Close Remembrance

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Mia stood in the circular room that functioned as a shower stall, letting water jets pummel every inch of her body. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve loved the novelty of showering in an alien dwelling. Like everything else in the house, the shower was intelligent, adjusting automatically to her needs. All Mia had to do was stand there and let the amazing technology wash, scrub, condition, and massage her. It was wonderfully relaxing—or would’ve been, if she could just turn her brain off and not think about what Korum had told her at dinner.

He’d been dismissive of the danger of the upcoming fight, but Mia couldn’t be so blasé. When he’d mentioned Loris’s challenge, her blood had run cold, gruesome images of dismembered bodies flooding her mind. What if something happened to Korum? He wasn’t truly immortal; he could be killed, just like his grandfather.

The thought of Korum dying was unbearable, unimaginable. It didn’t matter that Mia had only known him—or remembered knowing him—for a day.

This day had been the best one of her conscious life.

Spending time with Korum had been incredible. She had never had that kind of connection with anyone else before, had never felt so magically alive in another man’s presence. It went beyond s****l desire, beyond simple physical need. It was as though every part of her longed to be with him, to soak in his essence. She wanted him with a desperation that made no sense, with a passion that was almost frightening in its intensity.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Mia knew she was acting irrationally, completely unlike herself. A normal person in this type of situation would ask Korum to take her home, back to New York or Florida, where she could come to terms with the memory loss and gradually re-enter her normal life—such as it was these days. She shouldn’t want to cling to an extraterrestrial, shouldn’t be so calm about living in his house, separated from everyone and everything she could recall.

And yet she didn’t want to ask him, didn’t want to think about leaving him even for a moment. Mia had no doubt her psychology classmates would’ve had a field day analyzing her strange reactions, from the ease with which she’d accepted the impossible to her unhealthy dependence on a man she’d known for only a short period of time. But she didn’t care; all she knew was that she needed Korum—and that he seemed to need her too.

Had her former boss—Saret—known it would be like this? Had he realized that erasing a part of her memory didn’t destroy whatever it was that bound her and Korum together? Somehow Mia doubted it. If what Korum had told her about Saret’s intentions was true, the mind expert would’ve been unpleasantly surprised by her continued attachment to Korum and lack of interest toward him.

After the shower was over, Mia stepped out of the circular stall, letting the water drip off her onto the strange sponge-like substance on the floor that kept massaging her feet. Korum had explained that all she needed to do was stand there and let the technology take care of her bathroom routine, so Mia was taking him at his word.

Sure enough, warm jets of air quickly dried off her body, while a small tornado seemed to engulf the area around her head, blowing around each strand of her hair and filling her mouth with a taste of something refreshingly clean. By the time it was done, Mia was dry from head to toe, her curls defined and shaped to perfection, as if she’d just emerged from a fancy hair salon. Her mouth also felt like she’d just brushed her teeth.

Nice.

All that was left was to put on some clothes. Pulling on a thick, fluffy robe that Korum had thoughtfully given her earlier, Mia looked at the mirror that made up one of the walls, noting the sparkle in her eyes and the flush that colored her cheeks. Her heart pounded in anticipation, and her stomach felt like it was hosting an entire colony of butterflies.

If there was even a small chance that she might lose Korum in two days, then every moment they had together was precious. And as nervous as the idea made her, Mia wanted to know her lover fully—to experience again that which she had forgotten.

She wanted Korum to take her to bed.

Korum sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Mia to finish her shower. He’d showered already, using his fist to take the edge off the lust that had ridden him hard all day.

Spending so much time with her, touching her, smelling her—it had almost driven him insane. Under normal circumstances, they would’ve had s*x a couple of times on the beach, or when they’d gotten home before dinner. And instead, he’d had to content himself with a few light touches and caresses that had only added to his hunger, making his skin prickle and his c**k swell with need. If he hadn’t m*********d in the shower, she would’ve been in serious danger of getting jumped this evening. As it was, Korum was still feeling quite edgy, and he was hoping to work off some of his excess energy by going for a defrebs session early in the morning—or at night, as humans thought of the hours between three and four a.m.

It was already past eleven in the evening, which was Mia’s normal bed time. Korum wasn’t the least bit tired himself, but he wanted to tuck her in and hold her until she fell asleep—even if doing so would torture him further. It was important to start getting her accustomed to him, to get her to feel comfortable with his touch... because Korum didn’t know how much longer he could go without having her.

