Sleeping With the Enemy (10 page)

    “You mean you weren’t serious?” she asked doubtfully.

    “I didn’t say that,” he responded, his lips curling in a smile.

    “So… you were serious?”

    “I usually am.”

    Disconcerted, still uncertain of whether he was joking or not, Sybil studied his face. “You are, aren’t you?” she said finally.

    It was his turn to look disconcerted. He recovered quickly. “So I’m told. Are you ready to dance again?”

    Sybil did a mental inventory and decided she might be able to handle one more dance without passing out… if she rested a little longer. “The next one.”

    Nodding, he settled back to watch the dancers.

    “Exactly how is it that this works?” Sybil asked after a moment.

    He looked a question, but she didn’t believe for a moment that he didn’t know what she was asking. “The courting you told us about?” she prompted.

    “You haven’t noticed?” he countered.

    She shook her head.

    He leaned closer. “Do you see the young man facing Dr. Rains?”

    Sybil searched the dancers until she spotted Holly. “Not really. He has his back to us.”

    “Wait for the turn of the dance.”

    She studied them, watching the man he’d pointed out intently. Finally the steps carried the group into a half turn where she could see both Holly and the man opposite her in profile. She frowned. “I still don’t see…”

    “But his attention is entirely on her. He waits until she finally notices his prowess in the dance steps and then he searches for a smile of encouragement.”

    Holly finally looked up, did a double take when she discovered the man in front of her was staring at her pointedly, turned first white as a sheet and then as red as fire. Sybil clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a snort of laughter. “Poor man! He’s been slighted.”

    Anka chuckled. “Ah… if he were human, perhaps. We
ferils
are made of sterner stuff. He’ll try again.”

    Sybil looked at him, smiling faintly. “That’s all the encouragement you need? A smile?” she asked teasingly.

    His eyes darkened. “It’s a certain smile we look for, a look in the eyes. When a woman looks at a man a certain way it’s an invitation.”

    Sybil felt her face heating up again. She looked away, realizing abruptly what he was saying. Her heart began to thump like a trip-hammer.

    “Yes or no,
nodia
?” he asked in a husky whisper.

    Sybil swallowed convulsively, trying to decide whether she was more excited or more terrified. As confused as she was, however, the thought of refusing him was almost scarier, not because she was afraid of him, but because she feared she would always regret it.

    It still took a tremendous effort to look at him. “Yes,” she said a little hoarsely.

Chapter Six

    Sybil wasn’t certain if it was her that was shaking or Anka or both of them, but she felt so weak and trembling when she settled her hand in his that she felt downright faint. Almost like a sleepwalker, she rose when he stood and urged her to her feet, following him as he led her from the room.

    He paused outside and turned to her, studying her face intently. “You’re afraid?” he asked harshly.

    “Terrified,” Sybil responded before she thought better of it.

    Something flickered in his eyes. “It isn’t supposed to be that way,
nodia
. Come, I will take you back to your quarters.”

    “Uh… but Spencer’s there. I don’t think that would be a good place at all,” she pointed out, struggling to keep step with him as he led her along the corridor.

    Anka sent her a sharp look and paused. He shook his head at her. “Not this way,
nodia
,” he said gently. “I’ll return you… and leave you alone.”

    Sybil felt her heart skip several beats. “Don’t.”

    He smiled ruefully. “It’s alright,
nodia
. I’m not angry. It’s your choice. I told you that.”

    Distress filled her. “I know that. I can’t help… being unnerved by this, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

    He lifted a hand and lightly stroked her cheek. “Stay the night with me, then. We needn’t be lovers. I’ll be content to hold you.”

    Some of the tension left her. “You would?” she asked doubtfully.

    “Not really,” he said wryly. “But I’ll make do.”

    She couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re a strange man, Anka.”

    “I’m an alien,
nodia
.”

    Sybil smiled. “No, you aren’t. Uh… I didn’t think to ask, but are we… uh… compatible? You know… uh… that way?”

    Anka burst out laughing. “I will be deeply, deeply disturbed if I discover we aren’t. I don’t imagine I’ll be the only one disappointed if that’s the case, for that matter.”

    “You’re joking right?” Sybil asked uneasily, trying to decide whether to be relieved or not. That depended, of course, on whether he was joking about not knowing or not. “Where are we going anyway?”

    “My place. I think we’ll have to break with tradition. I don’t think I could sleep with Spencer standing over us, scowling.”

