KIVIAN

I’ve hurt her. Kef it, why do I have to be the noble one? I’m terrible at it. “Truth be told, I’d rather have you naked and in my bed under me, breaking every hygiene law from here to my Homeworld.”

Her eyes widen with surprise. “You would?”

“More than anything.” My voice is husky with emotion. “Don’t make it harder for me to be noble than it already is.”

She gives a little laugh that sounds like a half-sob. “I don’t want you to be noble, you big bastard. I like the laughing, cheating Kivian that doesn’t give a damn about the rules. I don’t want to go back to Earth—not if you’re not there.”

I groan. “You’re not making this easy.”

“I don’t want it to be easy! I want to stay with you.” She cups my jaw in her small hands, her earnest gaze searching my face. “You big idiot, I’ve fallen in love with you and I don’t want to leave you behind. I don’t want you to leave me behind, either. I want to learn how to be useful in your crew. I want to wake up in your arms instead of just in your bed. I want to break all those hygiene laws with you.”

“Fran, little one. I would love nothing more than that. But every day that you’re out here with me, you’re not safe.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Just that.” She shrugs. “Why am I not safe?”

“Well, for one, this is a pirate ship with no plans for retirement. We make our living smuggling and stealing.”

“So?”

“So we’re wanted in several galaxies, and if the law ever gets their hands on us, we’ll be spending the rest of our lives on the most remote prison planets they can find.”

“Then we don’t let them find us. You’d really let someone take you off to prison?” She arches an eyebrow at me. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“No, most likely we’d go down fighting.”

“I’d do the same. And I trust you to keep us out of the law’s hands.” She pats my chest, as if that’s answered all her questions. “You’re not new at this, I can tell. How long have you been a pirate?”

I shrug. “Thirty years, give or take.”

She sputters. “We’re going to have the racial age discussion some other time. For now, I think it’s safe to say that if we get another thirty years out of this, we’ll be doing great. Most marriages don’t last half as long.” Her fingers trace along my jaw and slide down my neck in the most erotic—and ticklish—of touches. “Is that the only concern? It doesn’t matter to me. I know what I’m getting into.”

Why is she making this sound so very simple? “It’s not my only concern. There’s the fact that you’re a contraband race—”

“All the more reason not to get caught with me.” She gives me an impish look and licks her lips.

Those damned, glorious lips. I want to taste them again. “It’s not me I’m worried about, Fran. It’s others that think of you as a pet or a slave.”

“You’ll protect me,” she whispers, leaning forward. The tips of her breasts graze against the plates on my chest, and I feel the erotic contact all through my body. Her tempting mouth is dangerously close to mine again. “And you can show me how to protect myself. Show me how to shoot a gun. How to take care of myself. How to be part of your crew.”

I don’t point out that most vessels of this class are four-person jobs. Truth be told, there’s room for her in my cabin, and the others don’t mind her coming along. There’s always more to be done, and I’d love to have her at my side. Not just because I’m dying to taste her lips again, or to push my cock into the wet heat of her cunt—I love her mind. I love that she’s brave enough to try to prick my ego when it gets too big, and that she’s not afraid of telling me her thoughts. I love that throaty, gleeful laugh she makes when I let her win at sticks.

She’s my mate. I must be an idiot to even consider letting her go.

“What about Earth?” I ask, because I have to.

“What about your planet?” she challenges. “If I stay with you, I want to be your partner. Not your pet. I’m pretty sure that means we won’t be accepted back in your home town.”

“No civilized planet will have me anymore,” I tell her with a grin.

“Then we’ll just have to stick to uncivilized ones.” Fran leans in and brushes her lips against mine in the briefest of caresses, and my cock feels like steel. “And be uncivilized together. If that’s what you want.” She leans back, a worried look on her face. “You…haven’t said what you want.”

“Didn’t I? I’m pretty sure I mentioned you in my bed.” I slide a hand down to caress the rounded curve of her glorious bottom.

“Yes, but I’m just yammering on with plans and you’re just agreeing with me. I don’t want that. We have to both want the same thing. If you don’t want me here, just say so.” She looks troubled and so very miserable.

