Amidst a Crowd of Stars Read online

  Dedication

  To anyone who’s ever loved through the years, and to Superman for doing all the heavy lifting.

  Today

  The medica was young, perhaps just out of the training academy. She still wore her uniform crisp and pressed, her blue hair slicked back from her forehead and held in place by the woven band marked with the symbols of her profession. She gave the man at the patient’s bedside a warm grin and patted his shoulder.

  “How nice of you to stay with your grandma all night.”

  The man was handsome enough to make her flutter her eyes. His dark hair, streaked by the harsh Lujawedan sun, fell to his shoulders in sheaves that made her fingers itch to run through it.

  His hair might show the effects of the sun, but his face showed no sign of weathering. He smiled, his hand in the patient’s, thumb stroking the paper-thin skin of her hand over and over.

  “This is my wife,” the man said without any condemnation at her assumption, for which the medica was grateful.

  “Oh, I beg your pardon.”

  He looked back to the woman in the bed, her eyes closed and face pale. He leaned forward to stroke her hair, long and lush and bleached white the way the sun bleached everything on this planet. His hand caressed her cheek for a moment, and in the presence of such admiration, the medica blushed and left the room.

  Yesterday

  Marrin woke to the feeling of kisses on her bare stomach. She kept her eyes closed, but smiled as her husband trailed his lips along her skin to the slope of her hip. She waited, breath held, for him to continue, and he didn’t disappoint.

  He never did.

  “Good morning,” he whispered against her skin, teeth nipping in a way that made her sigh. “The sun is shining again.”

  This made her laugh, as it always did, for on Lujawed, the sun almost always shone. “Good morning.”

  She cracked open an eye to look down at him, settled between her thighs as though he had no place else to be for the rest of the day. He laid his cheek on her thigh and let his hand stroke along her side. Her hand came down to rest on his hair, the glorious length of it that time and the sun could burnish but not diminish.

  “I love you, Keane.” The words slipped out without effort. She stroked his hair, like silk against her fingers.

  “I love you, Marrin.” He turned his lips to kiss the skin beneath his cheek, then grinned. “I would love you better.”

  She parted her thighs in reply, her eyes already going half-lidded in anticipation of the pleasure he would bring her. She heard his chuckle and felt the hot puff of his breath on her clit a bare micron before his lips kissed her there. She sighed, shifting. His hands curved around her hips to hold her to him while he began to make love to her with his mouth.

  He kissed and licked her gently no matter how much she squirmed, taking his time. He always did. It was one of his charms, this constant ability to give his full attention to any task he performed, as though he had all the time in the world to complete it.

  Because he does, she thought, lifting her hips as his mouth teased her flesh. To a Seveeran whose lifespan was limited only by accident or choice, anything worth doing was worth taking time for.

  Her breath caught as his tongue fluttered against her folds. He nuzzled her, then parted her with his fingers to taste her. His low noise of arousal urged her own, and she answered with a gasp.

  “Keane!”

  He didn’t answer with words. He slid a finger inside her to stroke in time with his tongue. He’d found the pace she adored. Smooth, steady, alternating patterns of light tongue flicks and harder licks. He slid another finger inside her love-slick passage, filling her.

  She wanted more, but he wouldn’t give it, her deviously sensual husband. No. Keane teased her, adding a twist to his hand that had her crying aloud and clutching the bedclothes as her hips rocked upward. He pressed his mouth to her clit, not moving lips or teeth or tongue. Letting her get off by rubbing herself against him. Letting her dictate the pace and pressure. Giving over to her control…until she was on the edge and ready to soar over. Then he pulled back, hand stilling, and blew repeated puffs of air against her pulsing clit and would not touch her with more than that no matter how she begged.

  When she calmed, he withdrew his hand micron by terrible, exquisite micron, and slid up her body to kiss her mouth. His cock nudged her opening, and though she was so wet for him she felt the sheets damp beneath her, he did not enter her.

  “I love you,” he murmured in her ear, sending shivers to perk her nipples into peaks as hard as lliwrock. “One hundred rotations I’ve loved you, Marrin, and I would have a thousand more.”

  She opened her eyes and linked her hands behind his neck to pull him back to her mouth. “I’d give them to you if I could.”

  He made no more talk but slipped inside her with the practiced ease of long experience. He paused when he’d filled her and she marveled anew at how well they fit together. Like pieces of a puzzle carved by Adonai’s own hand. He moved, his face pressed to the curve of her shoulder. Slow, long strokes, his stomach pressing her clit with every movement until she was back on the edge again.

  She clutched him, fingers drawing trails down his back to cup his muscled buttocks. She pulled him closer. They melded, joined, moved as one. He withdrew and slid in again, the tip of his cock extending to nudge the entrance to her womb. Out again and his penis contracted. In, and it lengthened.

  The dual sensation of his external and internal stroking never failed to send her to heights of pleasure she’d have said were impossible if she hadn’t lived with them for so long.

  “I love the way you take all of me inside you.” Keane moved faster. His hand found hers. Their fingers linked. He lifted his head to look into her eyes, and the love shining in his gaze lifted her up and up, all the way to the sky.