    ‘His’ place as it turned out, didn’t look a lot better than the cell where she’d been first incarcerated. It was maybe twice the size of that room and contained a bed that looked far more comfortable, but it was stark. Anka drew her to his bed and sat down on the edge. She studied his face a little uneasily and finally moved closer, lifting her hands to examine his face with her touch. His skin was smooth and soft. “I like your face,” she murmured.

    Surprise flickered in his eyes. “You didn’t appear to the first time you saw me.”

    Sybil frowned. “On the ship? I couldn’t really see your face.”

    He shook his head. “When I first spoke to you.”

    She smiled faintly. “I was expecting a monster and I couldn’t really see your face in the light.”

    “It is improved with more light?” he asked doubtfully.

    Her smile widened. Turning to one side, she sat on his knees so that they were face to face. “Much improved.”

    “Then it isn’t my appearance that terrifies you?” he asked tentatively.

    Sybil grimaced. “That wasn’t really what I meant.”

    He lifted a hand and settled it at her waist and Sybil realized in that moment that it wasn’t just her that was trembling. “What did you mean?”

    She shook her head slowly. “It doesn’t matter now,” she murmured, leaning closer and settling her cheek against his.

    “It matters to me,” he said huskily.

    She dragged in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his skin. “I was afraid that I was mistaken about you and I’d find out you weren’t the man I thought you were.”

    “I’m not human,
nodia
,” he said gently. “I’m not a man at all.”

    “Don’t argue with me,” she said teasingly, brushing her lips along his cheek. “You feel very much like a man to me.”

    He swallowed audibly. “You feel very much like a woman to me.”

    She smiled against his cheek. “Shall we discover if we’re compatible?”

    Anka pulled away to stare into her eyes. He saw what he was looking for and moved close once more, settling his mouth over hers. A shudder of pleasure ran through him as he felt the soft yielding of her lips, inhaled her breath, tasted the sweetness of her mouth as he had before. He savored the taste, the feel of her tongue against his own, felt heated need engulf him.

    The urge to strip her clothing from her and bare her to his gaze and his touch was like fire pouring through him. His heart hammered so fiercely in his chest he could scarcely draw breath.

    Slowly, he cautioned himself. He had all night. He would frighten her again if he wasn’t careful. He’d already scared her with his eagerness.

    He’d told her he would be content only to hold her, he reminded himself.

    If he frightened her, he would be lucky to have that much and it would be sheer torture.

    Even knowing that, it took every ounce of self-control he could muster to keep his hands still. After a few moments, he curled his arms around her and slowly leaned back until she was lying on top of him.

    She broke the kiss and sat up. Lifting her arms, she untied the knots of her top at the back and then the neck, allowing it to drop between them. He stared at her breasts hungrily, fascinated as much by the color of her skin as the beauty of the rounded, pink tipped globes. Leaning over him, she planted her palms on either side of his head and studied his face. “I let you see mine,” she murmured challengingly.

    He tipped her onto the bed and sat up. Sybil moved to a more comfortable position and propped her head on one hand to watch him as he stood up and stripped away his uniform. She discovered her imagination hadn’t failed her when she’d envisioned what he must look like naked. He was every bit as muscular and well defined as she’d thought-and the striations she’d noticed did indeed crisscross his back.

    He settled on the bed again to remove his boots and then shoved his trousers off, sending her a questioning look as he turned finally to face her. She was too busy examining him with her eyes to really notice, however, and she wasn’t left in any doubt that they both had corresponding plumbing. “You look like a big cat,” she murmured teasingly when she lifted her gaze to meet

    his. “A huge cat.”

    “That doesn’t bother you?”

    “Not if doesn’t bother you to be lying in bed with a monkey.”

    He chuckled. “You don’t look like a monkey to me.”

    She moved closer. “I might surprise you. I don’t have a tail to swing from limbs, but I can climb like nobody’s business.”

    They lay nose to nose and chest to chest for many moments, simply staring into one another’s eyes. “Is this wrong?” she murmured.

    “Does it feel wrong?”

    “No.”

    He shifted closer. “Then it isn’t.”

    Sybil closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his body against hers. It was the most wonderful sensation she’d ever experienced. Anxious now to overload her senses on him, she brushed restlessly against him, explored him with her hands and her lips. He stroked a hand slowly along her back, rubbing his face against hers, cheek to cheek, turning his head to nibble light kisses along her face and neck and shoulder.

    “You smell good, Earth woman,” he murmured against her shoulder. “Feel good, too.”

    Sybil dragged in a deep breath laden with his scent. “You do, too, Sumptra man.”

