Page 36 of Escape Velocity

Chapter Nine

All the while they’d been talking Amber had been caressing him, making his skin heat, the blood rush hotly through his veins, and his brain fog up.

Was he making a big mistake by letting her entice him? He struggled for coherence and wondered if he could discourage her by asking, “Do you know it hurts a woman the first time she has intercourse?”

“Yes.” When she started to climb off the bed, he reached to grab her wrist, but she was too quick for him and he wondered if she’d only been teasing him—or if she’d decided that she couldn’t go through with the seduction.

In the next moment, she reached to adjust the lights, bringing them up so that the cabin was flooded with a warm glow. Stepping away from the bed, she swayed her hips, tantalizing him with the way the fabric of the dress caressed her body, then arching her back, thrusting her breasts toward him as she lifted her rich, silky hair from her neck before slowly sifting it through her fingers.

She’d aroused him with her touch. Her sensual gestures made his breath quicken.

He watched transfixed as her hands went to the front of her dress. Slowly she began to slide the buttons open, and at the same time she started to sing. She’d charmed him with her voice when he’d first brought her to the ship. That song had been plaintive. This one was low and sexy. He couldn’t catch the words, but they didn’t matter. It was the timbre of her voice, the combination of notes, and the skill of her control. That first tentative performance had been only an introduction; now he realized she was a master of the art.

Her singing seemed to pin him in place. And he could barely breathe as he watched her open the front of the dress, sliding one more button open and then another. He wanted to shout at her to hurry up, but his voice was frozen in his throat.

She opened the top of the dress and pulled the sides away, folding them so that they cupped her breasts. The image was so erotic that he had to grab handfuls of the sheet to keep from reaching for her.

She held the bodice in place as she slowly raised the long skirt, showing him her knees, her thighs. The revelation of the lower part of her body was no more than he’d see if a woman were wearing a bathing costume, but the combination of her bared breasts and her legs made his breath grow ragged. He’d questioned her motives for coming in here, but she’d pulled him in with her erotic performance.

Now he was unable to simply watch her performance. Surging off the bed, reaching for her, gathering her in his arms, pressing the length of her body to his for a long breathless moment.

She wrapped her arms around him, holding tight.

“I need to touch you,” he growled.

Her gaze questioned him as she untangled her arms and stepped away from him.

He kept his focus on her face as he cupped her breasts, balancing them in his palms, squeezing gently before taking the nipples between his thumbs and fingers, pressing and twisting.

She made a small needy sound, then gasped as he took one distended nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the pebbled tip before sucking strongly.

Her hands went to the sides of his face, holding him in place as her breath turned ragged.

“That’s good. So good,” she crooned.

He stayed where he was for long moments before lifting his head. His gaze burned into hers as he reached to pull the dress off her shoulders. She helped him by shrugging out of the sleeves, and the garment fell to the floor, leaving her standing naked in front of him.

He heard her clear her throat.

“What?”

In a tentative voice she asked, “Do you need to use something to keep me from getting pregnant?”

“I take a long-term contraceptive.”

“A man would take that responsibility?”

“Yes. If he doesn’t want to leave children scattered around the seven planets.”

She answered with a small nod.

With that detail taken care of, he turned his attention back to her body. He had seen her when she’d stripped off her slave clothes. He’d reacted to her then. Again, the sight of her high breasts, narrow waist and rounded hips was like an erotic vision.

“You are perfect.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

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