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  THE SPACE COUGAR’S CADET

  Cassandra Pierce

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Secret Cravings Publishing

  www.secretcravingspublishing.com

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  A Secret Cravings Publishing Book

  Erotic Romance

  THE SPACE COUGAR’S CADET

  Copyright © 2012 by Cassandra Pierce

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-61885-201-4

  First E-book Publication: March 2012

  Cover design by Dawne Dominique

  Edited by Kyle Lewis

  Proof read by Kesia Burrell

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Secret Cravings Publishing

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  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  Dedication

  Special thanks to Daisy Dunn for keeping me in my chair with my fingers twinkling over the keyboard until this one was finally done, and many thanks also to Kyle for some wonderfully sensitive editing.

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  THE SPACE COUGAR’S CADET

  Cassandra Pierce

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter One

  Layla Kosajh stood on the catwalk, looking through the transparent dome at the dozen or so young men and women practicing their routines. With final exams only twenty-three solar hours away, the gravity gym was filled with cadets practicing for their physical certification tests or simply working off tension and stress.

  Of them all, only one cadet held her attention. His lean body split the air like a hypersonic missile as he vaulted off the training bar, executed a perfect double flip and landed with his feet on the underside of the dome’s ceiling. He stood upside down for a few moments, his arms extended as if to embrace all that lay below him, his face composed and his eyes half-closed in concentration. Then he became airborne again, reversing his direction and flipping his way back to the floor. The crisp precision of his moves stretched his blue bodysuit taut, outlining the sleek curves of his chest and hips and emphasizing the swell of his muscles.

  Absorbed in his performance, Layla failed to notice her friend, Provost Xath, coming up behind her on the catwalk. His catlike eyes followed hers and settled on the same cadet who had returned to the high bar and begun a series of rigorous circular moves. Sweat streamed from his close-cropped hair and darkened the front of his bodysuit as he shifted his balance from one hand to the other.

  “Magnificent, isn’t he?” Xath observed with interest. “Is he one of your students?”

  “I taught him last term,” Layla said, nodding. “Interplanetary Diplomatic History. I probably don’t have to tell you that his mind is as extraordinary as his body.”

  Xath bent closer to the rail, squinting. “Indeed. Who is he?”

  “Jaret Thek.” Her voice caught when she said his name and Layla’s cheeks grew warm with embarrassment.

  “Ah, the Emperor Zoeg’s seventh son. I suppose his superiority comes as no surprise, given the royal blood flowing through him. The Zaraxians are most particular about the genetics of their ruling class. I realize you Earth people are philosophically opposed to such things, but when I look at him I am inclined to respect their elitist principles.”

  “We have plenty of common-born cadets who are excellent students, too,” Layla shot back. Xath laughed and she realized her old friend had been teasing her.

  “Perhaps, but I notice you are not watching any of t
hem. Are you quite sure he prefers women? If not, I wouldn’t mind getting to know him myself after all these tedious graduation formalities are done with.” Reaching up, Xath rubbed the bulbous, flesh-covered horns that adorned his wide forehead. “Would he find these attractive? I wonder. On my planet, you know, firm, thick horns are a sign of—”

  “I feel confident that he does—prefer women, I mean,” Layla interrupted, her blush deepening. Actually, she did not. She had no right even to think about such things. Perhaps Prince Jaret did desire men. What of it? Still, for some irrational reason, she hoped he did not. She hoped he dreamed of women—perhaps even women who resembled her. In either case, as long as they were both at the prestigious Starforce Institute, there could be nothing more between them save the formal relationship of cadet and instructor.

  Below them, Jaret’s movements on the bars were slowing as the heavy pull of the gym’s specially engineered gravitational fields began to take its toll. As his narrow hips turned in their final circle atop the bar, he looked up at her and their eyes met. The directness of his silvery-blue gaze startled Layla. He seemed only an arm’s length in front of her, though in reality the distance had to be thirty times that.

  The Provost noticed, too. He pushed back from the rail and turned to look at her with interest. “Well, well. This may turn out to be an interesting week after all. In any case, I must run along. Another dreary curriculum meeting. We’re back to the old debate about war games again, though I think our esteemed Chancellor might not have heard the ‘games’ part. Mark my words, two or more members of the committee will come to blows over this.”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me.” Layla didn’t bother to suppress a scowl. In the past year, Earth and its allied planets had begun to suffer increasingly serious raids from space brigands. Political debates centered on the role of Starforce, with their Chancellor favoring the switch to a more militaristic approach to teaching the students. The Institute would transition away from a peace-based curriculum focused on exploration and tolerance if the Chancellor had his way. Layla’s own courses in diplomacy, not to mention the years she’d spent in the Coalition’s diplomatic corps, made the Chancellor distrustful of her influence. She supposed there would be no consensus anytime soon.

  Xath patted her on the arm. “I’ll leave you to your gazing, then.”

  She watched him walk away, his voluminous robes swinging behind him. She couldn’t help but smile. No matter what the crisis at hand, Xath always had a way of reducing it to a manageable proportion. Knowing he didn’t judge her for lusting after one of the cadets made her feel much better. Besides, it wasn’t something she would ever act on. With her position at the Institute suddenly more tenuous, she had to walk a tighter line than ever.

  When she turned back to the dome, Jaret Thek had gone. A slim, blue-skinned female cadet had taken his place on the bars. Somewhat relieved, Layla continued along the catwalk to the lounge, where she ordered a large cup of jiwa tea and seated herself behind some bright red plants that formed an effective screen from the other diners. She wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat with passing colleagues, and good jiwa tended to exert a mild and temporary narcotic effect that was best savored alone. She let the spicy tea warm her lips and invade her senses.

