by Ivy Barrett
Bracing himself against the bed with one hand, he arched over her, claiming her mouth with deep, passionate kisses. He slid his fingers in and out, rotating his wrist with each stroke. “How long has it been, sweetheart? I really don’t want to hurt you.”
“A long time.” Her admission sounded hoarse and strangled. “But I ache.”
How could he resist the subtle plea in her tone? She might be unsure, but she needed this as much as he did. He positioned himself against her entrance. One sharp thrust or ease in slow? What would hurt her less? With just the head of his cock inside her, he found her clit with his thumb. He rubbed firmly, pushing into her with slow, steady pressure. She stretched around him, slick and wet, and tight enough to steal his breath.
Corry trembled as his cock surged into her aching pussy. Deeper and deeper he pushed, filling her, stretching her. The skillful motion of his thumb detonated tingling tremors. Her inner muscles fluttered, accepting his thick length.
Her nipples felt as if they throbbed in time to the rhythm of her core. Tension coiled. She tossed her head, restless and hot. Arching, she took him deeper.
“Almost there,” he whispered.
How could he possibly have more to give? Did they augment everything on Halley Prime? A giggle threatened to reveal her anxiety. His balls pressed against her tender ass and Corry released her pent-up breath. They’d done it. He was buried to the hilt and she was alive and breathing. Her body was designed for this, but damn, he felt huge!
“Am I hurting you?”
He’d obviously misread her expression. “No. You’re just… I don’t think it’s just my abstinence. You’re rather—large.”
Smiling down at her, he kept up the steady rhythm with his thumb. “And this is the lowest setting.” He pulled back about halfway then thrust deep again. “You’ve never been with a man who had implants?”
Shocked that her fanciful thought hadn’t been fanciful at all, she asked, “Have you ever been with a woman who doesn’t?”
He shook his head and grasped her hips. “Pleasure implants are the traditional gift for everyone’s eighteenth birthday.”
“Not everyone’s.” Resentment seeped through her desire as she stared into his passion-glazed eyes. “Just citizens of Halley Prime.”
He gathered her close and kissed her softly, his fingers stroking her hair. “I won’t use them if they upset you. Just relax and feel me move.”
His kiss soothed her. The slide of his cock aroused, yet she was distracted by the mention of his implants. Every person on Halley Prime had pleasure implants? How could they squander precious resources on such a trivial “tradition”?
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he ordered, frustration sharpening his tone. “You’re not going to let this go until you understand, so I’ll demonstrate.”
He must have sensed her distraction, her emotional withdrawal. She hooked her ankles behind his back. A subtle vibration gradually intensified until her core literally hummed with sensation. “Oh! Your… I’ve never—”
Pleasure burst with spontaneous force and Corry cried out. Her pussy squeezed his vibrating cock, shooting darts of tingling heat all through her body.
Trembling and dazed, Corry stared up at him. “What else can your implants do?”
Ashton pulled back until only the head of his cock remained within her wet folds. “I can provide hot or cold stimulation as well as lubrication if we decide to be adventurous. And when you’re ready, I can get significantly larger than I am right now.”
“No. This is almost too much. I couldn’t…”
He thrust his full length into her, ending the conversation. Corry clutched the bedding as he moved. His dark gaze never left her face, his expression tense, eyes sparkling. Confusion and tenderness swirled through Corry. How could she feel anything but resentment for him?
How could she not? He was everything she’d ever wanted and more.
And he was her enemy.
His mouth sealed over hers, driving away the disquieting thought. His hands slipped beneath her bottom, adjusting her hips to a better angle. He reached deeper, filling her more completely than she ever dreamed possible.
She shared his breath, savored his taste and surrendered completely to his demanding penetration. He moved faster, each forceful drive a distinct claim on her body. His gaze burned. His fingers dug into her hips. Pushing up with her heels, she arched into his downward thrusts. Sensation sizzled along her nerve endings. Her blood raced through her veins. She gasped and moaned.
“Now.” His voice snapped with authority. “Come for me now!”
Happy to oblige, Corry cried out. Her pussy rippled with wave after wave of scalding pleasure. He closed his eyes. His abdomen clenched as his cock jerked deep inside her.
The last tingle hadn’t left her body when shame came crashing in. What had she done? This was Premier VinDerley’s son.
“It’s a little late for regrets.” He shifted his hands to her waist, keeping his cock buried in her body.
His augmented, vibrating cock! The shallow citizens of Halley Prime wasted time and money perfecting internal sex toys while thousands of children starved.
Rearing up, she shoved him backward and scrambled off the bed. “This never happened!” She snatched the blanket off the floor and wrapped it around her trembling body.
“What is wrong with you?” He scowled. “I know damn good and well you enjoyed that as much as I did.”
“Of course. How could you not? You’re telepathic. If you can read my mind, why don’t you know why I’m pissed off?”
“I’m empathic. It’s different than telepathy. I can feel how upset you are, but I can’t hear your thoughts in the way you mean.”
“How unfortunate for you.”
