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

  The whine of the engine slowed, and with a jolt the ship rotated to descend with another stomach-inducing drop to thud into place before the ship powered down to a low auxiliary hum. I could only imagine what a landing might feel like when handled by the supposed pilot my mech tech thought he was. With his propensity to rush as quickly as possible toward the finish line, we’d be lucky to limp away in one piece.

  “We have arrived at the official ambassadorial residence, Dahlia,” the AI intoned. “Welcome to Lyandra.”

  I tugged the long, single dark braid, entwined with strands of glittering jewels, to hang over the front of my shoulder before securing the translucent hood of the courtesan robe over my head and face. A courtesan’s welcome of a client into her sacred sanctuary was a carefully choreographed display of splendor and decadence to awaken the senses. I’d meticulously put together a chamber of joining to rival the one I’d left behind on Andurea.

  But that was when I’d had virtually unlimited resources. After three cycles of servicing those along the Rim, and fulfilling the insatiable appetite of my mech tech these last weeks, the sanctuary was in sore need of refurbishment. However, with the sad state of my credit accounts, that would have to wait in favor of simple survival. But the ambassador’s invitation had the potential to go a long way toward that goal.

  I waited to hear the clang of the main door, signaling Jace’s exit from the ship. The moment it shut with a thud, a stab of fear shot through me as I keenly felt his absence. But I brushed it off and straightened to my full height like a regal queen before the assemblage.

  The irony of the thought wasn’t lost on me, but I maintained the pose. “Lower the bay ramp, BIP.”

  “Lowering bay ramp.”

  A clank and hiss signaled the breaking of the ramp seal. A bluster of chill air entered the growing crack with a following swarm of snow. Through the half-light of midday, the ambassador’s security entered first to digitally scan the ship and peek behind the curtains and beneath the cushions of the chamber. Through it all, I remained in place, staring through the swirling flakes for the first glimpse of the ambassador. Someone I’d once claimed as more than a client. Someone who was once like a dear friend.

  The sanctuary door leading to the passageway was tested and deemed secure by the security force. Finally security personnel stationed themselves in two protective pods at either side of the landing platform and the ambassador was given clearance to join me.

  My nipples hardened from more than the cold as a silhouette filtered through the murky light like a shadow from another world, walking through the storm with fluid grace and dignity. How long it’d been since we’d held one another through the mutual sharing of passionate pleasure.

  The swirling mists cleared to reveal the hint of golden waves cascading over her shoulders beneath the fur-lined, hooded cloak as Ambassador Trina Dregas ascended the ramp. With a rush of heated air to seal out the cold, BIP raised the ramp to clang shut.

  The silence enveloped us in the first moments as we gazed at one another in the muted light of my sanctuary. Slowly I glided forward and took Trina’s chilled hands in my own.

  I bent to kiss the bare knuckles through my gossamer before gathering her in a warm embrace. “I’m so glad to see you again, Trina.”

  Tears swam in her crystal clear, blue eyes. With the world shut out and within the sacred comforts of my ship, she was no longer Ambassador Dregas. She was no longer a powerful, government official with duties and responsibilities to the Galactic Empire. With me she was simply Trina, a woman with an obvious yearning to have her needs fulfilled. To let the cares of her duties fall aside like the damp cloak that slipped from her shoulders to puddle on the floor – if only for an evening.

  She was as beautiful as ever. The thin fabric of the silver nightgown outlined every luscious curve of her exquisite body. A hint of dark areolas hovered like rising moons above the low neckline highlighting the swell of her breasts and the pinpricks of aroused nipples. The ambassador was a masterpiece of feminine form.

  “I’m so grateful you’ve come,” she returned, drawing down my hood as if she couldn’t bear having anything between us. “I’ve needed this time with you for far too long.”

  I kissed fingertips that then stroked my cheek. “Then let us wait no longer to share in the joys of oneness.”

