Dangerous Lovers

by Becca Vincenza

  Without pausing to think, she instantly answered, “Yes. Absolutely. I want to know what’s going on and I want to help in any way I can. I definitely want to help Thomas. So yes, count me in.” She looked around the table to see them all, except for Jurek, regarding her skeptically.

  Tak eyed her for a moment and then said, “No fuck-ups this time Brownie. That last one set us back big time. I don’t care if you come face to face with that POS brother of yours a dozen times. No reaction. Got it? Or I’ll personally kick your ass back to Vesturon. Are we clear?”

  “Yes, I hear you loud and clear asshat. And for the record, my brother is not a piece of shit. You got that? Something’s going on. I know it. Thomas wouldn’t do this because he wanted to become a Xanthian. You don’t know him like I do.”

  When she finished, her hands were trembling. Jurek took her chin in his hand, turning her head toward him. He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. As usual, it sent shivers down her spine. “Tak’s right Liasare. We can’t afford any more mishaps. If you don’t think you can handle this, let us know tonight. I do not judge. I only seek to move this mission forward.” He was lightly drawing circles on the inside of her wrist with his thumb, making it difficult to concentrate.

  “Look at me Liasare.” She knew he was using his Praestani mojo on her because her will fled and she did as he commanded. “Are you able to assist us without becoming emotionally entangled?”

  “I am. I swear I won’t mess things up.” She felt his power flee as he released her.

  “Good. Tak, what are our plans?”

  “Excuse me...are we going to eat soon. I’m starving,” Liasare interrupted.

  “Humans,” Tak said under his breath.

  Liasare flipped him off and Marik laughed.

  Jurek snapped his fingers and servers surrounded the table with platters of food. Some of it smelled delicious and then there were things that, well, smelled a bit sketchy to Liasare.

  Jurek picked up Liasare’s plate and filled it with all sorts of things.

  “Hey, what is that stuff?” she wanted to know.

  “Things you will like. One day, you will learn to trust me,” he informed her.

  She eyed the food suspiciously, but she was so ravenous, she tried the first bite and it was so tasty her plate was wiped clean before she was aware of it.

  “Brownie eats like a pig,” Tak announced.

  They all gaped at her as her face flamed. “I, er, I was really hungry. I’m sorry. I usually have better manners,” she stammered. Jurek was leaning back in his chair, eyeing her. The others were staring at her. None of them had even taken the first bite.

  “Liasare, come here.”

  “Why? I’m right next to you.” She wondered where he was going with this.

  “No, come here.” There it was, that hypnotic voice again. He angled his chair and patted his lap.

  As much as she didn’t want to, she was helpless to avoid it. Her legs pushed the chair out as she stood and moved in front of him. He turned her around and pulled her onto his lap.

  “I want to feed you.”

  “What? No!” She struggled to get up but he held her firmly, wrapping his arms around her.

  Whispering in her ear, he murmured, “I can make you Liasare. Be still for me.”

  Her stomach turned into a wad of knots and she swallowed as her throat suddenly became dry as a bone. “May I have a sip of wine?” her voice quivering.

  Placing her glass at her lips, he tilted it and she swallowed, feeling the contents slipping down her throat. “Better?” She nodded.

  He brought a forkful of food to her mouth, and she automatically opened it and he placed it inside. As she chewed, he began to trace the circles on her wrist once again. It was becoming increasingly difficult to swallow. Her desire for him was growing to an inferno of epic proportions. She squirmed on his lap, feeling the heat intensify in her belly and move between her legs. She reached out for her wine glass, but he stopped her with his hand.

  He brought her glass to her lips and she emptied the glass. She felt his chest rumble. “I’m no longer hungry,” she declared.

  “Oh, I would disagree,” Jurek said. “I would say you’re starved.” She looked at him with raised brows when his full lips curved into a smile. His meaning hit her full on and she turned a bright shade of pink. “Blushing becomes you Liasare.”

