He groaned and then gripped me with his hands. “Stop it,” he growled at me.
I smirked and then squeezed tighter.
He got up on his knees to reposition himself, trying again from a different angle. “Don’t.”
I kept at it. I wasn’t squeezing enough to stop him, to push him out of me. I was just tightening things for him.
It felt good to me, too. It put pressure in all the right places.
He let out a low growl and grasped my hips, breathed heavily, and then plunged again and again into my tightening body.
I smiled to myself. I could sense him getting close. He muttered again, wanting me to stop, but I wouldn’t listen. I wouldn’t let him take full control.
He shuddered and throbbed inside me. He gripped me, holding on, letting out an almost pained moan. He had wanted more, and I wanted to feel him like this.
In a way, it felt like a victory to me. I had desired more, too, but I reveled in the fact that I could get him off when I wanted to.
He eventually moved off me to lie at my side, breathing heavily. It wasn’t until we were lying beside each other in the low light that I realized his penis barely lost its shape as it softened. I’d heard about how some male genitalia grew in size and girth when aroused, while some stayed the same shape and simply got sturdier, becoming erect with excitement. I hadn’t seen the latter before now, not in person, at least.
As he relaxed against me, my hand drifted down to it.
“How do you walk with this thing?” I asked. I had myself propped up on one elbow as I toyed with him.
He had a hand in my hair, combing back the small knots he’d made when he’d gripped my hair during our lovemaking.
“How do you walk with boobs?” he asked and released my hair to hold one of my breasts in his hands. “Don’t these weigh you down?”
“They don’t get in the way of my legs,” I said. I lifted his length, weighing it in my palm. “How do you walk with this thing dangling in front of you all day?” I was saying it mostly to tease him, but I did wonder about such things sometimes.
He shrugged. “You get used to it.”
“Boring answer,” I said. I dropped it and then walked my fingers up his waist, to touch his Adonis belt, and then up to his abs. His dark Native complexion made my arm look so pale. “What’s your background? I mean…bloodline…probably not the word I want.”
“Native,” he said. “Among other things.”
“Any particular tribe?” I asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” he said. “It’s from my mother’s side, but my father never wanted her to talk about it.”
I huffed. “She was forbidden to talk about it? She should have punched him and done it anyway.”
He released my boob and then brought his hand to my face, holding it to look at my eyes. He was quiet for a long moment. “Tell me I’m not going to lose this.”
“Me?” I asked, yawning. My energy was already draining.
“This side of you,” he said. “The real you.”
I sighed and moved in closer, cozying up to his body. I rested my arm on his muscled chest. He drew up the covers around us.
I was quiet, and so was he. His breath was steady. I wondered if he was already asleep. I closed my eyes, comforted by simply feeling him nearby.
“I don’t care about the others,” he said in the dark. “I thought I would, but…if what you need from me is to be there for you while you try to figure this out, I’ll take it. When I’m with you, though, I need you to be honest with me. I need everything without holding back.”
“It’s what I wanted.”
“I can handle the rest if I know you do care about me. I’m more worried you’ll leave.”
“I do care about you, Axel,” I whispered and then forced out the next part. “I’m just…scared to hurt you. And the others.”
He pressed his lips against the top of my head and squeezed me in tight. “I’m scared of the same thing.”
Caught
Sometime while I slept, I felt Axel get out of bed, but then I fell asleep again immediately.
I woke up the next morning and turned over, staring at the broad shoulders of someone sleeping beside me in a red T-shirt.
I closed my eyes and snuggled up to him, holding close around his waist. I was still nude, and memories of the night before flooded my half-awake brain.
A hand covered mine, weaving his fingers between mine.
But it felt different. I’d assumed it was still Axel, but the dimensions were off. Axel didn’t feel like this. This person seemed taller, his shoulders broader.
When I opened my eyes and looked up, I spotted sun-kissed hair and tanned skin.
I sat up quickly, and the blanket fell away from my chest. The windows were still covered, but sunlight managed to filter through around the edges of the curtains.
Corey flipped over, an eyebrow going up. His hair was flattened against his head and there was a red mark on his cheek from the pillow. “You okay?” he asked and then his gaze lowered to my breasts. His face lit up as red as the Super Mario shirt he wore, and he quickly turned back over, dropping his head on the bed. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t…see…”
I put a hand over my heart, feeling as though I’d had a small heart attack. I blew out a breath, relieved, seeing Corey and that familiar modest blush. I had been worried it was his brother, especially because I’d have to tell Brandon about Blake, and I thought it would be worse if I’d snuggled with Brandon just before.
I laughed out of relief, the sound surprising me. It felt as if it had been forever since I’d laughed.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened.
Another small heart attack, and barely time to lift the blanket cover my body.
Corey flipped over, sitting up quickly, looking toward the door, an arm reaching out protectively in front of me.
In stepped Fancy, bleary-eyed and wearing the same robe from last night. Her dyed hair was messy, strands frizzing up, her makeup smeared on her face. The robe was barely hanging on around her shoulders.
Behind her was Liam, amazingly bright-eyed, although he still hadn’t shaved. He wore new jeans, and a new deep blue sweater with the ship’s embroidered L on the chest. He was carrying a tray of muffins and a pot of coffee.
They had the worst timing.
Fancy groaned, took one look at us and staggered toward the bed. “My God,” she said, crawling across the blanket and landing with a soft thud between mine and Corey’s legs, curling up as much as possible onto the mattress. “Someone shoot me. I’ve been tossing around all night. How can anyone sleep with the peasants when you’ve got a royal bed waiting for you?”
Was she saying she didn’t like the beds in the other rooms, or did she literally mean she’d slept with…?
Liam set the tray down hard on the small coffee table by the sofa, making the silverware and the glasses rattle. It startled me enough to jump.
&n
bsp; Corey swung his attention to him. “It’s not what you think,” he said.
“I don’t want the details,” Liam said, his face splotching with red. He pointed right at me. “I need a word with you, right now.”
Liam might have been in his thirties, older than the rest of us, but he wasn’t in charge of me, and he wasn’t my father. I didn’t care what he thought I might have been doing with Corey—it wasn’t his business.
Before I could react, Corey flung back the covers and was out of the bed. He was wearing black boxers and stood between Liam and me. “She’s not in the Academy. It doesn’t matter if she—”
“You,” Liam said in a deeper, much more serious tone, “need to calm down. I’m not here to judge anyone, but I need the truth about some things, as it may be vital to what we’re doing.”
Corey’s shoulders relaxed, but just a little. “She’s not the enemy.”
“I know that,” he said. “What you do, it isn’t my business, but we’re dealing with a life-or-death situation, and I can’t work with a team where I don’t know what the hell is going on.” He returned his attention back to me. “You and I need to have a serious discussion. Right now. Alone.”
Corey looked back at me with sympathetic eyes.
My heart was pounding. I wanted not to be embarrassed. I hadn’t slept with Corey, technically, but I knew it looked like it. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on,” I said.
“I’m afraid it does,” Liam said. He rolled the sleeves of the sweater up above his elbows. “I’m not angry, but I’m putting my own life and my team member’s at risk here. If you were me, you’d do the same thing.”
I pressed my lips together, unhappy thinking he was probably right. I didn’t know how much he knew, but I needed to know what he was assuming and correct him. “I need clothes.”
Corey instantly scanned the room, starting to tug at his own shirt, but then stopped. “Is there another robe like you’re wearing, Fancy?”
“Take mine,” she said, sitting up.