How can she not think that I want her?

Perhaps it’s time I show her, instead.

I cup her face in my hands, gaze into her eyes, and then press my mouth to hers. “I want you,” I tell her between quick, short kisses. “I want you naked against me. I want your skin to mine. I want to touch you without plas-film or anything else between us. I want to violate every hygiene law possible. I want to push my cock into you and watch you cry out with pleasure. I want…” I hesitate, and then decide to plunge forward. “I want to fill you with my child.”

Her eyes go wide with surprise at my words. “You…you mean that? All of that?”

“I do.” I kiss her again, brushing my lips over hers. I’m addicted to that small touch and I plan on doing it repeatedly every day for the rest of our lives. “And if you want me to give up piracy…I suppose I can try to find something else to do.” I think of Jutari on his farm and I get it, I really do. Maybe he’d need help growing crops. I shudder at the thought, but if it would make Fran happy, then it would make me happy.

“Who said anything about giving up your job?” She frowns at me, caressing my face. “I want to stay with you here on the Fool. I want to be a pirate with you.”

“I’m not putting you in danger,” I warn.

“It’s not about what you want. It’s about what I want.” She gets a mischievous look in her eyes. “And if you won’t let me be a pirate, I guess I’ll have to be…pirate’s booty.” She shifts on my lap, pressing her bottom against me.

I groan. “What are you talking about?”

“Just an Earth thing. Ignore me.” She presses her mouth to mine again and her tongue slicks against the seam of my lips. “Can we just vow to love each other and kiss now?”

“We can.”

With that, my sweet Fran kisses me like she wants to devour me. Her tongue brushes against my lips again, and I recall what she said about using tongues. Is she…wanting to rub her tongue against mine? The thought makes me groan low in my throat. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything so much. I feel hers flick against the seam of my mouth and I part my lips to let her in.

The smooth, slick heat of her tongue brushes against mine and need cascades through me. It’s the most erotic thing, and I can’t help but respond to her caress. I use my tongue like she does hers, dancing with little light touches along the other, exploring and tasting. Time seems to slow as she rubs her tongue along mine, and I feel it right down to my cock, as if she’s licking my spur.

There’s another deviant thought that I like very much.

When we break from the kiss, she’s panting as hard as I am, and her eyes are glazed with need. “You…your tongue has ripples.”

“Yours doesn’t,” I reply, nipping at her lower lip. I’m already addicted to this “kissing.” I need more.

“That’s so odd,” she breathes. “Good, but odd.” She moves a hand and traces my brow and the ridges there. “Are you rippled everywhere? You know I have to ask.”

“If you mean my cock, the answer is yes. Humans are smooth, I take it?” The shocked look on her face tells me everything, and I grin. “Ah, discovering all the ways we are different is going to be such a pleasure, my sweet mate.”

“Oh boy,” she whispers. “You aren’t kidding.”

I lean in and kiss her again, and as I do, I pull on one of the sleeve ties to the oversized shirt she’s wearing. “I know we’ll have to get you some appropriately sized clothing when we head back to civilization, but I confess I like seeing you wearing my shirts. It makes me think about stripping them off of you and getting you naked under me.”

With an expert tug, the sleeve falls away, revealing her bare arm. I stroke her soft skin lightly, fascinated by the feel of her. She pulls on her belt-cord, loosening it and then tossing it aside, and by the time her other sleeve is undone, I can pull the entire thing over her head. I study her face to make sure there’s no misgivings or worry there, but all I see is need. Even so, I want it to be her idea, so I kiss her and wait.

Fran makes an impatient sound against my mouth and then pulls away, yanking her shirt—my shirt—over her head and tossing it to the floor. Normally I would protest about such rough care for my clothing, but she’s naked in my arms and my shirt’s the last thing I give a kef about.

All that smooth skin is bared before me and I can’t resist touching her. I stroke my hand up one thigh, watching her face as I do so.

“So,” she says, all breathless. “Do I need to show you a few things since I’m your first to touch?”

