Page 55 of Galaxy Gladiators Romance Box Set #11-19

Chapter Seven

M aximus

I half expect the artificial intelligence inside the computer to scold me when I ask for the hundredth time, “Bioluminescence in Addai mating.”

I listen through her whole speech to hear this part again, “The mating bond is permanent. The male of the species cannot copulate with any female other than his mate. Bonded males often experience fatigue, weakness, depression, and pain if separated from their mate for more than one or two days. If left separated without copulation for long enough, the condition can prove fatal.”

I stand in front of the mirror in my private refresher. I had hoped the golden glow would dim over time. If anything, it’s gotten stronger.

Me on the other hand? I’ve gotten weaker over the past lunar since Raine and I boarded the ship on Hyperion. I had to decrease the weights I lift in the ludus . I have a match on Numa in less than six weeks. If I don’t find an antidote for this fluke of biology, I could be seriously injured.

That’s not my biggest concern, though. Raine is. I like her. I grew close to her those days we were forced together in that hotel room. At first, I considered myself a good male for saving the little human’s life. It was little more than a job for me. Partway through our time together, I began to enjoy her. Not just the dracking , but the talking.

Now she won’t look at me, won’t sit near me at meals, won’t even talk to me. I can’t blame her. Every attempt she made in the beginning to reconnect with me I avoided or shut down. I wanted to stay away, hoping the mate-mark would disappear. I didn’t want her to feel coerced into helping me. She finally gave up.

I’m confused about my attraction to her. Is it my biology? This Addai mating bond? Is that why I’m drawn to her? Is it attraction at all or simply need? In the beginning it was her need driven by a drug. Was any of it real for her? I may never be able to sort it out.

What I do know, though, is that I grow more attuned to her every day. Our cabins share a wall. Sometimes I can hear her heart beating. I don’t know if that’s real, or if I’ve made it up in my head. I can hear it now. Because I feel so connected to her, when I glance toward her room, I half expect to be able to see her through the wall.

I can’t keep my gaze from her at mealtimes. My ears can hear her slightest words at a hundred paces. It’s as if my body has quit its normal functions like digesting food and maintaining muscle mass and is squandering its resources keeping its awareness on every word and breath that comes out of Raine’s mouth.

I can’t hear her heartbeat anymore, which means she’s gone to dinner. When we first arrived onboard, I had the strength to argue with myself at times like this. I debated whether I wanted to try to be near her or avoid her. Now? I don’t have the fortitude to deliberate with myself. I pull on another shirt and follow her down the hallway.

The mated couples sit together at one table. Raine sits with them. They laugh and joke. I watch.

We unmated gladiators sit at other tables. The other males tell dirty stories I’ve heard a hundred times. They talk about past conquests, childhood sweethearts, and their finest days in the arena. I pay attention to none of it. I can’t keep my thoughts from Raine.

The words that drift to my ears across the room are simple.

“Please pass the salt.”

They float to me over raucous laughter as Dromose goads Justus about their sparring match earlier today in the ludus . Wrage is whispering something in Elyse’s ear. It’s about sex. Beast’s hand is moving up Aerie’s thigh and she lets out a high, girlish giggle. None of that is important. My female needs salt.

I rise from my seat and launch toward her end of the dining room. I pay so little attention to how I get there I might as well have flown. All I know is that I arrive at the foot of her table, grab the saltshaker, carry it to her end of the table, and hand it to her.

Suddenly, I’m aware that all the laughter and discussion in the room has stopped. It’s silent in here. No one is talking, but all eyes are on me.

As quickly as the noise died out, it erupts again. Dromose says, “Max has lost his mind,” at the same time Slayer says the words, “ Xyzca -whipped.”

Raine is looking at me as if I just grew not one but two pairs of horns. She’s not too far off. If she saw the light show underneath my shirts, she’d be more shocked than she is now. Her eyes are rounded in her pretty face and her mouth has popped open into a little ‘o’.

No one is eating. No one is even chewing the food still in their mouths. Everyone is simply waiting to see what happens next between Raine and me.

“Thank you,” she says, her eyes on the shaker and not on me. She didn’t say ‘thanks’, something a friend would say to a friend. No, I received a formal ‘thank you’ without the benefit of even allowing her mouth to form my name.

“You’re welcome,” I admit I barely feel stupid for saying it even though it brands us as strangers. It’s better than what we’ve done for the past lunar which is to speak no words at all.

