9781618852014TheSpaceCougarsCadetPierce (2 page)

“Wouldn’t
surprise me.”
Layla
didn’t bother to suppress a
scowl. In the past year, Earth and its allied planets had begun to suffer
increasingly serious raids from space brigands. Political debates centered on
the role of
Starforce
, with their Chancellor favoring
the switch to a more militaristic approach to teaching the students. The
Institute would transition away from a peace-based curriculum focused on
exploration and tolerance if the Chancellor had his way.
Layla’s
own courses in diplomacy, not to mention the years she’d spent in the Coalition’s
diplomatic corps, made the Chancellor distrustful of her influence. She
supposed there would be no consensus anytime soon.

Xath
patted her on the arm. “I’ll leave you to your gazing,
then.”

She
watched him walk away, his voluminous robes swinging behind him. She couldn’t
help but smile. No matter what the crisis at hand,
Xath
always had a way of reducing it to a manageable proportion. Knowing he didn’t
judge her for lusting after one of the cadets made her feel much better.
Besides, it wasn’t something she would ever act on. With her position at the
Institute suddenly more tenuous, she had to walk a tighter line than ever.

When
she turned back to the dome,
Jaret
Thek
had gone. A slim, blue-skinned female cadet had taken
his place on the bars. Somewhat relieved,
Layla
continued along the catwalk to the lounge, where she ordered a large cup of
jiwa
tea and seated herself behind some bright red plants
that formed an effective screen from the other diners. She wasn’t in the mood
for idle chitchat with passing colleagues, and good
jiwa
tended to exert a mild and temporary narcotic effect that was best savored
alone. She let the spicy tea warm her lips and invade her senses.

Leaning back in
her chair,
Layla
was mesmerized by the swaying
tendrils of the exotic Ochi plant in front of her. She imagined them wrapping
around her body, the fingerlike stems stroking her breasts. Slowly, the rest of
the world faded from her consciousness, leaving her alone with her tea, the
plant and her deliciously naughty thoughts.

Soon
her fantasy, like the plant, grew bolder. The wispy tendrils crept inside her
clothes, skated across her swelling nipples, and poked between her thighs.
Surrendering to pure physical sensation, she closed her eyes and opened her
mind to the real sweetness of imagined pleasure.

At
some point, the plant’s undulating stalks morphed into
Jaret
Thek’s
hands.
Layla
felt
her body yield to his slow, yet urgent caresses. His fingers moved deeper,
slipping inside her to caress her throbbing flesh. A hot flash of arousal
streaked through her core as her dream-self drew closer to orgasm.

“Professor
Kosajh
?”

At
first, she didn’t respond.
Layla
assumed the voice
she heard came from inside her head as part of her whole irrational
forbidden-fruit scenario. But no. Gradually she realized that someone really
had spoken to her. Surely she had mistaken the voice though. Her eyes snapped
open and widened.
Jaret
Thek
stood in front of her. He had showered and changed since leaving the gravity
gym. His short dark hair looked damp and smelled of scented soap. He wore his
daily uniform, the three silver stripes on his shoulder denoting his senior
status at the Institute.

“Cadet
Thek
. How nice to see you.” Her voice sounded choked
and tight. She wondered if he could guess the reason for her feverish blush.

“Thank
you, though you saw me earlier as well.”

Layla
swallowed and nodded. “I did happen to notice you in
the gravity gym. I must say, your performance was most impressive.”

He
averted his silvery eyes, clearly uncomfortable with her direct praise. She
found his modesty both touching and appealing.

“In
any case,” he went on after clearing his throat, “I am grateful we ran into
each other. For some time I have been meaning to tell you in person how
valuable your course last term proved to me. During Intersession, I traveled
home and was able to advise my father on several key diplomatic issues that
arose with respect to our own world. He was pleased with the direction of my
education here. He was also impressed that an Earth-born specialist had such a
firm grasp of interplanetary matters.”

