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ANDIE NEEDED TO EITHER move all of her shit to Xandr’s room or start remembering that she didn’t have enough clothes in there. Xandr and Keana had gone off to talk about Nevys, whoever that was, while the rest of the crew kicked into gear to make sure they weren’t followed away from the heist. Celebrations had been muted after Xandr announced that his portion of their loot had been taken from him, but with the necklace she’d retrieved and the gems that Malax had absconded with, they were temporarily much richer.
A lot of that money would go to a fence, and even more would go into ship repair and supplies, but she and the rest of the crew could still expect a nice payday. Not the extravagant one they’d been promised, but nice.
Nice enough to buy a small trunk to store her things in Xandr’s room, certainly.
With everyone busy, it was the perfect time to take a shower. Whatever weirdness Andie occasionally felt about sleeping in the captain’s quarters didn’t extend to his bathroom. He had a private shower. The rest of the crew had to share a large communal bathroom. It was nice enough, but she’d once walked in on Malax and Taryn going at it and she’d needed eye bleach before that image went away. She was glad the quartermaster and the engineer were in love, but she hadn’t needed to know exactly which of Malax’s tentacles went where.
So she used Xandr’s shower. And she slept beside him in his bed. But her things were still safely ensconced in her quarters on the other end of the ship. Xandr hadn’t suggested that she move them in and she hadn’t asked. She didn’t think he’d have a problem with it. She wasn’t sure if he’d even notice for awhile. But on the off chance he objected, Andie didn’t want to push. They’d only just admitted they had feelings for each other that went beyond sex. Not that they were in love or anything. But. They were something. Something that involved kissing and snuggling in Xandr’s quarters and smiling at each other when they were out among the crew.
The crew said they’d never seen Xandr happier, but if that was the case, Andie dreaded to think of what he’d been like before. Yes, he smiled now, but they were still rare and hard won.
But his smiles were the least of her issues at the moment. She’d cast off the dirty clothes she’d worn for the job and put them down the laundry chute before checking to see if she had anything else to wear, which meant that when Andie came out of the shower she only had her towel for clothing. Her room wasn’t exactly close, so she didn’t want to make a run for it to find clothes, and if felt weird to grab one of Xandr’s shirts and borrow it for long enough to get something of her own.
Sure, she could have his dick buried inside her every night, but wearing his shirt crossed a line. She was messed up. Xandr might have been a hard man, but he was logical. If she didn’t have a shirt, he’d expect her to use one of his and return it when she was done. He’d do it for anybody on the crew. So why did reaching into his drawer feel like something forbidden?
She was so occupied with the task that she didn’t hear the door open, and when two large hands landed on her hips, she jumped in place before relaxing with a nervous laugh.
“Were you expecting someone else?” Xandr nuzzled against her, his lips ghosting over her pulse.
And that pulse was picking up as it always did when she was alone with Xandr. She loved the feel of his hard muscles, loved knowing that this man had chosen to spend his time with her. She knew he usually didn’t stick with a single partner, preferring casual interactions on random space stations between jobs. But this thing between them, whatever it was, was exclusive. For as long as they were together, she was the only one who got to see him like this, feel him like this.
“Like anyone would be brave enough to come into your quarters.” She sank into his touch, luxuriating in the press of hot muscles against her. Anytime he was close her body went on high alert, ready for the pleasure he could bring her. She’d had lovers before, but Xandr blew them all out of the water without even trying. Even when it had only been sex between them, the sex had been worth all the confusion that came with it. Now that things were real she could grow addicted to his touch.
“You make me sound like a brute.” His voice came out husky as his fingers found the edge of her towel and delved beneath to find soft, sensitive skin.
Andie shivered. Her worry about finding clothes dissolved and she let the towel fall to the floor. When she heard the guttural noise in the back of Xandr’s throat, she couldn’t suppress her smile. His fingers curled into her skin, tight enough to hold her in place but not too hard to leave a mark. He was usually so careful with her, as if he were worried that his intensity might scare her away. But when they got into bed, when the pleasure took him, sometimes he took over in a way that left her breathless.
He might have been her captain when they were on the rest of the ship, but no matter how intense the relationship was on either side of the bedroom door, when they were naked together they were only ever just Xandr and Andie.
“Brutes have their uses,” Andie said as she turned. Xandr stood more than a head taller than her, his purple Oscavian skin melding with some of the shadows in the dim light of the room. But his electric blue eyes singed her with their spark and she could practically feel his gaze sizzle along her skin. In her time on Ixilta she’d seen hundreds, maybe thousands, of different kinds of aliens, but it was only Xandr who she dreamed of at night. During her years of captivity she’d forgotten how to dream, how to hope, but the longer she stayed on Xandr’s ship and in his arms, the more it came back to her. It was terrifying.
