Loving a Stranger Read online

  “Goddess above.” Harryx sounded genuinely upset. “Your body is your own, sweetheart! To do with as you please. It’s not for some sadistic bastard to use like some kind of fucking sex doll whenever he has an itch to scratch.”

  Nallah shook her head, uncomprehending.

  “But…but a wife must submit,” she faltered.

  Harryx sighed deeply. “I tell you what—how about if I just hold you tonight? Would that be all right?”

  “You just want to…to hold me?” The concept was a foreign one to Nallah. Harryx had never once tried to hug or hold her. When they went to bed at night, he rolled immediately onto his side and went to sleep. Not once had he shown any interest in hugging or kissing or being close. But now he was proposing to hold her in the bed without using her or accepting her submission. It seemed so strange…so out of character for her husband. But then, everything he’d done since he woke from his coma had been out of character.

  “Let me just hold you against me,” Harryx said to her, interrupting her confused thoughts. “Let me show you I can be gentle, baby. That being close doesn’t have to mean being hurt. Would that be okay?”

  “I…” Nallah looked up at him shyly. “I think I’d like that,” she said softly. “Would you like me to change into something else, oh my husband?”

  “If you want to,” Harryx told her. “Wear whatever makes you comfortable, baby.”

  As he spoke the sweet, uncharacteristic words, his eyes seemed to darken again. And again, Nallah wondered if it was a trick of the light, but she didn’t dare ask about it.

  “All right,” she said softly. “I…maybe I should keep my sex garment on. In case…in case you change your mind.” She didn’t know if she wanted him to change his mind or not. She did know, though, that for the first time in their marriage the idea of being close to her husband in bed held appeal.

  “If that’s how you want it, baby.” Coming towards her, Harryx had pulled her close so that her cheek was pressed to his muscular chest and carded his long fingers gently through her hair. “Gods, you’re gorgeous,” he murmured, tilting her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “The most beautiful female I’ve ever seen.”

  Nallah’s heart seemed to skip a beat in her chest. This was how she had dreamed things would be on her wedding night, before she was married and had learned the awful truth of a wife’s sexual submission. She had dreamed of Harryx being gentle and kind and telling her she was beautiful. Had hoped that he would find her as pleasing as she found him.

  “Thank you, oh my husband,” she whispered rather breathlessly.

  “Can I kiss you, baby?” he murmured, still looking into her eyes with his that velvety black gaze. “Would you feel comfortable letting me do that?”

  Nallah felt her breath catch in her throat. “Do you mean…on the mouth?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “Unless it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “No, I…” Nallah licked her lips. “I think it would be all right.” The very fact that her husband was asking to kiss her made her heart thump harder. Harryx had never shown interest in such things before—though he had bitten her a few times.

  No, I won’t think of that now. He’s different now—like a whole different person, she told herself sternly, pushing the bad memories away.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” Harryx murmured. Then he cupped her face in his big warm hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were tender as they took hers—barely brushing at first, more a whisper of breath than a kiss. Then, slowly, he deepened the contact, tilting his head to fit his mouth to hers more fully. To her surprise, Nallah found she was kissing him back, standing on her tiptoes with her arms around his waist to get more of his mouth on hers.

  Harryx made a noise in his chest that was half a growl of need and half a groan of desire and then stroked the seam of her lips gently with the tip of his tongue. Understanding what he wanted, Nallah parted for him, welcoming him into her body for the first time of her own volition.

  Her heart, starved for love for so long, seemed to pound against the cage of her ribs as he stroked her tongue with his, kissing her with a passionate intensity she had only dreamed of. He invited her to taste him too, drawing her tongue into his mouth to suck it gently, letting her explore him as he explored her, all the while running his big, warm hands over her shoulders and back, causing her body to react in ways she had never felt before.

  At last Harryx broke the kiss and looked deeply into her eyes.

  “Come on, baby.” His deep voice was hoarse with need and his dark eyes smoldered. “Let’s go to bed and cuddle.”