“Beast,” she says, removing all attention from me, “finish your story about your fight with the Thracian on Bellumar, then I have to go to medbay. I’ve got a conference comm with Dr. Drayke from the Fool’s Errand . He’s giving me another in-service on the medbot.” She turns away from me, effectively dismissing me.

“Get it together,” Slayer says when I return to my seat. “Find a different female on Numa before your fight. I thought you wanted to taste a four-armed Mordite before you die.”

I feel the criticism in his words; I see the disrespect bordering on disapproval on all my comrades’ faces. I don’t care at all, I’m more worried that Raine didn’t get the salt fast enough.

Raine

I thought I was mortified two weeks ago when Maximus leaped across the room to hand me the saltshaker. I didn’t live it down for days because the other women teased me mercilessly.

“I wonder what he’d do if you ever need the pepper?” Elyse jokes.

“Or, God forbid, need help tying a shoe,” Aerie responds.

Everyone then broke into raucous giggles as Elyse said, “Maybe you should just give him some nookie already.”

It was all in good fun. They were lighthearted about it, but it stung. Their jibes hit close to home because things with Maximus and I are so strained to begin with.

But this? This is beyond anything I ever could have anticipated.

We left two males on the ship to hold down the fort when the rest of us debarked to planet Kryton for a day of R I just want him to leave me alone.

“You were five when you left Addai, I was fifteen. I saw one male endure what’s happening to you. My uncle Bron was mate-bonded through the proper ceremony. Within a lunar, he mentioned to his mate that she had gained weight. She stalked out of their house, moved back in with her parents, and kept her knees pressed together when he came around.

“I watched weight fall off him until I could see the outline of his bones under his skin. He was literally wasting away.

“He did everything he could to win back his mate’s affections. He hovered across town to bring her lunches she refused to eat. He did this every day for lunars . He apologized to her in front of her entire sports team. He offered to sleep on the floor by her side just to be near her.

“The only time I’ve seen anything like it was in the dining room a few weeks ago, and just now on Kryton.

“Take off your shirt.” He looks me up and down. With a rueful smile, he corrects himself as he says, “Shirts.”

I don’t move even though it’s obvious he knows what he’ll see.

“Max. Wouldn’t it be good to speak with someone? Take off your shirts, admit what’s happening to you, and let’s talk.”

He’s right. It would be good to discuss this with another living soul.

I watch his expression as I pull off my shirts. Even though he knew what to expect, he’s shocked. His eyes widen as he takes a step back.

“I figured I’d see the glowing writing, but I wasn’t prepared for how much weight you’ve lost. You have a fight against an Anthen on Numa in less than a lunar’s time.” He shakes his head. “If you don’t get your drack together he’s going to kill you, Max.”

He tugs me into the refresher and closes the door to force me to look at myself in the full-length mirror. I’m just as he described his uncle—skin and bones. My hair is long and tangled. My beard is scruffy although I used to like it neatly trimmed. I used to take pride in my appearance, but I don’t care anymore. I knew I was losing weight, but I’ve avoided looking in mirrors since my body changed so fundamentally on Hyperion.

“I can’t focus. I can’t think. I can’t eat,” I admit.

“You’re a bonded male, Max. The glowing skin is not something you can deny. You have to drack her or you can die.”

I’ve heard this a hundred times from the computer. For some reason, hearing the same message from my friend is different. It hits me like an ion cannon.

“Those words she just said to me on the beach? Those are the first words she’s spoken in weeks. She hates me.”

“She didn’t always hate you, did she? You two had to have dracked non-stop for days for you to mate-bond with her.” He becomes motionless, then pegs me with a stare. “Unless . . .” His jaw drops and his eyes grow frigid. “Did you rape her, Maximus? Did you?”

He looks disapproving and angry as he waits for my response.

“No, she consented. In fact, she demanded. I may be a dracker but I don’t rape females, Dromose.”

“Sorry. I know better than that.”

“Whatever you did, you need to apologize and get her back into your bed. Why is she mad at you?”

“She accused me of emotionally running away because I didn’t talk to her or touch her. I thought I was doing a good thing, that if I stopped touching her, this . . .” I motion to the glowing area on my chest, “would go away.”

“Tactical error. Now you’re still mate-bonded and she hates you.”

“What does it say?” I’ve wondered since the writing appeared.

“It looks like writing, but no one can decipher it.”

