Gray Card (2 page)

Chapter Three

Evelyn barely had time to shut the door to her apartment before Adam was all over her again. He lifted her with his hands on her ass, pressing her back against the door and grinding his hips against hers. The stupid skirt of her dress was too long and she couldn’t quite manage to get both legs over his waist.

Realizing her difficulty, he reached under her skirt and slid it up to her ribs. He ran his hand along the back of her thigh as he used it to lift her higher. She finally wrapped her legs around him, loving his groan of pleasure as his erection pressed against the thin fabric of her panties.

Dresses suddenly didn’t seem that bad.

His kisses were relentless, stealing her breath away. The room was spinning when she caved and tapped his shoulder to signify her need for a break. He reached up and started tapping her shoulder too.

She couldn’t keep from giggling. It was a weird moment for his sense of humor to manifest, but that was sort of the way he worked. He leaned back, a dazed expression on his face that thrilled her to her toes.

“I had to come up for air,” she said.

“Are you all right?” Adam smoothed her hair away from her face.

“I’m fine. We just might want to slow down a tiny bit.”

He used his grip on her leg to pull it away from his waist and gently set her back on her feet. “Of course. I shouldn’t have—”

Evelyn slapped her hand over his mouth before he could continue. She’d already figured out that he was the
takes too much responsibility for everything
type, and she wasn’t about to let him second-guess taking their relationship to the next level.

“None of this
shouldn’t have
crap. I just needed a breather. I have now had it and am ready to resume.” She smiled and took his hands in hers, then turned them around and started walking backward toward her bedroom, leading him along. “That shoulder pat thing was pretty funny by the way.”

“Right. Funny.” He looked a little uncomfortable. Worse—he paused at the threshold to her room. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“Oh no, no, no. You are not getting out of this.”

“Evelyn…”

She squeezed his hands and said, “Why shouldn’t we do this? I mean if we really do have limited time… I don’t want any regrets.”

“Neither do I. I just—” He let out a sigh. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Why would you think that’s even… Oh.”

The idea that someone as gorgeous and masculine as Adam could have performance problems was beyond ironic, but it was the only thing that came to mind when trying to think of how he might disappoint her.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled herself up on her tip-toes to nibble his earlobe. He groaned and put his hands on her waist. That was progress. Now if she could just get him into her bedroom.

“You don’t have to worry about that with me,” she said. “Besides if things don’t go exactly as we hope, there are lots of other things we can do.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Are you looking for dirty talk? I’m not sure how good I am at that, but I’ll give it a try if you want.”

“No, I…” He lowered his head to her shoulder. “I think I should go.”

“What?”

Her stomach started to churn. She gripped his shoulders and pushed him far enough away that she could see his expression and try to figure out what was going on.

His lips were slightly parted, eyes still unfocused, and he seemed a little unsteady on his feet. Maybe he wasn’t feeling that stable himself. He lifted a hand as if to touch her cheek, then winced and curled his fingers into a fist before lowering his arm back to his side. Resolve was seeping into his expression and Evelyn had a feeling she was not going to be pleased with his decision.

“Do you want to go?” She did her best to hide her own desire, her desperate longing for him to stay, whether they had sex or not.

Adam stared at her for what felt like a long time. “This is more complicated than you think.”

She was tempted to say something about their body parts and inserting tab A into slot B to break the tension, but she resisted.

“Help me understand,” she said.

“We have different customs where I’m from. We do things…differently.”

How different could it be? Evelyn shrugged. “I’m open to trying new things.”

“We aren’t. I mean,
I
am. But where I’m from… We keep things simple. This is already much more than what I’ve experienced before.”

The ground seemed to shift beneath her. All they’d done so far was kiss. Sure, they were the best kisses she’d ever had and that bit against the door was fabulous, but they hadn’t even passed second base.

“Wait, you’re not telling me you’re a virgin, are you?”

“No, of course not. I’ve just never experienced something this intense.”

