Riss (5 page)

It was simmering on the stove when she
’d finished packing up what she could in the kitchen. There really wasn’t a great deal that belonged to her. A mixer she’d not used in years, a coffee pot she got as a present one year from someone at work when they’d gotten two of them, and a few dishes. Leaving the latter behind, she went to the living room and stopped in her tracks when she saw Riss standing there.

“
You’re no longer welcome here.” He nodded but didn’t move. “How the hell did you get in here anyway? I locked that door.”

“
I don’t need a key. Would you please give me back my feather?” She put her hand over her pocket to protect it from him. For some reason, and she had no idea why the thought popped into her head, she knew if she gave it to him she’d never see him again.

“
I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He flushed and she smiled. “You mean the one you used on my body this morning? The one that made me come so hard that I saw stars?”

This time when he flushed
, she laughed. There was something very sexy about a man that looked like him being embarrassed. When he put out his hand, all she could think about was how he’d touched her with it, and wanted to ask him if he’d like to use his feather on her again.

“
Why do you have a feather, and why does it feel like you’re touching me when I move it over my body?” He looked away, then back at her. Riss was hiding something, and she was almost afraid to find out what it was. “Riss? Tell me why a feather would make me feel like you’re touching me?”

“
It’s a part of me.” She grabbed the back of the couch she was standing next to. “I’m not supposed to tell you anything. I’m just here to protect you.”

“
You weren’t supposed to fuck me?” He flushed a brighter shade of red before he shook his head. “Why do you have feathers? Are you a chicken? A bird?”

“
I’m a protector.” Kala waited for him to say more, but he simply stood there for a few seconds. “May I have my feather please? I need it to become whole, and I cannot move on without being whole.”

“
You mean that this feather you think I have is a part of your body? Like wings?” He nodded, and she felt the earth move under her feet. “Show me.”

“
I cannot.” Kala didn’t believe him for a second and started to tell him so when he took a step toward her. “I would very much like to take you back to your bed and do those things to you again, but I was told that I must either decide to stay or leave you. My time has come to an end.”

“
What time would that be?” He was nearly touching her now and she put her hand to his chest. “I’m not giving you this until you explain yourself to me. And I don’t mean these half-truths that you’re giving me.”

“
I want you. I want to have sex with you again. Touch you in ways that make me hard again.” She ran her hand down his chest to his cock and cupped her hand around his thickness. “You make me feel things that I should not.”

“
You can taste me like I did you.” She felt him rock into her hand. “Lick me until I come in your mouth like you did mine.”

She moaned when he moved her hand and rocked into her pussy.
She wanted this man more than she thought possible, and when he kissed her, she spread her legs wider and nearly cried out. Then he moved hard against her clit. If he did it again, she was going to come, but she didn’t care. He stepped back from her, and her body burned.

“
I cannot.” She nodded but started to undress. He was not going to leave her this way. “You must know that I will not have sex with you again. I…I have been….”

Tossing her shirt to the back of the couch
, she took off her bra and dropped it to the floor. When she put her hands into the top of her pants to pull them off, he took another step back. She slipped them off with her panties and stood before him naked, with only the feather in her hand.

“
If you don’t want to watch me, I would suggest that you leave now. Because I’m going to come with or without you.” Kala traced the feather over her breasts to her navel and moaned. “Can you feel this, Riss?”

“
Yes. All over my body.” She closed her eyes and ran the feather over her mound and then over her thigh, teasing herself. When he spoke again, his voice was thick with need, and she felt herself get wetter because of it. “Will you reach a peak this way?”

“
Yes. It won’t be as satisfying as this morning had been, but I’ll come.” She looked at him and realized how stiff he was. Taking the feather to her nipple, she danced it over the peak as she slid her fingers into her pussy. Closing her eyes, she told him how she was feeling. “I’m so wet. And my clit is hard, like your cock. Do you want to eat me, Riss?”

He didn
’t say anything, but she knew that he wanted her as much as she did him. His harsh breathing had her panting, because she could feel how badly he wanted her. When his fingers touched her thighs, she opened her eyes and looked down at him. He had taken off his shirt and pants but left his boxers on. Kala moved her foot up his thigh to his cock and gripped him with her toes.

“
You’re not going to give it to me, are you?” She moaned when he kissed the area above her pussy. “You’ve given me very little choice, too, in wanting you. It is forbidden, but you are making me want to break the rules.”

“
Shut up and put your mouth on me.” His chuckle had her wanting to bash his head in, but he slid his tongue down her to her apex. Opening her nether lips, he stared at her for several seconds, and she could feel herself getting wetter and wetter. “Riss, please?”

