Crystals Three Chosen Mates (3 page)
“That’s it?”
Henri nodded, a lock of his hair falling over his forehead. “We are agricultural engineers, but we’ve never worked with food like this. Sit and tell us about your work.”
Were they serious? She glanced from Henri’s face to Stepho’s darker one. She knew the First Quadrant relied nearly entirely on nutrishakes, but she thought that was because they were convenient and fast. She’d had no idea whole food production was so limited on the other side of the planet.
She pulled out a chair and sat. “Your meal’s getting cold.”
Henri and Stepho took their chairs and began poking at the fish and vegetables with their forks.
“Come on, boys. Give it a try,” she teased. “It doesn’t bite back.”
Stepho sent her a lopsided grin before inserting a forkful of fish between his full lips. His brown eyes closed as a look of pure joy crossed his face.
Stars, the man was good-looking for an intelligentsia. She’d always imagined members of the brainy class would be thin-necked and bug-eyed from staring too long at their datapads. Though Stepho was definitely on the too-thin side of what she considered healthy, he had good bones on which to add some muscle mass. A few days of her cooking and a little time in the gym, and he’d be one hot scientist. She particularly liked the way his wide nose complemented his thick lips. Lips that looked as if they would feel oh-so-good kissing their way down her—
“Crystal…Crystal?” The sound of Henri’s voice interrupted her impromptu erotic fantasy.
“Uh, yeah.” She turned to face the other scientist, hoping her cheeks weren’t too flushed from her overactive imagination.
Henri pointed his fork at his plate. “What soil type produces vegetables such as these?”
“It’s a mix of organic materials and minerals. I’m merely a Food
Preparation
Specialist, not a Food
Production
Specialist, but I can introduce you to some of them if you are interested.”
“Merely?” Stepho inclined his head. “Who designed this meal?”
“I did,” she said. “Do you not like it? I can get you something else.”
“Whose directions did you follow?” Stepho asked without answering her question.
“We call it a recipe, and this is one I created myself.” His brusque questions provoked her ire, causing her own words to come out clipped.
Henri laid his hand over hers where it rested on the table. “Please forgive Stepho. He tends to lose his manners when he gets excited by his research.”
“Research?” She waved at their plates. “We just call this evening meal around here.”
“Do these vegetables come naturally with this blend of flavors? I’ve never tasted anything like them,” Stepho said, seeming to ignore Henri’s comment about proper table manners.
What Crystal found hard to ignore was Henri’s strong hand covering hers. Her gaze skimmed up his forearm to meaty biceps that were evident even beneath his shirtsleeves. How did tapping on a keyboard all day build such strength?
She glanced up at his face, which displayed two long dimples on either side of his smiling mouth. A mouth that looked as tasty as the berry tarts she’d made for dessert.
“If you’ll do the talking, Stepho will get more eating done,” Henri suggested.
Crystal returned his grin, and had to fight to keep it in place when he removed his hand from hers to pick up his fork. Just that brief physical touch had her craving more. She’d like to take both of them back to her personal pod and get to know them each on an intimate level, but she didn’t know how the intelligentsia viewed casual intimacy. Did they save themselves until they were assigned their mate?
Oh, blasters. Maybe these two already had a mate. Why hadn’t she considered that? She would never proposition another woman’s mates.
Then she remembered their introductions. They would have mentioned the names of their woman and the third man, rather than their parents, if they were mated.
Her grin gained in strength. She was going to take a shot at these two. It was a perfect opportunity to expand her knowledge base. Even though she’d had a few sexual encounters with individual men, she’d never moved on to two men at once. How much better it would be to do it with two men of her own choosing, rather than waiting for the men the Council would assign to her.
She jerked in the pilot’s chair, and her usually pale cheeks took on a decidedly red color. What he’d give to know whom she’d been fantasizing about. He didn’t flatter himself and assume she was thinking about their encounter in the storage bench. It had been damn good, but with the anger she still showed toward him, he didn’t think she was daydreaming about him. And if she ever found out about his little trick, she would be furious with him for the rest of their natural lives.
So, who was the mystery man? And why the hellitude did it piss Fisher off to think about her with someone else?
It was a good thing he hadn’t been assigned as one of her three mates because he would have to maim the other two men based on these irrational surges of resentment against his imaginary rivals.
She tapped a few commands into the control board in front of her. “W-we’ll be nearing First Quadrant soon. Do you want to take us in?”
Oh, yeah. She was feeling embarrassed about something. She never willingly gave up the pilot seat. Flying was one of her passions, along with cooking and soldiering. She was pretty damn good at sex, too.
And she’d just handed him the perfect diversion for the remainder of this monotonous flight. He was going to enjoy finding out what she’d been thinking about so deeply, or at least, he’d use the opportunity to get into her trousers again—and wipe away her memories of any other men.
“Nah, keep the chair. I don’t mind the view from the co-pilot’s seat.” He slid his long frame into the tight space. “So, Crystal, I couldn’t help notice you seemed lost in your thoughts. Anything you’d like to share with the rest of us?”
She glared at him, but then smiled. “Do you always refer to yourself and your manly bits as separate identities?”
He chuckled. “Manly
bits
? We both know what I’ve got is significantly more than that.”
She huffed out a “ha” sound, then shrugged. “You think you’re the biggest I’ve had?”
And that made his anger spike. No man liked a woman throwing around comments like that. It had absolutely nothing to do with the kernel of jealousy he felt like a lead weight in his gut.
“Don’t go there, Crystal,” he warned.
“Where? To the land of truth? Can’t you handle it, Fishy?” She used his old nickname from the Academy, the one that had him getting into more than his fair share of fistfights.
