by KD Jones
“I’m not sure what we have is a relationship.”
“That’s not how he feels.”
“I heard him tell his cousins that he wanted to focus on his career and didn’t have time for me.”
“I don’t know what you overheard, but I know my nephew. He’s as close to me as my own sons. I also know what he told me just today about you. You’re his top priority.”
She bit her lip, not really sure she believed him even though she desperately wanted to. Over the last few days she had come to face the realization that she had fallen in love with Quinn. That’s why it hurt so much to hear what he had said to his cousins.
“I don’t know.”
“I think the best way to put your questions and fears to rest, is to talk to Quinn himself.”
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard to talk to someone when he hasn’t bothered to come by to see me or call.”
They had stopped outside a door on a floor she had never been on before. She peeked inside and it looked like a smaller version of quarters like hers. Devlon motioned for her to enter but once through the door she turned to find that he didn’t follow.
Squirrel looked at him, confused. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere that’s private, where you can have that conversation.” The door closed.
“What the hell is going on?”
“My uncle is playing matchmaker,” Quinn said from the other side of the room.
Her eyes were on him immediately and her heart was racing, her skin tingled, and her nipples were hard and tight. “Quinn.”
He moved toward her slowly. “I’m so sorry, my Lihali. I never meant to hurt you in any way.”
God knew how she wanted to believe him. She wrapped her arms around her middle as a protective reflex. “What exactly are you sorry for? Wanting to advance your career? Or for making love to me which threw a wrench in your plans?”
He ran a hand through his hair anxiously. “I don’t know how much you heard of my conversation with my cousins—”
“Enough. I heard enough.”
“I had to work out my feelings for you and it took that conversation to do that.”
“Right. You, you told you cousins that you did not want to pass up missions you worked hard all your life to get for a person you barely knew.”
His expression was stoic. “I did say that. That was me, not admitting the truth of how I felt about you. Did you hear the rest?”
“I left. Was there more than that?”
“What about me saying that if anything happened to you I would be devastated? How about when I said that I was in love with you and that I couldn’t live without you? Did you hear that?”
She shook her head. “You’re in love with me?”
He moved so fast she blinked and then he was suddenly right in front of her. He took her face in his hands gently. “I love you more than all the stars and planets in the universe. I love you more than anyone or anything.”
Tears were falling down her face. “I love you, too. I just don’t want to hold you back.”
“You don’t.” He kissed her tears away and made a trail of kisses down to her lips. “You give me the purpose to fight, the strength to win, and the hope of a future full of love and forgiveness. Will you forgive my words that hurt you?”
“I want to.”
“Give me a chance to make it up to you, to prove to you that you don’t hold me back but set me free to love. Let me love you.”
“I want to give you a chance but I’m not sure if it will work out. I don’t want to be hurt again.” “We’ll take it day by day. All you have to do is give me the chance to win your heart.”
She didn’t want to refuse him or to continue to deny what she felt in her heart. “Quinn, you have my heart. You had it from the first moment I looked into your beautiful eyes. You saved me not just from death but also from a life of only existing without love and acceptance. You gave me life, healing, and you gave me the ability to love.”
He moved to look deep into her eyes. “Say it. I need the words, Lihali.”
“I’m in love with you, Quinn.” She couldn't talk as he took her lips in a deep kiss. The moment their lips touched, all thoughts save one were lost to her. Her only thought was that she had to have him.
She worked the fasteners of his uniform jacket. As sexy as he was in his warrior’s uniform, she preferred him naked. Squirrel nibbled on his chin while her fingers worked to free him. He growled in pleasure and frustration and went to aid her, almost tearing his coat and shirt.
Finally she shoved the coat and shirt over his shoulders and caressed his skin. “God, you’re so warm. I love how hot your skin feels against mine. Inside the tunnels I could never get warm enough, no, no matter how many extra clothes I put on or even if I was able to start a fire. Touching you is like touching the sun. The, the heat might burn me but what a way to go.”
He chuckled. “The things you say to me, my Lihali.” Quinn helped her remove her clothes and shoes. As he was kicking out of his pants, they tumbled to the floor while in a heated kiss. Before they landed on the floor, he turned to hit it with his back and she fell on top of him.
She laughed. “We might break these quarters trying to get naked.” Her laughter turned to a moan of pleasure when Quinn’s hand began to massage her ass. They were finally skin to skin, her breasts pushing into his chest.
The anguish and heartache from the last few days started to fade. She was with the man she loved and he loved her back. As long as they were together, she could face anything.
Squirrel threw her leg over his waist so that she could straddle him. His cock briefly touched her pussy entrance and she felt starved for him. Sliding her body up and down against him brought his tip a little further inside her.
“Easy, baby. We have until morning to make love.”
“I want you and need you so much. I haven’t slept well in days.”
“Me either.” He groaned when his cock slipped a little further inside. “Take what you need of me. I am yours.”
