Kraving Tavak (The Krave of Everton Book 4) Page 17

  She remembered his thick, warm, heavy body on top of her. His heady, spicy scent in her nostrils. The delicious sound of his deep groans that made her all shivery. The heat of his hands on her. The surprising gentleness of his kiss.

  Intense longing went through her. She bit her lip, her throat tightening.

  And right then, lying on her bed—alone and aching—she knew that she didn’t want to give him up. She wasn’t ready to yet. She already knew it was a terrible decision but she couldn’t walk away from him. Not now.

  Even though she risked shattering heartbreak.

  I can have casual sex, she told herself. She’d done it before, after all. I can have sex with Tavak and not fall in love with him, right?

  Stella laughed to herself but it sounded hollow.

  She blew out a sharp breath, groaning as she turned over in her hot bed again.

  “I guess I’ll find out,” she whispered to herself.

  It was the morning that she had to pick up the Luxirian brew barrels from port and she was already dreading it. Her feet were dragging as she made her way towards the transport center. She’d had another sleepless night and they were really starting to catch up with her.

  When she reached port, she drew up short because she wasn’t prepared—mentally or physically—to see Tavak so early. But there he was with his arms crossed over his chest, speaking to the usual merchant she dealt with. She saw that the wide barrels were already unloaded from his vessel and were stacked neatly on the hover cart Tavak frequently used for his firestones.

  Stella was still a long distance away and Tavak hadn’t seen her yet. As she approached, the merchant clasped his shoulder and then turned back towards his vessel, seemingly in a hurry to depart, as he always was.

  Tavak turned and he stilled when he caught sight of her. They regarded one another for a long moment and then Stella’s gaze went to the barrels of brew.

  She quirked a brow and asked, “If you wanted more brew, you could’ve just asked. You didn’t have to steal barrels of it from port behind my back.”

  Tavak’s shoulders seemed to relax a little at her teasing words. He stepped forward and the hover cart moved behind him, seamless and smooth, not even sagging slightly under the weight of the barrels.

  She noticed a metal band attached around Tavak’s wrist and she figured that was how the hover cart worked. It was programmed to follow that cuff.

  “I knew you had a shipment coming in this morning. I saw it on the logs,” he murmured, those eyes capturing hers and not letting go. “I figured this was my chance to fill my own cellar.”

  Tavak was teasing her?

  Stella felt her lips quirk. Then her breathing went a little shallow when Tavak lifted his hand and brushed the pad of his thumb underneath her eye, right above her cheekbone.

  She swallowed, his touch sizzling. He had no right to make her feel like jumping his bones this early in the morning. It wasn’t fair.

  “You haven’t been sleeping,” he murmured. His words were gruff when he admitted, “Me neither.”

  Then maybe we should sleep together. Maybe that’ll solve all our problems, Stella couldn’t help but think. She almost laughed at the thought.

  Then his head was gesturing to the port’s exit and his touch was sliding away.

  “Come,” he murmured.

  Stella’s mind immediately went to a dirty place.

  You’re going to come for me again, aren’t you, vellia? he’d rasped to her a couple nights ago as he’d been deep inside her body.

  Damn.

  She hurried along before he could scent her arousal at the inconvenient memory. Not that she was certain the increased distance helped.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” she told him softly, gesturing to the hover cart.

  “I know. But I wanted to,” was his simple reply.

  Stella didn’t know what to say to that and so she didn’t say anything at all. They walked back to Reji’s in tension-filled silence, but as they neared the bar, Stella began to feel anticipation build within her.

  She’d already made her decision. But she didn’t know exactly how to go about telling him. And she certainly hadn’t expected to see him so soon. She thought she’d have more time to mull over how to approach him.

  Maybe being direct was best but she couldn’t make the words come out. They stuck on her tongue, which was sticking to the roof of her mouth.

  Get it together, she told herself.

