CHAPTER 6
I can tell I’m making progress with Fiona’s stepmother. She reminds me of my own stepmother, certainly, but she’s not a killer. She’s just a person, and I’m good at charming people. If only Kye or Fiona had remembered that when we left the ship. They seem happy to forget that I have an education.
Ihaven’t forgotten. After dealing with Lamia, Vanessa doesn’t scare me at all. Still, I find myself trying to win her approval, partly because I think that how she perceives me might affect the outcome of the question I intend to pose to Fiona’s father.
Vanessa has softened a little, partly from the cocktail she’s sipping, but mostly because I keep bringing the conversation back to her. She realizes it, but she doesn’t seem to mind. I believe her to be flattered, but I can tell that she’s still surveying me, trying to find weak spots.
Kye stands behind me, nursing a drink as the temperature drops and the night gets darker. Ever since I started speaking, Kye hasn’t been part of the conversation. I want to include him, because it would be easier if he was helping me, but I can tell that he feels relieved he doesn’t have to participate. I want to let him hide in the shadows, if that’s what he prefers doing.
Kye has always been brave, but this return home has him scared. Off-balance. It’s a little heartbreaking to watch, but there’s something about seeing Kye truly vulnerable that sends my mind spinning. I want to talk to him about this, but I can’t. Not right now.
“So where did you say you were from, exactly?” Vanessa asks, cocking her head as she sets her icy blue eyes on mine. When she moves, the sparkly necklace she wears catches the light from the festive decoration hanging outside.
“I didn’t,” I say. “It’s far and not particularly big. I’m afraid you might have not heard of it.”
“My knowledge of geography is exemplary, Nereus,” she says, using my name for maybe the fourth time in our conversation. She seems to be relishing it. I wonder if she’s doing it because it sounds foreign to her, but it doesn’t throw me off. I don’t think there’s anything this woman can try to do that I can’t handle.
“I’m sure it is,” I say. “A woman of your distinction is of course educated in all matters. My people place a very high value on women’s learning.”
“Your culture sounds fascinating,” she says, draping a hand over my shoulder and fiddling with my collar. Yes--she is definitely drunk. “And where is that again?”
I scan the crowd for salvation, and I’m relieved to find another woman making her way toward us with a smile and a wave. She’s stumbling a little, and I lift my chin toward her to alert Vanessa to the newcomer’s presence.
“Vanessa!” the woman says, and I’m rescued. I put my hand on Vanessa’s shoulder, letting my thumb skim over her bare skin to put her off-balance, and give her a warm smile.
“To be continued,” I say. “My bodyguard and I are going to try to find your stepdaughter; I’m sure I’ll get the pleasure of your conversation again soon enough.”
“You’re too sweet,” she responds, and then she’s turning to engage with this other guest, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Kye takes me by the shoulder and I look at him just to see him lead me through the crowd and toward an empty balcony. I can see in the tension held in his shoulders that he’s uncomfortable, and he seems to melt when we get our first whiff of outside air. He leans against the railing with his drink, his voice low, and there’s something sultry about the way that he tilts his head at me with a bemused smirk.
“How did you do that?” he asks, and I can’t help but smile at the admiration in his voice.
“Do what? Have a conversation?” I respond. “You don’t give me enough credit, Kye. In case you don’t remember, I spent forty years at the Merati court on Homeworld, and--”
“Keep your voice down,” he hisses with a chuckle. I can smell booze on his breath, and his cheeks flush when he steps just an inch closer to me. To my dismay, he stops short of making contact, his eyes locked on mine. I want to touch him, but I won’t. I intend to respect this world’s customs, even if I personally think they’re silly. And this one feels very silly.
I feel him edge closer to me, his fingertips touching my forearm for the briefest of seconds. “If you go down this hallway,” he says, pointing with his chin as he speaks quietly. “And you open the third door on your right, that’s a bathroom.”
I wait for him. I fail to see how this is relevant information.
“Go in there and close the door behind yourself, but don’t lock it,” he continues. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll join you.”
I get it now, and my heart skips a beat. I want this. I want him, but we’re trying to be discreet, and we don’t know where Fiona is, and there’s a chance Vanessa might come look for us. So I chew on this new information, taking my time, only for Kye to misread it as rejection. I watch as he falters a little, his shoulders dropping. “Nevermind,” he starts. “I..”
“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” I interrupt. Without another glance, I leave him behind as I walk quickly toward the bathroom, keeping my head down so no guests will notice me. My heart races at the prospect of being caught, something about Kye’s boldness making me feel a little faint. The bathroom is dark when I walk inside, with a small tub in the human fashion, and I can’t seem to find the control panel for the lights. I flounder a little until I finally find the switch, and soft yellow fills the room. I look at my reflection in the oval mirror, barely noticing the rocks on top of the sink. I wonder what the rocks are for as my gaze darts toward the door and I tell myself to be patient, but waiting for Kye proves to be challenging.
I don’t just want him. I suddenly need him, my cock so hard that I must have relief. I’ve been eyeing him all night long, watching how much more at ease he seems in human clothes. He’s so tall and handsome, that glimmer of lust never leaving his eyes, that I can scarcely look away from him when he’s around. There are also the glances he exchanges with Fiona, the way they look at each other, always so hungrily.
Their desire for each other only fuels my desire for both of them, until I’m dizzy with what feels like nothing but want.
I don’t have that much time to think about that because Kye walks into the bathroom a moment later. He locks eyes with me as the door shuts behind him with a thud, crowding me into the small space. A lock clicks behind him, but he doesn’t turn around to check it. I can see the shadow of a smile at the corner of his lips, and I raise my head a little so I can meet his gaze.