“I’m yours, too.” She leaned up to place her hands on his chest and came down, taking him hard and deep inside her.
Quinn put his hands on her hips and helped her set a slow and steady pace. His hips rose up every time she came down. She may have been riding him but he was taking her every bit as much.
She wanted it to last forever but that fire was growing inside her. She felt it from her toes to her head. He cupped her breasts and pinched the nipples. It made the fire inside ripple throughout her whole body.
“Oh God, that’s—”the words left her.
“Move faster, my Lihali. I need you to let go and take me like I plan to take you.”
She did what he demanded of her. The need inside her to come was increasing with each stroke. She needed to release soon; she was desperate for it.
His hands weren’t idle. He caressed her body all over. At one point he had his hands on her ass, moving her faster and harder against him. Then one of his hands slid between their bodies and he teased her clit.
Immediate zings went through her body as he teased her sensitive bud. “Quinn, I’m going to—”
“Give me your pleasure, love. Give, give it all to me.” He pinched her clit again and that was all it took.
“Quinn!” She screamed out his name as she spasmed all over him.
“By the heavens, you’re beautiful.” He turned them over so that she lay on her back. He pushed her legs up and out and began pumping into her again at a faster pace and a different angle. “You’re mine, Lihali. Tell me you belong only to me.”
“I belong to you, Quinn, only you.” She felt another orgasm quickly building. How he did that to her she had no idea.
“This time—we come together.” He moved hard and deep, making her come.
“Yes!” She could feel his semen as he released inside her groaning in pleasure.
“Mine!”
She was his, for however long he wanted. She must
have whispered that because he answered.
“Mine forever.”
Chapter 12
They held each other, taking comfort in being together. She had her head on his shoulder and he marveled at how perfectly they fit together. She really was everything to him and he wanted to make sure she knew that.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when you found out about your past.”
She snuggled closer to his shoulder. “It was disappointing but not surprising. I guess all the dreams I had of other children in beds were from the orphanages I was raised in. My mother abandoned me and I had not been adopted. It makes sense to me now why I had been so standoffish with others, distrustful of them. I knew something was off inside me, like I was missing something.”
He couldn’t let her think less of herself. He turned them on their sides and lifted up on his elbow to look into her striking eyes. “That is just your origins, beautiful. It is not who you are and it does not show what you can do.”
“What am I?”
“You are a survivor of a horrific, catastrophic event. A hero for risking your life to warm strangers that they were in danger. A caring person who worries that others like herself will be left and forgotten. You are a beautiful young woman who is stronger and braver than many of the warriors I know. Above all that, you are the only woman besides my mother I have ever let into my heart and you have the power to crush me if you choose to.”
She cupped his cheek. “Why would I ever want to hurt you? You are my life, Quinn, my everything.”
“As you are mine.” He sighed, knowing that what he had to tell her was not going to be easy. “I need to tell you something important. My uncle did give me an assignment, and it’s one that I can’t turn down.”
Her face paled but she nodded. “I don’t want to hold you back. When do you leave?”
“The thing is I may not have to leave the command ship at all. I am going to be going undercover to try to infiltrate the meeting of those Drastan traitors to my uncle’s command. I am to try to find out the identity of as many members of that group as I can.”
“Will it be terribly dangerous?” She looked very concerned for him. He kissed her lips again to reassure her.
“I will be careful but, yes, it could be dangerous. The hardest part, though, is what I’m about to ask of you.”
She suddenly sat up. “What do you need me to do?”
Quinn went over his plans with her, listening to her concerns, questions, and suggestions. His Lihali had experience getting into places unseen and her insights were spot on. They made love a few more times and slept a few hours before they had to part ways. She needed to get back to her quarters before the shift change for Tagar happened. He only hoped it went well.
*****
The next morning
Squirrel took a deep breath and opened the door to her quarters. Lt. Sage was standing outside guarding her door. He had taken over at shift change for Tagar. “Good morning.”
The man just nodded at her. He wasn’t a talker like Tagar, which was fine by her. It took time for her to warm up to people anyway. This guy’s silence made her feel uncomfortable for some reason.
“I’m supposed to meet my friends at the cafeteria on level four. I’m not sure I’ve been there before.”
He motioned for her to go ahead of him as he directed her down the corridor. They took the lift to the fourth level. When she got off, she caught sight of Lily and Jared standing at the entrance of the cafeteria. Several people were out in the wide corridor socializing. That’s when she spotted Quinn. She knew what was coming but she still hadn’t been prepared for it.
Quinn was walking close to a Drastan woman and she was laughing at something he said. She took a deep breath and approached him. “Where have you been?”
Quinn stopped to roll his eyes at her. “Busy.”
“I thought we were going to work on our relationship.”
He snorted and made sure he was loud enough for everyone in the corridor to hear. “You can work on it. I’ve got better things to do.” He started to walk past her and she grabbed his arm.
“I thought you cared about me.”
