Tempted by Celestial Bodies

Chapter 5

chapter five

gen

Kerian’s kiss was unlike any I had ever felt before.

He kissed me with hunger, possessiveness, and need, as if my lips, mouth, and tongue were his to claim and do with as he pleased. I had never felt so wanted by a man’s mouth before.

His lush jungle scent grew until it filled my lungs and seemed to soak into my skin. It had undercurrents that reminded me of wines and spices I’d tasted on some other world years ago, long before I’d become the captain of the Nebula and left my old life behind.

His hot tongue slid over my lips and shimmered with stardust. I opened my mouth again, inviting him to share the taste of the dust with me. The moment our tongues touched, a jolt of pleasure ran straight through me like a bolt of plasma, causing my thighs to clench. I moaned.

“Please take off your nightclothes,” Kerian rasped. His dark eyes glowed like starlight. “Before I ruin them.”

I pulled the soft sleeveless tunic over my head. Rather than toss it aside, I rubbed the cloth over my breasts and stomach, transferring the shimmering stardust to my bare skin.

“Let me,” he said, and took my top from me. He swept it over every inch of my back, from my shoulders to my waist, and then nudged me to lie flat so he could do the same to my chest. His fingertips grazed my hard nipples. I cupped my breasts for his attentions and he took his time ensuring every quivering centimeter glimmered.

With my upper body now coated in dust, he slipped his fingers into the waistband of my pants and drew them slowly down my legs, dusting my skin with the shirt as he went.

The moment my pants were halfway to my knees, he leaned over to drag his tongue over my abdomen and then farther down. I moaned, my hands clutching at the bedding.

His tongue delved between my barely parted thighs. I cried out and tried to open my legs, but he held me still as he flicked his tongue on my most delicate and sensitive skin. This was torture.

“Take off my pants,” I told him breathlessly. “Don’t make me wait.”

“You like giving orders.” He gave me a smile that sent a shiver through my entire body. He slid my pants down my legs until they were off, and then dragged them between my thighs as he crawled back up my body to kiss me again.

“And?” I panted as the soft fabric ran over my inner thighs. The stardust tingled on my skin, heightening my sensitivity until I swore I could feel each individual particle of dust.

“And I like taking them,” he murmured against my lips. “But please turn over so I can get your back as well.”

I turned to my stomach so he could swirl the dust-covered pants over my ass and down the backs of my legs. He took his time. Every slow sweep of the soft fabric made me shake, shiver, and moan.

“Done,” he said, and rolled me onto my back. I stared.

He’d somehow performed magic and removed his jumpsuit while I’d turned away, and now I saw all of his body for the first time. Well, the first time that I remembered, given my memories of our meeting in the cargo hold were nothing but blurry impressions.

The same dark blue skin and green leafy patterns covered his entire body, including a cock as beautiful as it was thick and inviting. It curved upward toward his abdomen. I licked my lips.

“Tell me what kind of heat you want,” Kerian said. His hot fingertips ran up my thigh and over my hip to my waist. An old scar ran almost halfway around my abdomen. He must have seen it, along with all the others, when he treated my injuries, but they didn’t seem to bother him. And he didn’t ask how I’d gotten them. He’d probably already guessed I’d made my living with guns and blades before becoming captain of the Nebula .

“This kind.” I spread my legs for him, marveling at how my skin shimmered in every color. He’d even dusted my toes. “How do I look now?”

“Like a dream I never want to wake up from. Like the sweetest dessert in the galaxy.” Kerian slid down the bed and kissed his way up my inner thighs. “I love to eat dessert first,” he murmured, and raised my hips so he could slip his tongue between my legs for a series of long, sinuous licks.

Oh, gods . I twisted my fists into the bedding.

“No.” He raised his head, his gaze dark with need. “If you want to grab something, hold on to me.”

I let go of the comforter and slipped my fingers through his hair. He rewarded me with flicks of his tongue, and more when I clutched his hair and pulled.

No one had touched me like this in far too long, and Kerian’s lifesaving talents paled in comparison to the way he plucked and played every sensitive place like a stringed instrument. When his hot fingers slipped inside me, I came apart on his tongue, screaming and grinding against his face and hand.

I expected him to stop, but he didn’t. He didn’t even pause, as if my cries weren’t as loud or desperate as he wanted them to be. And when his fingers curled inside me, stroking and searching, I came undone again, this time with a scream.

Kerian moved up my body, his fingers still stroking inside me so I writhed and panted. “Tell me what kind of heat you want now.” He dipped his head to lick and suck my nipples, biting each time I raised my hips to grind against his hand. His hot cock rubbed against my thigh, collecting more stardust with each movement he made.

“More of this,” I gasped, clutching his head so he would keep teasing my nipples with his tongue and teeth.