Xandr’s lips crashed down on hers and Andie opened for him. For the first weeks of their tryst she hadn’t been willing to kiss, afraid it would blur the lines between casual fucks and something real. The something real had sprouted up anyway, and keeping her lips to herself wouldn’t do anything except deprive her of the excellent kisses that Xandr could give. The man took it seriously, his tongue delving into her mouth and tangling with her own, stroking and marking her, leaving an indelible imprint, something she’d remember for all her days.
She hitched a leg around his waist and moaned against his mouth as she felt the hard length of his cock press against her. She was already wet, and it had nothing to do with the shower. The way he devoured her was intoxicating, but Andie wanted to tear at his clothes until they were skin to skin and joined together. The thick material of Xandr’s pants was a personal affront to her lust and she’d tear his shirt to strips if given the chance. Instead, all she could manage to do was bunch the material in her fists and try and pull it over his head, an impossible task when she was unwilling to break their kiss.
Kissing was great; she’d been a fool to ever try and prevent it.
She let out a whimper when Xandr pulled back, but he took off his shirt, which almost had her applauding. The man had muscles for days—he looked like he could fell a tree with his bare hands—and he touched her with such reverence that she knew she could use his power if she ever got up the courage to ask.
Of course, she couldn’t quite bring herself to even ask about moving some clothes into his quarters, so she wouldn’t be using him as her own personal battering ram anytime soon.
He leaned in to kiss her again, but Andie shot a hand up and pressed him back, letting her fingers trail down to the clasp of his pants. He liked to tease, liked to get her worked up until she was writhing and begging, and only then would he finally get naked and give her what she needed. But that wasn’t what she wanted tonight. Tonight she wanted all of him and she wanted him now.
Xandr watched her with an intensity that made her shiver. She pushed his pants down and couldn’t stop from licking her lips when his cock bounced free of its confines. After weeks of fucking she still hadn’t quite gotten used to him, even if she loved the girth and texture of him. And she especially liked it when her fingers met slippery dampness as she tried to wrap them around his length. That was certainly an upgrade, along with the textured veins and ridges unlike any human dick she’d ever seen. He tapered off at the tip of his cock so he could ease into her, but that belied the fact that she’d felt him swelling inside of her when he came, felt how his body refused to retreat until he was well and truly spent.
He groaned as she tightened her grip, sliding her hand up and down and enjoying the hardening flesh. Her mouth watered, but now wasn’t the time. Now she wanted it fast and a bit rough. The job had been a little more dangerous than anything they’d done before and only now that she had Xandr in her arms did she realize that she could have lost him. If things had gone just a bit worse on his end, it might have only been Keana that returned from the mission and Andie didn’t know what she’d have done.
“Fuck me,” she said in a desperate plea. She needed pleasure to obliterate the doubt and fear that were creeping up now that they were safe and away from the mission. She’d been working with the crew for more than a month now. She’d singlehandedly bluffed the Duke of Mebion so he wouldn’t catch Xandr on their job before the heist, but for some reason today felt even more intense than that. “I need you inside me. Now.”
Xandr stared at her for a loaded second, his eyes practically crackling with electric blue. And then he straightened his shoulders and leveled her with a look hot enough to curl her toes. “Get on the bed.”
***
ANDIE LOOKED READY to break and Xandr wouldn’t let that happen. He’d gotten better at reading her emotions over the last week, and it was clear that the last job had taken something out of her. She needed to know she was safe, that she had a place on the ship. Other missions had gone wrong, but this was the first one where they hadn’t gotten away with the entire score. Perhaps she felt like a failure, like she’d done something wrong and was worried she’d be cast out.
But she’d played her part perfectly. It was Xandr who’d been caught off guard.
With both of them naked and panting in his quarters, he could put that out of his mind, and he was determined to do the same to his woman. Her fingers gave his cock a final stroke, one hard enough to have him clenching his fists to keep from manhandling her and plunging into her over and over again until she whimpered in pleasure. From the look in her eye she wanted something like that, but not just yet.
They had time to savor this thing, and Xandr wouldn’t waste it. There would be more jobs in the future and Andie would feel more comfortable as time went on. But today all he could give her was sensation.
And he loved to give her every sensation he could.
She backed up and lay down on the bed, the sheets rumpled around her, making her look like a debauched goddess. Her curly brown hair was a halo around her head and her brown skin contrasted with the pale blue of his sheets, her whole body his for the taking. He’d tasted every piece of her, from lips to breasts to pussy and everywhere in between and beyond. He savored her taste and the memory lay on his tongue for hours after they were done, but every time he took her he only wanted more. He couldn’t say if he’d ever take his fill of her, but already he could feel that no matter what happened in the next hour, he’d still want more.
Her legs fell apart, baring the slick heat of her sex to him, the dark, damp curls around it inviting him to take his fill and leave her satisfied and still ready to beg for more.
