Winter in Paradise Read online

  Flashes of white-hot weapon-fire slashed through the whiteout like silent lightning. They paused and lifted their heads heavenward, then looked at each other. His expression mirrored what she was thinking: the Kirsovals had arrived. Would their months of hard work pay off? Would their friends, their families survive?

  Grayson slipped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. He had thought to draw fire away from her, even if that meant giving his life. But his efforts were moot. Instead of their last moments being spent with her legs wrapped tight around his waist as he thrust into her, they would likely die in this frozen wilderness. Even if they made it back to base, it would probably be to find the mountain blown apart. When she’d lowered the force field to go in search of him, she’d left an open door.

  But he had closed the shield after he left. How had he planned on getting back in? There was no communication from outside the cave. Did he think he could link with her mind? Gooseflesh rose on her arms. Was it coincidence that she’d woken from a dream about freezing to death when the man she loved was wandering across twenty-foot-thick ice? But it wasn’t him linking with her, she realized, for he wouldn’t want her risking her life by coming for him. Had she really linked with his mind?

  Kelly wanted to laugh. Grayson was always one step ahead of her. Not this time. This time, she was one step ahead of him. The dream had seemed a natural reaction to the unnatural weather and the fear that they would lose to the Kirsovals. But what if it was something more, what if it had been prophetic? Visibility was arm’s length and the heads-up-display in her goggles had gone dead half an hour ago. Did the dream mean they weren’t going to reach home? Her jaw tightened reflexively. Onyx had been a subtropical planet. Only those who could have predicted the Kirsoval sub-thermal probe that had put the planet into deep freeze could have seen the need for a HUD to survive on Onyx.

  A white beam stabbed down in her periphery. A Kirsoval weapon. Kelly whirled, dragging Grayson with her. A white rod of energy stretched from ground to sky, moving in a ragged path toward them. A sizzle shrieked above the wind. She yanked Grayson back. Brilliance threatened to singe her eyes. Her goggles didn’t darken. No power. Lines burned in her vision everywhere she looked. Fear twisted her stomach. The Kirsovals had detected their heat signatures. Grayson stumbled, nearly pulling her down with him. Her shoulder wrenched, but she yanked him upright.

  “Move it,” she yelled, but her words were devoured by the wind’s howl and the beam’s roar.

  The weapon cut a gap in the ice across their path, then snapped off. Kelly blinked at her nav and headed left, first south then west. They hadn’t detected her and Grayson. Their aim couldn’t be that bad. The weapon discharge had to be a stray from the battle above—but deadly nonetheless.

  Grayson yanked her back and she caught sight of the crevice she’d nearly stepped into. She hadn’t spotted the hole, her vision still impaired by the beam’s afterimage. The ice crumbled beneath her feet. She backpedaled against Grayson, who had planted himself with the effort to pull her back. Her feet slipped. She threw herself on the ice, twisted, and grappled for his ankles. He fell backward as the ice below her feet slipped into the fissure. Support vanished. She thudded onto the ledge. Her legs dangled over the edge. Grayson grabbed her hood and pulled her with him as he scrambled back. Her fur coat cinched into her armpits, lifting her arms off the ice.

  Another beam sprang to life behind him.

  “Grayson!” she yelled.

  He twisted to look. The beam cut a line across their escape. It was going to trap them on an island of ice.

  Grayson worked right. The beam staggered left. Her feet gained purchase and she propelled herself ahead on all fours, then three when she grabbed his coat and dragged him alongside. The beam sputtered, stabbed twice more and died. The smell of ozone hung heavy in the air. A measure of exhilaration helped her gain her feet.

  Grayson was up and moving. “They got it,” he yelled.

  He’d read her mind. The beam’s erratic cutoff meant the ship at its source had been disabled…or was it too much to hope the ship had been destroyed? Which ship had fired at them? Was it an escort or the mother ship? Dammit, they were blind without sensors.

