Honey McCarthy was dancing naked in the staff commons cabin at midnight.

But this time it wasn’t a dream.

Kitt had watched her remove her clothing, his gray eyes flashing with barely restrained emotion.

Now that her dance had begun, she knew it would be only a few moments before he joined her.

The cool air kissed her bare breasts and swirled around her moving body.

The only sounds were the call of the cicadas and the light rain outside, and her own breathing.

Honey heard the music with her body, like a passionate violin, accompanying her as she danced away the last of her fears and the final measures of her solitude.

Then Kitt was with her.

It was incredible to think that he had not been born into this body. He moved like he had trained all his life in Honey’s own style of modern ballet.

He lifted her high above his head, and lowered her slowly again.

“I accept you, Kitt,” she whispered in his ear on the way down. “I will be your mate.”

He smiled into her hair.

“I will spend my life bringing you pleasure,” he said gruffly. “We are one.”

Then Honey felt something come unhinged.

One moment they were talking and whispering.

The next it was as if the world had frozen.

Fireflies hung motionless in the air outside the screened room. Raindrops stopped in mid-fall, sparkling like diamonds. The flame of the candle on the table paused in its endless dance.

The sound of the cicadas had become a tone rather than a chirp.

She blinked, and looked around.

“Honey,” Kitt breathed.

“Did you… did you take me with you?”

“I think you’ve assimilated my gift,” he said slowly. “My brothers in Stargazer warned me of the possibility.”

“This is incredible,” she said.

He pulled her close in a hug so hard she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“Kitt, are you okay?”

“I’ve always been alone in the in-between time,” he told her, letting go enough to be able to gaze into her eyes. “I’m so glad I can share this with you.”

She went up on her toes to kiss him, and then they were dancing again, swaying as he ran his hands over her hips squeezing and molding her curves, as if he wanted to be sure of her.

She slid a hand up his muscular chest to cradle his face. His jaw was rough, but she could feel the delicate muscles inside working as he kissed her.

There was such desperate hunger between them, and also such sweetness.

Kitt lifted her in his arms again and Honey felt her entire body melting and softening for him. She was his now, she was ready to accept him in every way.

When he slid her down again she molded herself to him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

The evidence of his need was stiff between them. He was so large that she was almost frightened, in spite of the ravenous pull of need in her own core.

“Kitt,” she whispered.

“Honey, I need you,” he whispered back.

“Yes,” she told him. “Yes, yes, yes…”

He carried her over to the picnic table, grabbed the candle and blew out the frozen flame.

Honey laughed.

Kitt lowered her to the table, so that she was seated on the edge. Then he let go of her to peel his t-shirt off.

Once again the beauty of his masculine form overwhelmed Honey. Kitt was all muscles and golden tan.

He put one hand next to her hip and leaned down to slide off his jeans and shorts.

Honey tried to remember how to breathe. His nearness was doing things to her and the knowledge of what was to come made her happy and frightened at the same time.

This was real.

He straightened up again and caught her hand in both of his, then placed it against his chest.

Honey could feel his heart beating, strong and steady.

“I am yours,” he told her.

And somehow, though he towered over her, a hulking hunk of a man, she knew it was true. That she had laid claim to him. That he was in her thrall.

He knelt and began to kiss his way up from her ankles toward her inner thighs.

His whiskers tickled her sensitive skin and she giggled.

But when he reached the apex of her thighs her laughter was forgotten.

His breath was so warm against her tender opening.

She paused, feeling herself surge with need, swelling and pouting for his touch.

“Lie back, my love,” he said.

She obeyed immediately, eager for his touch.

She felt his warm hands, spreading her open until the cool air of the room met the moisture inside her.

“Oh, Honey,” he sighed.

And then his tongue was stroking her lovingly, coaxing her tension up with long, slow sweeps until she whimpered beneath him, hips quivering.

He hummed appreciatively.

The reverberations from his voice fluttered through her and Honey tangled her fingers in his hair, angled her hips up frantically.

But Kitt, for once, was in no hurry. He continued to fondle her with his tongue with a firm, leisurely intensity.

And Honey realized, glancing at the frozen raindrops, that they really did have all the time in the world.

She forced herself to relax slightly, opening her eyes to distract herself with the view of the wooden ceiling.

As if sensing that she was becoming the master of herself, Kitt immediately drew his attentions upward, flicking her clit lightly with the tip of his cruel tongue.

Honey cried out and sank her nails into the table.

But Kitt licked his way downward again, leaving her poor body screaming for more.

Then she felt him press a finger against her opening. She was so satiny wet and eager, he had no trouble penetrating her.

“Oh,” he murmured into her as they both absorbed the sensation of her sex throbbing around his finger.

He applied himself to her again with his tongue, lashing at her wildly now, as if he were overcome with his own lust.

Honey lifted her hips to help him find the right pace, and prayed he wouldn’t stop this time.

At last he swirled his tongue around her swollen clit.

Honey whimpered and he flicked and suckled on it, and began to move his finger gently inside her.

For one towering instant Honey’s lust was coiled so tightly she thought she would die.

Then she flew apart, moaning with otherworldly ecstasy as she climaxed, quivering and throbbing on his mouth and hand in waves of pleasure that seemed to go on and on.

At last he crawled on top of her, cupping her face in his large hand.

“Kitt,” she whispered.

“Honey, I need you.” His voice was tight with desire.

She opened her arms to him, an invitation.

“Are you ready?” He sounded concerned.

She smiled up at him and nodded. “Please,” she said.

He parted her thighs with his knee and settled between them, kissing her neck, her breasts, her cheeks.

“I will always love you, Honey,” he promised her. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“I love you too, Kitt,” she laughed. “But I think I’m the lucky one.”

“I’m going to try to make you feel that way,” he told her earnestly.

But with his big body on top of hers, she was getting distracted. Honey pulled him close and kissed him as seductively as she knew how.

He responded instantly, devouring her mouth.

She reached between them to gently caress his erection.

He groaned and his cock throbbed in her hand. It was truly enormous, Honey was glad Kitt seemed to be a gentle lover.

“Kitt,” she said. “I want you to be inside me.”

“Yes,” he growled, “but please be very still.”

She wrapped her hands around his shoulders and closed her eyes.

Then she felt the heat of him parting her, sliding over her distended clitoris and pressing against her opening.

She was so slippery wet and ready for him, but it still stung and his girth stretched her to the edge of pain as he eased his way slowly inside.

He held still when he was fully seated.

Honey tried to relax around him. After a moment the pinch was gone and her whole body was filled with euphoria.

“Oh, Honey,” he whispered.

She wished they could freeze this moment forever, but her body was already pulling at her, demanding more.

“Please,” she whispered.

He eased himself slowly out and then pressed inside her again.

“Oh,” she whimpered, already so close it seemed impossible.

He gave her another stroke, then another.

She shamelessly lifted her hips up to meet him, sinking her nails into his shoulders, begging him for more.

“Oh, Honey,” Kitt groaned and began to give her the piston-like strokes she craved.

Honey cried out as he slid a hand between them to toy with her clitoris.

She came again in a series of ecstatic convulsions. The sensation of climaxing around his huge girth was almost unbearably pleasurable and Honey was seeing stars by the time it was finished.

Then Kitt caught his breath and she felt him swell impossibly inside her, filling her with his seed as he loudly roared out his pleasure.