“Stroke my antennae,” he ground out, his tongue laving my breast until I wanted to scream with how good it felt. “Be gentle.”

I drew my fingertips from the base of one of his antennae to the top. He shuddered hard. “Again,” he said. “Please, Gen.”

His plea melted me all the way to my core. I repeated the movement, alternating between the antennae so I could keep one hand on the back of his neck. I had no idea what sensations this gave him, but he trembled against me as he drew more pleasure from me with his tongue, lips, and fingertips.

He lay half on his side, leaning over without putting his weight actually on me. His skin felt so much warmer than mine. I wanted—I needed —more heat.

“Put your body on mine,” I told him, raising his chin so I could look into his beautiful glowing eyes. “I want all of it. I want all of you.”

Bracing himself with one hand, he moved his knees between my thighs to keep his weight from crushing me into the bed. He ran his lips, tongue, nose, and antennae over me, tasting and smelling my skin, and even licked his fingers before slipping them back between my legs.

I wanted to taste him too, but I needed to feel his heat warming me from the inside. I wrapped my legs around his hips and urged him closer.

Instead of obeying, he resisted, looking down at me from above.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, breathless. My fingertips traveled across his chest, following the lines of his muscles.

“I don’t know how I ended up on this ship.” He dipped his head into the crook of my neck and shoulder and inhaled deeply, as if he wanted to drink in every atom of my scent. “I intend to kill whoever did this to me. But I owe them a thank you before they die.”

“You did say you are a polite man.” I cupped his face with my palm. “Anything else on your mind?”

“Only you.” He rested one hand on my shoulder to hold me in place and pressed his lips to my ear. “Only… this .”

He thrust deep into me with his shimmering, stardust-covered cock in one powerful stroke.

We cried out at the same time. The entire bunk shook beneath me. I couldn’t tell if I was writhing from head to toe or if he was, or both.

The burn and pleasure of his thrust turned into a series of orgasms that rolled through my body, one after the other, with no pauses and no mercy. I screamed. I sobbed. I cried out Kerian’s name, sometimes as only syllables and sometimes as the whole word. My vision tunneled into a kaleidoscope of the colors of his wings, as if we were tumbling through space and he’d wrapped them around me. I felt weightless, free, transformed…and yet perfectly safe.

I had only marginal awareness of my body—just enough to know I was thrashing uncontrollably in Kerian’s arms.

The stardust , I thought, the words so hazy they barely registered. Beautiful as a galaxy and as combustible as a supernova.

A million little explosions later, I opened my eyes to find myself lying on Kerian’s chest. “Gen,” he said, squeezing me gently. “Gen, can you hear me?”

“Your wings,” I gasped, my voice raspy. Had I screamed myself hoarse? “We’re lying on your wings!”

“It does not hurt me.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Are you all right?”

I tried to laugh, but I trembled so badly that apparently Kerian didn’t realize what sound I’d tried to make. His entire body tensed, and his antennae bent toward me, quivering in what might have been worry. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” I moved my head so I could look into his eyes. “No, you didn’t. I’m not hurt at all. I’m…” I couldn’t find the right words for coming down off all-body orgasms that sent me into another universe altogether, so I rasped, “I feel very good. What about you?”

“I feel very good too.” He relaxed, his arms loosening around me. “I am sorry. I had no idea that would happen.”

“Please do not apologize for the best orgasm of my life—or orgasms ,” I amended. “I’m a fan of that dust from your wings.”

He smiled. “Only my dust?”

I rubbed my nose against his chest. The multicolored dust covered both of us from head to toe now, and I liked the sight of our matching, glimmering skin even more than I’d imagined I would. “I am a fan of everything about you, Kerian Nos.”

“I feel the same, Gen Drae.”

We lay like that for a long time, with me listening to the beatings of his hearts and him languidly stroking my side and hip with his hand.

“Are you warmer now?” he asked, his hand coming to rest on the curve of my ass. “Too warm? Not warm enough?”

Did I detect a hint of hope in that last question?

“Not warm enough. Not yet.” I slid down his body.

He seemed reluctant to let me move until I wrapped my hand around him and stroked gently a few times, and then not so gently.

He sucked in a breath. “Gen…”

I took him into my mouth, tentatively at first because I wasn’t sure how he would react, and then more deeply when he groaned and let me do what I wanted. His stardust and rich jungle taste sent pleasure spiraling through my entire body. I couldn’t help but slip my free hand between my thighs with a muffled moan.

“Come to me,” Kerian said, his voice guttural.

I let him reposition me with my body on top of him and my knees on either side of his chest so he could return his talented tongue to the place I wanted it most.

Lost again in a haze of pleasure, I made him writhe and groan with my mouth and hands. In return, he held me firmly in place, refusing to let me move away or escape until he’d wrung two more orgasms from me.

