Crystals Three Chosen Mates (6 page)
“Yes, Sir!” she said enthusiastically, which earned her another slap. Henri wanted her meek and submissive, but she liked making him work for it.
Stepho reached under her and tweaked her right nipple. “You really know how to stir him up.”
She moaned as his pinch grew harder, sending shocks shooting down to her core. Henri spanked her again, three times in succession. Her moans grew louder as she thrust her ass higher into the air. Stepho reached around her other side to pinch both her nipples at the same time.
Oh hellitude, she was going to come just from their rough play, and it would piss Henri off if she didn’t ask for it first. She considered which way she wanted to play it and decided not to push the rough play too far. She’d save that for another night.
Henri smacked her ass, and she gasped as her climax rushed at her.
“Please may I come, Sir?” she begged.
“So soon, Starlight?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He gave her three quick swats as she gritted her teeth to keep herself together, knowing he was pushing her on purpose, and she’d be rewarded with an even greater orgasm for waiting.
“Now, you may come, Starlight.”
Stepho squeezed harder on her nipples as Henri aimed his next slap at her engorged clit.
“Oh, fuck!” she screamed Henri’s favorite curse word, as she exploded over Stepho’s legs. Her body trembled as her muscles clenched tightly, and she grew lightheaded hanging upside down, her fingertips pressed hard into the floor.
She rode the high as long as possible, but it never lasted long enough. Fortunately, she knew her men would send her off the cliff many more times tonight.
Finally, her breathing grew quieter, more regular, and she grew aware of Henri’s hand stroking her sore butt cheeks.
“We missed you, Starlight.” His voice sounded thick with emotion.
She turned her head to look up at him. “I missed you and Stepho more than I have words for.”
Stepho helped her upright to her feet and caught her around the middle when she wobbled as the blood rushed out of her head. He guided her to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. Then he wrapped his large hands on either side of her head and leaned down to her. She stretched toward his delicious lips, feeling their soft firmness for the first time again in too long. Reaching her hands up to his coarse black hair, she savored the friction on her palms as she tilted his head to gain deeper access to his mouth.
Sitting on the bed behind her, Henri straddled her, wrapping his arms around her chest to play with her breasts, sandwiching her between the men’s two hard bodies. Tears gathered in her eyes as she surrendered to the warmth flowing through her—a warmth that was different from the sexual heat they usually generated. She wondered if this was the sensation of love the ancient Romantics spoke of. Then, all thoughts of esoteric emotions fled when Henri reached between her legs and stroked her clit.
She melted back against his chest, rejoicing in this opportunity to be back with these two amazing men, who challenged her physically, mentally, and emotionally.
And for the time being, she chose to block out the reality that her job would force her to be unfaithful to this closeness they shared.
Henri absorbed Crystal’s weight as her soft body filled his arms, relieving the empty ache in his gut. He and Stepho had felt incomplete without her, and they’d agreed to abstain until they could be with her again.
Henri had nearly given up on the conviction they would see her again. Though, he hadn’t shared his pessimism with Stepho, who firmly believed they would find a way to get Crystal transferred to First Quadrant. They hadn’t told her of their plans, afraid to get her hopes up. Now, they’d been given this unexpected gift, and Henri would not accept another separation from Crystal.
He intended to use every one of her free moments to tighten the bond between the three of them, as he further investigated how to get her reassigned permanently to First Quadrant. His involvement with the Pro-Freedom Movement gave him unprecedented access to some high-ranking military officers, who were secretly working against the Council, and Henri would use those connections to secure a place for Crystal in First Quadrant.
She moaned as Henri circled her clit with his finger.
“I need to taste her,” Stepho implored of Henri.
He nodded and leaned against the pillows at the head of the bed, pulling Crystal back with him.
Stepho sprawled on his stomach between Crystal’s open legs, his round ass rising in the air tempting Henri.
Crystal dug her fingers into Henri’s thighs as Stepho thoroughly licked her pussy. Her body tensed as Henri felt her building to another climax.
Would she remember to ask for permission before she came? Or would she intentionally forget so he would have to discipline her again?
He grinned at the mental image of her pale cheeks taking on a ruddy color as he administered her next spanking. She and Stepho had choice asses, and Henri enjoyed playing with both of them.
“Oh, yes,” she panted as her fingernails cut into Henri’s skin when Stepho began thrusting a finger in and out of her channel.
Henri twisted her nipples, and she shot over the edge with an unrestrained cry, drawing a low chuckle out of him. Yeah, he was looking forward to her next bit of training.
* * * *
Crystal swallowed the nausea that seemed permanently lodged in her throat ever since she’d begun reporting intel she’d acquired from Henri and Stepho these past few weeks. “I’m glad my work has been satisfactory.”
“You don’t sound very happy about it.”
She turned her back on him and washed a head of lettuce in the sink. “I’m starting to wonder who the good guys are in this conflict,” she said quietly, mostly to herself.
“You sound like you believe the Pro-Freedom Movement’s propaganda,” Fisher accused.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “No, I’m just weighing the opinions of both sides. Did you know about the Council’s hypocrisy concerning mates?”
Fisher shrugged. “So? Why all the fuss if the big guys decide to increase their chances of producing offspring by assigning themselves a few extra women? It’s important to the continuation of our government that the Council procreate.” The Council seats were hereditary on Profortuna as were almost all occupations, but on the Council, only male heirs were eligible.
“The
fuss
is because it’s contrary to the standard the Council holds the rest of the Profortuna population to. One woman for three men was established because of the shortage of females. The Council is taking a larger portion of the female population for their own benefit. How is that fair?”
