Best Kept Secrets Read online

  At last, having gotten everything he wanted, Josh stepped back. “Hmm, very strange. It seems to be in some kind of hibernation.”

  “Or maybe it’s just biding its time until it’s ready to reach out and grab its next victim,” I said nervously. “Come on, Josh, let’s go.”

  “Fine, we can go.” Shrugging, he packed the samples carefully in his case, and we made our way back to camp.

  All during our trek back, I kept expecting the plant to come to life and grab us, or for the tall Svortzian to appear again, or for some other voracious alien life-form—plant or animal—to attack us at every turn. Every little stirring in the underbrush made me nervous, and I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting a mottled greenish-pink vine to be coming for me. I couldn’t hide my relief when we finally made it out of the jungle and crossed the safety perimeter of our camp.

  “Hey.” Josh’s large, warm hand on my shoulder made me jump.

  “What?” I turned to face him, still looking around nervously.

  “Are you okay? I mean really okay?”

  “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, trying to sound normal and failing miserably.

  “Because you’ve been jumpy all morning.” Josh tilted my chin up and studied me, his eyes serious. “Jumpy and off somehow. Is there something wrong, Cassie? Something you’re not telling me about?”

  Yes, yesterday that damn plant attacked you. And then when you woke up this morning, you attacked me. But it really wasn’t much of an attack because I guess I wanted it. Anyway, I sure acted like I did. I spread my legs and let you touch me and it felt so good to let you do that I came. Came so hard… I pushed the troubling thoughts away and tried to make my face smooth.

  “I’m fine, Josh, honestly. I was just…just nervous about going near that plant again.”

  “You’re sure?” He looked at me anxiously and stroked my cheek. “Because I really want to know if there’s something bothering you.”

  Trust me, Josh, I thought, you do not want to know about this.

  “I’m fine,” I insisted aloud. “Just…tired. That’s all.”

  “All right, if you’re sure.” Suddenly he pulled me into a bear hug. “I love you, Cassie. You know that, right? I mean none of this—the job we do, the planets we visit—none of it would be any good without you.”

  I was unexpectedly touched. Josh tended to be more of a shower than a talker when it came to affection. He was always doing little things like making me pancakes but he rarely came right out and expressed his emotions in words.

  “I love you too, Josh,” I said, hugging him back. “So much. Now come on—let’s make lunch, I’m starving!”

  The rest of the day was spent cataloging and sorting the samples and packing them in the proper containers for shipping. Josh announced that we would be staying longer than expected—he had seen several other interesting-looking plants he wanted to study, and we could stay another week at least and still make our Pharm-Co deadline easily.

  I agreed, mostly because I wasn’t anxious to go back to Earth until I was absolutely certain all the truth-plant toxin was out of his system. But by nightfall, when nothing had happened, I was almost positive it was. As we cooked and ate our dinner of rehydrated beef stew and freeze-dried biscuits, Josh was being his normal, charming self. In fact, he was in such a good mood that I convinced him to lay out our sleeping bags on the grass and look up at the stars instead of going right to bed in the tent.

  The Svortzian night sky was beautiful. A rich blanket of stars, glittering like jewels set in black velvet, arched over our heads. The soft hooting noises of small animals sounded nearby and a cooling breeze filled with the rich, tropical fragrance of the jungle caressed our faces. I cuddled close to Josh, pressed tight against his side, and laid my head on his chest the way I always did when we relaxed together. Forgetting the trauma of that morning, I sighed happily, feeling completely content.

  “They’re gorgeous, aren’t they?” Josh murmured, pointing at the stars. His deep voice rumbled through me, and he stroked my hair absently with one large, warm hand. “The constellations here really put ours on Earth to shame.”

  “That’s because we’re in the middle of a stellar cluster here. If Earth wasn’t so far out on the edge of the Milky Way, we’d have prettier stars to look at too.”

  Josh turned his head, his eyes soft in the starlight. “I’m looking at something pretty right now,” he murmured.

  “Josh!” I slapped his chest lightly. “Don’t embarrass me.”

