Playing Their Parts: A Kindred Tales Novel

by Anderson, Evangeline

  And for another thing, you might not be able to keep your hands off her, whispered a disapproving voice in his head. What came over you, telling her exactly how you feel for her and how much you want her as you were giving her a massage? What were you thinking, Stone?

  The answer, of course, was that he hadn’t been thinking. He had allowed his feelings for Cassandra to run away with him and had done and said some very unwise things as a consequence.

  But maybe it was time to let his feelings for her out—time to take a chance, Stone thought. He had smelled her desire for him as he touched her and felt the way her body reacted. Her soft little pussy had been glistening with her juices as he massaged her. Maybe it was time to take a chance.

  I have to tell her, he thought. Have to tell her how I really feel—how I’ve felt from the very beginning.

  “Cassandra,” he began.

  But at the exact same time, she said,

  “Stone, we need to talk.”

  Stone nodded, his heart thumping in his chest. What was she going to say? That she liked the way he touched her? Or that she never wanted him to touch her again?

  “Why do we not have a seat?” he asked, motioning to the sitting area across from the floating bed. It had a long, low couch which was also covered in gold fabric and the same multicolored moss that had carpeted the hallway was on the floor.

  “Okay.” Cassandra went to sit on one end of the couch and Stone sat on the other, careful to give her some space.

  “Please, go ahead,” he told her, once they were settled. “I’m listening—what do you want to talk about?”

  “About…about what happened during our, uh, job interview.” Cassandra bit her lush lower lip, as though uncertain how to go on. “I…I had to touch you, uh, intimately and then you had to do the same thing to me during the ‘massage.’”

  “We knew intimate touching might be a possibility when we agreed to play these roles,” Stone pointed out.

  “Yes, I know…” She nibbled her lower lip some more, clearly unsure how to go on.

  Stone wondered what it would be like to taste her lips, to feel her mouth opening for him in a kiss… Maybe now was the time to admit that he wanted to do much more than just touch her—maybe he should let her know that he wanted to make love to her and bond her to him forever.

  But Cassandra still had the uncertain look on her face.

  “Is it a problem for you—what happened between us?” he asked, frowning. “I’m assuming you would rather have me touch you than allow Gozeriam to violate you as he was his guards.”

  Cassandra made a face.

  “Oh, God! Of course I’d rather have you!” she exclaimed. “It’s just…I’m really worried this will ruin our partnership…our friendship.”

  “Our friendship?” The word sounded flat and dull to Stone—he wanted so much more than just friendship with her! Finally being allowed to touch her beautiful body had taught him that.

  And yet, he reminded himself, Cassandra only saw him as a friend. And she had told her ex-mate that she could never see him as anything else. He’d been hoping that their experience tonight might have awakened her to other possibilities but maybe not.

  “Yes, our friendship,” she repeated earnestly. Leaning towards him, she put a hand on his arm. “Stone, you’re my best friend—the best friend I’ve ever had and that’s important to me. I don’t want to ruin that by…doing the things we’ve been doing on this mission.”

  Stone shook his head.

  “How could being together on this mission ruin our friendship?”

  “Because when you bring sex into a friendship, it almost always kills the friendship!” she exclaimed. “I mean, I’ve tried the ‘friends with benefits’ thing before and it just doesn’t work.”

  Stone frowned. “Friends with benefits? I don’t understand.”

  “It’s…a human term for when you bring sex into a friendship. I tried it in college once. I had a great friend, Gil. We’d been friends since high school and we even decided to go to the same college. We shared an apartment and everything and got along so well and then…” She shook her head. “Well, then we decided we could have it all. We agreed to add sex into the mix. And almost immediately things got awkward.”

  “Awkward, how?” Stone asked. This incident in her life was something Cassandra had never told him before, so he genuinely wanted to know what had happened.

  “Well, we promised each other we wouldn’t get jealous if one of us decided to date other people. Because we weren’t really dating, you know—we were just best friends who ‘scratched the itch’ together when we felt the need. And we honestly thought we could keep it that way. But then Gil started bringing over this cute girl from his Sociology class to study at our apartment and I couldn’t help myself—I got jealous.”

  “He brought another female over while the two of you were in an intimate relationship?” Stone demanded. “That was wrong!”

  He had never been able to understand a human male’s willingness to be with more than one female at a time or to “cheat” on one with another. The Kindred norm was devoting yourself to one special female for life, once you found her. The idea of having more than one female at a time just seemed…unnatural.

  But Cassandra was shaking her head.

  “No, it wasn’t wrong,” she corrected him. “He had every right to have a girl over—we had promised each other we wouldn’t get jealous. I was the one who broke the promise—I got jealous.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Of course you couldn’t,” Stone told her. “It’s very difficult—if not impossible—to give your body without giving your heart.”