His mouth moved close to her clit but never touched her where she wanted.
She was rocking her hips to get him to take her when he slid his fingers into her sheath that had her scream out his name. And when he finally took her, his mouth nipping at her swollen nub, Kala came so hard she saw stars. But he wasn’t finished with her yet.

Over and over he ate at her
, bringing her to climax so many times she was weak with them. And when she thought she’d had enough, he’d bring her again. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and pulled his head from her.

His face was covered in her juices
, and his eyes were dark silver now. She could see his need. He wore it like a mask. Telling him to lay back, she watched him settle to her floor as she knelt before him.

“
Do you have any idea what your mouth does to me?” Kissing his nipple, she moaned when he pulled her hand down to his cock. “I’m going to ride you, but first I want to lick my juices off your mouth.”

“
Your taste is like heaven to me. I could drink from you for the rest of my days.” Riss moaned when she pulled the elastic of his boxers over his cock and it caught. “If you touch me, I will erupt. I’m aching.”

“
Would you like to come in me again, Riss?” He nodded and helped her swing her legs over his hips. “I’m going to make sure you’re ready for me. Then I’m going to take you into my pussy and ride your cock until you come.”

“
I am ready for you. I shouldn’t be, but I am.” He moaned again when she leaned to his cock after scooting down his legs. “Kala, I should very much like to come in your mouth again. Would that be possible?”

“
I want to feel your cock inside of me. I want to feel your thick, hard shaft fucking me.” Riss held her head while she licked him from root to tip. Suckling on the tiny eye, she played with him with her tongue until he was begging her to finish him. Sitting up again, she moved up his body, and with her hand at his shaft lowered herself onto him. Stilling, she looked down at him and felt a connection she’d never had with anyone before seem to snap into place.

“
You’re going to leave me, aren’t you?” He nodded and held her hips when she started to move off him. “I’m going to be hurt by this, and there is nothing I can do about it, is there?”

“
I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.” She nodded and rolled her hips over him again. “You will not remember me after our time together.”

Kala wanted to tell him she
’d remember him forever, but wasn’t sure. She had an idea that Riss was different than her; she was not really sure what kind of different, but he wasn’t like her. When she rolled her hips again, he ran his feather over her nipples, and she looked down at him. Pulling him up so they sat facing each other, she rode him with strong, hard strokes while he nipped at her breasts.

“
Come again for me, Kala. Tighten around me until I can no longer move, and let me fill you once again with my body.” Kala wrapped her arms around him and held him to her as he rolled her to her back. His body didn’t just fit with hers but seemed to be a part of it. When he started to move inside of her, taking his cock nearly to the tip before punching in again, she cried out when she came. She screamed out his name for him to come with her and felt his cum as its heat filled her. Kala knew in that moment that something more had happened than two people having sex. She’d fallen in love with the stranger.

Chapter
5

“You’ll be assigned another charge until we can get your arrangements made.” Riss nodded, wishing that they would simply take him now and then maybe his heart would not hurt so badly. He’d left Kala in her bed not twenty minutes ago and was speaking with Tholan about what was to happen now.

“
I’ve had sex with her.” Riss had no idea why he’d said that, but now that he had, he felt that he needed to tell him everything. “Just before you called me, as a matter of fact. She had a part of me and she had used it to masturbate.”

“
Your charge?” Riss nodded. “You had sex with a human? Today? What were you thinking? That is against the rules.”

“
I enjoyed this morning so much that I had to see if I could enjoy myself again with her.” He grinned at the shocked look in Tholan’s face. “I did not go back the second time to have sex with her again. I went back for my feather she had. But things did not turn out as I had thought them to.”

“
I should say not.” Tholan got up, then sat back down twice before he spoke again. “What do you think you were doing? Having sex is for humans, not us.”

“
It was amazing.” Tholan’s mouth snapped shut, and Riss continued. “I had never thought to have sex, and now that I’ve had it, I wish to do it over and over again. But only with her. I should very much like to go back and have a great deal of sex with her, but I know that it is not going to happen.”

“
Why not?” Riss smiled sadly when Tholan flushed. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Of course, you will not go back and have sex with her again. What would happen if Michael or the others knew?”

Riss had thought of that. A great deal as a matter of fact. He had planned to tell Michael so that he might hurry his ending along
, but now all he could think about was living his final days with Kala. And in her bed.

“
I do not know what to tell him. Michael has been a good friend, but he is still the one that I report to, as you are. I’m not even sure why I told you. But I cannot….” Riss got up to pace and realized that he really needed to talk to someone. “I have told her that I will not return, and when I left her, I took what I’d left behind.”

