StarlightComplete Read online

  “You have to ask?” he responded, sliding his pelvis against her. “But not here. You’re right. It’s not proper.”

  “A lot of what you’ve done to me mightn’t be considered proper, John-Kuno.”

  “Such as?” He purred over her, his tongue touching her eyelids. “I’ll have to do it all again and when you tell me what I’m doing isn’t proper, I’ll have to apologize. And then I’ll do whatever it is again—properly. Tell me later, honey-cat, in private.” Pushing himself away, he took her hand and led her down the corridor.

  Sam’s high heels clicked against the metal floor and she wished now she had worn pumps. Stilettos and space stations just did not work.

  John glanced at her. “You’re gonna break your neck wearing those shoes.”

  “I know. But a gal has to have some height when her guy is so tall. In bare feet I don’t reach your chin.”

  He grinned. “We fit together perfectly, kitten. I like to tuck you beneath my chin.”

  “I don’t want to be tucked anywhere!” She glared at him.

  “No?” His smile was pure predatory male; his eyes sparked.

  Laughing he strode ahead, leaving Sam to totter after him in her stars-cursed stilettos.

  Reaching the end of the corridor, John took out a keycard from his jacket pocket and tried to insert it into the security slot.

  Samantha bit back her laughter. Seeing him flustered was a sight to be enjoyed. “Your hands are shaking so much, you’ll never do it. Here, let me.”

  “This is what you’ve reduced me to, honey-cat. A trembling mess.” Grinning, he relinquished the card and she carefully inserted it into the slot. The door slid open with a hiss.

  “See, easy,” she said, “when you know how.”

  “Ah, how perfectly they fit together. Reminds me of something, but I can’t quite remember.”

  She shot him a withering glance. “Oh, really?”

  He raised a brow, looking all innocence, except for the gleam in his eyes.

  The door sensor chimed. “Ten seconds to closure.”

  “Oh damn,” John said, tugging her forward. “Our conversation was just getting interesting.”

  They slipped through the door and it shut behind them.

  At the end of another corridor was a steep metal stairwell.

  Fifty steps down, they came to a landing. John put his right palm over the lock-sensor and part of the wall slid away, revealing an atrium. A silver man-droid stepped up to them, its arms wide spread.

  With a cry, Sam retreated a few steps. She hated mechanicals of any description. Could never trust them.

  John’s hand at her back, halted her. “Why are you frightened of a robot?”

  Sam shook her head, her heart hammering in her chest.

  “Won’t you explain, kitten?” He paused, studying her. “Later, then. Jinjo’s been with the bar’s family for over seventy years. He’d never hurt you, he’s an Avatar class one.”

  Sam glanced at the creature. An avatar was the closest thing to artificial intelligence thus far created by man. But it was still a goddamn machine.

  It turned its silver eyes towards her and smiled. Smiled.

  “Jinjo, this is Samantha. My friend.”

  The robot bowed.

  Recovering a little of her composure, Sam inclined her head, felinus style, while studying the avatar. It was dressed in an outfit straight out of the Arabian nights, complete with a jeweled turban.

  A laser beam from a ceiling sensor illuminated John. Sam cried out.

  “Honey-cat, it’s just a security check. You don’t know how many people try to get in here uninvited.”

  The light disappeared. “Greetings, messire, messirina. Welcome to Rendezvous.” The robot performed a salaam before returning to its security alcove behind the door.

  Sam glanced at it. “Messire? Messirina? Whatn’ the hell does that mean?”

  “Shifters enjoy games, the more realistic the better. He’s using formal address from Turkan.”

  Turkan—Sam had heard of that world. Located on the outer rim of the galaxy, it had declined a place in the Galactic Council, the only planet ever to have done so. Turkan and arrogance went hand in hand.

  “I suppose you’ve been to Turkan?”

  “Once,” John said. “No fun. All protocols and politeness. Jinjo acts the part very well.” He paused. “Last time I was here, the place was outfitted like ancient Egypt. Jinjo was wrapped up like a mummy.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope.” John turned to her, his palm against her cheek. “Shifters are sensory creatures, Sam. Felinus especially. We live for stimulation. Our every sense, when we’re in the mood, is focused on stimulation. Games provide so much more inspiration.”

