11. Chapter 11
They both stared at the phone while it rang. Dread filled Cooper until Marissa pushed it towards him with an upraised eyebrow. He swiped to answer it before the dread could take hold and put it so they could both hear.
“Hello?”
“Hello,” the voice on the other end responded. “I understand you currently have custody of Major Ozark.”
Marissa grinned so this must have been someone she recognized.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Cooper answered. “Who is this?”
“Is Major Ozark unharmed?”
“For the moment,” Marissa said. “I’ve been given food and water, sir.”
“Major Ozark, it’s good to hear your voice. Can you speak to your situation?”
“Yes, sir. It’s an unusual situation but I’ve been treated well so far.”
Cooper made a face but understood that the questions had to be asked. It would have been the first thing he asked about had one of his people been captured.
“Are you in danger?”
Marissa looked up at him and he shrugged. He wasn’t going to hurt her, ever, but he couldn’t tell how anybody else would react.
“Not at the moment, sir. If we handle this correctly, I don’t anticipate any harm coming to me from this quarter.”
The line was quiet and Cooper could hear the officer on the other end of the phone breathing. “Good, that’s good. What do we need to do to handle this correctly, Major? What does he want?”
“Sir, I believe Mr.-” she paused and he realized she was waiting for a name she could use for her superior officer. “Lizman needs our help and he couldn’t ask for it without causing more problems than he was able to handle at the time.”
“What does he need? Food? Water? We can get engineers out to help with wells or waste disposal. It’ll take a little longer if we need to round up doctors or medics.”
“No, sir, he needs a specific kind of fuel. One that we don’t have ready access to so he had to send a request to his, um, home.”
Another long pause greeted this statement.
“Dammit, Marissa, did you find another alien?”
“I think it would be more accurate to say that he found me, sir, and I was incidental to his mission. Which is why I don’t believe I’m in danger at the moment.”
“Alright, get your ass back to base and we’ll see what we can do to help.”
Marissa shook her head and Cooper couldn’t tell if she was sad or amused.
“Sir, I spoke to General Wahrberger earlier. He said I was going to be up on charges for treason and desertion. I don’t really want to come back to a court martial, sir.”
The officer swore creatively and Cooper found himself impressed with the variety of curses he employed.
“I’ll have a lawyer for you the minute you get back on base,” he said. “If the charges haven’t been dropped before you get here. Where are you, anyway? How long do you think it will take you?”
“Far enough out that I won’t make it back tonight,” she said. “And Mr. Lizman doesn’t think it’s safe to travel after dark around here.”
“He’s likely correct. Will you be safe where you are until tomorrow?”
“Major Ozark will be safe from harm as long as I am with her,” Cooper said. “I’ve never wished any harm on Major Ozark or any of her fellow soldiers.”
“That’s good to know,” the officer said. “Alright, if you think you’re safe, I’ll expect to see you back on base tomorrow. Is that understood, Major?”
“Yes, sir,” she said and Cooper could see her twitch to salute.
The connection ended and Marissa relaxed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I guess you don’t have to tie me up and roll me through the dirt after all.”
“I still can if you want me to,” Cooper said with a grin. “I know how much you were looking forward to it.”
Marissa shook her head.
“I have to locate a vehicle we can borrow in the morning,” he said. “Or someone hoarding fuel for the truck.”
“Do you think it will take long?” she asked. “I know you said there were people living in the caves not too far from here but I don’t think they tend to stay in the same place for long.”
“A couple hours,” he said. “We’ll be on the way back by midday if my latest survey was accurate.”
“How often do you survey the area around the ship?”
Cooper gathered the detritus of their meal and took it to another cabinet under the control panels. It held what was basically a very fancy garbage can or a very basic recycler. The packages would be cleaned, crushed, and broken down to their component parts with what was left of the organic bits being sent to the compost barrel. He had the hydroponic trays set up and ready to go but he hoped he’d be off the planet before that was necessary.
“I have sensors on the ship that note any changes and drones that follow a path around the ship and take pictures of the terrain. Right now, they’re programmed at once a day but I can increase that if I need to. There’s rarely enough movement to justify that, though, so I can be fairly certain about what’s nearby.”
“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t thought, I mean, drones are kinda new for us. They must seem like kids toys to you, huh?”
“They’re toys for you, too,” he pointed out. “Useful, dangerous if done right, but I’ve seen kids playing with the really basic ones.”
“Alright, fair enough.”
