Hesparia's Tears (17 page)

She sank to her knees before him. He smiled. It was wicked and filled her with warmth. She studied him. His body was perfectly formed. Not too much hair. The berry brown making her skin look so much whiter against his and she could see where she started and he ended. That turned her on. So much more than she ever thought it would.

The water pounded on her head as she circled his ankles with her fingers. She rubbed them lightly, enjoying the feel of bones beneath his skin as the water played over her sensitised body. She trailed her hands up over his legs to his knees, so perfectly formed in her opinion. She slid them along his skin and let them glide towards his thighs. He hissed as she gently played. Jessa touched him with feather-light movements inching to his inner thighs. Galan groaned lightly and moved his legs a little.

His erection was at the right height and she swayed forward. Opened her mouth and took it in. Curled her tongue around the velvety hardness and heard his groan of pleasure.

“What you do to me, Jessa?”

She swayed slowly, back and forth and clasped her hands on his hips. He rocked slightly and she gloried. She might be all his, but he was all hers.

She sucked harder while he caught her hair in his hand. She ran her tongue down the underneath of his shaft. Each movement wringing another groan or moan from his mouth and she glanced up, she dug her nails into his backside, holding him firmly against her. His eyes were closed and he breathed heavily.

She released him long enough to whisper, “Turnabout is fair play, Galan.” Then once more she closed her lips around him.

He pushed in, surging closer, undulating against her mouth, meeting each long draw with a gentle thrust.

Faster. He moved a little faster and she sucked a little harder, letting her tongue work on him. “Jessa…” His moans turned her on. Her own body now tightly wound once more. Each small droplet of water that passed over her nipples exquisite torture and her core ached with emptiness. It wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed Galan. She needed him embedded within her. She opened her mouth and released his engorged flesh.

Galan swooped down to the floor. “You are bedevilling me.” He thrust his hand between her legs as he fondled her breast, gently caressed her and she squirmed against his erotic invasion. Galan slipped one finger inside, not enough to satisfy and she cried out. “More, Galan. I need more.”

He chuckled. “Not yet.” He slipped the single digit out and between her sensitive folds.

She keened in her throat as he laved the outline of her ear. “I hear this can be quite an erogenous zone.” Just the merest touch made her ache with need.

She shook. “Galan?”

“I’m going to make you scream, my beauty. And then I’m going to eat you up.”

She gulped at his darkly erotic words even as she quivered again.

He used one finger, sliding it back within her sheath using his thumb to gently massage the nub he found between her legs. “But first, I’m going to make you hot. And ready for me.”

“I’m ready now.” Her thready words were lost amid his chuckles.

“Not nearly enough.” He withdrew from within her, slowly caressing the entrance to her core. “Feel what I’m doing to you. Close your eyes and enjoy the sensations.”

She lowered her eyelids. How could she ignore his sensual demand? Her body was a rioting mass of excited nerves. She gulped, glorying in the sensation of caressing her way down his body. She captured him in her hand and stroked the tip of his cock. He jerked in reaction, rewarding Jessa with a long hiss.

Oh yes. Two can play this game
. Her thought quickly fled as he renewed his onslaught, tweaking her nipple while small explosions continued all the way through her.

“Oh God!”

He dragged her down to him, his kiss rapacious. He continued the sensual torture and she bowed away as he settled his mouth to her neck, finding the most sensitive point as she cried out.

“More.” Her gentle demand urged him on.

Galan moved his fingers over her engorged flesh each time she leaned into his strokes, needing the touch of them inside her. But instead he teased, slipping around her core but not giving in to her request. She pumped him firmly feeling him jerk under her touch. Her breath came in urgent pants.

“Galan!” Her weak demand joined with a thrust and she rode the fingers she’d impaled herself on, needing the release.

With a grunt he pulled her up with him, then pushed her against the wall. She cried out at the loss of his touch but instead he gripped her hips. Lifted her and she wound her legs around him.

