The Naked Truth (5 page)

Sue looked away after lashing out at Asler. Hurt had poured from his eyes when she accused him of planning to use her, and she couldn’t handle that, not right now. Not when she already knew that she was wrong and hated herself for it. The words had just poured out, full of hatred. She was disgusted with herself. The man was only trying to do his job, and no matter how he had come across, it was she who had crossed the line first.

Still, how could he feel hurt when it was her future at risk?

She sat and pulled her knees up, hiding her breasts. A flush ran across her cheeks as she thought about what they had experienced together, mind to mind. She felt more naked than she had before. She’d almost had sex with the man who was either going to defend her or lock her up.

The couch vibrated softly under her, its heat a soothing comfort now that the warmth of Asler’s body had faded from her skin. She wrapped her arms around her knees and lowered her head. “On Earth, we have a saying, ‘Don’t kiss and tell.’”

“I’m sorry. While I would never discuss the details of anything intimate between us, my commander must be kept informed of the process of our m’ittar and the investigation.”

“I’d like to go to my room,” she muttered.

He sighed. “Again, I must apologize, Susan. You will have to stay with me for the duration of the investigation.”

She jerked her head up at that, staring at him. “What? I have to be with you every minute? I get no privacy at all?”

“This is the condition of your investigation. You are under…house arrest, I believe would be your term. It is either stay with me, or be held in restraints in the hold.”

She glared at him. It maddened her further that he simply stared back at her. She was half-tempted to take him up on it, to go to jail until the damn trial was held. Who the hell does he think he is?

“Do not imagine that you would be happy in such a place, Susan,” he said. “You would not. Also, you should consider that to place yourself in those conditions is to take on the appearance of guilt, even if you are not guilty. Appearing in restraints before any hearing would not lend to your credibility.”

She stood, anger driving her to momentarily forget how naked she’d felt an instant earlier. “Quit reading my mind. This is crazy. I am not guilty. I didn’t tell them a damn thing that was really helpful. I just made sure that those bloody terrorists would end up being blown straight to hell.”

She strode around the room. There wasn’t even a pillow to kick. She huffed and crossed her arms. “How long?” she demanded. “How bloody long will this take?”

He leaned back in his chair, his eyelids half-shuttering those fabulously bright green eyes. A small smile lurked at the corners of his mouth. “You didn’t seem in such a hurry a few hours ago.”

“Never mind that. I was simply carried away in the moment. It’s these damn mind games of yours. The exotic backdrop.” The incredible heat and feel of your lips, she admitted to herself. “You have no right to treat me like this.”

The smile faded. “I told you. We need to find out the truth. The m’ittar will allow me to be absolutely certain of your involvement.” He hesitated for a moment then continued. “We can try to stop the sexual element of the contact if you require it. Doing so will be difficult, as there is no way to lie in m’ittar and it is a sensual connection by its very nature, but it can be done.”

He turned and gestured at the communication screen behind him. “I believe you heard my commander. There has been another attack. Two of my people have been killed.” He stood and gripped her arm, looking deep into her eyes. “You may know something that may help, even if you are not aware of it. Everything is locked in here.” He touched her temple gently, the warmth of his fingertips lingering after even such a brief caress. Instantly m’ittar joined their minds.

“What do you mean? I didn’t tell them anything important, hell I didn’t even know anything about a base—a secret base, and I might add that I seriously doubt any of my people are aware of one.”

“You possibly saw or overheard something while you were being tortured. Or you could have been witness to others passing information, even if you did not pass it yourself.” He tightened his grip on her arm; the heat from his hand seemed to brand her. No memory world took them away from the present. This was it, a moment of complete truth between them. “You may have told them something you are not even aware of.”

She tried to wrench away from him, aware that doing so would pull their contact apart. The fact that she couldn’t didn’t surprise her. The reality was that she didn’t truly want their contact to end—even when she knew the truth was about to be shockingly clear. “I know exactly what I told them.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “I told them what I had to, but not a bit more. Not enough for them to succeed, only enough to get them in trouble so they would fail. So they would die.” She lowered her head, staring blindly at the textured floor.