  My words were like liquid fire, spurning the want flowing through our veins as Trina plunged her fingers into my hair and heaved me to her, our lips pressing in a tangle of heated breath and thrusting tongues that left no time to waste.

  Chapter Five

  Trina sighed contentedly as I traced a rivulet of warm oil down her spine to knead along her bare back and into the firm, rounded mounds of her ass. Her hums of pleasure went straight to my clit, tingling more than the tea tree oil mixture that coated my palms.

  Candles scattered along the edge of the nearby bathing vessel reflected a warm glow across her silky soft, pale skin, cradling us together in an embrace of ambient, flickering light. I’d created my sanctuary to be a sensuous yet cozy cocoon to shelter clients from the cares of the world waiting just outside my doors. In the hours they stayed with me, the world outside no longer existed. It was only the two of us.

  “You have no idea how delighted I was to see you on Port Flint last month.” I kept my voice low and my movements languid so as not to disrupt the seductive atmosphere that remained after the tea ceremony as we moved into the more sensual portion of our evening together. “It’s been some time since we were last together.”

  “Three cycles, two months, and sixteen days.” Trina sighed as I worked a particularly tight knot near her waistline. “And to run into you all the way out here was…fortunate.” Her words faded out into a deep groan that sent liquid heat flowing between my thighs.

  I’d long suspected Trina favored my attentions when she’d visited during my days on Andurea. The moments we’d shared together had been precious distractions – for both of us. As a rule, a courtesan focused solely on the client’s pleasure. Even so, there were a rare few who were interested in achieving mutual ecstasy during joining. Trina was one of these priceless exceptions.

  “Fortunate indeed,” I hummed.

  I admired her wet and glistening skin as I stroked along her curves and down long legs, allowing each sensual glide of my fingers to work their magic. Trina had the supple body and lovely visage of a courtesan. With the conversational skills of an experienced politician, she’d have made one achingly desirable courtesan. But instead of seduction and submission, the ambassador had chosen the path of position and power.

  But not here. Not in my sanctuary. When she was with me, Trina revealed the submissive and pliable woman beneath the public façade. There were no power plays within the comfort and security of my walls. Instead she bowed to my ministrations and willingly gave herself over to fulfilling desires.

  I steered the conversation along another path to stem the urgent throbbing of my sex as I dipped my fingers closer and closer to her heat. “I was surprised to see you were unaccompanied at Governor Tarlington’s reception several weeks ago.”

  “Hmm,” she purred, opening her thighs ever so slightly to my nurturing attentions. “My staff shrank considerably when I transferred. Not many were interested in an assignment on the far reaches of the Galactic Empire.”

  “I’d never known the Galactic Empire to commission an ambassador to the Rim planets, though I’m told it was a long unfilled post.” I leaned forward and kissed the backs of her knees before moving a little lower. “But I meant someone more like an escort…or a husband.”

  “Oh.” A discomforted pause.

  I ventured further. “I half expected to discover a passel of children at your feet by now.”

  Finally she sighed. “Unfortunately things didn’t…work out with Kryn.”

  A pinch squeezed my heart as I sought to absorb the pain I’d caused. Trina’s long-time companion had been by her side for seemingly countless cycles in both
work and pleasure. I could only imagine the emptiness she must feel at his absence – for I shared it when I thought of Irik.

  “I’m so sorry,” I commiserated.

  I swallowed the unwelcomed guilt that assailed me and continued kneading out the knots of tension along my client’s body in silence. When I’d first attended Trina on Andurea, she’d come only as a form of therapy to stem the strains of her new and demanding position within the political apparatus.

  But it didn’t take long before her attachment to me deepened into something more. It wasn’t a stretch to think I was likely a contributing factor in the ruin of her relationship with Kryn. I’d heard of it happening all too many times.

  I stroked a comforting hand across the bottoms of her feet before unfolding a nearby towel. “Turn over, please.”