  Back at Reji’s, they walked through the bar together and her breath hitched when she noticed him looking at the bar counter. When his eyes met hers, Stella knew what he was thinking. What he was remembering and it made her all the more nervous.

  A rough sound left his throat and that sound made heat explode over her cheeks. Stella let him into the cellar and then leaned against the door frame, watching as he hefted and carried the barrels over to where she wordlessly gestured. Her treacherous little eyes ran over him eagerly when he wasn’t looking. At his arms, flexing with the weight of the brew that actually seemed like it was no trouble for him at all. At his taut backside, at his thighs encased in his pants. At his broad, massive, ball-like shoulders.

  He could smell her. She saw the way those shoulders bunched suddenly as he dropped the last barrel in place.

  When he turned, his eyes were swirling, his lips set into a deep frown that she knew from experience didn’t necessarily mean he was unhappy or displeased. It just meant he was thoughtful, observing.

  “Have mercy, vellia,” was all he murmured before running a hand down his face. It was almost like he was shaking himself. “Vauk.”

  Stella wondered, suddenly, just how far she could push him. She felt a surge of confidence, which was much needed. Because she knew herself best and she was no damn coward.

  “Did you always know that I was attracted to you?” she asked quietly, licking her lips.

  “Your first night working at Reji’s,” he told her without hesitation, approaching her where she still lingered in the doorway. “You were trying to talk to me and laughing at yourself because you kept getting the brew wrong. But then you remember what happened?”

  Stella swallowed.

  Yes, she did.

  Tavak had been ice cold back then. Frozen cold. He’d scowled at her all night, a glare in his eyes, trying to warn her away. But there was a moment that first night when suddenly, those eyes had dropped down the length of her body with a familiar heat in them. And then they’d caught on hers.

  And then they’d just stared at each other. Like it was a challenge on who would look away first and yet…

  Stella shivered. She could still remember how hot that intense stare had made her.

  “You knew then?” she asked, her voice a little throaty.

  “I could smell how much you needed a male—needed me—in a crowded bar, female,” was what he replied, stopping close, making her crane her neck back to look at him. “So pax, I knew then.”

  “You left so suddenly that night,” she remembered.

  He’d practically stormed from the bar after paying for his half-finished brew.

  His head dipped and her breath hitched. His nose hovered just above her ear. He hadn’t touched her yet but she could feel him all around her. Her skin began to tingle, just having him near.

  “Because you made me so vauking hard that night I thought my cock would cut through the laces of my pants,” he growled.

  Stella’s gasp floated between them as her nipples tightened in hard, almost painful, peaks.

  “I knew then that you’d be trouble, vellia,” he said. But his words were soft, almost…affectionate. “So much trouble.”

  He pulled back a little, meeting her eyes.

  His voice was rough and husky and delicious when he murmured, “Let me back in you, vellia.”

  Stella’s lips parted. Why did the way he said that sound so hot?

  “All I can vauking think about anymore is being between your thighs, feeling you all
around me, the way you gasp and moan when I touch you here,” he continued, bringing his hand between them, dragging one of his fingers lightly across one of her nipples.

  A throaty moan rose from her throat in response and Tavak’s nostrils flared. His body seemed to flare with heat.

  “Please, vellia,” he growled. And Stella had to be dreaming because she knew that Tavak would never beg. He would never plead. “Please.”

  But he was begging.

  He was begging her to let him back in.

  “I touched myself last night,” she told him. Tavak’s nostrils flared. “I touched myself and I made myself come and I thought that it would be enough after you.”

  “Stella,” he growled.

  “But it wasn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t nearly enough and I think you’ve probably ruined me. And I don’t even care.”

  If he just wanted this to be sex, then Stella could handle that.

  Her eyes dropped to his lips. There was a long pause where tension stretched between them. It was Stella who was giving in. But she knew that Tavak was giving in as well, possibly more than he’d expected to. She just didn’t know what it would look like on the other side of all this.