I grin at the cocky confidence in her words. “Little one, I’ve touched females before, just not skin to skin. Not like this.” I glide my hand up her thigh, towards her heat. “This is much, much better.”

“I don’t want to hear about other females.”

“Good, because I can’t even think about them. No one existed before you. All I can think of is Fran and only Fran.” The only thing on my mind is touching Fran. Teasing her. Making her come.

“That’s just how I like it,” she says playfully, and puts her arms around my neck. She leans in and kisses my jaw, avoiding the sweep of my horns. “Can I taste you everywhere I want to?”

I groan. “Gods, yes.”

As she nibbles on my skin, making my cock ache, I let my hand slide up to the vee of her cunt. What I thought was just shadow turns out to be a fascinating little tuft of hair between her thighs. “Why, hello, what’s this?” I murmur. “A surprise? I love surprises.”

I love the little gasp she makes when I touch her there. “Are you…do you not have hair there?”

“I do not. Though now I’m hurt that you never looked,” I tell her with a teasing laugh. “Here I was getting naked and parading around in the hopes of enticing your attention.”

“We were supposed to be just friends,” Fran says. “I was doing my best to be your friend. That means no looking.”

“I prefer us like this.”

“Me, too.” Her gaze flicks to my mouth, and just that little glance makes me growl fiercely. I pull her closer and capture her mouth with mine, exploring her with kisses even as I discover if her cunt is the same as any other or if it’s as charmingly unique as my Fran.

My fingers glide over her folds, and she’s soft and wet and scorching hot. It’s never felt like this before. I’ve never touched skin-to-skin, and the sensation is as erotic as it is addictive. My skin slicks along hers and I can feel the little shivers she makes as I explore her. I caress her folds as I kiss her, and my need for her feels like it’s growing with every moment that passes. I’ve never been so aroused by touching a female.

But this is Fran. Of course she’s better in every single way. She’s the one I’ve been waiting for.

As I touch her, my fingers rub over a small bump of flesh near the top of her cleft, and Fran jolts in my arms, making a surprised noise of pleasure. She grabs my wrist and moans, her eyes closing.

What…was that?

I freeze, because it seems that human anatomy has a few surprises. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she breathes, and she’s panting hard. She’s not pushing my hand away, I notice, just gripping it tight. “Do…do your blue women not have a clit?”

“Is that what this is?” I brush my fingertips up and down her slick valley once more, looking for it. Sure enough, the moment I rub over her “clit” again her entire body trembles against mine.

“Very. Sensitive,” she tells me, gasping. Her other hand has latched tight around the back of my neck and I can feel her muscles clenching.

Fascinating. “Well, now. Should I stop?”

“Noooo.”

I chuckle at the utter sorrow in her response. “My poor, sweet little human. I promise I can stop touching you there. Just tell me if it’s too much.”

My “sweet” little human grabs one of my horns and holds tight. “If you stop I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Well now, I can’t have that, can I?” Very lightly, I rub up against that pleasure spot, and I’m delighted when she closes her eyes and cries out. It seems that I’ve found a magical little button that makes my Fran light up.

Oh, this is going to be endless amounts of fun, I can tell already.

I stroke her over and over, watching her reactions, learning her body. She likes it best when I’m gentle and light with touches, and when I’m too brisk, she doesn’t seem to respond. Teasing the hood of flesh encircling the little nub seems to get the best reaction, and she’s practically crawling out of her skin and climbing me as I pet her.

I don’t stop even when she’s keening and moaning my name, or when her hand grips my wrist so tight I’m surprised at her strength. She’s not pushing me away, after all. She’s just desperately trying to anchor herself to something, and I can guess why.

Seconds later, she lets out a surprised sob and I can feel her entire body clench up in response. She calls my name and her thighs grip my hand tightly, trembling, even as I feel her grow wetter and wetter.

I’m utterly fascinated, and if I wasn’t already in love with her, I would be now. I love that she’s trapped my hand against her cunt, as if it’s too much but she’s still not willing to let me go. So I keep rubbing her clit, because I’m a sadistic son of a bitch and I want to see if I can make that happen again. I’ve never seen a female so responsive, so lost in the moment.

