Klingon Hearts 10 Exposed - In The Light of Evil Read online

  "Yeah," he smiled, walking into her quarters. "I'd like that."

  Two things assailed his senses the moment he entered her living space. Her scent surrounded him like a cloying summer day, he would have known this was her room with his eyes closed; and the neat-as-a-pin, nothing-out-of-place order of the furnishing screamed of her as well.

  "Have a seat," she gestured to the couch, absent-mindedly pulling the clip from her hair to shake down the Starfleet regulation style it had been confined in all day. "Do you want anything in particular?"

  The image shook him for a moment. He almost reached for the shining gold waves to see if the felt as soft as it looked.

  "Robbie?"

  "Huh?" he replied distractedly, then realized she was talking to him.

  "Oh, sorry," he blushed. "My mind just wandered for a minute."

  "I asked if you wanted anything special for dinner?" she repeated with a bemused smile.

  Robbie thought about this for a second then grinned.

  "Yeah...a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich," he told her.

  She looked at him strangely. "Really?"

  He nodded. "It was...," Robbie began then stopped himself for some reason.

  "What?" she prodded gently, sure that this request was far more than it seemed.

  "It's just something my dad used to do, when I was little," he told her with a far away look in his eyes. "Whenever I had a bad day at school or something...he would make me a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and sit down at the table with me while I ate it. By the time I was done, he would always have managed to get me to tell him what was wrong. And I always felt better."

  Sherise walked over to him and laid a hand on his cheek.

  "I'm sorry, Robbie," she apologized. "I was only thinking of myself when I asked you to stay. If you'd rather be alone...."

  "God, no, Sherise," he whispered, his arms itching to circle her waist, but he stepped back instead, putting some distance between them. It was too hard to think with her that close. Too hard to breathe.

  "I want to stay. I don't want to think about what happened anymore. That I could have saved those people if I had acted faster."

  She looked at him, stunned at his words and a little hurt at his withdrawal.

  "How could you have acted any quicker? The only reason we're alive is because of you," she asserted.

  "But I knew something was up the instant we beamed planet side!" he raged suddenly. "Dammit, I should have called for an immediate beam out! No one would have died!"

  "And I knew the bio-reading I took of the surface before we beamed down were slightly off and I didn't say anything because I thought it had to do with the atmospheric conditions at the time. So, if anything, I'm at fault," she told him.

  "No, Sherise," he comforted. "Anyone would have thought the same thing. It's probably -why- they picked this planet in the first place. Sensor readings from the surface here are always glitchy. You couldn't have known."

  "And you could have?" she asked angrily.

  "I -did-!" he ground out. "I just didn't act fast enough."

  "There was no way you could have! I've never seen anyone move as fast as you did! Two more seconds and they would have had us all!"

  "And two seconds sooner, the whole team would have survived!" Robbie paced to the far side of her quarters, dragging his hand through his hair, coming to stop and gaze unseeingly out the viewport, his back still to her.

  "Oh for the love of God!" she cursed. "Are you Betazoid? How could you 'know' something was wrong before anyone else!?"

  "I don't know," he admitted reluctantly, staring out the viewport. "Maybe it was some type of 'flight or fight' response that's just ingrained in me. But I did -feel- something, Sherise. The instant we beamed down, I felt it. Dark and deadly. I could have stopped this from happening!"

  Striking the bulkhead with the heel of his clenched fist, he took comfort in the shooting pain that radiated up his arm.

  "You are the most infuriating human being I've ever met!" Sherise yelled at him in frustration and hurled the closest thing she could find at the bulkhead just beside him.

  She was seething with anger, trembling with it from head to toe. Stubborn didn't even -begin- to describe this man. Since when did he become all knowing?

  Robbie turned around, stunned at the passion in her voice and the shards of glass that settled next to his feet from the vase she'd just tossed.

  Kahless.

  She was magnificent. Bright gold hair haloed her head in wild, untamed waves. Grey eyes flashed like a summer storm, looking almost midnight blue with her anger. Her body hummed with energy. He could actually feel it from across the room. She was ready for battle...or love.

  And she was his.

  With a clarity he'd never known before, he knew this. This woman was made for him.

  "I'm not, you know," Robbie strode closer, his voice dropping to a low growl as his eyes locked with hers.

  Something crackled between them. Hot. Electric. Frightening.

  "Not what?" Sherise asked, disconcerted by his quick change in demeanor and the way he was bearing down on her.

  The man was the most mercurial person she knew. Icy cold one moment and flaming hot the next.

  "Human," he told her huskily. "At least not completely."

  Setting his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from stepping back, he came to stand in front of her, their bodies slightly touching. Sherise's head snapped back with a gasp at the contact.

