Love Without Boundaries (22 page)

Rykhan slowly rose to his feet, taking his time to stand as he used his palm in a warm caress that traveled from the back of her thigh to her neck.
 
“I’m sure we can think of something.”

And as Leah darted her eyes to his, she saw his were full of purposeful intent.
 
And their sexy gleam gave her the idea of what his intentions might be.

It was a couple of hours later when Rykhan, with more than a few pillows scrunched behind his head and Leah’s naked body tucked against his side, pointed to the hologram that hovered his chest.
 
“And this portion here?
 
That is Galaxia’s largest city.”

“That’s where you live?
 
When you’re not doing your protector thing, is that where you hang your hat?” she asked quietly, her eyes on the map he’d accessed after showing her the globe of his home world.

“That is where I was born and grew up,” he corrected.
 
Using a finger, he swiped the floating screen and another planet appeared.
 
“When not on duty, I actually live on Nutrol.”

She looked at the image and decided that she liked Nutrol better.
 
Galaxia, while beautiful seemed stark with its soaring, snow covered mountains and green oceans.
 
But the fact that almost every available surface on its planet was covered in plain white buildings just made it seem cold to her.

Nutrol appeared softer somehow, comprised of brown, greens and a deep, deep blue.
 
As Rykhan touched the imagem it magnified and soon she could identify rolling hills teeming with forests with acres and acres of grasslands all randomly dotted with large houses.
 
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, watching as he brought the images into sharper focus to settle on what appeared to be a large log cabin set far away from its neighbors.

“This is my home,” and Leah heard a note of pride in Rykhan’s voice as she took in the sight.
 
“I share it with Meta and her husband Gryeg who work the fields and take care of the house.”

Arching her neck, Leah raised her face to his.
 
She wanted to see if his expression was as soft, as homesick, as his voice sounded.
 
“You love it there.”

“I do,” he replied thickly.
 
“Very much.”

Canting her face back to the image, she swallowed.
 
“Is that where you want me to live?”

“Yes,
tersa blay
.”
 
His voice held a sharp yearning that pierced Leah’s heart with all the emotion it contained.
 
“That is the home I hope to take you to, the place where you will give birth and we will raise our younglings.” He used two fingers in a scissoring motion and she watched as the picture turned, bringing a barn and stable into view, rows of grain bordering its back portion.
 
“Where Galaxia is the technology center of the Picari system, Nutrol is the planet known for its crops and animals.
 
And I knew after only one visit to its surface that it was there I wanted to live out my days.”

Leah considered his words as she gazed at the photograph.
 
She could see herself there.
 
See her and Rykhan surrounded by children as they ran, jumped and played.
 
And even if it was only a fantasy that she’d created in her head, it felt real.
 
Almost like it was a memory of a time she’d already lived.
 
But that was impossible and most likely even improbable since she had absolutely no desire to be particle scrambled and stuck on a tin can for six months in order to get there.

Fluffing the sheets that covered her, Leah scooted and turned over onto her back.
 

‘This is’
, she admitted to herself,
‘getting complicated’
.

The flashes in her peripheral vision told her Rykhan was still involved in the hologram which gave her some space to think.
 
But instead of thinking about space journeys, new planets and children, Leah’s mind went back to when he’d closed and locked his bedroom door before turning to her.
 
She’d been standing by the bed, her heart skittering as her body’s need for him had begun to surface.

“I want to undress you myself this time,” he’d growled as he’d slowly walked towards her, his eyes almost glowing with desire.
 
“I want to
unwrap
you from your clothes and feel your warm nakedness pressed against me before I lay you back, spread your legs and enter you at the exact moment our
wahroms
kiss.”

She been completely speechless, only able to blink, as her warrior had done just as he warned he would do.
 
And when their metal bracelets had touched, at the precise instant he had filled her, her body had arched at the explosion.
 
Rocked and careened as she came harder, the hardest she could ever remember.
 
And its blood-throbbing pulsations, even as quickly as they had come over her, hadn’t ebbed for several long minutes.
 

Long enough for her to be aware that she had not only felt her own body’s reaction but Rykhan’s as well.
 

Time enough for her loud scream of utter and complete undoing to join and then quiet with his.

Filled enough with emotions so raw, so primal that she knew some part of her, in the deepest recesses of her being, considered him to be her mate, the other half of her soul.

And as they came back to themselves, each back into their own body and spirit, Rykhan began to move.
 
Slowly but deeply, he rocked himself into her, using his mouth on hers just as sanguinely as his length moved in and back in a rhythm as old as time.

There had been no words between them.
 
Nothing but their body’s rocking, the tangling of their lips and tongues as their hands slowly caressed whatever area of skin they came in contact with.
 
It was, at least to Leah’s mind, the perfect round two after the almost mystical, spiritual joining with their bracelets.
 
Bringing them both to the perfect pinnacle of pleasure but in a much gentler way than they’d found themselves in just minutes before.

And as she relived those moments with Rykhan poring over his maps and hologram by her side, Leah didn’t know what to do, how to act or what to say to try and find the crack in all the beautifulness they’d built between them.
 
And experience had taught her that there were always cracks, the uneven pieces that caused couples to stumble and break apart.

So she just picked one thought and blurted it out, which seemed to be her way of dealing with things.
 
