—
The door to her room slid shut behind Karen with a soft thump.
She padded to the bathroom and undressed, looking forward to a lazy afternoon of snacking and napping. Why bother returning to Earth and all the worries that awaited her down there when she could stay on Omaron and mooch off of Megan forever?
Karen smiled wryly at the thought. As much as she deserved this vacation, she could never be content with a life lacking direction and purpose.
Standing naked beneath the stark light of the bathroom, Karen watched herself in the mirror as she touched her stomach. No baby bump yet. Only that bit of extra flesh acquired from many late nights of junk food as she poured over pages and pages of medical textbooks. She turned to the side, curving her hand over an imaginary larger bump. What would she look like?
I’m having a baby.
She grew excited even if the thought scared her too. A baby on the way meant all those decisions she’d been avoiding to make had a rapidly approaching end date. Then there was the fact that her relationship with the baby’s father had a big fat question mark on it. Nevertheless, her douchebag brain produced a fantasy of him and her and their baby. A tiny, happy family of three.
Oh my god, I am such a moron.
Rolling her eyes at herself, Karen slipped on her robe and left the bathroom to find some comfy clothing to wear. Instead, she found Kess seated at her table.
Well, think of the devil and he appears…
Kess’ violet eyes froze her where she stood. Then his gaze left her face and worked its way down her body in slow deliberation. Karen blushed to the roots of her hair and the tips of her toes when she glanced down and found her robe open.
She tugged her robed closed, fastening it in hasty movements.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” she said, her voice higher than normal. Her face burned with a special kind of embarrassment reserved for moments like, say, finding yourself naked in front of a hot guy.
“Perhaps. But you left your door unlocked.”
“That doesn’t mean you had a right to enter.” Never mind the fact that she’d yet to figure out how to lock the doors on this alien planet in the first place.
“I wanted to see you,” he said, standing. The room shrank as he encompassed it with his magnifying presence, the usual anger in his violet eyes non-existent. “I came to apologize for the way I behaved the last time we spoke. It was inexcusable. It was never my intention to treat you poorly.”
Karen raised her eyebrows, stunned by Kess’ humility and sincerity. He approached her and she frowned at the slight unevenness in his gait.
“What happened to your leg?” she asked.
“I was shot.” His features clearly said he had no wish to explain the reason.
“You seem to have a knack for getting hurt.”
“So it would appear.”
A brief silence fell between them as they regarded each other. She fidgeted, Kess’ focused gaze compelling her to speak.
“What I did wasn’t fair to you,” she said quietly. “I know that. But I’m not sorry I did it. If I had the chance to go back in time, I’d make the same choices.”
He smiled wryly. “You made that choice under wrong assumptions. You thought I was your saviour but I was nothing more than a dying man who had given up the will to live.”
“It doesn’t matter why you did it,” she said. “You were there when I needed you.” She paused. “Why were you there, anyway?”
He clenched his jaw, that forbidding look reappearing on his face again.
“To meet someone.”
“The same someone who shot you in the leg?”
“He was related to the incident.”
There was an under layer of remorse and disappointment in his voice that piqued her curiosity. She longed to ask him more questions, but she let herself be content with what he’d told her. She chewed on her lip, nervous to speak the words that she’d prepared to say to him.
“I’m… I’m keeping the baby. If you don’t want to be a part of its life, that’s fine.” She fiddled with her robe’s band, speaking faster. “You probably never wanted children, anyway. And if you did, I’m definitely not the woman you would have wanted them with. So, I’ll understand if you don’t want—”
“No,” he interjected. He stepped closer and Karen straightened her stance, dropping her hands to her sides. “You risked your life to save that of a stranger’s. You are a brave, strong, and kind being. There is no-one else I’d rather have as the mother of my child.”
Amazed, Karen peered at him suspiciously. “Why are you being nice?”
“I am nice.”
“You once told me I should be afraid of you. Nice people don’t say things like that.”
He leaned in, his voice low and silken. “I want to tear that bulky cloth from your body and fuck you until you’ve screamed yourself hoarse, until you’re breathless and can’t take another stroke of my cock inside you. But I am restraining myself. Is that nice enough for you?”
Karen blushed, her heart pounding faster. Arousal and excitement joined forces, filling the pit of her stomach with flutters.
This man would devour her if given the chance.
Gun to her head, she’d let him.
Her past terrible experiences with men may have strengthened her ability to resist temptation, but her resolve was like tissue paper where Kess was concerned. He exuded power. And not just in that obvious, physical sense, but in a raw sensuality that commanded her body take notice.
And it did take notice. Her nipples formed hard points, scraping against her robe. Between her legs warm like the heat in her face. Kess reached for the loose knot in her robe’s belt and used it to draw her to him, leaning his face toward hers.
Suri’s words circled in her head.
The more you fight against fate, the harder you’ll fall for each other.
“This is a bad idea,” she said softly. She meant to speak the words in her head to give herself the strength to pull away from him, but even out loud, they had no conviction.
“Yes, it is,” he said, his lips ghosting over hers as he spoke. “I am not good for you, yet knowing this has not stopped me from wanting to taste every bit of you.”
