The Glass Admiral Page 5

  Kosuri froze briefly but didn’t otherwise react. “That would be inappropriate.” He said finally with a curious heaviness that had Saverna wondering what lay behind his words.

  “I promise not to take advantage of you.” She joked in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. “No matter how much I may be tempted.”

  Kosuri’s breathing was loud in the silence that followed.

  “If you’re feeling shy—”

  “I’m not feeling shy.” He cut her off.

  “I’ve seen my share of bodies admiral. Wounded bodies as well, it doesn’t bother me.”

  “I said no.” He bit out with an edge of viciousness that brought her up short.

  Without further comment Saverna added bubblebath to the water then sat back on her heels to watch the tub fill up. When it had filled she turned the water off and turned back to Kosuri.

  Face gray with exhaustion and drawn tight with pain. This man with dark circles under his eyes and arms wrapped protectively across his chest and snapping bad temper was a far cry from the man who’d grinned as he’d followed her into ventilation shafts and fought pirates alongside her. And and even farther cry from the man who’d stood pressed against her in a cramped supply closet; aroused and joking about her saber and seemingly unable to get close enough. This, she realized, is aftermath. This, is what Isa meant about this position pressing him hard. “Is it always this bad?” She asked eventually.

  “No.” He answered after a minute during which she watched him breathe. “Today was…unusual…”

  “So, you don’t get attacked by pirates every day? Good to know.” She kept her tone light.

  “Hopefully not. Though in this sector…” A small twitch of his lips indicated his attempt to respond in kind. He opened his eyes. “That would be a hell of a thing.”

  Saverna smiled at the attempt at humor despite the pain clouding his gaze. “Is there someone I can get for you Admiral?”

  When that elicited a confused frown she clarified. “Someone you’re more comfortable with.”

  “Ah.” He studied her intently. “Would you like to leave LT?”

  “No.” She felt her eyebrows reach for the ceiling. He’s been left before. She realized. “I—you just don’t seem very comfortable with me.”

  Kosuri glanced down at his legs. “No.” He told his knees. “It’s not that.” He glanced back up at her briefly. “It’s not you. I—uh, I’m just not very comfortable in general…at the moment…and you’re new.” He shot her an enigmatic glance. “And you kissed me in an access closet.” A small huff of exasperation. “And this isn’t what I’d hoped…”

  “Hoped?” Saverna questioned softly though she thought she already knew.

  “Hoped to be doing with you this evening.” He told her bluntly.

  Saverna was surprised to feel warmth blossom in her cheeks.

  “You’re blushing.”

  “I am.” The warmth increased to a full-fledged burning.

  “I wouldn’t have thought it possible.” He sounded faintly pleased.

  “You’re horrible.” Saverna dropped her forehead against the cool edge of the tub in an attempt to stem the blush.

  “Am I?” He asked softly and lifted his left hand from his chest to lay it against her left temple. Saverna lifted her head and the hand dropped to her cheek. When she saw what the motion was costing him she reached up and took his left hand in her right and after pressing a quick kiss to his knuckles dropped their linked hands back into the water to rest against his chest. “You know you are.” She smiled into his tired face to indicate she was teasing. Pulling her legs out from under herself she repositioned herself against the tub. “Be sure to let this new girl know how to help you.” She stroked her thumb along his knuckles to take any sting out of that.

  “Stay with me.” He murmured squeezing her hand slightly as his eyelids drooped. “And don’t forget the…rain cheque…”

  01:47, THURSDAY, ADMIRAL’S QUARTER’S, THE ASARO

  He was back in the access closet pressed against Saverna as she ran her hands up his chest deliberately stroking her hands from fingertips to the heels of her palms along his aching nipples as she guided them to the tunic fastening at his throat. “Again.” He groaned against her ear as the sensation rippled through him. It was the first time he’d been caressed in such a way and his body clamored for more. The more familiar throbbing heaviness in his cock and balls was easily appeased with gentle thrusts against her belly—he thought he could content himself all day with the sensation of being cradled against her like this; but his chest—he swallowed a groan as her hands moved away from his collar—his chest was hungry for her touch, as was the rest of his body he acknowledged as his back began to ache for her hands. “I’m sorry.” He told her as he reached down and cupping the backs of her thighs, pulled her up against him.

