No Limits (24 page)
Pulling her forward, he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She tasted his tears, mingled with her own. Her free hand ran through his silky mane of hair, freeing it from the holder until it spilled across both of their faces.
She gasped for air when he finally released her. Resting his forehead against hers, he murmured, “I will always love you, my sweet Genevieve.”
Before she could reply, he turned to that shimmering gold-mist body. The flight suit he’d worn fell to the floor in a heap. Tiny sparkles hovered over the still form on the bed and slowly settled back into place.
The candle extinguished on an invisible breeze, leaving her alone in the dark.
25
A
gony
.
gony
.
Rhys couldn’t catch his breath, hadn’t the wherewithal to gather his thoughts. Reentering his body felt like being sliced open by a thousand razor blades at one time. Madness gnawed at his mind, and if he’d had the strength, he would have clawed his own eyes out to make the awful burning pain stop.
“Rhys,” someone whispered. A dulcet feminine voice that smacked of a longing he could no longer comprehend. “Are you in there?”
He parted his lips, but only a puff of air came out. It was too much, sensation overload. They’d hurt him more since his last visit. Something internal was badly damaged, vital life processes.
Had he reclaimed his flesh just in time to die within?
“Gen?” A male voice, full of command. Rhys recognized it, but his mind couldn’t form the name. “How’s he doing?”
A sniffle and he felt her fingers weave through his own. She didn’t apply pressure, as though trying to minimize his hurt, but her gentle touch gave his mind something to cling to, a goal to move toward instead of flailing helplessly in the blackness.
“We need to decide what all’s gonna happen from here.” The man kept his voice low. “Me and my kind are ready to pull up stakes and move on. We need you to talk to the ship and get us home.”
“I’m not leaving him, leaving any of them. Zan, you’ve seen them. They’re totally defenseless like this.”
The all-encompassing pain took him under before he heard Zan’s response.
Later, he awoke to find Gen nestled up beside him. Judging by the machines and instruments as well as the overpowering smell of disinfectant, he’d been moved to some sort of medical treatment facility. The pain had dulled to a constant throb, and he suspected he’d been drugged.
Gen stirred beside him, lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Hey.” Her voice was froggy from her recent nap and charmed him as much as her tousled hair. “How are you feeling?”
The pity and sorrow in her eyes was almost his undoing. Closing his eyes, he whispered, “Where are we?”
“Still on Illustra’s ship. Though we’ve had to rely on the med bots to treat you and the others because the crew has been locked down below.”
“Is Sela ... ?”
She offered him a warm smile. “Her body is fine. They haven’t hurt her in any way.”
He struggled, trying to sit up. Even that small effort caused sweat to bead on his brow. He touched it in wonder, unable to believe he was back in his own skin for the first time in months.
Gen retrieved some pillows to help him maintain his upright position. “Try to stay still. The last thing you need is to hurt yourself more. You’re looking at months of intense therapy as it is.”
A lump formed in his throat. “I don’t have months. Not when they’re stealing untrained children and forcibly separating them from their bodies.”
“We need to come up with a plan. I can stall the pirates only so long. Now that they know their ship can open wormholes, they’re eager to return home.”
Staring at his atrophied legs beneath the blankets, Rhys murmured, “You should think about going with them. I’m sure Zan would appreciate your company.”
She drew back as though he’d struck her. “What the hell does that mean?”
He met her gaze; she deserved no less. “I’m a wreck, Gen. You said yourself it will take months for my strength to return. I cannot be the man you need me to be.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “So you’re just going to make that choice for me? Don’t I get a say in this?”
“I’ve ruined your life. The same way I ended Marshal’s. You can never go home, as long as Illustra is in power.”
“And you don’t want me anymore. I get it. Now that you have your body back and have your own emotions to monkey with, I’m just excess baggage.”
“Never.” No matter if it was better for her to believe such nonsense, Rhys couldn’t let her leave thinking she was without value. “If I had a choice, I would keep you by my side forever. But that choice was taken from me. I’m trapped now just as surely as I was within the candle. They turned my body into another prison.”
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” she snapped. “It’s a total turnoff.”
He laughed hollowly. “As if my wasted state and constellation of scars weren’t enough? I feel as though I sold you a false bill of goods, Gen. Promised you a perfect physical specimen and was switched out with a broken-down junker at the last moment. I can’t ask you to accept me as I am.”
Gen glanced over her shoulder to the open door. Rising, she walked backward, holding his gaze the entire time. “Maybe I want to accept you as you are. Did you ever consider that your physical perfection intimidated me a little?” Behind her, the door slid shut to ensure privacy.
He couldn’t believe what his senses told him. She was aroused, the red pulse of her libido unmistakable. Even more incredibly, his cock twitched with interest as her fingers moved to the buttons of her dress. She unbuttoned it to her waist and let the top gape open to reveal the creamy mounds of her breasts.
“My pleasure still gives you strength, doesn’t it? I can help you. But you have to want me, to let me.” Her gaze locked with his. “To trust me not to run away when we hit a wall.”
He couldn’t believe she would want this, with him as he was. “I can’t leave my body right now, Gen, can’t project myself as the man you’ve known.” Even as he said it, his hands reached for her, eager to touch the smooth skin she’d exposed. To finally feel it with his own hands.
Her blue eyes glittered with passionate intent as she climbed up on the bed. “No one was asking you to leave. Don’t you know by now that what I want, more than anything else from you, is the truth?”
Dipping her head down, she brushed her lips over his in a sweet caress. The contact jolted him, and he opened his mouth, wanting a deeper taste of her. She complied, sweeping her tongue into his mouth in a slow exploration, his flesh melding with hers for the first time.
