HELLO BEAUTIFUL

Ch 19

“Come outside with me Shazza.” Riddick’s shined eyes glittered with a lustful inner light as he gazed at her in the dim light of the bridge. His fingertips traced patterns on the bare skin of her arms and she shuddered at the touch; all night he had touched her like that. His hip would brush against hers as they made something to eat. His hand had sent a blaze of heat through her body when he touched her bare waist on the way back out of the galley.

Shazza hid a grin behind her coffee cup when she caught both Jack and Theo roll their eyes at Riddick before the two had made themselves scarce. Jack had made a wry face at her, one that made her look a lot older than she really was, when Shazza had asked her if she would be okay if left alone. She was at once glad that she didn’t have to explain anything to the young girl, and sad that she shouldn’t have to at the same time. It was impossible to stay sad when you looked at Jack however; there was something about her that had you smile in spite of yourself. She made a face around Shazza at Riddick who stood in the doorway and waited for her.

This left Shazza alone on the bridge with Riddick, who turned her in his arms to nuzzle along the delicate shell of her ear and nip a trail down her neck. His lips brushed her skin again when he whispered her name and his own heart raced just at the sound of her name. He edged closer to her and pressed against her back; the feel of her body pressed against him made him shiver and his skin erupt in gooseflesh.

He reached down to take her hand and fought against the happiness that pulled at him; he felt incredible. It was her, it was this place, but mostly it was her. He knew that with a certainty that couldn’t be shaken. “Come with me.” Riddick dropped his head and grinned anyway, and Shazza knew that she would follow him anywhere. He handed her the blanket he had taken from their room before he opened the bay doors. Shazza had to take his hand; there was no light in the ship any longer or at least until some sort of arrangements could be made about the lack of power.

Shazza held his hand and stepped out of the ship. His thumb traced over the back of her hand and he reached in for another quick kiss, and then he dropped her hand to close the bay doors again. The air was cool but not cold and the grass was damp with drops of dew that reflected the pale silver light of Trieste Nine’s two small moons. It was so beautiful that it took her breath away. It made her feel giddy, like a teenaged girl on her first date, when Riddick kissed the back of her neck again. He grinned down at her and took her hand and set off across the grass. “Where are we going, Riddick?” He turned to look back at her and her breath hitched as the moonlight glinted off his shined eyes. ‘He’s so beautiful. Does he have any idea how beautiful he is?’ He didn’t answer but just smiled at her, and she wondered if he felt as giddy as she did.

He walked with his hand held out ahead of him, to search for the thrum of power that he had felt earlier. When he had stood within it before, all he could think of was Shazza, and now she was here with him. Riddick stopped as his fingertips, then his hand and then his wrist tingled. He stood at the edge, almost afraid to step forward with her. His heart slammed in his chest and he knew that this would change him in a way he didn’t quite understand.

Shazza felt his hesitation and stopped with him, her head tilted to the side as she waited for him. Riddick was in control here, and she found she didn’t mind that one bit. He whispered her name again and stepped backward, his voice a question in itself, asking her to come with him. She stepped forward and felt again the tingle across her skin that she had felt the first time they had walked across this space on the way to the Moorglade.

Riddick dropped her hand and stepped closer to her, his hands lost in her hair. She let out a small gasp at the feel of his lips on hers; he was passionate and insistent, and even if they had been anywhere else she would have felt almost overwhelmed by him. But here everything was amplified; the electric charge in his skin had her run her hands all over him, just to touch him everywhere at once if she could. His tongue pulled at hers and his soft moan as he touched her pulled at something deeper, something primal. She had never felt so wanted, so desired, as she did right now.

She pulled at her own shirt but Riddick stopped her, he didn’t want to rush, even if his body did. He stepped back from her and flicked the blanket out over the grass and had to close his eyes against the image of her beneath him again. He was so hard he ached, the tightness almost unbearable. Fingertips played along the rumpled bottom edge of her top and showed her skin beneath, aglow in the soft light. His hands trembled slightly as he undressed her slowly; he enjoyed everything; her skin, her body slowly revealed to him until her pale skin glowed under the moonlight.

Shazza had rarely felt so bare, so exposed, in her whole life. More than her skin showed, everything showed. Her skin flushed at the feel of Riddick’s eyes on her, as he drank her in; his soft growl had her nipples harden. She reached out for him but he evaded her easily; she watched him shamelessly as he undressed in front of her.