    He sought her mouth, covered it with his own, and kissed her deeply. Heat pulsed through her. Need began to war with her desire to simply luxuriate in his kisses and his touch. Curling one leg over his hips, she tugged at his shoulders, demanding more. He rolled into the cradle of her thighs, settling heavily, satisfyingly on top of her.

    Parting from her lips, he lifted his head to study her face. Feeling his gaze, she opened her eyes lazily and peered at him through half-closed eyes. He held her gaze as he shifted to align his body to hers, watched her face intently as he found the opening of her sex with the head of his cock and surged into her. She gasped in delight as she felt him stretching her, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes tightly. “That feels… wonderful.”

    “I’m not in yet.”

    She opened her eyes. “Oh.”

    Amusement danced in his eyes, but the heat surpassed it and the amusement faded as he surged into her again, his expression taut with his need. He paused, expelling a heavy breath. “What is that?”

    “What?” Sybil asked uneasily.

    He thrust against it-a barrier. “That,” he said grimly.

    “That old thing? I thought it had died of old age. Ignore it,” she said evasively.

    He stroked her cheek lightly. “It’ll hurt you,
nodia
. I don’t know any way to keep from hurting you.”

    She swallowed a little convulsively. “Don’t stop.”

    He studied her doubtfully for a moment and finally surged into her again. She squeezed her eyes tightly at the burning sensation, panting for breath, infinitely relieved when the burning began to subside. He slipped outward again, leaning down to kiss her, and she felt the heat slowly reigniting inside of her, chasing the discomfort away and replacing it with the pleasure she’d felt before.

    Breaking the kiss, he shifted lower still, withdrawing his cock from her completely. Before she could object, he settled his mouth over the tip of one breast. Her belly contracted almost painfully at the first tug of his mouth. She caught his head between her palms, half tempted to push him away, uncertain, but the pleasure that inundated her settled the matter. By the time he shifted his attention to her other breast, she was writhing beneath him, unable to lie still.

    “Anka,” she gasped plaintively when he finally ceased torturing her breasts.

    Eagerness filled her when he moved upward once more, engaging his body with hers and surging deeply into her channel. It burned, but pleasurable ripples wafted through her, as well. She gasped, lifting her hips when he began to withdraw. Shifting his weight, he caught her hips, holding her so that he could set the rhythm they both needed. She felt the pleasure build inside of her as he stroked his cock along her channel. Squeezing her eyes tightly, she focused on the quakes that promised something wonderful, and she was still caught off guard by the explosion of rapture that abruptly seized her, made her feel as if she actually had shattered into fragments of sheer ecstasy. She gasped, cried out at the sheer magnitude of it, shaking.

    He uttered a choked sound that was raw and hoarse. It made her skin prickle all over, made the walls of her sex clench in response. Shuttering as she had, he pumped into her shakily and finally stilled, gasping hoarsely.

    Sighing with relief when the convulsions finally stopped, Sybil felt darkness enfold her as she drifted on a cloud of supreme satisfaction. She frowned with displeasure when she felt him withdraw from her and settle on the bed beside her. She could tell he was studying her, but she was too tired to feel like opening her eyes. After a moment, he gathered her closer, pulling her onto her side and holding her against his chest.

    “Why me,
nodia
?” Sybil searched her mind, trying to figure out what he was asking. Finally, it dawned on her. She smiled against his chest. “I was waiting for the perfect man.” * * * *

    Anka had fully intended to make love to Sybil all night once he’d taken the plunge and asked her, completely contrary to any conscious plans he was aware of, and she’d accepted. He knew it was the wrong thing to do given their delicate situation. He’d known that
before
he’d discovered she’d never taken a lover before him.

    Afterwards… well he’d been near catatonic with shock, too stunned by the discovery to begin to sort the disastrous possibilities that might arise from it and, in the midst of trying to figure out just how badly he’d fucked up, sleep had descended over him.

    He woke curled around her and desire stirred even before his mind was fully alert. Fortunately, he’d woken to the problem he’d been trying to sort when he fell asleep before he’d managed to waken her. He was still reluctant to stop once he’d begun caressing her sleeping form, nuzzling his face against her to enjoy her warmth and her scent, and yet wariness rose the moment she sighed and moved against him, the entire situation descending upon him like a thunderclap.

    He realized that he was still having trouble coming to grips with the fact that she’d been virginal when he knew it was not at all typical for a woman of her age and culture. It certainly wasn’t typical among his own people. From the time they reached full maturity they were allowed to take lovers. For many, that was as early as twelve solars. Very few waited until they were even fifteen or sixteen solars. Even in her culture, few of them remained virginal through their teens. At some point, they succumbed to nature, regardless of nurture.