  Chapter Three

  Wind sliced across Kelly’s face where the hood had fallen from her head. She’d lost her goggles during the stray Kirsoval firepower. She stumbled and pulled at Grayson. He slipped from her grasp. She spun, but fingers of steel seized her shoulders, and Grayson yanked her against his chest. Her legs gave way and he crushed her to him while she buried her head in his warmth. His enviro-suit had run out of power and her only gel-pack was nearly depleted. Tears rose, but didn’t fall in the freezing temperature. He swayed. She straightened.

  “We’re not dying out here. You understand me?” Her eyes stung.

  He pulled the hood up over her head. Her heart broke. Her nav no longer functioned. She scanned the sheet of white sky for the hint of sun that would point her south toward base. All she could do was pretend, for his sake.

  She grasped his sleeve and pulled him. “This way.”

  They rounded an ice-boulder that she told herself looked familiar, but—the cave opening yawned before them. Thank the elders! They stumbled across the invisible threshold and inside the cave. Snow flurried around the entrance and melted on contact with the cavern floor.

  Kelly drew back her hood and whipped Grayson around. “We made it.”

  Uncontrollable shivers wracked his body. She cursed. She had to get his body temperature up—fast.

  “Come on.”

  The howl of the wind grew fainter as she dragged him forward. The yellow illumination ahead grew until they turned the bend into the cavern. What had felt cool earlier now felt like sweltering heat compared to the ice cold they’d just battled. Kelly wanted to cry.

  Exhaustion took over. The thick, fur coat felt like it was made of lead. Kelly brought Grayson to a halt. She shook off her mittens and turned off her enviro-suit. It dropped to the floor, leaving her naked under the furs. She yanked loose the bindings on his furs, turned off his enviro-suit, then spread the furs and slipped her hands around his naked waist. She pressed her warmth against him. Despite his icy skin, he felt as he always did: tall, lean…strong. He wrapped her in a bear hug. His muscled arms trembled around her like a tectonic plate about to crack.

  “Grayson,” she murmured into his chest.

  “Kelly.” His powerful body strained with effort.

  Her pussy clenched, making her heart race, but she broke free and propelled him toward the bed. “Get in. Shields on,” she said to the comm-def center.

  The light dimmed, then brightened. A ripple radiated out of the defense module like a heat wave passing through her and the rest of the cave, stopping, she knew, at the entrance. The distant sound of wind cut out as if a door had slammed shut. The shield produced a bubble of invisibility to all but the most powerful sensors. How long before the Kirsovals penetrated their shields and pinpointed their equipment’s signal? Minutes, an hour? She would take it as long as she was with this man.

  Grayson had slipped under the bed’s thermal blankets. Kelly could almost see the glow of the covers work to raise his core temperature. She shrugged out of her furs and slipped in beside him, nestling skin-to-skin, breast-to-chest, and settled against the familiar hard lines of his chest.

  His arms banded around her. “You shouldn’t have come.” He no longer shivered, but his flesh still felt like ice.

  “What was I supposed to do? Leave you out there?”

  “That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You compromised the mission.”

  She snuggled closer.

  “You could have gone on,” he said, “had a life.”

  The hard note in his voice comforted—and brought a lump to her throat. She would give a king’s ransom for even one more day with him trying to take charge.

  She nuzzled the crook of his still-cool neck. “Life without you is no life.”

 
A far away explosion rattled the cave.

  Her heart jumped. How close were the Kirsovals? Did only minutes remain? Panic rushed to the surface. Five months weren’t enough. She needed more time. Needed to tell him she loved him. She had purposely withheld the words, as if she had all the time in the world to show him how she felt. That fantasy had been the one thing that kept the panic at bay—until now.

  Silent tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “Kelly,” Grayson rasped.

  His breath in her hair was still ragged. She shook her head in a stubborn attempt to pretend she wasn’t falling apart. Think of all the people who will live, she told herself. She forced a picture of her mother tending the tiny flower garden on the roof of her sky-rise. Her father, a simple phys-ed teacher, and the younger brother who had been forced to leave the academy two years too early to aid in the fight for their people’s preservation.