  Trina rolled onto her back and waved the towel away as I prepared to lay it across her hips to cover a woman’s most intimate features and protect any sense of modesty.

  “It’s not necessary.” Naked before me, she glanced at my still covered frame with the hint of a smile. “Though I wouldn’t mind sharing a view of you as well.”

  I nodded in supplication. Without stealing my gaze from hers, I stood and reached up to unclasp the shoulder clip to release my dress, sending it into a silken puddle on the floor. My nipples tightened in desire as her eyes hooded with heat. Her gaze swept across my nude body, lingering at the apex between my thighs before rising to take in my generous mounds.

  “You are still so exquisite,” Trina whispered, raw hunger streaming between each word.

  “As are you,” I responded, lowering myself to the urn and dampening a fresh cloth with oil to trace along her breasts, firming and ripening before my eyes like sweet plums. Fruit that I hadn’t tasted in a long, long time.

  Without any hesitation, Trina cupped a palm over my breast, squeezing then stroking her thumb over the nipple until it hardened to a sharp, aching pinnacle. “I cried for weeks when I discovered you’d gone.”

  That made two of us. However, my tears at the time were for myself and the love I’d left behind.

  I fought to keep my voice even. “There are many courtesans that could’ve serviced you, Trina. Lily would’ve introduced you to others if only you’d asked.”

  “She did.” Her hands left my heaviness to trace down my belly. “But they weren’t you.”

  In the glow of the surrounding candlelight, I stared into her tear-filled eyes. Desire had morphed into radiating pain – pain inflicted by my rash actions in leaving Andurea. My necessary actions.

  She licked luscious lips that were still swollen from our greeting. Slowly I bent forward and captured them with my own in a gentle kiss that stretched into a fever of rising passion. Our mouths opened one to another as the kiss deepened until our tongues tasted and thrust as if we’d never want to come up for air again.

  I understood the heartache I’d caused. That devastation of loss that left you needy and vulnerable. I felt it every time I thought of Andurea, and all I’d left behind. When I thought of him.

  But I couldn’t let myself think of Irik. Nor of how much Jace reminded me of him at times. Not now. Not with a client beside me who needed everything I had to give her in this moment.

  With my hand, I trailed a hot course down across her flat stomach to the trimmed patch of dark curls waiting for my attentions. Her thighs were already parted, waiting for me to carve a path between them to plunge my fingers through her slick wetness.

  My turn to groan as my pussy throbbed, drenched with enough moisture to match hers. “Let’s move to the bed,” I whispered around her lips.

  Without breaking contact, we successfully navigated to land within the embrace of silk sheets, enjoying the lack of friction as our well-oiled bodies writhed together in the throes of intimacy. I suckled at her breasts, tasting the burn of the oil along my tongue that drove me to bring her nipples quickly into hard, mountainous peaks.

  “Oh,” she moaned, arching her back to push deeper into my mouth. “That feels…so good.”

  Trina was more than ready, hot and oh so wet with lustful abandon as she spread her knees wide in silent demand. I didn’t waste time.

  I moved downward and settled between her legs, kissed the inside of first one thigh, then the other, before dipping my tongue into the salty sweet nectar of her garden. Her moan shot through me as she threaded her fingers through my loosened braid, and a flush tinged her fair skin. My breath fluttered her curls when I raised just above her mound to connect my gaze to hers as her sigh coated my sheath.

  “Supping from you is like tasting the most delectable of fruits.” I slid my tongue through her seam to swirl slowly, achingly over her clit. “Biting into your sweet, juicy flesh.” I clamped down to suck hard on that nub, receiving a tug to my hair and a cry of pure pleasure as her thighs quivered on either side of my head. “Drinking from your essence as it pours down my throat.”

  Trina stretched her knees open even wider in invitation. I thumbed her clit, swirling faster and faster as her breathing matched the pace. The flush reddened and glowed across her chest and into her neck as she abandoned herself to writhe in the glory of my expertise. Even the most powerful figures gave up all semblance of control when in my hands.

