Stud (15 page)

“I’ve got some grapes.”

“Fine. Eat them too.”

He glanced up to find her staring at him as though he’d grown another arm. “Tarq, are you mad at me?”

“No.” But the way he said it sounded like a snarl. “Want a campfire?”

“Not unless you do.”

Tarq did. He needed to set something on fire, either that or kill something. Anything. He toyed with the idea of going hunting for a vrelnot. With his bare hands. He began gathering up dead branches, tossing them into a pile.

Lucy stood there for a long moment, frowning. “Did you, um, visit a client last night?”

“No, I didn’t.” He whirled around to face her. “And why would you care if I did?”

She put up a placating hand. “Just asking. Do you always get this mean when you haven’t had sex?”

Tarq growled at her. Actually growled.

“I guess that answers my question.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Well, what is it, then? Or are you just tired and hungry?”

“I-I don’t know.” He picked up one of the larger limbs and slammed it onto the pile.

“What would make you feel better?”

“Huh?”

“Food, sex, or sleep?”

“Oh. Maybe.”

“Which one?”

“Aw, I don’t know, Lucy. I’m just feeling…”

“Crabby?”

Tarq shrugged. He didn’t know what to say. He wanted to fuck her brains out, eat a gargantuan meal, and sleep for a week—in that order—but saying so would probably make him a creep.

“You’re probably just tired from driving all day. Why don’t you get that fire started and then we’ll eat something and get some sleep?”

Obviously sex wasn’t going to be on the agenda. He stomped over to the speeder and snatched up the firestarter. One shot and the collection of sticks went up in flames.

She shooed him away. “Now go sit down by the fire and I’ll bring you something.”

“There are all kinds of—”

“I’ll find it,” she said. “Just sit down.”

No, he wasn’t a creep. He was a jerk, which was just about as bad. He did what she told him, though. The warmth of the fire felt good and watching the flames was soothing. The smoke had an interesting aroma to it.
Rulbnach
bark.
He’d smelled it before. Somewhere. His breathing steadied and the pain in his groin began to subside. He was going about this all wrong. He knew that.

He was a little surprised when Lucy handed him a plate of hot food. “How did you know how to work all that stuff?”

“I read the directions.”

“Oh.” He’d forgotten she could read and figure things out on her own. Not like him. Waroun had shown him how to work every feature of the speeder. Tarq could remember it all, but figure it out on his own? Probably not. “I knew you were smart.”

“Not really.” She sat down a little apart from him, thankfully upwind. Maybe she understood more about what was bothering him than he realized.

“Sorry I was being so crabby.”

“Don’t worry about it. If I could put up with my father all these years, I can take a little guff from you.”

Tarq hated the idea that she would think of him in the same light as her hateful parent. “I’m not usually like that.” He might as well tell her. “It’s your scent.”

“My scent?”

He nodded. “You smelled incredible the first day we met. And now that you’re pregnant, I—”
want
to
fuck
you
so
bad
I
can’t stand it.
And not merely fuck. He wanted to make sweet, delirious love to her for hours on end. “Pregnant women smell really good to Zetithian men. I’ve never hung around any of my clients long enough to know that until now. I’ve been told about it, of course, but never…”

“I see,” she said slowly. “And my pregnant scent affects you… how?”

“Can’t you guess?”

She sighed, nodding. “You want sex, don’t you?”

Tarq gave up trying to be subtle. “In the worst possible way.”

Chapter 10

No doubt about it. Lucy was not going to survive this adventure with Tarq—at least not with her heart intact. She reminded herself that their next parting would be every bit as painful as the last, whether they did anything about Tarq’s problem or not. Ultimately, from her perspective, it didn’t matter what they did, though it obviously meant a great deal to him.

Yeah, right. Who am I kidding? Of course it matters.

Memories. She would have more of them to cherish long after he was gone.

In the end, it was easy. All she had to say was “Okay.”

Tarq’s pent-up breath went out with a whoosh. “Thank God.” He started to put down his plate.

“Eat your dinner first,” she said firmly. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Can you come over here and sit beside me?”

“Not if I intend to get anything to eat.” Then another problem occurred to her. “Besides, I haven’t had a shower since yesterday morning and I was on the road all night. Not sure you want to get that close to me.”

“Believe me, Lucy, that is
not
a problem.”

“Maybe not to you, but it is to me.” She glanced at the stream. “It’s probably too cold to take a bath in that.”

“I have some
scrail
cloths. You can use those.”

“
Scrail
cloths?”

“From Darconia—desert planet, no water to speak of. That’s all they use there. I prefer taking a shower myself, but they work very well.”

Lucy chuckled. “How do you wash them? Does your speeder have a washing machine too?”

“No, it doesn’t have a washing machine,” he said with a withering glance. “
Scrail
cloths pick up dirt and oils from your body. Direct sunlight makes them repel it. You don’t have to wash them.”

“Very handy on a camping trip.”

Tarq nodded and began wolfing down his dinner.

“Might as well slow down enough to taste that,” she suggested. “You’ll have to wait until I’m finished anyway.”

He was growling again but took her advice.

Lucy wasn’t surprised he’d been so affected because her “pregnant” scent wasn’t the only one he’d been picking up. Obviously trying to sleep to keep from thinking about him hadn’t helped a bit
. Poor Tarq.
He had no more control over his reactions than she did.