  Grayson pressed a kiss into her hair. Kelly choked back a sob and through salty tears kissed his shoulder. He shuddered. She became aware of the lengthening of his cock. She pressed closer, breasts flat against his muscle.

  “We disabled that one ship,” he said.

  A strong explosion shook the cave. Two or three pebbles dropped to the floor and clattered. Their military had destroyed the ship that had nearly caught them in the crossfire. But it hadn’t been enough.

  Kelly tilted her face upward and met his gaze. “Yes. We got them.”

  Crystal blue eyes stared back. “I’m sorry.”

  Her heart broke. She should have known he would read her mind. They had gotten the Kirsoval ship. But that wouldn’t save their lives.

  Chapter Four

  Kelly slid a hand around his neck. “I’m not.”

  His lips covered hers. She opened for him, and his tongue dove into the warmth of her mouth, tasting, exploring…memorizing. His shaft hardened, lengthening between their bodies like a hungry beast. Her nipples hardened and the familiar flutter she always felt when near him brushed the insides of her stomach. He flattened a palm on her abdomen and slid his hand downward. A quiver raced along the flesh of her stomach. His fingers slid into the dark curls and she spread her legs in anticipation of his long finger slipping between her wet folds.

  The microwave-type heat of the blanket co-mingled with body warmth ratcheted up the temperature. Was it harmful to raise a person’s core temperature too fast? She almost laughed at the thought. Dying because his body heated up too fast would be ironic and merciful, though she wasn’t willing to let him go a second earlier than necessary.

  He broke the kiss and brushed her clit with a finger. Pleasure shot through her. She trembled as the long digit plunged deep inside. Kelly gripped his forearm and held on tight as he plunged in and out. Heat built deep in her core. He shifted. His warm breath bathed the sensitive flesh of her neck as he nipped at the spot where neck met shoulder. His tongue flicked her skin, stroking the heated passion that grew between them.

  Slowly, Kelly rocked against his hand. With trembling fingers, she reached between them and closed her fingers around his velvety girth. He drew in a sharp breath. His in and out motion inside her channel faltered. A thrill shot through her. He always liked it when she touched him this way. He often consumed her. But in this moment, she owned him. He thrust into her hand. The thick stalk lengthened, the glistening tip making contact with her stomach. Kelly bent her head and licked his cock from tip to base, then back to tip again before closing her mouth over the juicy crown. His rich, earthy scent glided across her tongue—then she sucked hard. He shuddered. She took him deeper.

  “Kelly,” he growled.

  Her heart pounded. She wanted him inside her channel…and her ass, but she also wanted him to remember what she did to him, how she knew what he wanted. The finger fucking her moved from her cream-slicked pussy. Her clit tightened and she regretted the loss, but when his fingers tunneled into her hair and tightened, her pulse skipped a beat. He was going to take all she gave—and she knew he would give back with a passion unmatched by any man she’d ever known.

  Grayson drove his cock into her mouth as she reached between her legs and touched her swollen nub. A shiver raced through her. Pre-cum seeped from his slit and slid down her mouth. He was close. He pulled his shaft from her mouth and rolled onto his back. He grasped her waist and hoisted her onto his belly.

  A violent explosion rocked the cave.

  His gaze locked onto hers as he lifted her onto his mouth. Her heart thundered, then spiked when his tongue flicked her swollen clit. She wanted to jam her cream-filled pussy onto his mouth, but he held her poised as he teased, touched with the barest of flicks and nips of his teeth.

  “Grayson,” she begged.

  A low laugh rumbled from his chest, but he didn’t relent. Kelly grasped his shoulders and kneaded the steely flesh. She loved the way he felt. He gently sucked, and she thought she would go out of her mind. Finally, he lowered her fully onto his mouth. Moist lips closed around her pussy, and she spasmed with orgasm. His palms covered her breasts. The orgasm intensified. She ground her sex against his mouth. He sucked. Kelly screamed. His thumbs skated over her pebbled nipples. The orgasm broke apart and her body gelled. He seized her hips, keeping her upright until the spasm lessened and she at last slid onto the mattress beside him.

