Page 35 of Desperate Measures

Then he was still, but for his hands and lips. He kissed her with fervor, and Cheryl was struck by how ardent he could be when minutes ago, he’d displayed utter exhaustion. He squeezed her breasts as his tongue investigated her mouth. She groaned and ran her hands on his shoulders, neck, and upper back. Her sex clenched on him, inviting him to make love to her.

Despite his earlier fatigue, he seemed to be in no hurry to do so. He continued to kiss and fondle her instead, his cocks occasionally jerking.

My love. She quelled her impatient desire and ran her hands over all she could, despite having memorized every muscled swell of his body already.

She had no idea how long they lay there, simply touching while they were joined. It didn’t matter. They were a single entity, and she sank into the bliss of their union. The orphans were a daily reminder of how quickly and easily a beloved could be stolen. She admitted to the morbid sense of such thoughts, but it helped her to never take Besral for granted.

At last, he moved. He slid easily through her flesh, the generous girth of his cocks rubbing the best places the right way. She’d been simmering the whole while, but the movement increased the heat substantially. She was soon on the brink of boiling.

She moved too, her hips rocking to greet his careful thrusts, driving him deep within. Their breathing grew in volume as they continued to kiss and caress. Theirs was a sinuous dance, the steps familiar but poignant, nonetheless.

When he took her more strongly, she was ready, her lust having reached tumultuous heights. They gasped and groaned, their bodies slapping together as they sought glorious cataclysm. When it arrived, it did so at the same instant for both. Their cries blended: bass and soprano, chorusing ecstasy.

A minute or so after the final surges quieted and Besral had rolled to the side, gripping her in his muscled arms to take her along, Cheryl’s eyes fluttered open. She gazed at her husband, expecting to see him watching her and wearing the smile he always did after they’d made love.

The smile was there, but his eyes were closed. He lay still, his breathing steady. Cheryl quelled the chuckle of triumph, afraid of waking him from the sleep he needed so desperately, the sleep she’d hoped to cast over him. She snuggled her cheek against his chest and listened to his heart beat until slumber claimed her from her own cares.

* * * *

Earth II

Toni arrived at the local medical clinic to check on its readiness for any ailments of the orphans from the Galactic Council, who were anticipated to arrive in the next week.

She paused outside the entrance to sanitize herself in the walk-through booth and snag a protective mask. She went inside.

She blinked at the hive of activity. Hoverchairs and stretchers filled the check-in area, their occupants hacking and coughing. Worried family members called to the harassed-appearing staff rushing past. She heard the refrain, “Someone will be with you as soon as possible,” repeated in various voices and levels of irritation.

She carefully navigated to the registration desk. The nurse on duty gazed at her, her face drawn in fatigue and resignation, though she was polite. “May I help you?”

“Hi. I have an appointment with the administrator, Dr. Stout?”

She didn’t miss the expression of relief on the nurse’s expression. “Let me see if he’s in his office.” She clicked on her desk com.

Toni glanced around the waiting area. It was obvious those on the hover stretchers weren’t entirely comprised of newly arriving patients. Some had machines surrounding them. It occurred to her that a third of her own staff had called in sick that morning.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Stout isn’t in today,” the nurse said. “Many of our staff are absent because of the…virus.”

“I’d heard it was bad, but this…why aren’t these people at the hospital?” Toni gaped. “Are they all ill from the same thing?”

“Pretty much. Both hospitals are full, so the clinics are taking as many as they can. We’re at capacity ourselves.” The nurse coughed lightly into her mask. “You’ll have to reschedule your appointment. Do you have Dr. Stout’s number to leave a message?”

“I do. Thanks.” Her heart hammering, Toni hurried from the clinic, making sure she went through sanitizing again.

Chapter Ten

Toni hurried to her sister’s office. The governor’s assistant Todd wasn’t at his desk, which had the distinct appearance of no one having manned it for at least a day. The door to Stacy’s office was open, and she walked in.

Instead of her sister sitting at her desk, Toni was confronted by the unpleasant sight of the former lieutenant governor, who was also Stacy’s opponent in the impending election.

It wasn’t that Ken Bryant was unattractive. Behind the clear germ-filtering mask he wore, he was a handsome, trim man in his forties, his few graying strands offering a distinguished hint to his sandy hair. Toni found his past unsavory, particularly his close association to the former Holy Leader Browning Copeland. Close enough that when Copeland had desired Bryant’s teenage wife, Bryant had divorced her so the pedophiliac head of church and state could claim her.

Toni wasn’t the type to stand on diplomacy when it came to such trash. “What are you doing here? Where’s the governor?”

“I told her to stay on Alpha Space Station this morning. Why are you running around? Haven’t you heard the latest health alerts?” His cultured tone, offered politely, grated on her. “We have a major uptick in flu cases, to the point of an epidemic. I’m putting the planet under strict quarantine.”

“You?” A new lieutenant governor hadn’t been appointed thanks to the nearness of the election, but the acting speaker of the General Assembly had been working as Stacy’s second since Bryant’s ouster.

“No one possessing my level of experience is available. Stacy and the General Assembly asked me to govern in her absence, so here I am.” He didn’t precisely glower, but his stare was of the distinctive don’t-fuck-with-me flavor.

---