They stood before each other, almost as if they were afraid of that last step; they both knew they would be lost the moment they touched each other. There was this, right now, this moment where their bodies nearly touched and in the strange electric air, the very molecules of their body reached out for each other, a mutual attraction that they wouldn’t be able to hold at bay for long. Shazza stepped closer and brushed her nose against his chest and inhaled deeply, just once, before she stepped back again and gracefully lay back on the blanket.

The skin burned where she had touched him; he still felt her after she had let go; he wanted her to touch him again, to not ever stop. He wanted her. Riddick dropped to his knees and crouched over her and ran his hand through her hair; it fanned out over the blanket and curled against her skin.

He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he hadn’t wanted. When he was younger his wants expressed themselves in the negative; he wanted not to be hit, not to be cold, not to be scared, not to be hungry. His wants changed as he got older, but the intensity never did; he wanted to be free, wanted a woman, wanted so many things. He had always wanted more, but after a time had learned that it wasn’t smart to say what you wanted; a man that knew what you wanted would break you with it. It didn’t change the fact that he wanted. Something more.

Riddick lost his hands in Shazza’s hair once more, the soft curls of it tangled up in his fingers. Shazza’s weight shifted underneath him in acceptance; he watched her eyes darken, her lips parted. She wanted him too, with that same intensity. It caught him a little off guard that she could want him the same way. They were both stripped bare in so many ways, with neither the ability nor desire to deceive in any way. Her knees spread and her hips shifted to take him in and her legs wrapped around his waist.

Everything in him sank into everything in her. He kissed her softly at first as he sank to her soft depths, and felt her, all of her. They shared a quiet gasp, and he knew right then that she felt all of him; their hands reached for each other again as he made love to her. A brief moment of fear quickly pushed away; neither would deny themselves this, no matter how exposed it left them.

‘Riddick…’ Her voice spoke so clearly within him that if he hadn’t watched her beautiful mouth move he would have thought she spoke his name within his mind. The sound of her want, that she wanted him as much as he wanted her, threw out his last reservation. He leaned in and kissed her hard; she bucked her hips up and he fucked her harder. Their bodies slicked in sweat and every exertion brought them even closer together. He felt her orgasm begin, and then felt her orgasm in his own head. It wasn’t the first time that he had come at the same time as a woman, but it was definitely the first time that he had felt it, really felt it. Shazza’s scream was sharper than he had ever heard it before, a wild sound that had his hips buck almost painfully.

He wouldn’t withdraw, he didn’t want to break the connection they had made, he didn’t want this feeling to stop. He could still feel her, in his head, and he knew it was the same for Shazza, that she felt all of him.

“What the hell was that?” Shazza’s voice trembled and her hands shook as she ran them over his back, his shoulders, over the stubble of his head. She felt incredible; her skin so sensitive. She couldn’t stop touching him, and he clearly didn’t want her to stop. His head pressed against her hands, a lot like a big cat; his lips brushed against the soft skin of her lips. Just to feel her, he wanted just to feel her and that feeling of connection whenever their skin touched.

“It’s something here; I felt it earlier when I first crossed the ley line.” Shazza watched him as his head pulled back a little, to watch her as he spoke. “And it’s you.” His voice dropped to a whisper and he closed his eyes once he had said it, as though he had given away too much of himself and needed to pull back a little.

Riddick pulled her up with him, to sit in his lap facing him. The strength of the connection faded when he pulled out of her and he let out a soft sigh of regret and nuzzled her cheek. Shazza was pulled hard to his chest, his arms wrapped tight around her as he tried to hold on for a little longer. She couldn’t let go of him either, and their skin pressed to each other until the cool night air dried their sweat and the connection faded, but not completely.

He whispered her name and pulled back a little to cup her face, to raise it to his. She watched his features close off again, or at least she watched the effort. It wasn’t entirely successful. He nibbled his lip nervously before he bit it, to keep it still. She had seen him do this before, when he was about to ask something that mattered to him so deeply that he feared to let her know just how much it mattered. His expression stilled, but not the fire in his eyes, that he couldn’t hide, and he wouldn’t look away from her either. “Are you mine, Shazza?”

‘He doesn’t know how to ask me.’ Shazza watched him intently, and wondered at a life where even to ask if a woman loved you could be a terrifying experience, something done carefully. And that’s what he asked, even if he couldn’t say the words themselves; he asked her if she loved him. He needed to know, before he could give his own heart. “Yes.”

