.

  The man must be exhausted after his first sexual encounter.

  Amory and Zelda had had sex. Lots of sex.

  Bren could almost see the picture in his mind. Muddled bodies and sweaty skin. Panting mouths straining to come together.

  If only he’d been around to watch them.

  Shit on watching, if only he’d been able to participate.

  Not that Amory would let him. Stubbornness was a good quality, but shitting inconvenient sometimes. That Amory wanted to honor his misguided vow to Tania in person instead of breaking off what could never be on the space com was noble. Foolish, but noble. Why did those without heartstones pledge to one another? He’d never understood taking a vow to someone you didn’t know for sure would be your forever mate. But he’d seen people make those vows. They were always disappointed. Add in the Etruscan ways, and there was one confused Amory.

  His gaze shifted back to the noble romantic.

  One leg came out from under the covers. A bronzed, limber leg. The muscles stretched underneath taut skin.

  Bren couldn’t draw his eyes away from looking at that bared leg.

  Amory hadn’t put back on his clothes after his encounter with Zelda.

  Which meant he was naked.


  Bren’s breath rasped quickly through his lungs.

  Naked.

  Amory’s eyes opened, and he lifted his head in Bren’s direction. He smacked his lips several times as he sat up. The covers fell down across his lap. “Hi.”

  Bren nodded. He took in the tight muscles of the man’s chest. A sparse covering of hair wound down to Amory’s stomach. What lay beneath was covered by the blanket. As Bren watched, Amory’s cock poked up, raising the blanket.

  “Was I snoring?” Amory shifted, pulling the blanket away from his straining erection so his cock wasn’t outlined anymore.

  Shit. Had that been Bren, and Amory had been the one looking, Bren would have tossed off the blanket. “No. You weren’t snoring.” He moved closer to the bed. “You don’t have to hide your reactions from me.”

  Amory licked his lips with a thin swipe of tongue. “Guess not.” He pushed the blanket a little further down, revealing trim hips.

  Bren’s nostrils flared. Desire roared through him like the noise the Mendosians made. That small action meant so much. The modesty ingrained in Amory was being pushed aside for a moment for Bren.

  “You could come join me on the bed.” Amory’s voice was strong and sure, but his expression wasn’t as confident.

  “I’d rather come in you.” Bren didn’t want to waste the time they had with pleasantries. The Mine would call at any moment with some crisis. Zelda and he had learned to take their moments of bliss when they had them. Because there was no telling how long the down time would last.

  Amory’s throat moved as he swallowed. “Oh.”

  Bren approached the bed, putting one knee on the mattress. “Do I come in you? Or just on the bed to you?” Would what he wanted to hear be the answer he received? Bren didn’t want to push where Amory didn’t want to go. But he desired being with his mate, taking Amory under his body. Now. Not later.

  “In me.”

  Silence reigned after that pronouncement. Did Amory realize there was no going back? Once Bren started, there’d be no change of mind. Once they were together, Bren would never easily let him go. He held fast to Zelda and would do no less for his second mate.

  Bren pulled out the vial in his pocket and began warming it with his hands, though he didn’t uncork the top. He’d been prepared since they’d first brought Amory into their apartment. But there’d been no telling if he’d ever get to use the stuff. Had to be Amory’s decision to take things further, not Bren’s, though persuasion was on his mind.

  “What’s that?” Amory lifted his head to look curiously at what Bren was doing. He shifted up on his arms.

  “It’s lube.”

  Amory sucked in a breath.

  Bren had to chuckle. Neither of them had been with other men before. They were about to embark upon something new for both of them. Had Amory read the sex books that Bren had while he waited to find his mate? So many had told the tales of sex with mates and what the act was like. None of them had compared to the reality of being with Zelda. Bren had to assume the ones about male on male relations were much the same.

  Amory licked his lips again. “You going to stand there all day? Or take off some clothes?”

  In answer, Bren twiddled the zipper in one hand while he pulled the clasp down. He shrugged out of his shirt and tugged off his pants. His cock stood out from his body, displaying how much he looked forward to this.

  Bren stalked to the bed to slide under the sheets with Amory.

  A hot body slipped against his.

  Skin against skin.

  The feel of it was like hot cheese wrapping around him. Only, he couldn’t get away from the heat nor did he want to even try.

  Amory lifted his mouth near to Bren’s. So of course, Bren took the advantage and kissed him.

  The kiss deepened as their mouths plunged against each other.

  Amory’s scent hovered in the bed. Such a spicy, virile smell.

  Bren breathed it in, all the while kissing Amory as deeply as he could.

  Amory returned the kiss with all the vigor of a hopping rabbit. His tongue slipped against Bren’s as his mouth tried to combine them into one.

  When Amory’s hand brushed across Bren’s chest, the contact was electric. It was like a lightning strike, igniting a forest fire across Bren’s body.

  The hand continued to play along Bren’s skin, finishing the torching of his skin threefold. Amory’s touch contained magic.

  Bren’s hips thrust against Amory. Bren shuddered. Too much. Almost too much. He backed off a quarter. His hand slid down in the space between their bodies to find Amory’s cock. The length of his arm allowed him to find Amory and be comfortable.

