Her father must have loved her a great deal to be so dedicated. If he was aware that she wasn’t biologically his it made him an even better man in Venom’s mind. Among his people stepfathers rarely showed any interest in the offspring from their wives’ first marriages. It just wasn’t done in his culture.
Thinking of her father reminded Venom that he was going to have to bite the bullet soon and tell her what he’d learned from her blood tests. It wasn’t a discussion he looked forward to having with her.
“Let’s try this, Dizzy.” Venom shifted her in his arms until her neck rested on his biceps. He hooked his leg across her thighs and wound his upper arm across her chest. He made sure his weight wouldn’t crush or harm her but allowed enough pressure to soothe her. “How does this feel?”
“Better,” she said, her voice devoid of the frustration that had earlier plagued her.
“Good.” He brushed his lips against the top of her head and let them linger. If she needed one, he’d get her a weighted blanket in the morning. He suspected she would sleep just fine with him holding her.
“Briarlina.”
The strange word she spoke so unexpectedly confounded him. “What?”
“It’s my real name.” She ran her finger over his forearm as if scribbling on him. “Briarlina.”
“Briar? Like the thorn patch?”
“Yeah,” she said with a short laugh. “Now you know why I prefer the Dizzy nickname.”
It was an awful name but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “It’s…different.”
She snorted softly. “That’s one word for it.”
His lips twitched at her good-natured reply. “Is it a family name?”
“My mother’s name was Lina.”
“And your father was Briar?”
She shook her head. “My dad’s name is Jack.”
What about her biological father? Briar wasn’t a name he had ever come across during his many years in the corps but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been given to one of the men a generation above him. Maybe that was a good place to start.
“My birth name was Ehjay. It means first in our ancient tongue.”
“First?”
“I was the first son in my family. They don’t waste names on boys. We’re named in order of our birth and earn our real names later. Venom is my name. It’s the one that means something to me.”
“But what happens to the boys who don’t make it into the academies or who can’t cut it in the programs?”
She had touched upon one of his society’s greatest shames. “Everyone knows they’re failures because they keep their birth names.”
“That’s harsh.”
“That’s life in the Harcos world.”
He heard her intake of breath as she started to say something. Whatever it was she decided to keep it to herself. Certain it would lead to an argument, he chose to let it go for now.
“Get some sleep, sugar.” Smiling at the thought of all the ways he planned to keep her busy tomorrow, he added, “You’re going to need it.”
Chapter Eight
After the best night of sleep she’d had in years Dizzy stood in front of the small bathroom mirror and dabbed on a little lipstick. She could hear Venom pacing outside the closed door, his heavy boots hitting the floor in a steady rhythm. She still marveled at the way he moved so quickly considering his huge size.
Her face grew hot as she remembered a certain big part of him that she’d held in her hands last night. She didn’t quite know where that burst of courage to be so brazen had come from. Something about Venom drove her toward wantonness. He hadn’t seemed the least bit fazed by the way she enjoyed being held down while he teased her with his fingers and mouth. Her reaction appeared to excite him a great deal.
From the moment her father had admitted to selling her lottery number, Dizzy’s greatest fear had been the sexual side of the relationship she would be expected to form with the man who would Grab her. She had always been a practical sort of girl. Making a marriage work on less than auspicious beginnings hadn’t frightened her but the rumors of the types of bedroom games these sky warriors enjoyed had.
Had she been wrong to worry about what her new husband would want in bed? If the way Venom had rocked her world last night was any indication she was going to be a very happy, very satisfied wife.
“Dizzy?” Venom rapped his knuckles against the door. “Are you ready yet?”
She wasn’t but she could hear the impatience in his voice. Slightly amused by his typical male behavior, she reached out to open the door. It seemed that men weren’t much different from one end of the galaxy to the other.
With a tap on the door’s edge, it retreated into a wall pocket to reveal Venom leaning his arm against the frame and looking bored as hell. His expression quickly morphed from one of impatient waiting to one of utter desire. He raked his gaze up and down her body before taking a step toward her. “How many of these dresses did you pack?”
“Ten.” Feeling a bit nervous, she smoothed a hand down the front of her dress. “Do you like it?”
“Like it? You look amazing.” He fingered the delicate ruffle outlining the modest neckline. “I want you to wear dresses like this every day.”
His appreciation for soft, feminine things amused her. She considered their drab-but-functional surroundings and the fact that the ship was so heavily populated by men. No doubt it was a novelty for him to see something pretty. She had never been a fan of pants anyway so dresses were her usual daily garb.
“Lift your skirt.”
She reared back at his unexpected instruction. “What?”
“Show me what’s under your skirt.”
“No.” Remembering the order he had given during their heated tryst last night, she gulped nervously. Had he been serious about that? Judging by the look on his face? Yes.
“Dizzy.” There was a slight warning edge to his voice as Venom invaded her personal space and backed her up against the counter. His boot moved between her feet and his knee slid between her thighs, preventing her from squeezing them shut.
“What are you doing?” Her breathless question didn’t faze him.
He lowered his face until they were at eye level. There was nothing angry or irritated in his expression. He looked calm and collected as he stroked her jaw. “I’m not the sort of male who requires complete and total submission from his bride. There are very few orders I will ever give you—but I expect the ones I give to be followed.”
Dizzy considered him for a moment. What he was asking wasn’t the worst thing in the world, was it?
With trembling fingers she grasped the bottom of her skirt and pulled it up to reveal her simple cotton panties. “I didn’t realize you were serious about not wearing undies. I thought maybe it was something you said to be dirty in the heat of the moment, not because you meant it.”
Venom cupped her womanly heat through the thin cotton. “You’ll soon learn that I mean everything I tell you.” He gave the waist elastic a little tug and let it snap back against her belly. “Take them off.”
“What? Now? But I’ll be out in public and…” Her voice died off as his unwavering gaze caused a naughty little thrill to rush through her core. With a dramatic huff she pushed her underwear down her hips. “I don’t know why you’re so insistent about this.”
She only got them as far as her thighs before Venom dropped down to his knees and dragged them the rest of the way down her body. Her pulse was sprinting so hard that she felt a little lightheaded as Venom pocketed her undies. He shoved her skirt up and tucked it into the front of her bodice.
“Ah!” Dizzy gasped as Venom pressed a soft, ticklish kiss to her bare mound. His lips danced between her belly button and the dripping vee between her thighs. He got dangerously close to kissing a certain throbbing part of her but refused to give her the satisfaction of finally feeling his mouth right there.
“You,” he carefully penetrated her with his middle finger, “belong to me.” He smirked triumphantly as he encountered the wet evidence of her arousal. “You like belonging to me, don’t you?”
There was no point in denying it, not when he could feel her inner walls clenching his thick finger. “Yes.”
“And you want to please me, don’t you?”
She licked her lips as she stared down at the ruggedly sexy sky warrior kneeling before her. “Yes.”
“I want to know that when I have a craving for this sweet, tight cunt of yours that all I have to do is lift your skirt.” He swirled his fingertip around her swelling, pulsing clitoris. “You seem to be forgetting that my pleasure is your pleasure.”
Oh, that wasn’t a mistake she would make again. Rocking her hips, Dizzy hoped to encourage Venom to continue doing these wicked, wicked things to her. “Please…”
“Not now, sugar.” He gave her pussy a playful pat and tugged her skirt back into place. “That aching that you feel? That’s your punishment for wearing panties without permission.”
She wasn’t just aching between her thighs. She was aching all over. Dizzy considered flirting with him and pleading a little—but his alpha nature wouldn’t be won over by batting eyelashes.