Ascent (3 page)

Amy Tyrell smiled within the monitor. “Well, that is settled. With the terms stated, it will be official the second that the initial stipulation is met.”

Yavoy smiled down at her. “I guess that I have some clothing to procure.”

The monitors dimmed and applause broke out as it became official. Lili Ann was now in line to become an Avatar. All she needed was a new dress.

Chapter Four

Sheevin was waiting and ready for her when she came out of the fitting room.

“What do you think, Avatar?” Sheevin wasn’t asking Lili Ann, her eyes were focused on Yavoy.

Lili Ann propped her hands on her hips and dared him to laugh. She was barely wearing anything. A good sneeze would rip the flimsy costume in two.

Layers of tissue-thin silk wrapped her breasts, hips and down to mid-thigh. She was an advertisement for sex and there was no doubt about it when she looked into Yavoy’s eyes. She was more naked than she had been when she had been in his arms. The fabric highlighted every curve and hollow of her shape. It left nothing to the imagination.

“No. Absolutely not.” She tapped her foot and scowled.

Yavoy smiled. “Why not?”

“Because I am a transporter, not a stripper.” Her frown should have been able to peel paint, but he was remarkably un-phased.

“Sheevin, we will take that in blue, purple and the deep grey.” Yavoy rattled off the order.

“I am not kidding, Yavoy. I can’t get into this thing by myself and I wouldn’t wear it in public.”

He laughed. “Sheevin, get her the outer robe.”

The seamstress slapped herself in the forehead. “Of course. I am so sorry.”

The crystal grey robe that was produced turned the risqué outfit from the edge of sleaze into striking and swirled around her in a heavy wave. The layer made her smile. It was held together by a lovely silver clasp that joined between her breasts.

“Fine. It is quite nice with the covering layer.”

Yavoy laughed and got to his feet, adjusting the way the robe sat on her shoulders. “Trust me not to humiliate you in public, no matter whether Arengar is running your body or not.”

She looked up at him and twisted her lips. “Trust doesn’t come that easily to me, Yavoy.”

“We have all the time in the world, Lili Ann. Literally.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and she quivered as she rose up on her toes to deepen the contact.

She sighed slowly as she returned to being flatfooted.

“That was nice, both the sentiment and the kiss.”

He chuckled and put his arm on her shoulder and his thumb made tiny circles on her neck.

She felt a haze of pleasure that started at where his skin touched hers and rippled through her body. “How do you do that?”

“It’s a learned skill that I have honed over the last forty-eight hours.” He chuckled.

“Arengar taught you that?”

“Yes and no. He explained the basics and I have had to figure out how to apply it to your physiology.”

She chuckled and they got on with the fitting.

Sheevin put nine different styles on her, one at a time. Some Yavoy agreed to, some he rejected and others caused a heated flare in his eyes.

By the time she was back in the first outfit complete with gauzy robe, she was exhausted. “Yavoy, I am hungry.”

If he could have blushed, he would have, as it was, he winced. “I am sorry. I forget about that now and again.”

“Forget about what?”

“Eating. Arengar keeps me energized and on my feet. I rarely need to eat.”

“Well, he isn’t running through me yet, so I am hungry. Where can I get some food?”

He smiled. “Allow me to escort you to the local restaurant. We should be able to find something for you.”

Yavoy made the arrangements for the clothing to be delivered to his home and he escorted Lili Ann out the door and down the walking path.

“I can’t believe that this city was simply abandoned for years.”

“Arengar was grieving for Lackiala. She had been his avatar for eons and finally requested release when the last of her family was dying on a world far away. Lackiala visited her great-granddaughter and they passed into the next life together.”

Lili Ann nodded. “And Arengar went into mourning.”

“Where he remained for as long as he could, until the Alliance buzzing around him and other planets brought him back to the point where he could entertain the idea. I was on a mining world doing nothing in particular with my life when the opportunity to join with Arengar presented itself. I offered my life to him and he moved in.”