A single hard plunge embedded him deeply within her and she screamed at the exquisite pleasure, hanging onto his shoulders, lost in the maelstrom of passion. She arched while he advanced slowly but with intent. She rode him, took everything he had to give. The hairs at the juncture of his thighs abraded her where they rubbed against her sensitive flesh. Each movement intensified while her nipples made contact with his chest, the coolness of the wall against her hot skin and the slapping of wet flesh added a dimension.

Her cries were broken, unable to form a coherent thought as her body sought the release it needed. The climax built with each slip of skin against skin, as Galan moved quickly, but before she could find the peak he would stop. “Not yet.” His ragged words flayed her senses.

Then he would start again. Her heart pounded to the rhythm of their movements and her fingers lost their weak grip. “I can’t…”

“More. More of you…” He panted the words and again she tightened her legs around him, squeezing him closer—her body screaming for the cataclysmic release.

Finally, he pumped one last time and her beleaguered senses shattered in an overwhelming climax. “Galan!” Her scream urged him on. Then he pounded at her, harder and faster, no trace of the graceful man remained, just the primal lover demanding his pleasure, until he too held still against her. His seed jetting deeply within her and she leaned weakly against him. They slipped to the floor, the water still spraying over them.

* * * *

Galan carried her to the bed. Her eyes closed and her body almost boneless. He smiled. This was something he looked forward to getting used to. Even as the thought came he knew he should hurry. The coolness of the room, probably from their temperature control systems, chilled his body slightly and he shook. Their damp skin would chill if he didn’t get her under covers or dried off. Drying off would take energy and he was flagging. He’d never before experienced anything like the interludes he enjoyed with Jessa. Not only the strength of their lovemaking, but the constant need for it.

The
Quickening
certainly heightened their sensations, but it was more than that. He was sure of it. Was it love? He didn’t know. He would have said he loved Gospah, but it was a faded sensation beside the emotions he experienced with Jessa. He wanted to remonstrate with himself.
Gospah had been a good and loyal wife
. But honesty was something he prized above all. His emotions had never been as fully engaged as they were now. But he needed time to sort out the jumble in his head. If it was truly love, he needed time to woo Jessa before making any declaration. To make sure she felt the same level of bonding he did. To experience the intensity that shook him to the core. He knew she was not immune to his charms. He’d just seen that. He chuckled quietly. Yes he had most definitely seen and experienced that.

Even now his heart thudded and his mind still whirled in the aftermath. He laid her gently down, pulling the pale blue coverlet aside enough to make room for the two of them on the pristine white sheets and crawled beside her. He stared at the ceiling as thoughts chased around in his head.

“Galan?” Her sleepy query made him smile. She didn’t even seem to have the energy to look at him.

“Who else would it be?”

She snickered softly, but kept her eyes closed. “Don’t care. Just want you. Forever.”

His heart stuttered. He pulled the covers up and leaned over to kiss her gently on her lips. His body warmed a little but he sighed. The intensity of their lovemaking had him wrung out and even though a spark of arousal remained, his mind might be willing but his body couldn’t react. Not yet. Perhaps with a little sleep. He laughed softly.

“Love you, Galan.” He heard the words.

Froze.

They startled him from sleep momentarily.
Could she mean it? Does she love me? Is it even possible?

His brain tried to compute, but the exhaustion pulled at him, dragging him to sleep even as his mind wanted to make sense of the words.

Chapter Nine

Jessa woke slowly. Sunlight spilt into the room and she snuggled closer, feeling a warm body.
Galan.
She smiled. Sometime during the night he’d slung one of his legs over hers and he’d wormed one of his arms between her breasts, the slight weight both comforting and arousing. Her hair moved slowly with each exhalation. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered the lovemaking session that had interrupted their planned dinner. Her belly rumbled again and she moved, hoping not to wake him as she did.

“It isn’t bothering me.” His softly amused words surprised her.

“You’re awake?” She turned in his embrace to be met with the touch of his lips firmly pushed against hers for just an instant. The flare of heat took her and knotted her up inside once more. Just as it always seemed to do.