  Then I thrust my tongue deep into the hot spring of her channel to lap up the headwaters that flowed as her orgasm built in a rush that swept us both away into a night of breathless bliss.

  Chapter Six

  Color had returned to Trina’s pale cheeks after our overnight rendezvous, and it made me happy to know I’d offered her a break from the cares of her station. After helping her into her gown, I held out her fur-lined cloak as she prepared to head out again into the Lyandra chill.

  The snow outside my ship had stopped and the wind had died down as well when BIP lowered the ramp into the deep darkness of early morning. I wrapped the silk sheet tighter around my shoulders against the frigid air, remembering the not-so-distant days past when the climate controls of the ship had almost completely failed.

  As she turned toward me again, I embraced Trina and cherished more than just the warmth of her clothed body against mine. A hand traced along my spine through the silk then gripped tight as if dreading the coming disconnect.

  “You have my reachout.” I offered up a tender kiss and traced a finger along her cheek. “Whenever you have need of me…lover or friend…I will be here.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes as she nodded. “I’m so glad to know you are close again.”

  A smile stretched my cold cheeks. “As am I.”

  She glanced out at the two guards waiting on the landing platform with their backs to us in offer of continued privacy. “How long do you plan to stay on Lyandra?”

  “A few days perhaps. Long enough to restock supplies and refill our water reserves.”

  I left unspoken the need to arrange for additional clients on this trip. I may have abandoned some of the rules of the Courtesan Court out here, but talking with a client about others was still a taboo topic. As Lyandra was the only Rim planet with any hint of real civilization, I couldn’t waste the opportunity to begin restocking my coffers.

  “The water I can help with,” Trina said, gesturing to a guard who spoke into an unseen mic. “The supplies? That’s where things are tricky lately.”

  “Tricky? In what way?”

  “We are having issues with supply lines out here. Most goods are arriving at Port Flint, from what I was able to learn thus far, and yet they seem to disappear before they can make the final leg of their journey to Lyandra.”

  “Which is why you were at the governor’s event,” I surmised with a murmur.

  The unexpected yet fortunate purchase of a huge vial of oil during my last visit to Port Flint took on a whole new meaning. I should’ve realized the very reasonable price the merchantman quoted me was too good to have come through regular channels. He had mentioned at the time that the supplier had dumped the cargo, but since I’d been foc
used on my own dire straits, I hadn’t bothered to question further.

  Trina nodded. “And if things aren’t making it to Lyandra, then Crente is in a worse state than we are, since we both depend heavily on transports of foodstuffs.”

  “Is this why Ir…His Royal Highness posted you all the way out here?”

  “Among others.” She took my hand. “Come to a soirée I’m hosting tomorrow evening, and I’ll explain further.” My hiked brow must’ve given her the wrong impression. “I’ll pay you for your time, of course…if you wouldn’t mind spending the night as my less-than-public escort.”

  My laughter sprinkled throughout the sanctuary. “That’s not my concern, Trina.” Though the opportunity to meet potential clients who could pay well didn’t hurt. “But I will be happy to attend.” Instead of dipping my head in submission, I stared right into those pale blue eyes as if to an equal. “As your friend.”

  The smile blinked across her lips before she released my hand and straightened her shoulders to face the outside world. “I’ll forward the invitation to your reachout.”

  “Until tomorrow then.”

  Stepping from the ship, Trina transformed once again from the submissive and passionate lover to the powerful government figure the public knew. Her stride as she left was more at ease and purposeful than when she’d arrived last night.

  Once again I was grateful for my place in society. For the roll I played in bringing peace and tranquility to the troubles plaguing those involved in power struggles. For the opportunity to allow officials to relax and express their needs upon my body and forget about their duties. For the chance it offered me to forget about Irik – even if only for the moment.

  And a moment was all I had. “Dahlia,” BIP broke in. “There is an incoming reachout that is marked for immediate attention.”