He was sleeping maybe? Or dead? She stifled an urge to run. He wasn't moving, but she could see him breathing from where she stood.
Okay. Not dead. Good. Better to be with a sleeping warrior alien than a dead body, right?
Better get closer and take a look, and not because he was simply the most magnificent man she'd ever seen. He looked like a Greek God. He was massively built. His thick black hair was short. She wondered briefly what color his eyes might be to complement his angular face. His lips were full and sensuous. His sleek black body armor surely molded to, and barely contained, a very impressive body. No man would look this good and not have the body to go with it.
He was perfectly formed head to toes, the stuff of her wild, late-night fantasies, and the best Hollywood had to offer. She wondered why his friends hadn't made him comfortable by removing his protective coverings. Perhaps he was a warrior soldier. They all probably slept in their body armor to make a point about how bad-assed they were at all times.
Warriors were a whole different breed. Those in the circle were surely warriors. All of them were tall, too, even the women. Gabrielle looked down at her short, small body. Big men like him hardly ever noticed her. They probably never saw her unless they looked down at their feet.
Gabrielle heard him moan again. Was he in pain? Had he been wounded or something? She looked up to study his face and was startled to see he was staring at her in return. She noted his eye color immediately. He had liquid-silver colored eyes. Exotic eyes. Troubled eyes. He tried to speak, but it was, apparently, too hard for him. He swallowed with obvious difficulty. Gabrielle couldn't stop herself from moving closer to him.
"Please, must kiss...” he said in a barely audible tone.
"I'm sorry,” Gabrielle said with interest as she stepped even closer to his resting form. She bent down. “Say it again.” She put her ear close to his mouth. Did he just tell her he needed a kiss? Yeah, she wanted to kiss him and make him better all right. She chanced a look at his face.
The gorgeous warrior pierced her with a direct stare, mesmerizing her. “Kiss me,” he whispered.
"Me?” Gabrielle rose to study his face, checking his expression for clarification. His eyes bore into her straight to her soul and deeper still. Yeah, he was talking to her. Was he reading her mind?
Gabrielle glanced around furtively and saw no one around to help him. She'd wanted to kiss him since she saw him helpless and gorgeous on the slab. What's the harm, anyway? It's a meaningless touching of the lips. She easily convinced herself to kiss this handsome, sleepy warrior before he changed his mind. He had beautiful lips to go with his impressive body.
"Get ready, Sleeping Beauty,” she murmured under her breath.
Gabrielle leaned over him, lowered her face, and carefully placed her lips on his in a chaste kiss. He groaned and shuddered the moment her lips came into contact with his. Her mouth tingled in response to the connection with this injured, dreamy man. She drew back, worried that she hurt some unseen wound. “I'm so sorry,” she uttered sincerely as his eyelids fluttered open to regard her with the molten silver gaze.
"I am not, but...” He gave her a scorching, decadent look. “Please ... just ... kiss me."
"Are you sure?” She looked around again to see if anyone watched her accost this helpless man. His lids lowered in a sexy, sleepy look.
Was he even fully conscious? Should she kiss him? God, he was hard to resist.
Gabrielle didn't want to force herself on the poor, injured man. Well, not exactly. But his lips were so warm and full and so invitingly electric, she dared to take another taste. Besides, he'd asked her to ... twice. She was simply complying with his request ... eagerly. This time, her kiss was bolder. Chaste gave way easily to carnal as her tongue valiantly traced the seam of his smooth, full lips.
He moaned deeply in what sounded like pleasure and opened his mouth to admit her impatient and inquisitive tongue. She felt the growl of his approval from the vibration in his throat. He raised a hand and brushed her arm before traveling to her head. His fingers tangled in her hair as he pressed her mouth even closer.
Her warrior seemed to enjoy his requested kiss, but there was a little problem from her point of view. A height-challenged problem.