She
raised her brows, but decided to accept the compliment and reject the subtle
slight toward
Earthers
. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Jaret
winced, hearing the note of sarcasm in her reply. “I
apologize for the ethnocentric implications. As you know, my people are
genetically linked to Earth’s earliest space colonists. My father knows this,
but he continues to believe that our own culture has far surpassed its origins
in the intervening centuries. His attitudes are somewhat difficult to excuse, I
admit. I am always on guard that I do not subconsciously absorb them.”

“No
need to apologize. I understand.” An awkward silence stretched between them.
“So I assume you’ll be graduating soon,” she finally said. “Will you take a
seat on your father’s council, since he finds your advice so sound?”

He
shook his head. “Doubtful, I’m afraid. I have six brothers in line ahead of
me.”

“I
see. Ah…will you join me in some
jiwa
tea? They seem
to have concocted a particularly strong brew today.”

“Unfortunately,
I am due to meet my study group for a rather crucial review session. Perhaps
another time?”

“Of course.

A narrow escape
, she thought as he
walked off. She’d almost made a complete fool of herself.
 
Hopefully he’d noticed nothing beyond her
distracted air. That, at least, he could blame on the
jiwa
.
She couldn’t allow herself to dream about him. The entire exercise was worse
than pointless—it was madness. Soon he would graduate, take a position with a
military vessel and she would most likely never see him again. Instead, she
would return to her teaching duties and her research, thinking about sex only
in terms of automated pleasure-giving devices and the leisure planets where she
could get her physical needs attended to without strings.

For
the rest of the workday, she busied herself in her office putting the finishing
touches on her exams, reading the messages on her communication device and
ordering a set of digital textbooks for the following term. Later, back at her
quarters, she removed her white-and-silver instructor’s uniform and changed
into a wispy, smock-type house garment. She had just programmed an evening’s
worth of soft music and chosen her entertainment files when her door buzzed.
She turned toward the one-way glass that made up her door.

Jaret
stood there.
 

“Come
in,” she said. She noticed that the jacket front of his uniform hung half-open,
an odd breach of etiquette for a fastidious student like him and his cheeks
looked a bit flushed. He was young, she reminded herself, so young. Though his
people measured years differently than they did on Earth, he was still half her
age. Yet, no matter how hard she tried to control it, each time he came near
her, her desire returned in full force.

“I
must be completely honest,” he blurted out, not meeting her gaze as he stepped
into her room. “I did not distinguish myself at my review session this
afternoon. I was of no help whatsoever to my study group. Eventually, I had to
plead illness and excuse myself.”

“I’m
sorry to hear that,” she said, surprised at his confiding such a personal
matter to her. “Perhaps you’re just nervous. I’m sure it won’t matter in the
end.”

“Perhaps
not, yet I prefer to maintain a clear head at all times. Today I could not. I
found the experience most disconcerting.”

“I
wouldn’t dwell on it. Things like that happen to everyone.”

“Yet
not everyone is as certain of the reason as I am.” He turned and gazed directly
in her eyes, his expression so intense that it startled her. “I am not
suffering from the ordinary anxieties surrounding exams.” He leaned closer. “I
have felt for some time that an unresolved issue lies between us.”

“Yes.
I’ve felt it, too,” she admitted, regretting her frankness the moment the words
left her mouth. Hastily she tried to redirect the conversation. “You are a
brilliant student,
Jaret
. I have no doubt you will be
one of
Starforce’s
finest officers. What you’re
experiencing right now is simply the effect of nerves.”

He
shook his head. “Seeing you this afternoon brought back many feelings. I
experienced them in your class last term as well. At the time, I remained
unconcerned, as my desire to please you motivated me to excel in your course.
Now the distraction is more problematic.”

