Chapter 14 Laura
FOURTEEN
LAURA
Post-orgasm bliss is its own kind of space. Not floating exactly, but breathing, heart still pounding, the world reasserting itself slowly. A connection with Dom resonates inside me, far beyond skin to skin.
It seems he came too, judging by the stain on the front of his pants. He must have exploded through the shield around his cock and nest of tentacles, and the idea sends a triumphant thrill through me.
“I haven’t had someone come just by watching me get off,” I tell him.
“That was… you are… beautiful,” he chokes out.
My heart melts. He’s a romantic type for sure. It's a shame I picked him out in a way, because I won’t be able to give him all the closeness and intimacy he deserves from me beyond baring our kinks.
It’s time to reinstate my boundaries, but a wave of tiredness slams into me, the overdue bill for burning both ends of the candle. “Let’s get you cleaned up, then sleep. We’ve had a long night, and I know I’m tired.”
He scoops me up in his arms. “Where are your sleeping quarters?” he asks.
Definitely a romantic. I won’t deny it feels nice to snuggle next to his massive chest, heart beating rapidly. Didn’t I hear from Ellen they have multiple hearts? It would certainly explain the thundering against my cheek, a drumbeat all of its own.
Dom pulls me close and walks to my room as if he knows his way round.
No partner has ever set foot here, it's far too personal, but they'd probably recognize my orderly style: the floor is immaculate, my bedside table has my tablet so I can review my schedule for tomorrow before dropping off to sleep, and the pastel purple sheets on my king sized bed are folded down with a crisp edge.
Although he's a massive lilac alien, he fits quite nicely in here, and just as I have the thought, his scales pale, getting brighter until he matches the shade of my sheets exactly.
Like he belongs.
He places me gently in the center of the bed, as if I might break if he moves too fast. I kind of want him to lie next to me, warm and real, but he quickly turns to face the other way and sinks to the floor, his back to me. “I'll be on guard here so you can rest fully.”
It’s as if he knows I’m a light sleeper, but nearly falling asleep in his arms felt so, so good. I haven’t ever felt so… safe.
Is that what being loved feels like?
He gets up and heads to the bathroom. Splashes from the ensuite as he cleans off the alien jizz start to lull me to sleep, but not quite.
As soon as he comes out, my heart soars.
I try to shake that thought away, but I’m so very tired, and my boundaries seem like flimsy paper walls, only putting up the appearance of a firm barrier.
Before I can re-evaluate, I pat the mattress. “Come lie next to me in the bed. I bet you'll only fit into the super king diagonally, and even then your feet will dangle off the end.”
“I am able to stay more alert here,” he points out, but he doesn’t outright say no.
“You need sleep too. Lay down, Dom.”
“Law-rah.” His voice is pained. Does he really want to, or not?
“Look, let's set everything aside tonight. We're both tired.” And something makes me bold and lower my walls, because I admit, “I… I don't snuggle very often, but… I feel like I need one now.”
The flame from my cheeks could set my fancy sheets ablaze. Why is it so easy to proposition a guy to eat me out, but so hard to ask for a cuddle?
He inches next to me slowly, like I might dart away from him if he makes a sudden move, and lays down.
As I thought, his feet dangle off the end, but I didn't anticipate what his weight would do to my memory foam mattress.
He very nearly disappears into a divot and rolls me against him as if he has a gravitational pull.
And it’s…nice. I'm exhausted from what feels like battling uphill all the time at work, no closer to my dreams; tired of the tightrope walk between being myself with my friends without being too myself and shocking them; annoyed with how my urges feel all-consuming sometimes.
But one thing I can do is make sure he's okay now.
Pushing past my exhaustion, I pull the blanket up higher on his chest, careful not to brush the damaged scales next to me.
He looks totally stunned as I settle back beside him, lying face to face.
“What's the matter?” I ask.
“I… I've never had someone attend to me like this,” he admits. “I've never felt such care.”
Ouch, my heart. My eyes sting with tears for him.
He gently strokes my cheek, gaze warm. “Don't be sad. Would you like me to kiss your lips again?” The smile he flashes me is positively devilish. “I enjoyed it as much as you.”
“Mm.” I recall what he's got between his legs. What if… I were suspended in his strong arms, my legs parted by his writhing tentacles, his cock sliding between my thighs in a makeshift joining that doesn’t involve penetration.
I’ve done that a few times with partners and enjoyed it, and as long as he's wearing condoms, it’ll be good clean fun.
My eyes slide closed by themselves. “Shit, it's going to be rough tomorrow. I've got a final briefing before the inquiry opens, and I will have…” I wriggle my left arm free and check my watch. “Three hours of sleep. Great.”