He pushed his pants the rest of the way down and stood naked before her, liking the way her eyes darkened and her tongue darted out to wet her lips as she looked at him. He’d never let himself have a lover for so long. Before it had been too inconvenient. The lovers he chose frequented space stations and stopover planets and an enjoyable night or two had been more than enough. Dallying with the crew had been off limits. Then came Andie and everything changed. He could have never guessed from their adventure escaping the planet that she’d been held prisoner on that they’d come to this. He’d been attracted, of course he had, who wouldn’t? But until their first explosive kiss he’d thought it would be nothing more than a passing fancy.
One taste of her and he wanted. And in Xandr’s life, both before and after becoming an outlaw, he got what he wanted. Given their tumultuous first few weeks where neither of them were willing to call the heat between them anything else, Xandr had doubted they could get to this place full of smiles and flirting and kisses. And before he’d met Andie he wouldn’t have known what a tragedy that could be. Where he came from, the thought of loving, or even liking, his chosen life partner had been laughable. And though he wasn’t about to make any more commitments to Andie, he now understood just how bad things would have been if he’d gone through with the betrothal he’d been bound for in his youth.
That thought only led to a tangled web of other painful memories that had no place in his bed or on his ship, especially not when Andie was warm and willing and waiting.
He stalked towards her, his knees sinking into the mattress before he trailed kisses down every available piece of flesh, and when he find the tight heat of her core he feasted. She made the most carnal sounds when they were together, noises that went straight to his cock and threatened his tightly coiled control. They made him want to do uncivilized things to her, to use her body as his own playground and fuck her until she forgot how to walk and talk, covering her and filling her with his spend, marking her as his for anyone to see.
Oscavians didn’t have fated mates, not like Kiran’s Detyen brethren or others that Xandr had met, but when they chose a mate and claimed her in the most primal way, it was for good. And it was rare. Xandr wanted to go through all the rituals, chase her through the forest, bind her to his bed for days, and then vow to be hers in front of witnesses.
But that wasn’t what they were, not now and maybe not ever. Xandr knew Andie had misgivings about him and was probably nowhere near as deeply entrenched in this thing between them. If he brought up thoughts of binding she’d run—anyone in their right mind would—especially if she knew about his family.
Which she never would.
And he owed her his full attention when she was under him.
Her soft skin was a balm to every memory and worry that hung over his head; her scent pierced him to his heart and wrapped around him, tethering him to this moment. And her taste? He could write odes to her taste and the way she moved around him. Her hands gripped his hair and held him tight, as if she feared he might pull away, might call this thing off at any moment.
But Xandr didn’t have it in him to walk away from her, not anymore, maybe not ever.
Andie gasped and her fingers tightened even further as her hips stuttered and she found her pleasure, moaning out his name and begging for more. Xandr didn’t let up, no matter how much he ached to be buried inside of her. He knew there was more pleasure to wring out, to give. And it didn’t take long until Andie was no longer holding him to her, but pushing him off, her body over sensitized from everything he could do with his tongue.
He gave her a moment to recover, drinking in the sight of her pleasure-drenched body and the way her chest heaved as she struggled to get control of herself. She could have it... for a moment. But his cock was hard as stone and not even the few tugs he allowed himself were enough to take the edge off.
But Andie’s eyes followed him, and she licked her lips, her nostrils flaring. She sat up a little and pulled him close before trailing her own lips over his cock and licking the tip. What she was doing to him now wasn’t a common Oscavian sex act, but he loved his human lover’s creative and carnal mind and wouldn’t stop her. He hadn’t the first time and he’d reaped the rewards, and knowing how much pleasure he took in giving it, he could only hope that his woman felt the same way.
The way her fingers gripped him as she slid the tip of his cock into her mouth told him she did. And when her eyes flicked up and met his he could feel a connection sink deep into him and bind him to her. Maybe Oscavians didn’t believe in fated mates, but to be with this woman in this way at this moment, Xandr couldn’t believe that it was only chance.
She took him deeper and he had to clench his jaw to keep from thrusting, to keep from exploding into her. The heat of her mouth was a temptation almost too good to resist, but there was another heat he needed and if her fingers and tongue didn’t stop torturing him with pleasure, he might not make it that far.
With reluctance he pulled away, and Andie frowned up at him before he pushed her back and loomed over her, capturing her mouth with his own. Their tastes mingled and he savored it, the unique flavor that only came when the two of them joined.
“I need you,” she murmured against his lips, her voice full of pleasure. “Now. Please.”
Xandr was done waiting; if he wasn’t in her soon he’d go mad. And when he eased himself inside of her, giving her body enough time to adjust to his presence, he knew it was madness to not be joined together. When their bodies were joined, everything made sense. It was only when they let themselves drift apart that questions and worries haunted him.
But these concerns dissolved as their two bodies pressed together, moving and moaning and making love in a way he’d never thought to find transcendent. With Andie this wasn’t just about two bodies finding their release; with her he found a connection he’d never known was possible.
And when she rippled around him and gasped out his name, he let himself go, knowing that after all these years he’d finally found his home.