The blaze of heat burned in his eyes, and his feelings were blindingly clear to her, so clear he closed his eyes tight and kissed her hard.
—

He lay beside her, awake, long after she had drifted off to sleep. Riddick’s hand reached out across the sheets and covers to touch her bare skin but in his mind he still held her, was still within her, in the grass outside. The connection hadn’t entirely faded. He was so overwhelmed by it at first that he hadn’t had too much time to think about it. He eased over onto his side to watch her and wondered if she felt it too; if like him she had felt everything he had kept hidden for a lifetime. Often even from himself. If she did, she didn’t think any less of him for it. He leaned in and kissed her so softly she wouldn’t wake and whispered half to himself, “I’m yours too, Shazza.”

He jolted and woke her, when he heard Jack scream from the other room. “Pants, Riddick!” He was halfway to Jack’s door when Shazza reminded him that he was still naked; the last thing Jack needed to see was a naked man run at her in the dark. By the time he had hopped and pulled on cargoes, Shazza had already pulled his shirt over her head and was nearly through the door without him.

He quickly scanned the room when he pushed the door open, and his outstretched hand guided Shazza around the edge of the dresser; she couldn’t see in the dark. There was no one else in the room with her, and Riddick let his breath out. He hadn’t wanted to think that Theo had made her scream like that, and he felt relieved that the room was empty. Not only for Jack, but because he had started to like Theo.

Jack pulled her face out of the blankets she hid behind at the sharp sound of Riddick’s voice in the room, as he called her name. Shazza and Riddick sat on the edge of the bed and reached out for her at the same time; she felt relieved but felt so silly at the same time. The nightmare had been so vivid that she had sat up and screamed out loud before she could stop herself, and now she buried her face back in her blankets and tried not to cry. She couldn’t see either of them in the dark but she felt their hands on her. Riddick’s were more sure, but then again, he could see in the dark. He pulled her to his chest and held her tight. “Jack?” He repeated her name over and over, until she answered him.

“I’m sorry, it was just a stupid dream.” She tried to sound like it was nothing, like it didn’t matter, but she didn’t think Riddick bought it. Shazza pressed against her back and just held her; held her cocooned between the two of them. She felt so safe that it left her shaken and she buried her face against Riddick’s chest to stifle the sob. “I’m sor…”

“Quiet, Jack.” She had tried to pull away from him, and furiously wiped at her eyes. Without another word he had picked her up and, with Shazza a step in front of him, he carried Jack into their room. Shazza pulled the blankets back for Riddick and they all got into the bed, with Jack spooned between them.

He still wouldn’t let go of her but held her to his chest and stroked her back. Shazza shifted closer and Jack felt warm and protected again between them both. She didn’t care anymore if she felt stupid. “What happened, Jack?”

Jack knew that Shazza’s question wasn’t about the dream, but all of it, everything that had happened before it. Why she ran in the first place. Everything in her tensed and she felt so cold, so cold. Shazza murmured behind her and told her it was okay, that she didn’t have to say anything, that she was safe. It was finally knowing the truth of that, that she was safe, that started the words. Slow at first and then a flood, her face buried in Riddick’s chest.

Riddick felt his blood boil. It wasn’t the first time that he had heard of things like that, but this was about Jack. His Jack. He took a deep breath and with his chin rested on top of Jack’s head, he watched Shazza. She didn’t pull away from Jack, not once, but held her close and soothed her. If she had pulled away from Jack after what she had heard he would never have forgiven her, he couldn’t look at her the way he looked at her now. Riddick had accepted the simple realization that he loved Jack, and now as he watched Shazza comfort the young girl as she cried in his arms, he realized that he loved Shazza too.

Riddick cupped the back of Jack’s head and tilted her head up to look at him, so that she would know that he meant what he said was the absolute truth. That Jack couldn’t see in the dark didn’t matter one bit. “No one will ever hurt you again Jack. Ever.”

“I can stay with both of you?” The quiet sound of Jack’s voice tore at Shazza. Jack was a lot of things, but quiet wasn’t one of them. She understood though, after what she had been through. Riddick touched Shazza’s shoulder and the depth of feeling in that simple touch couldn’t be hidden. His eyes glinted in the dark over Jack’s shaved head. Shazza spoke to Jack to comfort her, but she looked at Riddick as she said it.

“We’ll never leave you alone Jack. You belong with us now.” His knuckles brushed against her cheek and nestled in her hair. They all fell asleep like that.

Copyright © October 2006 xxxevilgrinxxx