Page 23 of Rescued

His words were solemn, lacking the customary defensiveness that I had come to expect from him.

“I’ve learned that there is always danger lurking these days,” I remarked sadly. “But the point isn’t that there’s untold dangers out there. The point is that you left me to fend for myself, and I was so scared for you. Really, Herod, I thought you might be dead.”

He chuckled, as if the suggestion was preposterous, but I turned on him with blazing eyes.

“I’m serious, Herod.”

Herod looked surprised by the admission, but he didn’t reject me out of hand, which was a good sign. Instead, he took a step forward and drew his fingers up along my chin. A half-second later, I felt myself leaning into him expectantly.

I placed my lips on his and felt the jolt of desire rushing through me as my hunger for his touch intensified. His fingers slid back, cupping the nape of my neck in his strong hands as he pressed into me, sliding his tongue between my lips, massaging my own.

Quiet whimpers escaped me as I reached my own hands up and ran them up his strong arms to his shoulders, pulling his body toward mine and refusing to let him go. He was so strong, every muscle tightly coiled and ready to spring into action. He smelled of danger and aspirations, and the way he kissed me was that of a man untamed.

#

I felt myself falling backward onto my bunk, pulling Herod’s weight with me as I went. I giggled girlishly as he lost his balance and had to adjust himself to keep from falling flat on top of me. But as soon as he arranged himself, his lips returned to mine and I welcomed him to me.

Slowly, I released my grip on his shoulders and let my body relax, letting my hands trail back down his arms and fall to my sides. He took the opportunity to shift his weight back onto his knees, kneeling beside my hips, and examining me from above. I closed my eyes, a slight smile on my lips at the idea of his eyes roving up and down my body, deciding where to explore first. If he needed help, I would give it to him, but right now I was enjoying his playful curiosity.

I cracked one eyelid just enough to see his face as I felt one of his hands sliding up beneath my shirt, fingers wrapping neatly around my waist like they were made to fit there by some unknowable creator of the universe. He wasn’t moving, but the heat of his touch was enough to send tingles all through my body and I wiggled my hips closer to him, urging him on.

“What’s the matter?” I breathed.

“I’ve just never… felt this way,” he answered at length.

“You’re not too intimidated, are you?” I teased, relieved when a smirk turned the side of his mouth up.

I shifted again, reaching up to grab the front of his shirt and pulling him back down to me until we were almost nose to nose and I could study his eyes even in the darkness.

“I’m feeling it too,” I whispered. “And I want you. Here, now. Before anyone else comes pounding on the door or anything else crazy happens.”

At some point, my words had gone from being urgent and forceful to weak and pleading. He still hesitated, and for a moment I felt a rush of terror. What if he didn’t want any of this? What if I had just thrown myself at him and he rejected me? My breath caught in my throat.

“I wanted to hear you say those words.”

“I do,” I repeated firmly, holding his gaze and refusing to blink.

He stared at me hard, and I could tell he was still searching for some kind of underlying condition, some unspokenbut. Maybe he was just trying to feel for the edges of the lie that he thought I was telling. But there was no lie. I did want him, and there was no hidden subtext that he need worry about.

“Stop overthinking it,” I begged, pulling him ever closer, so my words were barely an exhale in his ear.

I felt the muscles of his shoulders relax and he lowered his head, pressing it into the curve of my neck and meeting my skin with feverish kisses. With every touch he left an impression on my skin, a feeling that danced from one place to another, frenetic lightning dancing across my nerves and making my whole body react. There was no sense to it, just a haphazard need to imprint himself on me.

I let him continue his roving, laying back and closing my eyes again. I didn’t care how long he spent peppering me with kisses. I didn’t care if we missed our chance to get off this planet. The only thing that mattered was the chaotic spark of fire that we could not afford to let die between us.

At some point I sat up on my elbows, lifting my shirt off over my head and exposing my skin to him. Hours ago, my body had glowed with the steamy heat of the shower, but now, after being so scared beneath the floors, I felt the stickiness of my sweat clinging to my body, and I felt ashamed. I wished I had a chance to take another shower, to clean myself up for him before he went any further, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He was so eager to have me that his lips continued their journey, electrifying me at every turn until I could feel him easing toward my hips and I involuntarily moaned his name into the silence of our cabin.

“Herod… don’t stop.”

He had no intention of stopping now. My breath caught in my throat as I felt his fingers curling beneath the hem of my pants and deftly pulling them open, tugging them over my hips as I shifted my weight back and forth like a rag doll. And there I lay, brazenly naked beneath his gaze, barely breathing as I waited impatiently for him to free himself from the trappings of his clothes.

I barely had time to acknowledge the glistening head of his enormous cock before he was falling upon me like a starved man falling upon a Thanksgiving feast back home. All at once, his body was meeting mine and there was a rush of euphoria as I felt him spreading my legs wide and burying himself inside me. Despite my begging, I was so little prepared for how it felt, I cried out as the shockwave of his entrance rocked through me.

I had never had someone take me so enthusiastically. This was an all-new experience, and it overwhelmed all of my senses until all I could do was whimper and moan, clutching at the edges of the bunk and clawing at Herod’s back, fighting for purchase as his body moved against mine in steady rhythm.

Herod groaned, stifling the sounds of his pleasure with more kisses whenever the thought occurred to him, but more often than not, he voiced his guttural satisfaction for all to hear. The louder he was, the more vigorously he thrust, and the tighter I wrapped my legs around him, begging him to come for me. I could feel my own explosion just on the horizon, and I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the way he slid through my opening and then withdrew himself, over and over, each time pushing me a little closer to climax.

Finally, he grunted and tensed, his body going stiff against me and his shaft sinking deeper than ever. Then I found myself riding the coattails of his orgasm, hanging on for dear life as my body went liquid and I coasted on the sensation. Pulse after pulse made my legs quiver and my heart race, and I was gasping for breath, fighting back delirium.

When the final pulse died down, we both collapsed onto the bunk, tangled in each other’s limbs and panting with exhaustion. The cabin was stuffy, too hot for our bodies to be touching, but we couldn’t pull ourselves apart. As Herod rolled to one side, I giggled mischievously at the wetness between my thighs, reaching a hand down to explore the evidence of our crime with my fingertips.

I was swollen with desire and covered in Herod’s fluids, but I was too entranced by the receding wash of emotions and sensations to do anything more than marvel at the realness of it. This was us.

Herod’s quiet snoring in my ear shocked me out of the moment, and I carefully extracted myself from him. I had never heard him snore before. To be honest, I had never really seen him do more than nap since I’d been aboard. All this time, I’d assumed that it was a schedule he was accustomed to, a byproduct of having to captain his ship on his own at all times. But now I saw him at peace, and it touched me.

---