He said nothing for a long time. Gloriously naked and in no apparent hurry to re-dress, he just stared at her. “Does this have something to do with Korbin?”
“No.” She turned her face away. He was the enemy. She couldn’t let herself forget it again.
“What is your association with him?”
“He’s the leader of the rebels.”
“And who are you?”
“Your hostage.”
He tossed her panties to her and gathered his clothes. “I have work to do.” He quickly donned his uniform, frustration clouding his gaze. “In your present mood, I think you’ll be less trouble locked in here.”
She didn’t reply until he reached the doorway. As the panel slid shut, she whispered, “Don’t count on it.”
Chapter Five
“I have work to do,” Corry mocked as she paced the small cabin. How much work could there be on an automated schooner? He was probably trying to extend the range of communications. Send a message to Daddy.
How could she have been such a fool? She’d looked into his eyes and… It didn’t matter. She couldn’t change what happened, but she could make damn sure it didn’t happen again. She couldn’t go to Halley Prime. That’s all there was to it. No matter what it took, she had to escape.
With her determination restored, Corry stopped pacing and looked more carefully at the room. There was a computer terminal built into the corner desk, but it didn’t respond to voice command. There was no keyboard or control panel, so it was either malfunctioning or Ashton had cut off her access to the rest of the ship.
“Damn.” Cyber-sabotage was out of the question. She’d have to find a more overt approach. The most direct route between Borrelly and Halley Prime would take them past Chiron and Temple-Tuttle. Corry had no particular preference, but she needed to force a landing on one of the two outposts.
There had to be something useful, a tool—or a weapon.
Opening the wall locker, Corry continued her search. Two maintenance uniforms hung in the back of the narrow compartment. She hadn’t noticed them earlier. There were numerous pockets and loops for tools, but the corresponding tools were nowhere in sight. At least she’d be covered. Solid gray-green, the uniform zipp
ed up the front. It had a drawstring to adjust the waist but both the legs and sleeves were too long for her diminutive frame. She quickly rolled up the excess material and resumed her search.
She spotted an access panel in the back corner of the compartment and smiled. If she could get belowdecks, it wouldn’t be hard to create some form of malfunction. She tugged on the panel until it came loose. Ducking her head down into the opening, she looked in both directions before descending the narrow metal ladder.
Masses of wiring, electronic components and system housings cluttered the walls. She had acquired a basic knowledge of spacecraft for her supply runs to the outposts. This schooner was newer than hers, but locating the beryllium generator shouldn’t be that difficult. She could barely sit up in the limited space and even crawling was a challenge with the numerous obstacles. She needed to hurry. Ashton wouldn’t leave her alone for long.
Spotting the generator, she inched toward the main power supply. This would be tricky without any tools. She couldn’t cause an overload or short out the system. Kneeling beside the generator, she felt its rhythmic hum vibrate through her body.
Vibrating.
Humming.
Just like Ashton’s… She would not think about him! Her body tingled with echoes of sensation, but she focused entirely on escape.
Highly concentrated beryllium fueled most midrange spacecraft. If she could find the manual release valves, she could simply jettison the tanks. Moving farther down the crawlspace, she located the twin cylinders. She ran her hands along the top and then the bottom of the tank closest to her. Ah, there it was.
She grasped the lever with both hands and tugged. It wouldn’t budge. She readjusted her grip and tried again. Nothing. Frustrated but not ready to abandon her plan, Corry found a similar lever on the other tank. The second was also stubborn but finally gave way beneath her persistent pulling.
She heard an alarm sound in the distance and realized Ashton would soon know what she’d done. His angry footfalls stomped overhead and then she heard “Where the hell are you?” echo through the ship.
Corry laughed despite the fury in his voice. She’d won this round.
His head appeared in an open hatchway at the opposite end of the crawlspace. “Are you absolutely insane?”
Another quick laugh escaped before she could suppress her excitement. She’d done it! She’d thwarted mighty Director VinDerley.
“Get up here now!”
“Why don’t you come get me?” she suggested with a cheeky smile.
“If I touch you right now, I’ll snap your scrawny neck.”
“Shouldn’t you be plotting our new course?”
He muttered an especially vile curse and pulled his head out of the hatchway.
Corry waited until she could maintain a straight face before she ventured abovedeck. Flaunting her success was bound to cause trouble. She found him at the helm, desperately calculating their options.
“You couldn’t have jettisoned the half-empty tank, could you? We’re going to be lucky to reach the near side of Temple-Tuttle and there’s nothing there but swamps and jungles. I hope you like snakes.”
He flung the criticism over his shoulder without turning his attention from the navigational screen. Temple-Tuttle, the spiritual center of the coalition. Corry had never been to the outpost. They didn’t need her smuggled supplies. But she’d seen vids of the planet’s lush jungles and undeveloped wilderness. The occupants preferred a simple, more spiritually centered life. They didn’t ban technology. It was simply unimportant to them.
“There’s nowhere to set down,” he muttered. “You’ve probably killed us both, you impulsive little fool.” He suddenly reached for the safety restraints and secured himself to the pilot’s chair.
