I was running on the grass or swimming in the ocean, now and then. But those were the same dreams I’d had back on the space station during my mission.
I’d said goodbye to Earth long before I crashed on the Dark Anomaly.
By choosing a career in space exploration, I knew I wouldn’t be spending much time on the ground for the rest of my life. Just like my parents before me, I had willingly dedicated my life to working off planet, giving up on personal relationships and the potential for a family.
With Vrateus, I had unexpectedly gained some of that back.
He was closer to me than anyone I’d ever had in my life. Our relationship was more intimate—physically and emotionally—than I’d ever had with anyone else.
Stretching under the soft, puffy covers, I rubbed the remnants of sleep out of my eyes.
“There you are.” I smiled at Vrateus as he walked out of the bathroom naked, drying himself off with a towel.
I couldn’t leave the Dark Anomaly, but I’d gained a different kind of freedom here. I was free to spend the rest of my life with the man I loved. Something my parents never had. Something I’d never thought I could do, either.
“Morning.” The fur on his head was still soaking wet, water dripping from the large, soggy curl over his forehead.
“Come here.” I sat up, patting the mattress next to me.
When he sat down, I took the towel from his hands, drying his head and shoulders for him. The damp fur stood up in spikes when I finished, and I smoothed it with my hands the best I could.
He smiled at me while I arranged the curly wave over his forehead. The luxurious softness of his fur clashed with the rest of this man who seemed to be made entirely of hard planes and sharp edges.
“Here you go.” I fluffed it up a bit, whipping it into its usual shape. “Looks good.” I placed a kiss on the corner of his smiling mouth. “Devastatingly handsome. Like always.”
“How about this?” He swung his soggy tail into my hands.
“You want me to groom all of you?” I tilted my head, raising an eyebrow.
“Could you?” His smile grew teasing. Mischief twinkled in his eyes, brightening their burnt-orange color.
“Well...” I pretended to be annoyed but wrung the water out of his tail with the towel. “If you insist.”
He smiled wider. I enjoyed touching him, and I knew he treasured it. Deprived of any physical contact most of his life, he soaked in my attention like a sponge.
From the base of his tail, I moved the towel to his chest, trailing it down his chiseled abs and lower.
The grin slipped from his face as my fingers brushed by his erection. It immediately jumped from half-mast to fully erect.
“Now what?” I glanced up at his face.
He lifted an eyebrow at me, expectantly.
Dropping the towel, I stroked him with my hands. The dark, hard ridges swelled along his shaft, making me tingle with anticipation, for I knew how tantalisingly sweet they rubbed when he was inside me.
“Now, it’s my turn to do some grooming,” he growled, rolling me onto my back. “Only, I’ll do it with my mouth.”
He dragged his long tongue between my legs, and I rolled my head on the pillow, moaning deep in my throat. Heat flooded me, prickling my skin with pleasure and making my toes curl.
We had things to do this morning. I knew we did. Only I could no longer remember what they were. Nothing seemed to matter.
Even as an inexperienced virgin, Vrateus had been able to make me feel things no one else ever could. Now, after a month of eagerly learning everything he could about my body, he masterfully played it like a well-tuned instrument.
Easing out his claws, he lightly scraped along the skin of my thighs then up my sides to my breasts. I moaned louder as he found my nipples, squeezing them lightly between his fingers.
He swirled his tongue inside me, and my hips jerked as pleasure rushed through me.
Promptly sliding up my body, he fitted himself between my thighs. I opened my legs wider, lifting my hips to meet him as he slipped inside me.
“It’s like coming home, Svetlana...” he murmured in my ear, starting to move. “Every. Single. Time.”
I was his home now, and he was mine.
Hugging him closer, I let the pleasure roll through me with his every thrust.
After a few pumps, he flipped me to my stomach. I bent my knees, lifting