And she’s mine.

I rub her little clit until she’s clenching around my hand again. This time, she pushes me away, gasping, and I remove my hand. I’m fascinated by just how wet it is—all from her body—and I can’t resist a taste. I bring my fingers to my mouth and lick her juices off of them. It’s musky and delicious and I need more.

“Kivian,” she pants, clinging to me as I suck the sweetness of her off of my skin. “You’re bound and determined to break all of those laws, aren’t you?”

“I’ve never been much of a rule-follower,” I tell her thickly. “Lie back so I can taste you again, little one.”

“No,” she tells me, startling me. Fran meets my gaze with dark, liquid eyes that seem to devour me. “I want to taste you first.”

Ah, how can a male refuse such a request? “I’m all yours, little one.”

She beams a smile at me and gets off of my lap, getting to her knees on the bed beside me. She tugs at my clothing and then frowns when it doesn’t seem to be moving no matter how many knots she unties. “Um. You might want to get rid of the first layer for me.”

I chuckle and get to my feet. “As my female wishes.” I think for a moment about taking my time and teasing her, but I’m no fool—I want her hot, fascinating mouth on me, tasting me just like she promised. So I quickly remove my shirt and then my trou, kicking them aside before standing before her in my naked glory.

Her eyes are wide as she stares at my cock, and for a moment, I feel a bit of doubt. “Your males…they have cocks, do they not?”

“Not like that,” she murmurs, unable to look away from my groin.

I glance down at my equipment, but it all looks normal to me. “Which part? I’m not furry like you.” I cup my sac, as if demonstrating to her.

“Oh my god, never say ‘furry’ again,” she tells me and then extends a hand, indicating I should come forward. “Kivian, I love you, but your dick kind of worries me.”

“It does? Why?” I step forward so she can do with me as she pleases, though I’m growing more concerned by the minute. I want my Fran to be excited to touch me, not alarmed.

Her hands slide around to my ass and she caresses my skin, and I momentarily forget all about her worry as the feel of her hands gliding over my muscles sends a rush of pleasure through my body. I groan, closing my eyes.

“You’re so…big,” she murmurs.

“Flattery,” I tell her thickly. “Of course I’m big. I’m much taller than you. I would imagine we should still fit, though.”

“That’s not the part that worries me.” She leans in closer and her hand moves to the front of my thigh, as if she’s going to touch me…but still doesn’t. “What’s this part here?” Her fingers lightly stroke my spur.

I nearly collapse at that small touch. I was definitely not prepared for how good her hand would feel there. “It’s a spur? Your males don’t have one?”

“What’s it for?”

“Nothing, I imagine. It’s just there, like my tail. Maybe it had a use in the past, but now it’s just here to frighten sweet human females away from putting their mouths on mesakkah males.”

“Oh, I’m not frightened away.” Fran gives me a challenging look. “I just want to make sure there are no hidden spikes or anything.

“No spikes,” I tell her thickly. “No hidden anything. I promise.” Her breath is fanning against my cock and my belly, and I’m having a hard time concentrating. Closer, I want to tell her. Move closer. But she has to do it on her own terms.

“Just a big thick blue cock with all these ridges, right?” Her voice is so soft and sultry that it makes my sac tighten in response. I want to bury my hand in her hair when she curls her fingers around my length, testing it. “Well, big thick cock and spur, of course.”

“The spur won’t harm you.”

“I know you won’t hurt me,” she tells me, and looks up at me with the most playful smile on her mouth. “It’s just startling to see. Is it sensitive?”

“Not really,” I begin, but then she runs her finger lightly underneath it and my knees get weak. “Maybe…maybe a little.”

Fran chuckles and pats the bed. “Do you need to lie down while I touch you?”

“No. I’m fine.” I hope. Plus, from this angle, I get to watch her kneel down in front of me. It’s like every dream I’ve had come to life, and I wonder if I shouldn’t pinch myself to make sure I’m awake.

