That would be difficult for him—he enjoyed letting a lover know exactly how he intended to pleasure her and how beautiful he found her body. But he would make the effort if Cassandra asked him to.
But she shook her head.
“No, I…I think you should do whatever you have to in order to get into character.”
“Thank you.” Stone nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind when we ‘work’ together in the future.”
“Which might be tomorrow.” Cassandra ran a hand through her long black hair, which was loose around her shoulders instead of braided for once. “I thought we’d be able to get everything done and get out of here before we had to shoot an actual porno together but now…” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure.”
“You’ll have to be sure once we start performing,” Stone pointed out. “I was afraid that you were panicking when I attempted to remove your shorts earlier, during the massage. We were lucky that Gozeriam took it to be part of our act.”
“You’re right.” She nibbled her lower lip again. “I just…never thought of us together that way. I guess I’m just not used to it.”
“You must get used to it,” Stone said firmly. He reached out to stroke her cheek and she jumped. Frowning, he pulled back his hand. “For instance, you must not shy away from my touch.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” She looked up at him. “I’m just…not used to you touching me in…in more than a friendly way.”
“Does it bother you?” Stone asked softly, searching her eyes with his own.
Cassandra shook her head.
“Not really. I mean, it…it feels good.” Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “Amazing, actually. But I’m just not used to it.”
He shook his head.
“I’m afraid you will have to get used to it if we are going to maintain our cover.”
“You’re right, Stone. “Maybe…” She bit her lip. “Maybe we should practice.”
“Practice?” Stone raised an eyebrow.
“You touching me. Me touching you. In a more than friendly way.” Cassandra made a motion with her hand. “You know.”
Stone looked at her in surprise.
“You want me to touch you in a sexual way even though we are not being observed or filmed at this time?”
“I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she said quickly. “I just thought it might help if we were…were used to touching each other the next time Gozeriam orders us to, uh, perform.”
It suddenly occurred to Stone that Cassandra still wasn’t sure that he wanted to touch her. Even though he had told her how sexually desirable he found her, she was still uncertain of her own beauty. Part of it, he thought, probably had to do with her self body image.
Females who would be considered Elites and extremely desirable aboard the Mother Ship, were often taunted and made to feel less than beautiful on Earth. Stone had overheard Cassandra’s ex-mate criticizing her hips and thighs and ass more than once—the very parts of her that Stone himself found irresistible. He had to fight with himself every day not to stare at his partner’s luscious assets. Even hidden by the boxy suits she usually wore, her large, round ass drew him like a magnet.
But she doesn’t know that—she still doesn’t understand how desirable she is, he thought.
Maybe this was a chance to show her—to give her some confidence in her own beauty and let her know how gorgeous she really was.
“I would love to practice touching with you, Cassandra,” he said hoarsely. “If you think it would help us to complete this mission.”
“I think it might.” She looked up at him from under her lashes and Stone felt his heart fist in his chest, Gods, she was so lovely! So beautiful and she didn’t even know it, because all her life men like her ex-mate—that waste of space—had put her down.
“Should we start here?” he asked, reaching out to stroke her cheek again.
This time Cassandra didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned into his touch like a cat begging to be stroked.
“Yes,” she whispered, looking up at him. “This is nice.”
“It can be more than nice,” Stone promised her, his voice dropping to a soft, lustful growl. “If you’ll truly let me pleasure you, Cassandra.”
“I will. But…but only to help the mission,” she said breathlessly.
“Of course,” Stone promised. “After this is over, we’ll go back to being just friends and partners.”
“All right.” She scooted closer to him. “Then let’s practice.”
Twenty-Nine
Cassie couldn’t believe what she’d suggested. Practicing touching? With her best friend and partner? Was she crazy?
The little voice inside her head informed her that she most certainly was crazy and that this was going to screw everything up. But the longing inside her to be touched—and specifically to be touched by Stone—was too great to ignore. His hands on her body felt so good—big and warm and gentle and knowing—and she trusted him not to hurt her or do anything she didn’t want.
Plus, Cassie admitted to herself, she was lonely—it had been over a year and a half since a man had touched her in any way at all. More like two years, actually, since her sex life with Keith had died well before their marriage had finally been dissolved.
Not that sex with her ex had ever been exactly great. Keith had a serious problem with premature ejaculation—he would come immediately when they had sex, sometimes even before he was all the way inside her. This wouldn’t have been a problem if he’d been good at foreplay, but her ex had sucked at that too. He never liked going down on her, complaining that his tongue and jaw got tired after about thirty seconds. He was also way too rough when he tried to finger her, resulting in Cassie wincing away from him, which only made him angry.
No, sex with Keith had not been fun. Not that she was going to have sex with Stone now, she reminded herself. Not even close. They were just going to get a little more comfortable with each other’s bodies, that was all. And it didn’t have to mean anything—in fact, Stone had promised it wouldn’t.
We’ll go back to being friends and partners when we get home, he’d said, or something to that effect. Up until then, Cassie had almost begun to wonder if her strong, stoic partner might have feelings for her. But after his promise that they would be friends, she realized that just because he wanted her, didn’t mean he wanted to be with her.
Those were the exact same words her friend, Gil, had said back in college, when she’d confronted him about bringing home the girl from his Sociology class.
“Look, Cassie,” he’d said reasonably. “I thought we understood each other. Just because I want you, doesn’t mean I want to be with you. We’re just friends and that’s all we’re ever going to be.”
The words had hurt her badly and pushed Cassie into a string of bad relationships ending with her failed marriage to Keith. But she resolved not to let the fact that her partner only wanted a friendship with her to hurt her now. After all, Stone only wanted what she wanted—not to ruin the best friendship either of them had ever had.