Wordless, Dopekh just nods.
Well. That went better than expected. Pleased, I head toward our quarters so I can tuck my wife in.
I wake up to the sound of jingling metal. With a groan, I reach for Ruth, only to find her side of the bed empty. Immediately I tense. Is she sick? Is she upset? I jump to my feet, shoving the blankets aside—
—And nearly collide with my wife.
I scrub a hand down my face as I fall back into bed. "Kef me, Ruth. Don't sneak up on me!"
She winces, hiding something behind her back. "Sorry, I was taking a pee break. Did I wake you?"
I yawn, glancing over at the clock on the comm panel. It's early all right. If we were back on Homeworld, the sun wouldn't be up for at least another hour, not that this means much in deep space. "It's all right, love." I pat her side of the bed. "Come back to sleep."
Ruth climbs over me, and I could swear I hear the clink of metal again. She gets on her side of the bed and then snuggles up to my side, tucking herself against me. She's wearing one of my old tunics that she modified to sleep in, the neck torn out and loose, the entire thing hanging to her knees. I like it, though. It's sexy and she's sexy in it. I rub her shoulder as I tug her against me, waiting to make sure she goes back to sleep first. I should have asked if she needed crackers, or something dry to settle her stomach—
"Straik?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you sleepy?" She sounds wide awake.
Uh oh. Something's wrong. "I'm awake now." I rub my eyes again and focus on the top of her head. "What's troubling you?"
Ruth looks up at me. "Do you trust me, baby?"
Uh oh. Is this a trap? Even so, my answer is always the same. "You know I do."
"Cool. Then give me your hand." Ruth's voice turns slightly flirty in the shadows. "I promise it's for a good cause."
I hold one hand out into the near darkness. "Any particular hand, love?"
"This one will do." She sits up and then promptly sits on my chest. I catch a whiff of her arousal and grin to myself as she guides my hand back toward the metal headboard of the bed. Ah, I know exactly where this is going. She's woken up due to her dreams and wants to mate—
Something hard and metal clinks around my wrist. In the next moment, it clinks against the bed frame, and then Ruth chuckles, low and enticing. "We're gonna play a game."
She's cuffed me, using the same nullified shock-cuffs I used on her when we first met. Is this her way of getting back at me? "Are you angry about something? What did I do?"
"I'm not angry," my wife calmly states, straddling me. "It's a game, like I said."
Game or not, I'm uneasy. I jerk my hand against the headboard, because I'm not sure I like not being able to use my hand. "Ruth, do you know how to get me free from this?"
"If I can't figure it out, we'll cover up your cock and have one of the crew come free you." She moves over me, and then her mouth presses against my chest. "But we'll do that later, all right? Put both of your hands on the headboard. I could only find one set of cuffs."
Both of my hands? Ruth kisses lower, and lower again, heading straight down my abdomen, and I realize what her game is. Oh. All of my unease drops away and I place my other hand next to the first. "If you wanted to mate, all you had to do was wake me up."
"I know, but I think this is more fun." She chuckles, her breath whispering over my skin as she slinks down my body and her hands move lower and lower still. They graze over the underwear I'm wearing and she clucks her tongue. "You're dressed. Why are you dressed?"
Before I can answer, she grips my cock through the fabric of my clothing and I bite back a groan of pleasure. "You…thought you might need crackers…or water. Wanted to be ready."
"Mmm. You're the sweetest, you know that?" She teases the waist down my hips, and when my cock springs free, I practically shudder with anticipation. "But I feel good. And I wanted to make you feel good. We've been so caught up with everything going on that I wanted to remind you where we started. You and me, in this bed."
Then she slides the underwear down my legs and tosses them aside, along with the blankets. Her mouth is hot on my skin as she moves lower, her breath teasing against the head of my cock. "You going to freeze me out now?" I ask, my voice straining as I struggle for control. Just the anticipation of her mouth on my skin makes me hungry with need. "Deny me food?"