  “Um, yeah. This is a tad embarrassing Jurek. Can you choose to humiliate me some place private?” She lowered her eyes and clenched her fists. She’d never felt this embarrassed before. Well, maybe that time she was naked and Tak and Marik saw her, but that was an emergency. Jurek was doing this on purpose, in front of an audience, and to her surprise, it truly hurt. She was helpless where he was concerned, in every possible way. There was nothing fair about this.

  She felt the vibrations and heard the scraping of Jurek’s chair sliding back and then his voice boomed, “Tak, make our final plans for our return to Earth. Inform me tomorrow. Marik, keep tabs on the numbers of disappearances and update the databases. Ludo, you are in charge of the next mission to intercept Xanthian weapons. Keep me abreast. Naroo, keep Lare-Stell running in the perfect order you always do. Good night.”

  He lifted Liasare in his arms, strode out of the room, and flashed to his quarters. They were a much larger version of hers, but also contained an entire security station. He set her down and she walked around, not trusting herself to speak.

  “You are angry with me.”

  She turned on him and threw a punch at him. “No Jurek, I am beyond angry. I’m furious. I’m livid. I want to hit you again.”

  “Go ahead. Hit me all you want.”

  And she did...four more times to be exact. She flew at him, knocking him down. She landed on top of him and landed a blow to his chin and solar plexus. Naturally, they did absolutely nothing, but allowed her to burn steam. When she finished, she was breathing hard, and straddling him.

  “You’re impossible...an arrogant ass...you intentionally made a fool out of me and that hurts. Worst of all, I can’t fight you back. You are SO goddamn unfair. I fucking hate you!”

  He grabbed her hands then and clasped them tightly in his. “No, you don’t. You only wish you did. There is a fine line between love and hate Liasare, and sometimes it’s easy to confuse the two.”

  “Wait! Are you telling me that I love you? Because I hate to inform you, Mr. High and Mightyship, you’re sadly mistaken. You play with me like I’m a fucking toy. You treat me like a piece of shit...something for your amusement, to humiliate in front of your friends. And you think I love you? I want to fuck you Jurek. There’s a big difference. Figure it out.”

  She stood up and said, “Take me back to my room. There’s something distasteful here that I need to get away from.”

  Violence rolled off of him in waves and hit her with the force of a jolt of electricity. Everything in his room began to vibrate.

  In an instant, he was standing in front of her. “I don’t treat you like a fucking toy nor did I make a fool out of you. I saved you from making a bigger fool out of yourself. All of them watched you wolf down your food. It is not proper to eat like that ... it is not the Praestani custom to eat in front of others so you were insulting them. Didn’t you notice everyone staring at you? I suppose you didn’t, since you were only focused on shoveling your food into your mouth. I made an exception for us to dine together tonight, but then you ate like a barbarian. I put you on my lap to save face ... your own. To sit with me is an honor and for me to feed you is an even bigger one. Don’t you realize that to feed someone is one of the most caring and affectionate things you can do for them? Think about it Liasare! Children can’t survive without being fed ... they are totally dependent on others. I was honoring you, not humiliating you. You don’t understand our customs so don’t you dare pass judgment on me like that. Now it is you being unfair. And for your information, if I had wanted to, I could have fucked you dozens of times already. You of all people know t
hat to be the truth. I have chosen not to, because I hold you in higher regard than a mere fuck.”

  Liasare winced, staring at him, speechless. Now she was humiliated for a completely different reason. She bowed her head and wondered how she could have made such a mess of things again.

  Rubbing the back of her neck, she looked at the floor saying, “Once again I seemed to have made a huge mess of things. Why don’t you ever tell me any of these things?” The back of her throat tightened and her eyes burned with unshed tears. No one, except her brother, had ever done much for her. Jurek had gone out of his way on several occasions to help her, even saved her life, and she still hadn’t given him her complete trust. She was a bloody idiot. She walked to the door to leave but then realized she didn’t know how to get back to her quarters. What did it really matter though? She knew he wouldn’t want her around, and who could blame him?

  “It seems like I’m always making such an ass and a fool out of myself.” She shook her head, as if to get rid of the awful stuff swirling around in it. Then she walked out the door.

