“Well…” Trin still hesitated but the cold was spreading and now her teeth were starting to chatter. “A-all r-right,” she said at last. “Come here. But if I ask you to l-leave and go b-back to the floor, I expect instant obedience.”
“Yes, Mistress,” he murmured. And then he was sliding into bed, under the covers beside her and gathering her into his arms.
At first Trin stayed curled in a protective ball with the pain collar remote clutched tightly in one hand and held to her chest. It seemed the most prudent thing to do and besides she felt awkward and uncertain, allowing a male into her bed no matter how valid the reason.
Thrace didn’t seem to care about her awkward pose. He simply gathered her close, wrapping his long arms around her and holding her to his chest. His body heat went to work on her at once and little by little, Trin felt her frozen extremities starting to thaw.
At last he spoke softly in the darkness.
“It would be better if you’d relax a little. If you’d come a little closer I could warm you to the core—that’s what you need.”
Trin did long to feel the delicious heat she felt coursing through her arms and legs warming the rest of her.
“Well…all right,” she said at last. Slowly and carefully, she allowed her body to unknot.
“That’s good,” Thrace murmured. “Now, here…” He drew her close to him, her back to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her in a firm but loose hold that clearly let her know she was free to go at any time. He pressed his legs to the back of her thighs and knees and settled her securely against him, so that her head was resting on his muscular bicep. “How’s that?” he murmured.
Trin hardly knew how to answer. The sensation of being held by the huge Havoc was both odd and comforting at the same time. She felt completely surrounded by him—cradled and protected by his big body. It reminded her of being a very young child because that was the last time in her life she’d been small enough for another person to so completely surround and cradle her.
It was a little scary to feel so tiny and vulnerable in the arms of a male she knew could break her in half with one hand. And yet…she didn’t feel threatened by Thrace. Not at all. She somehow knew he would use his strength to protect her, not to hurt her.
Of course, all that was much too complicated to say in answer to his question.
“This is nice,” she said at last. “Warm…or warmer, I suppose. My face is still cold though. Those damn passion berries are awful—the tip of my nose is like ice.”
“That’s easy to fix.” Before she could protest, he flipped her over so they were face to face—or face to chest, in this case since he was so big—and pulled her close again.
Trin started to protest but the heat radiating from his big body was immediately addictive. It felt like she’d been standing in the doorway with her face in a cold wind and someone had suddenly turned her towards a roaring fire. Now her frozen skin was beginning to thaw and she found she lacked the will power to tell him to stop and let her go at once.
Just a minute or two, she told herself. I’ll just lay like this a minute or two and then once I’m completely warm I’ll send him back to his place on the floor.
Feeling better about the situation now that she had imposed a time limit, Trin snuggled closer. She took a deep breath and the Havoc’s warmth surrounded her—he seemed to radiate heat like a furnace. And along with the heat, came his warm, spicy scent.
Trin breathed it in—it was rich and dark with hints of leather and some kind of musk she didn’t recognize. There was something about it…something other. A primal, masculine fragrance she’d never encountered until she met Thrace. Maybe it was hormonal in some way or maybe it was just a Havoc thing but for whatever reason, it smelled damn good. Trin found herself inhaling it eagerly, even pressing her face to his chest to get closer to the source.
At the same time, the rest of her was getting closer too. Her breasts, bare beneath the thin silky night dress, were pressed shamelessly to his hard abs and somehow her arms had slipped around his trim waist, the remote clasped loosely in one hand. Her pelvis was pressed to his and their legs had become entwined so that one of his long thighs was between hers.
Though she had never been this close to a male before, this somehow seemed perfectly all right to Trin. After a moment, though, she realized that something long and hard was branding her hip through her night dress and the thin fabric of Thrace’s sleep trousers.
What’s that? At first her mind could make no sense of it. She was too busy enjoying the sensation of warmth and closeness. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d allowed herself to cuddle with another person this way. There had been a few times when she was in the piloting academy when she had paired off with a classmate but they were all female and the female form, though beautiful, did not attract her. She had found early on that it did nothing for her sexually to have the soft, small frame of another female pressed against her own.
On the other hand, having Thrace’s big, hard body surrounding her own made her tingle everywhere in a most disturbing way.
The big Havoc shifted restlessly and the hard ridge of flesh poked her hip again. Trin frowned. Something long and hard between his thighs, pressing against me…what…? This time her brain made the connection.
“Oh!” She jumped back from him at once, putting a foot of space between them.
“What’s wrong?” His voice seemed slightly hoarse, although it was hard to tell since it was already so deep.
“You…your…” Trin didn’t know what to call it. “Your male equipment is poking me.”
“Yeah, well…” His shoulder lifted in a kind of half shrug which she could barely make out in the dim light from the floor glows. “It’s to be expected.”
“Expected? What are you talking about?” Trin demanded. She felt upset… betrayed. “You told me you could control yourself!”
“I am controlling myself,” he growled. “I’m holding a beautiful, half naked female in my arms and I’m not doing a damn thing but lying here. Believe me, that takes a hell of a lot of control.”
“But…your equipment…”
“My shaft gets hard when I’m aroused—it’s automatic. I can’t stop it.” He shrugged again. “Sorry—there are limits to what I can control, even for you, Mistress.”
“So…you’re admitting you’re aroused?” Trin didn’t know how to feel about that.
“I can’t help it,” Thrace rumbled. “You’re fucking gorgeous and you smell incredible. What can I say? Holding you makes me hard.”
“If you knew that holding me would make you…feel that way, then why did you offer to do it in the first place?” Trin demanded. “Was it just to…to get off?”
“Have I grabbed you in any way?” he demanded, sounding offended. “Have I cupped your breasts or put my hand between your thighs to feel your soft little pussy?”
“Well…” Trin could feel her cheeks getting hot. “No,” she admitted at last.
“If you’re thinking I wanted to cop a cheap feel, you’re wrong,” Thrace said flatly. “I could’ve just gone to sleep and let you freeze all night long but I didn’t want to do that because I feel—” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“No, go on,” Trin said softly. “What do you feel?”
“I feel protective of you.” He sighed. “I realize you might not want to hear that since your people don’t feel like they need a male to protect them in any way but I can’t help it. Ever since the Demon’s Eye, I just feel the need to look out for you. To keep you safe, no matter what.”
“Well…” Trin didn’t know whether to be offended or touched. It was irritating that he felt like he had to look after her. One moment of weakness in the Demon’s Eye didn’t mean she wasn’t perfectly capable of looking after herself. On the other hand, it was kind of nice too.
“Well…?” he echoed and she knew he was waiting for her verdict.
“I guess that means you’ll make an excellent body-slave,” Trin said at last. “I have heard a few of the mistresses of Yonnie Six say that the best body-slaves are bound to their mistresses by true bonds of affection, not just the imminent threat of the pain collar.”