Being Amber (9 page)

Journey smiled at him. “I’m trying not to be bratty. And cross my heart, I won’t wake up with an attitude tomorrow, whether you let Emily or not.” She pouted. “I felt left out, that’s all. I trust you to know what’s best, you know that.”

He took her chin, lifting it so she would meet his eyes. “That’s my good girl.” He released Journey and nodded at Emily.

Emily squealed. “I was hoping. It’s been a while hasn’t it, Journey?” Emily asked as she moved to her knees. “Come up here, on your knees, brat,” Emily said with a giggle. The spark in Journey’s eyes as she lifted herself to kneel opposite Emily captivated him.

One by one, Emily unbuttoned the small white buttons that kept Journey’s nightgown closed. Her unhurried approach to seduction intrigued Rock. Mainly because he knew Emily was more of a fuck-me-hard-and-fast woman, but when it came to Journey, she was mellow.

When Emily finished undoing the buttons, she dipped her hands under the material and brushed the fabric from Journey’s shoulders. Her hands lightly skated over the soft, pale skin as the nightgown pooled on the mattress around her knees.

Journey whimpered at the tease of Emily’s caress. Her face was already flushed and Rock observed the slight tremble of her hands as she steadied herself after getting rid of the nightgown, and then placing them on the tops of her thighs.

“Lay back, Journey,” Rock ordered as Emily got off the bed to remove her own clothes. Journey immediately complied, stretching her diminutive body next to him. The bright moonlight transformed her pale skin to ghostly white. Her nipples puckered as he raked his gaze over them. They were pretty, but Rock honestly lost all interest in any women other than Em.

Emily crawled back on the bed and knelt between Journey’s legs. Reaching out, she swept two fingers through Journey’s pussy. Rock held his breath as he watched Emily lift the fingers to her mouth, tasting Journey’s cunt and meeting Rock’s eyes.

She was teasing him, trying to get him to join her. He returned her manipulation with his best look of censure and a growl. “Who’s the brat now?” he warned her. She smiled at him but quickly turned her attention back to Journey.

Emily crawled her way up Journey’s body until her lips closed in slowly on Journey’s. The profile of the two women as their lips met was a feast for the eyes. He watched their long, gentle kiss intently. The occasional peeks of tongue as they twined in the recesses of each other’s mouths, stirred him. The women shared each other’s air and moaned into each others’ mouths.

When Emily separated her lips from the other woman’s, she lowered her kisses to Journey’s neck and then lower to her chest.

Emily’s seduction was a performance. Rock could have come in his boxers when she bit down on one of Journey’s nipples. In response, Journey arched her back up for more. The reaction was sheer perfection. A visual moment in time that would never leave him.

Emily continued her trails of kisses down Journey’s body, occasionally replacing a kiss with a lick or a bite. Then she stuck the tip of her tongue into Journey’s navel.

With a sweet moan, Journey brought her hands up and tangled them in Emily’s black-and-purple curls. As Emily’s ministrations traveled further south, Journey’s body swayed under the slow advance and retreat of Emily’s fingers, and the talents of Emily’s mouth.

Watching every moment, Rock remembered Emily mentioning she’d been able to coax three fingers into Journey the last time they were together. He’d raised an eyebrow in response and laughed. “Let me know when you’ve worked your way up to fisting and then we’ll talk.” A jolt of lust had him clenching his teeth as he refocused to where Emily’s hands worked Journey.

Fuck! His cock was going to explode just thinking about it.

Journey neared her peak, and Rock traced his gaze up to her face.

Sweet little mouse
.
He loved the expression on Journey’s face when she came. It held a strange combination of acquiescence and triumph while the orgasm nourished her, coloring her cheeks and giving her what she needed to thrive.

While she hovered right on the edge of her orgasm, Journey let go of Emily’s hair and grabbed his hand. The pale hand squeezed his tightly as she reached for her orgasm. Her body was fixed as she stretched to reach the zenith. She froze for a few seconds then suddenly, she tumbled, falling, crying out in her meager mouse voice. Pleasure and love whirled fiercely within him at the sight of the two women in his life.

Journey eventually crumpled and Emily collapsed onto the bed next to him.

Rock laughed a slow, menacing chuckle. Now Emily was going to suck him as repayment for her earlier teasing. He cupped the nape of her neck.

“Come here, Em…”

Chapter 6

Every morning since moving to Amber, Jaci woke up tunneled into Xander’s body like it was a cocoon that surrounded and protected her from the outside world. This morning, the weight of his iron arm caged her as she lay there awake, unmoving because she wanted to soak up his…his what? What was it he gave her by holding her while they slept? She didn’t know exactly how to describe it, but it was comfortable and safe and every morning, she never wanted it to end. But sadly, it always did.

When Xander left the bed after their first night sleeping together, she had the chance to see all of him in the light of day and she almost groaned aloud. With only a pair of shorts on, she saw that his body was perfection, powerful and sexy. He was tall and lean. His tanned skin stretched taut over his frame showing all the intricate cuts and edges of his anatomy. His shoulders and chest were broad and every muscle in his torso showed above the low-slung waistband of his shorts. When she looked at him with the morning light framing him, it was as if she admired the flawless art of God. He took her breath away. Her favorite part of her new life in the Amber Zone was waking up every morning engulfed by this masterpiece of a man.

Every morning, when he rose to go to the bathroom and get dressed, Jaci lingered in the bed, feeling a physical ache, a substantial loss, as if a part of her was gone too.