  “I’m just telling the truth. You are pretty, Cassie—you’re beautiful.” He stroked my cheek. “I guess I need to tell you that more often because I never let any other guys get close enough to say it.”

  “Yeah, well…you are pretty overprotective.” I nuzzled against his hand.

  “Well, I have to protect what’s precious to me,” he said seriously. “And you are, Cassie—you’re more precious to me than anything else in this whole damn universe. You know that, don’t you?”

  Slowly, I nodded. Our faces were close now—closer than they should be and I knew it. But somehow I couldn’t bring myself to draw away. Somewhere inside, a little voice was whispering that this was wrong, that I shouldn’t be enjoying his touch as much as I was, but I pushed it away. Josh and I had always been close. I was just glad that after a few bumps in the road, we were getting back to our old relationship.

  For a long moment, Josh held my gaze with his. In his eyes I saw all the times he’d comforted me after my mom died, all the times he’d held me and laughed and cried with me and hugged me. All the times we’d stuck together—just him and me against the universe—and had come out on top despite the odds. But there was something new in those deep-blue depths as well—something I had never seen before, something that was only there for me. He looked at me not as a doting big brother sees his little sister but as a man looks at a woman, a beautiful woman he wants to touch and caress and kiss. There was a fire kindled in those intense eyes—a hungry fire I had put there. And only I could satisfy it.

  He’s going to kiss me, I thought dreamily, leaning toward him. Josh is going to kiss me on purpose this time, and I’m going to let him.

  And then, suddenly, he went limp and fell asleep.

  Chapter Seven

  “Josh? Josh!” I slapped his cheeks lightly, trying not to panic. God, he was out again, just as he had been after our encounter that morning. Except then he had fallen asleep as the Beast and woken up as Josh. Did that mean this time he would—

  A low, rumbling growl coming from Josh’s broad chest jerked me out of my thoughts. I looked down to see that he was staring at me. But the humanity that had been in his eyes just moments before had leaked away, leaving only raw, naked hunger in its place.

  “Josh?” I said uncertainly. Moving slowly so as not to startle him, I tried to sit up, to get away from him.

  But the Beast was having none of that.

  With inhuman quickness, he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back down. Then he took my mouth in a long, lingering kiss that stole my breath. I tried to resist at first, but there was no denying him. He kissed me like he owned me, like I was exclusively his to explore and to pleasure.

  “Josh?” I whispered when he finally let me go. But he was already moving down my throat, making my breath catch as he pressed hot, openmouthed kisses to the vulnerable side of my neck. At the same time, I felt his hands slipping under my blouse to feel for my breasts. As before, he seemed to have forgotten all about how my bra fastened, and he fumbled with it for a moment, letting out a growl of pure frustration.

  “No, wait!” Fearful of losing another bra—the only other one I had with me—I tried to push his hands away. But the Beast inside of Josh was not to be denied. He growled again, and I suddenly understood that if my bra and blouse didn’t come off soon, he would rip them off, just as he had before.

  Telling myself there was no other choice, I reached behind me and quickly unfast
ened my bra. Then, with trembling fingers, I pulled it off and lifted my blouse, baring my breasts for him.

  This gesture of submission seemed to please Josh immensely. He immediately began licking and sucking my breasts, drawing my nipples as deeply into his hot mouth as he could. It was as though he couldn’t get enough of me, as though he was hungry for the taste of my skin and the feel of my nipples between his lips.

  He wasn’t holding me down this time, but I didn’t try to get away. Instead, I lay there and watched him lick my breasts, just as I had before. And of course my body reacted to him again—I couldn’t help myself. Maybe I didn’t want to help myself. I didn’t know. I only knew that his mouth on my breasts felt incredibly sweet, incredibly right somehow.

  This time when Josh reached between my legs, I didn’t try to stop him. In fact, I pulled off my panties myself, mindful of the fact that I didn’t have many of those left either, and threw them to one side. Then, feeling like my heart was beating in every part of my body at once, I spread my legs for him.

