Chapter Thirteen

Kyven cupped Emerie’s face with both hands and drew her closer to him for a deep kiss. It felt like it had been months since he had been able to feel her skin and taste her lips like this, though he knew that it hadn’t been nearly that long. The time that he was trapped in the clinic on the ship and then in the infirmary had been brutal, with each hour like days stretching between them. Now he was finally able to walk around outside of the infirmary and they had stolen some time to themselves among the protective trees of the fruit orchard. He couldn’t wait another moment to touch her, to hold her, to kiss her lips and reconnect them.

Emerie seemed to melt beneath the familiar feeling of his mouth on hers and the taste of his tongue as it slipped past her lips. He allowed it to massage hers and explore her eagerly. When he ended their kiss, Kyven reached up into the branches of the tree that they were sitting beneath and pulled down a cluster of the sweet fruit. He pulled one from the cluster and held it to her lips.

Emerie closed her lips around the fruit and bit down into it, a gentle moan escaping her lips as the tart-sweet juice washed across her tongue. Some of the richly dark liquid slipped over her bottom lip and Kyven dipped his head forward to catch the drips with his tongue. Emerie took the small fruit from his fingers and brought it to his mouth so that he could take the rest of it in. Emerie took another of the fruits from his hand and crushed it in between her fingers. She trailed the juice down the center of his chest, still exposed after leaving the infirmary without bothering to put a shirt on, and glazed it across one of his nipples.

He let out a long, growling breath as she whisked the cool juice away from his skin with the tip of her tongue. As she swirled her tongue against his chest, seeming to indulge as much in the taste and feeling of his skin as she was the juice itself, Kyven brought his hands to her shirt so that he could gather it at her waist and pull it off over her head as soon as she drew back from him, revealing her breasts to him. He moaned at the sight of the lush curves and dipped his thumb into the juice on her hand so that he could paint one taut pink nipple. Forgoing the delicate tracing of her nipple, he leaned forward and closed his mouth over her breast, his tongue flicking across her skin as he licked away the juice.

Emerie bit down into her bottom lip and she arched her back to press her breast deeper into his mouth. Kyven’s hands smoothed down over her hips to grip them tightly, pulling her closer to him so that he could glide his mouth along her skin to the other breast and repeat his lavish attention there. He felt her hands move to the front of his pants and she worked the narrow ties free. She pushed the sides of the fabric open and his already surging erection sprung free. Her hand wrapped around his shaft eagerly and she let out a sigh of happiness. Her other hand flattened in the center of his chest and she guided him to lie back on the cool grass so that she could straighten his legs. Moving down, she tugged his pants off. Kyven relaxed back and let his eyes close as she used her fingers to trace more lazy patterns along the skin of his chest with juice.

Emerie followed the patterns with her tongue as she made her way from his chest down his belly. There was nothing rushed or frantic in her movements. Just as he had craved her and ached just to be close to her, Emerie seemed to be luxuriating in her ability to touch Kyven, and enjoying every moment of their skin connecting. He lifted his hips up toward her, but she seemed to purposely avoid touching his cock. Instead, she tilted her head to create a trail of kisses down the deep muscular V at the front of his hips. Her mouth glided along one inner thigh and Kyven felt his skin trembling in response to the touch. She continued the delightful torment up the other thigh and along the juncture of his leg and hip until she reached his belly again.

Kyven’s breath had become rough and ragged and his hands were gripping at the grass beside him. Emerie adjusted her body so that she straddled his legs and leaned forward. Her breasts grazed across his erection, tempting it to rise up toward her. As she continued to stroke along his cock with her warm, soft breasts, she licked from his belly up to his chest, and then flicked her tongue across his nipple again. Lifting up to this position had caused Kyven’s erection to slide across her stomach and he could feel it gliding easily with the warm drops of fluid that were slipping out and onto her skin. Emerie slid against him again and he reached up to tuck his hand at the back of her head, guiding her back down his body.

