Creed of Pleasure; the Space Miner's Concubine (The LodeStar Series) Read online

  “You want to keep me at a distance,” he went on, holding her gaze with his as he leaned closer. Close enough she could feel the heat of his skin, feel his forearm brush the side of hers, the fine hairs on his arm brushing her like a caress. “Letting me please you is more ... intimate.”

  Taara drew in a sharp breath, feeling as if he’d smacked her in the chest.

  “So how do you know so much about women all of a sudden?” she demanded, to deflect him from his trajectory, which was unfortunately accurate.

  His mouth twitched up at the corners. “I have my sources.”

  “What, you have an advisor tucked away somewhere here?” Darn it, if he leaned any closer, she was going to do something stupid, like lean over and—and lick him, or something. She pressed her lips together to quell the temptation, and his gaze flicked down to her mouth, as if her every change of expression was fascinating.

  “I have tech. Find anything out on the galactic web.”

  She stared at him, her heart pounding. “You looked me up on the web?” If he’d learned who she really was, would he be angry? After all, she’d lied to him. Not directly, but by omission. He didn’t look angry though, he looked smug. And she still wanted to slap him and then kiss him too. Ack, she was so confused.

  “Not you, specifically. The situation. Ran the scenario. Now, don’t go getting all lasered up again. Got something to say, you’ll listen.”

  She raised her brows. “What?”

  His gaze heated, arrowing deep inside her, straight to the middle of her chest.

  “I let you please me. That’s intimate. Most intimacy I’ve ever had. Just asking the same from you.”

  Taara lost her breath and her anger fizzled like a spent laser charge. Oh, goddess, he was right. He had given her his trust, let her see him surrender to his body’s needs.

  For most men, that would mean little; just that they were using a convenient body to get off on. For this solitary man, who’d lived the life of a monk, had been trained in sublimating his body’s urges, closing them off, it meant much more. Though he hadn’t actually said the words, she was sure she was his first.

  He trusted her enough to give her that ... and what was she doing? She was lying to him about that, too.

  She should toss her head and tell him she was just fine, that servicing him was all she wanted to do, that she wanted nothing more from him. But standing here, facing him, she couldn’t do it.

  “So, I liked it,” she said defiantly. She’d liked it more than anything, ever.

  His gaze hardened, with sheer predatory male intent. “So you want me to do it again.”

  It was a statement, but she knew in her heart that if she said no, he would back off. But he would do it all the way, not letting her touch him either. And that, she couldn’t risk.

  So she’d agree to what he wanted, even if doing so made her feel she was standing on the edge of a precipice as high as those mountaintops up there. And she could already feel herself falling. She’d survived the other crises, and she’d survive that too. She had to. “All right.”

  He leaned closer. “Say it.”

  She would have huffed in indignation, but she couldn’t seem to get a breath in first. “I … want you to please me.”

  Satisfaction gleamed in his gaze, and the curve of his lips. “Good,” he muttered. “Cause I know just how I wanna please you next.”

  Reaching for her, he swept her up in his arms the way he had the first time and bore her back into her room. Feeling small and feminine and cherished, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cocked her head to kiss him on those firm, soft lips, excitement thrilling through her veins.

  She was right to be excited, because after forbidding her to move a finger, he set her on her feet and peeled her out of her top and skirt very, very slowly, pausing to explore every bit of flesh revealed with hands and mouth, and nose. “Love the way you smell,” he muttered, nuzzling under the edge of her skirt.

  “You said that when you were up here, last time,” she said, a bit breathlessly, hand between her breasts.

  He cast her a look full of heat. “Meant it there too. But this is better. Pussy.”

  She started to laugh at the growl in his voice, but it broke on a gasp when he thrust his tongue under her skirt, finding the edge of her tiny lace panties. His fingers followed, delving under the lace to stroke her.

  “You attached to these panties?” he asked.

  She shook her head, then gasped again when they ripped at the front, and then dropped away, her skirt pushed up onto her belly. “Those were expensive.”