  He gently turned her so that her ass nestled against his engorged cock. Her body molded to his, just as she had anticipated this morning. He spread her cheeks and fitted his shaft to her anus. Carefully, he lubed the opening with the moistened tip, easing inside with great care. Slowly, she stretched, her body accommodating the invasion. Warmth spread through her as the slow burn deepened with full penetration. At last, he was sheathed in her body, balls deep. His breath came ragged against her shoulder. He released her cheeks and the ring of muscle closed around the root of his cock.

  He pulsed inside her. Excitement fluttered in her stomach. He slowly eased back, then thrust. She felt his shaft clear to her womb and pleasure radiated through her. He grasped her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as he eased out. The tip reached her opening and he slammed back inside. Kelly cried out. His fingers dug into her hips.

  “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you,” he whispered.

  “What?” she said through the fog of desire.

  “You had just made Major.” His balls slapped against her ass as he sank deep into her. “Your red hair flamed in the blue sun during the ceremony.” His hand slid around her stomach. “Everyone said you were set on making Colonel. You wouldn’t have time for a man.”

  She gave a strangled laugh, caught between amused memory and the excitement of his finger brushing her clit. He was right. She had no intention of taking the time to fall in love with anyone. He began massaging her. Kelly groaned.

  “But I knew you belonged to me.”

  Her breath caught. He’d never said anything like this before. She knew he loved her. But he’d remained quiet just as she had. She assumed he felt as she did; to say the words would only make the end that much harder…that much more real.

  “I love you, Kelly,” he whispered.

  She closed her eyes and waited for the tears, but none came. This is exactly where she’d planned on being when the end came. There was no better way to die.

  He pulled his cock from her ass. She gave a cry of protest, but Grayson turned her to face him. His blue eyes locked with hers. She traced a finger along his angular cheek. By the elders, he was beautiful.

  “I want to be inside you,” he said, “buried in your wet heat.” His eyes darkened. “I want to feel your pussy strangle my cock when you come.”

  Kelly nodded. That was exactly what she wanted. She needed him to drill his rod deep inside her until the world faded and the cave walls crashed down around them. He rolled on top of her, his weight of warm steel pinning her to the cot. His powerful thighs settled between her legs, his erection hot and heavy on her curls. He lifted up on elbows and thrust the hard ridge of his arousal upward
along the flat surface of her belly in an agonizingly slow tease.

  When he pulled back, he grasped his shaft and rubbed the head against the seam of her pussy. Her pulse spiked as he probed her opening. Her throat tightened. This was the memory she would take with her. This was everything she had imagined—and more. He was somehow always more than she anticipated. The mushroom tip eased inside a fraction. Then he surged. Kelly gasped. Every time it was the same. And every time he took her breath away. He knew exactly what she needed. His engorged cock stretched her to the limit, possessed her as no other man ever had. Why had she ever been afraid of his kind?

  Grayson withdrew. He palmed a breast, then tugged at the sensitive peak and twisted just hard enough to send a jolt of pleasure to her pussy as he shoved so hard the bed rocked. Her channel clenched. He anchored her to his groin and rolled his hips. Pleasure shot through her. He shoved upward onto his palms, his gaze shifting to her breasts. They puckered harder under his male scrutiny. His head dropped and his lips closed around an areola. Her insides throbbed. Kelly arched into his mouth. He sucked hard with each thrust, causing a string to tighten between breast and clit.

  He lifted his head and looked between them where her pussy was eating his cock. Her stomach did a flip. She knew how much he liked to watch their joining. She braced her feet flat on the mattress and lifted her hips to meet his thrusts in quick pulses. He drew in a sharp breath and plunged so deep pleasure and pain shot through her. Kelly gasped. His head jerked up and his gaze met hers. Eyes locked with hers, he withdrew, then rammed inside. She fisted the sheets, pleasure rippling through her on a wave.

  He lowered his body onto hers. Strong and powerful, his heart beat against her breasts in an intimate rhythm. Kelly wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him close. Grayson buried his head in her neck. His arms locked around her like a vise as he pistoned into her.