“Then I will make sure you have optimal rest.” The big alien gently slides his arms around me, one arm underneath my cheek, one resting on my hip.
I settle back against him and the contented warmth of his scales, the double drum beat of his hearts steady.
Over it, the last thing I hear is a distant, “You're safe, Law-rah.”
I wake up warm, enveloped in Dom’s strong purple arms, cheek cushioned on his bicep. His scales are particularly soft here, as if butter and goose down had a baby. Sun filters through the miniscule cracks in my blackout curtains. It's quiet. Idyllic, even.
I bolt upright. “Fuck!”
Dom snaps awake and jumps straight on top of me, pulling my head under his massive shoulder. ‘What is it? Where’s the threat?’
Shoving at him, I wriggle free enough to reach for my phone on the floor, just about scraping it up with my fingertips. But when I bring it to my face, it’s dead. That’s why my base bloody alarm didn’t go off.
Judging by the fact the sun is up I’m running late, but how late? “What time is it?”
Dom looks like a rabbit in headlights, then leaps out of bed. ‘I’ll find out for you immediately.’
I don't know how he can, he probably can't read our fucking clocks, and I know he's scattering because I'm on the warpath. It makes me even more angry that I’m not in control, but first things first: I need to understand how much deep shit the inquiry is in.
“Please be seven am… eight, I'll take eight,” I mutter to myself, moving past Dom into the kitchen to face my doom.
And it's worse than I thought.
“It’s eleven o’clock!” I scream. “Eleven o'-fucking-clock!”
“I can tell that’s bad, Law-rah, but where’s the threat?”
“I’m late for the inquest!” I should have been there to greet victims and their relatives. I should have been there to look the Accu-care team of lawyers in the eyes and gauge their strategy. I should have been there to give John last minute briefing notes.
Dom steps in my way, but I don’t have time to talk to him anymore, don’t have time to do anything other than fire up my laptop and slam my charging cable into my phone. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
As soon as the laptop boots it starts pinging. Ten emails marked Utmost Importance. Twenty-four direct messages on our meetings app. Sweat prickles along the seam of my hair.
Eight missed calls. All from Morgan.
“Law-rah.” Dom’s voice cracks.
I can’t even look at him. This isn’t his fault, I know that, but I’m so angry at myself I can’t even breathe.
John’s messages are frantic: Where are you???? Need clarification. Starts in two hours!!!
It’s already started. He went in without whatever it was he needed. We could lose this all important first impression with the chair, all because of me.
Morgan hasn’t DM’d me, he’s old school, so he called but didn’t leave any messages. I call him back, heart pounding. It goes straight to voicemail. My notifications inbox pulses, throbbing like a blister in the edge of my blurring vision.
Which one do I attend to first?
‘Law-rah, please.’
“I’m busy,” I state, trying to stay calm when my whole body is shaking.
And then the phone shakes in my hand, the vibrations traveling up my arm. Morgan.
I answer it immediately. “Morgan, I’m so sorry, I overslept, I—”
“Lisa,” Morgan snarls. “Your disgusting dereliction is the height of unprofessionalism.”
“I know, I can only apologize. Tell me what’s happening, what’s going on?”
“You’d know if you turned up,” he snaps. “John is in there now, trying to salvage things. This is not acceptable at all, Lisa.”
Dom’s huge fingers wrap around my wrist, gently easing the phone from my ear.
“What are you doing?” I hiss at him, glaring into his amethyst eyes.
Which are dark with pain. “Law-rah, we can hear you.”
“Hear me? Of course you can hear me, we’re in the same room,” I hiss. What is he on about?
‘Well, this is new.’ A stunned voice.
‘Where are the edges?’ An interested one.
‘Stay back.’ Dom's firm voice.
Except… in my head.
Fuck. Fuck! He’s a psychic, so he could probably drop in and have a listen whenever he wanted, but now I can fucking hear him inside my mind.
And not just him. The other two must be Arik and Nevare.
‘Hello, new Apex.’ That cheery voice must be Arik, who always wears a smile.
‘Not an Apex, nowhere near powerful enough,’ Nevare says, matter of factly. ‘No energies of her own. She's tangled. Entwined. Borders broken.’
“Get them unbroken!” I nearly scream.
“Who are you talking to?” Morgan demands, voice tinny.
My vision goes fuzzy.
“No one, I—I’m focusing on you,” I say loudly, trying to get him to hear me even though Dom holds the phone a foot away from me. I glare at Dom. “Stop it! Give me my phone, and get out of my head.”
He lets me go with a wince. ‘I'll try.’
“Don’t just try, do it!”