  “I was never any good at games.”

  “You improvised last night when you became the cop and tied me up with ribbons.” Smiling, he ran a finger over her lips and she nipped at him. “You just have to expand your role-playing.”

  “I do?” Sam’s mouth was desert-dry at the thought.

  “Oh yeah.” John laced her arm through his and led her forward.

  At the end of the atrium, silver curtains parted. Sam halted, her heart racing, senses reeling from the overpowering scent.

  Sweet musk and tangy spice…wild, exotic and utterly pervasive. Her stomach clenched, other muscles clenched. She half turned to John and saw his flushed face. His narrowed gaze challenged hers.

  “Pheromones,” John said, his eyes dark, lambent. He scented the air and purred. “Ah, my friends are here.”

  As he stepped forward, Sam hung back. He turned to her.

  “I’m not sure I’m ready for this. I’m only just—”

  “There is nothing only or just about you, Sam!” He frowned. “If I didn’t think you’d be okay I would never have brought you. This is my world, honey. Your world now, too.” He leaned into her, his hand cupping her bottom, lifting her to him. His mouth slanted over hers, harder, faster, deeper, his tongue stroking. He blew into her mouth and she tasted the exotic in him: starlight, cat, human: untamed, dangerous.

  “You’re doing it to me,” she said.

  “I’m not doing anything. Yet.” He paused. “You still scared?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s go. We’re blocking the entrance.”

  “Just give me a few moments. My head is spinning.”

  “Not as much as it’s going to.”

  She slapped him. “Stop that! I have to orientate myself. This is new to me, John-Kuno.”

  He inclined his head. “Whatever my pussy asks.”

  Steeling herself, drawing in a deep breath—Oh Damn!

  “You shouldn’t inhale like that here,” John said. “Take it slowly. Otherwise, honey-cat, you’ll overload.”

  “Thanks for the warning…too bloody late.” She frowned at him. “I believe you did that on purpose. You’re enjoying this and what it’s doing to me.”

  “What exactly is it doing to you?” His concern was all innocence, but she knew him too well—knew his felinus nature too well to be fooled.

  She sniffed the air, hesitantly. But even that fleeting sample made her body pulse with pleasure. One scent closer to her, most vibrant. Familiar. She cast an accusing eye on John.

  “I am what I am,” he said, grinning. “I’m holding the scent to me; I’m being very restrained for your sake.”

  “Restrained?” They had made love so many times and she thought he had never held back anything. Was he telling her that he could be even more sexy?

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he growled.

  “You’re reading my mind?”

  “It’s easy, with the right stimulation.” He ran a finger over her mouth.

  “Do that again and I’ll bite.”

  “Prrrrrrromise?” he purred.

  Sam turned away, studying the circular room before her.

  Delicate carved pillars made of rainbow-hued crystal supported a mirr
ored ceiling. There were many areas within the room made private by shimmering laser screens. In alcoves hung with diaphanous curtains, she saw many creatures, both human and alien sitting, or lying upon thick tasseled silk cushions. Low tables before them held a range of food and drink, and above each alcove a holo-lamp, hanging from the ceiling by golden chains.

  Her gaze fastened on a tall humanoid creature, its—his? six tentacles stroking a white feathered woman with translucent wings. Tentacles probed…oh my! Sam looked away.

  John chuckled. “I told you about the shifters from Tau Ceti. Their tentacles can be…”

  “Yes, Kuno, I remember what you said.”

  Tentacle-man and his partner shimmered then disappeared as the laser-screen around their alcove activated but before they were sealed away she thought she heard a moan and a hiss.

  Sam swallowed down hard, focusing again on her surroundings, orienting herself. In the middle of the room was a raised dais, draped with embroidered velvet and silk with matching cushions spread around its circumference.

  “It’s like Aladdin’s Cave!” Sam said.

