by Aurelia Skye
Gwen stiffened at his words, certain she should pull away. She made a token effort, but when he lightly tightened his arm on her waist, she relaxed against him again with a small sigh. “You shouldn’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth, and it’s how I feel. Do you deny you feel something between us?”
How could she deny that when he was certain to be able to hear her heart racing and could probably sense the arousal flooding her by the increase in her temperature and heart rate? She didn’t look up, keeping her gaze downward and her cheek pressed against his chest. “How could it ever work? You’re second-in-command at the cyborg base, and I’m the leader of the enclave. It’s too dangerous to travel back and forth on a regular basis, and I have Britta and Pollux to consider.”
“I know all the reasons that would make it difficult to be together, but I don’t find them as compelling as my need to be with you. We can find a solution together if we want it badly enough.”
She lifted her head, certain her confliction was obvious in her eyes when she met his gaze. “I think you’re being naïve.”
He shrugged. “Maybe so, but I know what I want, and I’m not afraid to go after it. Are you too afraid to try?”
Her mouth was dry, and she licked her lips. “Terrified, actually. I don’t want to feel this way again. I swore I’d never put myself through love again after losing Stephen.”
He lifted a hand to cup her cheek while the other squeezed her hip in a reassuring fashion. “I can’t promise that nothing will happen to me or to you, but I’m convinced that I’d rather have whatever time is available to us spent with you than spent fighting how I feel.”
Gwen bit her lip. “It’s too soon to know how you feel. This is probably just an attraction. I’m sure once we give in, it won’t be so intense and distracting. We’ll be able to think clearly again and accept that there’s no future for us.”
He arched a brow. “Are you suggesting we surrender to our attraction?”
It was a terrible idea, and she knew it. Despite her words, she wasn’t all that convinced that having sex with JSN would clarify her feelings and make it easier to walk away. She had a feeling it would just make things messier, and they would become more entangled. When she opened her mouth, she had every intention of issuing a firm no. Instead, she arched her neck to press her lips to his, allowing her kiss to be her answer.
JSN stiffened for a minute, leaving Gwen certain he would pull away instead of kissing her back. After a long moment, the tension left his body, and his lips molded to hers. She tentatively caressed his lips with her tongue before slipping inside to taste his mouth. She hadn’t been certain what to expect, but he tasted completely normal. There was no faint metallic taste.
However, there were sparks that seemed to zing her nerve endings. Heat buzzed through her veins, and she was soon slick with arousal.
She wasn’t certain how it happened, but they both moved together in sync until she was facing him and sitting astride his lap. His hands cupped her face, and his tongue surged inside her mouth. At the same time, the hard length of his cock nestled into the juncture of her thighs, and she rubbed herself against him in search of relief.
His mouth moved from her lips to drift across her cheek before settling at her ear. She whimpered in need when he gently nipped her earlobe before sucking lightly on the flesh. As his tongue ghosted over the outline of her ear, she moaned and arched restlessly against him.
“Your skin tastes like honey,” he whispered against her ear.
Her mind was fogged with passion, but she still managed to reply. “How would you know? No bees, so no honey.”
He chuckled. “I imagine you’re sweeter than honey could ever taste.” His mouth drifted down the column of her neck before he spoke again, pausing long enough to nip lightly at a particularly sensitive spot. “I want to taste you everywhere.”
Gwen thought she nodded her head jerkily, and she knew she managed to issue a moan at the idea. She was too caught up in sensation to manage much more than that. When he laid her back, she winced for a moment at the thought of lying on the dusty floor, but soon forgot about such practicalities when he started unbuttoning her homespun shirt with leisurely movements. His fingers seemed to spend minutes on the buttons hewn from stone, sourced from the enclave itself. Her fingers had curled into fists at her side, and she shifted restlessly when he insisted on prolonging the moment before he peeled back her shirt.
Gwen supposed she should be grateful for the care he showed with her clothing, since it was difficult to replace, but she couldn’t help wishing he would simply tear open the fabric of her undershirt and settle his mouth on her aching breasts. They felt full and heavy, and her nipples were hypersensitive. At the moment, she felt like she was living for his mouth on the delicate tips.
Finally, he pushed the undershirt up above her breasts and under her armpits before moving his mouth to where she wanted it most. She whimpered at the first touch of his tongue against her left nipple. He circled it slowly before lapping and then sucking. His hand moved to her right breast, paying attention to the neglected bud and soon teasing it to a hardened state. She arched against him as he alternated attention between her breasts, while one of her hands clutched his shoulder, and the other caressed his scalp through his stubbly blond hair, cropped close to his head.
“I need more.” Her voice sounded raspy and rough, and not like her at all. She was so caught in the throes of need that she had been reduced to a far more primal state, and apparently, that included her voice too. She had practically growled the words at him.
JSN didn’t respond verbally, but his mouth moved from her breast to her stomach, drifting slowly southward. She almost protested, because what she wanted was his cock to fill the ache inside her, but she also wanted to feel his mouth on her wet core. She surrendered to indecision, allowing him to set the pace and make the choice.
