Ellora's Cavemen: Tales from the Temple II (20 page)

Dragging air into his starved lungs, he released a short bark of laughter. Never had a conversation been so torturous!

Once again, Andromeda cuddled in his embrace. “If I surrender to you,” she whispered, “I’ll become hunted. I’ll lose everything I’ve worked for—my ship, my reputation. And for what?”

“For us?”

Her head shook in denial against his shoulder. “I’m not so big a fool to believe there’s any ‘us’ beyond this dream.”

He threaded his fingers through her wet hair and pulled her head back to watch the emotions her face betrayed. Sadness trembled at the corners of her mouth; wariness lurked in her wide-eyed stare. “Where do you think we go after this?”

“You to prison, me to the next job.” Her expression grew closed. “We should go back.”

Andromeda had much to learn. His wounded prey would resist his gentling every step of the way. His head descended toward hers, and she didn’t resist as he pressed a chaste kiss against her lips. Then with a nod, they were back inside the misty shower stall.

122

Raptor’s Prey

Andromeda found herself pressed to the metal wall, Khalim blanketing her back.

The weight of his cock rested between her legs, nudging her swollen slit. With the memory of her recent orgasms humming in her mind and body, she had to fight hard not to tilt her hips. Oh, how she wanted for him to slide right in…

Being pulled between a wet “dream” and reality was too damn confusing. She took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall.

Khalim kissed the top of her shoulder, but stepped away.

With his body calling all her sensually deprived hormones, she knew she needed space. And time to sort out her jumbled thoughts, free from the distraction of his aroused body.

The man needed clothes.

She pressed the button to stop the water, and the door to the stall slid open. “I’d like for us both to get dressed. I need to check my navigation system to see where we are, then I’ll fix us something to eat.”

She didn’t wait for his response and stepped out. The silent vacuum tucked around the doorway of the stall sucked the excess water from her body. Stepping farther into her cabin, she opened the cabinet above her bed and pulled out a reclamation suit.

“We don’t need clothing.” Khalim’s breath stirred the hair resting on her shoulder.

She hadn’t realized he stood so close, and shivered. “I’m cold,” she lied.

“Then we’ll tell life support to increase the temperature. There will be no lies between us.”

Her hands clenched around the black fabric of her R-suit. “How does clothing constitute a lie?”

His hands gripped her waist and turned her. She let the suit fall to her bunk. Her breasts brushed his chest and pebbled instantly.

His gaze dropped to where their flesh met for a moment, then rose again. “Your body doesn’t lie about what pleases you.”

She lifted her chin. “And how do you know I’m not simply chilled?”

His hand stroked between her legs, and then he lifted his fingers and glided them across her lips. Without a word, he proved his point.

She inhaled the fragrance of her arousal.

How she wished she could reach for her weapons in the cabinet behind her feet. A tap from her electro-stun would wipe the smirk from his lips!

123

Delilah Devlin

“Besides,” he said, his voice a low purr that only heightened her awareness of the bunk pressed behind her knees, “you wouldn’t have anything large enough for me to wear.”

“I have clothing for you.” Desperate to erect barriers between them, she continued,

“There’s a suit my last…partner left aboard the ship.”

“Partner?” His expression grew alert. “Did he share this bed with you?”

“No, it’s too small.” Too late she noticed the narrowing of his gaze. He’d noted her choice of words.

“Then you shared the bed at the end of the corridor?”

She ignored his question. “You’ve been snooping in my ship?”

“Of course. I also found the weapons in the drawer behind you.”

She jerked.

“They aren’t there anymore.”

No clothes. No weapons. How the hell was she going to get out of this fix? “I need to head back to the bridge.” She shoved at his chest and slid past him.

“What happened to your partner?”

“None of your damn business.” Had she not been acutely aware of her nakedness, she would have stomped all the way back to the bridge. For now, she’d do nothing to incite his anger or lust. If he expected her to be as easy a conquest as she had been in her dreams, he’d be disappointed.

He stayed one step behind her. “But it is my business. If he expects you to contact him—”

“He won’t.”