“Did it hurt?” She bit her lip.

“It didn’t. It was rather like taking a warm bath from the inside out.”

She went scarlet. That was how it had felt when they were having sex. The moment that the hot, slick rod of his cock had moved inside her, she had been lost.

Lili Ann shivered as the memories rippled through her. All of the shopping had caused her skin to regain its earlier sensitivity.

“Are you cold? The weather is fairly temperate.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to the living furnace of his body.

“Not cold precisely.” She didn’t want to admit to raging hormones.

He escorted her through a doorway and into the warm confines of a restaurant. Despite the fairly extensive crowd, they were seated right away.

The wait staff was so eager, it was almost embarrassing.

“Is service always so attentive when you come out?”

He tilted his head, considering. “I suppose so. You get used to it fairly quickly.”

She chuckled. “I can’t see how.”

“When everyone treats you as if you are extraordinary, eventually you realize that it isn’t true. The only truth will lie in your own acts and attitude toward those around you.”

Lili Ann smiled at the ring of conviction in his tone.

The appetizers arrived with the salad and she worked her way through the tangy and salty salad as well as the tiny little sandwiches that were sitting in front of her.

“You have a good appetite.”

“When you fly long distance with sensitive equipment, the only thing you can control is when and if you eat.”

“And you exerted control over the one thing you could.”

“Of course. When you can only control one part of your life, you obsess over it.” She shrugged and continued working on the appetizers.

The waitress came back and removed the salad plates and the appetizers. When she returned with the main courses, Lili Ann’s almost ended up in her lap.

“I am so sorry, miss.” The look that she shot Lili Ann was dark, but the one she cast toward Yavoy was almost fawning.

It took Lili less than a minute to figure out that the elegant blue enchantress had been intimate with the Avatar.

When she wandered off with a sway in her hips, Lili closed her eyes. “How many others are there?”

He blinked at her in surprise. “What?”

“How many women running around the city have been in your bed?”

Realization dawned. “Oh. Four. I tend to take my pleasures out on women who are leaving the planet.”

She laughed and sipped at the wine that she had been brought. “Oh. Eww.”

“What is it?”

“My wine has been dosed with vinegar.”

He gave her a sceptical look and took a sip. “That is foul.”

“I thought so. Can I taste yours?” She bit her lip as he gave her a suggestive look.

He took a sip and handed her his glass. She carefully turned it so that her lips followed in his trace and she sipped at it.

The waitress took a look at the glass she held and the one still on the table and frowned. When Yavoy raised the glass to his lips, she cried out and slapped it out of his hand.

The manager appeared at their side. “Please excuse her clumsiness.”

Lili almost giggled out loud. He had to have been watching from the kitchen doorway. The waitress ran to the back, sobbing as if her heart had been broken.

“I will attend you for the rest of your visit, Avatar.”

The manager took over and Lili waited until they were alone before she whispered. “She was one of your lovers.”

He inclined his head. “She was. Yes. A few months ago.”

“It ended badly.”

“I don’t think I formally ended it and that could be the problem.”

Lili slapped her palm to her forehead. “That would explain it. So, if you always try to keep lovers leaving the planet…why me?”

“There is something in you that calls to me. You don’t worship me, you stand up to me no matter what dignity or decorum would dictate. That is very enticing.”

She looked into his eyes and she sighed as she saw the flicker of loneliness that came through on the side of Arengar. There was eagerness on the side of Yavoy and a longing in the presence of the planet.

“You both need me in your own way, don’t you?”

He chuckled, the black and red even in his eyes. “We really do. Will you allow us to join with you completely?”

She eyed the plate being brought to her and she smiled. “Can it wait until after dessert?”

The laughter of the Avatar of Geko 7 rippled through the restaurant and the air over the mountains cleared, letting the starlight dance through to areas who hadn’t seen the stars in centuries.

Chapter Five

“So, do you just live in those quarters we were in last night?” They were making their way slowly back to the tower that she had escaped from during the dawn.