  Her orgasm fluttered at first, then rippled and at last exploded through her. She gasped and cried his name, pleasure making her mindless for a moment. Her body tensed and relaxed.

  He gasped and shuddered, his back arching as he thrust into her one last time. She loved seeing him this way, perfect features creased with ecstasy. His body slowly ceased to jerk and shiver, and he lay down on top of her to nuzzle against her neck.

  “Good morning,” she said after a moment. “It’s always a good morning when you wake me like that.”

  He laughed, the sound as rich as cream dribbled over fresh-picked berries. He got up on one elbow to look at her. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to come with me today?”

  “Not a chance, sport.” She settled herself on the pillows as he shifted his weight off her. Now that the lovemaking was over, her hip had flared into the same dull ache that always plagued her. They didn’t speak of it, but he knew and was careful of it.

  “No?” He kissed her beneath her ear. “I’ve heard the silk merchants will be showing off their new fashions.”

  She laughed and pushed at his shoulder to let her up. “Where do I ever go that I’d need something like that?”

  “It’s not a question of need, but want.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him still sprawled in their bed and looking so handsome it made her throat close with emotion. “You go and have a good time.”

  He stretched out. Still sinewy and firm, still looking as he had the day she’d met him in the starport. Nothing had changed about him. No wrinkles, no lines, no bulge or bumps of age.

  And she… Marrin caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the dresser. When had she gotten so old?

  She got out of bed, her throat still closed and her breath short. She went to the window and drew back the outer curtains, but left the inner set alone. They were sheer enough to let in the light
but keep out the sun’s harshest rays. In the daylight she could see every blotch and bump on her skin, every imperfection.

  “Marrin?”

  And then she turned from the sight of her own face, not needing to see anything but how she looked reflected in Keane’s gaze. “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Are you all right?” He’d sat up and was looking concerned. “You look pale.”

  She nodded, her hand going to her throat to try and ease some of the pressure there. She tried to catch her breath, but could not. She tried to speak, but could say nothing. She reached for him, and his face was the last thing she saw as her knees crumpled and dropped her to the floor.

  Forty rotations ago

  “What will you do tomorrow?”

  Marrin turned to look at her assistant. Former assistant, she corrected herself. As of this moment, Marrin Levy no longer had an assistant, or needed one. It had taken a full two rotations to get all the details sorted out, but now that everything had been taken care of, she was more than ready to let go.

  “Sleep in for one.” She smiled at Darlin. “Have a leisurely lunch in the courtyard. Perhaps go shopping in the afternoon for the girls’ birthdays.”

  “Sounds perfect.” Darlin’s bright grin shone against the dark skin of his face. “I’m envious.”

  “You know you’re always welcome to visit us.”

  He reached out to her for a hug. “We’ll all miss you, Marrin.”

  “It’s time for me to step down.” She returned his hug without even a sentimental tear at the thought of leaving the position she’d had for the past eighty rotations. “Time for me to spend some time with my husband.”

  “Keane will keep you busy.” Darlin laughed and squeezed her again.

  “I’m sure he will.”

  And Keane, it seemed, intended to start keeping her busy the moment she returned home that evening. Marrin saw the glow as she walked up the curving stone path leading to the house she shared with Keane. She paused, looking over the low-slung white building nestled into the red Lujawedan earth. He’d lit candles in every window.

  More candles illuminated the entryway and made a path through the smoothly curving halls toward their sleeping room. She followed the flickering light. By the time she got to the bedroom, her heart had already started to beat faster.

  “Keane?”

  More candles beckoned her toward the bath chamber. Smiling, she followed them and found her husband waiting for her. He looked up as she entered, glancing over his shoulder, and she caught her breath as she did so often when she looked at him.

  “You’re late,” he said gently, turning. The candle glow lit his bare skin with a loving touch, hiding scars and making shadows turn every glimpse into seductive temptation.

  “They had a party for me,” she explained. “I had to say goodbye to everyone.”

  He smiled and held out his hand. “Everyone will miss you.”

  She went to him and took it. “I’m ready to give it up. Ready to be home with you all day long.”

  He bent his head to brush his lips along hers. “I’m ready to have you here.”

  So many rotations, and still that simple first kiss upon meeting after being apart never failed to send a shiver of desire through her. Marrin tilted her head as Keane’s hand cupped the back of her neck. His fingers massaged the two small spots at the base of her skull, eliciting an immediate response.

  Her moan made him laugh. “You’re still tensed up.”

  “Not so much, now.” She pressed herself against him, and the heat of his skin seeped through her nawe.

  The hand not on her neck slid to her hip and began inching the floor-length garment upward with his fingertips. Cooler air, blown through vents in the bath chamber floor, caressed her feet and ankles, then her thighs as he gathered the thin cloth and exposed her skin.

  Keane kissed her, lips parted. She opened her mouth wider beneath his to let his tongue stroke her. His hand slipped around from her waist to cup her between the legs. The heel of his palm pressed her clit while he used his fingers to nudge aside the filmy barrier of her panties. He stroked along her folds.

