Page 9 of There's an Elf in My Cockpit

“And we’re definitely close genetically, Thorin and Camila are a human/Elrohirian couple and Camila just announced she’s pregnant with their second. The first isn’t even three months old yet.” He laughed out loud, the sound filling the small tent. I didn’t know who these people were until he quietly explained about the ship he lived on. About the escaped gladiators that had carved out a home for themselves and their human mates on the ship; the Vagabond. Then they’d opened their arms to more young gladiators and one wayward human male; him.

It sounded like he lived with a close-knit group of unrelated people of many species, and yet they sounded like how a clan should function. I tried to imagine fitting in with my own clan like that but I just couldn’t, I was too different. I was the wild child that always had to break the rules they set out. Behave like this, do that, dress this way. I couldn’t manage it, not for long, and when I was true to myself, messes happened and my family wanted nothing to do with me. I was an embarrassment to them.

“Hey hey, where did you suddenly go, sweetheart?” Oliver’s voice penetrated my spiraling thoughts with a mild note of concern. One of his hands stroked along my spine, sliding dangerously low before he settled it between my shoulder blades and pressed me more firmly against his solid bulk. It grounded me and brought me back to the here and now. Since I couldn’t stand my own thoughts right now, I opted for avoidance, which I was very good at.

I tilted my head up and slid my hand along his chest, up his shoulder so I could press it against the pulse pounding in the column of his neck. Giving into the impulse I’d felt since the moment I crawled into this sleeping bag with him, I flung my leg over his hips and pressed my core against his thigh. Just a little nudge had him tilting his head down and then his lips were on mine, his taste flooding my senses.

When I was kissing him, giving in to my arousal, I couldn’t feel the loneliness or the weight of all my failures. It was just me and him. I nipped at his bottom lip gently and he gasped and opened up, letting me sweep my tongue into his mouth, letting me tangle it with his. So far he was letting me lead, allowing me to explore but when I canted my hips, pressing myself a little closer with impatience everything changed.

Rolling us, I was suddenly pinned to the thin mattress that insulated us from the snow below. His body covered mine, his knees deftly making space for his hips between my thighs. This went from a simple kiss to so much more in a hurry but I was on board, a quick tumble was just what I needed to forget the mess I’d made of my life for a moment. A bit of a thank you for how Oliver was helping out, though now that we were stranded, he had little choice in the matter.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said in between kisses as he nibbled his way down my neck, keeping my hands pinned with both of his. I was trying to assist by titling my head just right and pressing my skin against his mouth, eagerly pressing my hips up to seek friction against the hard bar of his erection at the same time.

“What?” I panted, trying to flood my senses with him and him alone. There was no raging wind and snow outside our little shelter, it was just him and me and the way he was touching my body. There was just the attraction, I wouldn’t let anything else cloud this moment.

“Escape,” he murmured, “But I’ll allow it, for now,” he added magnanimously. That tickled some darker place in my mind but I shoved it away, I’d dwell on it in the morning when things were brighter again in the daylight. Since he didn’t speak further, I let the thoughts his words had called up flit away once again.

When I had my opening, I yanked one hand free and hurriedly stuck it down between our bodies with only one goal in mind. Get my hands on his cock to make sure I was getting what I wanted, and what he really wanted too. I hissed when I felt the shape of him through his pants, the fabric stretched tightly over his member. “Fuck me, Oliver. Now,” I demanded in my most sultry voice, which wasn’t hard to find, I wanted this more than I’d ever wanted to lose myself in bed with a male.

“No,” he said in my ear, stunning me, “Not yet.” I opened my mouth to protest but all that came out was a startled squeak when he nipped the sensitive skin behind my ear with his lips. Following the path of my hand with his own he made a slight detour over my breast, gently squeezing one globe and stoking the fire by sliding his thumb over the nipple.

I arched my body when he squeezed my side, then pressed his palm along the outer curve of my hip. Where was he going with this? And stars, why no sex? We both wanted it. I squeezed my fingers around his cock just to prove that and giggled at the sound of the little growling noise that elicited. Oh yeah, he wanted it, so why was he saying no?

“Please, Oliver,” I heard myself beg, which I knew males often loved, it was a handy tool to get them to do what I wanted in the bedroom. Oliver was just as affected, I could see that in the way he shuddered, and then pressed his hips down to grind his erection against my palm and thigh. His wandering hand curled around my wrist, pulling my fingers away from his cock. In a swift move, he had it back above my head, pinning both hands down in a single big fist.

“You are very naughty, and you know just what you’re doing too,” he tssked, “And that’s why we’re waiting. I don’t want to be your escape, sweetheart, not for that. So I’ll give you something else.” His free hand tunneled back down between us, confidently cupped me between my legs, and my eyes rolled back in my head when he started stroking me just right. How did he know how to do that? He wasn’t playing fair, but hey, I was getting at least some of what I wanted, so I surrendered to the sensations and let him take me where he wanted me to go.