She tried to make sense of what he was saying. He’d had sex before, but hadn’t done anything as intense as their make-out session.

Well, that took all the pressure off. If Adam wound up leaving, she’d make sure he had some amazing memories to take with him. Hell, maybe she could convince him to marry her just for the sex.

“So, you’ve had sex, but it’s always been boring?”

He let out a laugh and his shoulders lowered a bit. “That is a good way of putting it.”

“Oh, I will show you a good way to put it.” She cringed. “That sounded better in my head. I did say I’m not good at dirty talk.”

“I’m not going to be able to tell. I thought you patting my shoulder was some kind of move.”

Laughing, she said, “Then why don’t you let me show you some real moves? Just promise to tell me if you object to anything.”

“I don’t see that happening, but I promise.”

“Boring sex, huh?” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You are
so
going to marry me.”

Before he could say anything else, she kissed him. He let her lead this time and she kept it light and slow. For the moment. She walked backward into her room, keeping her grip on his neck and her lips on his. She didn’t want him having any more second thoughts.

She guided him carefully to her bed, avoiding the model planets, stars and spaceships she had painted and hung from her ceiling that were low enough to hit his head. She’d have to do something about that later. He was taller than she’d thought, and she hoped this wouldn’t be the first and last time he was in her bedroom.

When they reached the bed, she let her hands drop to his stomach, tracing the muscles she’d suspected were there. She pulled up his shirt, dragging it over his head and throwing it on the floor.

“Holy crap!” Evelyn couldn’t stop her outburst.

She gaped at his perfect pectorals coated in fine dark hair, the lines of sinew and muscle cording his shoulders and arms, the rows of abdominal muscles standing at attention in orderly rows down his stomach, the two graceful divots marking the iliac crest of his pelvis…

A brief moment of self-doubt sparked within her. Adam could have any woman he wanted.

Evelyn brought out her mental fire extinguisher. He wanted
her
.

He was brilliant. She knew that because he was one of the few people she’d met who could keep up with the vagaries of her mind. He had to be most enamored with her intellect and personality, based on the vast discrepancy between their physiques. Which made it all the worse that he was leaving.

Sadness was just as unwelcome as self-doubt. And she had promised Adam—and herself—a good time.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No. Absolutely not.” She grinned at the terrible joke. Always falling back on humor. “Get it?
Abs
olutely?”

Adam raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry. I can’t help myself. And this—” she gestured at his chest “—is so magnificent. It’s a little intimidating, with me and my three-bags of chips a week habit and Internet addiction.”

“I think you’re beautiful.”

“I bet you say that to all the women who promise you the best sex of your life.”

“I’ve only ever said it to you.”

Evelyn’s brain just stopped. Jokes, thoughts, plans—they all evaporated. He ran a finger over her ear, pushing a stray lock of hair away from her face. He stared at every feature, as if he was trying to memorize her. She actually…believed him.

Her body kicked in as her brain bowed out.
Want. Need
. She would show him that he belonged with her, letting her body lead the way.

Chapter Four

Thinking about his home world cooled his ardor somewhat until Evelyn kissed him again. Adam let himself sink into the sensation of her lips against his, her cool fingers on his chest—exploring, teasing. Her hands were bold, hungry, unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. There was so much need behind her touch.

Feather-light, she dusted the backs of her fingers against his navel, trailing them over the smooth skin of his stomach to the fastener of his shorts. She worked the button deftly, opening them just enough to reach in and stroke his cock through the soft cotton of his underwear.

He drew in a breath like he was surfacing from an ocean. Without using the drugs the Coalition provided citizens to meet their sexual needs or facilitate sex with a partner, even that touch made lightning arcs of pleasure streak through him. He was used to stimulation coming from chemicals flooding his body, not from his actual senses.

He could feel her smile against his lips.

She stretched his waistband till she could reach him, wrapping her fingers around his shaft and squeezing. He moaned and rocked against her hands. The softness of her skin was incredible.