  Reflexively, to support herself, she crossed her ankles behind his hips and her wrapped her arms around his shoulders. It was almost enough. “Sorry?” She asked him breathlessly.

  “I need to be closer.”

  “Ah.” She gasped as he pushed his cock against the sweet spot between her legs. Her hands flew to his collar as he continued to push against her. Through shudders and gasps of pleasure she made quick work of the fasteners holding his tunic together and once that was done slid down the front of his body to work on his pants. Once she’d freed his cock and pushed his pants past his hips she stood back up brushing against him with an enticing little wiggle that set his blood to boiling.

  Leaning forward she pressed her lips against his right nipple and flicked it with her tongue in a move that had his balls tightening up against his body and cum seeping from the head of his cock. “Saverna.” He gasped as she continued to lap at his nipple. He was only dimly aware of her unfastening her own tunic and wriggling free of her boots and trousers. “Stop.” He gasped. “I’m going to—”

  “Yes?” She stopped and despite having asked her to he immediately ached for her lips to continue their sweet torture. “Gods.” He whispered dropping his head against hers.

  “Sit.” She smiled at him with feminine satisfaction as she wrapped one arm across his upper back and the other across his lower back and pulled him down somehow providing easy support and stability in all the places his damaged joints needed to complete the motion without upset. “Thank—” He began reflexively only to break off at the sensation of her sliding onto his aching cock. Raising an eyebrow at him and offering him a slightly smug smile she leaned down and took his mouth as she began to move against him.

  Needing to be closer he wrapped his arms around her back and pushed himself up until he could feel the softness of her breasts against his chest. In combination with the sensation of her tight sheath enveloping his cock, the sensation exploding through him was almost too much and worried that he was going to embarrass himself he grabbed her hips forcing and held her still. “Give me a minute.” He said against her lips as his body throbbed in protest.

  To her credit Saverna merely dropped her forehead against his neck and waited.

  “Sorry.” He released her hips.

  Saverna lifted her head and began to move in tiny little rocking motions that had him grabbing for her hips again. “Shit.” He swore as he felt his testicles draw up hard and tight against his body. Instead of stopping she grinned evilly and clenched her internal muscles. “Been a while Admiral?”

  He opened his mouth to reply and abruptly found what he had been about to say swallowed by a groan of ecstasy as he came long and hard.

  “Admiral is everything okay?” Saverna’s voice came through the access hatch door.

  Confused he removed his head from where it had fallen against Saverna's shoulder and glanced over at the door only to blink in confusion as what appeared in front of his eyes was not the door to the access cupboard but rather the door to his quarters. Whipping his head back around he found nothing where Saverna had been seconds before aside from a large wet spot over his lap.


  As confusion, pain from his abused joints and residual pleasure from his recent orgasm rolled through him, his bodywoman’s voice came through the door again. “Admiral are you all right?”

  “Fine. I’m Fine.” Kosuri swiped a hand over his face in an attempt to dispel the remnants of his dream.

  17:30, WEDNESDAY, TRAINING ROOM, THE ASARO

  "Come at me."

  "Come at you?" His LT eyed him dubiously and Kosuri felt the tendrils of irritation begin to stir. Had she forgotten that they'd fought off the pirates together mere days before? "Attack me." He said acerbically.

  "Why?" She tilted her head up and back slightly and somehow managed to peer down at him imperiously from her lesser height. A nice trick LT. He pulled his arms out from his canes and tossed them aside. "That should even things up."

