It was the last day of the semester and grades had just come in. To his surprise, Brad passed everything with a B average. If he could keep this up, he might just graduate with a decent GPA and get a job somewhere that mattered. He stepped lightly, clutching his phone to his chest like a trophy. He never could've done it without Reka. And best of all? Today they were moving in together!
Brad didn't have much in the way of worldly possessions, just a phone, a laptop, and two suitcases worth of clothes and books. He'd dropped off the first suitcase yesterday and was carrying the other today.
This is really happening, he realized. In just a few short months his life had completely changed. Around midterms he was desperately lonely and isolated, and today he could hardly recall what loneliness felt like, such was Reka's presence in his life.
He'd been to her off-campus apartment a few times, but they usually hung out in his dorm room. A delivery van was leaving the parking lot of her apartment complex just as he arrived.
I wonder what that's about.
He didn't have to wonder long. The door to her apartment was unlocked and Brad just walked in like he belonged there. It felt natural.
There was Reka, putting clean sheets on a huge bed. Half his clothes were already hung up neatly in her closet like he'd been living with her for years. She noticed him enter and smiled.
"Ah, welcome home, dear. Your employment contract is on the counter," she said matter-of-factly.
Brad had long since gotten used to Reka making decisions for him and behaving as if they were already married, so he just went with it and starting scanning the paper.
"Novel Confinement Joint Research Initiative," he read out loud. "What's this?"
"A large research project with government funding," Reka explained. "The goal is to use fusion as a power source for the thinking machines."
Heh, that's one way to put it. "I don't know if I'm quite on the level of advanced fusion research, honey," he said doubtfully.
"You were a millwright in the Navy, yes?"
"Machinist's mate, but same difference."
"Well," Reka clarified, "this project will not only have need of scholars but artisans as well. You will be working with some of the less sensitive machines. It was the best job I could get for you, considering you don't have a degree yet."
That was thoughtful. "And what will you be doing, Reka?"
"Materials research," she answered. "Perhaps there is a way to bind the fuel in a crystal lattice while being bombarded by neutrons, forcing the reaction," she added absently.
Way beyond my pay grade. "When do we leave?" he asked.
"The shuttle will take us to the research park tomorrow. Thankfully, it is being constructed right outside the city, and we'll be able to go home at night."
Brad liked the sound of that. He knew Reka. She didn't buy that huge bed for no reason. And speaking of...
God, was she ever sexy. Reka was pretty fashion forward with her school outfits, but when they were alone she really didn't bother. His girlfriend was wearing boyshorts and a tank top without a bra.
Guess those delivery guys got a show, he thought, but somehow didn't feel jealous at all. Brad's girlfriend was a lot of things, but duplicitous wasn't one of them. He couldn't resist hugging her from behind and kissing her on the collarbone.
"Is my boyfriend feeling amorous?" Brad could hear the smile in her voice. And the way she said "boyfriend" sounded more like "husband" to his ears.
If she wants to treat me like a husband, I'm going to treat her like a wife!
Brad started to push her towards the bed but she didn't budge an inch, and he wondered what was wrong. Reka seemed to sense his confusion when he stopped pushing. She spun around, looked at him playfully, and fell back, pulling him down on top of her.
"I see, I see," she teased. "My darling wants to be on top today. I'll allow it," Reka said as if she was generously granting him a favor. Well, Reka usually did prefer to be on top, not that he was complaining.
They spent some time kissing and grinding with their clothes on, but somehow Reka was still dominating him, devouring his mouth aggressively and skillfully maneuvering his body with her legs wrapped around his waist. Brad could feel everything: her hot breath, her plump lips and long tongue, her big firm boobs pressed against his chest, and her slender but powerful legs that were trying to guide him into her, thwarted only by the thin fabric in the way. It wasn't long until his cock was aching to be inside her.
Reka took the lead again and pulled his shirt over his head. He took the hint and did the same to her, freeing her magnificent tits. He took a nipple into his mouth while she shimmied out of her boyshorts.
"Hurry!" She said urgently. "I need you."
Brad didn't need to be told twice. His jeans came off with practiced ease and he was on top of her again. Reka reached down to guide him into her pussy and he moaned as he plunged into her hot wet tightness.
Her legs locked behind him and she pulled him close. He kissed her and could feel that she was smiling.
"Welcome to our bed, boyfriend," Reka said officiously.
Our bed? Our bed! That phrase had so much promise in it, a lifetime of love. Brad really was crazy now. He belonged in bed with her. His dick belonged in her pussy. This was just so right. He withdrew slightly and slammed his dick back in hard.
"Yes!" she encouraged him. "Make love to your girlfriend on our bed!"
He thrust furiously, trying to crush their bodies together, trying to merge with her, to become one.
Reka writhed in his arms, taking everything he could give her and demanding more. Her nails dug into his back; her lips suckled his throat. She arched her back in raw need, grinding her pubic bone against him. Her legs wouldn't let him go. He didn't want her to ever let him go.
Brad pounded her into the bed, driving his cock as deep as it could go with a rhythmic tump tump tump. Reka quivered every time he bottomed out inside her. His eyes were squeezed shut in pleasure. Her hands drifted up to his face and forced him to look at her.
"When you fill me don't look away. Don't even blink!" she ordered.
"Aye aye, ma'am!" he obeyed.
