No more, he swore to himself yet again. Never again.
But he didn’t push Lan’ara away. Instead, he pulled her closer as his eyes slowly shut and the two of them drifted off to sleep together.
Thirty
“Get ready,” Need said, surprising Lan’ara. “You’re coming with me.”
“Really?” Her heart started to pound. “I’m going with you to the marketplace?”
They had been orbiting Felicitus Twelve for a day and a night while the big Kindred finalized the deal for Yarrow root with The Dark Heart’s supplier. The ship had finally landed at an agreed upon location. But she had never dreamed the big Kindred would take her with him when they finally went to pick up the product.
But he was nodding as he spoke.
“No choice. Drung is staying onboard and all the rest of the crew is going. I don’t want to leave you alone on The Dark Heart with him, not even locked in my quarters.”
Lan’ara shivered at the thought of being alone with the huge Trollox. Need was right—a door lock wouldn’t be enough to keep him out if he thought he could get at her. She was glad the big Kindred was so thoughtful and protective of her. It made her hope that maybe—just possibly—he had changed his mind about selling her to Senator Pouncenblast. At least, he hadn’t said anything more about it since that night he had first tasted her.
There had been several tastings since then. Though Need always swore he would never touch her again every morning, he couldn’t seem to help himself when Lan’ara cuddled close to his side every night and asked him to “warm her up.”
He might stay away from her all day long, but once the two of them were back in his quarters for the evening, he seemed to change his mind. To Lan’ara’s satisfaction, they always ended the night sleeping in each other’s arms.
Though she knew it was dangerous and might end in a broken heart, Lan’ara felt she was falling in love with the big Kindred. He might speak roughly and still call her “girl” most of the time, but his coarse words and grim scowls belied the tender, almost reverent way he touched her.
When they took pleasure in each other’s bodies, he was never cruel or perfunctory—both eventualities she had been taught to expect during her Sexual Instruction class at Twyleth Tigg.
“Your husband or owner will use your body for his own pleasure,” their instructor. Lady Telga, had always said, frowning at the assembled audience over her oculars. “You must not expect any pleasure for yourselves—that is not the way things work, girls.”
But that wasn’t the way things worked with Need. He was a giving and considerate lover—always putting her pleasure first and making sure she came multiple times before he ever did himself.
Lan’ara had been taught that sexually accommodating whatever man bought her would be a duty and a chore, but with Need, it was all pleasure and desire. Part of that was the mysterious “Ripening” process she still seemed to be going through. But another, larger part of it was how kind and patient he was with her—how willing he was to see to her pleasure first. Not to mention the fact that his big, muscular body looked mouthwatering when he was naked and that mysterious, masculine scent he exuded, which seemed to draw her to him and make her never want to leave him.
She only wished he would make love to her fully—that he would put his shaft inside her pussy and claim her as his own completely. But that, Need absolutely refused to do. And until he did, Lan’ara couldn’t feel quite certain that he intended to keep her after all.
There was another reason besides feeling secure that Lan’ara wanted the big Kindred to make love to her, however—one that was becoming increasingly urgent. She was beginning to get a strange, empty feeling inside.
The hungry flower that unfurled its petals within her when she needed to be touched or tasted or held was growing ever more ravenous. It caused Lan’ara to long to be filled –caused her to crave something thick and throbbing between her legs. Even now, she couldn’t help imagining what it would feel like to have Need’s big shaft filling her channel…pressing deep inside her so that she felt the head of his cock kissing the mouth of her womb while he looked into her eyes and told her that she was his and would be forever…
“Ready to go?” Need’s deep voice cut through her thoughts and Lan’ara realized she’d been lost in a fantasy of having him make love to her.
“Oh, uh, yes my Lord,” she said quickly, looking up at him. “I’m ready.”
He frowned at her.
“Why are you blushing, girl? You’d think I asked if you were ready to go to a prosti-brothel—not a marketplace.”