Gabrielle, on tip-toe, wasn't close enough to this seductive man to give him the kiss she wanted to deliver. She broke from his engaging mouth, and he moaned again as if in pain, but he gave her an approving look when she crawled on top of him. Balancing on all fours, she shifted her body over his to take full advantage of the marble-hard physique. She slithered across his chest on a mission to kiss his hurt completely away. God, he felt great!
She slipped up his body until her face was aligned with his, and her breasts were flattened on his body armor. She touched his face, which was rough with whiskers. Her mouth captured his hungrily as if they hadn't stopped kissing earlier. Her tongue tangled with his in a dance of desire more satisfying than any she'd ever experienced.
Seductive. Alluring. Sensual. Engaging.
It was similar to a very satisfying sexual encounter, not that she'd ever participated in a very satisfying sexual encounter to compare it to. This experience was what she dreamed of from the reference point of pure mediocrity evident in all her past affairs. This kiss made her feel light-headed.
And yet, it was just a kiss, albeit a scorching one.
After only a minute of locking lips with this seductive stranger, Gabrielle began to vibrate with a need she wouldn't have been able to articulate even if she had been willing to stop and ponder her feelings. She wasn't going to stop this heavenly tangling of lips and tongues until she was fully satisfied. Not even if one of the others came back right now and tried to pry her off him. Not even if they threatened her with a weapon.
The stranger with silver eyes tasted like a spicy citrus rum cocktail she sampled excessively on a cruise once. He was just as intoxicating to all her heightened senses, especially the ardent ones tingling between her legs.
Gabrielle registered the stranger's hand press into the small of her back. His touch warmed her through her shirt and sent a prickle of delicious sensation tingling between her legs. The hand tangled in her hair radiated spine-tingling sensation from her scalp down her back. He alternately massaged her neck while silently guiding the angle of her mouth as they kissed.
One of his legs moved beneath her slightly. She shifted to accommodate it between her legs, enabling her to grind herself on him. As if reading her mind, he lifted his leg and securely wedged it between her thighs. She spontaneously clenched them together. A few more strokes of his tongue, and she'd crack the armor on his thigh guard lodged deliciously between her legs. She couldn't help but grind her crotch against the rock hard surface of his thigh as his mouth made love to hers with an intensity seriously lacking in every kiss she'd ever shared. She heard herself making needful, gasping noises.
Gabrielle felt as if some intangible event were building inside the sensation ridden nerve endings residing in her body.
Something was about to happen. She could feel it.
Something fabulous.
A warm tingly feeling sparked in her stomach and welled outward, rushing an untamed awareness through the very fiber of her weary, love-starved soul. Her heart beat in an erratic fashion, too overwhelmed by emotion to merely beat swiftly during this most intoxicating kiss.
Gabrielle pressed her lips further into his and felt his body go rigid as if on the very precipice of ... something extraordinary. The citrus taste of him gave way to a rich, chocolate rush of flavor in her mouth.
Gabrielle could feel her clitoris twitching as if he actually touched her there. Sensation exploded inside her in the next moment. Her hips ground forward into his in the ancient rhythm of love. A rush of heat centered between her legs as an orgasm of monumental proportion washed over her.
Exquisite! Delicious!
And the kiss went on.
The stranger beneath her groaned a satisfied sound. H
er legs clenched his thigh as if in a permanent vice mode, the muscles in her body singing in the joy of her climax. Her hips arched forward into his again. This placed pressure against her clit and elicited an even greater sensation of friction to the already volatile experience she enjoyed.
Gabrielle finally broke the seal of their mouths and slumped onto his body, her exhausted muscles still aching and quivering in pleasure. Her head rested on his shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like she'd been running. Then she remembered her earlier race from the devil, which led her here and into the arms of pure ecstasy. Gabrielle snuggled up to her warrior and stroked his face as he cradled her in his arms. She closed her eyes in wonder and supreme contentment.
Boneless and sated, Gabrielle remained resting on top of his marble-hard physique, trying to recover from the most powerful orgasm she'd ever experienced. She must be dreaming.