He didn’t advise her to do the same, but Corry followed suit. His movements were frantic and fear hardened his expression. Corry nervously licked her lips and tugged against her safety restraints. Had she been too hasty? Would he be able to land the ship?
She knew better than to ask. Her gaze focused on the vidscreen. Temple-Tuttle rushed toward them with alarming speed. The ship groaned and trembled as the planet’s atmosphere battered them with forces far greater than the shields were meant to withstand. Corry held her breath. She was jarred left then right before Ashton stabilized their trajectory.
He spoke only curses. She kept silent.
Corry’s hands clutched the padded arms of the chair while her heart pounded painfully. She closed her eyes, whispering nearly forgotten prayers. She didn’t want to die, hadn’t meant to kill them with her rash action.
The schooner hit a solid object and spun out of control. Corry cried out. The lights flickered for a second before blinking out. They spun through the darkness like a feather on the wind. The safety restraints bit painfully into her shoulders and hips as the ship carved a new path through the external environment.
As suddenly as it had lurched out of control, the schooner jerked to a stop. It rocked forward and back then settled into place.
They were alive! Corry let out a ragged sigh. She giggled, a spontaneous release of tension. Perhaps a bit battered but definitely alive.
“Well, little rebel,” Ashton’s voice penetrated the darkness, “I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish by forcing us down, but here we are.”
She could hear him releasing his restraints. What should she do now? She had to get away from him or her actions had no purpose.
“I can’t go to Halley Prime with you. I told you that. You should have left me on Borrelly.” She didn’t think he’d left his chair, but the darkness was impenetrable.
“All you’ve done is postponed our arrival. I have no intention of letting you out of my sight.”
“I’m out of your sight right now.” She couldn’t resist.
As if at his command, the secondary power supply activated and emergency lighting flickered to life. Corry gasped. He was standing right in front of her, long legs spread, fists planted firmly on his hips.
Before Corry could guess his intent, Ashton grabbed her hand. In one fluid movement, he snapped a cuff around her wrist and fastened the other around his own. “Let’s see you get away from me now.”
* * * * *
“The private cabin has the only bunk wide enough for both of us.” Ashton waited for her to react. She was so easy to provoke and her responses were so entertaining, he couldn’t resist.
“Secure me to one of the other bunks. I am not sleeping with you.”
They sat across from each other, their joined hands resting on top of the galley’s small table. “Securing you seems to be far more challenging than I anticipated. You’re as slippery as a Chironian slime eel.”
“We’re going to a settlement first thing in the morning. What point would there be in running away now?”
“You expect me to explain what goes on inside your twisted mind?” he teased. “I can’t explain why you forced the schooner down, much less why you’re so bent on getting away from me.”
“What will you do with me once we reach Halley Prime?” Her gleaming eyes and tilted chin accented the challenge in her words.
“That depends on how quickly you can convince your friends to release the other hostages.”
“If they immediately release the others, then what?”
“I’ll intervene where I can.”
She indulged in a very childish snort. “How comforting. I’ll be sent back to Borrelly as an inmate instead of an employee.”
“So you are employed by Corrections?”
Her smile was slow and sly. “Not exactly. My work is philanthropic. Borrelly is centrally located. It made my…routine easier.”
“What was your routine?”
“Stealing from the rich and distributing to the poor. I’m a modern day Robin Hood.”
“You steal supplies from Halley Prime and—”
“My routine is irrelevant to this conversation.”
“No piece to a puzzle is irre
levant. I don’t even know your name.”
“You seem to think it’s little rebel.”
“What would you prefer I call you?”
“I’d prefer you didn’t call me.”
He laughed. How could he find her stubbornness charming? “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll have several hours of hard hiking tomorrow.”
She followed him silently toward the cabin. She’d already tried using her bladder as an excuse for him to release the wristcuffs, but he’d offered to turn his back and only turn his back.
“I don’t want to sleep with you.”
“All we’re going to do is sleep.” The pressure on the wristcuff increased as she dug in her heels. Ashton turned to face his reluctant companion. Tension twisted her expression and anxiety radiated off her in waves. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Maybe not tonight, but you’re going to hurt me.”
Frustrated by the certainty in her voice, Ashton met her gaze. “What do you want me to do? I was dragged into this at weapon point. This is your mess, not mine.”
“I’m not blaming you.”
He stepped toward her. She backed into the wall. “If you told me what you were trying to accomplish with the kidnappings, I might be able to—”
“Why would you help me?” Her gaze narrowed and suspicion stabbed at him, driving him back.
“I’m not making any promises, but I can’t help until I understand more about the conflict.”
She looked away and her emotions softened and curled. A heated wave of excitement ripped through her and washed into him. Ashton hesitated. This was more complex than sexual attraction. His entire body felt attuned to her needs, ready to provide on some elemental level. He shook away the sensation. She was right. He had no reason to get involved.
“I’m trapped,” she whispered. “They expect me to save them.”