  Leaning back in her chair, Layla was mesmerized by the swaying tendrils of the exotic Ochi plant in front of her. She imagined them wrapping around her body, the fingerlike stems stroking her breasts. Slowly, the rest of the world faded from her consciousness, leaving her alone with her tea, the plant and her deliciously naughty thoughts.

  Soon her fantasy, like the plant, grew bolder. The wispy tendrils crept inside her clothes, skated across her swelling nipples, and poked between her thighs. Surrendering to pure physical sensation, she closed her eyes and opened her mind to the real sweetness of imagined pleasure.

  At some point, the plant’s undulating stalks morphed into Jaret Thek’s hands. Layla felt her body yield to his slow, yet urgent caresses. His fingers moved deeper, slipping inside her to caress her throbbing flesh. A hot flash of arousal streaked through her core as her dream-self drew closer to orgasm.

  “Professor Kosajh?”

  At first, she didn’t respond. Layla assumed the voice she heard came from inside her head as part of her whole irrational forbidden-fruit scenario. But no. Gradually she realized that someone really had spoken to her. Surely she had mistaken the voice though. Her eyes snapped open and widened. Jaret Thek stood in front of her. He had showered and changed since leaving the gravity gym. His short dark hair looked damp and smelled of scented soap. He wore his daily uniform, the three silver stripes on his shoulder denoting his senior status at the Institute.

  “Cadet Thek. How nice to see you.” Her voice sounded choked and tight. She wondered if he could guess the reason for her feverish blush.

  “Thank you, though you saw me earlier as well.”

  Layla swallowed and nodded. “I did happen to notice you in the gravity gym. I must say, your performance was most impressive.”

  He averted his silvery eyes, clearly uncomfortable with her direct praise. She found his modesty both touching and appealing.

  “In any case,” he went on after clearing his throat, “I am grateful we ran into each other. For some time I have been meaning to tell you in person how valuable your course last term proved to me. During Intersession, I traveled home and was able to advise my father on several key diplomatic issues that arose with respect to our own world. He was pleased with the direction of my education here. He was also impressed that an Earth-born specialist had such a firm grasp of interplanetary matters.”

  She raised her brows, but decided to accept the compliment and reject the subtle slight toward Earthers. “I’m glad to hear it.”

  Jaret winced, hearing the note of sarcasm in her reply. “I apologize for the ethnocentric implications. As you know, my people are genetically linked to Earth’s earliest space colonists. My father knows this, but he continues to believe that our own culture has far surpassed its origins in the intervening centuries. His attitudes are somewhat difficult to excuse, I admit. I am always on guard that I do not subconsciously absorb them.”

  “No need to apologize. I understand.” An awkward silence stretched between them. “So I assume you’ll be graduating soon,” she finally said. “Will you take a seat on your father’s council, since he finds your advice so sound?”

  He shook his head. “Doubtful, I’m afraid. I have six brothers in line ahead of me.”

  “I see. Ah…will you join me in some jiwa tea? They seem to have concocted a particularly strong brew today.”

  “Unfortunately, I am due to meet my study group for a rather crucial review session. Perhaps another time?”

  “Of course.

  A narrow escape, she thought as he walked off. She’d almost made a complete fool of herself. Hopefully he’d noticed nothing beyond her distracted air. That, at least, he could blame on the jiwa. She couldn’t allow herself to dream about him. The entire exercise was worse than pointless—it was madness. Soon he would graduate, take a position with a military vessel and she would most likely never see him again. Instead, she would return to her teaching duties and her research, thinking about sex only in terms of automated pleasure-giving devices and the leisure planets where she could get her physical needs attended to without strings.

  For the rest of the workday, she busied herself in her office putting the finishing touches on her exams, reading the messages on her communication device and ordering a set of digital textbooks for the following term. Later, back at her quarters, she removed her white-and-silver instructor’s uniform and changed into a wispy, smock-type house garment. She had just programmed an evening’s worth of soft music and chosen her entertainment files when her door buzzed. She turned toward the one-way glass that made up her door.

  Jaret stood there.

  “Come in,” she said. She noticed that the jacket front of his uniform hung half-open, an odd breach
of etiquette for a fastidious student like him and his cheeks looked a bit flushed. He was young, she reminded herself, so young. Though his people measured years differently than they did on Earth, he was still half her age. Yet, no matter how hard she tried to control it, each time he came near her, her desire returned in full force.

  “I must be completely honest,” he blurted out, not meeting her gaze as he stepped into her room. “I did not distinguish myself at my review session this afternoon. I was of no help whatsoever to my study group. Eventually, I had to plead illness and excuse myself.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, surprised at his confiding such a personal matter to her. “Perhaps you’re just nervous. I’m sure it won’t matter in the end.”

  “Perhaps not, yet I prefer to maintain a clear head at all times. Today I could not. I found the experience most disconcerting.”

  “I wouldn’t dwell on it. Things like that happen to everyone.”

  “Yet not everyone is as certain of the reason as I am.” He turned and gazed directly in her eyes, his expression so intense that it startled her. “I am not suffering from the ordinary anxieties surrounding exams.” He leaned closer. “I have felt for some time that an unresolved issue lies between us.”

  “Yes. I’ve felt it, too,” she admitted, regretting her frankness the moment the words left her mouth. Hastily she tried to redirect the conversation. “You are a brilliant student, Jaret. I have no doubt you will be one of Starforce’s finest officers. What you’re experiencing right now is simply the effect of nerves.”