  His voice, his touch, the burning intensity of his gaze held her captive. Then he lowered his head to her neck and inhaled deeply.

  Sherise swayed toward him without thought, her body responding to the unspoken message. Robbie growled softly, moving even closer.

  Desire flamed hot and needy. Her head fell back further while his lips roamed freely over her exposed throat.

  "It's interesting," he rumbled against her heated skin, sending shivers racing up her spine. "I've never really considered myself Klingon. I don't have the ridges like my sister...or the temper."

  A hand threaded into her hair, bringing her half-lidded gaze to his.

  "But what I feel for you borders on violent. When I'm with you my senses go into overdrive. Your scent drives me insane...and I have this incredible urge to -taste- you."

  He bent his head, his mouth finding the junction where her neck and shoulder met. An instant later he sunk his teeth into the flesh there. Sherise cried out...with ecstasy.

  "Yes!"

  A heady feeling of triumph blazed through him at the surrender. Conscious thought fled completely. He was all want and instinct, sensation and emotion. Her clothes tore under impatient hands while she moved to undress him as well.

  Then there was nothing to separate them anymore. Body to body, skin to skin, heart to heart.

  Sherise had no sensation of being moved but suddenly the backs of her legs encountered the bed. In a smooth move Robbie knelt on it with one knee, lifting her to lie on the cool sheets. He covered her immediately. Driving both hands into her hair to cradle her head, he kissed her fiercely. They rocked against each other in desperation. The friction of their bodies pushed them further. Sharp nails cut into his back when he ground his hips hard. He needed to be inside her more than he needed to breathe.

  "Now!" she demanded, thrusting her hips to his in invitation.

  "No," he forced out through clenched teeth. "You're not ready for me. I'll hurt you."

  "I don't care," Sherise told him as she wrapped her legs around his waist, opening herself to him. "Please, Robbie...."

  He groaned as she lifted and pressed onto him, taking him in just a fraction of an inch. Enough for him to feel how wet she was. For her heat to scald him. Finding her mouth again with his, he delved deep with his tongue as he pressed in with his hips. Kahless, she was tight. Too tight. He rocked slowly, stretching her a little at a time. His hand reached down between them to caress the sensitive spot that would distract her from the discomfort. She gasped
on a half-sob when he pressed with his fingers.

  "Shh...relax."

  He pressed with his fingers again. She surged against him. Gasping and clinging she struggled to accept him. Her world was spinning, her senses reeling. She began to move with him instinctively, rising to meet him, slowly taking him in a little more with each shallow thrust. She tried to ignore the burning ache that accompanied his presence, but was unable stop the soft cry from escaping her lips when he pushed against the barrier.

  Robbie froze suddenly, unable to deny what his body was telling him. For her sake, he hoped against hope that he was wrong.

  "Sherise?"

  "What?" she replied on a fractured breath. She should have listened to him. This hurt. Maybe if she had told him....

  "Is this your first time?" he asked softly, his breath warming her cheek.

  He was met with deafening silence. It was answer enough.

  Robbie cursed mentally as he pulled back slightly. Her sigh of relief was almost inaudible, but he still heard it. What a mess! There was no way he could stop now with her clamped so tightly around the part of him that was already inside her. And she was nowhere near ready to accept him fully. For the first time in his life he rued the fact that he was rather well endowed.

  He groaned in frustration. Sherise tensed beneath him, tightening on him more. Using every bit of self-control he possessed he reined in his passion and held it at bay by sheer force of will. Drawing in a huge steadying breath, he lifted up to look at her.

  Her grey eyes were wide with apprehension. He was scaring her. Way to go, Paris. That's the absolute last thing you need right now.

  "It's all right," he reassured her, breathing a sigh of relief when she relaxed slightly. Stroking her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, he continued, "I need you to trust me, Sherise. Don't question what I tell you to do and for God's sake don't fight me on it. This is going to be hard enough as it is, okay?"

  She didn't understand what he was saying but she could see how serious he was. "Okay," she agreed quietly.

  "Unlock you legs from around my waist and bring them down," he told her. She did it. "Now draw your knees up as high as you can...that's it, sweetheart, just like that."

  He caught her mouth in a passionate kiss and his fingers began circling again, causing lightning to streak through her. He purposely set her on a blinding fast path to release. Insistent pressure with no backing off. She withered under him trying to escape the building tension, but his hips pinned her. When she tried to surge upward the pain of him pushing against the internal barrier stopped her. She was trapped. The urgency increased. It was frightening, overwhelming...electrifying.

  "It's too much...," she cried, tearing her mouth from his.

  "Stop fighting it...." His teeth caught the sensitive skin under her ear to distract her when he pressed in deeper with his hips.

