Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (57 page)

“
Yes…” His eyes were half-lidded but his gaze was intense as
he stared up at her, riding his shaft.

Without letting
herself think about it too much, she blurted it out recklessly.

“
I…I don’t want you to pull out,” she told him. “I want you to
stay inside me—stay with me. I want you to bond me to you.”
There—she’d said it.

“
Really?” He stopped moving inside her and his eyes went wide.
“Did I hear you correctly? Did you
really
just say that you wanted me to bond you to
me?”

“
Yes.” Frankie looked away, waiting for the worst. What would
he think of her now? Would he want to stop right now and walk away
and never see her again? Would he…

“
Frankie—look at me.” Kerov’s big hand came up to cup her
cheek and tilt her face towards his. Reluctantly, Frankie allowed
herself to look into his eyes.

“
I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have said it. I
didn’t mean to freak you out. I—”

“
No,
shalla
,
don’t,” he murmured. “Don’t take back your words.”

He sat up suddenly,
shifting their positions somewhat but staying firmly lodged inside
her. Frankie gasped as strong arms enfolded her, pulling her even
closer in an intimate embrace. He began to move again—long, slow,
purposeful strokes that made her moan and spread her thighs wider
to get the full effect of his shaft deep inside her.

She braced her hands on his broad shoulderes and felt her
pleasure building once more. Only this time it was deeper—even more
intense.
Dios,
she
thought helplessly.
Oh, Dios, I’m going to come so hard…

And then she heard
Kerov whisper hoarsely in her ear,

“
Frankie, I need to fill you. Fill you with my
seed…”

“
Yes,” she whispered breathlessly. “Yes, do it!”

Her answer was the
feeling of something hot and wet deep inside her—a warm liquid
sensation that seemed to fill her to overflowing.

Coming in me—he’s coming in me and bonding me to him,
she thought. The
knowledge as well as the deep pleasure of feeling him fill her so
completely and intimately triggered her orgasm as well. With a
moan, Frankie felt herself coming, her inner muscles milking the
shaft in her as though she was trying to get every last drop of his
seed deep inside. As though she never wanted the bonding to
end.

Then she felt the
sensations shift—suddenly she was in Kerov’s body and he was in
hers. She felt his shaft, hard and aching, pouring into her,
spurting deep so that his seed bathed the mouth of her womb, making
her his, claiming her forever.

They Switched again and she was back in her own body, moaning
in pleasure as she felt him fill her.
Dios,
it was amazing—like nothing she’d ever experienced
before. Frankie wished it could last forever.

The pleasure did,
indeed, seem to go on and on, swirling like a warm golden sea all
around them, binding them together in a way Frankie had never known
was possible. She snuggled close to Kerov, pressing her cheek to
his and moaning breathlessly as their shared orgasm overtook her
completely.

Finally the intense
sensations began to ebb and Frankie found herself able to talk
again.

“
Kerov,” she whispered, dropping her forehead to his broad
shoulder. “Kerov, I love you—so much!”

And then, inside her
head she heard his familiar mental voice.

“
I
love you too, Frankie. I always will. And we’ll never be apart
again.”

* *
* * *

Later, Frankie lay
snuggled against his broad chest, feeling more happy and content
than she could ever remember. The slow, steady thump-thump of the
big Kindred’s heart in her ear soothed her. He was stroking her
hair gently, caressing the long curly strands as they lay over her
bare shoulders, as though he couldn’t bear to stop touching
her.

“
So what made you change your mind?” she murmured, tracing a
pattern on his broad chest with one fingertip. “About me, I
mean.
I thought Xirnah or somebody like
her was your ideal—not someone like me.”

“
She’s the Tarsian ideal,
certainly. Not mine, though.” Kerov kissed the top of her head. “I
don’t think I knew what my ideal was until I met you.”

“
So…” Frankie looked up at
him, trying not to laugh. “I guess maybe you’re an ass man and you
just didn’t know it.”

He frowned. “An ‘ass’ man?”

“
You know—like some men
are into legs and some like breasts…some men like girls with big
butts.”

“
I guess I am.” His big
hands came down to cup and caress her ass again. “I don’t know how
I lived so long without a female with such generous attributes.” He
frowned. “But what made you change your mind about me? I thought
you disliked all Kindred—at least, that was what your friend Lacy
told me.”

“
Oh, Lacy…” Frankie
sighed. “She’s going to be shocked about this when I tell her, you
know. It’s true I told her I didn’t want to be with a Kindred but
that was because I thought all of you guys were so big and scary.
Also, my
abuela
is
not
going to like this.”

“
Especially if she finds
out
I’m
the one
who threw up her old clothes and kicked Carlos in his
‘babymakers,’” Kerov said thoughtfully, making Frankie snort with
laughter.

“
At least we know
your
parents are going
to be happy—at least I hope they will,” she said, looking up at him
anxiously.

“
They will—they’ll be
overjoyed I’ve found my true mate,” Kerov assured her, kissing the
crown of her head again.

“
Well, you and I are happy
and that’s what matters. Only…” Frankie bit her lip, uncertain how
to broach the subject.

Kerov seemed to sense her apprehension.

“
What,
shalla?”
He stroked a lock of hair
tenderly out of her face. “What is it? What’s troubling
you?”

“
Well, it’s just that…we
never really got a chance to talk about what happened between us
before. I mean the first time we, you know…”

“
When I lost control, you
mean?” he asked soberly. “I can never beg your forgiveness for that
enough. What I did was inexcusable. I should have stopped when you
asked me to.”

“
Yes, you should have,”
Frankie said candidly. “But I can kind of understand that—according
to Sophie and Kate, all Kindred males have a driving need to taste
their females and you never had before—so you probably had a lot
of, uh, pent up tension.” She blushed a little but pressed on. “But
the thing with the belt…I don’t understand why you decided to, uh,
tie me down.”

