Courtesans and Lovers (The Space Courtesans Saga Book 2) Read online

  Courtesans and Lovers

  Space Courtesans Saga Book Two

  Cheri Chaise

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events, businesses, institutions or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Cheri Chaise. All rights reserved.

  Woman on the Chaise Publications

  No part of this publication may be used, stored, reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by copyright law. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Manufactured in the United States

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Other Works by Cheri

  About the Author

  Want More?

  Chapter One

  A space courtesan lives by her own rules

  “Jace!”

  I stormed down the main passageway of my spaceship with the small, half-empty box in hand, sandaled feet clattering along the gray metalloid flooring as I searched for the mech tech. There were only two other places I’d find him since he wasn’t glued to the pilot’s console on the bridge – the hardware interface control room or his bunk.

  I only hoped it was his bunk this time.

  The door of his personal pod slid open to reveal rumpled bedding, dirty clothes lumped across the floor, and the mingling stale scents of sweat and slicks. I covered my nose and mouth and quickly punched the door closed to contain the smell to his quarters and avoid contaminating the rest of the ship.

  No Jace. That meant he was holed up deep in the ship’s bowels, tinkering with one thing or another like he’d been doing since coming aboard during my stopover at Port Flint.

  More than once in the weeks since we’d disembarked from the spaceport, I’d regretted bringing him along. Not so much because of the smell. Definitely not due to his skills working on the ship – or on my body. No, it was because he kept using and abusing the one precious resource I needed to maintain in order to properly care for my clients.

  Water.

  Oh, but Jace had his good qualities too. Very good qualities. Thus my reasoning for bringing him aboard as I worked my way around the planets of the Rim. Out here in the far reaches of the galaxy, lawlessness and crime abounded. I’d learned that the hard way.

  When I’d set out from my warm, home planet of Andurea three cycles ago, my credit accounts had been overflowing. My closets were filled with the finest silks and satins credits could buy. My bed had never wanted for a client to occupy it to enjoy the pleasures I’d perfected during my training within the Courtesan Court.

  Until I became a target.

  As a lone woman in a sea of the lowest forms of humanity, I’d quickly become a victim of crooks and thieves. My accounts were wiped clean. My ship sabotaged by unscrupulous mechanics only willing to leave me limping along the far reaches of space and vulnerable to pirates.

  But it was the constant threat of attack that sent me running into Jace’s arms. Strong arms. Arms that entangled with mine in the throes of passion. A man who made me feel safe and protected for the first time in the three cycles since love had driven me far from home.

  But as the old saying goes – too much familiarity in close confines can breed contempt. Or in this case frustration. After all, more than two weeks crammed together on my tiny spaceship with a man I barely knew was sure to come to a head at some point.

  I rounded the corner and stood framed in the mech room doorway, staring through the assortment of glaring lights and reflective walls to the pair of boots sticking out from between the racks.

  “Jace!”

  The boots jerked and a loud clang echoed out from between the racks before the exclamation. “Ow!” Another clang. “Dammit!”

  The boots flipped over and a finely honed denim-covered ass scooted out. He stood up to reveal a sweat and slicks-streaked chest of solid muscle exposed between the edges of the unbuttoned shirt. “Do you want me to finish this backup recording shit or not?”

  The scowl Jace tossed my way had a bit of blood oozing from a fresh cut at the corner of his lips that he dabbed with a dirty shirttail. No matter how much that mouth usually called to me, I wasn’t about to kiss it and make it feel better right now.

  I shook the nearly empty box of supplement chews near his emerald eyes as they narrowed. “I’ve told you before to stay out of my things, so stop eating my supplements.”

  He rubbed a hand over the growing knot on his forehead. “I haven’t touched those things since the last time you told me to stay out of them.”

  “The lack of chews in this box says otherwise.” I shook it again for emphasis. “These are already hard enough to come by out here and terribly expensive. So unless you plan to grow firm, round breasts and a well-lubricated sheath, I suggest you keep your hands off.” I spun on my heel and headed out the way I’d come.

  “Is that what those things are for?” he called after me, his boots clanging heavy against the metalloid flooring of the passageway.

  I whipped around to shove a finger in his already close face. “And another thing…stop using up all of my water.”

  “The water?”

  “Yes, water. You bathe more than I do out here.”

  He caught my wrist in his grimy hand then captured the other before pressing me up against the chill wall. The swelling lip curled in a sexy grin as his voice dipped to levels that sent heat straight through me until my sheath was well lubricated.

  He breathed me in deep. “I wouldn’t have to bathe so often if you didn’t like fucking so much.”