We both think for a while about how to proceed. Well, he thinks. I just stand here looking thoughtful. I’ve had over a lunar to contemplate this and have come up with nothing. Maybe he’ll be better at it than me.

“When she comes back onboard, I’m going to bring her here, Max. I’ll stand in front of the doorway to keep her from running away while you explain what’s going on. You’d better do a dracking good job apologizing for not speaking to her. If it looks like she’s going to drack you, I’ll leave.”

I try to think of a good reason to argue but can’t think of one. I need his help.

“I’ll wait in the hallway and ambush her when she returns.” He glances around my room. “Take a shower, clean yourself up and try to smell good. Clean up this drackhole , and get your thoughts right. Your life depends on this.”

When the door shuts behind him, I move into action. I haven’t looked around my room since I returned from Hyperion. Nor have I cleaned it. He’s right, something smells in here. I’m not sure if it’s my room or me.

I mobilize into action, picking up days’ worth of laundry. I hurry them down the hall to the laundry area, toss them into one of the machines, and jog back to my room. It’s less messy and smells better already.

I take a quick shower, comb my hair, trim my beard, and discover a bottle of something fragrant in the basket of toiletries I was issued when I came on board lunars ago. Perhaps this was what Dromose meant when he told me to smell good. I put on the last clean clothes I own—a pair of black pants and two t-shirts—just as Dromose knocks on my door.

As I say, “Come,” I wonder if Raine will be with him or not.

I know she’s there before I see her. I feel her. How did I manage to convince myself we’re not really mate-bonded when I can feel her through walls? I did a good job deluding myself.

She’s barely through the door when she says, “I promised Dromose I’d listen for five minutes, although we won’t need that long,” she says, her lips pursed in a tight, disapproving frown. “After all, how long could it take for you to say you’re sorry and for me to tell you I don’t forgive you?” she tosses her head defiantly. My eyes stray from her long enough to see Dromose wince.

“Four minutes and forty-five seconds.” She pegs me with a hard stare, but something is hiding behind her anger. Is it hurt?

I consider inviting her to sit at the small table in the corner but think better of it. I’ll be lucky if she remains in the room for the full five minimas .

“My people have . . . unusual biology. I didn’t know about it until you and I had been together for several days.”

Her eyes flare wide as her head swivels to Dromose. Does she wonder if I’m going to reveal what happened between us in that hotel room on Hyperion? I would never embarrass her like that.

“Would you feel more comfortable if Dromose wasn’t here?” I ask.

She nods.

“I’ll be right outside this door,” he says as he palms the plate and leaves. I never considered him a good friend before. I guess he is.

After the door closes behind him, Raine returns her gaze to me. Her chin is dipped down and her eyes tip up in an expression that can only be described as skeptical. Although she is obviously uncomfortable, she sits in a chair at the table.

Since I’ve never been that good at talking, I begin pulling my t-shirts over my head.

She scoots her chair away from the table with a metallic scrape and is standing to leave when I succeed in removing my shirts. She sags back into her chair with a loud exhalation.

“What the hell?” she says on a long exhale.

“As I said before, Addais have interesting biology. I had no idea how interesting until this happened.” I wait for another exclamation, but for once she’s quiet. “This only happens when . . .” I’m a doer, not a talker. I don’t know how to explain this. “What the Database says is that . . .” Drack . How do I explain this? Finally, I get the bright idea to say, “Computer, Addai bioluminescence.”

The computer tells Raine exactly what it explained to me, then Raine takes it from there, asking the AI more questions, drilling down to get all her queries answered. She asks questions I didn’t even think of asking.

She gets up and palms the door open. That’s it? I give her my big revelation and she walks away leaving me to die? How can I be mate-bonded to a female who has such little regard for my life?

She doesn’t flee, though. She tells Dromose he can leave, then returns to sit across from me at the table. I’m relieved she’s still here.

“So we’re mated?” Her face is squinched in distaste as she asks the question.

“ I’m mated to you . You don’t need to be bound to me. You have free will.”

“You’re . . .” she scrubs her face with her hands. “You need to be near me or you can die?”

“Not just near,” I correct her, “We have to . . . copulate.”

I’m sitting straight in my chair. A stranger looking at us would think I’m as calm as a male can be. My body isn’t moving and I’m looking at the female across from me as if we just met. Inside, energy is whirling under my skin, dancing along every nerve. We’re discussing my future, my very life, as if we’re discussing the weather.