He laid his palm against the smooth skin of her back. “And you would die, too.”

She shuddered, the tears falling down the curves of her cheeks. “I was so tired, I didn’t care anymore if I survived. I couldn’t expect it…or hope for it.”

He pulled her into his arms. “You’re safe. And I know that you believe you are innocent. Now we must prove it, and we must discover everything that is buried in your subconscious.”

She turned in his arms to face him, to burrow into the incredibly soft robes he wore with such grace. He held her, towering over her, his bulk dwarfing her long lean frame. For the first time in years she felt small, vulnerable. As a military woman she was expected to be rough, tough and ready to fight. This feeling, of being cherished and protected, felt…alien, and yet, at this one moment, it was more than welcome. It was right. Perhaps it was because he was an alien that she could admit to her need for his care. He had no expectations from her other than the truth.

Sue rubbed her cheeks over the soft material stretched across his chest. She slid closer, moved into an embrace that welcomed intimacy. It felt natural, necessary. She looked up at him, into his earnest gaze and lifted her lips to meet his.

The air around them changed. He’d brought them back to his beach. His mouth lowered to hers, and she welcomed the sensation. Within their joined minds she began to realize anything was possible. With the transition into m’ittar, he’d shed his chammiss robes in favor of a light pettan like she wore, baring much of his skin to her touch. She ran her hands over his naked chest. He groaned with desire as she explored.

Each L’inar whorl of color rose into a light ridge as his desire mounted. They stretched across his scalp, down the back of his neck and shoulders, arms and torso, up his thighs and into the private areas shielded from her sight by the pettan.

“We aren’t built quite the same as humans. Close, but not quite.”

She traced the growing ridges of color on his chest with her fingertips. He shuddered. “Tracing someone’s L’inar is an invitation to sex and possibly to a serious commitment.”

“I want…I want you to treat me like an Inarrii, to comfort me like you would one of your people. I want…” She stopped as his lips met hers. He knew what she wanted.

Susan traced the lines curving down his back, followed them as they meandered beneath the loose pettan. She slid her fingers inside and cupped his ass. He kissed her again, slowly, his lips tracing hers in a tender path. In return she stroked the thin ridges of L’inar over his hipbones and was rewarded with feeling a level of satisfaction as they stiffened under her touch. She ran her blunt fingernails along their paths, drawing a low moan from deep inside his chest.

“Stop.” He groaned the word against her.

“Why? I know you like it.” She slid her hands into the soft material of the pettan, following the lines along his hips.

He groaned and grabbed at her hands, stilling them. “You are driving me crazy.” Hunger edged his mental voice.

“Good.”

He kissed her harder and slipped his fingers into her pettan, neatly sliding the garment down her hips. “Let me give you something else to think about.” He took her hand and lowered her down to the black sand beach. He kneeled back, crouching between her thighs. All thoughts of his ridges—his differences—slid away as he parted her. He lowered his head, his long blond hair caressing her thighs. His generous mouth nuzzled her, his warm breath teasing her until she whimpered for more.

Licking, then sucking, he explored her, found all the spots that made her body shudder under him. She ran her fingers through the long silken mass of his hair. Along his scalp she fingered the tiny ridges that ran under his hair and rubbed them as he brought her closer and closer to completion. She savored the moment, a surrender to a stranger whose alien body commanded hers in a way no one had since she had first entered the Starforce Marines, who made her forget everything but the moment. But as she climbed the final peak, she remembered that he wanted more from her than this moment; he wanted the truth.

With a moan Sue gave in, pushing away her doubts and shedding the final part of her that held back, toppling slowly over the edge into orgasm. She opened her eyes and arms to Asler, holding him as he stretched out in the black sand beside her.

“I want to taste you,” she whispered to him. Despite the soft sound of the nearby waves, the quiet of the place seemed unnatural, increasing the intensity of the moment.

He hesitated, holding his body away from hers. He grimaced. Had she done something wrong?

“I’m sorry,” she began.