To distract himself, he looked down at his palm, sending out a mental query to check on the progress of the search for Saret. The guardians had found traces of Saret’s presence in Germany, but then his trail had gone cold again. However he was moving around, he was managing to do so out of sight of Krinar satellites and other spying devices—a feat that Korum reluctantly admired, even though the thought of Saret on the loose made him see red.

“What are you doing?” Mia’s softly spoken question jerked him out of his absorption with the search.

Looking up, Korum smiled at the sight of her standing there, her small feet bare and the robe wrapped all over her slender body. Her hands were twisting together in a gesture that betrayed her nervousness. “I’m just checking up on a couple of things,” he replied. “How was your shower? Did you like it?”

She moistened her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth. “It was awesome,” she said. “Like everything else here.”

“Good,” Korum said, watching her closely. Was she afraid to be near a bed with him? Gentling his tone, he said, “Come, let’s go to sleep, my sweet. You’ve had a long day. You must be so tired.”

She nodded uncertainly and approached him, her movements imbued with an unconscious sensuality that was as much a part of her as those beautiful curls. Korum shifted and raised his knee slightly, seeking to hide the erection tenting his pants again.

When she was a foot away, she stopped, and he could hear her rapid heartbeat. A warm, feminine scent reached his nostrils, sending more blood rushing toward his groin.

She was not afraid, Korum realized. She was turned on.

Hardly daring to breathe, he reached out and took her hand, bringing her closer until she was sitting on the bed next to him. At his action, he could hear her heartbeat spiking, a mixture of apprehension and excitement written on her face.

“Mia,” he asked softly, “are you sure?”

She nodded, her soft mouth trembling. “Yes,” she whispered. “I’m sure...”

His body reacted to her words with painful intensity, his c**k hardening further and his balls drawing up against his body. But when he leaned over to kiss her, he kept his lips gentle, tender—as her first time should be.

She’d come to him that other first time too, but she’d done it as a challenge, as a way to assert her independence and spite him in some small way. He hadn’t cared then, glad to just have her there, in his apartment, in his bed. And in his rush to take her, he’d hurt her, tearing through her virginity with all the care of a rutting animal.

This was his chance to make up for it. She was a virgin again—in mind, if not in body. And Korum was determined to make sure that there would be no pain for her this night, only pleasure.

He kissed her softly, with just his lips at first, stroking her hair and back with soothing motions. She tasted fresh and sweet, her scent familiar and enticing. Her small hands came up, curved around the back of his neck, her fingers reaching into his hair, sending shivers of pleasure down his spine. Not wanting to deepen the kiss, Korum moved his lips to her cheek, then the underside of her jaw, tasting the sensitive skin there.

She moaned, arching her head back, exposing more of her pale throat to his mouth, and Korum kissed her there too, fighting the urge to take her blood at the same time. He would do it, but not today, not for this first time.

Carefully, so as not to startle her, he pulled at her robe, opening it as he continued kissing her, his mouth moving to her collarbone and then below.

Her body was beautiful, slim and curved in all the right places, her skin smooth and inviting to the touch. Korum slowly ran his hand over her breasts and her flat belly, marveling at the delicacy of her frame. His palm could almost cover her entire ribcage, his skin strikingly dark against the pale perfection of hers.

He could see the pulse beating rapidly in the side of her neck, hear her elevated breathing, and he knew she was as anxious as she was aroused. Raising his head, Korum caught her staring at him, her face flushed and her lips slightly parted.

“I love you, Mia,” he murmured, reaching up to move that stray curl off her face. “You know that, right?”

She nodded shyly, still watching him with her huge blue eyes. Those eyes made him want to slay dragons for her, rip apart anyone who dared try to hurt her.

“Don’t be afraid, my darling,” he said, sliding one arm under her knees and another around her back. Lifting her up, he placed her carefully in the middle of the bed. “I’ll make it good for you, I promise...” And moving back for a second, Korum removed his shirt and shorts, letting his erection spring free.

Before she had a chance to do more than give him one apprehensive glance, Korum climbed on top of her, nuzzling her neck and shoulder again until she let out a quiet moan. Then he slowly began to make his way down her body, ignoring his c**k’s insistent throbbing. There would be times when he would take her hard and fast, but this wasn’t going to be one of them. Tonight was all about her.

Cupping the round globe of her breast, he delighted in its firmness, in the way her n****e hardened against his palm. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were perfectly shaped, just right for her slight frame. Bending his head, he tasted her n****e, laving it with his tongue, then sucking on it with a firm pull.

She moaned again, arching toward him, and he repeated the treatment on the other breast, enjoying the way her n*****s looked afterwards: all pink and shiny.