  Walking down one passageway after another, she passed things that all looked the same. Liasare had to stop a few times because the tears that had threatened to spill finally had their way, and took over, blinding and choking her. She sat down in a small recessed doorway, hoping no one would see her. Hugging her knees to her chest, she sobbed. What the hell had gone wrong? Just about everything. She’d never learned to trust anyone, except her brother. With good reason, she thought. When you never had any friends because all the kids made fun of you, who were you supposed to trust? She never learned how.

  She was going to have to learn and fast, she decided, if she was going to survive in this new world.

  She heard that familiar pop, felt the rush of energy and opened her eyes to see a hand in front of her face. She looked up to see Jurek.

  “Come, I’ll take you back to your quarters.”

  She gave him a pitiful watery smile and said, “Great exit, huh? I couldn’t even make it back to my room without getting lost.”

  The corners of his mouth lifted and he said, “You’ll figure it out Liasare. Lare-Stell can be quite confusing.”

  “Do you think? I should like to think I will.” She wasn’t thinking about Lare-Stell. She was thinking about him. She was desperately trying to figure him out at every turn and failing miserably. It seemed to her that the harder she tried, the more lost she became and the worst she failed.

  “You will.”

  They reached her quarters and unable to stop himself, he drew her inside and into his arms. His lips found hers and she melted into him. Her arms went around his neck as she pulled him closer. He tangled his fingers in her hair and lifted her in his arms, deepening the kiss. His tongue traced her lower lip and he pulled it in between his lips and nibbled on it as she moaned. He gently coaxed her tongue to slowly dance with his, as his thumbs curved over her tense jaw, willing it to relax. Liasare never tasted anything so exotic as Jurek. If his smell enticed her, his kiss did so even more.

  “You are like no other Liasare,” he whispered into her mouth.

  “Don’t stop kissing me Jurek. I know what you said back there but I don’t want you to stop. Please don’t stop. I’m sorry for all the stuff I said back there.”

  He backed them into her bed and they tumbled down upon it. He kissed her again and pressed himself into her. She felt the length of his erection as he rotated his hips into her. She moaned into his mouth as she ran her hand beneath his shirt, tracing the planes of his muscles. She straddled him as she kissed him, but sat up to pull her shirt over her head.

  Jurek placed his hands on her, but she stopped him, tugging at his shirt. “Take your shirt off Jurek. I need to touch you.” It wasn’t a request, but a command.

  He sat up and his shirt was off so swiftly, Liasare hardly saw him do it. He smiled at her reaction as they faced each other. Glancing down at his chest, she placed her hands where her gaze had been, feeling his strength beneath her fingers as they grazed along his smooth tawny skin. He reached out and cupped her breast in his hand, rolling her firm peak between his fingers until she moaned.

  “I’m going to make you come for me.” As he moved his hands over her breasts, she felt the energy flowing out of him and into her and her hardened buds responded by sending waves of pleasure pulsating throughout her body. Her nerve endings suddenly fired and the feelings began to intensify, like they did the first time with him. Her breasts tingled, but the sensations went directly to her core, heating her up, building and then fracturing into a million pieces, sending impulses shooting along every nerve ending in her body. She screamed his name as she came, squeezing his shoulders. When the sensations subsided, she pulled him to her and kissed him, invading his mouth with her tongue. Then she pushed him back down on the bed and began a journey with her tongue on his body, ending at the tattoo on his hip. Touching it lightly with her fingers, she followed its lines with her tongue; then she was sucking it with her lips and finally, nibbling it with her teeth, and as she did, Jurek’s moans were like a symphony to her.

  When she moved to unzip his pants, he put his hands on hers, stopping her. He pulled her up next to him and held her.

  “No.”

  “Please Jurek. I don’t want to stop.” She cupped his cheek.

  “Neither do I, but we must,” he insisted.

  “It’s not like you’re forcing me. I want this Jurek.”

  He smiled, “As do I. But there’s much more to consider than what we want.”