Even with his hands attached to tubes and wires, he couldn’t hold back from exploring her generous curves. Her nipples pebbled under his ministrations, and she arched into his hands so he could cup her more fully. Her sigh of pleasure went straight to his now-erect cock, and he rocked it against her, wanting to feel her there.
Panting, she pulled away, though her fingers continued to trace the scars on his chest. Poised on her knees, she held herself over him. She was careful not to press against him, still acutely aware of his physical state. “You need to tell me if something hurts.”
“It hurts when you stop,” he told her honestly.
She rewarded him with a dazzling smile. Scooting down, she tugged the blanket with her. “I bathed you, when you were unconscious. Did you know that?”
Her fingers trailed lightly over his chest. Unable to form a replay, Rhys shook his head.
“I needed to do it, to do something for you.” Her soft hand worked lower, over the smattering of hair on his belly, loving everything she found with her touch. “So you don’t need to worry about disappointing me. I already know what I’ve got and I want it. I want
you
.”
you
.”
As her fist closed around his erection, Rhys exhaled, shaky with excitement. “Then take it, take whatever you want. All I have is yours, my sweet.”
She nuzzled his stiff prick, her hot breath falling on his throbbing erection a moment before she took him into her mouth. The warm, wet depths bathed his heated flesh, and he fought the urge to buck his hips and force her to take even more. No way would he jeopardize this moment.
Her eyes met his again, and he saw her pleasure as she took even more of him. Those gold and purple sparkles cresting out from her aura. The wet slide of her lips and tongue over his rock-hard cock, the way her hands smoothed down his thighs in a tender caress. She pulled back until just the tip of her tongue laved over the crown, tasting the moisture there. In that instant, he realized what was missing.
“You’re not using your germ shield.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “Not with you, Rhys. I want nothing between us.”
Gripping his shaft, she bent down to claim him again.
He was hers. Gen could see the acceptance in Rhys’s eyes, the way his shaking hands moved to her head while she sucked him deep into her mouth until his cock touched the back of her throat. She loved the taste of him, the salty tang of his seed, the musky maleness of his smooth phallus. This was the first blowjob she’d ever given without her germ shield, and she doubted she’d ever go back.
Seconds away from orgasm herself, she reached down to stimulate her throbbing clit so they could come together. His heavy-lidded eyes focused on her movements. “Let me taste your pleasure.”
Dipping her fingers into her honeyed well, she then moved them to his mouth, all the while keeping up the steady suction on his pulsing shaft. His tongue parted her fingers, licking down one side and up the other, and she could easily envision him doing the same between her lips, hungry for more.
“Gen,” he gasped, releasing her hand. “I’m going to come.”
She sucked harder, needing all of him she could get. Rhys let out a hoarse gasp, his fingers tunneling in her hair. Hot jets of semen erupted in her mouth. Her sex clenched in response, wishing he filled her there so she could milk his cock dry.
Next time, she promised herself as his orgasm slowed, and he tugged at her hair, gasping and shuddering beneath her.
With one final lick, she let him go and crawled up against him. Sharp, ragged breaths tore from his throat, and he didn’t open his eyes. Concern replaced the satisfaction she’d felt moments before.
“Are you in pain?”
He shook his head quickly and groped for her hand. “You overwhelmed me. As you always do.”
Smiling, she settled down beside him. “I guess I don’t need to ask if it was good for you.”
“
Good
is too mild a word, sweetness.” As his breathing evened out, he continued to touch her, a slow exploration as if relearning her every dip and curve. “I’m still amazed that brought you sexual satisfaction. And perhaps a little disappointed.”
Good
is too mild a word, sweetness.” As his breathing evened out, he continued to touch her, a slow exploration as if relearning her every dip and curve. “I’m still amazed that brought you sexual satisfaction. And perhaps a little disappointed.”
“Why?” She raised her head to look at him.
“Because I don’t get to keep playing with you now.”
She giggled, startled at how lighthearted she felt. They had so many overwhelming problems to deal with, but for now, this momentary slice of happiness was theirs for the taking. “You’ve got to earn your boons. Welcome to Gen’s rehab program, phase one.”
Tilting her chin up, he met her gaze. “It will be worth every moment of pain to know I have you to look forward to.”
A knock sounded on the outer door. Sliding out of the narrow medical bed, Gen covered Rhys with the sheet once more. After fixing her dress and finger-combing her hair, she opened the outer door.
Her jaw dropped. “Gia? Where the fracking hell did you come from?”
Gia looked just as startled. “I didn’t believe it when that bastard pirate told me you were on board. That was my stinger that got sucked into the vortex with you.”
“Gen?” Rhys called out.
Gia tried to peer around her, but Gen blocked her path. Turning to Rhys she said, “It’s all right, she’s a friend. Get some rest. I’ll fill you in later.”
Shutting the door, she escorted Gia into the empty lab. The med bots were all stowed carefully in their rechargers until someone called for medical assistance.
“You look different,” Gia remarked as she boosted herself up onto the desk. “Dare I say, happy?”
With a start, Gen realized she was happy. Sinking into the lone chair, she glanced up at her friend. “I know it sounds nuts, but I am happy.”
“Because of him?” Gia chucked her thumb in Rhys’s direction.
Gen considered it. “Partly. It’s totally nuts, but I like this sense of purpose.”
“Tell me everything,” Gia ordered.
Gen did, filling her friend in on the events of the last week. “Having you order me a man whore really did change my life.”
“Damn. And I got stood up that night, if you can believe it. Who would have thought you’d turn into a freedom fighter?”
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