“Good morning to you too.” She heard the amusement in his voice and cringed slightly realising she hadn’t even said the words.

“Good morning, Galan. How long have you been awake?”

He smiled broadly. “Long enough to know that you need feeding.” But he moved his hand to pull her against him. He moved the other hand over her bottom, clutching it then kneading slightly.

She could feel his morning erection and snickered in delight. “Now? Or should we order first?” She heard his sigh of regret as he pulled away. Surely they would have time, and she grinned at the thought before rising and making her way quickly towards the lounge area. Their clothes lay in piles strewn over the room and she picked them up as she went. It wouldn’t do for housekeeping to find the remnants of their amorous activities, she reminded herself.

On the desk sat the discarded folder with the room service menu, just where it had been left. She blushed hotly at the memory of their use of the desk last night. She gripped the menu in one hand and scurried back to the bed. “Here, if we order now, we might have time before we have to meet with the Prime Minister for some…fun.”

He barked a laugh and the sensation of being wanted and whole filled her.
Desired.
He desired her.

“I like the way you think, Jessa.” He grabbed the folder and opened it before thrusting it back to her. “Maybe you should order though.”

She squinted at him. “Why? You can do it.”

“I can’t read it.”

The instant he said the words reality intruded
.
Of course he can’t. No more than I can read his writing.

“But if you can’t read it, how did you manage to decode our language?”

“We used a decoder. It did a better than adequate job. However, I don’t presently have one.”

Galan’s answer had her goggling. She wouldn’t make a big thing of it, she decided. She would just have to learn his writing and he would have to learn hers. And their children would have to learn both.

Her heart stopped in her chest.
Children. Our children.
She gulped and pushed the thought aside. She couldn’t afford to think like that.
Not now. Not yet.
Nothing is settled.
But it was there, a vision of blonde children with berry coloured skin in her arms. An ache settled in the region of her heart and for a moment dizziness engulfed her. Then she forced herself to return to reality, to remain calm. In silence she opened the folio and looked at the options. “A full breakfast or something light?”

He must have heard the tension in her voice as he raised an eyebrow. But he didn’t ask and she was thankful. She wasn’t ready to face the emotions that came with the vision yet.

“Whatever suits you.” The words rumbled through the air. She turned, reached for the phone then dialled in the order.

As Jessa hung up she swivelled. He lay back against the pillows, arms behind his head. Her breath caught. How on earth had she had the opportunity to not just meet this man but to fall in love with him? In the back of her mind sat another thought.
What if… What if I’m already pregnant with this man’s child?

Jessa stood quickly and backed away from the bed. “You know what? Maybe I should go shower and then dress. The food should be here soon anyway.”

Then she fled the room and pulled the door on the bathroom shut behind her. Jessa clapped a hand over her mouth as while she clutched her flat stomach with the other.
Oh God. What if I am?
Tears leaked from her eyes as she considered it. She hadn’t been sexually active since Jace. Hadn’t worried about any form of contraception and she was willing to bet he didn’t either, given the situation on his planet. She moaned and a knock on the door roused her from the thoughts.

“Jessa? Jessa, are you okay?” He sounded worried.

She couldn’t blame anyone but herself. “Yeah…yeah I just…” She closed her eyes and made a decision. Opening the door she peered into his eyes. “What if I’m pregnant?”

He smiled. “Then that is indeed a miracle. But how would you know?” He reached for her face and stroked it gently as she laid her hand over his.

“I don’t. But… What if I am?”

“Then we celebrate.” But as if he understood her disquiet he pulled her gently into his arms. “It is that simple, Jessa. The
Quickening
and a pregnancy would seal it for me.”

She swallowed the lump of anger and loss that lodged in her throat.
Okay, so he doesn’t love me, but will keep me because of some bond and a baby. Great work, Jessa.

The ding of a bell filled the air and Jessa pulled away, thankful for the distraction. “Stay here. I’ll get it.” She grabbed one of the robes hanging on the bathroom door. Then she thrust her arms through the sleeves before belting it firmly. Then Jessa pushed past him.