  “Buy you more,” he muttered. “Worth it.”

  He slid his hand underneath her, cupping her bare ass. “Spread. Further.”

  More manly grunt-style speech. Nevertheless, Taara did as he said. Her pussy contracted with need as he eyed what the move revealed, then moved to touch and taste.

  She came with his mouth on her, his fingers deep in her pussy and one teasing her ass.

  When she opened her eyes, she had one thought in her mind. “I want to do that to you.”

  He stared up at her, then turned his head just enough to wipe his mouth on his sleeve without looking away from her. “Okay.” Then he reached back and yanked his shirt over his head, revealing his gorgeous torso and unfastened his pants to shove them down.

  She watched greedily as his lean hips and powerful thighs were revealed, along with his erect cock. She could admire just that for hours, with her gaze, her hands and her mouth.

  “Sit on the edge of the bed,” she decided.

  She stood before him and shimmied out of her skirt, slowly, loving the way he watched every move. He’d already seen it and touched it, but he liked watching it revealed again, she could tell by the way he swallowed, and his powerful hands dug into the coverlet. Against the dark brown, his skin glowed, a sun-bronzed man—on the upper half at least, his lower body was pale, the sparse curls on his groin and legs dark blond.

  Taara dropped to her knees and rested her hands on his thighs, stroking his hot skin gently. He lifted his hands and then hesitated. She looked up at him. “You can touch me,” she coaxed. “Show me what you like.”

  He gave a choked laugh as she slid her hands up to his hips, enjoying the smooth texture of his skin, the play of muscle beneath. He was quivering like a large animal ready to be unleashed.”I’ll like whatever you do, trust me.”

  She smiled at him. “Okay.” Leaning forward, she turned her face against his cock, thrusting into the air between them, and stroked her cheek along its satin length. It jerked against her face, slapping her lips.

  She giggled. “Was that a ‘go away’ or a ‘get busy’?”

  “Gotta go with the second,” he said, his deep voice strained. He had his head tipped to the side, watching her. She liked that and wanted his rampant length in her mouth, so she got busy. Curling her fingers around his girth, she held him still to be kissed. “You smell so good,” she whispered. Then she licked the drop of arousal from the broad head and drove her tongue into the shallow slit.

  He shuddered deeply. “Please,” he groaned. “Take it in.”

  Happily, she did just that. She licked him into her mouth, and sucked him deeper. Then she did what Serpentians were famous for, she took him deep, his length enveloped in her mouth and throat.

  Creed moaned and his hands lifted to cradle her head. His powerful, warrior’s hands were shaking, but he held her carefully, stroking her hair with little flexes of his fingers as she let him out and then took him in again. “Taara,” he groaned. “Ah, woman.”

  She felt him start to lose control, felt his hips begin to flex in little movements. Then his hands tightened in her hair and he pulled her off him.

  “Let me,” she urged. “I want you to come this way.”

  He ended the discussion by thrusting his hands under her arms and lifting her up as if she weighed nothing. “That was amazing, but I want inside you here.”

  Her legs already
parted to straddle him, she nodded eagerly as he cupped her pussy, holding her in his hand. He took himself in hand and watched as she tilted her hips forward to take him inside. “That’s so fucking pretty,” he muttered. “So delicate, small and soft, but you let me in there deep. Doesn’t hurt you?”

  “You don’t hurt me,” she assured him, breathlessly, because he was surging up into her, hard and hot and firm, raking nerve endings already swollen and sensitized after her first orgasm. “You feel ... so good inside me.” This she said against his mouth as she slid her arms around his shoulders and pressed close, his cock deep inside her.

  “Thank God for that.” He kissed her, tasting her as he moved under her, lifting her with his hands under her ass and then letting her down again. “You feel like a little piece of heaven fallen into my grasp.”

  “Oh, that’s the sweetest thing any guy ever said to me.”

  Then they stopped talking as she took over, rising up on him and falling again. He groaned into her mouth, a sweet sound as he worked within her, stroking her in the most perfect way ever created.