He sneered at her as he yanked his arm from her. “You Earth people are so clingy. I don’t know how my cousins could stand to be mated to one of you. We never should have come to this horrible planet. Your people self-destructed and have done nothing but give us shit since we came to help. We don’t owe you anything.”
The woman with Quinn moved to stand next to him and rubbed her hand over his chest. “Come on, Quinn, don’t waste any more of your time on this—person.”
Squirrel stood there watching the man she loved walk away. She should have known what was going to happen; they discussed it last night in detail. The reality of playing this little charade out in public hit her hard. It almost felt real. She was touching her heart and breathing hard, fighting the tears that threatened to spill.
“Squirrel, are you okay?” Lily was next to her, gently patting her back.
She hadn’t seen or heard the other woman move toward her. “I need to go.” She turned to head back to the lift. She got inside and looked up in surprise. Lily and Jared had followed her.
Jared moved to one side of her and Lily was on her other side. The security guard was standing in front of them. Lily leaned over and whispered in her ear.
“Squirrel, he didn’t mean that.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything in case the guard was listening. Lily was rubbing her upper back in comfort, but she couldn’t find comfort.
The words he used were supposed to sound like what the Drastan traitors would say so he could catch their attention, but they sounded like they had truth to them.
Humans did self-destruct and almost destroyed their own planet. The humans, especially the rebels, had done nothing but protest and fight against the Drastans being there. Drastans didn’t owe humans anything. She wouldn’t blame Commander Devlon if he decided to pull the fleet out and leave the humans to finish off the job they started when the nukes were released. Her biggest concern was over whether she had been too clingy to him. Did he really see her that way and was too afraid to tell her?
“Come, we’re going to take you back to your quarters and order you some food.” Jared took her elbow and led her off the lift.
Squirrel walked in a daze, letting herself be led. She felt so many different emotions and doubt was keeping her from being able to clear her head. Once they were alone in her quarters, Lily gave her a hug.
“Oh, honey, he didn’t mean it. You know that. It wasn’t real.”
“It sounded real. It, it felt real.”
Jared wrapped his arms around both women. “It wasn’t real but he needed it to sound real for others who were listening.”
“I know. He, he told me he would say things but I guess I wasn’t as prepared to hear him actually say them.”
Jared let them go and pulled something out of his coat pocket. “He gave this to me a few hours ago and wanted me to give it to you.”
Lily released her and stepped back so that Squirrel could see what was in his hand—a small box and a letter. “What is it?”
“I did not read the letter. I’m going to leave you and Lily to go get some food. Our Thomas is taking lessons right now but gets out early for lunch. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go see what you have in the kitchen. I know you need more groceries,” Lily told her before leaving her some privacy.
She sat on the couch and opened the letter first. It was handwritten, letter, which seemed so old-fashioned and human. He had taken the time to write to her.
“My Lihali, I know this is hard on you. It is hard on me as well. Every moment away from you is pure torture. What I have to say and do to complete my assignment is more difficult than words can say. Please don’t let any of my words today hurt you. What I do now is to protect you and all the other humans and strengthen my uncle’s command over the fleet. It’s vital that I
do this and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support. Take this small token from me and hold it to your heart. Every time you have doubts or feel pain from our separation, touch this and know you have my heart. I belong to you as you belong to me, my Lihali. I love you with all my heart and soul. Yours always Quinn.”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks. What Quinn wrote was so touching, and exactly what she needed to hear. She took the small black box and opened it slowly. Inside was a small round blue stone. It had a small hole on the end and a chain had been attached. She held it up by the chain, marveling at it.
“What kind of stone is that?”
“It’s a type of quartz. The, the closest we have on Earth is called a Dumortierite Quartz. Isn’t it lovely?” Lily came over to help her fit the chain over her head. The stone rested between Squirrel’s breasts.
“It’s gorgeous. I love it but where did he get it?”
Lily smiled as she sat next to her. “Quinn wanted to bring a piece of Drasta with him so he took a few of these stones that come from their mining caves. Can you imagine caves that have these stones growing naturally from the roofs and walls? I can’t wait to see it myself.”
“He has more than one of these? They must be worth a fortune.”
Lily nodded. “He has a few smaller pieces that Jared is making me an engagement ring out of, and Maggie and Rachel also want some of them. Quinn is also making you a few other pieces.”
“I’ve never owned anything like this.”
“He wanted to give you a piece of his home. He loves you.”
“I love him, too, but what can I give him? I have no money, no job, and no priceless stones.”
“You give him your trust, your love, and your heart every day. When you are both ready, you can also give him a child. Quinn will make a wonderful father.”
“I know. I can’t wait.”
Chapter 13
Quinn ran his hand through his hair in frustration. There had been real hurt in his Lihali’s eyes. He regretted the things he’d said as soon as he saw her expression. Did she believe he truly felt that way? He needed to go to her, make sure she was okay. He made it halfway to the door before a female—Lt. Nix Saber—stepped in front of him.