But this time, instead of feeling as if his anger was getting the best of him, he felt preternaturally calm. It was like a switch flicked in his brain, and understanding clarified his thoughts. She was baiting him. Not unlike he had baited her in that storage bench. Whatever she’d been daydreaming about had got her stirred up, and she was looking at him to put her out of her discomfort.
He swallowed a smirk as he checked the radar screen for their flight distance to sector one. Not nearly as much time as he’d like, but he’d make the most of what he could get.
“Crystal, darling, you couldn’t possibly have gotten a good look in that cramped compartment.” He unlocked the co-pilot’s chair and swiveled it ninety degrees to the left, so he faced her chair. Then he opened his trousers and palmed his growing cock. “Why don’t you come over here and get a better look?”
Her eyes widened as she stared over her shoulder at his face, as if she were refusing to look down.
He leaned back in his chair, dropped his hands to his sides, as his erection pointed to the ceiling. “Come on, darling. Or are you afraid I’m too much man for you?”
“Ha!” she huffed again. “I bet I could swallow you entirely.”
His cock twitched. Damn, she was good at this game. “Then how about a wager?”
The corners of her mouth slid upwards. “What’s the prize?”
“If you win, I’ll give you the best orgasm of your life. If I win, I get to take you from behind.”
Her mouth gaped slightly as she blinked rapidly.
As far as he was concerned, it was a win/win for both of them; he intended to make sure they each got a killer orgasm. “Better make up your mind quickly, darling.” He checked the control panel. “We’ve got a limited window of opportunity…unless you’re not willing to accept the risk.”
“I know what you’re about, Fisher, but fortunately for you, I like to bring a man to his knees.” She slipped out of the pilot’s seat, moving toward him as she spoke.
And he thought it amusingly ironic that she was the one kneeling before him, but his grin quickly faded when she wrapped her hot, wet mouth around his tip.
He’d thought she’d go directly for the win, sucking him straight down her throat. Instead, she teased him with her tongue, licking around his flared edge and slipping in and out of his slit. She adjusted the slant of his chair back, so he was more reclined, giving her a better angle as she leaned over his dick.
His hips jerked involuntarily when she slid a finger down from his balls to play with his asshole. Damn, was she going all the way in? He’d never last if she stimulated his prostrate.
As if that were her intent, she wetted her finger with her tongue and entered his backside. And that’s when she sucked him completely down her throat.
“Blasters!” he shouted with the double stimulation. He held her head between his hands and thrust into her welcoming mouth. Her hums of pleasure vibrated around his cock, making him harder, until all his focus was on the building tension that nearly hurt with his need to come.
She sucked harder, then swiped his tip with her tongue, as her finger stroked his prostrate. His hands clamped around her head, and he let himself go, driving into her mouth with fierce thrusts.
Her free hand grabbed his balls and squeezed roughly.
He bellowed out a roar as he came, unloading deeply into her throat, the eruption seemingly unending. His hips jerked stiffly, irregularly, as his orgasm ended.
He collapsed into the chair, his entire body lax.
She gently slid her finger out of his ass as she licked around his shaft. He twitched violently when she lapped across his tip, evoking a moan from him.
“A little sensitive?” she razzed him.
He lifted an eyelid to glance down at where she knelt between his sprawled legs.
“You better not be thinking of taking a snooze, Fishy. You owe me.”
A growl rumbled in his chest as he sprang from his chair and pinned her body to the cockpit deck in the narrow space between the seats. “And I will deliver,” he promised before taking her mouth in a hard, deep kiss.
His taste mixed with hers, making him want her more, to return the favor and savor her flavor on his tongue.
With one part of his brain keeping track of their imminent landing in sector one, he focused the rest of his attention on stripping off Crystal’s clothes. His one regret from their first encounter was that the tight space hadn’t let him get her naked so he could appreciate all her assets.
She helped him shed her clothes, as if she were desperate for his touch. “Take your clothes off, too,” she demanded. “I want to feel your skin on mine.”
Damn, he liked a woman who spoke her mind, he thought as he practically ripped off his own clothes.
Then bliss, as he rubbed his hard, naked body along her soft flesh. Her hands roamed his body, driving the lethargy from his muscles and sparking a return of his erection.
He dragged his mouth down her throat, across her chest to her ample breast. Her stiff pink nipple seemed to beg for his attention. He swirled it with his tongue, enjoying the musk of her skin. Her moans encouraged him to draw her into his mouth and bite lightly.
“Yesss,” she hissed as she fisted his short hair, holding him at her chest.
He obliged her and laved at her nipple while tweaking the other with his fingers. Her moans increased, and she shuddered under his weight.
Hellitude, was she going to come from nipple play? She had to be one of the most responsive women he’d ever been with, and shiitake, he didn’t want to be thinking about anyone else while he had Crystal sprawled naked under him.
He continued attending to her breasts, and his payoff was her squeal when she came.
He gave her a moment to catch her breath before he moved to explore her lower half.
“Well, it was nice,” she commented in between her heavy breathing, “but I wouldn’t call it the best of my life.”
“I’m. Not. Done,” he growled and nipped the underside of her breast.
“Oh!” she yelped. “Then, by all means continue, Corporal.”
He smirked as he scooted down her body. She wasn’t using his inane nickname anymore. He was definitely getting to her.
He settled on his elbows between her open thighs and took a good look at her pink folds. Moisture glistened, demanding he take a taste.
With the first swipe of his tongue, she released a rich, throaty moan. He teased her with light licks until her hips were bucking against him. He placed his palms on her thighs to hold her immobile on the deck, drawing another rasping moan from her.