When I collapsed on his chest, gasping for breath and unable to move on my own, he wrapped me in his arms almost lovingly and rolled us over so he could cover my body with his. This time he thrust much more slowly, moving what felt like a centimeter at a time. Our first coupling had been a supernova; the second, a perfect series of tidal waves or earthquakes that rolled over us both each time he moved.

Once he finally filled me to the hilt, I wrapped my trembling arms and legs around his back and hips, marveling at the way his muscles flexed under his skin and the delicious sensation of the edges of his wings brushing against my calves. The tingling stardust made even those gentle touches spark and blaze with pleasure, as if the feeling of his hot length stroking in and out of me wasn’t breathtaking enough.

“Can I touch your wings?” I asked.

In wordless answer, he nuzzled my neck and draped them over us.

I ran my fingertips over his wings and gasped in wonder. They were as silky as I’d imagined, but each color had a slightly different texture. The edges had a fringe of tiny hairs. When I caressed those hairs, Kerian shuddered and his pace increased before he regained control and slowed again.

“Don’t be gentle with me,” I told him, cupping his jaw with my hand. “I’m not fragile.”

“But I am very strong.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m afraid I will hurt you.”

“I’m not afraid of that happening.” I smiled up at him and ran my thumb over his lips. “But if you’re worried, let me take over.”

He rolled us over in one smooth, almost acrobatic movement while keeping me filled and let his wings drape across the bunk beneath us.

In the soft starlight that streamed through the window, he watched me ride him, his hot hands on my thighs and my hips as if to guide me. I moved faster and he met me halfway, using the leverage of his feet on the bed to drive himself deeper and harder as I braced myself on his chest. Our cries echoed in my cabin.

He threw his head back, his fingers tightening on my hips until I knew I’d have bruises, and rasped, “Gen.”

The sound of my name said like a prayer and the feeling of this beautiful man lost in pleasure beneath me sent me over the edge with a wail. I collapsed on his chest, lost in bliss. But he wasn’t ready to let me rest. Instead, he changed our position once more, curling up behind me and hooking my leg over his arm so he could thrust gently.

“Watch,” he said, his dark eyes meeting mine before he looked at where our bodies were joined. “Watch how well you take me, my beautiful Gen.”

My beautiful Gen . I had never been anyone’s Gen. Strange that I didn’t mind when he’d called me his.

I watched as he’d asked me to until he found the angle that made my head fall back against his chest, and then I saw nothing but a haze of stars until I came once more, softly this time, wrapped his arms.

Kerian pressed his lips to my ear. “Are you warm enough now?”

“Almost.” I ground against him a few times, enjoying how he groaned each time I slid up and down his length, and then slipped free to lie on my back, my knees open in an invitation he immediately accepted.

The stars streaking by the window reflected in his dark eyes as he moved above me. Maybe it was that soft starlight that made me murmur, “Tell me what you want.”

He kissed my forehead and drew back to look directly into my eyes. “I want to come inside you. It is safe for me to do so. I am without disease, and I am voluntarily sterile.”

“I am too.” I cupped his face with my hand and whimpered when he did something magical with his hips. “You may come inside me, but only when I say you may.”

His smile told me he liked what I’d said. I’d suspected he would.

He bent to kiss my jaw and increased his pace once more. “Beautiful Gen,” he murmured against my lips. “Captain of the Nebula . Tell me when I may come.”

For a long time I made him thrust harder and faster, until he’d gone wild with need and almost feverish with the effort of holding back. He called my name again and again in a litany that was part plea and part exultation.

I came apart one final time with a soft cry, my fingernails digging into his shoulders as he watched from above. “Now,” I gasped.

He threw his head back with a groan, his beautiful body wracked with shudders from his antennae to his feet as he finally allowed himself to come. The heat of his release filled me in waves, one after another, until he was spent.

He lowered himself to cover my body once more with his own, but with most of his weight on his elbows and knees.

“Pin me down,” I whispered. “The way you did in the cargo hold.”

His startled expression and sudden smile made me think my words resonated with him in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Maybe he’d been drawn to me even then.

“Yes,” he rasped, and put his body on mine with his face nestled into the pillow beside my head.

With his muscular torso pressed against mine, I felt his hearts pounding and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Finally, I was wonderfully, wonderfully warm.

Beneath me, the familiar hum of Nebula ’s engine comforted me through my bunk. For years, that thrumming had soothed me all the way to my bones.

Now the sensation was a reminder that my ship was now four days from docking at Ymar II, and then I’d have arrange for Nebula to be towed to the nearest drydock shipyard for repairs. Meanwhile, Kerian would depart on his search for how and why he’d ended up in my cargo hold.

I hoped repairs would be possible and I could find a way to finance them. With Kerian gone, I would have to face that hurdle on my own, coldly and efficiently, along with all the obstacles that would come after.

At least I was warm for now. That would have to do.