“I stay there when I am in the city. During the year, I live in a home that Arengar crafted for me. We can go there tonight if you like.”

“Really?”

“Why not, the harvest is under way and we have no where we have to be.”

“What about the clothing?”

“It won’t go bad. We will just improvise something for you and have the rest flown out when it is ready.”

She shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go.”

He winked at her after he lifted her in his arms. He bent his knees and jumped, soaring into the sky with her in his arms.

Her breath left her lungs and then she shrieked, “What the hell?”

He whispered in her ear. “Each planet can gift its Avatar with skills if it wishes to.”

“Apparently Arengar is generous.”

The surface was flowing past them at a dramatic pace. They swooped into a house built into the foothills of the mountains and he set her on her feet.

“How do you do that?”

“Magnetic-field manipulation. It is a lost art.” He smiled as she took a few cautious steps.

“Well, it looks like you found it again.”

He chortled in response to her amazement.

“It is a skill set that took months of practice to master. It was more of a calling than a hobby.”

She took a seat on the couch in the nearby living space and casually shifted so that the robes slid to one side and exposed the transparent excuse for a dress underneath. The shadow at the top of her thighs was glaringly obvious to anyone looking at her and Yavoy was definitely looking.

“Yavoy, I seem to recall someone saying something about putting energy into me. I was wondering exactly how you were going to go about it?”

He didn’t waste a moment.

With a smooth movement, she was crushed into the couch cushions and Yavoy’s mouth was on hers. His hands unclasped her cloak and left her clothed in silk shadows and nothing more.

His hands stroked her neck, across her shoulders and around her breasts. She shivered with every palming of her nipple and the gentle kneading of her skin. She looked down and shuddered at the contrast between his midnight hands and her lighter skin.

“It does seem that I need to get the power inside you somehow, what would you suggest?” He whispered the words against her neck, licking and sucking to punctuate every phrase.

The delicate fabric of her wrapped top came off in his hands with a few well-placed tugs.

He warmed her skin with his breath and moved down to her breasts, nibbling and licking as he went. Yavoy latched onto one nipple and sucked it until it was a pebble-hard peak and then he moved to the other, each round of suction sent an answering quiver through her clit.

He used his teeth, the sharp points abrading her skin lightly, and each minute puncture filled her with warmth.

Yavoy ceased to nip at her breasts and made his way down her rib cage. She yelped in surprise as her navel sent a burst of lust through her that heated her feet and arched her back.

He raised his head. “I must have missed that one last night.”

She groaned at the light of discovery in his eyes. He wasn’t getting a little enjoyment out of this. He was getting a lot.

Lili’s skirt was tugged free with the same dexterity as her top had been. Naked and wearing only the transparent robe she still had on, she blinked in shock as he spread her legs and tugged her to the edge of the couch.

His hands went under her thighs, around her hips and flattened on her belly. When he delved between her thighs, each touch of his lips had her hips fighting his touch as she tried to alternately get close and back away as her sensitive skin heated with the contact.

She knew something was coming when his hands locked to hold her down. The stream of energy cascaded from his mouth and into her on the stroke of his tongue.

“Cheating.” Her word came out in a gasp, because no other words were accessible.

Power pooled in her belly and crept outward in a glow that was visible in the dark room.

She writhed in a combination of pleasure and energy. The power built and built inside her and when Yavoy moved away from her for seconds, she ached in every pore of her body.

She twisted in place on the couch and when he lay across her again, the hot bar of flesh pressing against her belly before he shifted and moved it into position for insertion into her channel.

He waited, the burning red shared space with swirling black in his gaze. When she looked into his eyes, she surrendered into the burning heat inside them.

He surged forward and she could feel every inch and twist of his skin within hers. The slick moisture of her channel welcomed him and the pistoning of his cock rocked her with every thrust. Her skin tingled and her body felt as if it would fly apart and in seconds, it did. Her scream was swallowed by his kiss as he took the accolade that was his alone.