  As if I was always the instigator of our joining. Jace was a man not easily satisfied. Morning, midday, and evening hadn’t quenched his desire for sex during our time among the stars. It’d only served to stoke the spark of his passions – and unfortunately enflame mine. My clit had been engorged and in a constant state of arousal almost since we’d met.

  As a courtesan, it was my job to provide pleasure to my clients. Reciprocation was never to be expected. So on the rare occasion when my own orgasm was achieved, I was more than willing to make accommodations for those particular clients. And wit
h the size of Jace’s cock and the skilled use of his tongue, I was very happy to make accommodations for him.

  Not that Jace was a client per se. His presence on my ship provided more of a mutually beneficial exchange of services. He kept my ship in good running order. I made sure his libido was kept in good running order – to my own benefit, in his case.

  “No, that’s not it.” I tried not to betray any of the rising warmth in my response with his strong, muscular body pressed against mine. “You wouldn’t have to bathe so often if you’d stop puttering around the bowels of my ship every chance you got.”

  “Jealous much?”

  “Jealous? Of what?”

  “The relationship I’ve developed with your AI as I’ve puttered around in her.” He ground his growing hardness against my hip. “If you’d rather I spent all my time puttering around inside you instead, I’d be willing to oblige.”

  My knees weakened nearly as much as my resolve to stay mad at him as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips – then leapt backward with a yowl when I bit down on his injury.

  I rubbed my now dirty wrists then picked up the dropped supplements box. “Not when you’re drenched in the ship’s body fluids.”

  “Bathe. Don’t bathe.” He dabbed at his lip with a grimy rag. “Woman, make up your mind.”

  “Use a steam unit cycle once in awhile instead. That uses far less water.”

  “Can’t. The steam unit doesn’t get these slicks cleaned off like a tub full of soap and water. That tea tree shit really helps too…in more ways than one.”

  I skittered out of reach of his dirty hands and hurried along. “Well then stop messing around with something…messy around here every day, and you won’t have to use my bathing vessel so often.”

  I was no match for his long strides. “Well sorry, dearest Dahlia, but if I don’t work her over every day, we’ll soon find ourselves floating far beyond where any spaceport or Rim planet can help.”

  “BIP and I did just fine before you came aboard,” I returned, referring to my AI as if she were more than just a program.

  No wonder, as the first several cycles after I’d left the Courtesan House, BIP was the only one available to speak to on most days. Weeks and months even as I moved through the folds of space. There were times I’d almost convinced myself she was more than just an AI program. If she’d been able to take bodily form, it’d have been a lot easier to keep warm when my climate unit ended up on the fritz.

  “Yeah, sure,” Jace returned. “Not like you weren’t about to freeze to death before I fixed your broken down climate controls or anything.”

  “There were plenty of other mech techs on Port Flint who’d have been willing to do the job.”

  “What, a blow job?”

  “No…a job, job.” But he’d succeeded in placing that mental image of my mouth on his throbbing cock. Damn him.

  He snatched my hand and whirled me around to form to his body. His warm and ready body. “Oh really?”

  “Yes, really.” My heated pulse thundered through my veins. “There have been plenty of others out here who’ve worked on my ship before you.”

  Fire shot through me as tendrils of his moist breath fluttered against my ear. “Like the ones that robbed you blind?” His hand cupped my ass and lifted my leg to reach my core and shove it to his straining erection. “But could they satisfy you like I do?”

  “I never had to trade services before you, Jace.” I fought to temper the moan that wanted to come out and play as he traced a hand along my thigh. Instead I said through gritted teeth, “Do you know how much time I have to spend cleaning my outfits every time you touch me with those grimy hands?”

  He ground against me even harder. “Do you know how much I want to touch you every day? And without all of these clothes between us.”

  My breath hitched, remembering how he’d touched me that very morning and sent my core quivering. “If you keep sullying my wardrobe every chance you get, you just might have your wish.”

  The grin ratcheted up ever so wickedly. So deliciously wicked. Gooseflesh chased up my arms as those emerald green eyes glittered with unfettered desire.

  His growl deepened. “I’d love nothing better than to see you stripped naked with my cock buried in you every moment of every day. Matter of fact, I think we need to institute a clothes-free zone rule on this ship…don’t you?”

  My knees nearly gave way as he dipped in to suckle my tender earlobe between his teeth. “Mmmm…tempting.” It took every ounce of willpower in me to push him away. “But not when you’re coated with more goop than my ship. Now go get cleaned up.”

  “You wanna join me?”

  I ignored the question, no matter how much my clit ached for his fingertips to stroke me to shattering heights. “While you’re at it, chem steam your damn clothes too.” His shoulders drooped in surrender as he trudged toward my sacred sanctuary. “And no more working around the ship and wasting water until after we reach Lyandra, or I’ll…I’ll…”

  “Give me five minutes,” he called, glancing over his shoulder from the jog in the passageway. “And then I’ll be ready for my punishment.”

