Page 45 of War Brides
She kneels in the space between my knees, crawling her way up to the juncture of my thighs. My breath stutters to a gasping halt when Trinh leans down and licks a slow path along the underside of my cock. It takes everything inside me to keep from grabbing Trinh and pinning her under me. As she licks me again, she stops and watches as a thin string of pre-cum trails to my abs. To my shock, she swipes her finger through the small pool on my belly and sucks my essence off her finger. A dazed, huffing growl works its way up my throat, making a delighted smirk form on her lips.
Humming a pleased noise, Trinh sucks the tip of my cock. Something about that sound of pleasure cracks my control. I had planned to let her have her way with me, do anything she wanted to my body, but instead, I snag her under her arms and roll her beneath me. She lets out a surprised squeak, followed by a giggle.
“Hey! I wasn’t done with that.”
“You’ll get plenty of time withthatsoon,” I taunt.
Laughing, she pulls my face close, melding her lips to mine. I love kissing Trinh. She puts everything into her kisses, every emotion she feels, her whole body. I work my way from her lips, down her neck, focusing my attention on the area just under her ear that always makes her moan. I work the spot until she is making small hitching gasps with each suck from my mouth.
Reaching up, she suddenly clutches my hair, trying to shove me towards her pussy and making me laugh loudly. “Now,” she demands, pulling a groan from deep inside me. I love getting her so worked up that her demanding side comes out, when her need overrules all other thought.
I hook one of my hands under her knee, pushing her leg out wide. “L’Corte, please!” she moans breathlessly. Tearing my mouth away from her neck, I place hungry kisses down her chest. Moving down her body, I nip and suck at her skin, wanting to taste every inch of her. She spreads her legs even wider in invitation. It’s good, so good. Just the feel of her body beneath mine fills me with blazing desire.
I fasten my mouth over her hipbone, tasting the salt of her skin, at the same time as I plunge a finger inside her.
She gasps in shocked pleasure, and I feel her clench around my thrusting digit. I graze the pad of my thumb lightly over her clit, and she rears up from the mattress, gasping my name. Working my way down to the cradle of her thighs, I start to lick her clit then suck it into my mouth. I feel her shatter as she shakes, her muscles clamping down around my finger. I want her to come again, so I softly lick her clit before sliding in a second finger. I leisurely build Trinh’s desire again until she is fisting the blanket under her hands, twisting from the pleasure. “More!” she demands breathlessly.
Rising to my knees, I shuffle forward until I can slide into the heaven of Trinh’s body. Pleasure rushes through all the pathways under my skin. Nothing has ever felt as good as Trinh.
I push up on straightened arms so I can watch her face as she comes again. As she writhes under me, I can feel my orgasm building. I clench my jaw and push it back. It’s sweet agony, a sensual torment, holding back the climax. Finally, Trinh’s dark eyes open wide, staring at me sightlessly as she breathlessly gasps my name. Her orgasm triggers my own. Radial bursts of light strobe brightly behind my eyelids. The pleasure is so great it feels like it will break through my skin and blast through the ship, lighting up every corner of the vessel with bright ecstasy.
My eyes open of their own accord and arrow in on the spot where Trinh’s neck meets her shoulder. As my orgasm wringes the last drops of bliss from my body, I curl over her and anchor my teeth into the firm muscle of her shoulder. I am nervous about causing her any pain, but Trinh cups the back of my head, pulling me firmer to her. As my teeth pierce her skin, Trinh breathes the word “yes” into my ear. The pleasure soaking her voice makes me lose all composure and I growl as euphoria swamps me.
Slowly, I pull my teeth from her flesh, carefully checking the bite mark. Dropping a soft kiss on the mating mark, I stretch my arm over to my nightstand and grab my scanner. It takes less than a minute to heal the small wound.
When Trinh half-opens her eyes, hazy from pleasure to stare up at me, I slowly lower myself to kiss her.
“I love you,” I tell her softly, like a whispered prayer.
“I love you too,” Trinh says, pulling me down to her side. I grab the blanket from the foot of the bed and cover my mate. She gets cold at night.
Chapter 18
L’Corte
It was two days of controlled chaos, but here we finally are, watching the dozen or so ships start to pull away, heading to meet the rest of the fleet.
I watch as Trinh stares past the thick glass as the ships start to blink out of sight. I know what’s on her mind. She’s worried about our people. She’s scared for our friends. But Trinh turns worry into action, like how she spearheaded a Presenting Ceremony for the entire ship. I can see in her eyes that she is already making plans to ensure our people return to this ship to find it ready and waiting for them. Trinh cares so deeply for those around her. She jokes and plays and teases, she flaunts important rules, but she cares.
Slipping my hand into my pocket, I roll the ampoule of Trinh’s pheromones between my fingers. The motion of rolling it my hand and warming the contents of the vial has become something that soothes me when I am stressed. Every mated Cerastean now has a vial of his mate’s pheromones. After careful testing, we’ve found that it allows us to be separated from our mates for slightly longer periods of time before we begin to suffer withdrawal symptoms. Not as much as we had hoped, but every little bit helps. The revised plan is to hide the ship containing the brides in the gas clouds surrounding the planet Secerno – several days flight away from Osti.
As Trinh watches our friends disappear on their perilous journey, her eyes are alive and on fire with determination and purpose.
When she glances over at me, I see something else there too. Love.
My mate. My destiny.
I wrap her in my arms, pulling her away from the glass and, hopefully, her worry-filled thoughts. I hug her and kiss the top of her head, trying to communicate how the burdens she carries don’t need to be carried alone.
“Oh hey,” Trinh says suddenly, the top of her head tucked firmly under my chin. “I have an idea. We should set up classes for the bride volunteers who want to learn hand-to-hand combat.”
“It’s against regulations for the volunteers to take combat training.” I try making my voice sound stern and commanding, despite the grin curling up my lips.
“Regulations, schmegulations,” Trinh says with an eye roll, but I can see the teasing light in her eyes. The little imp is egging me on, wanting to bicker.
“Rules and regulations are important!” I declare imperiously. “And yet, you’ve never met a rule you didn’t want to break.”
“You’ve never met a rule you didn’t want to enforce,” she sasses back.
“I’ll show you enforcement,” I threaten playfully, feeling heat bloom in my eyes.
“Are you gonna punish me if I disobey?” Trinh asks coyly, fluttering her lashes at me playfully.
Instead of answering, I swing Trinh up in my arms and toss her over my shoulder. Heading back to our quarters, I lovingly pat her butt as she hits my back and loudly vows retribution. It’s hard to take her seriously when she can’t stop giggling in between the death threats.
War is coming. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. My people might lose this war despite our, and our allies, best efforts. We might lose friends and family in the skirmish. The lives of my people, and those on Earth, might never be the same. The future is uncertain and looms large in everyone’s minds. But Trinh is right –today is a gift. One I plan to savor.