He kissed her hungrily, but with none of the fury that had imbued their first kiss. Karen put her hands flat against Kess’ firm chest, intending to push him away, but her fingers curled into his jacket to hold him against her.
She opened her mouth as his tongue slipped past her lips, and she moaned the moment his tongue touched hers. The fluttery sensation in the pit of her stomach strengthened, coiling downward between her legs where she grew wetter by the second.
Her fingertips dragged against the light stubble dusting his firm jaw, the slight coarseness in contrast to his smooth tongue caressing hers. His clean scent surrounded her, encouraging her to press closer.
She’d never felt anything like this before just from a kiss. Her whole body craved him with astonishing desperation. Like if some dormant part of her had awakened and acknowledged that Kess was what she’d needed all this time.
His hands on her hips, he pivoted her, never breaking their kiss as he walked her backward. Her bottom hit the sturdy edge of the table, and he yanked her robe’s tie free, pushing the robe apart to reveal her naked body.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. He cupped one of her breasts with his big, roughened hand and she leaned into his touch. Then his hand slid down to cover her stomach, pride and triumph burning in his gaze.
He kissed her again, possessive and greedy, delving a hand between her thighs to touch her. Karen moaned into his mouth, squeezing his shoulders as he slowly parted her with his fingers.
She rocked against his touch, demanding more without speaking the words. He complied, rolling his thumb over her sensitive clit, then slipping his thick digit into her slick channel. Karen rose up on her toes, her back arching to welcome the intrusion.
He dragged his lips against her jaw, his voice a growl. “Do you want more, Karen?”
“Yes… yes…” she whimpered.
“Mm… so eager to have me inside you.” He pressed a second finger into her and Karen closed her eyes on a long groan. Fuck yes, she was eager when it felt so good. His hot mouth found the column of her neck as he thrust his fingers into her. Karen held onto his muscular arms, spreading her legs wider to accommodate his hand.
She rocked her hips with Kess’ movements, maximizing every bit of the incredible sensation. Whatever rational thought that said she should be careful of where this moment led got obliterated by his expert touch. Whether this was a bad idea could be studied after Kess had sated the ravenous desire burning her from the inside out.
He kept his fingers buried in her as he lifted her onto the glass surface of the table. Covering her chest with kisses, he pushed her to lie back. He descended on her breast, pulling her nipple between his lips greedily. Karen moaned aloud, sinking her fingers into the silky strands of his hair.
“Lift your legs and open them wide for me,” he ordered, pressing kisses down her stomach. He knelt between her spread thighs. Propping her legs up onto the table, Karen opened her legs wide, baring herself to him without hesitation. She felt embarrassed and excited by her vulgar posture, exposing herself entirely to Kess’ lustful gaze.
Even though she knew what was coming, she still let out a gasp of surprise when he pressed his mouth against her pussy, his tongue darting out to lick her.
“Oh god, Kess…”
He groaned as he licked her again more insistently. “You taste like perfection.”
Karen raised herself up, fisting Kess’ hair. Soft little gasps escaped her as he feasted on her. He lifted his gaze to meet hers when he pushed his fingers into her again, lapping and gently sucking on her clit. It was the sexiest sight watching this powerful alien man on his knees eating her out, his fingers slick with her juices as he thrust them into her over and over again.
She squirmed, gyrating her hips, her pleasure rising. Her legs shook. Her eyes squeezed shut, she leaned on one hand, throwing her head back. She chanted his name, tugging on his hair as she came hard on his tongue.
As her climax subsided, Kess got to his feet, looming over her to claim her mouth in another kiss. Still dizzy from what Kess just did to her, she returned his passionate kiss, tasting herself on his lips.
“I want your cock inside me now,” she said, reaching between them to grip his hard hot flesh over his pants. Holy fuck. The thing was huge. It might literally destroy her. Still, her pussy craved it. Craved him. She fumbled with the strange clips on his pants, growing frustrated.
He laughed. “Have a little patience,” he said, throwing her words back at her from that night he’d rescued her. He reached down to help. Karen salivated, her inner walls tightening in anticipation for the unveiling of the monster cock which would soon be hers.
The black strip on his wrist pulsed red, a trill sounding from it.
“Are you getting a call?” she asked, irritated. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
“Yes.” He slipped it off his wrist, ostensibly to turn it off, but he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“What?” She wanted to murder whoever it was interrupting them.
“It is my Administrator, the one I reported to when I was on duty,” he said. The ringing stopped and he frowned at the strip. “She wants to speak with me urgently.”
She? A spark of jealousy and possessiveness lit inside Karen, but she stomped it out. Kess didn’t belong to her. She was being ridiculous. Ugh. One amazing orgasm later and she was already catching feelings. See, she knew this was a bad idea.
Karen tugged her robe closed. “Ah, well, you better get going.” She plastered a smile on her face and swallowed her disappointment so it wouldn’t inflect her voice. He must have heard it anyway because he tilted her face and smiled at her.
“I don’t have to leave yet, Karen.”
She shook her head and eased off of the table. “I know, but you should if it’s urgent.”
He said nothing and Karen fidgeted beneath his stare, worried he’d see how much she wanted him to stay and think her clingy. But he pulled her against him.
“We will finish what we started,” he promised, his voice low and sexy.
Then he released her before she could respond and strode out of the room.