"To tonight," she said, looking up at him. She saluted with her goblet and then sipped.
At that moment, she was so painfully sensuous that Brim fete himself losing control of his emotions. Taking both a deep breath and a long draught of meem, he stepped to the double doors and looked out at the scattering of lights that fronted the bay. While he stared, a luminous cascade bust into life far out on the water, lengthened, then accelerated across the darkness until it vaulted into the starry sky, echoes from its passage ranting the door's crystal panes as he stared in utter fascination. Eventually, its navigation light disappeared among the stars, and then he felt her standing close beside him.
"You do love starflight, don't you?" she asked quietly.
"It's about all I know," he answered, looking into her brown eyes. Suddenly, as if someone else were in control, he set his goblet on a nearby table and drew her gently into his arms, the sensual fragrance of perfume heavy in his nostrils. She came with no hesitation, molding herself easily to his chest and searching his eyes, mouth open slightly and lips pouted. "May 1 kiss you?" he whispered.
"I think you'd better," she sighed in a low voice, then delicately placed her free arm around his neck and covered his mouth with hers. Her breath was an erotic blend of mu'occo and e'lande as she kneaded his lips gently.
Of a sudden, he found himself trembling like a raw fifteen-year-old boy. He tightened his embrace while he pressed her lips until he could feel her teeth against his. Her breathing began to shorten and her mouth opened wider. His breath shortened, too-considerably-while his heart began to pound against his chest.
Then the pressure on his neck ebbed and her lips withdrew as she took a deep breath.
Her eyes opened and blinked slowly before she dropped her arm and leaned back in his embrace, nodding wide-eyed at the goblet of e'lande she was holding at a perilous angle.
"Wilf Brim," she said with an embarrassed little smile, "if we keep that up, I am going to spill e'lande all over my carpet and..." She gestured with her hand. "Well, you know-we haven't even had supper."
"One more," Brim begged.
"One more like that, and by the time I feel like cooking again, everything will be burned to a crisp."
Brim released her after a final embrace, and they retired to opposite ends of the couch to kick off their shoes and finish their drinks. There was still a whole Universe of interesting things to laugh and talk about, but now Brim could no longer force himself to take his eyes from her legs. Nor did she seem to be very committed to smoothing her skirt any farther toward her knees than the position at which it had originally come to rest when she sat in the deep cushions.
In due time, Brim refilled their goblets, then-at the insistent tone of a hidden tuner-followed Claudia into the kitchen. Much of the tantalizing room was lined by carved wooden cupboards and pantries adorned with copper implements of every size and description.
One end was dominated by a large black-metal stove, clearly operated by an old-fashioned flame mechanism. He smiled. Somehow, he was not a bit surprised, although the little he knew about this woman was closely related to starship technology and Hyperlight Drives.
Donning a ruffled apron and huge flowered mittens, Claudia opened the oven and removed two golden-brown loaves of bread that she set on a nearby counter to cool. They filled the air with a yeasty scent so agonizingly delicious that Brim found he could-to some degree-forget how tantalizingly provocative this naturally sensuous woman could be.
In short order, she prepared the remainder of their supper while Brim reposed like crowned royalty in a stout wooden chair, watching with the rapt fascination of the uninitiated.
Truly, he had very little, experience with such a cookery-or cook. After Kabul Anak's early raids, he had known only institutional cooking-when he could get even that. Now, he found himself totally absorbed in warmth and pungent, mouthwatering odors while he watched an extravagantly beautiful woman bustling in the most outlandish example of a kitchen that he could imagine. "Small Universe," he thought to himself.
Eventually-only just short of his commencing to gnaw on his chair-Claudia directed him to fill two fresh meem goblets at an exquisite glass table in still another softly lighted room.
Then, with great bustle and fanfare, she fetched a steaming tureen of soup and served their plates beneath ornate silver hemispheres. Subsequently, considerable food, Logish Meem, and time disappeared before their conversation rallied to anywhere near its previous level.
Much later, after a thoroughly preposterous dessert-that Claudia admitted she had purchased-they retired to the couch and the fire for liqueurs. This time, Brim permitted no distance between them. He felt wonderfully full and just the slightest bit tipsy after their second bottle of Logish Meem. Beside him, Claudia relaxed on the cushions, drawing on a mu'occo cigarette in a long silver holder. Her cheeks had adopted a healthy blush as she stared into the fire and her skirt revealed significant expanses of black-stockinged leg above her knees. Without a word, Brim placed his arm around her shoulders.
Only after long moments did she turn to look up at him-studying his face with a grave expression in her brown eyes. Abruptly, she seemed to reach some conclusion, for she straightaway placed her liqueur on the end table and quashed out the half-finished mu'occo in a spicy puff of smoke. With a little half-smile, she next took the liqueur from his hand and set it beside her own, then leaned back in the crook of his arm and took a deep breath-her eyes fairly sparkling. "You are a very handsome and desirable man, Mr. Brim," she signed.
"When are you going to ask me for another kiss?"
Almost before he realized what he was doing. Brim affectionately pulled her close and covered her partially open mouth with his. This time, they began gently and tentatively, but when Brim found his lips again pressing wet inner membranes, his heart begin to hammer once more in his chest and he discovered his resolve evaporating before he'd gotten it fairly in use.
Suddenly, she threw both arms around his neck and squeezed almost desperately. After that, things became a lot less gentle and tentative.
"This could get out of hand," he mumbled shakily, opening his eyes for a moment.
"I know," she whispered, blinking once or twice. "I think it already has."
In spite of himself, Brim felt his hand slide to cup her breast. It was much larger than it appeared-delightfully heavy and firm as he gently fondled its sensual curve.... Then his breathing suddenly went all out of control, and he found himself fairly gasping for air.
"S-stop, Wilf," she murmured, pushing his wrist away, "not our first time, please."
"S-sorry..." he stuttered, struggling desperately with himself, but his passion continued to grow with each moment-and clearly, so did hers.
Once again, he cupped her breast, his heart now thundering in his ears like a runaway Drive.
Twisting her body slightly in his arms, she touched his wrist once more-and her hand lingered there for a moment. Then, with a smothered sigh she slowly drew her sweater up and out of the way. "What harm can it do," she whispered, her voice now, urgent and out of breath. "You couldn't help knowing how much I've wanted you."
"Universe..." Brim whispered, feeling the incredibly soft nakedness of her skin warm his trembling hand. Moments after he started to gently finger her taut, swollen nipple, she thrust her tongue into his mouth with an animal urgency, and her hand dropped to his crotch. After a moment of fumbling, she gave a little gasp and grasped him even tighter. He was ready....
Long after they completed their first-quite violent-coupling, Brim and Claudia clung to each other in trembling silence while coals from the fire snapped and spit in the fireplace. At last, he arose and threw another log on the fire. As she lay back on the rumpled cushions in the firelight, her moist body shone in a flickering study of soft shadows and rounded highlights.