“Why do you think it should be fair? That’s kind of an immature view of the world, don’t you think? Haven’t you ever heard life’s not fair?”
“Whose side are
you
on?” she challenged Fisher.
“Neither. I’m military. I merely follow the orders given to me.”
Crystal snorted derisively. “You’ve never
merely
followed orders. You always manage to do what you’re told while making it look like it was your idea.”
Fisher shook his head as he resumed his concentration on the mushrooms in the frying pan. “You sleep with a guy a few times, and you think you’ve got him all figured out. Don’t waste your time on me, darling. Don’t you know I’m a lost cause?”
Crystal studied him silently for a few minutes. Did he really think of himself that way? He certainly didn’t have the attributes that she’d like any of her mates to have, but she didn’t think of him as a lost cause. She thought
misdirected
was a better descriptor.
If he would focus some of his negative energy into something good, he’d be capable of achieving great things. His charisma and street smarts could take him far in the military, but she worried his belligerence would prevent him from achieving a high rank, which sometimes seemed like outright rebellious behavior against his military fathers.
No, she didn’t think he was a lost cause, but he was correct in one regard. They were military first, and a good soldier always put aside her personal feelings to obey orders. Crystal needed to suppress her doubts about the justice of the current situation with the Council in order to do her job, even though using intel she’d gathered from Henri and Stepho made her ill.
What if her military orders led directly to the deaths of her intimate partners? Where was the honor in that?
As she shredded lettuce leaves and dropped them into a large bowl for a salad, she choked back the bile in her throat, trying to steer clear of where the answers were leading her.
She had to put on her good soldier persona and focus on following orders without questioning those in authority, and finish the preparations for the midday meal while ignoring the risk she was putting Henri and Stepho in.
Sure, that would be as easy as picking berries out of Profortuna’s unbreathable air.
Giving the frying mushrooms a stir, Fisher glanced over at Crystal as she ripped into another head of lettuce. She had no clue what made him tick. Her perceptions of him were only what he chose to show others. Wouldn’t she be surprised to learn what he really wanted?
What she saw as his defiance of authority was actually his back-assward way of asking for something he’d never got, something that made his self-protective defenses flare until he acted like an insolent blaster.
He’d nearly given up finding someone who could fill that kernel of need in his core. Instead, he tried to fill the damn empty spot with plenty of sex, which wasn’t what he truly desired. Sex couldn’t satisfy this need.
Then Fisher had observed Henri with Crystal, and he’d recognized the other man’s dominant side. But Crystal had squashed any of Fisher’s ideas about joining her and Henri when she’d dropped Fisher immediately after reconnecting with the two intelligentsias. Obviously, he hadn’t meant anything more to her than a provider of a few good orgasms.
Fisher stared down at the pan of mushrooms that were beginning to burn.
Yeah, he was just a dumb fuck-up just like his fathers’ had always told him.
* * * *
“Here you go, Doctor Zeke. It’s your favorite.” Crystal smiled as she handed the chemist a plate of vegetarian lasagna for the evening meal; meat was becoming scarcer with the greater demand of feeding First Quadrant. She was having to rely more heavily on plant-based protein and dairy from the cows in Fourth Quadrant.
“Thanks. Mmm. This smells as good as always,” the small man complimented her as he walked away to sit at a table with some of his fellow chemists.
“Crystal, when are you making that baked dish again with the fish and the little noodles?” The physicist, Doctor Brentan, asked as he stepped up to the service counter next.
She laughed companionably. “You mean my tuna noodle casserole?” It was an ancient recipe she’d found in the history database when she was looking for new ideas for the menu. “As soon as the next batch of tuna grows large enough to harvest.”
“How long before a tuna matures?”
“About a year and a half.”
Behind his glasses, his eyes grew large. “You can’t make tuna noodle casserole for another year and a half?”
She chuckled. “No worries, Doctor. The Food Producers breed them in cycles. We should have our next shipment in another moon cycle.” She handed him a plate full of lasagna.
“Another moon cycle,” he grumbled as he turned away with his meal.
After more than a moon cycle preparing meals for the intelligentsia in sector one, Crystal was coming to know quite of few of them by name and their favorite dishes. She was glad of the friendly faces greeting her across the service counter because working in the kitchen with Bad Attitude Fisher was wearing on her nerves.
Thank the stars, she had Henri and Stepho to return to every night. They knew how to get her mind off of her moody sous-chef, who hadn’t taken too well to her calling an end to their intimate relationship, but a part of her missed the challenge of being with Fisher. She was different with him than she was with Henri and Stepho.
With Henri, she could give over to her submissive side and relax into his control, which was a welcome relief from always trying so hard to prove herself in her military life. Whereas, Stepho brought out her softer side as she reacted to his sensitiveness. He was acutely responsive to the feelings of Henri and Crystal—when he wasn’t absorbed in his single-minded research mode.
Then there was Fisher. In all honesty, she enjoyed their sparring. She liked that she was able to be her strong self with him. She didn’t have to hold back on the rougher side of her personality. He met her squarely in the same place.
If only she could have all three of them…
“Oh no, Crystal,” Doctor Bella, mathematician extraordinaire, groaned as she stepped up to the counter for her plate, pulling Crystal out of her daydream. “Not pasta again. You’re making me fat.”
“Ha! Not a chance, Bella. Besides, I don’t think those three brawny mates of yours would mind a little extra meat on your bones.”