  Her head lifted and it was all the invitation he needed.

  Stella’s eyes fluttered shut when he kissed her. Hard and untamed and a little wild.

  Her heart was pounding in her chest as her hands slid over his shoulders, wrapping around his neck. They pressed their bodies close and Stella moaned when she felt his cock, hard and aching for her.

  Tavak growled, his hands coming to her pants. He pulled at the laces, a surprising urgency to his actions, and then he was shoving her pants down. Stella kicked them off and then his hands were on her naked ass, gripping hard and hauling her up until she was forced to wrap her legs around his hips.

  He backed her into the cool wall of the cellar, never breaking his kiss. Stella’s hands reached down, tugging at the laces of his own pants until his cock burst free. She couldn’t see it but when she wrapped her hand around it, it was scorching hot, thick, pulsing, and wet with his pre-cum.

  Tavak’s hips jerked in her grip.

  “I need you so vauking much right now,” he rasped against her lips before he finally broke their kiss. “Get me inside you. Now.”

  Stella didn’t wait. She was more than ready to take him and he guided his cock to her entrance. He slipped in easily and then she fed his length into her, inch by delicious inch.

  Giving a strangled groan, Tavak cursed quietly.

  “Pax, so vauking good.”

  Stella’s eyes were wide. In this position, he felt huge inside her, stretching her to the brim. And when he was seated all the way in?

  He began to fuck her. Long, satisfying, mind-numbing strokes that made her tingle from the inside out. Their flesh slapped together. He was hot between her thighs but the cellar wall was cold against her, biting into her back with his every thrust. Stella didn’t mind, however. It ramped up her arousal even more when she realized how much Tavak wanted her, needed her.

  He worked himself between her thighs, seeming to know when to give her long, slow strokes or short, fast ones. He kept her guessing, hovering just on the edge.

  And all the while, he was kissing her. Whether it was her lips or her jawline or her neck or her cheeks. There was something sweet about it, which was so at odds with the wicked way he was drawing her nearer and nearer to an insane orgasm.

  When Stella came, it came on sudden and quick. He hadn’t even touched her clit, and before she knew it, she was coming hard around his cock, clamping down on him, icy hot pleasure zapping through her limbs.

  Towards the end of it, she felt Tavak give a jerk. She heard his muted roar against her neck, where he’d tucked his head. His strokes went choppy, uncontrolled. And then he was losing himself between her thighs.

  Stella felt the hot lash of his seed shoot against her walls. And she was prepared for it this time. The way her whole body warmed with it. The way she felt that edge of pleasure begin to cut her all over again, sharp and unexpected.

  When her next orgasm hit her, her head went back. It hit the wall as she squeezed her eyes shut.

  What a way to start my morning, she thought.

  Especially when she felt Tavak begin to thrust all over again, already needing more.

  So what if I gave in? she couldn’t help but think.

  At least she got him. In whatever way she could.

  It would be enough.

  For now.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It wasn’t until later that morning that Stella realized Tavak had given in as well. At least in some ways.

  A compromise, she realized. An unspoken one that went between them.

  And she realized it as they were lying in her small bed that threatened to break under Tavak’s weight. He was on top of her. His head was buried in the crook of her neck and he was panting, both of them trying to catch their breath. Her hands were resting on his shoulders and she felt the thin sheen of sweat covering them.

  Stella herself was a sweaty mess but she felt like she’d just slept for a full day. Her energy had returned. She felt amazing.

  Tavak hadn’t cleaned all of his teela from her but it was enough so that Stella wasn’t constantly on the edge of an orgasm. Now, she only felt a dull, pleasurable throb.

  His cock twitched on her belly where it was resting after he’d pulled out of her. He groaned and then flopped to the side, stretching out next to her. At least, as much as he could on the limited space of her bed.

  Bright sunlight streamed in through her window. It would get hot up here soon. Unbearably so. But Stella couldn’t bring herself to move, especially when Tavak pulled her to him.