“Now, if you go to bed on time, eat your vegetables tomorrow and ask very nicely, I’ll show you how mine work,” he said.
She laughed. He liked the way she laughed.
“That means I should probably head to bed soon, then,” she said. “Because it sounds like we’re going to need an early start in the morning and I don’t think you have anybody making wake-up calls, do you?”
“I can set one up, if you’d like.”
“Some kind of alarm would be nice. Do you have a shower I can use?”
“There’s a shower but not a lot of water. I’ll show you where the controls are and you’ll have to figure out how to do what you need to do in the time you’ve got.” Cooper stood up and waved her over to the bathroom.
The controls weren’t difficult to figure out and he left her to get undressed and clean as quickly as possible. He stripped quickly and did his best to clean off while she was in the shower.
Cleansing oils worked well enough between dips in the water but the mess from their earlier explorations into physical pleasure proved harder to remove than he’d expected. Thankfully, most of it had landed in his clothes and on the outside of the placket that hid his member when he didn’t need it. The bits that had gotten inside were easier to clean but left him holding a rapidly growing cock.
An experimental stroke nearly drove him to his knees with pleasure. Another made him bite his lip to keep from crying out but that let him hear the muffled sound of Marissa’s pleasure from the other room. Was she touching herself in the shower? There really wasn’t enough time under the water for that. Could she feel his pleasure from touching himself?
He stroked his cock again and again she cried out, her curses taking on the hint of urgency he could feel rising inside him. Cooper allowed himself two more strokes with his hand before he tried to tuck it away, only to discover that his member wouldn’t fit when it was fully engorged. He was going to have to get dressed with his cock hard and aching.
Cooper had managed to get his underwear on when Marissa stormed into the room, water dripping from her hair, cheeks flushed, clothes held haphazardly in front of her. He turned so she could only see his back and huffed.
“You’re an asshole,” she told him. “A complete and utter asshole.”
“What did I do?” he asked, baffled. He’d left her alone despite his urge to join her. Her water allotment was everything that was available for the shower.
“That psycho-whatever stuff,” she said. “I believe you now.”
“You didn’t believe me earlier?” He turned and watched her eyes widen when she got the full view of his front. “I thought I explained it well enough.”
“Yeah, well, you hadn’t managed to blue ball me in the shower at that point. I take serious exception to being brought to the brink and left there.”
“Oh,” he said, his mind racing with possibilities.
“Yeah, oh,” she said.
“I can help with that,” he said slowly.
Her breath hitched. “How do you plan to help?”
“How would you like me to help?” he asked. Her breath turned shallow as he walked closer to her. It wasn’t a large space to begin with and the two of them in it together made it feel intimate. He could feel the heat from her body and it made his cock throb with need.
“I need you to calm down so I can,” she said.
“Is that what you want?” Cooper asked. He could feel the answer, the ache in her body that echoed his, the desire that flowed through her mind. Slowly, carefully, he raised his hand to her bare arm.
Everything about her was soft, warm, and so tempting. He could spend hours exploring her skin and want more.
“I want,” she said, and closed her eyes. He could feel her struggle to focus on something besides the burning ache that had taken root in her core.
“What do you want?” he asked again, leaning forward to take in her scent. His tongue flicked out to taste the air above her skin and he couldn’t contain his groan.
“You,” she said, her voice desperate. “What are you doing to me?”
“The same thing you’re doing to me,” he said. “Every ache, every throb you feel is mine, as well. Are you trying to torment me?”
Her lips pressed against his shoulder; lightly at first, like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to, then harder as she moved across his shoulder and up his neck. Her breasts pressed against his bare chest, the thin piece of fabric she held the only thing between them. Then she lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck and the fabric fell away.
Cooper wrapped his arms around her, one hand going to the back of her head to keep her lips moving across his skin, the other to the dip in her waist. His hands molded perfectly to all of her curves, as though she’d been made to fit him, and he couldn’t help but grind his cock against her soft belly.
Marissa moaned and the sound vibrated across his skin. He wanted to plunge inside her, lose himself in the taste of skin, and never let her go.
“I need you,” he whispered against her ear.
She trembled in his arms and turned her head to bite gently at his earlobe. It was shaped differently than a human ear with less excess flesh but the scrape of her teeth over his skin made his body burn with need.
“How much?” she whispered back. “What part? I think I’m going to catch on fire if I don’t have you soon.”
“All of you,” he said. “Give me everything.”