  “It’s all right,” I murmured when the Beast looked at me, a bit suspiciously I thought. “You can…can do what you need to do. Just don’t hurt me, okay?”

  He growled softly and nuzzled my cheek. The gesture touched me, and I felt certain it was his way of telling me he would never harm me, that I was safe with him. It made it much easier for me to relax and let him in as he fingered my pussy. Much easier to let myself get swept away in the sensations and not think about the possible consequences of my actions.

  I moaned softly as the pad of his thumb slipped over my clit and two long, strong fingers invaded me. God, that felt so good! How could something I knew in my soul to be wrong feel so incredibly right? It seemed to defy logic, but I couldn’t help myself or the way I felt. I couldn’t do anything but react to the pleasure Josh was giving me. Without thinking, I parted my legs wider, giving him better access to the part of me he seemed to need so badly.

  “Josh,” I whispered. “Yes, Josh, oh yes.”

  After a long, breathless time I came hard and long as his fingers invaded my body, crying my pleasure to the glittering stars above. As my orgasm raced through me, Josh kissed me, slowly thrusting his tongue between my lips in time with his fingers in my pussy, taking me places no other man had ever taken me before.

  Finally, it was over, the pleasure ebbing away gradually, like waves of warm water receding slowly from the beach. Sighing with contentment, I turned to Josh and looked into his beautiful, inhuman eyes.

  “Thank you,” I whispered and kissed him on the cheek. He growled softly and nuzzled me back and for a time we were silent and still.

  I thought it was over then, thought for sure he would fall asleep for a moment and then turn back into the Josh I knew and loved. I would have to pull down my blouse and skirt and make up some hasty excuse about why I was lying half-naked under the stars with him. Maybe I could say I got too hot and had to cool down? It seemed far-fetched, but he had been willing to swallow my other lame excuses earlier, so maybe he would accept that one too.

  But none of that happened this time. Instead of falling asleep and waking up in his right mind, Josh started kissing me again—long, slow, hot kisses that seemed designed to wake my body from its satisfied slumber and build the fire between my legs to a fever pitch once more.

  I was content to let it happen again—after all, Josh didn’t know what he was doing, and he was too strong for me to stop him. Also, we had already done this several times. There was no point in getting upset about it now, I told myself practically. But this time his kisses didn’t stop at my breasts. Instead, his hot mouth continued down my trembling abdomen, his tongue circling my belly button as he moved farther south.

  When my stunned brain finally informed me of what he was about to do, it was too late to stop him.

  “Josh, no!” I gasped frantically, upset all over again at the new intimacy he was insisting on. But though I tried to shut my thighs and pushed at his head with both hands, the Beast was simply too strong for me. He didn’t hurt me, but his hands on my knees were firm and demanding. He parted them inexorably, opening me again, this time for his tongue instead of his fingers.

  “Josh,” I begged softly as he spread my legs and began to lick my inner thighs. “Please, Josh, this isn’t right. We shouldn’t do this—shouldn’t go this far!”

  I still had both hands on his head, but the small pressure I could exert seemed to have no effect on him at all. I was already very wet from the way he had fingered me earlier and he took his time, cleaning my juices from my inner thighs before he moved on to my pussy.

  I tensed in horrified anticipation as his hot breath blew against my vulnerable cunt. God, was I really going to do this? Was I really going to lie here with my legs spread and let him go down on me and lick my pussy? But what choice do I have? His warm, wet tongue bathed my outer cunt lips. What can I do but submit?

  I couldn’t think of anything—maybe because the pleasurable haze was back, the feeling that anything he wanted to do to me was all right, and I should just let him have his way. I wasn’t sure if it was the effects of the truth plant or my own subconscious rationalizing the situation, but either way the results were the same.

  My fingers were still buried in Josh’s thick, black hair, but I stopped trying to push him away and caressed him instead. My thighs, which I had kept so tense and tight, relaxed as I stopped fighting to close them and opened to welcome him. Worst or perhaps best of all, I let one of my hands trail from his head, down to the place between my thighs he was so focused on.