A moment later, she squeezed her eyes closed as she shouted from the intense pleasure filling her when his lips drifted across her mound before his tongue followed, dipping into her slit. Gwen drew in a ragged breath as she arched her hips to press his mouth deeper against her. She remained incapable of speaking as he worked his tongue up and down inside her, flicking the tip against her clit each time he reached it before slowly dragging his tongue down her again to plunge inside.
It was a form of torture, but pleasurable. She clutched his shoulders and arched against him while he slowly brought her to the summit. She hovered on the edge, and he seemed to realize she was about to come, because he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked softly. With a keening moan, she surrendered to the waves of pleasure crashing over her, temporarily losing herself and all awareness as the world trembled around her before righting itself.
When she managed to open her eyes again, she looked up to see JSN grinning down at her with a hint of cocky confidence. Maybe she should have tried to knock him down a peg or two, but he clearly had reason to be smug. She was still languid from her release, so all she managed to do was squeeze his upper arm.
“Watching you come is a beautiful thing. I changed my mind about honey though. You have to be sweeter than it could possibly ever be.”
Now that she wasn’t so caught up in the moment, his extravagant praise left her feeling flustered, and her cheeks were warm. She was grateful her darker skin tone hid the flush of embarrassment, because it was silly to be almost thirty and blushing at such a compliment.
She had been passive long enough, and she sat up quickly, upsetting his balance. He wobbled for a moment before righting himself, but she was certain she caught him off-guard when she darted forward to kiss him. It didn’t take much pressure on his shoulders to encourage him to lie back, and their positions were reversed. She took a moment to completely remove her pants, which he had only opened and pulled down enough to reach her pussy.
Then she turned her attention to his pants, which were made from a material she hadn’t encountered before.
It took a moment to figure out the fastening mechanism, and he just leaned back with his hands cuffed behind his head, chuckling as she worked at them with clumsy hands. It was unacceptable that he was still clearheaded enough to do that, and she was determined to destroy his control when she finally got his pants unfastened enough to push down to mid-thigh.
Gwen spent a moment positioning herself just right so she could straddle his legs and bend forward. His body grew progressively stiffer underneath her, his muscles starting to vibrate with either anticipation or the force of will it took for him to remain still. She couldn’t be sure which was the cause, and it didn’t matter. As soon as she wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft, his muscles started to tremble instead of being locked rigid, and his breath hissed through his teeth in a satisfying fashion.
Reveling in the moment, she drew it out as he had done to her. She guided his cock to her mouth, spending a moment just lightly kissing the tip and enjoying the way he groaned and arched against her. She swirled her tongue around the head, making him almost growl in his pleasure, and when she finally relented and allowed his cock to enter her mouth a slow inch at a time, he jerked and gasped against her as his hips bucked with abandon.
It been a long time since Gwen had done this, but she quickly remembered her technique and discovered the places that seemed to drive him the wildest. She sucked and licked until he was tense beneath her, his muscles rigid once more. His breathing had grown uneven, and his expression indicated he was on the edge of losing control. Perfect.
With a small laugh, she pulled away from him. His eyes opened, and his expression was one of disbelief. She patted his cheek while winking at him. “Don’t worry. I won’t leave you in that state. I just wanted us to be together.”
“Being a cyborg has its advantages. You didn’t have to torture me. I would have been ready for you again within minutes.”
She arched a brow, intrigued by the boast. “I guess we’ll have to find out later.”
As she spoke, she slid up his body, one hand still around his shaft. She used it to guide his erection into her slick channel, and though he was both long and wide, she was wet enough to quickly adapt. He surged fully inside her, and they started moving together. She placed her palms on his chest, fingernails lightly digging into the material of his uniform as she rode him.
JSN held onto her hips as he thrust hard inside her. She was working just as frantically as she arched down and grinded herself against him with each thrust. She started to come again, squeezing and tightening around him, which made him tighten inside her. He started to spasm, and she had enough reasoning ability left to try to pull away. His hands locked around her hips, dragging her down against him, and she surrendered to her orgasm as his started. The spasms triggered her own pleasure to escalate, and she seemed to be coming forever, though it could only have been a few seconds.
Afterward, she collapsed against him, her ear against his chest. His voice rumbled through her when he spoke, and she frowned at the hint of hurt in his tone. “Why did you try to pull away?”
Biting her lip, Gwen pushed up again so she could sit up to look down at him. “I was trying to ensure I wouldn’t get pregnant. That’s the last thing I need.”
His expression softened. “You have nothing to worry about. OWN, our healer, has calibrated all of our systems to suppress ovulation and sperm production.”
“Oh.” She let out a sigh of relief as she realized she didn’t have to fear an unplanned pregnancy.
Abruptly, she realized something else too. He was still hard, though she knew he had come. The proof of his pleasure remained inside her. “I guess you weren’t exaggerating.”
He seemed to know exactly what she was talking about, and a hint of smugness appeared in his grin again. “No, I wasn’t.”
“How long can you last?”
With a chuckle, he flipped her over so their positions were reversed, somehow managing to keep their bodies fused the entire time. “Let’s find out.”