Thinking back, Lucy realized that this decision, like so many others, had been made for her. She’d been intending to take Nat up on her offer forever, but she had never had a good enough reason until this one landed in her lap. And now she’d been handed the best excuse imaginable to jump Tarq’s bones. She could feel all the desire for him she liked and he would think it was just because she was pregnant. In essence, she would be giving him a pity fuck.
Unbelievable
.
A Zetithian getting a pity fuck
? It was all she could do to keep from laughing out loud.

But that would’ve been tacky. She couldn’t very well make fun of him, not when he was about to fulfill her fondest wish. Well, maybe not her
fondest
wish, because he hadn’t said anything about falling in love with her. He only wanted her because of the way she smelled.
Fine. I can handle that. Maybe.

Having finished her meal, she put her plate in the cleaning compartment. “How does this dishwasher thing work, anyway?”

“No idea,” Tarq replied. “I just put the dishes in, close the lid, and when the light goes off, they come out clean.”

“Cool.” She leaned over the side of the speeder and flipped the lid off another compartment. “So, where are these
scrail
thingies?”

She’d forgotten he was a cat—didn’t hear a sound until he began purring in her ear. “Please, don’t do that now, Lucy. I like your scent just the way it is.”

“Yeah, well, maybe it wouldn’t drive you so crazy if I was a little cleaner.”

He was still purring, running his fingers up and down her spine in the most tantalizing way. “But now that I know you don’t mind, I
want
you to drive me crazy.”

Don’t mind?
That was putting it mildly.

Tarq pulled her out of the speeder and into his arms. Hot kisses rained down on her lips, cheeks, neck… Oh, no. This wasn’t something she put up with out of pity. This was heaven itself.

A long, wet lick began where her neck met her shoulder and didn’t stop until he reached her cheekbone. Lucy couldn’t tell if he was purring or growling. His hands slid up the back of her shirt, releasing her bra before yanking it all off over her head. Capturing her breasts, he pressed them together and buried his face between them, again licking her like she was made of candy.

Bunching his own shirt up in her hands, she pulled it up around his neck, rubbing her palms over his hot skin, tangling her fingers in his hair. When his tongue found her nipples, she let out a moan. Mingling feathery touches with hard sucks, he drove her absolutely insane.

Wanting to see his naked body before they lost the light, she reached for the button on his jeans. His snarl had her hesitating, but Tarq grabbed her hand and pressed it against his cock. His jeans were soaked and his cock felt like an iron rod.

“This is what you’re doing to me, Lucy. I’ve been like that all day.”

He must’ve been keeping his shirt pulled down over his groin; otherwise she’d never have missed it. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You should have told me sooner.”

With one last lick, Tarq backed away and kicked off his sandals. His shirt and jeans were gone in an instant.

Lucy put up a hand as he began to lunge toward her. “Wait. I want to look at you—I never really had the chance before.”

The setting sun was behind her, illuminating every plane and valley of his body while the evening breeze toyed with his hair. Muscles rippled across his chest, and veins stood out on his arms. A line of blond curls led from his navel to the larger nest of crisp hair surrounding his cock—that fabulous cock Lucy had thought she’d never see again. Thick and long, it curved toward her like a snake about to strike, the scalloped head aimed right at her, orgasmic syrup dripping like venom from the points. His meaty balls hung low against those incredible thighs, thick with powerful muscles and lightly dusted with more blond curls.

“P-put your hands behind your head.”

The muscles in his arms bunched and his chest and belly stretched upward, accentuating the oblique line where his torso met his hips. More hair curled from the V-shaped indentations beneath his arms, and his strong neck flexed as he swallowed.

He glanced at her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “You’re going to have to do the same thing for me, Lucy.” His voice sounded strained, barely controlled.

“Not sure I can,” she said, shaking her head. “I could never look
that
good. No way.”

“That’s purely a matter of opinion, and in this case, mine is the only one that counts.” He smiled, revealing sharp white fangs, his smoky blue eyes glowing with need. Lowering his arms, his gaze lingered briefly on her breasts, then slid down below her waist. “Please.”

Lucy didn’t want to uncover her breasts, let alone remove more clothing. Even though she’d been with him before, she still felt shy. But since he was begging…

As soon as she moved her hands away, Lucy knew she was making the right choice. Tarq’s cock pulsed, sending more fluid gushing from the head. Though she thought it was a shame to waste it, she also knew there was plenty more where that came from. Stepping out of her moccasins, she untied the drawstring at her waist, letting her baggy khakis fall to the ground. His purring grew louder as he stared pointedly at her panties.

Deciding that there was no point in making a sensual show of it, Lucy simply took them off the way she always did. She was on the point of running to him when she realized that this whole thing was her call. He might have been miserable, but he wouldn’t have touched her if she hadn’t agreed—heady thoughts for a girl who’d never had a boyfriend. Holding out her hand, she beckoned to him.

Tarq was on her in seconds, pushing her back against the speeder, his lips fastened on her own. The speeder never budged, which was fortunate because he wasn’t being the least bit gentle. The moment she looped her arms around his neck, he pulled her legs up on his hips and thrust into her.

For the first time in her life, Lucy felt sexy, alluring. This incredible man had been in torment for the entire day because of her, and she didn’t give a damn if it was her scent or the color of her hair that drove him wild. It simply didn’t matter. Tarq was in her arms, his stiff shaft buried in her core, and she was taking everything he had to give. Within seconds the first orgasm struck with an impact that shocked every nerve cell in her body. And then another and another…