  Her heart skipped multiple beats as his arm went underneath her head, keeping her in the crook of his elbow. He rolled her so she was pressed close and she realized what they were doing.

  Cuddling.

  They were cuddling.

  Stella’s lips threatened to lift but she would play this cool. So, so cool. She didn’t want to spook him away again, after all. The male was radiating heat like a furnace but she never wanted to move.

  This might be just sex between them but at least he was making an effort to give her what she needed after sex. She appreciated that.

  It was quiet between them as Stella tentatively rested her palm on his chest, curling closer. Underneath her hand, she felt his heartbeat begin to slow. She stared, unseeing, around her room, wondering what he thought about the little home she’d made for herself. He lived in one of the jiveras, in a spacious, cozy space, at least from what she’d seen. Had he shared it with his brother? Before Ravu had left with Haase?

  Across his chest, she caught sight of her dresser, where the green silk still hung, untouched.

  She bit her lip, debating saying anything. Some alien cultures were strange about gift giving. But Lubbina had seemed convinced that Tavak’s intent was to begin courting her, even though Stella knew that wasn’t the case.

  But finally she murmured quietly, “Thank you for the gift, by the way.”

  Tavak’s eyes slid towards her, confusion etched in the tired lines of his face. “What gift?”

  She nodded her head, which was pressed into his arm, to her dresser. Tavak’s gaze turned away. She felt his body tense before it relaxed.

  “Lubbina told me,” Stella said. “She’s a vendor at the market.”

  “The Laoti female?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  Tavak went quiet. He hadn’t wanted her to know it was from him. Obviously. He’d had the Laoti boy deliver it to her here, after all, when he’d come in later that night himself.

  It was the human in her, she thought, that murmured, “It’s much too nice of a gift. I had debated returning it to you and—”

  He grunted. “I want you to have it. What am I going to do with silk?”

  Stella nearly smiled at the discomfort she heard in his voice. Mayb
e Keriv’i were strange about gifts. Especially Keriv’i males.

  Still, Stella pressed. “You didn’t want me to know it was from you?”

  Tavak blew out a breath. The arm that Stella wasn’t pinning down with her head lifted and he scrubbed a hand over his eyes.

  Stella feared she’d ruined the ease between them when it grew quiet again.

  Finally, he said softly, “I see how hard you work, Stella. I know it’s not easy living here on your own. It’s even less easy running the bar on top of that. Reji means well but he put too much on your shoulders when he left. And still, you never give up. Everyone sees it.”

  Stella’s throat went a little tight at the unexpected words.

  “You deserve a lot more than this,” he continued quietly. “And you deserve to have beautiful things. I wanted you to have it and so I gave it to you. It’s just that simple.”

  Stella cleared the lump in her throat and then she teased, “Well, actually a little Laoti boy named Ewwin gave it to me.”

  Tavak huffed out a small laugh and Stella was glad to hear it. Her eyes strayed to the green silk shimmering in the sunlight. The nicest thing she’d ever owned and Tavak had given it to her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured quietly.

  Tavak grunted in response and she felt the sound reverberate underneath her palm. The surly male.

  Just then, she heard a loud crack and she squealed when her bedframe gave a little, sagging down at the bottom of the bed, on the side Tavak was lying on.

  “Vauk,” he murmured, already shifting and moving, holding her when she began to slide into him. But his curse was light. A small, surprised laugh rose from his throat and Stella’s chest went all warm again when she heard it. She loved his laugh. He didn’t do it nearly enough.

  Tavak slid off the bed quickly when they heard another crack and Stella froze, sitting up in the middle of it.

  “Stay right there,” he warned her.

  Tavak stood in front of her, in all his naked glory, in the bright sunlight streaming in from her windows. For a moment, Stella completely forgot about her bed. Her throat went dry, heat rising in her belly. Because in broad daylight, Tavak was even more stunning, even more handsome.