Chapter Six
Rescue was finally achieved a couple of hours later. Leith had managed to open a section on the outside big enough to pass through the ultrasonic disintegrator, and it had broken up the rocks and larger chunks in about an hour. Gwen was stiff and sore when she crawled through the space they had cleared with the disintegrator, conscious of JSN directly behind her.
When she emerged into the corridor, which had its own share of debris, she moaned as the pain shot through her when she stood up. She’d forgotten some of those muscles existed, but they were sharply reminding her now.
Leith directed his chair toward her, his expression one of concern. “Are you injured?”
She hesitated for a second, searching for the right response. “Just stiff. We were in an unusual position.” Many positions, actually, but she had no intention of sharing that with her friend.
A second later, two familiar voices filled the corridor, and she turned to embrace Britta and Pollux as they threw themselves against her, hugging her tightly. She was squeezing just as hard, and tears came to her eyes. They were tears of relief that her children were fine, and she was with them once more. “You shouldn’t be here,” she admonished gently as she finally forced herself to pull away. “This area could still be unstable.”
“I ran a scan of the structural integrity, and it’s fine. There is no further seismic activity at the moment either. You know I wouldn’t let the kids be here otherwise.”
She nodded at Leith’s words. “Damage report?”
“No casualties. We lost a chunk of Corridor C. We put barriers in place and structural support to salvage what we could, but lost at least twelve more quarters in the process. Thankfully, none of our vital systems are located in that corridor.”
“Can you repair them?” asked JSN.
“No, because we don’t have the resources.” Leith scowled. “We’ve had to give up on the idea of repairing most of the enclave over the years as our supplies dwindled. And with all the increased activity recently, we keep losing more and more of our living quarters. If it keeps up, we’ll be lucky to have any section of the enclave left at all.”
JSN frowned. “You mentioned an increase in activity?”
Gwen nodded. “It’s been particularly bad for the last six weeks or so. We occasionally have an earthquake of substantial power, but we’re more likely to get light tremors. Now, the tremors are the occasional occurrence, and the earthquakes have increased in intensity. We’ve even speculated it was some new way the synthetics found to attack us, but quickly realized that didn’t make sense. If they knew where we were, they would just invade and destroy everything in one swoop, rather than drawing it out. They lack the ability to be malicious. They kill efficiently and without emotion, which might be worse.”
JSN looked troubled, and he quickly excused himself. Gwen watched him go with confusion and a hint of hurt as she kept her children at her side. She hadn’t expected an overt display of affection and proof of their change in status to lovers, but she also hadn’t anticipated he would leave without even a word of parting.
It was obvious he wanted to keep their fling a secret, and she was mostly relieved by that. While a little irked, she recognized the wisdom in ensuring their relationship remained private. It wasn’t just because she worried her children might form an attachment to JSN before he left to return to his base. It was better all-around if they remained discreet and gave the others in the enclave plenty of time to get used to a cyborg among them before she made it obvious she’d become his lover. She should feel grateful for his discretion.
And she did, but also remained a little resentful.
***
JSN paced around the quarters he’d been given as he waited for the general to answer his communication. Finally, DVS appeared on the screen on his wrist device. “We have a problem.”
DVS was all business. “Do you need assistance?”
“In a way. I think we need to locate a new source of terbium as
quickly as possible. The enclave has experienced an uptick in seismic activity that coincides with when we began excavating bastnäsite from the mine above the enclave to extract the terbium. They’ve endured major damage, and I’m not certain how much more their structures can take.”
The general looked troubled. “I’ll see what we can do, but you know how long it took to find that reserve. We can’t risk being without terbium.”
“I understand, and it’s a delicate situation, but we don’t want to be responsible for the collapse of the enclave and the death of the remaining humans.”
“Who would’ve thought preserving the humans would be a concern?” DVS sounded like he was still surprised by the turn of events.
JSN could relate, feeling equally surprised. He was also protective of the humans in the enclave, especially Gwen and her children. “Remind me again how much bastnäsite is in the mine?”
“Enough to see to our needs for at least four or five years. It’s a substantial deposit to walk away from.”
He nodded his agreement. “If we confirm we’re the cause of the extra seismic activity, we’ll have to come up with a plan. I can get Gwen’s perspective on it.”
“We’ll run diagnostics on the operation to see if it is destabilizing the areas beneath where we’re mining. Without knowing the enclave was there, we couldn’t compensate for its existence or preservation. I’ll get back with you when I know something. Don’t discuss it with her until we get the results from our own studies.”
“Yes, sir.” He understood the need for discretion, which was why he had left Gwen to contact DVS in the first place, but it was unsettling to keep the knowledge to himself. JSN reminded himself he had no real knowledge yet. Just speculation, and he didn’t want to risk destroying the tentative peace between their groups based on speculation.
***
A sense of rightness filled JSN as he joined the Harrisons at the same table they had shared earlier. Pollux immediately launched into an enthusiastic greeting, and even Britta asked him a couple of questions. He was making progress with the little girl too. After becoming Gwen’s lover, he was determined to win over her children as well, because when he had hesitated before giving in, he had made the decision that he was committing to her family as well as her.