"What just happened?” she asked when she could finally speak. She lifted her head off his shoulder to gaze into his silver eyes.
"I believe we ... touched our mouths together,” he remarked, then promptly lapsed into unconsciousness again as if he'd never been awake at all.
"Did we ever,” Gabrielle said on a sigh. She realized she didn't even know his name. Too bad. She leaned up on shaky arms to see if he had really passed out.
"Hey, Sleeping Gorgeous.” Nothing. Maybe she should kiss him again to wake him up. She put her lips on his once more and was about to lick his lips open when she heard a noise.
"What in the name of Sultana do you think you are doing?” came a lethally angry voice from behind her. Gabrielle quickly removed her mouth from the warrior she lip-locked.
She wondered herself what on earth she was doing.
She peeked over her shoulder to see one of the warriors from the circle had silently entered the chamber. Much like the man she kissed, this warrior also had black hair, but it was longer. It brushed his shoulders and had a bold streak of blond running thorough it. Frankenstein's bride had nothing on this guy in the scary hair-do department, Gabrielle thought.
Time to climb off her unconscious love toy and explain. Yep. She'd gotten caught violating a possibly injured man. Gabrielle was still tangled around him. She wished her silver-eyed warrior would wake up and explain to his angry friend with the streak that she had only kissed him. It was an amazing, orgasmic kiss, but harmless.
Incredible satisfaction still vibrated through her as she tried to get her limbs to function. It was amazing that she felt so good. Apparently, she was so starved for affection and passion, she hadn't needed to shed even one article of clothing to experience a body-rocking orgasm of epic proportions. She had never in her life climaxed while kissing a guy. Never.
"Explain your behavior!"
"Well ... he asked me to kiss him ... and so I did ... and well ... one thing led to another ... and he fainted again."
"I don't believe you. Remove yourself from him."
The streak-haired warrior drew his weapon as if to motivate her. The weapon was a big, evil-looking sword bearing foreign carved markings.
Streak, as Gabrielle nicknamed him, motioned for her to climb off his friend. She patted the injured man's cheek in a vain attempt to revive him so he could explain what happened. She herself would like to know what actually happened.
Her legs felt rubbery when she moved. She wasn't sure of their capacity to hold her weight once she tested them.
"I'm a little weak right now...” She remained where she was.
"Get down, or I will help you with the tip of my sword."
"All right! Relax. I'm moving as fast as I can.” Gabrielle slowly scooted down the unconscious warrior. She dropped her legs over the edge, near a certain pair of rock hard thighs, feeling for the floor with her toes.
"You are not moving fast enough.” The sharp sword point poked her once in the shoulder lightly.
Gabrielle braced herself against the slab of rock holding, in her humble opinion, the best kisser in the known universe.
In the next second, as if silently beckoned, several of the other warriors arrived in the room, stationing themselves strategically around her and the man still dead to the world.
Not good. Gabrielle turned on weak legs to face the assembled crowd of angry people. Streak started speaking, “I found this human lying on top of our injured comrade."
"Explain yourself!” demanded one of the females. She was a red-head, a veritable, Amazon-sized female. “Could you not tell he needed rest? Why would you do this?"
"Do what? I only kissed him. Big deal,” Gabrielle said without an iota of remorse. “As a matter of fact, I might do it again if he wakes up. What's wrong with him anyway?"
"This man has suffered a great loss. His wife died on this trip. He is grieving for her."
Oops. Gabrielle had the decency to lower her head in abject horror. She'd kissed a man who just lost his wife. How could she have known? Why did he ask her to kiss him anyway? Maybe she looked like his wife. It was the only rational explanation she could invent at the moment. A huge attack of shame crossed her being. What was wrong with her? Why had she kissed him?
"That's not even the worst part,” Streak said with utter distain. “When I first entered the room, I caught her ... with her lips pressed to his."
The sound of gasps from every member in the circle of giants worried Gabrielle as she wondered what they were so bent out of shape about. She hadn't known about his wife dying. How could she?
