Close Obsession

Chapter 3-1

Chapter Three

Once Saret was gone, Mia couldn’t contain her elation any longer. She felt like she would choke from the sheer delight that filled her from within, and she knew that she was grinning now, probably looking like an i***t. But she couldn’t bring herself to care anymore, her excitement too strong to be restrained.

She was now a polyglot!

She tried to picture herself speaking Cantonese, and the words suddenly came to her. Opening her mouth, she heard the harsh tonal sounds coming out as she told Korum, “I can’t believe this is real.” Promptly switching to Russian, she continued, “I can’t believe I can do this!” And then again in German, nearly jumping from excitement, “Oh my God, I can speak them all!”

He grinned at her, his face glowing with pleasure. Letting go of her hand, he brought his palm up to her face, curving it around her cheek. Looking down at her, he said in English, “I’m glad you’re excited. There’s so much I want to show you, darling...”

Mia stared up at him, her excitement over her newfound ability suddenly transforming into something else. He was so beautiful, and the warm expression on his face as he gazed down at her made her heart squeeze. “Korum,” she said softly, “I...”

She didn’t know what she could say, how she could express what she was feeling. There was still so much unresolved between them, but in this moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care about the way their relationship had started, about all the mutual lies and betrayals. In this moment, she knew only that she loved him, that every part of her longed to be with him.

Reaching up, she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and tentatively brought his face down toward her. Rising up on her toes, she kissed him on the mouth, her lips soft and uncertain on his. She rarely made the first move—he was usually the one to initiate s*x in their relationship—and she could feel the sudden tension gripping his body at her touch.

He kissed her back, his mouth hot and eager, and she found herself lifted up into his arms and carried somewhere. The destination turned out to be the bedroom, and they ended up on the bed, his powerful body covering her own, pressing her into the mattress with its weight. Mia’s hands frantically tore at his shirt, trying to find a way to get it off him, to feel his nakedness against her own. She felt like she was burning, her skin too sensitive, and the barrier of clothing between them was simply unbearable. Wanting more, she kissed him harder, catching his lower lip between her teeth and biting on it lightly.

Korum sucked in his breath, and she felt him abruptly pull away. Before she could do more than blink, he reared up on the bed and swiftly pulled off his shirt and shorts, revealing his large erection. Mia’s mouth watered at the sight of his naked body, all toned muscle covered with that smooth golden skin, his chest lightly dusted with dark hair—and then he was on her, tearing off her dress and leaving her lying there, spread out and exposed before his eyes.

Crawling on top of her, he kissed her again, more aggressively this time, and his hand found its way down her body and toward the junction between her legs. Mia moaned into his mouth, arching her hips toward his hand, and his fingers stroked her folds softly before one finger found its way inside her opening and pressed deep, causing her inner muscles to tighten with the sudden rush of pleasure. “I love how wet you are,” he murmured, penetrating her first with one finger and then two, stretching her, preparing her for his possession. Mia cried out, her head falling back, and felt the moist heat of his mouth on her neck, licking and nibbling the sensitive area.

There was something else too, a strange but pleasant sensation that registered somewhere in the back of her brain, a warm vibration that felt like massaging fingers sliding over the back of her body, stroking and caressing her shoulders, the curve of her spine, gently squeezing her buttocks and the backs of her thighs.

The bed, she realized dimly, it had to be the intelligent bed, and then she forgot about it, too immersed in what Korum was doing to pay attention to anything else. His fingers had found a rhythm, two thrusts shallow, one thrust deep, and his thumb was now circling her c******s in a way that drove her insane. Her nails dug into his back, her entire body shaking with need, and then his thumb pressed on her clit directly and she came apart, convulsing in his arms, waves of pleasure radiating all the way down to her toes.

After the last aftershock was over, Mia opened her eyes and looked at him. He was staring at her with such burning hunger on his face that her breath caught in her throat and her stomach clenched again with answering desire. His fingers were still inside her, and he took them out slowly, causing her to shiver with pleasure.

Bringing his hand up to his face, Korum licked the fingers slowly, clearly savoring her taste. Mia stared at him, mesmerized, unable to look away even as she felt his knee parting her thighs and the hardness of his c**k pressing against her vulnerable folds.

He began to enter her, still looking into her eyes, and Mia gasped from the sensation. Even though they’d had s*x only a few hours earlier and he had prepared her with his fingers, her body still needed a moment to accommodate him, to stretch around the organ penetrating her so relentlessly. There was something incredibly intimate about being with him like that, feeling his bare skin against her breasts and his shaft inside her, while meeting his gaze with her own. It was as if he wanted to possess more than just her body, Mia thought vaguely, as if he wanted something more than just the s*x.

