Page 33 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

The sun glinted off his rippling blue muscles and over a back that was more of a weapon than skin. Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed at the size of him. Heat singed her chest and she stood still in the water.

What would it be like to touch him?Reallytouch him. Not that crazed, desperate grind she’d done out of necessity.

Her eyes fell lower and fear made her fingers clench. Would she be able to handleallof him? Somehow, she doubted it, but that didn’t keep the heat in her body from spreading further and further south.

Korben glanced over his shoulder and found her staring. His eyes locked on hers with intensity. The air snapped and pulled between them. Tension hammered into her body and made every breath crackle like lightening.

Suddenly, Korben strode over, his big feet dashing water to the left and right. Sara remained in place, her heart ballooning and her fingers curling into fists until he was right in front of her. She had to tilt her head up to meet his eyes.

Korben reached out slowly and ran his fingers along the hem of her tunic. Tingles flew everywhere he touched her, and she eased a little closer to him. Droplets of water sparkled against his nose and ran down the planes of his tattooed chest.

“Sah-ah,” he said, his voice low. He tugged on her dress, his gaze darkening.

Her breath lodged in the back of her throat.

Korben wanted her to take her clothes off.

Fifteen

Korben

Sah-ah’s eyebrows lifted,and her big brown eyes glimmered with light. She blinked slowly, her hands limp at her sides. Korben kept running his fingers beneath her tunic, fighting the instincts that demanded he tear her covering off and mate her.

This was not his intention. Sah-ah’s clothes had also brushed against the bunzai tree. If she continued to wear this covering, she would further expose herself to irritation.

Korben intended to wash it out for her and hang it to dry as he had no replacement to offer. His species had few uses for clothing. Their skin was hard and impenetrable, which was why they were impervious to the Rulari’s puny bullets.

Sara’s skin was much,muchmore fragile. He’d felt it back in the bush when she’d rubbed herself on him.

So impossibly soft.

His fingers burned to touch her.

To slip up her thighs.

To hear her gasp in that way she did whenever he looked at her too intently.

But he wouldn’t. They needed to speak first. He needed toknowher before he took her as his mate. She was a human who’d been kidnapped and traded to a beluda. She could have no desire to remain on this planet.

Or she could have a family on her home planet. A mate of her own. Anger flared in him at the thought of any other male putting his hands on Sah-ah.

Denizi.

His restraint was slowly unravelling. Perhaps this was a bad idea. He dropped his hands from her tunic and started to back away when Sah-ah lifted her covering. Korben’s heras pounded as she held his stare with a bold look and slowly tore the fabric upward.

Every inch of skin that she revealed made his pants tighten. Made his body throb. Made his mind tilt.

Reams of soft, tender brown flesh.

A flat stomach.

A beautiful chest.

Over her neck.

Past her damp, curly hair.

She flung the tunic into the damas. It lolled softly on the waves created by the gentle breeze.