“
Her memories of you.” Riss nodded. It had been the most difficult thing he’d ever done, and when he’d found where she thought she loved him, he had hurt all the more for it. Love was something humans did, not protectors.

“
I shall confess all to Michael when we are finished here. I will ask that he not wait for the six months that he said, but to take me now. The pain of what I’ve done to her is overwhelming.”

“
Do you love her?” The question startled him into standing and he looked at Michael, who had come in without knocking, shocked. “The girl, do you love her?”

“
I don’t know what you mean. Love is an emotion for humans, not for us.” Michael sat down and snorted at him. “She does that as well. I have heard her on several occasions.”

“
She is an enigma, Miss Marrow is.” Riss sat down and waited for Michael to continue. When he only stared at him, Riss felt as if he had done something that could never be forgiven. Which, in a way, he supposed he had.

“
I wish to have my life ended now rather than later.” Michael was shaking his head before Riss could finish. “I have committed a sin, and I know that, but to have myself aching like this is beyond suffering. I should like for my life to—”

“
There’s a child. I cannot allow you to die with a child of yours there on earth.” Riss looked at Tholan, who looked like he felt…like someone had hit him squarely between the eyes.

“
Riss can’t have a child. He’s not human.” Michael raised a brow at Tholan, who flushed. “What I mean is, there must be a mistake. A protector cannot have a child.”

“
But when he laid with her, he was no longer her protector, but her lover.” Michael looked at him. “Did you share with her what you were? Does she know that you were sent there to watch over her and aren’t human?”

“
She thinks I am simply a protector, but I did not tell her anything else. But we’ll have no problems if that is what you’re thinking. I have taken care of her memories of me.” Michael laughed again and shook his head. “I saw many things in her mind, but nothing of me being the father of her child.”

“
She doesn’t know it yet. And she won’t hear it from you.” Michael laughed again. “And if you think that this will solve anything, you taking her memories, you’re sadly mistaken. Kala is a good deal stronger than you think her to be.”

Riss had already figured that out. She had done what she wanted when she wanted and had never asked for anything in return.
Riss got up to pace, and realized at that moment that he was in over his head for the first time in all his considerable life.

“
You’ll punish me, no doubt.” Michael nodded but smiled. Riss didn’t care for that smile. It told him that he was going to hate whatever it was. Then he supposed that was the point. “When will it begin?”

“
You’ll start today. And you’ll continue to watch over Kala as if nothing happened.” Riss stared at him. “You’ll not have any contact with her, physical or otherwise. No speaking to her until you are protecting her, and you’ll not in any way try to dissuade any suitors that come her way.”

“
Suitors? You mean men coming to ask her out?” Michael said that he did. “That isn’t right. She carries my child. You cannot mean that other men will be a part of his life?”

“
I do. And as you have asked to be let go from here, it shouldn’t matter to you at all what happens to her or the child.” Michael stood up and moved toward the door. “You’ll listen to what I say to you, Riss. Stay as her protector and nothing more. If you go further, I will have to go to the next step. Trust me, you do not want me to go there.”

After he left
, Riss sat down and tried to think about Kala and other men. He looked up at Tholan when he cleared his throat. “You should get going. I believe she is alone right now.”

“
He wants me to watch over her and not be with her.” Tholan nodded. “And she will have other men, men who will be with her and my child, and I’m supposed to just let it happen?”

“
Look at it this way. By the time the child is born, you’ll no longer be around.” Riss stared at his friend as he continued. “You should really get to work.”