  He positioned the tip between his thumb and forefinger. A drop of moisture pearled out onto Amory’s glans. His hand slid up and down.

  Bren had never touched another man’s cock before. Amory felt different than Bren did when he’d touched himself. Thicker. He was smooth, yet so unyielding underneath the skin. Like water over rock.

  Amory let out a rich moan into Bren’s mouth.

  Bren took it inside and little noise escaped.

  The man tasted better than the most divine of tastes.

  Only one thing compared to Amory’s taste.

  Zelda.

  Reaching around with his other hand, Bren gathered the vial of lube, managed to pop off the top, and drizzled a copious amount of the sticky substance onto his hand. He pulled back even more, removing his mouth from Amory’s to slide down and cover his own hand and Amory’s cock.

  Amory’s eyes shot open. His entire body tensed with shaking. His reaction said he hadn’t been expecting that move.

  The slipperiness covered Amory’s cock, making it slide around Bren’s hands with ease. The hardness slithered through Bren’s fingers.

  Faster and faster, his hands slid around Amory’s straining cock. Faster and faster puffed Bren and Amory’s breathing. Faster and faster went both their chests from the hard exertion of the desire raging in their bodies.

  Amory trembled as he pulled back. “Hang on.”

  Bren moved away as Amory grabbed for the lube. He put a generous amount on his hand and slid his hands down between them.

  To grasp Bren’s cock in a firm, oily hold.

  Bren’s head rolled back as he barely held himself together. A large moan split his lips. Pieces of him wanted to fall apart.

  Not yet.

  Not until Amory came would Bren find the mind-altering pleasure of release.

  Bren gritted his teeth, seeking an iron control to his desires. His hands went back to Amory’s cock, matching Amory’s pace of stroking. The faster Amory went, the faster Bren’s hands touched. The slower Amory’s hands went, the slower Bren’s hands moved.

  Up and down, Bren kept working the flesh against his hand, within his hands. Adding more lube when necessary. Needed to keep Amory slick and ready.

  All the while, Amory kept maintaining the pace with his hands around Bren’s own cock, slowing and speeding up deliciously.

  Bren couldn’t think of anything beyond right now. Couldn’t feel anything but the intense pleasure between his thighs. Yet, he held on to Amory, keeping his hands going up and down Amory’s cock, and keeping control so that he didn’t spill his pleasures too early.

  Bren had to make Amory feel the experience as much as he did.

  Until with a wild thrust of his hips, Amory shouted out Bren’s name. Cum spurted from the end of his cock in waves, coating Bren’s hands and the sheet.

  Nothing could hold the back the orgasm that burst forth from Bren. Held back too long, the stars roamed his eyes as he spilled his seed. With a roar, Bren finished climaxing, spraying the last of his cum.

  Bren lay there a moment, panting and flushed, trying to calm down his breathing. He glanced around the room, his eyes drawn by the sheet.

  Their essences had mixed together in part in drips on the bed.

  Bren took his hand to touch a spot on the bed and blend more of their remnants of passi
on.

  Just as their cum had mixed today, so would their lives forever.

  Amory lay back his head.

  Bren stroked his hand along Amory’s chest. He found Amory’s heart and laid his hand atop it. Could feel it booming a quick beat. “Still tired? You just had a nap.”

  Amory snorted. “You’re the one who tired me out again. You didn’t come in me, though.”

  Before Bren could answer, the com went off.

  He blew out a heavy breath in resignation. At least the call had waited until after they’d finished. But Bren had wanted to lay with Amory for some time. Maybe have a second tryst. Take him all the way. Wouldn’t be today though. Work called.

  “You need to go?” Amory’s face tensed in disappointment, knowing what the call meant.

  Bren nodded. Didn’t want to but had to.

  “You’ll be back?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Bren started to pull on his clothes. “Sooner than later.”

  * * * * *

  Zelda arrived back at her quarters at the same time Bren did for a breather in the late afternoon. They needed and wanted to spend as much time with Amory as they could.

  He leaned in and gave her a sloppy kiss. “Hey, Z.” His goofy grin told Zelda all she needed to know about his morning. “How was your afternoon?”

  “Not as good as yours apparently, but not bad.” Truth was she felt distracted. She couldn’t concentrate on mine information, thinking about Amory. Nor could she concentrate on Amory while thinking about mine politics. She still didn’t trust Gemini and had a bad feeling, though she wasn’t sure why. Gemini still hadn’t done anything to earn her suspicion. Nothing much was getting done on either front, either mine or with her mate. They’d made headway with Amory, but not nearly enough.

  They pushed open the door.

  Amory jumped up from where he was sitting. “Hey.”

  Pleasantries were exchanged, and an early dinner was ordered.

  As they sat and waited for the meal to arrive, Bren rubbed her shoulders. “Little tense there, Z.” He rubbed out the kinks and the muscles.

  She didn’t answer but gave herself into the ministrations of his strong hands. They kneaded her shoulders and neck with accuracy, finding all her pressure points. He knew how rough she liked a neck rub and did it expertly. Bren knew how to calm her down.