  “You’re so wet for me.”

  “Always.” The word came out low, throaty.

  He pulled her closer, the hand on her neck sliding down to palm her buttocks and gather more of her nawe. In another few moments he’d pulled the garment up to her hips, then over her ribs and head. He tossed it to the floor.

  “You won’t need to wear that again.” He bent back to kiss her, both hands on her ass, holding her close to his already hard penis.

  She laughed. “No? I do if I intend to ever go anyplace other than this compound.”

  He nipped her jaw, urging her with his teeth and lips to tilt her head back so he could slide his tongue along her throat. “I intend to keep you here with me…naked.”

  “All the time?” Her giggle became a gasp as he bit the tender spot between her neck and shoulder. His hands rubbed her buttocks, dipping between her legs to brush her folds from behind before sliding up again along the ridge of her spine.

  “All the time.”

  Marrin put her hands flat on his chest. His heart thumped under palm. She traced the indent running from his throat to the place his navel would have been had he been Earther like her. It was sensitive, that thin place in his skin where once he’d been connected to the artificial womb in which he’d been grown, and her touch made him shiver.

  She didn’t bother arguing with his impractical suggestion she never wear clothes again. At that moment, the thought appealed to her so greatly, she was more than willing to believe in it. She kissed his chest and tasted his warmth. Keane’s arms closed around her, cradling her.

  “I love you,” she said, emotion all at once hitting her harder than she’d expected. “I would never have been what I am today if not for you.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I love you too, Marrin.”

  His fingers traced lazy circles on her bare back. She looked to the sunken tub set into the tiled floor and smiled. He’d filled it with steaming water and floated gillyflower petals on top. She breathed their scent and tilted her head back again to look up at him.

  “Are you going to join me in there?”

  He smiled, revealing bright, white and shining teeth. It was the happy grin that had been the first thing she’d noticed about him all those years ago.

  She needed help getting into the steaming water, but Keane held both her elbow and her hip in such a way she was able to slide into the tub in what seemed an effortless motion. He knew how her hips and knees pained her. He was always there to lift and carry for her, to open doors, to help her with stairs. He never made it seem as though she couldn’t do it on her own. Always, every assistance came as though it sprang naturally forth from everything else he did to care for her—everything he had done for years.

  Marrin settled into the water with a sigh and breathed in the scent of the flowers. He’d added oil to the water too, and it glided along her skin.

  “Such luxury,” she teased. “An entire tub full of water, just for me?”

  “Maybe I’ll have to share it.”

  “Maybe you will.”

  The water slopped over the sides of the tub when he got in, and they both laughed. She slid into his arms, her back against his front, and he cradled her.

  “I can remember when there was no water for bathing like this. When we washed once a week and used the bathwater for irrigation.”

  “We still do,” he reminded. “Only now it goes out through a drain and into the earth, instead of being poured by hand from the tub.”

  She laughed. Against her back, his cock lengthened and grew hard. Marrin nestled closer. Keane’s hands came around to cup her breasts.

  Her nipples tightened instantly beneath his skilled fingers. He pinched them lightly between his thumb and forefingers, tugging gently. Pull, release, and again, followed by a circling motion.

  Her clit pulsed in time to
his treatment of her nipples and she parted her legs. The hot, slick water washed over her pussy like a tongue, licking. Marrin shuddered and let out a small moan.

  Keane slid one hand down her side, over her hip, then between her legs. His fingertip unerringly found her swelling bud. He stroked it, dipping low to caress her folds before moving back up to place steady pressure on the bundle of nerves.

  The fingers on her nipple pulled and released without ever letting go. In a moment, the fingers on her clit did the same. Pull, release in small, steady movements that nonetheless caused the sensation to build up and up until she became mindless with it.

  She writhed, back arching, legs spreading to allow him free access to wherever he wished to touch her. “Keane—”

  He murmured words of love in his native language she didn’t need to understand to know their meaning. He lifted her in the water, the hand on her clit leaving for a moment to slide beneath her buttocks. His other hand came down to grip his penis and guide it inside her. He seated her on him, her head tilted back to rest upon his shoulder and her breasts pushed upward, out of the water.

  He moved her, letting the water aid him. Keane thrust inside her with exquisite slowness. His fingers went back to circling on her clit.

  The shallow thrusts rubbed her just behind her pubic bone and made her moan and shift, seeking to thrust herself further down on his shaft. Wanting to fill herself with him. His cry as she succeeded forced an answering one from her throat.

  She rocked herself against him, losing herself in the pleasure washing over her. The slap of the water against her only aided the sensation of his hands on her. It rushed over her clit and breasts and belly, caressing her in every place his hands were not and in other places when his fingers found those.

  His cock extended and contracted inside her as he neared his climax. Knowing he was so close made her orgasm tumble toward her like rocks rolling down a hill. A flurry and rumble of sensation built inside her, gathering together, gaining speed, centered in her clit, but drawing sensation from all the rest of her body.