  “But don’t you see, that’s just my point!” Cassandra exclaimed. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship the way my friendship with Gil was ruined! We used to be so close we told each other everything—I honestly thought we’d be friends for life. And now I’m lucky if I get a Christmas card once a year and send one to him in return. It’s just…bringing sex into a friendship is bad news.” She squeezed his arm urgently. “I don’t want to lose you like that, Stone. I don’t want to lose our friendship.”

  A friend—that’s all I’ll ever be to her. That’s the way she sees me.

  The knowledge was like a knife in his heart. Especially since he had been about to confess his true feelings for her. But Stone knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that even if he couldn’t have Cassandra as his mate and lover, he still wanted her in his life. Better to live a life of passionate celibacy with the woman he secretly loved, than to never see her again.

  “Cassandra…” He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. “We are not going to lose each other,” he murmured.

  “But how can you be sure?” she demanded.

  “Because we’re not actually going to have penetrative sex,” Stone reminded her. “Our cover precludes that. Remember, I told you that Yonnite Mistresses never allow themselves to be penetrated by a male?”

  “Oh.” She nodded, biting her lip. “Yes, I remember.”

  “And you are playing the part of a Yonnite Mistress. So, we are not going to have actual sex. I promise you that,” Stone said firmly.

  Though the Goddess knew he wanted to! But it was better not to, considering that he couldn’t bond her to him when all she wanted was friendship.

  “We are doing other things, though,” Cassandra pointed out. “Very intimate things.”

  “Again, we knew we would have to touch each other intimately in order to play these parts,” Stone reminded her patiently. “But I understand if this is too much for you. We can leave if you want to—say we left something in our ship and fly off of Bachanalius before anyone can stop us.”

  “Leave? Before we complete our mission?” Her lovely brown eyes blazed. “No way! I never said I wanted to leave, Stone!”

  “Well then…” He shrugged expansively. “You must resign yourself to letting me touch you and to touching me in return, at least while we are
‘working’ together on these porn vids we are expected to do.” Bending down a little, he looked directly into her eyes. “Does it bother you so much, Cassandra? Having my hands on you?”

  “Well…no.” She dropped her eyes and twisted her fingers in her lap nervously. “I…I guess not. But there’s one thing I need to know.”

  “Name it and I will tell you,” Stone said simply. Though he might be concealing his true feelings for her, he would endeavor to be truthful in everything else. They had always promised not to lie to each other and he intended to keep that promise as much as he could.

  “Those things…the things you said to me while you were, er, massaging me…” Her big brown eyes flicked back up to his and then down again, as though she couldn’t bear to hold his gaze.

  “Yes?” Stone asked patiently.

  “Did…did you mean them?” she almost whispered.

  “You mean when I said that you have a beautiful body and I fantasized about touching you?” Stone murmured.

  “Yes…that.” She looked up at him again. “I mean, I understand if you were just playing a part and—”

  “Cassandra…” Lifting her chin with one finger, Stone looked her in the eyes. “I meant every word,” he told her softly. “Everything I said was true.”

  “Oh!” Her cheeks were pink with a blush, her pupils dilated, and Stone could smell the sweet, feminine fragrance of her desire again. She might only want to be his friend, but she liked the idea that he desired her, he realized. Or at least, her body reacted to his lust—from the look on her face, her mind was still doubtful of the situation.

  “Does it bother you to know that I desire you?” Stone asked her, still holding her gaze. “That I think you are the most beautiful female I have ever seen?”

  “I…I guess not,” she murmured breathlessly. “It’s just…I mean…why didn’t you ever say anything before?”

  Stone lifted his shoulders.

  “How could I? When I first met you, you were still joined to that waste of oxygen, Keith. After that, our partnership had already been established and I was given to understand that it isn’t considered proper to display sexual desire for your partner. Also, I didn’t want you to feel awkward around me, and I thought that you would if you knew how beautiful I find you.”

  “Oh, um…” She shook her head. “Stone, I just…don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything—we don’t have to speak of this ever again, if you fear it will damage our friendship,” Stone offered. “But you asked me and, as you always say, we don’t lie to each other.”

  “No, we don’t,” she agreed. “I…I guess we don’t have to talk about it.”

  “And we don’t have to let what we do here, on this mission, affect our friendship, either,” Stone told her. “In this setting, touching each other is part of our job. After we go home to Earth, we can go back to our more proscribed relationship and forget this ever happened.”

  “I don’t see how I can forget having your hands all over my body,” Cassandra whispered, looking up at him. “Or the things you said to me…”

  “Do you wish me to not tell you how I feel when I touch you?” Stone asked.

  That would be difficult for him—he enjoyed letting a lover know exactly how he intended to pleasure her and how beautiful he found her body. But he would make the effort if Cassandra asked him to.

  But she shook her head.

  “No, I…I think you should do whatever you have to in order to get into character.”

  “Thank you.” Stone nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind when we ‘work’ together in the future.”

  “Which might be tomorrow.” Cassandra ran a hand through her long black hair, which was loose around her shoulders instead of braided for once. “I thought we’d be able to get everything done and get out of here before we had to shoot an actual porno together but now…” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure.”