Her stomach was next, and he kissed the soft skin there, tonguing her belly button and feeling her abdominal muscles tensing as his mouth continued moving lower. Her legs were closed, so Korum pulled her thighs apart, ignoring the hitch in her breathing as he gazed upon her moist folds and the dark triangle of curls above. Like the rest of Mia, her p***y was small and delicate, sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted.

Lowering his head, Korum breathed in her intoxicating scent and then gently licked the area around her c******s, teasing her, letting her arousal slowly build. As he continued, he could hear her gasping every time his tongue approached her sensitive nub, feel the way her hips kept rising off the bed toward his mouth. He knew she was very close to the edge, but he wasn’t ready to let her go over. Not yet at least.

Moving his hand, he used his index finger to slowly penetrate her, sliding it inside her slick channel, carefully stretching her, readying her for him. She was so tiny inside she even felt tight around his finger, and Korum suppressed a tortured groan as his c**k twitched against the sheets in painful arousal.

She cried out as his finger slid deeper, rubbing against that spot that always drove her insane, and then Korum could feel her convulsing, her inner walls pulsing around his finger as she found her release.

Unable to wait any longer, he crawled back up her body, keeping her thighs open with his knee. Holding himself up with one elbow, he used his other hand to direct himself to her small opening, letting the head of his c**k slide inside, and then pausing to let her adjust to his size.

At his entry, she inhaled sharply and grasped his shoulders, gazing up at him. His entire body straining from the rigid control he was exerting over himself, Korum began to push in further, keeping the penetration gradual and slow to avoid hurting her. As his c**k went deeper, sweat beaded up all over his body and his breathing became harsher, more erratic. She was warm, wet, and tight—and Korum thought he might literally explode on the spot.

Using all his willpower, he paused when he was all the way in, letting her get used to the feel of him deep inside her body. “Are you okay?” he managed to ask in a rough whisper, looking down at her.

She licked her lips. “Yes.”

“Good,” Korum breathed. He wasn’t sure he could’ve stopped if she’d said otherwise. He was seconds away from orgasm, his balls drawn tightly against his body and his spine prickling with the familiar pre-release tension.

But he didn’t want to come yet, not until he’d had a chance to pleasure her one more time. Using his right hand, Korum reached between their bodies, finding the place where they joined and lightly stimulating her c******s with his fingers. At the same time, he began to move inside her, partially withdrawing and then pushing back in.

She moaned again, her fingers tightening around his shoulders and her sharp nails digging into his skin. He could feel the heat rising off her body, hear her breathing changing, and he knew she was almost there. Finally letting go of his restraint, he began to thrust with increasing speed, climbing the peak higher and higher, every muscle in his body shaking from the intensity of the sensations. Suddenly, she cried out, her inner muscles clamping down on his c**k, and he exploded with a roar, his seed shooting out in several powerful spurts.

When it was over, Korum rolled off Mia onto his back and pulled her on top of him, so that she lay partially draped over his chest. They were both breathing hard, their bodies limp and covered with sweat.

Korum knew he should say something, but he couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts. There was s*x—and then there was what he experienced with Mia. He’d never imagined that he could want a woman so much, that he could get so much pleasure out of the simple act of f*****g.

It wasn’t as if he was inexperienced. Far from it. In his centuries of existence, he’d engaged in s****l acts of every type and every flavor. There was no stigma associated with promiscuous behavior in Krinar society, and unattached individuals were encouraged to experiment to their hearts’ content.

Yet Korum could not remember ever feeling the kind of bone-deep satisfaction he experienced with Mia. He’d always wondered how mated individuals—or those who had a charl—remained faithful throughout their lives. The idea of not having variety had seemed strange and unnatural to him. Since meeting Mia, however, he couldn’t imagine wanting to be with another woman. She was all he wanted, all the time, every time.

His breathing finally calming, Korum looked down at the curly head lying on his chest. Feeling content, he stroked her hair, grinning when he heard a quiet yawn.

“Want to take a quick rinse and then go to sleep?” he murmured, still smiling as she looked up.

She gave him a deliciously sleepy look, then yawned again. “Sure, that would be nice...”

Laughing softly, Korum wrapped his arms around her and got up, carrying her toward the shower. Still holding her, he stepped inside and sent a quick mental command to the water controls. Two minutes later they were clean and dry, and Korum carried her back to bed, enjoying the trusting way she clung to him the entire time.

Placing her back on the bed, he lay down beside her and pulled her into his embrace, curving his body around her from the back. Utterly relaxed, he closed his eyes and let her even breathing lull him into sleep as well.