  “Straight out of a thousand and one nights.” John smiled. “A thousand and one nights, Sam, how does that sound?”

  “I…uh…?”

  “I’ll love you under the stars for one thousand and one nights. Are you up to it?”

  “I should rather ask you.” She narrowed her gaze.

  “I have no problems in that regard. Up is the only direction for me.”

  “Ha! I rather think it would be down…straight to hell.”

  “Felinus have no hell, except of our own making. Besides down is a direction I rather enjoy, too.”

  “You’re naughty.”

  “I do try.”

  Sam heard a cat hissing and then moments later a great golden cat raced across the floor, followed by an even larger black cat with green eyes. The cat paused, glanced at them before winking. With a scrabbling of claws, he took off after the other cat.

  “That’s Lenar. He and his mate like to play chasey.” John leaned into Sam, stroking her nape with his tongue. “Before they get to it.” He laughed. “Seen enough?”

  “That area at the back, behind the shimmer-screen, what’s in there?”

  “That’s the holo-dance floor.”

  “I can’t see inside.”

  “Of course not. What goes on in there is private. Very private.”

  “What more can go on in there, that’s not happening out here?”

  John laughed, then growled low at the back of his throat. “Ah, I forget you’re a kitten, Sam. There is a whole world of more awaiting you.”

  “I’m not a kitten.”

  “To the felinus you are, until you’ve been initiated.”

  “Initiated?” She didn’t like the sound of that…some ritual or something…?

  “Yep. You’ll know when you’re ready.” He spread his hands. “I can’t explain, it’s something to be experienced on all levels.”

  “What we’ve done already, that’s not enough? I’m still a kitten?”

  “We’ve done very little, Sam,” John said.

  “There’s more?”

  “Do you doubt it?”

  His tawny eyes were turbulent, she noticed. He was definitely up to something. Her temples pounded and her femininity responded, pounding with…with…Stars!

  John-Kuno smiled, a deep male smile that made her legs turn to jelly.

  “Now you’re starting to realize just what a felinus can do, are you scared?”

  Sam glanced about the room, then took his hand, raising it to her cheek. “No. I want to know all there is to know. Live every moment.”

  His eyes misted as he smiled. He placed a hand at the small of her back and escorted her through the maze of alcoves to the bar.

  “Greetings, Kuno,” the bartender said shimmying up to him.

  Sam lowered her eyes, studying the woman between her lashes because to gaze directly would have been too much.

  The felinus was as tall as John and gorgeous. Frighteningly so. Her black hair, streaked with purple, hung in thick curls to her knees. Golden—everything about her was variations of the same color. She wore a clinging strapless gold two-piece jump suit, with layers of chains draped around her hips and thighs. Her golden skin was lightly furred. Her amber eyes were large and framed by long turquoise lashes; her full mouth was bronze. As she leaned towards John, revealing her more than adequate cleavage, she stroked his wrist with a golden talon. On each of her nails, Sam saw a diamond.

  The woman of gold flicked her lashes and purred.

  John flushed and Sam felt the vibrations race from her head to her heels and reach an apex at the juncture of her thighs.

  “Kuno, quan lo maser lar t’an.” She glanced at Sam, golden brow raised in enquiry.

  “Thanks for the welcome. Yep, it’s been a long time. But what the hell have you done to your hair, Kareena?”

  Golden shook her head. “You don’t like the black?”

  “Nope. I preferred you as a natural purple.”

  “Then for you, darling, I’ll change back.” Her attention flitted to Sam. “Who is the kitten?”

  Sam squared her shoulders and linked her arm in John’s. “I’m Samantha.”

  “A human?”

  “There’s no need to insult me,” Sam whispered.

  “Ouch,” Golden said and laughed. “A kitten with a sting. Good for you, Kuno. Bad for me.”

  “You’ll survive, Kareena. I saw you playing tag with Lenar earlier. Where is he?”

  Sam, mouth agape looked from one to the other. That golden cat she had seen before, being chased—that had been Kareena?

  “Lenar is out back, nursing a bitten hand. He likes me to bite him did you know?”