  "Even things up?" She repeated in a tone he couldn't quite identify. "You think so?" Haughty. He thought and then he had no more time for thoughts as she suddenly vanished. A bare moment later he felt something drive into his stomach and push him back and off of his feet. In the next instant he found himself flat on his back wheezing for air with his LT sprawled across his lower body. She raised her head from his belly and looked up at him. "Are you ok?"

  He managed to suck in a breath. "Fine." He told her and wrapping his legs around her torso pushed up with his arms and twisted his hips. He was gratified to see a flash of surprise in her expression as she gazed up at where he now sat astride her. I am not wholly useless Saverna. He thought with some satisfaction.

  His satisfaction was short lived however as the next moment she twisted beneath him and managed to buck him off in a maneuver that should not have been possible given the differential in their respective weights. Kosuri found himself once again on his back this time with his body-woman straddling his ribcage, one knee on either side of his torso, and her forearm pressing against his throat. This put her face within inches of his and he found himself noticing the golden red flecks in her otherwise green eyes. Eyes that narrowed. "Are we even?" She asked him.

  Beautiful eyes. A warmth bloomed somewhere in the region of his chest and spread through his body as he became aware of just how good it felt to have her weight against his belly. The skin of his throat tingled beneath his uniform where her forearm rested against his neck. The warmth and tingling grew and mingled until the sensation consumed his entire body and he was forced to suck in a breath and close his eyes as the unfamiliar feeling consumed him. It has been so long since I have felt good. Without conscious intent his hands came up to settle on her hips. "Admiral?" He heard her ask as though from a long way away and the mention of his rank brought with it the realization that he was in danger of acting unprofessionally. With grim determination he forced himself to use his hands on her hips to flip her off him and roll them both until he was in the dominant position over her.

  He recognized his error when the sensation of having her beneath him, his chest to hers, exacerbated the warmth and tingling and he felt it flow from his chest up his neck and into his face. The flush intensified when he caught Saverna watching him with fascination. In an attempt to avoid that look he glanced to the side with the thought of taking a moment to get control of himself and abruptly found himself without air as she took advantage of his distraction to wrap her legs around his hips which caused an unfamiliar stirring in his groin as she pressed against him. Taking advantage of his stunned lack of concentration, Saverna brought her right hand up and used it to grasp his bicep and pull his supporting right arm out from under him while simultaneously pushing him up and over with a thrust of her left shoulder; reversing their positions once again only this time their position was more intimate. Is this what it's like? He wondered as blood rushed through his body to fill his groin bringing with it an unfamiliar pleasure. Surrendering to the sensation, he closed his eyes only to snap them open at the sensation of Saverna sliding forward. "Apologies Admiral." She gave him a rueful look as she moved up to his belly and then made to shift off of him entirely.

  Without conscious thought, he lifted his left hand to her hip in order to halt her as she began to swing her left leg over him. "Admiral?" She raised her eyebrows inquiringly at him.

  He closed his eyes as her use of his rank hit him. Kos. I'm Kos. "I'm sorry LT." He forced himself to open his eyes. "I need a minute. I...." He hesitated, searched her gaze for signs of contempt; found none. "I need to be here for a minute." He made himself hold her gaze as shame ate at his throat. Please don't judge me.

  To his surprise she nodded at him as though his request were the most natural thing in the world. Apparently sensing his surprise she shrugged. "I come from a race in which sex and physical pleasure are celebrated as a natural part of life and not some sort of shameful taboo reserved only for the dark of night." To his surprise she shifted her hands until they rested on his upper chest. "May I?" She asked.

  Not quite certain what she was asking, he nonetheless nodded his assent and immediately found himself sucking in his breath in reaction to the sensation of her hands first stroking and then massaging the muscles of his upper chest and shoulders. Kosuri bit back a groan when she began to work on the area where his collar bone met his shoulder. Seeming to understand that the area was one of tenderness, her touch was light and coaxing as she encouraged muscles to relax and it made him realize that his LT was observant in a way that none of his other doctors or therapists or bodymen and bodywomen had been. She's been watching me walk. She's been watching me walk enough to realize that the canes place strain on my shoulders. Equal parts shame and wonder rolled through him. Shame at the thought of his ungainly way he moved on his crutches being the subject of her scrutiny and wonder that she had apparently spent enough time thinking about him to work out how the mechanics of using crutches affected his body. A warmth and a pleasure unconnected to arousal flooded his body.