But then she lowers her head and her tongue slides over the crown of my cock, and there’s no denying that this is real. Nothing in my mind compares to how that just felt. “Ah, Fran…”

“Let me know if I do anything you don’t like,” she murmurs, and kisses the head.

“I like all of it,” I reassure her, flexing my hands so I don’t grab her hair and push her mouth down on my cock. “Do with me as you like.”

She glances up at me through her lashes and gives me a coy little smile even as she runs the tip of her tongue over my cock.

I groan, and now I’m panting as hard as she was. I watch, utterly fascinated, as she sucks on the head of my cock and then takes me deeper into her mouth, rubbing my length along her tongue as she pulls me deep. My cock’s fucking her lovely, soft mouth, and the feeling of my bare skin against her lips is better than I could have ever imagined.

I’m pretty sure this violates so many laws that I’d be wanted in six systems. I’m also pretty sure I don’t care. I’d give up anything and everything for just a few more moments of Fran’s mouth on me. When she makes a little sound of pleasure as she sucks on me, I can feel it all through my body, and I wrap my tail around her arm, desperate to anchor her to me in any way I can.

My female. My Fran.

She’s perfect.

I reach down and caress her cheek as she licks my cock, over and over again. Her gaze is locked on me, and I’ve never seen any creature more beautiful. Did I think humans were strange looking? Clearly I was mad, because I love Fran’s smooth little brow and her delicate features. I love her five fingers and her lack of a tail. I love her skin that’s the strange shade of a fruit I saw in a marketplace once. I love everything about her and most of all, I love that she’s mine.

One of her hands goes to my spur and she caresses it, sending electric flashes of pleasure up my spine. I stiffen, about to lose control, and then pull away from her. “No, my sweet,” I rasp, even though every urge I have is telling me to pump into the hot well of her mouth until I spill. But not this time. Not for our first time together. I want to bury myself inside her and gaze down at her lovely face as I make her mine. “I want to come inside you when I release. I’m too close as it is.”

She nods, eyes dark with need, and when I get down on the bed next to her, she wraps her arms around my neck and leans in for another kiss. She’s as addicted to them as I am. Being naked with her offers a new kind of pleasure, though—the heat of her skin against mine as her breasts push against my chest plating. I flick my tongue against hers in light, flirty caresses, even as I run my hands up and down her bottom, squeezing it. So soft. So keffing soft.

I’m ruined for her. Nothing will ever taste as good, be as soft, or smell as sweet as my Fran does.

I squeeze her thigh and then pull her against me, using my tail to brush a lock of hair out of her face. “Are you ready for your mate, little one?”

She bites her lip and nods at me. “I love you, Kivian.”

Her soft words fill me with a fierce pleasure. “I love you too, my Fran. I’m only sorry I didn’t tell you how I felt earlier, because then we could have spent the last three weeks making love instead of playing sticks.” I lean in and nip at the dusky tip of one of her breasts. Such lovely, rounded little mounds.

Fran chuckles, running her hand up and down my arm and then squeezing my bicep. “Just consider it a lot of foreplay. Besides, we have all the time in the world to make love.”

“Mmm.” I drag my tongue over her nipple and love the way she shivers. “I might have to break something just so we can remain out here another week and I can keep you in my bed.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” she tells me, breathless and squirming underneath me.

I move up to kiss her again, and she hooks a foot around my hip, parting her legs for me. I twine my tail around her ankle, holding her in place, and push her other thigh wide so I can settle in between them. She moans, eager with anticipation, her hands fluttering over my chest and arms as if she’s not sure where to touch me. I take one of her hands in mine and bear it down to the bed. I use my other hand to fit the head of my cock at the entrance to her core.

I can feel how wet she is. It’s incredible. She’s incredible.

“Kivian,” she breathes, as I slowly push into her, and our eyes lock.

“I’m ruined,” I whisper to her. “You’ve ruined me.”

Nothing else could feel so amazing. So intense. So…deeply connected. It’s like we’re one being, and when I slowly surge into her, I can see—and feel—everything about her. I’m fascinated by the way her lips part ever so slightly. The way her lashes flutter each time I thrust into her. The way her nipples graze against my chest when I lean in.