  “Yes,” Nallah breathed, much more eagerly than she had before. “Yes, Harryx, please.”

  Reaching down, he swung her up into his strong arms, making her give a surprised little gasp. Then he took her to the bed and laid her down, tucking her under the covers before he got in beside her.

  When they were both settled comfortably, he pulled her to him and continued to stroke her back and shoulders, making her feel warm and cared for. Then he kissed her again…and again and again. Long, slow, passionate kisses so tender and sweet they took her breath away and left her aching for more.

  To Nallah it was almost unbelievable. This was what she had dreamed love-making would be like when she was still a virgin girl, before Harryx had bought her and used her so hard and remorselessly. But he was changed now—completely different from what he had been. He was sweet and considerate and compassionate now. It was as though he was looking inside her head and making her fantasies come true, one slow, tender kiss at a time.

  After a while she had become restless in his arms. The slow, hot kisses seemed to make her long for more, but she didn’t know how to ask for it. Her nipples felt tight and achy at the tips of her breasts and between her thighs she felt her sex throb with unaccustomed need and wetness.

  “Harryx,” she whispered, shifting against him. “I feel…I…I don’t know what I feel.”

  “Arousal? Desire?” he suggested in a soft, deep voice. His eyes in the dimly lit room were as black as night.

  “I…I don’t know what that feels like,” Nallah admitted.

  “Of course you don’t.” He sounded half angry although she knew instinctively the anger wasn’t directed at her. “You’ve never been allowed to know.” He stroked her hair away from her face and looked at her directly. “Tell me this, sweetheart—are your nipples feeling more sensitive? Does it feel good when I do this?”

  As he spoke, he brushed his fingertips gently over her tender peaks, drawing a little gasp of pleasure from Nallah. Why did it feel so good when he touched her so lightly like that? In the past her husband had paid no attention to her nipples except to pinch and twist them cruelly sometimes when he was taking her. Then she had felt nothing but pain and shame. But now, when he just barely touched her it was as though an electrical spark had gone through her—a line of pleasure that seemed to shoot from her tight pink peaks straight to the aching area between her thighs.

  Harryx was watching her closely, as though gauging her reaction.

  “Does that feel good, baby?” he murmured again. “Or do you want me to stop?”

  “It…it does feel good,” Nallah admitted. “Please, oh my husband, don’t stop.”

  He brushed his fingertips over her nipples, stroking them through the thin fabric of her sex garment, circling them lightly until she moaned and arched her back, not sure what else to do because the feelings inside her were growing so strong.

  “My husband,” she gasped, moving against him. “Please, I don’t…I can’t…I don’t know what to do.”

  “Why don’t you touch yourself?” The suggestion, uttered in his deep, dark voice made her tremble all over.

  “Touch…touch myself?” Nallah had an idea she knew what he meant but it was so forbidden it was hard to believe he had suggested it. An unmarried girl caught in this act could have one or several fingers chopped of as retribution and a married woman ca
ught at it would immediately become one of the Disgraced. “Do you mean…between my legs?” she asked him.

  “Of course, between your legs, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Spread your thighs and pet that soft little pussy of yours. Make yourself feel good.”

  “But…” Nallah felt a confused turmoil of emotions fill her. Shame, need, fear, desire… “But it’s forbidden,” she said at last. “A woman’s body is only for her husband. We are never supposed to give ourselves pleasure. We are not even supposed to touch ourselves between our legs except out of necessity.”

  “I’d say this is a necessity,” Harryx had growled softly. “It’s necessary for you to take back your body, sweetheart. Learn that you belong to yourself and you can give yourself pleasure.”

  “But…” Nallah bit her lip, still uncertain. “But I shouldn’t.”

  “Do you want to?” he countered. “Do you want to touch yourself and make yourself feel good, baby?”

  His deep, soft words in her ear and the gentle way he was still stroking her nipples make Nallah shift and squirm and squeeze her thighs together tightly. Her pussy felt so achy—so wet and swollen with need. Did she want to touch herself?

