by Rinelle Grey
Her body strained against his, wanting so many things that she couldn’t even explain. “Kerit,” she pleaded.
He groaned in response, then to her dismay, pulled back. His eyes roamed her body, smiling at her face, then looking down, his heated gaze halting at her chest. His hands tugged at the shirt she wore, pulling it from where it was twisted around her body.
Immediately understanding his intent, she tugged at it too until it slipped free. Without moving from his side, she wriggled one arm out, pulled it over her head, then slipped it off her other arm.
Then, suddenly shy, she turned back to Kerit.
“You’re beautiful.” His voice was serious, but Folly found it hard to believe the words he said. She’d been called lots of things, some positive, some not so positive, but no one had ever said she was beautiful before. Not even Ma.
She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it. Being negative wasn’t going to make anything better. So instead, she said, “And you’re gorgeous.”
Kerit blushed. He shook his head a little, but didn’t deny it.
So she wasn’t the only one who was a little uncertain. For some reason, that made her feel better. Confident enough that she tugged at the neckline of his shirt. “Though it would be better if I could see a little more.”
He obliged, sitting up and pulling his shirt off in one smooth motion.
“Mmm, definitely better.” Folly reached out and ran her hands over his smooth, taut chest.
“Your turn.” Kerit flicked the elastic on her bra.
Folly was more than happy to get rid of the garment that was more practical than pretty. Although as soon as it was off, she was assailed by self-consciousness. She lay down again quickly, pulling Kerit close to her.
He nudged his hips against hers, but pulled back enough to run his hands over her breasts.
Folly gasped softly as his fingers stroked the soft skin and her nipples tingled and hardened. Self-consciousness washed away on a wave of desire. Kerit bent and took one of her nipples into his mouth, and Folly closed her eyes arching her back towards him.
She’d had no idea it could feel like this. All the romance books hadn’t even come close to describing how amazing it felt. They concentrated on one sensation at a time, when in reality, they all came at once, washing together and tumbling over each other like pebbles in a creek.
As Kerit’s hands roamed her body, she clutched at his back, rubbing every place she could reach. She couldn’t get enough of touching him or him touching her. The aching need built in her until she couldn’t bear it any more.
Then Kerit’s hand slipped between her thighs. Her breathing grew ragged as he gently explored, his fingers sending waves of feeling through her. Folly threw back her head, soft moans escaping of their own accord. And she didn’t care.
Sweet tension built in her until she was lifting her hips off the bed, arching against his hands.
His breathing was hot and heavy in her ear. He whispered her name, his voice as desperate as she felt.
A shudder ran through her body, followed by another until she was shaking, release throbbing through her. Kerit kissed her, and she kissed him back desperately. The feeling was unbelievable, amazing, but it still wasn’t enough. She wanted more.
She wanted him.
Parting her legs, she tugged at him, and he needed little urging. He slid on top of her, between her thighs, and she wrapped her legs around him. He entered her, gently at first, then increasing the pace until he thrust into her desperately.
Folly’s panting breaths matched his. Both of them moved in time, thrusting and meeting at each point, as though striving with each moment to be even closer to each other. She couldn’t get enough of this feeling.
Kerit let out a groan and plunged deeply, his face inches from hers, his breath fanning her cheeks. Folly let out a moan as waves of feeling rushed over her, even more intense this time, leaving her gasping. She clutched at him, burying her face in his shoulder, trying to catch a breath. He bent and kissed her deeply for a moment before lowering himself beside her, his breathing laboured.
“That was… amazing… I had no idea it could be like that.”
Kerit grinned. “Definitely worth waiting for.” His hand stroked her cheek, and he bent to kiss her gently.
“Definitely.”
Even as she agreed, doubts began to creep in. It couldn’t have been as amazing for him as it was for her. For her, it was all new, but Kerit had done this before. And she certainly didn’t know enough to make it an amazing experience for him.
“Are you okay?” Kerit asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Folly lied.
He frowned, his fingers tracing her lips, sending flutters down to her toes. He opened his mouth to say something, when another voice invaded the room.
“Kerit? Are you there?” The voice echoed strangely, but it was definitely Tyris.
What the hell was he doing in here?
Kerit bent over and hit a button next to the bed, then settled down beside her again. “He has the most rotten sense of timing.”
“Shouldn’t you see what he wants? It could be important.”
“Not as important as being alone here with you right now.” Kerit kissed the end of her nose. “And not as important as finding out what is bothering you. Was it okay? I thought… you enjoyed it, right?”
“Yes,” she rushed to reassure him. “Very much. It was perfect.”
Kerit frowned. “I should have taken it more slowly. I know it was your first time, and I wanted it to be perfect, but I rushed too much, didn’t I?”
“No, it was just right. You were wonderful. I just wish I knew what to do to make it amazing for you too.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “You don’t need to do anything at all except be yourself.”
His words soothed her feelings a little, but didn’t completely silence the doubts. Folly was about to ask him more, when a loud buzzing filled the room.