  Unable to quite process the feeling, Kosuri observed Saverna's face as she worked and found himself hit by the way her gaze constantly swept over his face as though she were searching his expression. You're watching me now. He finally got it when he realized that she had neither deepened pressure beyond what felt good nor engaged in any of the pulling or pushing motions that were stock in trade for most physiotherapists and which hurt like hell.

  Of their own volition his eyes closed as she did something with her hands and a series of shifts in his body abruptly had him edging toward sleep. “Admiral.” Her voice brought him back. “This isn’t an ideal place for a nap.” Was that a thread of amusement? “Let’s continue this back in quarters.”

  Pulls her in for a kiss only he doesn't quite know that that is his intention as he has never been kissed. In any case winds up kissing her. (Note that they already kissed in the access hatch)

  18:00, WEDNESDAY, ADMIRAL’S QUARTERS, THE ASARO

  “What’s this?”

  Saverna turned to face Kosuri. What precisely is that forbidding tone in honor of? Thirty minutes ago you were all languor and ease and suddenly we’re back to cranky? “Finished with your shower I see.” And back in uniform. Do you own any off duty clothes? Do you ever go off duty? “It’s a massage table.” She explained when he said nothing.

  “I can see that.” Exasperated now.

  “Then why ask?” She shot back automatically and received a raised eyebrow in return. She got the sense that he was trying to knock her off balance for some reason or other. To make me give up? She eyed his reserved body posture trying to get to the bottom of his change in attitude. Crossed arms, rigid spine. Definitely a defensive element to this. Let’s see where this goes. “You don’t have to take your clothes off but you do have to get on the table.”

  “LT’s JG do not typically order Admirals around Saverna.” Bitch face again. A definitive attempt to get under my skin.

  Saverna suppressed a sigh. “You certainly do not make things easy.”

  He flinched, no more than a tightening of the jaw and a sharp blink but a flinch nonetheless and she
made note of it. A sore spot there.

  Dark eyes drilled into her. “Is this strictly necessary LT?” His tone demanded she say it wasn’t.

  “Yes.” Saverna shrugged.

  “Yes?” Disbelieving.

  “Yes.”

  “Just…. Yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Lieutenant….” Kos growled.

  “As I am sure you are aware,” Saverna said pointedly, “from all of your experience with your previous bats, your body is part of my job. I will, therefore, need to…. get the lay of the land.”

  His expression darkened. “Get the lay of the land?!” He repeated incredulously.

  Saverna rocked back on her feet, head up a conciliatory hand. “I apologize. That was a poor choice of words. ”

  He regarded her silently for a long moment. I can hear you thinking Admiral.

  When he finally spoke his voice was soft but no less lethal for its lack of volume. “My body belongs to me Lieutenant.”

  Ahhhh. That’s why you’re still in uniform. Now what? This is worse than breaking a colt to saddle. At least horses don’t talk.

  “You’re right.” She said aloud. Then catching the slight relaxation in his shoulders in response to that, she continued. “I apologize. Again.—I am afraid that I am pretty hopeless at conversation at the best of times.” She gave him a wry smile. “My usual clients don’t talk much.”

  That earned her a considering look. “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Communicate with your horses.”

  That startled her. “Most people assume that communication isn’t necessary….”

  He regarded her steadily. Waiting for an answer to his question.

  “Communication doesn’t have to be verbal Admiral. Horses, like all mammals have interpersonal neurobiology. I read them and they read me. We respond to one another accordingly.” There’s a giant oversimplification if ever I’ve heard one.