“
Oh, as to that…” Kerov
cleared his throat and his cheeks went a dull red. “I guess I got
the idea from something an Earth female told me.”

“
What? Was someone talking
to you about bondage and domination while you were in my body?”
Frankie exclaimed. “Who was it? Lacy?”

“
No, it was an older
female,” Kerov said. “She came near the end of my shift at the
Secret of Victoria. She brought her mate with her and followed me
around, telling me all about the different sexual practices they
tried together.”

“
What?” It finally clicked
into place for Frankie. “Mrs. Hofstadter?” she exclaimed. “You took
sex advice from
Mrs.
Hofstadter?”

He shrugged uncomfortably. “It wasn’t like I
asked…she just wouldn’t stop talking about it. And after the way
you had told me your society was so much more sexually permissive
than mine, I thought binding your partner during sex was a
generally established practice.”

“
Madre de Dios!”
Frankie couldn’t stop laughing. “So I have Mrs.
Hofstadter to thank for that craziness with the belt.”

“
I’m truly sorry I
frightened you,” Kerov said sincerely. “I will never do it again.
Although…” He shifted a little. “I do not mind if you wish to do it
to me.”

“
Oh really?” Frankie’s
eyebrows shot up. “You mean you liked that—being handcuffed to the
bed, I mean? I thought you were just enduring it to make things up
to me.”

I was, at first,” he
admitted. “But then it became very erotic to find myself helpless
in your hands.” He shook his head. “I never thought I would feel
that way, that I would
want
to be helpless with anyone. But with you…” He
stroked Frankie’s cheek. “Everything is different
somehow.”

She smiled. “I know what
you mean. Everything is
Switched
.”

Kerov smiled. “That’s a good way to put it.
Yes, everything is Switched with us. Maybe I’m willing to be
helpless with you because I spent time in your small, soft body,
growing to understand how you live and feel as a female.”

“
And maybe
I’m
more willing to be
assertive in bed because I got to spend time as a big, tough
warrior.” Frankie grinned at him. She had a feeling they were going
to have a
lot
of
fun in the future. One thing was for certain—they were never going
to be bored! There was
one
thing that still bothered her, though.

“
What is it?”
she heard Kerov ask, through their link.
“What’s wrong, shalla?”

“
Well…” Frankie bit her
lip. “I know we should have thought about this before we, uh,
decided to bond. But…where are we going to live? I don’t think I’d
fit in very well on your planet. I don’t look anything like the
women there.”

“
I agree,” he said
seriously. “Which is why I don’t intend to go back to
Tarsia.”

“
You don’t? Oh, but I
don’t want you giving everything up just for me,” Frankie
protested.

He shook his head. “There’s nothing for me
there now. My military career is basically over. I’ll miss my
parents and Jorn but we can visit them. Although a visit with him
might be somewhat, uh, uncomfortable.”

“
That’s my fault—I
shouldn’t have kissed him while I was in your body,” Frankie said
contritely. “I’m sorry, Kerov.”

“
No, it’s all right. We
both did things that made each other’s lives difficult.”

“
So…where are we going to
live?” Frankie asked, getting back to the topic that worried
her.

“
Commander Sylvan has
offered me a place with the Kindred here,” Kerov told her. “He said
I could choose either an appointment on the ship or planetary duty
on Earth.”

“
Oh—and which did you
choose?” Frankie asked.

He shook his head,
smiling. “I haven’t yet—I’ll leave it up to you. Anywhere you are
I’ll be happy, so you choose,
shalla.
”

“
Really? Oh, Kerov…”
Snuggling closer, she sighed contentedly and wrapped her arms more
firmly around his muscular torso. “I love you.”

“
I love you too,
Frankie,”
he sent through their new
bond.
“And you don’t have to decide now—we
have some time to think about it. All the time we need.”

“
All the time we need,”
Frankie repeated dreamily and yawned. Letting her eyes drift
closed, she thought about how good it was to finally be with the
man she loved. There were problems ahead of them—her family
was
not
going to
like this and neither was Lacy. But as long as she and Kerov had
each other, she knew everything would work out all right in the
end.

Soothed by the feeling of his large, warm
hands stroking her hair, Frankie fell into a deep, contented
sleep.

Chapter Twenty-seven

“
So you’re really and truly bonded?” Sophie’s eyes were bright
and happy as she smiled at Frankie.

“
Sure are. And engaged.” Frankie grinned and held out her
hand, showing a ridiculously large diamond ring.

“
Wow! Where did you get that?” Kate’s eyes were huge as she
examined the rock. “Not from anyplace on Earth, I’ll
bet.”

“
Nope. Apparently diamonds are pretty common on Tarsia. Kerov
had his mother send him one and a jeweler aboard the ship set it
for me.” Frankie smiled down affectionately at the ring. “Of
course, it’s not like I’m a gold digger or anything,” she hastened
to explain. “But, well, seeing a ring on my finger is going to go a
long way to convincing my family I’m serious about this. And
hopefully making them feel better about it.”

“
You’re worried about their reaction?” Liv raised an eyebrow
at her.

“
Well, they’re pretty strict Catholics and they’re not going
to like it that Kerov is white and protestant. Or whatever it is
you call the Kindred religion.”

“
Well they worship the Goddess—the Mother of All Life,” Sophie
said thoughtfully. “It’s a very female centric religion but I don’t
know if it has a name.”

“
Basically they’re just really into pleasing and protecting
their women.” Kate smiled.

Liv snapped her fingers. “You know who we should introduce
Frankie to?
Becca
. She
was actually about to become a
nun
when she met her guys, Truth and Far.”