Read Stud Online

Authors: Cheryl Brooks

Stud (5 page)

BOOK: Stud
5.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Lucy stared up at him with huge, disbelieving brown eyes.

“To be careful, I mean. I wouldn’t have been so rough.”

“Glad I didn’t say anything then.”

“But I
bit
you,” he protested. “And you’re bleeding. I can’t believe I did that.”

In an innocent tone completely at odds with her wicked grin, she said, “I guess I’ll just have to bite you back.”

Tarq’s balls clenched in anticipation. “I should lick it,” he said, doing his best to ignore his body’s response to her words, “to make it heal faster.”

“Does that really help?”

“It’s supposed to,” he replied. “I’ve never tried it, though.” Had never
needed
to, he reminded himself. Dipping his head, he realized he was still lying on top of her. He made a move to disengage himself, but she stopped him.

“Don’t get up just yet,” she said. “I want to enjoy this as long as I can.” With a short laugh, she added, “After all, this may be my one and only chance.”

Tarq couldn’t believe his ears. She truly didn’t know he could keep on all night if she liked. In the brothel, he’d fucked a different woman every three hours—only taking that long between clients because he always showered after each session. Now that he was traveling, the trips between planets were usually lacking in sex and sometimes took up to a month, but still, three days was a long time for Tarq—bordering on celibacy. “I can go again,” he said. “I sometimes do—to ensure conception—and I’ve got a medscanner—”

He broke off there, realizing he’d done something else wrong. He’d forgotten to scan her first, to determine not only her fertility but her lack of communicable disease. Still, a virgin couldn’t have been carrying much in the way of venereal disease, which was what he was most anxious to avoid. Most were curable, but some could affect his sperm production, and without that, he knew he was, well… useless. The fact that he had plenty of money banked away didn’t mean a damn thing. A man had to have
some
useful occupation.

She laughed again. “So scan me.”

Tarq didn’t want to break the connection either. “I’ll have to get up.”

“Okay, I’ll let you.”

Tarq thought it best to lick her wound first. “In a minute.” Leaning down, he began licking the blood from her shoulder, noting the two puncture wounds. She looked like she’d been bitten by a vampire with bad aim.

“I’m sure it’ll heal up just fine by itself,” she said after her initial gasp—a gasp that was quickly replaced with a sigh. “Wow. Even
that
feels good. What
is
it with you Zetithian guys?”

Tarq shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just the way we are—but we’re only interesting to alien women. Zetithian girls think we’re boring.”

“I find that
very
hard to believe.”

“Well, that’s what they always say. Maybe they’re lying. I wouldn’t know. I’ve only done one, and that was years ago.” Dismissing the vagaries of the Zetithian female libido, he went back to licking her shoulder. The bleeding had already stopped, but he kept on anyway. If nothing else, it gave him an excuse to stay right where he was.

“Is that why you’re traveling around like this? You’re hoping to find one who
doesn’t
think it’s boring?”

“No, I’m doing it because—” He stopped there, not wanting to admit he was too stupid to do anything else. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

With a reluctant sigh, he backed out and got up. He missed her warmth immediately, and it was all he could do to keep from diving back into her. Crossing the room to where he’d stripped off his clothes, he found the medscanner in the pocket of his jeans and activated it. A soft moan from Lucy made him hurry back to her.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I think so. I’ve never seen—” She paused, blowing out a pent-up breath. “It’s just that, well…” She finished her sentence in a rush as another orgasm seized her. “…you’ve got a
really
nice, um, backside.”

It wasn’t anything Tarq hadn’t heard before, but somehow coming from her it was different. He felt the flush of heat rising in his face and avoided her eyes. “So I’ve been told,” he muttered.

Sweeping the beam over her, he checked the results. He’d looked at this thing enough times to know what the words meant, even without using the audio feature: She was free of disease and a day or two short of her fertile period. A satisfied smile crept across his lips. “You are healthy but haven’t conceived. I’ll have to come back.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow and every day until you are with child.”

With anyone else, he would’ve waited until closer to the time of ovulation, but Lucy didn’t have to know that. Tarq was very truthful as a rule, but he wasn’t about to give up the opportunity to be with her as many times as he possibly could. A quick glance confirmed that she was pleased with the idea, but he figured it was best to ask. “Is that okay with you?”

Pensively chewing on a fingernail, she didn’t reply immediately.

“Is it because of your father?”

Nodding, she said, “I just don’t want him to find out until it’s too late to stop me.”

Tarq hadn’t forgotten how hateful her father was to her. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk her out of it, but he didn’t want her taking unnecessary risks either. “Are you sure about this?”

“Oh, yes,” she replied. “Very sure.”

“What about the children? Will he allow you to keep them?”

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “I’ve got it all figured out. He won’t know anything about any of this until you’re long gone.” She didn’t elaborate, but from the firm set of her jaw, Tarq got the message: She wasn’t going to tell him or anyone else about her plans.

He couldn’t argue with her because he knew she was right not to tell him. If questioned, he wouldn’t be able to answer. “Do you want to meet somewhere else?”

“Maybe, but I don’t know where it would be or what excuse I could give.”

Tarq wanted to lock himself in with her for the next week and never leave, but he doubted that was an option. Setting the scanner on the rickety little nightstand, he climbed back in bed with her. He knew he shouldn’t stay all night, but it was early yet and there was no point in wasting what little time they might have together. He could stay a while longer.

She seemed surprised. “I-I thought you were leaving.”

His heart plummeted painfully. “Do you want me to go?”

“No, not really. I just figured you’d do your thing and head out.”

It was what he should have done—what he usually did when he knew the timing wasn’t right—but every fiber of his being rebelled at the idea. Tarq was getting confused. He knew he was no good at deception. She was too smart; she’d catch him if he lied. “We could try again.”

