"I thought you were tired of me," Tessa admits, her voice catching. She reaches out and runs a hand along my arm, as if she can't bear to not be touching me. "I thought you wanted to be done with your slave."
"I am done," I tell her. "I want to go back with a mate."
Her expression grows soft. "Really?"
"Really and truly, if you'll have one such as me."
She squeals and flings her arms around my neck, pulling me down against her and peppering my face with kisses. "I love you so much."
I bury my face against hers and kiss her neck, then begin to lick a path down to her breasts. "You'll still have to wear something that shows you belong to me when we're out in public on the station." I cup one of her rounded breasts, and the nipple is already tight and pointed, anticipating my touch. Over the last month, I've learned that many spots on Tessa are pleasurable for her—the clit, of course, but also her ears, her throat, behind her knees—but she makes a special whimpering sound whenever I tease her breasts and I want to hear that right now. "That's the best way I can make sure you're safe."
"I will happily tattoo it on my forehead."
I look up at her, frowning. "I'm not sure that is necessary."
She chuckles, her smile radiant. "Human humor. It's something we say back on Earth."
Her words make me hesitate again. Earth. Her home. She hasn't mentioned it, but I know it is the one place in the galaxy where she would be utterly safe if not with me. "I cannot take you back there, or I would. You know I would."
Tessa shakes her head, arching against my touch and pushing her breast into my hand. "I don't want to go back there. I don't want to go anywhere unless it's home with you."
I growl with pleasure at that. Hearing Tessa say that just feeds into the feral, possessive part of me.
I'm going to show you how much I love you," I tell her, even as I take her nipple into my mouth and suck. She makes that lovely little whimper that I love so much, writhing underneath me. Her hands move to cup my face and she breathes my name as I tease the tip of her breast with my tongue. "But because I love you so much, it might take a very long time to show you just how much I care."
"How long?" she asks, her eyes shining with happiness.
"At least twenty years," I tell her. "Maybe forty. It's hard to know with such things."
"I guess we'd better get started then," Tessa says, her hands on my skin and her body under mine.
It is a task I look forward to. Exceedingly.22TESSAI wake up with my hands on Zakoar's chest, my thigh tucked between his, and for a moment, I think I'm dreaming all over again. That being with Zakoar is all in my head, and if I wake up, I'm going to be back in that window in the cantina, wishing my life away. But then he opens his eyes and watches me with that warm, possessive look of his even as he rolls me onto my back and begins to kiss me. His mouth claims mine in long, luxurious kisses even as he grinds his cock between my legs, and there's no waking up from this dream.
This truly is my life, and I'm so happy I want to burst into tears again.
I don't, though. I'm leaving the tears behind. Instead, I grab Zakoar and hold on tight as we make hard and fierce love and then lay twined in the blankets afterward. He rests his hand between my legs, as if he's reluctant to let go of my pussy and somehow lose his claim on me. He spoons me against him and presses his mouth against my shoulder, and I love the mixture of cool metal and warm skin that are his lips. "I should contact The Nebula Skimmer," he says eventually. "Let them know we're both going back. Unless you'd rather…stay here?" He presses another kiss to my shoulder. "If this is the only place you can be happy, I'll give it a shot. You tell me what you want to do."
My heart fills with love for him. I adore him for letting me be the one to decide, and I consider my surroundings. The farm is small, but I know Zakoar has money. We could build a bigger house if it was an issue. And the greenery and fresh air truly are lovely. But then I think about the station, and how Zakoar is respected there. I think about his mentorship with Tikosa, and the shop. And I think about the vial of cows that I'm supposed to grow on my own, and the enormous fields of crops, and the tiny, tiny one-lane town here called Port, which is the only settlement on this entire agricultural planet. "I don't know if I'm cut out to be a farmer," I confess, snuggling in his arms. "Or even if I want to try. I don't mind being on the station, and that's where your business is."