  More pain, more pressure...more pleasure. Quicksilver lightning began to streak from her womb to the tips of her toes, causing her legs to tremble uncontrollably. Her nails sank into his upper arms as she fought against the storm.

  "Robbie...."

  "Let it take you...," he demanded roughly. "Let me have you."

  "Too much," she moaned again, tossing her head. "I can't...."

  She was shaking now, overwhelmed by the sensations coursing through her. His other hand caught hers to lace their fingers tightly on the pillow next to her head.

  "I'm right here...don't be afraid" he whispered. "Let go...."

  Arching off the bed violently, she cried out as it took her...and he took her.

  Up until that moment, she hadn't realized...hadn't known. She was his, completely. He claimed her body thoroughly, stretching her painfully. Even the intense pleasure coursing through her wasn't enough to mask his possession. The strength of it stunned her.

  Robbie watched as she lay trembling beneath him. Her head was turned into the pillow; eyes screwed shut against the pain of his entry. Grimacing, he brushed the honey blond hair from her face and waited....

  Her fingers relaxed their death grip on his shoulders in tiny increments. Little by little, breath by breath, she eased about him.

  He withdrew almost completely then pressed slowly in again. Her eyes flew open and met his in surprise. Only pleasure remained now, her pain was gone.

  He smiled down, stroking her slow and deep again, just so he could see her eyes flare with delight one more time. This time she moaned and rose to meet him.

  That was all it took to rip away the last of his control.

  He was rougher than he should have been, more demanding than he had the right to be. She was new to this and he pushed her too far. He knew it, but he couldn't stop.

  She matched his intensity with breathtaking passion and pushed him further herself. They drove each other on until nothing remained but fire and heat. When she finally reached her release, she thought for a moment she was dying. And maybe she was. Somehow, she knew instinctively that after tonight she would never be the same again.

  Her unrestrained scream, the rhythmic internal ripples of pleasure and her nails raking down his back sent him over the edge with such force it almost scared him.

  It seemed like hours before they returned to reality. It might have been, they couldn't tell one way or another. He moved off her carefully to gather her in his arms, back to chest, legs entwined.

  "You okay?" he asked gently. His hand softly stroked from her hip down the length of her thigh.

  She moved in his arms like a sleepy feline. He half expected to hear her purr.

  "I'm wonderful," she told him with a contented smile.

  "You should have told me, Sherise. I could have really hurt you if I hadn't realized in time."

  "I didn't think you'd want me if you knew I was inexperienced. I didn't have anything to offer someone like you."

  Robbie felt a flash of anger.

  "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you this was the best I've ever had, would you?" he asked grimly.

  "No," she replied with a soft laugh.

  "I always thought K'Leena was exaggerating when she talked about being Lucas' mate," he said almost to himself. "I never really believed she actually -felt- it like she said she did."

  "Felt what?" Sherise asked, confused.

  "Did you know Klingons mate for life?" he continued, ignoring her question.

  She laughed shakily. "You're not very Klingon, Robbie. I wouldn't worry about it."

  His reaction was not at all what she expected.

  "As far as you're concerned, Sherise...I'm -all- Klingon," he told her harshly, possessively.

  She trembled at the fierce statement and wondered just what she'd gotten herself into.

  They lay silently for a long time, listening to the sounds of the ship around them. As she drifted off to sleep, still in his arms, a faint word whispered across her cheek.

  "Tlqwlq."

  *****

  Sherise rolled over and groaned feelingly at the aches and pains in her body...and between her legs. With a grimace, she sat up slowly. She was alone. Something for which she was extremely grateful. She needed time to think. Too much had happened and she was having trouble assimilating all of it.

  But it did bother her that he seemed to even know that. Was she such an open book to him?

  Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she winced again as she stood up and made her way to the shower.

  Making love with Robert Paris was not something a woman was likely to forget--with her mind or her body. She felt as if he'd left his imprint on her.

  An uneasy thought came to her as she stepped under the sonic field, that it was exactly what he had intended. For her to feel it even after he'd gone. For her to know that she was -his-.

  He'd made love to her a second time in the dark of the night. Just as demanding and passionate as the first, maybe even more so.

  She'd always imagined he would be a gentle, teasing lover. The man who had taken her last night was anything b
ut. And taken was the appropriate word--she may have consented but he never allowed her the chance to give--he took what he wanted, almost ruthlessly. Not that he didn't give in return. Far from it. It was just that he had never let go of the control he had over her.

  Fiercely intense and wildly passionate, he'd surprised her completely.

  It was strange, really. To know Robbie you wouldn't think he was anything more than what you saw--fun, carefree, relaxed. He never appeared to be anything other than that.