After a few days of this, it occurred to her that she wasn’t going to be good at the touching not equaling sex concept because in her heart and mind, Xander’s touch was pure sex. No matter how many times she’d tried to convince herself it wasn’t. Her body reacted to him as if he were her lover. By the time he left the bed every morning, she was fully primed for him, her breathing deep and ragged and her skin screaming for more of his touch. In this time she relished most, she imagined them together in beautiful love scenes. They were everything to each other–lovers and friends, protector and protected, savior and saved. Daily, she tried to will it to happen, to telepath her fantasy scene into his brain. It didn’t work.

Xander gave no indication he had even one sexual impulse toward her and no matter how much she wished his sexual desire for her to be there, it wasn’t. Even when he held her in his arms and she pressed up close to his body, the sexual component on his part was noticeably absent.

Jaci’s recovery progressed quickly. She spent the next few days adjusting. A lot of that time she spent with Jordan.

“It’s time you got your lazy ass out of bed,” Jordan announced one morning, walking over to Jaci’s dresser and rummaging through it for clothes. “I’m getting you out of the apartment to tour the building.” She turned to face Jaci. “Jeez, when are you going to get your clothes?”

Jaci shrugged. “I still haven’t called my mom yet.”

Jordan didn’t reply. She didn’t have to. Disapproval was blatant on her face.

“Come on.” She threw some clothes at Jaci. “Get dressed.”

They walked the building together. Jordan showed her the locations of the recycle shoots, laundry, solar cart station and social center, which basically was a big room on the ground floor used for everything from dances to memorials.

Jaci looked into the open doorways as she passed them in the hall and did a double take several times. She saw glimpses of people fucking, many times with others watching.

Jordan glanced over to Jaci and picked up on her expression.

“What?” Jordan asked.

“This is the norm?” Jaci pointed to another group sexathon, complete with gawkers, as they passed.

Jordan shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much. Not common in Sapphire?” she asked, grinning.

“No, you know it isn’t.” Jaci’s mind chewed on this new information for a few moments. “You said this touching thing isn’t sexual.”

“We did, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have sex. One thing leads to another. Like back there,” she said, motioning with her hand, “Probably started with some people hanging out watching a movie. Maybe a couple started kissing. The next thing you know, you’re walking past their open door with your mouth gaping open.” Jordan laughed. “You’ll get used to it.

“We don’t ignore our biological need to have sex. It’s emotionally unhealthy. Everybody here has sex when they want to, whether they have a boyfriend or not. And, FYI, if the door’s open, you’re welcome to join in. I don’t know if you’re comfortable with that, but at least you know.”

Jaci’s stomach performed a perfect flip inside her torso. She wondered what it was like to be so comfortable inside one’s own skin that joining in like that was as casual as going to a party. How would it feel to physically give and take without reservation, no self-consciousness, no fear of rejection, no judgment.

God, she bet it was good.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jordan murmured under her breath. “Just between us. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Sure.”

“I’ve heard that guys from the other zones are not that good in bed. I mean, you know, they’re kind of clueless when it comes to getting a girl off.”

“I’m not sure I’m the one to ask. I’m not that experienced, but the couple of men I have been with didn’t have me pounding down their door for more. I can tell you that.”

“ I’ve heard that some women pretend to get off. Is that true?”

“Yeah.”

Jordan was silent for a few beats. Her lips pressed together in a thin line. “Really?”

“You can’t make me believe that the women in Amber never fake orgasms.”

Jordan turned and looked at her as if she had two heads. “Have you pretended?”

Jaci sighed “Yeah.” She lowered her voice. “Every time.”

Her eyes widened and utter confusion clouded her face. “Why would you do that? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

If Jaci hadn’t seen Jordan’s complete astonishment for herself, she would have thought the woman was joking around. “Because some guys are so clueless that you just want them to get off you.”

“So, you’ve
never
had one with a man?”

“No.” The word was an unsure whisper. In the long pause that stretched between them, Jaci wondered if her sex life had been this way because of something she’d been doing wrong. But the thought was cut short when Jordan spoke again.

“That doesn’t happen here.”

Jaci was skeptical. “Never?”

She shook her head. “No. They all know what they’re doing. At least I’ve never been with or even heard about a man in Amber that didn’t.

“It’s probably the touching. Over time, the guys get to know a woman’s body pretty well. Or, maybe they teach each other. I don’t know,” Jordan said with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

They rode the elevator in silence while Jaci turned over and examined this different perspective on sex in her mind. Maybe the Amber Zone had it right. It was a more honest and straightforward approach to relationships. There was no need for sweet talk or lies from men trying to get into a girl’s pants when there were any manner of sexual offerings any time he wanted. And for the woman, there was no reason to fake an orgasm with a so-so lover, or settle and lower standards in a relationship because some sex, even if it was mediocre, was better than nothing at all.

Jaci reminded herself to revisit this when she had more time to digest this cultural peculiarity. Maybe she would try to get more info from Emily later when she came over with Rock.

“Come on. I’ve got to get you back or Xander will be mad that you’re overdoing it.”

“I’m fine.” But Jordan tightened her grasp on her hand and headed toward the elevator.

“Okay, Jordan, relax.”

“I’ll relax once I get you back.” The elevator door opened on the fourth floor. “Apparently, you haven’t seen Xander when he’s mad. I don’t recommend it, by the way.”