Emerie rose up on her knees to slip out of her skirt before she leaned back down and took Kyven’s erection into her mouth. A loud groan tore from his chest as he felt a deep need within him fulfilled by the warm, soft embrace of her lips and tongue. She glided her mouth down until she fully enveloped him and the tip dipped down into her throat.

Kyven clutched at her hair and used it to gently guide her into a smooth, fast rhythm. The sensation that she created was nearly overwhelming and he lifted his hips to thrust into her mouth. Soon he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hold off much longer. He grasped her by her arms and pulled her up his body, positioning her thighs on either side of him. He reached down with one hand and held his shaft so that he could position his tip at her opening. Emerie released her thighs and settled down onto his hips, taking him fully inside her in one slow glide.

Kyven watched her back arch and heard Emerie let out a moan of pleasure. When she finally held him completely, he grabbed her hips and led her to roll them so that they stay connected even while he massaged her walls and nurtured her to a shattering climax. She screamed out as her body drew him deeper and within seconds he felt the rush of dizzying sensation surge through him and his cock throbbed inside her. Kyven thrust up into her until his climax eased, and Emerie finally fell forward, her sweaty body trembling against his.

Their breath slowed and her shaking quieted as he cradled her against his chest, but Kyven stayed inside her, the feeling of her body holding him and them being melded into one was comforting and intimate. He ran his hands down her back and tenderly kissed her shoulder, closing his eyes so that he could lose himself in the feeling, smell, taste, and sound of her.

“Thank you,” Emerie whispered, the word sounding almost like an exhalation of breath.

Kyven laughed softly.

“For what?” he asked.

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes.

“For coming back to me.”

“Did I ever leave?” he asked.

“You almost did,” she said. “That beast could have killed you with little more than one more swipe. A single bite. Slashing just a little to either side.”

Her breath caught in her throat and she looked down, shaking her head slowly as if to will away the tears that Kyven could hear forming in her voice. He sat up, gathering her into his lap and rested his hands on either side of her face so that he could look at her, wanting her to see the sincerity and life in his eyes.

“I am right here, Emerie,” he said. “I never went anywhere, and I’m not going to. I was injured, yes. The Meldor was horrible, I’m not going to pretend that it wasn’t. But I survived. I’m alright now. I’ve healed and I will continue to heal until it will be like nothing happened. If anything, this will only make me stronger.” She tried to glance down again and he kept his hands steady to prevent her from looking away. “I love you,” he said. “With everything in me, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Emerie said.

Relief came over her face and Emerie kissed him softly.

“You know that this will all be over soon,” he said, hoping that she would believe him, even if he wasn’t completely sure of this himself. “This will all be over and we’ll have a life waiting for us.”

Emerie nodded.

“I know,” she said quietly.

“And when that happens, we’ll decide together what we’re going to do.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, sounding concerned.

“This isn’t your world, Emerie,” he said. “You are here by chance and by force. You never meant to not return to Earth and live out your life there after your mission, and I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave Uoria and not have to see it again. I can imagine that you want to get back to Earth.”

Emerie shook her head.

“I don’t know that for sure,” she said.

“You don’t?” Kyven asked. “You don’t want to go back to Earth?”

“No,” Emerie said. “I mean…yes, I have thought about going back at some point to see it again, but I can’t tell you for sure that that is where I want to stay. They still don’t know what happened to us and I can honestly say that I have no idea how they would respond to finding out that we are still alive. If it was me, I’m not sure what I would do or think. Going back to Earth would give me some closure. I’d like to see that everything has moved on alright without me. I’d like to pay my respects to my family and see that someone else is living in my home. I feel like I need that in order to be able to really say goodbye to the life that I had before I boarded the StarCity. But I don’t know what’s going to come after that. I don’t really want to think about it.”

“Then we don’t have to,” Kyven said, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and cuddling her close. “We don’t have to think about any of it. All that matters is that we’re together. Just know that I want you to be happy.”

“I know,” Emerie said. “And when the time comes, we’ll think about it. We’ll know what’s right for us when we find it. For now, we get through this. All we can think about it getting through it, then we can figure out what is beyond it.”

To be continued…