  Knowing how excited he was, knowing he wouldn’t last long, she set her mind to getting what she wanted from him and doing it fast. He came first, his hot seed flooding her, but she kept riding him, as fast as she could now, her head tipped back and her breasts bobbing as pleasure tightened deep within her and then imploded, so hard she dropped her head on his shoulder and cried out.

  His arms around her, they were silent, both breathing hard, both shaking, their skin damp with sweat. Actually, he was sweating like an athlete, but she didn’t mind a bit. She lay on his chest, body and mind slack with repletion.

  “You called my name,” he murmured, his hand moving idly on her ass, stroking the full curve.

  Taara’s eyes opened. She lifted her head, eyeing him cautiously. He was watching her, his gaze soft. “Guess that means you let me in there, too.” He tipped his head against hers. “Trust. Goes both ways.”

  Oh, goddess. His soft words hit her like body blows. He gave her his trust, which she did not deserve ... although it wasn’t her fault she couldn’t tell him why she was really here. Blinking back the hot ache of tears, she hid her face against his cheek. “Hard not to trust a man who puts his research into action so diligently.”

  His wide mouth, soft with her kisses, curved up against her temple. “Got some more things to try. You ever do it beast style?”

  Her head rocked back. “Um, what?”

  “You know, as the beasts do, with the man behind and you on your hands and knees.”

  She blew out her breath. “Oh. I though you meant, you know—in the ass.”

  His heavy, arching brows shot together, and he gave her a look. “Ah, no. Heard of that, but why would a man want in there, when he can be in here?”

  He moved his hips, reminding both of them that he was deep inside her, and although going soft, he was still big enough that she felt it.

  She shrugged, wriggling pleasurably. “I don’t know. Why would a woman take a man there when she can have him here?” As she said this, she tightened her pussy, squeezing him.

  He grunted. “Felt that. Squeezed me that way when you came—liked it a lot. Keep it up, you’re gonna make me hard again.”

  Taara swallowed her despair and smiled at him, as she flexed her inner muscles in rhythmic succession. “Oh, no. Whatever will we do if that happens?”

  “Try it beast style,” he answered promptly, his eyes lighting up with hungry anticipation.

  So they did. And it must be said it was a success for her, and if the way he bucked and shuddered over her and shouted her name was any indication, it was a success for him too.

  * * *

  Taara looked over at the man lying on the bed beside her. They had just separated moments before, and her body hummed with satisfaction. She lay on her stomach, facing him, one leg crooked up, foot waving lazily in the air.

  On his back, one arm crooked under his head, he was still nude. Though his cock lay quiescent now, it was still impressive enough to send a tingle through her pussy. So was the rest of him. She reached out and stroked her fingertips over his thigh, enjoying the crisp feel of the fine hair there and then the way his skin over his lean hip smoothed out. He twitched under her touch and she looked up to find him watching her.

  She gazed back and felt herself diving off that precipice, in freefall. Landing at his feet, and it was the only place in the galaxy she wanted to be. Being with him kept her off-balance—she never knew what he’d say or do next. She was used to spending most of her time with women, or with Daanel.

  Creed was all man, direct and focused. That focus was on sex a lot of the time, but that was all right with her. Knowing she was the only female ever to make him convulse with pleasure, to touch and taste him was far headier than blue stars. Like comparing the sun to a glowlamp.

  She blinked and focused on her fingers, the design she was drawing on his skin. Yeah, and even a half-Serpentian who stared too long at the sun would end up blind. She squeezed her eyes shut in an instinctive denial that he affected her so powerfully, and pulled her hand away from him.

  “So, how far have you explored around here?” she asked, to distract herself.

  “Long ways,” he said, stroking one hand over his belly. “Why?”

  “I’d like to see where the river goes,” she said.

  This was true. The valley below his house was beautiful, and from the balcony outside the sitting room one could see an intriguing glimpse of a bend in the river, and mist rising from the river, as if it went over a falls. She’d never seen such a thing, except on the holovids. To know it was so close did make her long to see it. Rivers were not only beautiful, nature’s design at work, it would be another distraction from mooning over him.

