Atlas panted with exertion and held himself inside her as she lay beneath him, well fucked and thoroughly exhausted. He took the opportunity to draw the root from her anus, leaving her with a residual heat that would not soon fade.
Jerri didn’t know quite when she came back to conscious reality. She had been floating on a haze of pleasure and satisfaction for what felt like hours but had probably only been minutes. When she was able to process external stimuli again she realized she was lying on Atlas’s bed. He was cleaning her up gently with a warm cloth, wiping excess sweat and seed from her inner thighs. It was a surprisingly tender gesture, one that encouraged her to relax and go with the flow.
“You’re still confined to quarters,” he reminded her, immediately killing the mood with his disciplinary talk. “Best make it appear you have been punished effectively.”
“But I have been.”
“I suspect such a thing is not possible,” he said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear with an affectionate gesture. “You are not the kind to be broken or tamed. But you might be persuaded to obey.”
“You’ve ripped my suit, you know,” she said, changing the subject as she sat up. She felt dizzy, but in a good way. “How am I supposed to get back to my room without everybody seeing my ass?”
“Here,” he said. He handed her an oversized gold-colored shirt, though it was probably not oversized on him. She pulled it over her head, finding that it was made of a thick soft material that immediately made her feel all snuggled up and safe. The endorphins from the sex were still flowing richly through her veins. She felt good. Better than she had in a very long time.
“This is going to draw attention. It screams walk of shame.”
“Walk of shame?” He lifted a rough brow at her.
“It’s what they call it at the academy when everybody is stumbling home early Sunday morning in the same messed-up clothes they wore Saturday night. Fucked up, or well fucked, everybody knows what it looks like.”
“Then we will wait until the ship is slumbering and you can make a dash for it then.”
She smirked, thinking to herself how successfully she had corrupted the strictest hard ass commander on the ship and perhaps in the entire Authority fleet. She’d have him wrapped around her little finger now.
“Make certain you remain in your quarters, and refrain from any entertainment programs. You are still on restrictions.”
He dampened her hopes in two sentences. She thought for a split second about whining, but she was already sore enough and she knew she was pushing her luck. She decided to change the subject before he thought any more about her punishment situation.
She looked around his room. “Seriously, where’s your stuff? You don’t have family pictures or anything.”
“I remember what my family looks like,” he replied. “I don’t need to display them.”
“Other people might want to know what they look like. Other people might want to get to know you.”
He gave her a sharp look. “I am not aboard this vessel to get to know people.”
“Oh.”
She tried not to show how upsetting that comment was. He might not be on the Audacity to get to know people, but he’d just been specifically inside her. Maybe he was like Taylor, full of desire until he came and then filled with nothing but bitter regret.
“What do you want to know?” He softened his tone a little.
“I don’t know,” she blushed. “I’m not used to getting to know people like this. I don’t know. Are you married?”
“I’m not married.” He let out a bark of laughter. “You think I would have mated with you if I were promised to another?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Jerri admitted with some small amount of shame. “I’m not the sort of girl you take home to Mom. I’m the sort you fuck in the back of your shuttle.”
He frowned at her. “Who has told you these things?”
“I don’t know. Every dude who ever fucked me?” She picked at a thread on his blanket and tried not to sound too sorry for herself even though she knew she sounded completely sorry for herself. She was really trying to tell him she didn’t have any expectations, that she knew this hadn’t meant anything. Maybe she’d get a favor or two out of it at some point, but it wasn’t like she expected him to fall in love or anything crazy like that.
“I did not fuck you,” he said, taking her by the chin and directing her gaze to his.
“Yes, you did.”
“Yes, I did. But not in the way you are implying. I do not intend to discard you.”
“So we’re going to do it again?” She felt herself brighten.
His expression grew reserved. “It’s against Authority protocol.”