  “Of course, he’s felinus.”

  Golden fluttered her lashes. “You like being bitten, Kuno?”

  “He does,” Samantha said leaning forward, an arm resting on the bar, her hand over John’s.

  “Then, kitten, see you bite him good and proper.”

  Sam sniffed and tossed her head.

  John cleared his throat. “I made a reservation.”

  “Yes. Your usual place. You want your usual everything?”

  “Thanks.”

  “And the kitten?”

  “I’ll have what John’s having…his usual,” Sam replied coolly.

  Golden raised a brow and smiled. “Think you can handle it, kitten?”

  Sam lifted her chin. “I can handle anything.”

  John laughed. “That’s very true.”

  Kareena growled and dragged a talon over the smooth metal bar top. The resultant screech cut across the bubble of voices, earning protests from nearby patrons.

  John turned away and again, with a hand possessively at the small of Sam’s back, guided her across the room, to a curtained alcove adjacent to the dais. Once inside, he activated the laser-screen and it shimmered closed, isolating them.

  Furious, Sam slapped John hard on the hand. “That’s for starters you…you…”

  “Reprobate?” he asked, rubbing his flesh. “That hurt.”

  “You’re gonna hurt even more, if you go anywhere near that woman again.”

  “She’s not a woman, she’s felinus.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Do I? Are you laying claim to me.”

  “All of you.”

  His intense gaze silenced her. What had she just said that made him look at her so? Was it some felinus thing, or just a male thing?

  “If you lay claim to me, Samantha, it’s a serious matter. Not to be entered into lightly.”

  “You never enter lightly, John-Kuno.”

  He had the good manners to actually blush at her double entendre. She wondered if the blush extended all over his body.

  John tugged off his jacket, shirt, and bent to remove his shoes.

  “What are you doing?” Sam asked breathlessly, her throat and stomach in knots.

/>   “I’m undressing.”

  “I can see that you…cat! But why?”

  “Well, it has been so long since I fucked you, perhaps you’ve forgotten. If I’m going to take you, honey-cat, then I do have to remove some clothing.” His heated gaze swept her from head to toe and back again. “Remaining dressed does pose some interesting possibilities. But I think I’ll save that surprise for another day.”

  John unzipped his trousers and slipped them down, first one leg removed, then the other, all the while keeping his eyes upon her.

  She tried not to look: his erection was rigid against his stomach, the head resting at his navel.

  “I want you, Sam.” His whisper was low, more a growl.

  Sam took a step backwards. “I can’t. Not here.”

  “Whatever you say, honey-cat.” Laughing, he turned away and bent over, waving his hand across the mini-dispenser built into the table.

  Sam clenched her fists at his deliberate provocation: exposing his tight ass to her like that. Cats liked to torment their victims…

  She was torn between wanting to run, and wanting to stay. Recalling Golden at the bar, Sam chose to stay. She’d prove to everyone she was no kitten!

  Knotting her fingers together in agitation, she studied the alcove. Diaphanous silver curtains formed the boundaries of their room. Rich velvet cushions, embroidered and tasseled, lay in two piles next to a small carved round table. Beneath it she saw a dispenser. Above the table was a filigree brazier with a mauve laser-light flickering in its center. The privacy screen was activated, so she knew that no one could see, or hear, what occurred inside the alcove, but she was accustomed to opaque walls and doors, but felinus, it seemed, were not. She remembered John’s disdain for her suite at the Saturn Hilton: he’d called it homogenized, synthesized and promised he would take her to more suitable accommodation within a few days. What he called ‘suitable’ made her nervous.

  A short time later the dispenser purred—just like a bloody cat—Sam thought and John tugged out the delivered parcel. He tore open the metal wrapper and shook out a black silk gown. He shrugged on the kaftan and lazily buttoned the clasps. He folded down onto the cushions and lay back, propped up on his left arm, watching her with lambent eyes.

  The dispenser purred again and another package appeared.

  “I took the liberty of ordering for you. Something to slip into, to make yourself more comfortable.” His smile was low, sexy and utterly devastating.