  He ripped off the stained shirt and tossed it at my feet, fully exposing that chest of lean, hard muscle that had become my playground these last weeks. When he dropped his pants with a sly grin, I almost melted right along with my supplement chews to see his cock at the ready.

  “I never agreed to your onboard nudity proposal,” I ground out as I forced my gaze to his face.

  “You never rejected it either.” With a wag of his brows, Jace disappeared around the corner.

  Maybe having a lover onboard wasn’t such a bad thing, no matter how much he messed up his room – and messed with my mind.

  Chapter Two

  Jace lay sprawled across the cushions, stroking his slightly more flaccid member as he waited in silence for me to prepare the tea. The sight of his beautiful, naked flesh on full display heated me from the inside out as I waited impatiently for the water in the pot to steam.

  The comforting silence apparently became too much for the mech tech too. “Why do you insist on this tea ceremony shit every time we want to fuck?”

  “It hasn’t been every time.” I sprinkled the leaves in the bottom of the cups as the first curls of steam rose from the teapot. “Besides, ceremony is part of the courtesan…”

  “Yeah, yeah. It’s your courtesan conduct crap and all. This whole tea, washing, and seduction shit may work for some people…”

  “Are you saying you don’t like it when I serve you?” I placed the cups on the low table between us. “Touch you when I massage oil into your flesh?”

  He grinned and stroked his cock a bit more firmly. “I like when we get to the touching and massaging part. It’s all this other stuff that’s completely unnecessary.”

  “Everything a courtesan does sets the tone.” I watched as his thumb swirled lazily around the velvety tip, wishing it was my tongue pressing against the ridge. “We establish a relaxing atmosphere in order to relieve tension and stress.”

  Even though tension coiled in my belly at every twitch of that glorious cock.

  “You know what the number one stress reliever in the galaxy is? Fucking!”

  “Now Jace…”

  “Don’t now Jace me.” He leapt up from the cushions and crouched on the low table, spilling the tea with a clatter as he towered above me. “I’m not some mindless hick that has never left the starport. I went to the Galactic Academy, if you remember.”

  “Really, Jace, are you going to try to pass off that story on me again?” I challenged. “You know as well as I do that only members of the noble classes can gain entrance.”

  “I wonder if that’s why you go through all your ceremony shit with me…as if it will somehow make me more acceptable in your mind when we encounter your noble friends. As if they’re above wanting a simple fuck.”

  I rose from my seated position and stared him down with glintin
g eyes. “Must you always resort to crudities to describe a sacred act? Why not simply call it joining? Or even just sex?”

  “Because sometimes all a human being needs is a good fuck.” He invaded my space with each step as I backed away. “A hard fuck. A fast fuck. A holy shit that was a dirty, sweaty, intense fuck.”

  Before I realized it, Jace had me backed into a firm bedpost. His breath fell hot across my face and his musky scent engulfed me as he leaned in with a whisper that sent delicious shudders down my spine.

  “Have you ever been truly fucked, Dahlia? Taken so hard and fucked so fast it leaves you drenched in sweat, your entire body aching, and your head spinning from oxygen deprivation just because you couldn’t catch your breath?”

  He raked his teeth behind my jaw then sucked my earlobe into his warm mouth. The moan escaped before I even thought to stop it as his whisper trailed across my eardrum. “Cause we haven’t traveled down that road yet…and I know you want to.”

  His tongue snaked into my ear like an invader, taking what he wanted and waiting for me to offer more. I bit my lip to avoid giving in to the hot urge pulsating in my belly.

  “Have you ever had someone piston your pussy with abandon until it wept sweet cream as you milked each other without mercy?”

  Every breath. Every crude whisper flamed the fire erupting between my thighs until my clit swelled so much it hurt. The nip at my lips. His tongue tasting. Threatening. Promising.

  His hand tugged up my skirt and caressed a trail up my leg, sending chills across my steaming skin that culminated with a gasp of liquid pleasure when his fingertips grazed my ready sex.

  “You’re drenched already,” he growled, thrusting his tongue into my welcoming mouth with hungry abandon and hiking my leg to anchor against his hip.

  Seeking fingers dipped into my juices and slicked it up to stroke my clit, throbbing with need. His lips left mine waiting. Wanting.

  Green eyes glistened with barely controlled lust. “You want to be fucked, don’t you? To let yourself go. To forget about rules and oil and just give yourself over to that animalistic need to fuck with abandon.” The intensity of pressure against my clit increased. “Tell me you want it.”