He
shifted a little, his thoughts apparently disturbing his usually perfect
balance, his expression growing haggard.
Layla
glanced down and saw his uniform pants tent with the evidence of his desire.
Her own nipples hardened in an immediate response. He noticed it too. His
tongue darted out and circled his lips.

“I’m
glad you brought this to my attention,” she said, feigning control over the
situation. “My experience and training suggests that directly confronting a
problem yields the best results. Perhaps that is what we should do in this
case, as well.”

“Yes,”
he said, his voice rasping. “I agree. Physical attraction…should be no cause
for shame.”

Privately,
she felt a thrill at his admission. She was careful not to betray her feelings,
however. She had to maintain at least the semblance of professional
restraint.
 
“That’s true. We are all
subject to normal biological imperatives, however intellectually driven our
societies have become over the
aeons
. Living in an
isolated mini-society like the Institute only amplifies those urges.”

His
throat quivered. She stepped closer, lifting his hand and holding it between
both her palms. What she was doing was nothing short of madness, she knew, but
her body seemed to move without seeking permission from her mind. Slowly, she
guided his outstretched fingers toward her left breast.

“Touch
me,” she whispered.

Chapter Two

Her
frankness shocked
Jaret
. His hand, still clasped
between hers, shook. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.
I want you to.”

She heard him
take a deep, calming breath. She let her own hands drop to her sides as
Jaret
reached up and rested both palms on the swell of her
breasts. He began to massage her, sliding his fingers over her fleshy curves
and outlining the shapes of her rigid nipples. Murmuring her enjoyment,
Layla
leaned into his touch and let him explore. Soon he
bent his head and brushed his lips against her neck, sucking her skin. He then
moved lower, dropping his mouth to her nipples. His tongue flicked her tender
flesh through the sheer fabric of her dress.

Arousal
seared her verves and wet heat pooled between her legs. “Let’s move this to my
bedroom,” she suggested breathlessly.
Jaret
didn’t
resist when she led him through her living area and into the next room.

“I…um…take
it you’ve never done this before,” she asked as they stood face to face beside
the bed.

“Indeed
I have not,” he answered, his voice shaking.

“Well,
you let go of all that test anxiety for now. You won’t be graded on this
particular performance. And you’ll know the results of our efforts right
away—instantly, in fact.”

“I
will keep that in mind.”

She
paused in the act of reaching for the top button of his trousers. “I suppose we
should have discussed this earlier. You…ah…you have observed standard protocol,
I assume?”

Jaret
blushed and nodded. “My contraceptive injections are
in order,” he replied.

“As
are mine.”
Layla
let out a nervous sigh. She hadn’t
had that particular conversation since she’d been his age. “All right, then. I
suppose we can move forward.”

They undressed
each other slowly.
Layla
had never felt sexier than
she did when his gaze roved hungrily over every inch of her newly bared flesh.
He seemed to admire every part of her equally. She enjoyed the sight of him
just as much, pausing to appreciate his graceful limbs, narrow chest and hips,
and silky, ivory-pale skin. Like all
Zaraxians
, he
was hairless everywhere below the shoulders, though she was delighted to see a
delicate fringe of dark curls framing the base of his cock. As for that feature
of his anatomy, which she had spent more time visualizing than she cared to
admit, she found it every bit as appealing as the rest of him. Long and smooth,
it reared up against a set of rocky abs honed to perfection in the gravity gym.
Jaret
did little more than stare, unsure what to do
next.
Layla
stretched out on top of the covers,
extending a hand.

“Come
to me,” she whispered.

Hesitant,
he rested one knee on the edge of the bed and began to crawl toward her. His
cock, so hard she imagined she could see its dark veins throbbing under the
tight skin, slapped against his thighs as he moved.
Layla
assisted him by sliding both hands around his waist and guiding him into
position between her open legs. His eyes were wide with anxiety, and his breath
came in shallow rasps. He looked down at their bodies pressed together and tilted
his hips so that the tip of his cock brushed the wet folds of her pussy.