  “Yes,” she whispered at last. “Yes, I…I wish I could.”

  “All right…” Harryx had shifted so that he was cradling her more fully in his arms. “I shouldn’t have to do this but… as your husband I give you permission to touch yourself. In fact, I want to see you touch yourself, Nallah.”

  Her breath seemed to catch in her throat.

  “You…you do?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “So will you do it for me? Will you spread your thighs and slip those sweet little fingers into your pussy slit and make yourself feel good, baby?”

  “Oh, my husband…” Her words came out in a breathless moan. When Harryx looked at her like that with his eyes so dark and full of emotion, it was almost as though someone else was looking at her—someone who knew exactly what she wanted…what she needed…

  “Here.” Lifting her small hand, he sucked her first two fingers into his warm mouth, getting them wet before releasing them. “To get you started,” he explained as Nallah looked at him with wide eyes. “Go on, baby—touch yourself.”

  Nallah parted her thighs and reached with a trembling hand between them, feeling for the slit in the crotch of the sex garment she wore. Her fingers shook as they slipped between her swollen pussy lips—this was so forbidden, so wrong—but then she gave a little gasp of surprised pleasure as the guilt flew right out of her head. Her seeking fingertips had brushed over something at the center of her pussy—a tight little bundle of nerves that was so sensitive it gave her an immediate sensation of pleasure when she touched it.

  “Mmmm…” Harryx growled in her ear. “Found your clit, did you, baby? Go on—touch it again.”

  Obeying him eagerly, Nallah let her fingertips slide over the achy little button once more. She moaned as her hips bucked up, seeming of their own volition, her body reacting to the light touch as though she’d been struck by lightning.

  “That’s right, baby,” Harryx urged gently, still stroking her nipples. “Pet your little pussy. Explore yourself and see what feels good. Give yourself pleasure—I want you to.”

  Having the permission of her husband made Nallah able to continue pleasuring herself. Though half of her still felt guilty and warned that what she was doing was forbidden, the other half whispered that it was all right because Harryx said it was.

  It’s okay, she reassured herself as he murmured in her ear how beautiful she was and urged her on while his big, warm hands stroked over her breasts and nipples. My husband has told me to do this—I must obey his orders. I cannot be punished for doing as he says. It’s all right.

  Her fingers flew faster and the feeling that something was building inside her began to grow. Some power…some pleasure so deep it would change everything if only it could grow big enough to overwhelm her.

  “So beautiful,” Harryx whispered in her ear, tugging very lightly at her tight nipples. “So fucking gorgeous when you spread your thighs and pet that sweet little pussy of yours, baby. Gods, I wish I was between your legs right now, tasting all that sweet honey you’re making.”

  “You…you do?” The idea of him down between her thighs, lapping her throbbing pussy seemed to do something to Nallah inside. The image was so clear in her head—yet so subversive, so shocking—that she felt both stunned and intrigued at the same time. A female was often supposed to use her mouth to give pleasure to her husband during submission. But a man would never use his mouth on his wife in a similar way—it would bring him lower than her. It would be shameful and wrong.

  If it’s wrong then why does the very idea make you tremble inside? whispered a little voice in her head. And why does Harryx speak of it with such longing?

  “You…you would do that?” she gasped as her fingers flew faster, instinctively finding the right way to stroke herself to build the pleasure higher.

  “Gods, yes,” he groaned in her ear. “Love to taste your sweet little pussy, baby. Love to lap your hot little cunt while you come and come and come…”

  “I…I don’t know what…what you mean by while I…I come,” Nallah gasped but just then she felt the power that had been building explode—like a dying star bursting inside her. “Ah…ah!” she cried, her back arching, her toes curling as the explosion went on and on.

