Those jewels, the dark green color, lay perfectly against her skin. I’d chosen them carefully, chastising myself for a fool even as I imagined adorning her in truth. Claiming her for my own. Seeing them on her responsive body, watching my cock slide in and out of her wet pussy as she gasped and begged for more, made me realize that I was lost. I was hers. There would be no fighting it, not any longer.
The problem was that she didn’t want me. She didn’t want a mate at all. She’d been poorly treated and no longer trusted a mate to care for her. I had been careful, very, very careful not to push her too hard outside of the bedroom. Within, she was mine. She bent to my will and offered her submissive body for my pleas
ure. But beyond my bedchamber? She was defiant. Quiet. Closed off. Even here, she cried and would not reveal her pain to me.
If I pushed, she would run, just as she’d run from her first mate.
She’d left him behind, on Earth, so desperate to get away that she’d traveled across the galaxy to a new planet.
To me.
And I didn’t want to lose her as that fool had.
Miranda had come to me months ago, told me of her trouble finding physical pleasure, of her former mate’s lack of skill in the art of satisfying his female. The imbecile. She had blamed herself for his deficiency, but I knew the truth of it. Her mate had been lazy. Selfish. He had not treasured, nor valued her enough to learn what made her happy. To make her writhe and scream and shudder at his every touch.
I had more than made up for his idiocy and enjoyed every moment. Now, with my cock buried deep and her soft skin on display, I mourned both the fact that Miranda did not want me, and the fact that I could not take a mate. My job was too dangerous, and I refused to place a female in the position of being alone for weeks at a time.
But I could not walk away from my duty. The things I did in service to Councilor Roark were important to keep our people safe and protected.
I was torn in half every time I was with Miranda. Wanting to stay with her, adorn her permanently, make her mine. And yet, I wanted to keep her apart. Separate. Safely away from my job and the constant danger I faced. She’d come to me first, offering her body. In all this time, she had not asked me to belong to her. To make her mine permanently. She had not made any demands, either. She simply reveled in the pleasure I provided, as did I.
I could not dwell on this now, my cock buried deep, her inner walls gripping and practically milking the cum from my balls. A good lover did not think of anything but the sweet bliss of a female’s body at a time like this. I was an attentive lover, and I would prove that to her.
I let the swing do the work. Putting my hands on the chains that affixed it to the ceiling, I pushed. She slipped off my cock until only the tip remained opening her up, then I let go, allowing gravity to slide her back onto me. Again and again did she swing off, then onto my cock until her breathing was erratic. Sweat glistened on her skin. Her pussy juices coated my balls. A flush crept over her adorned breasts. She was being such a good girl holding off her second orgasm. Waiting. Waiting.
“Come now,” I growled, unable to hold off my own pleasure any longer. It sizzled down my spine, burst from me in spurts of thick cum that filled her. She screamed and came with me, taking everything I gave her with unleashed passion, with the most giving heart, the most willing body.
I held my legs locked, trying to stop myself from crumpling to the floor. She could kill me with pleasure alone, but I had to care for her, see to her needs before my own, remove her from the swing and carry her back to bed. I would gently remove the clamps and kiss the places that had been so beautifully tortured. Then I would lick her clit until she came again.
Long minutes later, job complete, I settled her against me, her taste on my tongue, her juices coating my cock. Fark.
Miranda was wrapped in my arms, replete. Exhausted. Covered in the sweaty, sated haze of sex.
I loved the way she curled against me. Trusted me to hold her. A small smile turned up the corner of her full lips, and it made me smile, too. I was… happy. Content. The feeling was usually as fleeting as an orgasm, but the contentment I felt with her had extended to include this… snuggle time, as she’d called it.
I could not keep her with me any more than I could hold on to the feelings she pulled from my body. And so circumstances forced me to break the mood. Usually, I was in the city for several days after a mission, free time I would spend with my cock buried deep in Miranda, making her come until she couldn’t speak.
Not this time. I was back in the city tonight only, for duty called. “I must leave in the morning.”
She tensed, her body going rigid in surprise as if she were suddenly uncomfortable, but she did not lift her head from my chest. “So soon?”
“Councilor Roark is sending me to deal with a problem in the south.”
She relaxed in my arms once again, and I pulled the soft sheet up to cover us both, not wanting her tender skin to get cold. “Do you think you will ever be done with these missions, Brax? Ever settle down and take a mate?”
It was my turn to go still. What was she asking? Was she asking me to be hers? She’d asked if I would ever take a mate, not take her as a mate. My heart skipped a beat, then raced with excitement I had not expected to feel. A longing for something I’d never wanted before. “Are you… are you asking me to be yours, Miranda? Your mate? To retire from field duty?”
She turned her head, glanced up at me. “What? No. I would never ask you to do that. I wouldn’t want to put any pressure on you.”
That quickly, my excitement faded to disappointment. Perhaps I had not pleasured her well enough. Perhaps she simply didn’t want me to be hers forever. She’d come to me with one goal, to know if her body was broken, to know if she could experience pleasure. Perhaps all she’d ever wanted from me was an answer to that question. Oh, I’d answered it all right. If she had any doubts of her passionate nature, how beautiful and incredible she was when she was in the throes of it, how hot I became knowing I was the one to make her that way… I’d spank her ass until she couldn’t sit for a week.
“I will continue to serve as long as Roark needs me.” I kept my voice even, pushing all emotion down. Away.
“Of course.” She snuggled in and turned her head, placing a kiss on my chest. A kiss that caused my heart to ache with a pain I’d never felt before. “I would never ask you to give up anything for me. That wasn’t the deal we made.”
No, it was not, but I had believed—no, hoped. I had hoped that when my fighting days were done I would make her mine. Claim her. Fill her with children and adorn her with gold and jewels, as a proper mate should. I’d lied when I told her the jewels that had decorated her lush body so beautifully were a gift for her.
They were a gift for me. I had needed to see her wearing something that marked her as mine, even if it was a lie. Even if they weren’t permanent. Yet.