Page 62 of Consume
Chapter Eighteen
Eleven Months Later
Iwoke in a puddleof my own drool, face-down on a hard floor. This was where I’d landed sometime during the late-night feeding. Ah, the glamourous life of parenthood.
It looked much better on Mase, who was passed out on our bed in the Vicious room, with little Astra Randolph Jones-Ryan sleeping soundly on top of him. Astra, meaning stars. I stared at them for a long moment, the pair of them stealing my breath as always. The two of them together, father and daughter, rushed my soul with warmth time and time again. They’d fallen head over heels for each other. They were inseparable except for during feeding times, and when Ellison and Josh’s son, Tannis, became fussy and needed Mase’s magic touch.
Mase was the baby whisperer, which didn’t surprise me, but it made me love him even more, whichdidsurprise me, because rusted balls, how much could one person be so bonkers over someone else? A lot, apparently, further evidenced by my love for Astra. It scared me how strong my feelings toward her were. She was the center of my universe, the guiding light around which all of my decisions were made.
We’d set up our quarters in the Vicious room because I’d always been drawn there. Now, I knew why. The marks covering the walls, floor, and ceiling weren’t just the Saelises tracking the passage of time. They were words I could read, as if I’d just needed a burst of consumectalons and a picture of a planet in their book I no longer had to give me a boost. When I did read the words, they sparked red as if to imprint themselves into the backs of my eyes. It really wasn’t necessary. I wouldn’t forget, but I did enjoy the light show. The words were mostly a repeat of what the book had said. About Feozva. About me.
Wiping my mouth, I shoved to my feet, imagining hearts floating over my head as I crossed toward two of my favorite people. I moved Mase’s arm as I gently sat next to them. They shared the same nose and mouth and hangry tendencies when the food supply was slow to come, but she had my headful of dark hair and stormy gray eyes. She was perfect, if I did say so myself. Quite possibly the most perfect thing I’d ever done.
“Mase,” I whispered.
We were set to land on The Black today, a trip that had taken months instead of days. We’d been slowed by coming up with a bribe large enough to get us through Ring Guild Station 145, not Station 144, which was closed to deep space for the foreseeable future. We also had extensive ship repairs, two childbirths, and healing. It had been a rough couple of months for all of us, and we’d needed time to just exist, together, without a two-hundred-year-old war still raging around us.
“Mase.” I took his arm in my lap and pressed his hand to one of my girls spilling out of my corset, because someone had to help me carry them around. They were enormous now that they were a milk factory, and my leather and iron spikes barely reined them in. If I bent over, they would crush his head.
He stirred and groaned, blinking awake, his hand stroking my flesh appreciatively. A sexy grin quirked his mouth. “Good,goodmorning to you.”
“Hi.” I leaned over to kiss him, careful not to smother anyone. “Are you going to land the ship, or is Crispin?”
He palmed my jaw before I could pull too far away, curling his fingers behind my neck and bringing me back to his lips. He kissed me slowly, sliding his hand down my corset to cup my breast. The new chains in my hair fell to his pillow, closing the two of us off for a moment, their tinkling like a song. He pulled away, sliding his mismatched gaze over my face in a way that ignited a steady hum between my legs.
“Crispin can do it.” He nudged me off the bed and slipped his feet to the floor, holding Astra tight to him. Kissing the top of her head, he stood and crossed to her crib in the corner. I started to follow, but he pinned me with a warning look. “Don’t you move.”
I frowned. “Mase—”
“Nope, I’ve stopped listening.” He laid our daughter down like she was a breakable masterpiece, and covered her up with a snow-white blanket spotted with little yellow bunnies. That was a gift from Ellison, as was the teddy bear in the crib I’d started to call Mr. Bones II.
“But I haven’t stopped talking. We’re about to land.”
He prowled toward me, his intent perfectly clear in his lascivious smile. It had the intended effect and raced my heart faster.
“You don’t need to help with that,” he said, kneeling down in front of me. His warmth and musky scent wrapped around me as he leaned in, grazing his fingertips up the outside of my thighs.
“I haven’t taken a shower in...” I started to count the days but gave up when he began peeling my pants off. “I don’t even remember when.”
“Neither have I. It’s a good thing we can use parenting as an excuse for that, huh?”
I chuckled but it trailed off into a gasp when his breath, followed by his tongue, stroked me where I needed him the most. My hips rolled forward to meet him, and I threaded my fingers through his hair to urge him on. I liked his hair short like this because I could see more of him, including all the sensual things he was doing with his mouth. The man knew how to worship my body, every thrust of his tongue as skilled as the last until I was a writhing, panting bundle of nerves just waiting for that one expert touch to push me over the edge. With one last flick, I was there, falling, my whole body bucking against him to ride it out.
“Oh...Mase,” I whispered between pants.
“Mm-hmm. I’m just getting started.” Slowly, he unzipped my corset and then kissed his way up my stomach. It was still a bit saggy with my extra baby weight, but he didn’t seem to care. He grinned when he reached my full breasts and paid special, but gentle, care to each of them since I often complained how sore they were.
I moaned, trying to keep my volume under control, but he made it so, so hard. “We’ll wake her.”
“We won’t,” he growled.
When he reached my lips, I helped rid him of his pants, my fingers fumbling with how badly I needed him. Even in the last few months of my pregnancy, I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. Mase never complained. We had a lot of time to make up for.