When Reka heard "aye aye" she groaned in need and her legs got tighter around him.
"Reka! Reka! Reka!" he chanted like a prayer. Their eyes were locked. Their sweat was mingled. Their limbs were entangled. This was where he was meant to be all his life. This was where he belonged.
"Reka!" he moaned one final time. His thrusts lost all rhythm and his body convulsed. It was all he could do to hold himself upright and focus on Reka's beautiful green eyes. He was coming apart. His body was white heat. His cock pulsed and his seed flooded into the gates of her hungry womb. Every muscle in his body tensed and flexed, pouring his essence into the love of his life.
Love? Yes! He loved her! He had to say it!
"Reka, I love you!"
***********
Reka's Point of View
The Next Day
Reka couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Any time she attempted to school her features it reemerged unbidden. Their discussion about the significance of the "L bomb" that Brad dropped in the heat of their lovemaking was long and informative. Who knew that one simple word had so many facets?
"What are you smiling about?" Brad asked playfully from the window seat of the work shuttle.
As if you don't know? She giggled. "I'm just pleased, my love," she responded with emphasis.
The word made Brad shiver, as she intended, such a powerful word it was. He had been so afraid she wouldn't return the word once he realized what he said, but that would never happen. They were boyfriend and girlfriend, shared a bed, and had exchanged "I love yous", as was proper. All the niceties had been observed and everything was as it should be.
They would be working in different wings of the research park, but could still share meals and return home together. It would be trying, but bearable. If she could endure them attending separate classes then she could endure this.
Their university was highly-ranked in nuclear engineering, so a great arcane experimental lab was being built within commuting distance, one of about twenty total in the Kingdom of America and the European principalities, where the original Reka was from.
Of course "commuting distance" was a relative term. The ride on the shuttle would be about an hour both ways, but Reka found this perfectly acceptable. She spent the time chatting with Brad and touching him as much as she could get away with in public.
They were getting close to the end of the journey. She stroked Brad's arm to sooth herself.
It will be fine, you'll see him at lunch, she tried to tell herself. How this world had destroyed her patience! Everything happened so fast here. Food was fast, travel was fast, anything you might wish to view could be summoned to a magic tablet instantly! Even playing with Brad had its temptations. When he took an instant portrait of them together and showed her the results she stared at it, silent and transfixed, for the better part of an hour. Brad's "phone" had dozens of such "couple photos". It was dangerously addictive.
Reka fully intended to sit for a portrait with Brad once she came into her own and bent her thoughts towards decorating their palace, but Brad just made them one after another, completely oblivious to the power in his hands. The things they take for granted here...
The more she learned, the more she felt she had to learn. Nuclear engineering at least was narrow enough that with a little advanced reading and some more studying with Brad she felt she finally had a firm grasp of it at the "graduate" level of understanding. The atom was no puzzle to her now. Reka merely needed to unlock the higher mysteries and all would be revealed.
Once they arrived and disembarked Reka went to kiss Brad goodbye, as was her custom, dreading the parting all the more now that it was at hand.
"Reka, hey!" came a rude interruption.
It was Alex Kagan. Of course the warlock has a talent for showing up when and where he's least wanted.
He jogged up to them, bold as brass, either ignorant or uncaring of the moment he had just spoiled.
"Alex," she acknowledged him flatly. "I didn't see you on the shuttle."
"I drove," he replied, one hand carelessly scratching behind his head. "So, how are you and lover boy doing?" he asked, grinning.
Instantly, she detected tension in Brad's body language. Ah, he mislikes that another man is speaking to me casually, which is well within his rights. Reka squeezed Brad's hand in reassurance and subtly angled her body to protect him from the warlock.
"We are well," Reka said deliberately, hoping he'd take the hint from her cold tone of voice and leave.
No such luck.
"Nice to meet you, buddy, Alex Kagan," he introduced himself, holding out his hand.
"Brad Regis," her boyfriend replied, shaking it.
Reka knew that Brad was trying to be polite but was clearly uncomfortable. How could she shoo the warlock away without making a scene?
"So you're the one who defrosted the nuclear engineering department's own ice queen. How'd you manage it?"
Brad looked taken aback. "Er, just lucky I guess."
Not luck, my love, fate. Her intuition lead her to taking Reka as a vessel and that led her to Brad. Such a sequence of events couldn't have been random. It was meant to happen.
"Well, I hope your luck holds, my friend, because we are about to be working together," Alex said meaningfully.
"What do you mean?" cut in Reka sharply.
The warlock shrugged. "My undergrad was in mechanical engineering. I'm in the tooling department with Bae the sailor man over here."
No! She didn't know what this warlock was planning but it could be nothing good.
"I wouldn't worry too much," Alex added. "Not a lot will get done this summer anyway. Things are still in the planning stages. It's about setting the table right now. We won't be digging in properly for another year at least. Even a trillion dollar budget appropriation can't change the laws of physics."
This much was true. What they were asking, it didn't seem feasible with the laws of physics as she understood them. But with Brad's seed, it might be possible to cheat a little with magic. It would require preparation, and more research, but she had time.
"Don't bother my boyfriend too much, Alex," she said sternly.
Alex held up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, no more joking around. I promise."
I hope so, warlock, for your sake. "Farewell, my love." She kissed Brad goodbye and went to work.