  “Take you for a ride,” he offered. “Tomorrow—no, the next day. Got a big shipment going out tomorrow, have to be there. Probably be late getting back here.”

  She lifted her head, and propped her chin on her hand, stroking further up his side, to where hair curled crisply under his arm. Oh, drat, she simply couldn’t resist touching him when he was this close.

  “You could show me how to fly your cruiser,” she offered, batting her lashes at him. “Then I could go myself.”

  He didn’t move, although his skin twitched again. Ticklish. His mouth curled up in that little half-smile she liked so much. “Don’t think so. Cruiser’s too big and powerful for a novice to control. Teach you how to fly a hovie, though.”

  “Really?” She stared at him, excitement cutting through the mix of sadness and euphoria that filled her. She’d expected him to tell her no and that would be that. “I’ve never flown anything. That would be so fab. I might have to think of some way to repay you.”

  His chest quivered under her hand. “You Earth II girls are easy. Don’t worry, I’ll think of how you can repay me.”

  She put out her tongue and touched the corner of her mouth. “I’ll look forward to it.”

  His gaze snapped to her mouth. “So will I.”

  Taara grinned. This kind of teasing with a sexual edge was fun with him. “You could show me how to fly it now,” she coaxed, sliding her hand up over his chest in a caress. “Then we’d get to the repayment faster.”

  His azure gaze narrowed. “Yes, we could. All right, get dressed, meet me in the passageway to the landing pad.”

  “Okay.” She scrambled off the bed and ran to her lav to clean up.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next afternoon, Taara sat in the hovie Creed had chosen for her personal use.

  It was not an attractive craft. Instead of being a glossy silver or even gold toned, the paint job was dull gray like the bluffs behind the house.

  He’d noted her disappointment and told her the purpose of this was camouflage, to make the small craft hard to spot when it was still. The paint also included special ingredients that shielded heat, meaning the driver and the core that powered the craft. Of course h
igh tech surveillance would pick it up as soon as it moved, but the camo allowed a LodeStone driver to hide, if necessary, until help came.

  The tech, he told her, was left over from the Solar Wars and highly useful for the settlers of this planet. Not that she was going to need it, as he’d told her exactly where she was allowed to go and also that the craft was armed to send off an alarm if she ventured too far. This would bring him or one of his men immediately to escort her back to safety.

  The LodeStone security system encompassed the area from the mountaintops to the other side of the valley and both ways along the river bottom for several kilometers. As long as she stayed within the borders indicated by the holomap on the dash, and away from any herds of skrog, she would be safe. She had no intention of flying anywhere near the huge beasts, so this last should not be a problem.

  She ran through the mental checklist of the things he’d taught her, then linked Creed. His image sprang into view over the control console of the hovie, and Taara stared. He was shirtless, his face and chest gleaming with perspiration. Dirt streaked one side of his face, and his arms. He held some kind of tool in one hand, blinking with lights and emitting low hums.

  He was not alone, either. Another man stood with him in a large passageway cut from the rock, with rows of lights disappearing around a bend. The inside of the mine. The other man was smaller than Creed, clad in dusty work clothes but with a bloody bandage on his head. He was scowling at Creed. “It wasn’t my fault,” he was saying. “I told you—”

  “It was your fault,” Creed interrupted in a voice so cold it sent a chill through Taara. Ugh, she’d hate to have that look directed at her. “You didn’t make sure the cars were loaded evenly, so they tipped. Others could’ve been injured because of your mistake. Wasn’t Rowdy, wasn’t Ceia, it was you. You’re done here. Clean out your pod and go. You can catch a ride into Frontiera City with one of the boys.”

  The other man glared at Creed. “You quarker. Ice man, that’s what they call you. No heart, don’t know what it’s like to feel anything. Never make mistakes, so you don’t get that the rest of us are real. Well, you’ll find out one day and when you do, I hope it’s bad. Hope it takes you and your quarkin’ mine down.”