Turning her lips to his ear, she gently raked her teeth over his jaw. “Tell me your lovers at least touched you here.”

“Not like this.” He was surprised he could get out the words. His chest felt full, his entire body filled to the brim with feelings that threatened to shatter him at any moment.

“What about like this?” Her eyelids lowered a bit as she dropped to her knees.

He wasn’t sure what she had in mind, he just knew he loved the sight of her in front of him, a wicked smile on her face and—

Before he realized what she was doing, she licked the crown of his cock.

His entire body jerked in response to the intense pleasure that reverberated out from his groin. She kept her gaze locked on his, that smile curving her lush mouth as she took another long lick from the base of his shaft to the crown.

“Cygnus X! What are you doing?”

“Making you have nerdy outbursts, apparently.” She ran her cheek down the length of him, practically purring.

“What?”Adam forgot for a moment what they were talking about. All he knew was that he wanted more.

“Cygnus X?”

Moons, how could he have made such an error? His translation session changed almost all of his vocabulary to match that of Earth, even in their naming of things, but exclamations of that sort seemed outside of the mental programming. Evelyn had taught him quite a few slang terms and epithets, but he didn’t realize his own had been translated into her language. At least he could explain it away with relative ease.

“I must have read it somewhere,” he said.

This was too dangerous. He had to stop. He reached toward her to pull her away, but when his fingers touched her silken hair, he found himself instead taking out the clip and casting it away. All that honey-gold spilled around him, framing her face as she smiled up at him. Then she parted her lips and took him into her mouth.

“Evelyn!”

She slid her lips from him, leaving a last lick of his crown. “Is it taboo in your culture?”

He shook his head, his own mouth suddenly dry. It took concentration to swallow.

“Do you want me to stop?” she asked.

Stars help him, no. He shook his head again before he could think better of it, and that confident smile returned to her face. She knew exactly how she was affecting him. He could only imagine the thrill of bringing such pleasure to another. As soon as he had a chance, he’d go back to his ship and more carefully review mating practices of Earth’s inhabitants.

She circled her hands around him again, her eyes finally lowering to his cock. “Wow, you are huge. I’m going to need quite a warm-up to accommodate you.”

A warm-up after this? Adam’s skin was on fire, his muscles writhing with need—to hold her, to push himself into her over and over until oblivion claimed them both.

But she had been seeing to his pleasure. Moons, how she’d been doing so. He wasn’t sure how to reciprocate. What she was doing to him was primal.

“Tell me what to do,” he rasped.

“I do like a man who can take orders.”

If only she knew. Adam commanded starships. He was used to being the one to give orders, and he was used to being obeyed. But in her hands, in her mouth, he found he would do anything to please her, anything to stay with her.

The thought was natural, the decision effortless. He was only surprised it had taken him so long to realize how strong his feelings for her had become. Beyond the amazing things she was doing to his body—her humor, her wit, her spirit, were all things he couldn’t live without.

Exist, yes. Live? No.

She squeezed him again, bringing his mind fully back into the experience of that moment. Wrapping both hands around his cock, she guided it back into her mouth. Heat, wetness, the swirling of her tongue.

Now was not the time to be thinking of anything. He buried his hands in her hair, a guttural sound rising from his chest as she made love to him with her mouth. He was panting with need when she pulled away.

“These clothes are seriously cramping my style.” She untied his boots and helped him out of them, then opened his shorts further, smiling as she pulled them down along with his boxer-briefs.

He managed to step out of them without tripping. He tried to catch his breath as he watched her, his cock still glistening from her lips.

“Have a seat.” She stood and reached behind her, unzipping her dress.

Adam sat on the bed. He couldn’t keep from staring at her, wondering what was next. He was always wondering that with her. He never knew what she would say or do. It was what made their time together so magical, part of why he loved her.

How could he have not realized that? He
loved
her. Absolutely. And that was why giving up everything to be with her wouldn’t be a sacrifice at all. It was a necessity.