Grace Goodwin - Matched and Mated

But Brax didn’t want babies. He didn’t want a mate. He didn’t want anything more than a fun time. I wasn’t mad. I hadn’t wanted more either… until I did. And that wasn’t his fault.

“You are quiet tonight, Miranda.” Brax tied something around the end of my braid to secure it and lowered his lips to my bare shoulder. The soft, heated touch was like the brush of fire against my skin.

“I’m sorry, Master.” In this room, his bedroom, I never used his name. I didn’t have permission. When we were together, he was my master in every way, and I’d come to learn that with my surrender came amazing pleasure.

He moved in closer, and I gasped as his bare chest came to rest against my back. I wore next to nothing, sexy layers of gossamer silk that would not impede his hands, his mouth, or his cock from finding any part of me he desired. It was so pretty, decadent even, a shimmering fabric like translucent liquid opals. I’d never seen anything like it on Earth, and I’d spent two week’s wages from my job at the youth education center to wear it for Brax tonight.

“Do you wish to share what troubles you?” His hands rested on my waist, and I could feel the patience in him. Heard it in the soft tone of his voice. He would wait if I wished. Would listen. But that wasn’t what I needed from him, for I already knew the answer. We’d agreed to no strings and that’s what we’d done all this time. A wild few days and then he walked away. It had been hot, easy and simple.

Until it wasn’t. Not in my mind… and crap, not in my heart. I wouldn’t ruin this time with him by telling him I wanted more, wanted to change the rules of our arrangement. It wasn’t fair to him, especially since I knew his answer. He was content as it was. And that was why I remained silent. I didn’t want his answer, didn’t want to hear him tell me again about his duty to his people. His loyalty to Roark. I didn’t need a list of the reasons he wasn’t ready to take a mate. The reasons he couldn’t take a mate. I already knew exactly what he would say.

No. I needed to forget—and feel. And if this was the last time, so be it.

“No, Master.”

“Then tell me what you need.”

The soft murmur of his voice settled within me, to the very heart of what made me… well, me. That soft request opened doors in my mind that no one else had ever opened. That, before Brax, I’d been too terrified to even peek through. But I understood now. I needed to surrender. I needed to feel safe and give someone else control. I needed to trust him to take care of me. That need drove me to kneel, to call him master, to give him anything he wanted because I trusted him to take care of me. I’d been afraid my entire life. With Brax, I obeyed… and I was free. While I might be submitting, he would give me my every desire. And right now, there was only one thing I wanted. I needed.

“You.”

The word was barely more than a sigh, and true in ways he couldn’t possibly understand. I’d approached him, after all. I’d arrived on Trion with Natalie and Noah almost two years ago. Then, I hadn’t been ready. But six months ago, I’d gone to Brax and offered my body, asked him to make love to me. He’d refused, at first. He hadn’t laughed at the request or shamed me, thank god. He’d studied me in that intense way of his, then asked me to explain my need to be fucked. By him. A stranger.

Trion was different. God, sooo unbelievably different. Males on Trion were so unlike Earth men, especially my ex. My ex would have scoffed and called me a slut. But Brax had sensed there was an underlying reason for my request, that I wasn’t asking simply because I wanted to get off or had a dark demon within me.

And so I’d taken the biggest risk of my life and told him the truth. I told him about my ex, my past, how I didn’t know what my body truly needed, but that I needed… something. I had admitted that I had been watching the females on Trion for months. Admiring them with their adornments and shimmering clothing. They were shameless. Bold. They submitted to their mates willingly and with a peacefulness that I envied. They were content. Blissfully, brazenly sensual. Trion females didn’t have to ask for sex. They exuded it.

At that time, I hadn’t exuded anything except lingering doubts from my bad marriage. And that was what Brax had seen. Then questioned with a relentless intensity I’d come to adore. As ruthless as he’d been with his questions about my past, he’d been equally merciless in his demands that I overcome it.

Having a doctor for a lover had certain benefits. He’d taken care of birth control with one injection, bent me over the table, and ordered me not to move while he examined me. More like, touched me everywhere—and I mean everywhere—and found out what made me burn.

Holy fuck, no wonder Trion males were so… hot. They took, but gave so thoroughly in return because—hello!—I found out I loved to be bent over and worked until I was a sweaty, sated mess. I loved knowing my body aroused him, that he enjoyed seeing me naked. Loved me being naked, not allowing my clothes to remain on for long when we were together.

And now, he used the knowledge he’d gained about me, running his palm up and down my spine, leaning me forward. I went where he wished, bending, then dropping into a kneeling position on my hands and knees as he remained behind me, caressing the globes of my bottom. He pulled them apart, looked his fill. “You have a beautiful pussy.”

Knowing he could see me so thoroughly didn’t shame me any longer; it made me hot. Made me wet. I shuddered, wishing he would slide his fingers inside my slick heat, touch my clit. Lick me. Nibble. Anything. The waiting was torture, and I whimpered.

His hand landed on my ass with a loud smack, making my breasts swing beneath me. Another. The sting traveled through my body and went straight to my core. “I gave you a compliment. What do you say?”

I hissed out a breath, felt the heat spread. “Thank you, Master.”

Appeased, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the area I knew would be turning pink. “Your gown is beautiful, Miranda. Did you wear this for me?”

“Yes, Master.” God, did I ever. I wanted him to lose his mind. Shove me down and fuck me until I couldn’t see straight. I wanted him to take one look at me and decide he needed a mate after all. But I should have known better. Brax had never lost control. Not once.

“I have a gift for you as well.” The way he said the words made them feel like sex inside my head. Being with him was the gift I gave myself once a month when he returned from the latest dangerous, secret mission he always seemed to be on. He might be a doctor, but he still served, and in a way more dangerous than others stationed in the capital city of Xalia. Those missions were the reason he’d told me he could not take a mate. The reason he’d insisted this thing between us was only temporary, a casual arrangement between friends.

At first he’d focused on breaking every barrier my ex had placed in my mind. He’d touched me places I’d never been touched. Forced me to touch myself. Touch him. He’d pushed every boundary I had until I’d broken. Once he’d turned me into a blatant sexual creature, our relationship had changed. Now we both fulfilled a need in the other. A physical need.

Now we were fuck buddies. A booty call. Friends with benefits.

I didn’t want to be his friend. Not anymore. I wanted to be his. I was ready to belong again. Have someone of my own. I was ready to give my heart away, but I didn’t want to make a mistake. Not this time. I would take what Brax offered me tonight because the benefits felt so damned good, and I’d deal with the rest of my life later.