Khalim’s hand closed around her arm, bringing her to a halt.

She pulled from his grasp and he let her go. “He won’t contact me.”

“Tell me why.” His expression was implacable, but his narrowed eyes hinted at deeper emotion.

Sighing, she hid her hurt and blurted, “We parted company six months ago.”

“Was this by mutual agreement?”

Her cheeks burned. “No.”

“He has no reason to return?”

“He took our entire client list with him. There’s nothing of value left here.”

Khalim stood still, his penetrating gaze holding hers for a long moment, and then he nodded. “He was a fool.”

With a nonchalant shrug, she turned, intent on ending the conversation.

Again his hand stopped her—this time, his fingers spread over her belly and he pulled her flush with his body. “If you don’t care, why do you sleep in this narrow bunk rather than the larger bed down the corridor?”

124

Raptor’s Prey

She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I don’t care about him. But I hate to think about how foolish I was to believe he wanted me.”

“I would never leave you,” he said softly. His hand rose to her breast and cupped it.

“And I wouldn’t use your love to steal from you. I would cherish you.”

Her hand rose and she pried his fingers from her breast. “Well, I’ll never know that for sure, will I? Because I’m not going to love you.” She whirled away from his embrace. “And I won’t let you steal my ship.”

His hands fisted at his sides directing her gaze downward.

“I’m getting you some clothes as soon as I check our coordinates.” She ignored the look of masculine pride that curved his lips and stomped from the room.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t stalk far enough to vent her anger. The end of the corridor opened onto the bridge.

She stepped down metal rungs to the captain’s deck below and slid into her chair, extending the right arm of her chair to expose the controls.

Khalim eased into the seat beside her.

With the press of a button, the large bioluminescent screen in front of them flickered into life. A living recreation of the stars in their path glimmered against the blue-black screen. “Add vector,” Andromeda said.

Instantly, a glowing red line stretched before them, disappearing into the hazy, spiraling cloud of the distant Milky Way galaxy. “Compute arrival time,” she said.

[04 days; 03 hours; 24 minutes] appeared at the edge of the screen.

Andromeda blew out a breath. She’d slept longer than she’d thought. Her gaze slanted toward Khalim.

He stared back at her, his expression impassive. Only days away from imprisonment, perhaps for life, yet he betrayed not a single emotion.

Except that his cock remained rigid, rising from his lap.

Andromeda licked her lips. If Khalim had been persistent before—in her dreams—

he’d be relentless now. He had maybe a day to gain her password and make his escape.

Lord, how would she resist, when her body already softened and oozed with her own arousal?

“I should get us food…” Her voice trailed off.

The flair of his nostrils as he caught the scent of her arousal made her squirm in her seat. His gaze grew predatory and slipped from her eyes to her breasts, and lower to her thighs, which she pressed tightly together.

Khalim turned his chair from the screen, never taking his gaze from hers and spread his legs. His invitation was crudely made, but Andromeda had no trouble understanding. He was hers to do with as she pleased.

125

Delilah Devlin

Liquid gushed from her vagina and wet the seat beneath her. Her nipples puckered, drawing into tightly engorged points. Her hands started to lift to cover them, but he already knew how strong was her desire and she let them fall back to her lap.

She turned her chair and rose. Then she took a step toward him, and another, until she stood between his outspread knees, uncertainty and a touch of fear tethering her.

He sat so still, she wondered if he drew breath, while her chest rose and fell more quickly. Did she have the courage to take what she wanted? No,
needed
.

Her body answered for her, and flowering warmth seeped down her legs. With her hands on his knees, she knelt before him and leaned close to rub her cheek along his erection. His cock was hot and velvety smooth against her skin. She inhaled deeply, savoring the musky scent of his arousal, so familiar and yet so new, her body shivered with excitement.

Then she nuzzled him higher, gliding toward the swollen head with her chin and cheek, never taking her gaze from his. His hands clenched the armrests. His head fell back against the headrest and his chest expanded, but still he didn’t move to take her.