At least when she was with him.

“What does
tersa blay
mean?”

He gave out a huge yawn before mumbling, “Sweet bride.”
 
And as Leah turned her head to look at him, she saw he was shutting down his communications device.
 
Setting it on the small chest to his right, he turned, lifting the sheet while scooting up next to her.
 
“It means ‘sweet bride’,
mica tisha
.”

“But we’re not married,” she countered, feeling her own body relaxing into sleepiness at the feel of his skin against her.

“Not yet, my Leah.”
 
His jaw cracked with the fulsomeness of the yawn that he couldn’t seem to help as he wound an arm over her waist before cupping a breast.
 
“But it is only a matter of time.”

Leah wanted to deny it but was unable to exert the effort of speech.

‘We can always talk about it tomorrow’
, she assured herself sleepily, snuggling deeper into Rykhan’s embrace.

*.*.*.*.*

Leah
came
awake one muscle at a time, so refreshed yet so tranquil she almost hated to open her eyes.
 
But not understanding the warmth she was cuddled up against, she needed to see what was causing it.

A broad expanse of golden skin met her gaze and as she took a deep breath in, she realized it was Rykhan she
was smelling
.
 
His own
natural scent that seemed to be a blend of sandalwood and another spice she couldn’t quite identify.
 
But whatever it was, the combination was more than pleasing to her senses.

Just as pleasing as the heat of his still sleeping body.
 
She was tucked securely against his back with an arm tucked around his waist that moved up and down with his breathing.
 
And in that beautiful quiet, with the feel of him against her, Leah found a peace like she’d never known.
 
At her admission, even if it was only offered within the confines of her mind, Leah realized she had deep feelings for the man she
laid
pressed next to.
 
Feelings she wasn’t sure she wanted, not when having them meant she wouldn’t be living the life she’d carefully planned for herself, on the planet that was her home.

Although what he had described of what he wanted, what he thought they were destined to have in the bits and pieces he’d
shared,
hadn’t been so bad.
 
Especially not when he’d shown her his ranch on Nutrol.
 
And she realized that the fantasy she’d entertained upon the viewing was still front and center in her head.
 
A dreamscape that was as close to her adolescent, make-believe visions of what her life would be like, that it caused her heart to knock hard in her chest.

“What are you thinking about that causes your distress, my Leah?” his sleep-filled voice broke the silence of the new morning.

“I’m not distressed, Rykhan,” she whispered back, trying to deny the thrill she experienced when he called her his.

“But your heart is beating very fast.”
 
Grabbing the hand she had tucked between his side and the mattress, Rykhan turned onto his back while keeping her close.
 
“
Tersa mandai, mica tisha
,” he murmured and Leah watched as he eyes moved over her face.

“What does that mean?”

Brushing his sun-streaked, sleep tangled hair off his forehead, Rykhan took a few moments to think.
 
“Sweet
morning,
is the closest translation, I think.
 
It is a traditional, formal greeting of the early part of the day in Picari.”

She smiled and shifted until she was using his shoulder as a pillow.
 
“Then ters-ah man-day, right back at you, baby.”
 
Her hand slid to his chiseled abs that
were
exposed as the sheet slid down at his movements.

He ran his hand over her back and drew Leah closer.
 
“I very much like waking up with you in my bed.
 
Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted, using her fingers to trail over the hills and valleys of his stomach muscles.
  
She angled her head so she could look up at him.
 
“Although I think we slept, like, fourteen hours or something.”

“Then our bodies needed it.
 
Which our physicians say is the best rest we can have.”
 
He yawned again and Leah felt his body shift into an involuntary stretch.
 
“But I am hungry.”

“Me, too.
 
But I need a shower first.”

“You are welcome to use my cleansing unit,
tersa blay
,” he immediately answered, covering her wandering fingers with his hand as if to ask her to stop her exploration.

Naughty, delicious thoughts of wet, soapy bodies crossed her mind but Leah knew she was too sore from yesterday afternoon’s physical activity to indulge them.
 
“How about we make it a shower for two?
 
You know, I’ll wash your back if you wash mine?”

A flare of heat ignited in his blue-green eyes before his lids lowered until they were half-hooded.
 
“I’ve never shared my daily cleanse but it sounds…inciting.”

“I think you mean ‘exciting’, baby,” she corrected with a small giggle.

He lifted one eyebrow as a suggestive grin lifted the corners of his full mouth.
 
“No, I believe I said it correctly.
 
To incite means to cause an action, yes?”
 
The arm around her back tightened.
 
“And I like the actions we have between us, my Leah.
Especially when we are locked alone in my sleeping quarters.”

“I do too, Rykhan,” she breathed, holding his gaze while feeling her pulse begin to pound in the tender, aching flesh between her legs.
 
“But if we’re gonna use the shower together, we have to have a couple of rules, or I swear I won’t survive it.”

He nodded once in curious acquiescence.

“First off, no sex.”
She almost laughed at the disappointed expression that crossed his face.
 
He looked like a little boy who’d been denied access to his favorite toy.
 
“And secondly, we have to keep our bracelets apart.
 
No touching, brushing up against or coming in contact even on accident.
 
Okay?”

“Why no sex?
 
Is joining in the morning something that humans do not do?”