Raine

Look at him. Why didn’t I notice he looked like shit weeks ago? I’ve been avoiding him like the plague, that could explain it. He hurt my feelings. I’ve been devastated by his cold behavior. How many times can a person indicate an interest in friendship and be ignored before they get the hint? But damn, he’s obviously been going through hell.

He looks gaunt, his face is thinner, his usually neat appearance is a memory, but the main attraction is right there on his chest. It looks as if the hand of God came down and carved his flesh, writing some unintelligible language in glowing neon yellow.

“What does it say?”

“Dromose says it’s unreadable.”

I don’t really care what it says. I’m stalling.

“I don’t want to copulate with you, Maximus. You rejected me. You acted like you hated me. Like what we shared on Hyperion was nothing. I don’t know what we shared, but I know one thing—it wasn’t nothing.”

He reaches toward my hand which is lying on the table, then snaps his huge hand back. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then asks, “Can I have more than five minimas ?” His gold eyes are even more gorgeous than I remember, maybe because of the reflective yellow glow from his chest.

“Yes.” I consider saying more, encouraging him to talk, but I’m still too mad and hurt to make this easy for him.

“I’m a gladiator, Raine. I was bursting with sympathy when I got a front-row seat to see how hard it was for you after your abduction. Why? Because I’d tried for decades to put my own abduction out of my mind. Imagine going through that at age five? Not just losing the life you’ve known, but losing your parents when you need them the most. Imagine being thrown into a world with callous caregivers and impossible expectations and not a shred of compassion from another living soul.

“That was my life. I learned it well. I’m a hard male. For good reason.”

Maximus isn’t a big talker. Stringing all these words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs couldn’t be easy for him.

“I had small desires the day I met you, Raine. I wanted to get drunk and gamble and get dracked , preferably by a four-armed Mordite trained in the Butterfly Technique.”

Was that four-armed female in the porn movie a Mordite? Funny, he seemed far more interested in me than her. I’ll have to ask about that someday. Today is not the day.

“I wasn’t looking for love. I’ve never looked for love. Never wanted it. Gladiators don’t get love. There’s no percentage in it even if it were allowed. We all know the odds are good we’ll never see our thirtieth birthday.”

A pang of sadness plucks my heart. Although my story is sad, his is so much more poignant.

“Then I bought you and had to drack you. I can’t say that was a sacrifice. I considered it an honor to tend to you in your needing. On the fourth day, when we got back to the hotel after Vartan’s match, I woke up and I walked into the refresher in blinding pain. When I opened my eyes and looked into the mirror, I saw this.”

He touches the writing across his collarbones with his fingertips.

“I asked the computer enough questions to understand what it just explained to you. I didn’t believe her. Didn’t want to. I decided if I just didn’t touch you again the problem would go away. Disappear.

Perhaps I’m a fool, but I feel my heart softening with compassion as I lean forward to encourage him to keep talking.

“Can you blame me, Raine? It wasn’t just that my body handed me this unexpected surprise. Me, a male who never intended to settle down is informed he’s mated!”

For the first time since we sat down, our gazes meet.

He may not be eloquent, but he did a good job explaining what happened. How can I blame him for emotionally ghosting me?

“I wasn’t just told I’m mate-bonded for the rest of my life and have to stay with you under penalty of pain and possible death. I knew I’d have to deal with your reaction. You had just been through the most traumatic event of your life. All your choices and control were taken away from you. I couldn’t add more to it.”

He reaches for my hand, and this time grabs it as he gazes into my eyes.

“I’ve avoided your reaction all this time, what is it, Raine?”

My bottom lip is captured by my top teeth. My hand is captured by his. I can focus on that, the physical sensations. I notice my feet on the floor, my bottom in the chair. Those are easy things to contemplate because identifying my emotions right now is impossible.

I shake my head, trying to think. The only thing playing on repeat in my mind is the look of longing in his eyes in the privacy of that clamshell in the movie theater. He wanted me, even though he hustled us out of there. The look in his eyes is different now. I wish I could read his mind.

“So this . . . condition won’t go away?” I’m grasping at straws.

“I’d hoped so, but the computer says no. Dromose’s uncle was separated from his mate and almost died. I believe it’s permanent.”

The answer to his predicament pops into my head quickly. Even though I think about it for a few minutes more, I can’t find a flaw in it. It will work as a stopgap until we can figure something out. I’m a doctor, I was going to be a General Practitioner, but research was my second love. There has to be a cure. In the meantime, I’ve discovered a workaround.