Riss moved through the portals and ended up in Kala
’s kitchen. He could see that she had been busy since he’d left her and that her kitchen, for the most part, had been packed up. Riss went through the rest of the house and saw that nearly everything had been put into bags and boxes, and she now sat on the couch watching the blank television screen. He wanted to go to her and hold her, but knew that Michael would do just what he said he would. Riss watched her until someone knocked on her door.

~~~

“You shouldn’t have.” Kala took the bottle of wine from Dan and sat it on the counter. “I just made chili. I’m afraid that wine will be too much for such a modest pot.”

“
Naw, I love wine, so if you don’t want it, I’ll drink it.” Kala tried to think what sort of glass to give Dan, as she’d already packed up the other glasses. She had no idea why she’d bothered. There was nowhere for her to unpack them.

“
I’ve not heard from any of the places that I’ve applied. Have you had any luck?” When he didn’t answer her, she turned to him. He was staring at her like he was pissed about something. “Dan? What’s wrong?”

“
Mom kicked me out.” Kala raised a brow at his tone but said nothing as he continued. “She said the only reason she let me stay as long as she did was because of the cable. Now that it’s gone, she said I had to be too. She made me really mad, if you want to know the truth. We argued a lot.”

“
I’m sorry about that. Do you have a place to stay?” She handed him the wine opener. She hadn’t packed it because she never used it and was planning to leave it behind. “I have to find a place to live, too. My apartment is being renovated, and everyone has to leave for the new owners. Your poor mother will be all alone. Is she going to be okay?”

“
You don’t have a home anymore either?” She shook her head suddenly, slightly afraid of him. “Well, shit, Kala. I was hoping to move in with you and have a roof over my head. You really fucked that up for me, didn’t you? Now what the hell am I supposed to do now, I ask you?”

She looked at him to see if he was kidding and realized then that he wasn
’t. Kala started to tell him that he should have been saving his money all along when the timer sounded for the corn bread. Instead of saying what was on the tip of her tongue, she excused herself and went to the kitchen. He actually thought she would let him move in with her? The man was as looney as they came.

“
Hey, Kala, where you moving to?” She looked up at him from the stove. He’d moved into the kitchen, and was so close that she looked around for something to protect herself with. “I was thinking with our unemployment and all we could afford something much better than this place anyway. We can share your money and I can take care of things.”

Anger surged through her
, and she felt her heart pound. She was never one to get mad, but when she did, it was never pretty. Kala had a feeling that if she didn’t nip this in the bud now, he’d think he could walk all over her. And Kala had had enough of people walking over her.

“
You’re not moving in with me.” He laughed. “I’m serious. I don’t know where I’m going, but it’s going to be something that I can afford. And I plan to live alone. I’ve no intentions of having a roommate, and I most certainly don’t want someone who plans to sponge off me while I work.”

“
You’re not going to leave me on my own, are you? You’d never be able to do that to me. And even if you did, what the hell am I supposed to do all by myself? I need you to take care of me like I always thought you should. I don’t have any money saved up like you do. I lived at home, for Christ’s sake. I don’t—” Both of them looked at the glass that shattered on the floor. Neither of them had touched it, and as far as she could tell, the windows were closed and there was no fan on. “What the fuck was that? Ghosts? Do you have ghosts here? When we live together, you’re not bringing them with you.”

“
I don’t have ghosts, and you’re not living with me.” She was putting the cornbread on the plate when he moved closer to her. “What are you doing?”

“
Look, this is just stupid. Let me show you what a big help I can be. You’re going to have to let me stay with you until we can work something out anyway. I’ve already got my things in the car, and once I take Mom’s car back to her we’ll sit down and think this through.” Dan took the plate from her. “Man, this smells really good. And I love cornbread. If you keep cooking like this, I might have to wear my jammies around here just to not have to unbutton my pants after every meal.”

Kala stood there staring at him for several seconds. He
, however, just simply sat down and dished himself up a bowl of chili and half the cornbread. When he asked her where his drink was, she gave him another glass and the water she had chilled before she could think to tell him to get it himself. She sat down across from him and glared. He really thought she was just going to roll over and let him do as he wanted.
Well, not today
, she thought.

“
There will be no talking this over. I’m not going to support you, and there is no way you’re going to move your things in here until you have someplace to live. You will not be bringing your things here either.” He nodded and smiled at her, and she had a feeling that he was humoring her. “I’m dead serious. I have to find me a place to live and a job. I will not have you living here with me. Nor in the new place. I like you, but I won’t let you move in.”

“
Yeah, you will.” She got up to pace as he finished off the food she’d hoped to share with a good friend. This was out of hand. “What mix do you use for this bread? This is amazing.”

“
I don’t use a mix. What do you plan to do tonight for a place to sleep?” He looked at her couch and nodded toward it. “Oh no you don’t. You’re not living here. How many times do I have to say that to you before it sinks into your thick head? I’m not your maid, and I’m certainly not your mom.”

When he leaned back
, she thought he was going to argue with her, but he pulled out a gun and laid it on the table. He didn’t say a word as he picked up his spoon and continued eating as if he hadn’t just threatened her. Kala stared at it for several seconds before it dawned on her that he would get his way or he’d kill her. This was a nightmare.

“
Sit down, Kala, and eat. We’ll talk about this while you finish your meal. You’ll need to get out tomorrow to get a job and a place for us to stay. I don’t know how much longer you have to live here, but I would think it’s not long beings how you’ve already packed up our things.” She shook her head, and he nodded to the chair. “If you don’t sit down, you’re going to piss me off. And I’m in no mood to fuck around with you tonight. Mother is mad enough at me. And now that you’ve tried to ruin my good dinner, we’ll just eat quietly for the rest of this meal. I don’t like arguing with anyone. It gives me a headache.”