“Why did you want to show me the bathroom?” I ask, playing coy. He barely lets me finish my sentence when he takes a step toward me, his hand on my chest, his breathing so deep I can feel it disturb the auburn hair against my neck.
“This is where the most interesting things happen at a party like this,” he says. “Trust me...I’ve pulled enough partners away from polite family events to know exactly where to go for release.”
“Release?” I ask, but then he’s closing the space between us, pressing his lips against mine. The kiss is soft and sweet, but it’s also insistent, and I fully intend to rise to his challenge. I open my mouth to let his tongue roam inside, and he explores me with abandon. He gets so close to me that I can feel the heat rolling off his skin. He tilts his head back, takes a breath, and moans quietly as he fists his cybernetic fingers into my hair, holding me firmly in place. “See? This is way more interesting than the party.”
I follow him as he kisses me, his tongue devouring me as my entire body warms with anticipation, my cock throbbing at his desire. He lets go of my hair so he can sit down, his head tilted up as he continues kissing me, his swollen lips swallowing my helpless moans.
I straighten up for a second, trying to catch my breath as I look at his kiss-bruised lips, at the glimmer in his multicolored eyes. He bites down on his lower lip before he speaks, his voice a rough command. “Straddle me, Ner,” he says as he takes his shirt off, throwing it somewhere without looking.
I nod, taking a step toward him, then slowly lower my body around his. I can feel how hard he is against the crook of my ass, and I know he wants me to feel his erection because he wraps his hands around my waist and stops me from moving as he slowly thrusts his hips up. We’ve played at the edges of this kind of liaison since the night they almost lost me, but we’ve never gone all the way.
I don’t know what this is--but it’s intense and I already feel like I’m going to explode. Kye’s gaze darts to my hardened phallus, which is somewhat compressed by the “jeans” Fiona made me wear, but Kye seems impressed anyway, his glossy lips half-parted as he takes my arousal in.
“Come here,” he says, threading his fingers into my hair again, pulling me forward so he can rake his teeth over my neck, his tongue swirling over my skin so softly I can barely feel it. He’s still writhing into me, his hips moving slowly, each thrust enough to make my cock throb.
I put my hands on his solid metal chest, looking into his eyes as I try to gather my breath enough to speak. “W-why?” I ask, and he thrusts his erection into my ass again and I feel like I’m going to be sent over the edge just from that.
“Why what?” he asks, his teeth moving from my throat to the crook of my neck, his teeth pressing into my skin hard enough to hurt me just a little. There’s something punishing about this, but it also feels like Kye is giving himself permission to roam over my body, and all I want to do is help him. “Why did I need to taste you right then? Because it’s hot as fuck watching you work, Ner.”
I laugh, throwing my head back, and before I can compose myself, Kye is using his cybernetic fingers to trace the outline of my lips, his other hand working at the buttons of my jeans. I remain still, letting him slide up and down, each time he thrusts into me enough to make a quiet, tortured moan escape my lips.
“I’m going to do this until you come,” he says, his gaze on my eyes, and my body tingles from the way he sounds. He pushes harder into me. “And next time you’re on top of me, I’m going to be inside of you.”
My eyes widen at the prospect of that, but he doesn’t give me much time to think about it. His cybernetic fingers vibrate until he finds the inside of my mouth, and I swirl my tongue around them as he slowly pushes them further into my throat, no doubt to show me what’s coming.
But it won’t be my throat next time, I realize, and my cock twitches as my entire body heats up.
He slides the zipper down and wraps his hand around my hardness for a second, before he slides a finger up my length until his fingers are pressed against my body instead. “Touch yourself,” he demands, his voice coated with desire, his gaze holding me hostage as he stares into my eyes. “I want you to come on me as you think about how hot it’s going to be for me to fuck you.”
I groan, throwing my head back as I wrap my palm around my aching organ, my hand tightening around it as Kye continues to use his fingers in my mouth. I wrap my lips around them as I edge myself closer to completion, opening my eyes to see Nereus still staring at me. “Your mouth is so hot,” he says, biting down on his lower lip and stifling a hungry groan. It makes my heartbeat quicken. “I can’t wait to see what your ass feels like.”
It’s as if my body is doing this by itself, because it’s all instinct after that. I grind my hips against his hardness as I bite down a tortured moan on his fingers, and I watch him clench his jaw as my orgasm builds from my core to the rest of my body until I’m practically trembling and I see streaks of white color Kye’s golden skin.
I have to slow down after that--I’m exhausted, but I’m still sliding my ass against Kye’s pants. He takes his fingers out of my mouth, tracing the outline of my lips as he does, all while we’re looking into each other’s eyes.
“Wait,” he says, holding my hips again, and I stop moving. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to go back just for a change of clothes,” he says, a smile softening his features. I want to argue with him, but I’m too spent, and when he guides me gently off him, there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
When we’re both standing, he kisses me softly on the lips, moving his face away from mine when I try to deepen it.
“You should go find Fiona,” he says simply. “We shouldn’t abandon her tonight.”
“Kye...”
He shakes his head, and I can tell there’s no arguing with him. “I have to get cleaned up,” he says, breathing deeply. He doesn’t just have to get cleaned up. He has to give himself some time to wind down, obviously, because I can still see the outline of his erection in his pants. “I’ll join you in a bit.”
And then he ushers me out, and I’m standing in front of the bathroom door, my heart racing as I try not to let confusion overwhelm me.