Keirth was tugging on her jumpsuit, trying to push it the rest of the way off. She put her hands on the place where his trousers fastened and undid the clasp.
Keirth peeled the jumpsuit further over her hips.
She eased his trousers down a little.
Keirth tried to help her by lifting his hips up, but it didn’t really work. They both started laughing.
Keirth kissed her again, sliding his hands over her.
It made her gasp. She kissed him again, and that was distracting for a little bit. But then Keirth pulled away. “I want to take this jumpsuit off you. Can we do that?”
She laughed. “Okay.” She lay on her back, and Keirth knelt over her, pulling it over her legs. His trousers were sliding down, but his erection was holding them up. She reached up and tugged them out of the way.
Keirth looked down at himself. He was in the middle of pulling one of legs of her jumpsuit off. She was one leg in and one leg out. He looked back up at her.
“I wanted to see it,” she said. And now that she had, she was completely mesmerized. She’d gotten a general idea of it when she was stroking it earlier, but it was much more detailed than she’d thought. She sat up to explore it further, rubbing her forefinger over its ridges and planes before wrapping her hand around it again to stroke it the way she’d been doing before.
Keirth groaned and seized her wrist. “Ariana, you are going to make me come before I even get inside you.”
She let go. “Is that a bad thing?”
He yanked the leg of her jumpsuit off. “There are things I want to see too, you know?” And he eased her legs apart, one hand inching its way up her thigh.
She gulped. That felt nice. His fingers brushed her between her legs, and it was intense and sweet, too good. She lay under his exploring fingers for a little bit, her legs opening wider and wider for him. But eventually, she was guiding his hand the way he’d guided hers, moving his fingers higher, so that he was rubbing her in exactly the right spot. And she lay there, squirming under his touch, crying out at the sheer joy of it.
That especially could have gone on for eternities. Ariana knew that if that particular spot was handled for long enough, she’d experience this kind of amazing burst all through her body. It was a sort of shameful thing she’d discovered that she’d never really shared with anyone. And she figured that if Keirth did it, it would feel even more amazing than if she did it herself. But Keirth stopped before it happened.
He lay the length of his body over hers, propping himself up on his elbows, and he kissed her. She lost herself in his kisses, feeling him press against her between her legs, urgently. Of course. It was going to be that. That was what Risciter had done after all. But only for a second—only a second. And she hadn’t felt like she did right now, bursting with pleasure, relaxed and open, ready for it.
Still, when she felt Keirth push into her, she bit her lip hard, a little frightened.
Risciter had ripped into her.
Keirth slid.
And once he was there, all the way in, he kissed her again. He murmured her name against her lips. She forgot all about Risciter. Keirth was all she could think about. Keirth was over her and in her, touching her, and she was lost in it. She clutched him to her, and outside their ship hurtled through hyperspace, colors streaming past it madly.
* * *
Keirth wrapped his arms around Ariana, feeling warm and drowsy. He wasn’t sure why he’d held back for so long. It wasn’t exploitive. He hadn’t hurt her. He wasn’t a bad man. It had been about the two of them together, not simply about him. The way she was gazing adoringly at him was proof enough of that. He kissed her forehead.
“See?” she whispered. “Nothing to be nervous about after all.”
He had to chuckle. His eyes felt heavy. He closed them, pulling her against his body. It made sense, he supposed, why men would pay for this. But he didn’t think it could possibly be this nice if he thought the woman was only in it for money. The way they felt together, the fact that they’d been joined completely, it was like they’d been melded together for a period of time. And Keirth thought that, instead of the pleasure of orgasm, was what made it so powerful. Being part of someone else, someone else being part of him. His thoughts began to fray at the edges as sleep claimed him. He didn’t resist it. Everything was perfect.
Ariana was shaking him gently. “Are you asleep?”
“Not anymore,” he muttered. He opened his eyes.
“I think we’re going to come out of hyperspace in a little bit,” she said.
“No way,” he said. “I only closed my eyes for a second.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. “Because I’ve been lying here next to you for at least an hour. I might have fallen asleep too.”