  “You’ll have to be sure once we start performing,” Stone pointed out. “I was afraid that you were panicking when I attempted to remove your shorts earlier, during the massage. We were lucky that Gozeriam took it to be part of our act.”

  “You’re right.” She nibbled her lower lip again. “I just…never thought of us together that way. I guess I’m just not used to it.”

  “You must get used to it,” Stone said firmly. He reached out to stroke her cheek and she jumped. Frowning, he pulled back his hand. “For instance, you must not shy away from my touch.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” She looked up at him. “I’m just…not used to you touching me in…in more than a friendly way.”

  “Does it bother you?” Stone asked softly, searching her eyes with his own.

  Cassandra shook her head.

  “Not really. I mean, it…it feels good.” Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “Amazing, actually. But I’m just not used to it.”

  He shook his head.

  “I’m afraid you will have to get used to it if we are going to maintain our cover.”

  “You’re right, Stone. “Maybe…” She bit her lip. “Maybe we should practice.”

  “Practice?” Stone raised an eyebrow.

  “You touching me. Me touching you. In a more than friendly way.” Cassandra made a motion with her hand. “You know.”

  Stone looked at her in surprise.

  “You want me to touch you in a sexual way even though we are not being observed or filmed at this time?”

  “I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she said quickly. “I just thought it might help if we were…were used to touching each other the next time Gozeriam orders us to, uh, perform.”

  It suddenly occurred to Stone that Cassandra still wasn’t sure that he wanted to touch her. Even though he had told her how sexually desirable he found her, she was still uncertain of her own beauty. Part of it, he thought, probably had to do with her self body image.

  Females who would be considered Elites and extremely desirable aboard the Mother Ship, were often taunted and made to feel less than beautiful on Earth. Stone had overheard Cassandra’s ex-mate criticizing her hips and thighs and ass more than once—the very parts of her that Stone himself found irresistible. He had to fight with himself every day not to stare at his partner’s luscious assets. Even hidden by the boxy suits she usually wore, her large, round ass drew him like a magnet.

  But she doesn’t know that—she still doesn’t understand how desirable she is, he thought.

  Maybe this was a chance to show her—to give her some confidence in her own beauty and let her know how gorgeous she really was.

  “I would love to practice touching with you, Cassandra,” he said hoarsely. “If you think it would help us to complete this mission.”

  “I think it might.” She looked up at him from under her lashes and Stone felt his heart fist in his chest, Gods, she was so lovely! So beautiful and she didn’t even know it, because all her life men like her ex-mate—that waste of space—had put her down.

  “Should we start here?” he asked, reaching out to stroke her cheek again.

  This time Cassandra didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned into his touch like a cat begging to be stroked.

  “Yes,” she whispered, looking up at him. “This is nice.”

  “It can be more than nice,” Stone promised her, his voice dropping to a soft, lustful growl. “If you’ll truly let me pleasure you, Cassandra.”

  “I will. But…but only to help the mission,” she said breathlessly.

  “Of course,” Stone promised. “After this is over, we’ll go back to being just friends and partners.”

  “All right.” She scooted closer to him. “Then let’s practice.”

  Twenty-Nine

  Cassie couldn’t believe what she’d suggested. Practicing touching? With her best friend and partner? Was she crazy?

  The little voice inside her head informed her that she most certainly was crazy and that this was going to
screw everything up. But the longing inside her to be touched—and specifically to be touched by Stone—was too great to ignore. His hands on her body felt so good—big and warm and gentle and knowing—and she trusted him not to hurt her or do anything she didn’t want.

  Plus, Cassie admitted to herself, she was lonely—it had been over a year and a half since a man had touched her in any way at all. More like two years, actually, since her sex life with Keith had died well before their marriage had finally been dissolved.

  Not that sex with her ex had ever been exactly great. Keith had a serious problem with premature ejaculation—he would come immediately when they had sex, sometimes even before he was all the way inside her. This wouldn’t have been a problem if he’d been good at foreplay, but her ex had sucked at that too. He never liked going down on her, complaining that his tongue and jaw got tired after about thirty seconds. He was also way too rough when he tried to finger her, resulting in Cassie wincing away from him, which only made him angry.

  No, sex with Keith had not been fun. Not that she was going to have sex with Stone now, she reminded herself. Not even close. They were just going to get a little more comfortable with each other’s bodies, that was all. And it didn’t have to mean anything—in fact, Stone had promised it wouldn’t.

  We’ll go back to being friends and partners when we get home, he’d said, or something to that effect. Up until then, Cassie had almost begun to wonder if her strong, stoic partner might have feelings for her. But after his promise that they would be friends, she realized that just because he wanted her, didn’t mean he wanted to be with her.

  Those were the exact same words her friend, Gil, had said back in college, when she’d confronted him about bringing home the girl from his Sociology class.

  “Look, Cassie,” he’d said reasonably. “I thought we understood each other. Just because I want you, doesn’t mean I want to be with you. We’re just friends and that’s all we’re ever going to be.”