It takes a few shallow thrusts for me to fully seat myself into her. I want to go slow, make sure her body can take all of me. Her cunt is an intensely tight grip that’s utterly stunning to experience.

The moment I thrust fully into her, though, she gasps in shock, and her heel digs into my hip, her eyes wide.

“What?” I ask, going still. “What is it?” Did I somehow hurt her? The thought makes me sick.

“Spur,” she breathes.

Spur?

I reach between our bodies, and sure enough, my spur taps against the little node of her clit when I’m pushed deep inside her. “It hurts?”

“God, no,” Fran tells me. “It feels incredible.”

I laugh with sheer joy. “You just aged me three years, little one.”

“So, what, that makes you nine hundred?” I laugh again, and she moans. “When you do that, I can feel it all the way through my body.”

“Then I shall plan on making you laugh quite often,” I tell her, and I mean it. I move slowly over her again, and when I push into her this time, I’m acutely aware of how my spur taps against her clit, and the little tremor of response that tells me she’s enjoying it.

Well, that and the bellow in my ear she just made, and the fact that she’s grabbed one of my horns again.

Confident, I pump into her again and start a slow, steady rhythm, intending to make long, languid love to my human.

It doesn’t work that way. Every time I thrust into her, she gasps and clenches, and I can feel the little spasms of pleasure deep in her cunt. She tightens around my cock each time, and the wet, gripping heat of her is impossible to tune out. I can’t find a rhythm after all. Instead, I make each thrust as good as I can possibly make it for both of us, watching her response each time. I can feel her tensing as I pound into her, and her little whimpers escalate until she’s keening in my ear, her nails digging into the plates on my shoulders.

“Kiv,” she breathes. “Kiv. Kiv.”

“My sweet Fran,” I tell her, pushing a tendril of sweaty hair off her brow. She’s so lovely in her pleasure that I can’t look away. “All mine.”

“Yours,” she promises, even as I thrust into her again. She makes a little choking sound, arching her hips, and with my next thrust, she comes again, shuddering and wrecked.

Now I can come, too. I pump into her, harder and faster, desperate to join her in her pleasure. She murmurs filthy promises in my ear even as her breasts bounce with every thrust, and it’s enough to make me lose control. I grunt her name between gritted teeth as I spill deep inside her, pouring my essence into her body and claiming every bit of her.

Fran is mine. All mine.

I collapse against her, then roll on my side so I don’t crush her under my weight, and flip her onto me. We’re both sweaty and sticky from our lovemaking, but I like it. It definitely feels a little deviant, but why shouldn’t I revel in such things? Nothing about our relationship would be by the law. No sense in starting now.

As I catch my breath, I caress Fran’s face. “How are you, my sweet?”

She gives me a dreamy smile. “Better than good.” She wiggles on top of me, wrinkling her nose. “Your spur’s still pushing me in all the right places.”

“Making you think of round two, then? Give a pirate a moment, won’t you?”

Fran chuckles and lies down atop my chest, her arms around me and her cheek against my heart. “You can have a moment, then. But just one.”

“You are the very soul of generosity, my love.”

She smiles, but the look she gives me is curious. “So you were really going to take me back to Earth? Even though it’s dangerous?” At my nod, she continues. “What about the other girls? The other human slaves you were going to rescue?”

I know what she’s asking. She doesn’t want to sacrifice their happiness for her own. “Don’t get any ideas, my sweet. You’re stuck with me. As for the other females, we can still rescue them, I suppose. Let them decide their own fates. They can take their chances here with us, or we can drop them off at a safe place that harbors humans…or we can take them back to Earth.”

“What are the others going to think of that?” She looks worried. “Alyvos won’t like it.”

“Alyvos gripes about everything, but he’s also the first to sign up for a dangerous job. He’s a good man. He’ll go along with it.” I pat her arm. “And who knows, perhaps we can find him a human friend. Or perhaps my brother might like some extra help on his farm.”

The smile she gives me is everything. “It sounds like a wonderful plan.”

It rather does. “Been meaning to visit my brother anyhow.”