“It’d be your money too, kiddo. And we could switch it off. You know, we’ll play kept men for a week, you play kept woman for a week, back and forth. Equality and all that.” He sucked her fingers, one at a time, into his mouth.
“You could spend all day naked, couldn’t you?” she asked.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not for me it’s not. I like looking at you guys running around naked.”
“Maybe we should have a clothing optional rule on board.” His teasing smile made her laugh.
“Nightly strip poker.”
They made love again, and this time he knelt between her legs and slowly traced the contour of her sex with his tongue. He took his time and wrapped his arms around her thighs, driving his tongue deep into her wet entrance, keeping her spread wide open.
He wouldn’t let her come at first, spending nearly an hour bringing her close to the edge repeatedly before backing off, blowing on her mound, chuckling as she writhed against him.
“You’re all mine, babe,” he whispered as he let her cool off yet again. “I live to hear you come.”
Emi reached down and found his hands, their fingers twining.
“How long you gonna torture me, baby?” she gasped.
He swirled his tongue around her throbbing nub. “As long as I can, honey.”
Caph’s hands kept hers trapped and she let herself go, relinquishing control of her body to him. When he finally let her come, she turned her face into the pillow to muffle her scream. That was a good thing about the ship, not having to worry if anyone heard them or not. They could make wild and passionate monkey sex sounds as loudly as they so desired.
Caph sat up, still holding her hands, and raised her arms above her head. He lowered his body over hers, kissing her. Nudging her legs wider apart, he rubbed his stiff shaft along her wet cleft. “Ready for me, baby?”
She nodded, still recovering from her last mind-blowing orgasm.
Letting go of her hands, he sat up and grabbed her thighs, pulling her hips to him. “Gonna fuck you real good, sweetie,” he whispered, his eyes locked on hers.
His strength, his unbridled power always melted her. When he thrust home they both moaned. He paused for a moment, enjoying the feel of her body sheathing him.
Knowing she had reached the limit of her endurance, he played with her, leaned forward to kiss her as he stroked, his tongue’s movements matching his hips.
Their skin damp, slipping against each other, he whispered, “Are you ready?”
Emi nodded. Caph let go, his release taking him.
She pulled him down to her, and they fell asleep cuddled together.
Caph ordered room service the next morning, and they ate, naked, in bed.
“We ought to do this at the ship,” Emi joked.
“Hmm. I’d make you breakfast in bed every morning if you’ll look just like this.” He leaned over and kissed her tummy.
They made love again, gentle and slow. Emi was surprised she wasn’t the slightest bit sore after their ride or…Caph’s riding her. She must be in better shape than she thought.
When they finished their shower, Caph laid out another outfit for her, a blouse, linen slacks, and sandals.
“No hint?” she asked, batting her eyes at him.
He snickered, playfully swatting her ass. “Like that really worked before. No way in hell would I tell you Aar’s plans. Don’t want him going all captain on my ass again, babe.” She was dressed when Aaron knocked on the door and Caph let him in. Aaron gave him a hug and kiss and looked at her.
“You didn’t wear her out, right?”
“She’s not even saddle sore.”
Aaron grinned. “Good.”
She went to him and hugged him, kissing him. “Missed you.” His eyes crinkled. “Missed you too, Em.” He swapped keys with Caph, who pulled her to him for one final hug and kiss.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, babe. Have fun. Love you.” She’d miss him, her buddy, her big goofball. “Love you too.” When they were alone, Aaron wrapped his arms around her, staring into her eyes. “I love Ford, but I forgot what a day alone with him is like.”
“Did he talk your ear off?”
“Yeah, poor guy. I don’t know which one of us was more miserable. So are you having fun?”
“A lot of fun. What do you have in store for me today?”
“A couple of things.” He set his bag in the closet, then turned.
“First, we go shopping.”
They drove to a gigantic indoor shopping complex and walked inside, hand in hand. He stopped at one of the guide maps, found what he was looking for, and continued on their journey. A few minutes later, they stood in front of a jewelry store.
“Aaron¯”
“Shh.” He held both her hands. “It’s okay. The guys loved it when I told them.” He took her inside. An hour later, he’d nudged her toward a diamond and sapphire ring. Aaron paid for it, and then the sales clerk took it in back to size it. While they were alone Aaron turned to Emi.
“I know you know a little of the basics, Em,” he said, his voice low. “There’s a trigger every time our personnel files are accessed. It lets me know, regardless of who does it.” She reddened, ashamed. “I’m sorry, Aaron. I¯”
“Shh. It’s okay.” She forced her eyes back to his face and found him smiling. It really was okay, he wasn’t upset. “It makes it a little easier. You know what bonded crew is, right?” She nodded.
“We want you to join us, Em. If you want to. I don’t just mean join our crew. I mean become bonded crew with us.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Do you honestly think we’re letting you out of our sight now that we all love you?”
She froze. He hadn’t said it exactly, but more than close enough for her. She burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck.
“Yes!” she gasped, trying not to look like an idiot.
His soft chuckle reassured her. He held her, gently rubbing her back. He kept his voice low, murmuring in her ear. “It also means we won’t share you, sweetie. Even if we ever have to have a larger crew, because of our status, we get to set our own rules like that. DSMC
honors bonded status rules. You don’t have to share us, and we don’t have to share you with anyone else.”
“I don’t want to share you, and I don’t want anyone else but you guys.”
He hugged her tighter, kissing her neck. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll tell Graymard.” He kissed her, touching his forehead to hers.
“There’s a lot of the story I still can’t talk about yet. Not all at once. I told you I think that if anyone can help me, it’s you. We’ll tell you the story tomorrow, but I’m going to have Ford tell as much of it as he can. He was the strong one for a while there. I think that helped him process it differently than we did. Maybe Caph and I will let you guys go out for a while or something. Is that okay?”
“Yes.” She felt his keening pain returning and didn’t want his day with her ruined.
He nodded. “Thank you, babe.” The clerk returned, smiling, with the sized ring. Aaron took it and slipped it on Emi’s left hand.
Automatically making the wrong assumption, the clerk said,
“Congratulations! I hope you’ll be very happy.” Emi met Aaron’s deep brown eyes and nodded. “I know we will.”
They had an early lunch, and then he surprised her by taking her to a performance of the ancient play, Macbeth. It surprised her, something she’d never thought he would be interested in.
“I love old classics,” he explained.
“So what’s in store later?”