  “More riddles. This is so frustrating,” she groaned.

  He rolled on his side and grinned, “Be glad you’re not in my pants right now.”

  “But I’d love get in your pants right now. That’s exactly where I want to be.”

  He roared with laughter. “And I’d love for you to be in my pants.”

  “Then tell me why you keep shutting me down.”

  “Liasare, you and I are connected, somehow. That’s the piece of the puzzle I haven’t quite figured out yet. We can’t just...hmm...for lack of a better term, we can’t just have sex and move on. It doesn’t work that way. Not when there’s a connection. Especially when one considers the prophecy.”

  “So it’s not me.”

  “No, it is you. That’s exactly it.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I meant ... well, you want me, right?” She suddenly felt awkward and self-conscious asking him that. Her eyes dropped to her hands as she twisted them together.

  “Give me your hand, love.” He took her hand and placed it gently on the front of his pants. She could feel his arousal beneath her fingers and there was no denying that she affected him just as much and he did her. “Do you seriously think I would be in this condition, which by the way is very uncomfortable, if I didn’t want you? Damn Liasare, I want you every waking moment, with every fucking breath I take. When we’re fighting, arguing, eating, talking, breathing. My body vibrates for you. It’s painful. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything. Promise me something Liasare.”

  “What?” she asked, picking up his hand and tracing the lines of the tattoos on his arm with her thumb.

  “Promise me you’ll be patient and I promise you it will be worth the wait.”

  “I’ll hold you to that Mister,” she smiled, leaning in to kiss him.

  “Sleep with me tonight. In my quarters, wearing nothing.”

  “Can you stand it?” she asked, rolling on top of him.

  “Probably not. Call it self-torture, but I want you naked, in my bed.”

  “Okay...” before she could finish the sentence, Jurek flashed them to his quarters, to his bed. “Oh, you think you’re really cool, don’t you?”

  He gave her that look and said, “Nope, I know I’m cool!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Four days later, Liasare made her way to the training facility, but was intercepted by Naroo, who gave her a message from Jurek. He had been called away and
wouldn’t be there, but he would return as soon as he could. That was all the message said.

  Naroo told Liasare she had access to anything she wanted, including Jurek’s quarters. Liasare figured she would work on strength training as usual and then perhaps read a book later on.

  Pushing herself to the limits, she forgot what it was like not to have Jurek’s special mojo around. Her muscles screamed obscenities at her and as she hobbled back to her quarters. Grabbing a few items, she tapped the window and asked to speak to Naroo. Naroo’s face popped on the screen and Liasare asked her for some assistance in finding Jurek’s quarters.

  Once there, Liasare hopped in the shower. It was odd how she missed him. When she stepped in his bathroom, just seeing his belongings brought her comfort. She liked the technology on Lare-Stell, which included the awesome showers. They had built in dryers that dried the body as well as the hair. It saved so much time that she wondered if Jurek could bring one of these to Earth when they went back.

  She quickly pulled on a pair of comfy pants and shirt and headed for the seat by the viewing platform. On her way there, she picked up her reading device, as she planned to relax and finish the book she’d been working on for a while. Her eyes kept wandering to the stars in the distance, distracting her with their sparkling beauty. Tommy always told her she would love space travel if she ever had the opportunity to try it. He was right. She could barely pull her eyes off the view and back to her book. Soon, she relaxed and felt her eyes closing.

  ***

  Jurek’s emotions were out of control. He’d been called away to Vesturon to assist a close friend, but instead he’d been dealt the worst kind of blow he’d ever received, one so fierce he felt his heart had been wrenched from his chest. He never thought Liasare could have deceived him, and as effectively as she had. He’d been forced to pretend it all was fine, for he didn’t want to give his feelings away to his friend, but all the while he was dying inside. Then the pain of realizing what she’d done, turned to anger. He seethed inside, feeling the heat build to a blaze within his core. He needed to get back to Lare-Stell before he had a meltdown, so he’d made some flimsy excuse about his behavior after making a promise to his friend and quickly got the hell out of there.