Kerit swore. “He doesn’t take a hint.” He kissed her once more and rolled off the bed, calling out, “I’m coming,” as he fished his pants out from the tangle of sheets and pulled them on.
Feeling naked and insecure, Folly pulled the sheets up to her neck as Kerit swiped his hand across the door release. It slid open, and Tyris took one step into the room, a sweeping glance taking in Kerit’s half-dressed state, and Folly in the bed, and he checked.
“Sorry, I… Why didn’t you answer your communicator?”
“I was kind of busy,” Kerit joked.
Tyris nodded to Folly, a slight blush staining his cheeks, and stepped back out into the hallway. Kerit followed, but didn’t close the door so Folly could hear his quiet words.
“A couple of the people from the caves have turned up. Not the mayor, a couple of others. They want to talk to us about the terraforming.”
Chapter 23
Folly was glad when Kerit reached over and took her hand as they walked down the hallway to the briefing room. Even though Kerit had insisted they take an extra five minutes to shower before meeting up with Tyris, she still felt uncomfortable.
She was sure everyone who saw her could tell what she and Kerit had just been doing. And even if they couldn’t, Tyris certainly knew, and he would have told Marlee at the very least. How was she going to face them?
When she walked into the briefing room, she realised that was the least of her worries. “Ma! What are you doing here?” Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.
Ma seemed not to notice. She crossed the room and took Folly’s hands in hers. “You were right, Folly. Nora and the others insist on ignoring the threat of the alien. I’m not sure if it’s because they are so full of their own importance that they can’t believe they could be wrong, or their imaginations just fail to provide them with all the possible scenarios that could result from their ignorance, but we weren’t going to stand for it any longer.”
“What?”
“We told Nora that we disagree with
her opinion.”
“And she listened?” Folly found it hard to believe. All of it. That Ma and others agreed with her instead of Nora, or that Nora paid any attention to them.
Ma grinned, and shook her head. “Not exactly. But we gathered together enough people and left her no choice. She was elected to serve the people before the meteor hit, so it was natural that she took charge afterwards. It was easier to let her than to oppose her. But not anymore.”
“So you what… fired her?”
“Something like that.”
Tyris interrupted. “So what now then?”
Ma released Folly’s hands and turned towards him. “We’re interested in hearing your plans. All the details.”
We? That was when Folly noticed the rest of the people from the caves. About a dozen of them, including Aleck and Da.
They all listened intently as Kerit’s mother began to draw diagrams on a white board, nodding their heads as if it made sense to them. Except Aleck. He came across to Folly. “You convinced them, with your speech back at the caves, you know?”
“Me?” She found it hard to believe. No one ever listened to her.
But Aleck was nodding seriously. “You’re different, since all of this happened. Taking charge, sounding like you know what you’re talking about. They need someone like that, when they’re faced with something they don’t even begin to understand.”
Folly shook her head. “I’m not any different than I’ve always been. It’s everyone else who’s changed.”
Even as she said it, she realised the words weren’t quite true. Her inner thoughts weren’t any different. She’d always seen the same things, and reacted to them the same way. But she’d grown so used to people not listening that she’d stopped saying them out loud.
Until Kerit. He not only listened to her, he believed in her. So she’d started speaking her mind again.
Maybe just in time.
Kerit reached out and squeezed her hand and the gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Aleck’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.
Ma was asking questions, and so far, the answers she was getting seemed to satisfy her. None of it made any sense to Folly, and Kerit wasn’t paying much attention either. Chicken, having decided that there was nothing dangerous in this place, and that there might be interesting things to explore, kept wriggling and shifting in her pocket.
Marlee was conspicuously absent. Maybe she was sleeping?
“Well, lacking a few more days to go over it more thoroughly, it all looks in order to me,” Ma said. “I think we can agree that this is our best choice at the moment. If you’re still prepared to help us.” She paused. “I’m sorry that we can’t offer you a home here, but the animals and plants in this cave are unique, and some of them have enormous medical potential. I’m sure you understand…”
“Of course,” Tyris agreed quickly. “As soon as we realised that the planet was occupied and that you wanted to remain here, we knew this wouldn’t be our new home. But we’re more than prepared to help you anyway.”
“Thank you,” Ma said quietly.
Tyris switched quickly into organising mode. “We’ll need to get all your people onto the Resolution as quickly as possible. Tell them not to bring more than enough for a couple of days, space is limited. And we’ll need to seal up the caves. How long will that take?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Ma responded. “The areas where we live can be easily sealed already, since we needed to keep out the dust and acid rain. But there are sections of the caves that we haven’t even explored thoroughly, so there could be gaps.”
Tyris frowned. “How big are these caves? I thought they would have been thoroughly explored by now?”
“Five kilometres long,” Ma informed him. “And with plenty of side tunnels and crevices. We’ve explored some of it, but there were just so many new animals and plants to catalogue that we haven’t covered all of it.”