  “That’s coming,” Harryx growled in her ear as his fingers tightened on her nipples, somehow increasing the pleasure. “That’s right, baby—let it go and let yourself come. Come hard all over those soft little fingers. God, I wish you were coming on my face…coming on my tongue…”

  When she finished coming, as Harryx called it, he licked her fingers clean, murmuring that her honey tasted so sweet, and then he had tucked her into the crook of his arm and Nallah had fallen asleep with her head on his chest.

  Still staring at herself in the mirror, Nallah shivered a little as she remembered everything that had happened the night before…and wondered what might happen tonight.

  * * * * *

  Standing in the fresher, putting on his sleep trousers, Reeve was wondering the same thing. What, if anything, should happen tonight between himself and Nallah? He had promised himself that he wouldn’t touch another male’s wife but the urge to show her some tenderness, which she had clearly never had before, had been too much for him to deny the night before.

  Holding her in his arms, urging her to explore herself and watching her come had been one of the most intensely erotic experiences of Reeve’s life. He had wanted badly to stroke her soft pussy and give her pleasure himself but two things had held him back.

  First and foremost, he wasn’t certain how Nallah would react to his hands in such an intimate area. He had the idea that Harryx had hurt her during sex in the past—possibly quite badly—and he didn’t want to turn her off or frighten her. Secondly, he wanted her to see that she could give herself pleasure—to regain control over her own body.

  All her life she had been taught that her needs and wishes and wants were secondary to the man in her life—that she was only an object to be used. Reeve wanted her to see that she was more than that—that she was her own person and her body was her own to do with as she wished.

  By bringing herself pleasure—making herself come—he hoped she had learned, at least a little, that she was worthy of sexual pleasure and capable of giving it to herself.

  Plus, it had been fucking hot to hold her in his arms and watch her pant and moan and writhe all over the place while she stroked between her thighs. The only thing that would have made him hotter was getting on his knees to lap her sweet little cunt while she came all over his face.

  He tried to push the image away. He didn’t want to do anything Nallah didn’t want him to do. She’d been hurt enough in her young life and he refused to add to that hurt.

  That was why he hadn’t even touched himself after she finished. He hadn’t wanted to fr
ighten her or make her think she had to submit to his sexual needs, as she had doubtless submitted to Harryx every night of their married life. Instead, he had waited until she was deep asleep and then allowed himself to leave his host’s body and fly back to the Mother Ship to his own.

  Reeve frowned when he remembered what had happened when he reached his own unconscious form. For a moment—a fucking long and scary moment—he had hovered over his body, unable to re-enter it. He could see Olivia sitting in the corner with a book and he could see his body, laid out unconscious beneath him, but for some reason he couldn’t get into it—it was like there was an invisible wall between them getting in the way.

  It had been a frightening moment but at last he had felt the invisible barrier between his soul and his body melt away and he had been able to slip inside himself again, his spiritual and his corporeal forms becoming one again.

  He hadn’t mentioned the trouble to Olivia but Reeve thought he knew what might be causing it—he was spending too much time outside his own body and his soul was integrating too much with his host body. He had heard of such a disconnect happening to snatchers before but had always assumed it was just a legend—probably made up to scare M-Switch Kindred from using their abilities in the first place.

  Now, he wondered. Was this going to be a problem for him again in the near future? Reeve certainly hoped not. Just to be certain, he made himself spend an entire solar hour in his own body, talking to Olivia and then to Sylvan, when he came in, explaining the situation and how he would have to wait a few more days before he could gain access to the wormhole tech.

  The whole time he’d been back in his own body, however, he had been itching to get back to Hascion Five—back to Nallah. What if she woke up in the middle of the night and thought he was back in a coma or dead? Or worse than that, what if Harryx suddenly woke up out of his coma? What awful thing would the abusive bastard do to Nallah if he got the chance?

  To his relief, Reeve had found everything just as he left it when he finally returned to slip inside his host. Nallah had been sleeping peacefully on his chest and Harryx’s body hadn’t moved an inch. With a feeling that he had narrowly avoided trouble, Reeve had settled the sweet little female he was coming to care for so much, more comfortably in his arms and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.