“You weren’t looking for love, Maximus? Neither was I. I needed to have sex with you on Hyperion and you offered to help. I heard you say you were looking for a female to fuck on Hyperion, but you can’t deny there was more than that between us.”

“I don’t deny it was more than that. I like you Raine.” His expression is so sincere. His golden gaze doesn’t run from mine.

My situation on the planet and his now are simply a matter of biology and chemistry. It’s a bonus that we don’t hate each other.

I wondered if our situation were reversed if I would be as generous with him as he was with me. Now I know. “I wish you had asked sooner, Maximus. You were there when I needed sex. I’ll be there for you.”

I can feel his relief. Every muscle in his body relaxes.

My brain shifts from a hurt and angry women to a clinical doctor. I can do this. I learned to detach my emotions so that I could focus on doing the things that were necessary to make a diagnosis or give bad news and to save lives. I allowed compassion to show but kept my feelings tightly bound.

“I will stay in my cabin. You will stay in yours,” I tell him. My voice is serious. I want him to understand my very clear boundaries. “We’ll have sex prn. That’s an Earth medical term for ‘as needed’. I’ll keep you alive while I research a cure. This will work.” I stand to walk to the door, then turn to him, “And Maximus, I’m happy to do this. I’m honored to help you, just as you helped me. Neither of us wants to be forced by biology, to have our free will taken away.”

“Follow me,” I say as I lead him out his door to the empty cabin on the other side of his. “We can do our business in here. We’re at the end of the hall and can try to keep what we’re doing on the down-low.” I palm the plate and am only half surprised the empty cabin opens to my biometrics. “It’s no one’s territory so we’ll be on neutral turf.”

I turn to watch him; his hands on his waistband, his gaze on me, just waiting for me to say the word. The thought ‘he’s dying for it’ floats through my mind and I realize that’s true—literally.

I hit the palm plate and when I pull my clothes off, he yanks off his pants. I guess he always goes commando.

He’s thin, unhealthy-looking. But that doesn’t mean he’s not still hot as hell. I want him. Maybe my body’s like Pavlov’s dog, but instead of salivating, I’m drooling from the other end—for him. It doesn’t mitigate the fact I’m still mad and hurt. Those emotions can’t just disappear. At least now I understand the reason behind his actions.

“Wall,” I order. I don’t even want to join him in the bed. I want this as quick and emotionless as possible.

When he tips his head in question, I press my back against the wall and open my arms to him. The moment he understands what I want is clear because he launches at me, wraps me in his arms, and tries to kiss me. The last thing I want is kisses.

“No.”

He pulls away and waits.

“You need to be ready for me, Raine. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He’s right. I didn’t think of that. He knows I’m not ready because he can’t smell my arousal.

For the briefest moment I consider dropping to a crouch and starting things on my own, shades of our first moments together when I masturbated in the tub, but why do that when this male is so damned good at what he does?

Is it only two minutes into our new arrangement that I open my arms to him and bring his head to mine so we can kiss?

His kisses take my breath away. They’re nothing like what we’ve shared before. At first, back in that hotel room, they’d been so soft and tentative I wondered if it was his first time, although that was a ridiculous thought. Later, they were hot and passionate, even wild.

This time, although I know his body’s been frantic, desperate for mine for the past six weeks, the moment his lips touch mine is achingly sweet and tender. He breathes out on a sigh so full of yearning that if I didn’t know better, I’d think he’d been holding his breath and waiting for this moment forever.

One of his hands lodges at the small of my back, the other on the nape of my neck and he tucks me against him. The area where there’s writing on his chest is hot and seems to flow with energetic waves that pulsate against my skin.

I want to hold onto my anger at him, I also want to let it go and experience the passion that’s already building within me, surging in my pelvis.

I can’t do both. I can’t hold on and let go. I decide to shut off my brain and dive into the moment.

“Do you still want to keep this short?” he husks into my ear, his warm breath drifting across my flesh in a sexy breeze. “You’re ready. I can tell.” To punctuate his words, he takes a quick sniff in. “Or should I carry you to bed and show you one of the things I’ve been fantasizing about?” To highlight that statement he thrusts his hips and presses his hard cock against my abdomen.

Ninety-nine percent of me wants him to lift me in his arms and carry me to the bed. In the span of an instant, I imagine all of it, from the gentle drop onto the mattress to him capturing my body with his, to his teeth on my nipples, to his cock burrowing into me like a heat-seeking missile.