Andromeda opened her mouth wide and closed her lips around the crown of his cock and sucked.

“
Ha’abib!
” His hips rose and his cock slid into her mouth, caressing her tongue and butting against the back of her throat.

Gratified she could hold him in thrall with her seduction, Andromeda slid her hands along his thighs until she reached the crisp hairs at his groin. One hand sought the sac below and she cupped him there, enjoying his shiver of delight. The other hand encircled the base of his cock, lifting it from his belly to give her better control of his penetration. She lifted her mouth from him and trailed her open lips along his length, lubricating the shaft. Her hand followed, gliding moistly up and down his cock before her lips returned to chew delicately on the turgid head.

His fingers threaded through her hair, and he pushed her down his length.

Opening her jaw wide she accepted his guidance and let him surge deep into her throat, again and again, until she needed air and raised her head.

His gaze was still upon her. Perspiration gleamed on his forehead and heaving chest. “Come to me.”

Determined to prove her power, Andromeda kept her gaze locked with his and opened wide to once again take him deep inside the warm cavern of her mouth. She moaned and the sound vibrated along his cock.

His hands tightened in her hair and pushed her down.

She tightened his lips around him and sucked, gliding up and down, her hand shadowing her movements to increase the friction, gently squeezing his erection.

Khalim’s thighs quivered, his stomach grew rigid, and his chest expanded as he sucked air through his open mouth. “Enough!” he said, his voice harsh and grinding.

126

Raptor’s Prey

Not nearly enough!
Andromeda stood and pushed the armrests up. With his hands at her waist to assist her, she straddled his lap, her knees sliding alongside his hips, until her pussy poised above his straining cock. Her inner thighs quivered and she no longer cared who led, who followed. She needed him inside her.

He leaned toward her and captured a breast with his mouth, tugging at the distended tip, and then flicking it with the point of his tongue before returning to his desperate rooting, nudging, pulling…

Her back arched. She’d never known how painfully sensitive her breasts could be.

Unable to hold back a moment longer, Andromeda braced her hands against his broad shoulders and slowly lowered her body. Her wet, swollen labia pressed against the head of his cock until it slipped inside her. She sank, her thighs trembling, unable to control the depth of his piercing erection. Emitting a whimper, her breath caught.

His hands slipped down to her buttocks and gripped a cheek with each hand, and he lifted her.

Then down she pressed again, taking him deeper this time.

His mouth switched breasts and his teeth bit the nipple, causing her to cry out. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his head and she clutched him, begging him with her action to continue his tender torture.

He murmured deep within his throat, and his hands squeezed her ass tighter, lifting her, pushing her down—farther each time, until she was seated, her hips flush with his, his cock deeper than any other man had ever reached.

A coil of sensual desire wound inside her, curling, twisting. She needed more. She wanted his powerful thrusts.

Dragging his head away from her breast, she leaned down to kiss his lips. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Her hips undulated, a jerking spasmodic movement.

She was beyond grace, beyond thought. His cock stretched her, melting her core until she was ready to burst like super-heated lava. She gasped and threw her head back.

“Please, Khalim, pleeeease!”

In a single surging movement, Khalim lifted her from his lap and pushed her to the floor on her belly. Andromeda had only a moment to wonder at his purpose, before he pulled her hips up and slammed into her cunt.

“Yes!” she shouted, coming up on her hands, rearing back to meet his thrust.

With his fingers digging into the flesh of her buttocks in a bruising grip, he delivered a rapid burst of quick, deep lunges.

Andromeda’s thighs and arms threatened to buckle beneath his sensual onslaught.

Still he pumped his hips faster and faster…deeper…harder…

His hips pounded at her cunt, the sweat-slick skin of his belly smacking her ass, loud as her whimpers and moans. Her vagina adjusted to the girth and length of his cock, his movements eased by successive washes of her body’s liquid excitement.

127

Delilah Devlin

Suddenly her orgasm burst around her like a brilliant, burning supernova and she screamed. Khalim’s hoarse cry soon followed and together they melted to the floor.