"You put your mouth on his?” the redhead spat out as if ejecting a distasteful flavor.
"He asked me to and...” Gabrielle started to defend herself, but no one was looking at her. They were all speaking all at once to each other.
"What will we do when Maura calls?” another female, this one blonde, said to the red-head.
"Who's Maura?” Gabrielle asked.
"His wife,” the blonde responded in an informational tone.
"Wife? I thought you said his wife died!"
"One of them died on this mission. Another waits for his return on our home planet,” the red-head informed her spitefully.
"One of them! He has more than one?” Gabrielle did not like that piece of information one single bit. What was he, a sheik or a sultan or something? The words ‘home planet’ then caught up in her mind. These people were aliens? No. Couldn't be.
"That's not the problem.” The red-head was giving her a funny look.
"It seems like a pretty big problem to me,” Gabrielle huffed. “Listen, I honestly didn't know he was married, so I'll leave quietly and—"
"No, you may not leave. You've touched your mouth to his. You will have to go through a vita parcere ceremony with him.” The blonde female's eyes widened as if her own words scared her.
"A vita what?” Gabrielle thought it did not sound good.
"Life partnering,” Streak said coldly.
"Life partnering! I'm not life partnering with a bigamist.” Gabrielle crossed her arms.
"Bigamist?” The two females then started yet another quiet conversation and referred to a flat-etched, silver clipboard as they whispered.
"Hello! Bigamist. Polygamist. Whatever. A man with more than one wife.” Gabrielle snorted and saw confused looks echoing all around the group of agitated warriors.
"Why are you harping on his wives? It is not important in this situation at all. You put your mouth to his for, I'm guessing, a significant length of time. Now, you will have to become his life partner as our laws require,” Streak said in an uptight tone.
"I will do no such thing.” Gabrielle stomped toward the only break in the now closing circle of giants.
"You will,” and they closed ranks on her.
"It was only a kiss,” Gabrielle whined. She looked back at the man these aliens insisted she had to partner with for eternity. He was still no help.
God, he was still gorgeous. No matter. She was not about to ‘life partner’ with someone who already possessed a harem of wives waiting for h
im somewhere. Gabrielle simply wouldn't.
And they couldn't make her.
* * * *
"It was foolish to leave the human alone with Keller,” Sybille said to Crag as they exited the quiet chamber behind all the others from their expedition.
"Yes, we should have known better, given what we've observed on this planet thus far,” Crag responded. “But it couldn't be helped. Getting the craft on the trajectory home with two less pilots for the return was as difficult as it was imperative."
"At least he should heal nicely now,” Sybille said quietly. Her eyes wandered to Crag's beautiful gray ones. He crossed his arms over his chest, his piercing, vivid gaze now focused on her face.
"It's a high price to pay in consequence. Now, not only will we have to face the Queen with the news, we also have to break the news to Maura."
"She'll be devastated, of course,” Sybille said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Twice over. First, her cousin Zelda dies on Earth, and now Keller won't be able to take her sister Lena as vita-parcere."
"Yes, it is troubling."
"Do you think we should force the life partner ceremony before we reach Tiburon?"
"Only if Keller awakens. The touching of lips is healing, but at the same time, it can be draining. If he regains consciousness before we arrive on Tiburon, we'll ask him what he wants to do."
"We let him down,” Crag said dejectedly.
"Yes, we did. Poor Keller. He loses one wife, and then almost in the same breath has to consider life partnering with a puny earthling."
"Perhaps since he wasn't in a coherent frame of mind, there is a way he could be spared this travesty."
"What are you thinking?” Sybille asked.
"Perhaps there is an exception in the laws since he didn't willingly participate in the touching of the mouths. The earthling accosted him when his barrier was down. Perhaps it isn't a valid mouth touching."
"I'll go to the archives and check,” Sybille said, hope coloring her tone.
"Good. Let me know if you come up with anything to save him."
Just a Kiss [The Tiburon Duet] Page 2