Still looking at her, he began to move his hips, slowly at first and then at a faster pace, each stroke adding to the tension that had again begun to coil inside her. Giving in to the sensations, Mia moaned and closed her eyes, feeling each thrust deep within her belly. He lowered his head, and she felt the warmth of his breath against her ear as he tongued it lightly, making her shiver again. And then his pace picked up again, his hips now driving into her with such force that she was pushed into the mattress, barely able to catch her breath between each powerful stroke.

Her entire body tightened, and Mia screamed as another orgasm hit, her inner muscles squeezing him tightly. As her pulsations eased, she could feel his c**k swelling up inside her, and then he came with a hoarse yell, grinding against her until his contractions were fully over.

Breathing hard in the aftermath, Mia lay there, his body feeling heavy on top of her. Apparently realizing it, he rolled off her and pulled her against him, hugging her from the back. His hand found its way to her breast, and he just held her like that, pressed up against his body. As her galloping heartbeat slowed, she felt languid, relaxed... and incredibly contented.

“Are you sleepy?” Korum whispered into her hair, stroking her n****e lightly with his thumb, causing it to peak against his palm.

“No,” she whispered back. She felt like every muscle in her body had turned to mush, but she wasn’t sleepy. Her lengthy nap earlier had taken care of that. “What time is it, anyway?”

“It’s about eleven in the evening.”

“I slept the entire day?” No wonder she felt so refreshed.

“You must’ve been exhausted,” he murmured, raising his hand to move her hair to the side. The curls were probably tickling his face, Mia realized with some amusement.

“So Saret makes house calls this late?” she asked, her thoughts returning to her new and amazing ability. A huge grin appeared on her face as she imagined demonstrating her skills to her family and friends. They would be so envious...

“It’s not that late for us,” Korum explained, turning her around in his arms so that she was facing him. “You know we don’t sleep as much as humans. Any time before one in the morning and after 5 a.m. are considered regular working and visiting hours.”

Mia blinked at him, her grin fading. It made sense, of course, but this was yet another way she would be an outsider here. If she tried to keep their “regular” hours, she would quickly find herself sleep-deprived.

“You must’ve been bored in New York,” she said quietly, “with me sleeping all the time, and few places open in the wee hours of the night.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, not at all. That’s when I would usually get my work done, when you slept so sweetly in my bed.”

“What kind of work? The designs?” Mia inquired with curiosity. There was still so much she didn’t know about him, about how he spent his days—and nights—when he wasn’t with her. It had been enlightening, observing his interactions with Saret today. She had caught a small glimpse of who Korum was outside of their relationship, and she was hungry to know more.

“Yes, I often work on the designs—that’s my passion, that’s what I really love to do,” he answered readily, regarding her with a warm look in his eyes. “I also have to run my company, which takes up a big chunk of my time. I have a number of talented designers working for me, both here and on Krina, and there’s always something that requires my attention—”

“You have people working for you on Krina?” Mia asked in surprise. “How do you communicate with them or oversee them?”

“We have faster-than-light communication,” Korum explained, “so it’s not that much more difficult to communicate with Krina than with, say, China from here. Of course, I can’t see them easily in person, but we do have what you would call ‘virtual reality,’ where we can have meetings that very closely simulate the real thing. You experienced it a little bit with the virtual map—”

Mia nodded, staring at him attentively. She suspected very few humans knew what he was telling her right now.

“Well, the map is a very basic version of that technology. What we use to conduct cross-planetary meetings is far more advanced.”

“Is that also your design? The virtual reality, I mean?” Mia asked, wondering how far his technological reach extended.

“Some of the latest versions, yes. The basic technology has been around for a very long time; it far predates both me and my company.”

Mia’s stomach suddenly growled. She flushed, feeling embarrassed, and he grinned in response, handing her a tissue for clean-up.

“Of course, you must be hungry after sleeping all day. Why don’t we eat and continue our conversation over dinner?”

“That sounds good,” Mia said, realizing that she was starving.

He got up, pulling her out of bed as well. Before she could even ask for it, he handed her a brand-new outfit that he’d managed to create in a matter of seconds. It was another dress, similar in style to the one that was now lying torn on the bed. This one was pale yellow in color, and Mia gladly put it on, loving the feel of the soft material against her skin. Korum pulled on his shorts and shirt from earlier, which had somehow survived their s*x session.

“Ready?” he asked, and Mia nodded. Taking her hand, he led her toward the kitchen.

Like the living room and bedroom, the kitchen was similar in appearance to the one in his TriBeCa apartment. Further evidence of Korum’s attempt to make her feel comfortable here, thought Mia. Walking over to one of the chairs, she sat down and looked at Korum eagerly. He was an amazing cook—part of his passion for making things—and even his most basic creations were more delicious than anything Mia could come up with herself.

“What would you like?” he asked her, walking toward the refrigerator.

Mia shrugged, uncertain how to answer that. “I don’t know. What do you have?”

He smiled. “Pretty much everything. Do you want to try some foods native to Krina or would you rather stick with familiar tastes for now?”