“No, no.” He lowered himself onto the black sand beside her, leaning on one elbow and reached with his other hand to caress her cheek. “To follow the L’inar lines along the path of a man’s saiin, especially with your lips or tongue, is to court a permanent mating—marriage.”

“Oh!”

He pressed against her, the dark ridges along his skin so hot against her. So different, she thought as she leaned into his embrace. But as she looked into his eyes and read the passion there, she understood that despite their differences they were in many ways the same.

She ran her fingers over him again, lightly stroking the ridges that extended along his abdomen. His emerald eyes darkened as she reached for his cock.

She murmured in appreciation and took him in her hand, feeling the heat of him, the size of him. Thin ridges decorated his length, firmed as she stroked him. His taste was a forbidden desire. Something that part of her yearned to savor, despite the consequences. Instead she lifted her lips to his and met them with a desperate kiss. This was a moment stolen in time. For now she didn’t need to think about what she had suffered or what would happen to her in the future. She had only to forget the past and enjoy the moment, to live in it with a being that promised to love her body, and love it well.

His hands roamed over her skin, and she returned the favor, each of them exploring the other’s differences. She wanted to touch, to taste, but she held herself back, using only her hands as she explored him. Nothing held him back—he delighted in suckling her breasts, taking each nipple deep into his mouth and pulling hard until the pressure had her groaning aloud, squirming beneath his hands.

Her groans turned to soft pleas when he dipped one hand between her thighs, stroking her core. With sudden inspiration she took his other hand and brought it to her lips. She kissed the pad of each fingertip and then as he began to press into her, exploring the wet folds of her pussy, she sucked his index finger into her mouth. He moaned aloud, the physical metaphor affecting him as she’d hoped. She sucked at his digit as she would have enjoyed sucking his cock and was rewarded when his eyes darkened even more and his breaths grew ragged. She arched against him, sucking, and breathed in the scent of his hot skin. Hints of alien spices infused with male musk teased her, made her mouth water. She dragged her teeth over him as he parted her and slid one finger deep into her.

“Yes!” She groaned out the encouragement. But he took too long, seemed barely to stroke her, until she could stand it no more.

Sue gripped his shoulder and flung one leg over his hips. With a twist and a thrust, she rolled with him and pressed his back into the beach beneath them. His long hair spread against the ground, the hue of his hair contrasting like gold against the fine black sand. She leaned forward and took his lips, determined to possess them, but fell back with a gasp as she realized his fingers were still pressed against her core.

He grinned at her and teased her, pulling her quickly to join him in a rhythm over which she had no control. She rode it, spread over him and open to his touch, unable to do anything but follow his lead as he took her again over a crest of desire and into orgasm.

Sue’s juices dripped and she gasped for breath. He shifted her, lowering her until she could feel the heat of his cock against her. She spread her legs wider, straining to reach the hot skin stretched so tightly over his throbbing member. Slowly he lowered her onto him, allowing only one ridged section of his cock into her at a time.

She tightened over each ridge. Each textured crest enhanced and prolonged the sensation of penetration, that moment when she was first truly opened by her lover. Sue found her moans harmonizing with his soft grunts of passion. “Oh…my…God.”

She clenched his biceps with her hands, hanging on as she rode him, at first slowly, then faster. The ridges rubbed inside her, informing her of nerve endings she’d had no idea she possessed. She rocked against him, delving deeper into the sensation. With each swivel of her hips she could feel the pattern of his L’inar rotating against the sensitive skin of her pussy lips. A soft noise drew her attention to his face, and it was her turn to grin as she watched the control leave his eyes. She began to rock in a figure eight over him, and the sensation took both their breaths away.

Asler rolled over, taking her with him. He drove into her as he rose up on his elbows. She couldn’t think, couldn’t stop herself as she touched him anywhere, everywhere. Her lips brushed the L’inar across his chest and she licked and sucked at his hard nipples. He shuddered, thrusting so deeply into her she felt split in two. He roared her name, and she felt the spurt of his climax, felt its heat and joined it to soar for the third time beneath him.