In a minute I was spiraling into orgasm, crashing hard as lightning sizzled through my womb and along my spine. It curled my toes and for the first time in my life the name of the male I was with fell from my lips without my conscious say so. He made a groaning noise in response, followed by a whole slew of praising, encouraging words. “That’s right, beautiful. So sexy. Let me hear you.”

He strummed my pleasure center gently to help ease me down from my high and then he did what I loved more than anything. He rolled us until I was tucked into his side, held tightly against his chest, his arm anchoring me to him like he never wanted to let me go. Considering we shared a sleeping bag and a tiny tent, he didn’t have anywhere to retreat but the way he held me left no doubt that had me exactly where he wanted me to be. I wasn’t all that used to sexual partners who loved after sex cuddles and I was basking in it.

Before I fully realized what he was up to, and I really blame the orgasm sluggishness for that, he was using his own hand to find release for himself. I felt the way his body shook but didn’t immediately connect the dots and by the time I did, it was too late to help out. A real pity though I had to admit that hearing him groan out my name in a husky voice was absolutely satisfying too. Too bad it was so dark I couldn’t enjoy his face as he came.

“Hey, I wanted to help with that,” I teased, patting his chest to emphasize the point. He responded by pressing me even closer with both his arms, his head coming down to nuzzle against the crown of mine.

“I know, you’ll get your chance. Let’s get cleaned up and then go to sleep. We’ll need our strength for the remainder of tomorrow’s hike.” I hated that he made sense, I wanted to keep exploring what was going on between us, I wanted more sexy, sweet touches from this wild, kind but bossy man. Considering that we’d have a long hike to the energy signatures and back again, possibly including a climb back down into the crater, I really did need to get some sleep.

Cleaning up and straightening clothing after the intimate moment was sobering and suddenly I was struck with how stupid I was being once again. I’d just yanked this innocent group of bystanders into my mess, my very deadly mess, and now I was going to get physically involved with him? That would get Oliver killed even faster when Elpherian discovered it, he might want me dead, but he was a possessive bastard, he’d make sure to kill my lover in front of me first. I shuddered just thinking about it.

Of course, kind sweet mountain man that Oliver was, he just kindly asked if I was cold. Since I didn’t have the guts to say what I was truly thinking, I just numbly nodded and he pulled me close, enfolding me in his arms and his warm, slightly spicy scent. It really was starting to look like for the first time in my life I’d managed to hook up with the absolutely right kind of male, but being with him would be all kinds of wrong; for him.

I struggled to fall asleep for a long time that night, even with the post-orgasm haze still coursing through my body. The raging wind and the sleet and snow hitting the unprotected side of the tent mirrored the turmoil in my mind.

Chapter 6

Oliver

Breaking up camp in the morning went far different than I expected it to go. Vi was distant and withdrawn, as if the passion from last night had made her get back into her prickly shell, not break her out of it. I knew she had trust issues. Which was not that strange considering her ex was now trying to kill her to prevent her from sending him to Elrohirian jail. She hadn’t said why, but she’d gone into some kind of avoidance mode last night too when she asked me about my clan name.

I liked that she’d initiated the intimacy between us, but when I realized she’d gone into her head at some point, I knew I had to pump the brakes at least a little. She was a hot mess, very hot; too hot to stay away. I needed to figure out how to get her to open up and talk to me to figure this out. Something was telling me that getting to know what she was really thinking, peeling away those layers she kept up, was going to be extremely rewarding.

“We’ve got a couple hours left to go,” I said calmly while I checked the readings on the handheld scanner. They were still holding steady in the same spot which made me doubly certain there was some kind of manmade structure there, even if it did blend really well with all the snow and ice. Maybe it was somewhere underground. Would it be a military presence from one of the nearby factions in this area of space? Or just a research facility of some kind? What if it was abandoned?

Ignoring the way it made me feel when Vi was acting like I wasn’t even there, I tied the rope tether around her middle with brusque moves. She had to notice that, but she didn’t comment and I tried to ease my motions as soon as I realized I was being rough. No point taking it out on her, she couldn’t help it that she had her shields up again.

It was clear that my little elf had gotten hurt more than once in the past. Not just by a lover, which was bad enough, but if her reactions last night were anything to go by, I had to say family too. Family was huge for the family clan-oriented Elrohirians, why weren’t they with her, protecting her from the asshole chasing us?

She didn’t even answer as we started walking and I had to warn her twice to keep her distance because she seemed in a daze and she’d get too close. Normally I’d happily have her walk as close to me as she wanted, but here, on the treacherous ice, I needed her to keep her distance in case one of us fell down a crevice. I had my ice ax out to try to grapple for a handhold as fast as possible, and so did she, but I could see she was just holding hers limply at her side. This was not the place to be daydreaming.

---