  “All right,” I whispered, having a hard time getting the words out. “All right, I give in, Josh. Go ahead and do it. Go ahead and taste me.”

  As a final gesture of submission, I parted my pussy lips myself, spreading them wide with my middle and index fingers to reveal my slippery inner cunt for him.

  Josh looked up at me, his inhuman eyes flashing with dangerous lust. Then he ducked his head and I felt the hot, wet slide of his tongue against my most secret spot. I gasped, pleasure swallowing me whole as Josh did his best to taste all of me. Again and then again he licked me, flattening his tongue to cover my entire pussy, as though he were eating the best and creamiest ice cream in the world and couldn’t bear to miss a single drop.

  I had meant to simply lie there and submit, to let the Beast do what it wanted with me without actually entering into the act myself. But to my intense shame, I found I was unable to simply lie still and take it. Against my will, I found myself moaning and calling Josh’s name as he lapped and sucked my open cunt. When his big hands scooped up my ass to lift me higher, I’m ashamed to say I spread my thighs even wider and welcomed him deep into my pussy as he tongue-fucked me ruthlessly over and over again.

  “Josh!” I begged, pulling his hair and grinding my pussy against his seeking mouth. “Josh, God, yes. Make me come again—please make me come!”

  As though the Beast had somehow understood my request, he lowered me and replaced his tongue with his fingers. Then he sucked my clit and lashed it mercilessly with the tip of his tongue as two long, strong fingers fucked up into me.

  The intense sensation against my already tender and oversensitized clit as well as his thick fingers filling my cunt was too much. I felt a second, more intense orgasm washing over me, and I went with it willingly, giving myself to the pleasure—giving myself to Josh—without reserve.

  I came hard, my back arching, and Josh stayed with me, his tongue still lashing my clit and his fingers still pumping inside me as I lost control. I moaned his name shamelessly, pressing hard against his face, my thighs clamped around his head as wave after wave of overwhelming pleasure drowned me.

  At last the pleasure began to ebb, and my quivering muscles relaxed. Josh seemed to feel it too because he gently extricated himself from between my legs and pulled me close to him. I went willingly, almost bonelessly, so weak from the intense orgasm I couldn’t have fought him if I wanted to. But it seemed
all he wanted was to hold me and stroke my breasts some more—a familiarity I was more than willing to allow.

  As I lay looking up at the stars with Josh gently plucking my nipples, I tried to understand what was happening to me. But my brain still seemed clouded with pleasure—it was hard to think. Hard to even remember why what we had just done was wrong. I felt like a leaf on the tide, being carried away and unable to steer or stop or change direction. It was as though Josh and I were moving faster and faster toward the edge of a cliff, and I was powerless to keep us from falling over it.

  Or maybe I just didn’t want to stop. Maybe I wanted to fall recklessly over that dangerous cliff into a relationship that was as sweet as it was forbidden. I didn’t know, and I was too tired to figure it out.

  Still trying to understand, I fell asleep nestled in Josh’s arms with the comforting feeling of him stroking my naked breasts.

  Chapter Eight

  “Wake up, sleepyhead. Time to rise and shine.” Josh’s deep voice brought me out of a troubled dream I couldn’t quite remember.

  “Hmm?” I rubbed my eyes and looked up to see my stepbrother bending over me with a spatula in his hand. Were we having more pancakes?

  “Scrambled eggs this morning,” he announced, answering my unspoken question.

  “Sounds great,” I mumbled. Looking around, I saw that I was inside the tent. “Hey…” I frowned. “How did I get here? I thought we slept under the stars last night.”

  “You did. I found you out on the sleeping bag this morning and carried you into the tent.” He shook his head. “I know you like to look at the stars, but I wish you’d be more careful, Cass. The camp perimeters won’t keep everything out. It’s better if we stick together at night.”

  “But—” I stopped myself abruptly, clamping my lips shut. Clearly his memory had been edited by the truth serum, just as it had previously. So the time we spent together—the things we had done together—were completely buried somewhere in his subconscious.