“Right. Of course. Well, we’ll need to get straight onto that then. I suggest that we use mostly people from the caves, as they at least have a start in knowing where they’re going. We can start loading the elderly and those with young children onto the Resolution while it’s happening.”
“Let’s get to work then.”
*****
Folly stared out across the caves, to where torch beams bounced around the roof as the groups set out to search for any openings. Heaving a sigh, she turned back and fastened a wriggling three year old into the sling and tugged on the rope to signal to those above to pull her up.
She longed to be out on one of the exploring teams. Well, in particular, on a team with Kerit. But Tyris had asked her to be in charge of getting the children safely up to the surface, and she hadn’t been able to say no.
The line of waiting children, most supervised by harried mothers or older siblings stretched back into the trees out of sight. She was going to be here all day.
It wasn’t like exploring the caves would be any fun either. Just a lot of walking around in the dark, shining torches around. She’d done enough exploring on her own when the acid rains had stopped her going outside to explore. There wasn’t anything there except more caves.
She resigned herself to spending the next few hours here. If she was really lucky, there would be some exploring left to do after she was finished.
Child after child was hoisted through the opening into waiting arms that would take them to the spaceship, some bubbling excitedly at the ride, some screaming. After a while, Folly lost count, and stopped bothering to check how long the line was growing. So when she turned around and said, “Who’s next?” only to be met with an able bodied adult, she stared.
“I think we can take it from here,” one of the biologists said. “Go get something to eat.”
She was done. Finding it hard be believe, Folly searched the lines, finding them completely free of children, as she walked back towards the central square. The man’s advice had been sound, she’d been on her feet for hours, and she should eat and rest. But she needed to see Kerit.
If only she knew where he was. Folly grabbed some of the energy bars that one of the women from the Resolution was handing out in the square, grabbed a torch, and headed for the edges of the caves.
She asked the first group she came across, “Have you seen Kerit?” The man looked at her curiously but nodded towards the back wall. “He was heading into the dark caves.”
Folly suppressed a shudder. Her logical brain told her that the caves at the back of the forest were no different to any of the others, just that they lacked the opening that lit these ones. She knew that the ghost stories kids had told each other at school weren’t real, they were just designed to frighten. But even in all her exploring, she’d never been game to go in there.
Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she was an adult and there was nothing to be afraid of.
Still, she hesitated in the opening, a natural archway that separated the cave systems. Even though it was wider than most houses, the light only penetrated a short distance.
She could see the torches shining in the inky blackness on the left side of the caves. Kerit’s voice carried across the distance. “It would be easier if we could just turn on a light.”
Caylie’s high laugh grated on Folly’s nerves. Of course, she would have offered to partner with Kerit. She would sleep with anything that moved.
“Think he’s still thinking of you? I’m betting he’s moved on.”
Folly froze. She recognised the sneering voice at her elbow instantly. “It’s none of your business, Brent.” She turned away deliberately, taking a step towards the torchlight. Anything was better than standing here with him.
“You should have waited if you wanted him to take you with him. Now he’s had you, you have no chance of hitching a ride out of here.”
Irritation bubbled up in Folly. “You have no idea,” she said stiffly. “Just because you’re so focused on sex you can’t see anything else doesn’t mean
every man is.”
He gave a mocking laugh. “Oh, poor Folly. You actually believe he cares about you, don’t you? Still so naive. Men don’t care about women, they just pretend to so they can get into their pants.” He surveyed her up and down, his expression pitying. “Not that there’s anything even remotely alluring about your pants. No idea what he saw in you in the first place. Caylie is far prettier, and nicer in the sack too I’ll bet.”
Folly’s face burned. Any confidence she’d had earlier fled, and all the doubts intensified. She was transported instantly back to being a confused, shy seventeen year old.
Brent seemed to realise that he’d achieved his aim, because he faded into the shadows.
Tears blurring her eyes, Folly turned to head for the forest, no thought in her mind except to be alone, where she could lick her wounds.
“Hey, Folly. We’re over here,” Kerit called out.
He was the last person she felt like talking to right now, but she knew he wouldn’t accept her just running off. She swiped a tear from her eyes, and turned around, glad the darkness hid her face. “I didn’t realise you already had a partner. I’ll go see if anyone else needs help.”
“That’s okay,” Kerit said quickly. “Caylie needs a break, but I’m still good to go for a while if you’re up to it.”
It would be too obvious if she backed out now. Kerit would realise something was wrong, and Folly knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t leave it. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said.
“Thanks, Folly. I’m sure you’ll take good care of Kerit,” Caylie simpered.
Folly winced as Caylie kissed Kerit on the cheek, gave a tinkling laugh, and headed out to the forest.
Kerit drew her into the cave a little, and after glancing over his shoulder, he whispered, “I’m glad you arrived. Caylie didn’t seem very interested in exploring the cave, and she kept wanting to stop and rest every five minutes.”
Folly smiled wistfully into the darkness. Kerit was just so darn cute. How could she resist him? It wasn’t his fault she wasn’t attractive and interesting enough to keep his attention long term.