“I doubt if a couple of hours would make any difference,” she said. “Not that I’ve ever made a study of it, but—”

“I don’t want to leave until I’m sure you’re all right,” he blurted out.

“I’m fine, really. I may never be the same, but—” she paused, smiling at him, “that probably goes without saying.” Shifting sideways, she turned over to face him. The moon shining in behind thin white curtains outlined the contours of her shoulder, the line of her neck, the curve of her cheek. Tarq started to say something else but had already forgotten what it was. Unable to stop himself, he leaned closer and kissed her. She couldn’t make him leave in the middle of a kiss, and if he kept it up long enough, she might forget all about it.

She still tasted good—almost
too
good. He only wished he understood why.

Chapter 4

Lucy couldn’t figure out why he was lingering when he should have already been gone. He was treating her more like a lover than a client, something she hadn’t expected. Remembering what Jublansk had said about him—that he liked women and liked “spreading it around”—perhaps he did this with everyone he impregnated—made them feel singled out and special rather than random females to be serviced. It would make it that much harder when he left, however—which he would do in the end. Lucy had no illusions about her ability to hold onto a man like Tarq, but she was already becoming attached to him, and it wasn’t only because of the sex. He was acting differently, more innocent and uncertain than seductive. More appealing—or was it endearing?

Another round with him would have been fabulous, but she hadn’t completely recovered from the first. It was no wonder someone disintegrated their planet; sex with human males was probably very nice—might even be wonderful at times—but if anyone could top Tarq, well, it would have to be another Zetithian or Tarq himself.

His kisses shouldn’t have been more intoxicating than a human’s, but she suspected they were. It bothered her that she had no human male to use as a comparison, but no one had ever kissed her like that, nor had anyone ever crawled naked into her bed as though he belonged there. She had tried to distance herself slightly—keeping her sense of humor close at hand—but as he deepened the kiss, she began to wish that she had conceived and that he wouldn’t need to come back. She already felt as though he was becoming imprinted on her psyche. How would she feel if it took a week or more?

She tried to put it out of her mind—tried not think about the future and only focus on the present moment, the fact that she was being kissed by the sexiest man in the quadrant. Sighing against his lips, she succumbed to temptation and enfolded him in her arms, touching him, stroking his muscular arms and back, delighting in the silken texture of his hair and the smooth heat of his skin. Out of so many other moments she had done her best to forget, this was a moment to remember.

He had done this many times before; she would let him take the lead. He knew what he was doing, and if he wanted to go or stay or come back a hundred times, it was up to him. She wouldn’t say no to him, ever, not even when he left her.

His kiss became more of a purr as she surrendered, focusing on the blissful feel of his lips on hers, his skin against her skin, his arms surrounding her, keeping her safe. Releasing her from the kiss so slowly she wasn’t even aware it had ended, he held her close to his chest while his purring soothed her, lulling her to sleep.

When she awoke the next morning, he was gone.

Tarq spent the rest of the night caught up in dreams that tormented him. Huge beasts with heads like the vrelnot. Birds with razor sharp beaks that preyed on animals as large as himself. Fierce storms with lightning crackling all around him. Treacherous, rocky terrain, but through it all, there was a path that led… somewhere.

He awoke with the dawn, thankful that the night had ended. Sunlight reflected off the ocean waves streamed through the narrow window above his bed. Even from his room, he could hear the hoarse cry of the seabirds, and the sound helped him forget the fear that had gripped him.

It was just a dream, he told himself, though he knew that his kind sometimes had visions of the future. Not everyone did; he himself had never glimpsed anything that couldn’t be explained in another way. There were no such terrors here, however—the soft quilted mattress he slept on, the colorful braided rug on the floor, scenes of the seashore in paintings on the walls—it was cheery but impersonal, giving no hint of the thoughts and dreams of anyone who had been there before, just as he would leave no trace of himself behind.

Rising from the bed, he crossed the uneven wooden floor to the balcony. The sea looked the same as it had on the previous morning—the waves swept in to crash on the sandy beach as they had probably done forever—only he had changed.

There was another woman living on the other side of town who had requested his services. He had scanned her and knew she was a good two weeks away from her fertile period. Normally, Tarq wouldn’t mind, and if the woman was willing, he wouldn’t wait, but something had made him tell her he would return later, when the time was right. Going back to her now was the farthest thing from his mind. The only woman he could think about was Lucy.

Leaving her room had been one of the toughest things he’d ever done. He had to respect her wishes, but what he really wanted to do was to go pound on her father’s door and demand that he be kinder to Lucy, and if not, well, he would… do what? Kill him? Carry her off?

No, Tarq wouldn’t do either of those things. Not that he was lacking in courage, but he didn’t think Lucy would appreciate the interference. Speaking to her father would only make matters worse, and she hadn’t acted like she wanted him to carry her off. She had it all figured out, she’d said, and her solution obviously didn’t include him. She might be attracted to him, but she didn’t want to be his mate; she only wanted his children.

After pulling on a pair of shorts, he opened the glass door and stepped out onto the balcony, only then noticing the stairway that went down to the beach. Descending quickly, he paused for a moment, delighting in the feel of warm sand between his toes before he took off running. The day would be hot; he could feel it building in the air, and soon the sand would be too hot for bare feet, but that didn’t matter now. He needed to run and then swim to wash away the dregs of his dreams in the sea.

BOOK: Stud
5.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Clear Springs by Bobbie Ann Mason
66 Metres by J.F. Kirwan
Lancelot by Walker Percy
When We Were Saints by Han Nolan
My Seduction by Connie Brockway
Machine Man by Max Barry