It was both the most intensely sensual and sexual experience Torri had ever had and she knew she would never forget it. She opened herself to the big Kindred in ways she had never opened to another man—trusted him with her body completely. She even let him use several of the alien sex toys on her—though she by far preferred his mouth and tongue.
Vic, for his part, couldn’t seem to get enough of licking and tasting her. He seemed to be telling the truth when he said that Kindred males needed to taste their females because he never got tired of it.
Finally though, they were both exhausted from the multiple orgasms they had given each other.
“I need to rest,” Torri whispered as she lay on the vast bed beside him. “I feel like I’ve run a sexual marathon.”
Vic tilted his head up to look at the yorn meter.
“We’re almost there. It should be all right to take a break for a little while. Come here, sweetheart—I want to hold you while we rest.”
Torri snuggled close to him and pillowed her head on his broad chest as they burrowed under the covers together. Mmm, he smelled so good and she felt so warm and safe in his arms! Part of her thought that one or both of them ought to try and have at least one more orgasm, to finish filling the meter. But she felt completely exhausted and besides, they were just going to take a little break.
A few minutes, she told herself sleepily. I’ll just close my eyes and rest for a few minutes. When I wake up, we can finish filling the meter. We’re only a few yorns from the top…
Thus reassuring herself, her eyes drifted closed and she sank into sleep like a stone thrown into a pond.
Forty-Four
“Well now, I didn’t think you’d do it and you didn’t, but you did come close,” a deep, rumbling voice announced.
“Huh?” Torri blinked. What was going on? Where was she?
Then she looked up and saw a tiny, alien face hovering over her. It was stretched out from its owner’s body on a kind of long, stretchy, pinkish-gray trunk that looked like a weird special effect in a sci-fi movie.
A scream rose in her throat but just then she heard Vic’s voice say,
“A little privacy please, La’Gross. I know you Gemmites don’t mind showing yourselves without clothing, but my female is a bit more sensitive and likes to keep covered.”
His words made Torri remember the night before and where they were. It also made her realize she was naked in bed with the big Kindred and the huge Gemmite mechanic was looming over them.
“I’ll give you privacy,” the mechanic said, frowning. “But it’s past time you got up. I’ve already given you an extra ern to finish filling the meter but I’m afraid you’re still fifty yorns short.”
“I can pay the remainder with pain if you need us out of the room,” Vic offered.
La’Gross nodded.
“Acceptable, Kindred. By the way, your new communication module is installed and working perfectly. As soon as you settle your account, you should be able to contact your Mother Ship.”
“Thank you,” Vic said, nodding. “I appreciate the fast service.”
“Just see that you finish the payment,” La’Gross said warningly. “I’ll see you outside in a few ernnets.”
Then he left, stumping out of the bedroom and shutting the door heavily behind him.
“Oh no—I can’t believe we fell asleep before we finished filling the meter!”
Torri sat up, clutching the heavy, silky sheets to her chest and turned to look over her shoulder at the tall energy meter. Sure enough, though the thick red line had crept almost to the top, there was still just a tiny bit of empty space. They had generated four hundred and fifty yorns the night before, but they were still fifty short.
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Vic said dismissively. “I can pay it easily enough—it’s only fifty yorns.”
“But how will you pay it?” Torri demanded. “You said you were going to pay in pain.”
“I will.” He shrugged, his broad, bare shoulders rolling with the motion. “I’ll probably just chop off a finger or two—I’ll regrow them in a day or so,” he added, at her horrified look, as though it was no big deal to mutilate himself.
“What? No!” Torri exclaimed. “I don’t want you to have to do that—I don’t want you to have to hurt yourself, Vic!”
He frowned.
“I’m afraid there’s no other way. We’re out of time and the payment is due. In fact, we need to be getting dressed right now.”
He got out of bed and started pulling on his Kindred uniform.
Torri got out too—sliding carefully down the side because it was much higher than the beds she was used to on Earth and the top of the mattress came up to her breasts. She started digging in her duffel bag for clothes, but her mind wasn’t really on what she was going to wear. She didn’t want to see Vic hurt himself to finish the payment for the ship’s repairs. The idea of him chopping off his fingers was an awful thought, even if he could regrow them!
But what else could they do since their time was effectively up? They couldn’t generate a whole fifty yorns just from a kiss or a quick grope.
She finished pulling on her clothes and was searching in her duffel for a warm pair of socks, when her fingertips felt something cool and hard. Grabbing it, she pulled it out and saw that it was one of the jars of Nana’s cinnamon apple preserves, that she’d brought along for the Kindred High Council to try. Suddenly, an idea began to form in her mind.
“All right, time’s up.” The bedroom door swung open and La’Gross came in again. “You ready to come finish your payment, Kindred?” he asked Vic.
“Ready.” Vic turned to Torri. “Finish packing up, sweetheart. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He means he’ll be back after he chops some fingers off! Torri thought, feeling sick. She couldn’t let that happen!
“Wait!” she exclaimed, as Vic turned to go with the Gemmite mechanic. “Wait just a minute—I might have something you’d like better than, uh, pain yorns,” she told La’Gross.
“You do, do you? Eh—what is it?” La’Gross swiveled towards her and his face stretched down to peer into hers.
“This.” Praying that he would be tempted, Torri broke the seal on the jar of cinnamon apples and pried up the lid. She waved the glass mason jar under the mechanic’s tiny nostrils enticingly, wafting the scent of sugar and cinnamon through the room.
“Mmmm…” La’Gross’s slitted eyes lit up with considerable interest. “What’s that then?” he wanted to know, staring down at the jar.
“This is a batch of artisan cinnamon apples—a delicious gourmet treat from my planet,” Torri told him. “Not only that, they were handmade by a world-renowned chef who specialized in sweets.”
She didn’t know what Nana would think about hearing herself described like that, but her grandmother certainly had been good at desserts and her cinnamon apples were undeniably delicious.
Torri hoped they would tempt the alien mechanic enough that he would take the mason jar filled with cinnamon apples in lieu of the last fifty yorns they owed him. She hadn’t forgotten what Vic had told her about the Gemmites having a “sweet tooth” in the middle of their mouths.