“Here,” I answer with the one percent of my brain that wants to hang on to my anger and resentment. Ihaven’thad time to process all thisnew data he just gave me. Once I do, I’ll be able to let go of these petty feelings his rejection created. He’s been trying to protect me from his biological needs. I’ve been protecting myself from what I perceived as his rejection—what a mess.

I’m certain he’s disappointed, but he doesn’t allow his face to give it away. He simply dips his knees, places himself at my entrance, and slides it back and forth assuring us both that I’m wet for him.

“Raine,” he says with a breathy sigh as he slides into me in one long, slow thrust. His eyes flicker closed as if this is the best feeling he’s ever experienced as he presses his lips to my ear and repeats my name.

Why did I set myself up like this? Why am I having sex with the most talented partner I’ve ever had and trying not to enjoy it? I’m crazy.

My body finally overrides that tyrannical one percent of my brain still capable of conscious thought.

“Maximus,” I coo in pleasure.

He lifts me higher and thrusts. Not like the madman everyone accuses him of being. Not like the male who’s been literally dying for this for six weeks. No, he’s fucking me with sweet single-minded determination to give me pleasure.

My thighs are wrapped around his waist, my back against the wall. There’s very little I can do in this position but hold on for the ride.

My nipples drag against his chest, scraping against the hot brand of his mate-mark with every thrust. It’s both achingly sweet and frantically sexy.

This? This is the male I’ve been vilifying for the past six months? His face has a beatific smile as if he’s in another world of pleasure. Looking at him, it’s hard to believe his attraction is the simple result of biology.

Watch yourself, Raine, I caution myself. It’s a combination of hormones and pheromones and a biological imperative. If he’d accidentally bonded with a female Attila the Hun he’d be just as into her as he is you. Don’t be fooled by his handsome face or sincere gaze. It’s need, pure and simple.

I can’t stay in my head too long. My body feels too much pleasure as Maximus spears into me in long, gliding strokes. He’s doing all the heavy lifting, literally. All I have to do is pay attention to the bliss he’s bestowing on my body as I wrap my legs around his waist to pull him even closer.

His head is dipped, his warm breath fanning my throat and neck as he grunts with every thrust. My fingers splay across the muscles of his back as they inventory every rib.

I’d forgotten how amazing he smells. For some reason, he put on some scented product, but if I burrow close to his warm skin, I can get a genuine whiff of pure, unadulterated Maximus. I can’t control my urge to lick him, nor can I contain the pleased moan that escapes my lips when his taste hits my tongue.

“Maximus.” It comes out as a needy purr.

My first orgasm sneaks up on me. I know it’s going to be one of many because that’s who Maximus is. He’s going to pleasure me as many times as I’ll allow. Now that my body has tamed that pesky logical one-percent, I’m going to allow as many as he has the stamina for.

Energy pools in my pelvis, my clit becomes more sensitized, and every muscle in my body tightens. When the orgasm strikes, it hits like the snap of a bullwhip. Hard and fast and intense.

Clamping my teeth on his shoulder muscles seems better than screaming my pleasure in his ear. When my bliss subsides, he pumps at my entrance for a moment, until I have the energy to lift my head off his shoulder.

After piercing into me, he pulls my bottom forward so just my shoulder blades are leaning against the wall. This gives him the most perfect angle to drag against my clit while pounding into me and touching one of my internal happy spots we discovered during our explorations on Hyperion.

This orgasm is a cataclysm of pleasure and need that explodes into pure bliss. He comes as my channel clenches him tightly.

If his release was even a fraction of what I just experienced, I have no idea how he’s still standing, especially since he’s bearing all of my weight.

His muscles are quivering now, and I don’t think it’s from the aftershock of bliss. I got so wrapped up in my pleasure I forgot his body has been starving for the last month.

“You need food, Maximus,” I say in my concerned doctor voice. I’m not ready to deal with the emotions swirling inside me. I can’t admit to myself, much less him, that doing the deed standing up did nothing to keep me detached.

He sets me down, moves to kiss the top of my head, then thinks better of it and pulls away. As we get dressed, I actually bite my lip to keep from offering to accompany him to the kitchen.

I absently wonder which of the seven deadly sins I’m manifesting right now. Pride. Too proud to admit I’ve made a bargain I no longer want to keep. Too proud to forgive this male for the actions he performed when he was freaking out. So, yeah, pride with a pinch of wrath. And don’t forget the lust I just acted out in his muscular arms.