Charlotte
The hazy gray light of pre-dawn was filtering into the room when Jarek slipped inside me again. His nearness in the hours that I lay cocooned in the curve of his body had been enough all by itself to assure my arousal. I was wet, hot, needing him more intensely than ever. Dimly, through the haze of mounting pleasure, I wondered if it could always be like that, the two of us bound together on a level that transcended everything that should otherwise have kept us apart. It seemed far too much to hope for yet I dared to do so all the same.
The lingering reverberations of yet another overwhelming orgasm were still echoing in me when I turned to him, cupped his face in my hand and murmured, “For someone who hasn’t had sex in half-a-century, you’re showing a real talent for getting back on the bicycle.”
He laughed. “I have no idea what that means but thank you.” Pressing a kiss into my palm, he added regretfully, “This will have to sustain us for the moment, myklyra. Duty calls.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ten hours later, I looked across the floating conference table in what had become the operations center of the joint task force and reflected that Jarek was as coolly gorgeous and in control as he had when we’d stepped out of his quarters that morning. I, on the other hand, could only hope that I didn’t look as frazzled as I felt.
The physical space we occupied kept expanding over the course of the day as more Krinar joined us and the pace of our efforts increased. At first, I thought I had to be imagining it, then I tried to discover how it was done. But either I was too busy--which I was--or the process was simply too fast. The closest I came was once when, just out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw an entire wall dematerialize in milliseconds and reform ten feet farther away than it had been.
Jarek looked up from what he was doing just then, saw my surprise, and grinned. Apart from little moments like that, we kept our interactions strictly professional. Or at least we tried. I had to hope that the furious pace all around us prevented too many people--human and Krinar--from noticing our preoccupation with each other.
Not that I kidded myself. From the glances that did come my way, it was obvious that my “sleep over” at the embassy hadn’t gone unnoticed. Assuming that I could read Krinar facial expressions correctly, reactions varied from the mildly curious to the outrightly assessing but nothing more. Certainly, no one looked in the least dismayed or disbelieving. That puzzled me. Were they really so comfortable with the idea of an inter-species relationship?
Jarek appeared completely unfazed by any of that. I, on the other hand, was just grateful not to be wearing the same clothes as I had the previous day. Somehow, garments of perfect human design that also fit me perfectly had appeared. I’d have to ask him how that was possible but for the moment I just accepted them as yet more evidence of his thoughtfulness.
It was getting on for midnight when he ended a conversation with several startled but eager educators in the Philippines and came over to me.
Quietly, he said, “You’ve done enough for now. You need to rest.”
I couldn’t help noticing that none of the Krinar looked in the least fatigued although many of them been there as long as I had. Added to that, every other human who appeared to be in the room with us was actually a telepresence from another time zone. They all looked enviably fresh and raring to go. I was the only one who was starting to get a bit blurry-eyed.
“I’m fine, really. There’s too much to do to--”
Leaning a little closer, he said, “Do not expect me to stand by and let you exhaust yourself, Charlotte. If I have to, I will carry you out of this room.”
Ignoring the pleasurable shiver that ran through me at the thought of him doing any such thing, I said, “I’m a grown woman, Jarek, fully capable of deciding for myself when I do--or do not--need to go to bed.”
A corner of his too-tempting mouth arched upward, as though pulled reluctantly in that direction. Softly, so that only I could hear him, he said, “Then I’ll just have to convince you that you want to go there.”
My face flamed, all the more so when I realized that he had no intention of allowing me to retire discreetly. On the contrary, he rested his hand on the small of my back as we left together.
“Do you have any concerns about what other people will think of us?” I asked as we stepped out of the tube on the top floor of the embassy where his quarters were located.
The question seemed to surprise him. “Not really. It’s hardly as though this is the first time a Krinar and a human have become involved with each other.”
I tried but couldn’t quite manage to hide my shock.
“Then the rumors are true?”
I’d heard whispers, all unsubstantiated, that there were places where humans and Krinar were…hooking up, basically. Derek even claimed to know someone who knew someone who had gone to one of them and swore it was really happening. But I had no idea whether to believe that or not.
“There have been…interactions,” Jarek said carefully. “We’d expected that although frankly it’s happening more quickly than anticipated. But that isn’t what I meant.”
He took a step closer to me, his fingers catching a strand of my hair and stroking it gently. The gesture was so unexpectedly tender that it made my throat tighten. I wanted…something I couldn’t even define but still yearned with all my being.
Holding my gaze, Jarek said, “Krinar have been coming to Earth for thousands of years. In that time, quite a few lasting relationships have been formed. For instance, Ambassador Arus’ own companion, his charl, is a human woman named Delia. You’ll meet her soon.”
My mind reeled as I tried to come to terms with what he had just revealed. Krinar/human relationships weren’t remotely a novelty. ‘Quite a few’ had occurred. Even the Ambassador…?
“What does that mean…charl?” I asked.
He paused. I had the sudden sense that he was on the verge of saying something important. But instead, after a moment, he replied, “We’ll talk about that another time. Right now--”
The look in his eyes silenced any further questions that I might have had. After a day of struggling against madness and mayhem, I went into his arms without hesitation and felt once again the deep, abiding sense that I was where I belonged.