Page 23

His smile crawled onto those gorgeous lips.

He landed on top of her but caught his weight on his hands, keeping him inches from touching her.

Still, warmth poured off him. He ran kisses along her throat to her earlobe for a quick nibble.

She looped her legs around his hips, trying to pull him onto her.

When he didn’t budge, she arched into him, pressing her breasts to his chest. A hum slipped past her lips at how incredible his velvety skin caressed her taut nipples.

“Behave,” he said, leaning back with a smirk. He captured her lips in a kiss, plundering her mouth. She clung to him, driving her fingers into his hair to scrape her nails along his scalp. Strands locked around her wrists and yanked her closer.

He broke the kiss to laugh, then, while gazing into her eyes, he grabbed behind her knees and raised them. Glancing down, he angled his hips until the head of his cock pressed at her channel. She moaned, wriggling her hips to hurry him.

“Patience, Britta, my ensa .” He pushed in, taking his sweet time to conquer her inch by inch.

“Dammit, Nerx, if you don’t hurry up—”

He thrust into her, shoving her back. She mewled as every nerve in her core pulsed.

Incredible heat curled around her belly, traveled up to her chest, and settled in her heart.

Something, like ribbons of energy, wrapped around her soul.

She blinked at Nerx, his gaze on her. He was so beautiful, his commitment too much yet just right.

Nothing made sense yet it did. A rippled of pleasure, of need traveled along her channel.

He hadn’t moved, just drowned in her eyes.

A sweet smile tugged at his top lip, and that damn dimple peeked.

“ Ensa ,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “Do you feel that?”

“I feel your hard cock not moving,” she whined.

He laughed but still didn’t budge. Surely by now his arms should be trembling from holding his weight off her. She harumphed, wanting him to sprawl over her, to crush her to the bed with delicious warmth and intimacy.

Grazing her nails down his arms she met a scar from wrist to elbow. She hesitated, then carried onto his shoulders and back, but touching him did nothing to urge him on. She tried gyrating her hips. That didn’t work either.

When she shoved her hand to her sex, eager to finish the job, his breath hitched and he growled at her. “You are mine to pleasure.”

She huffed, retracting her fingers. “Then get on with it, or so help me, Nerxie—”

“There we go,” he said and grinned.

Oh . She snapped her mouth shut then chuckled. “Will Nerxie make little ol’ me scream his name again?”

As he withdrew, those ridges rubbed all the right places.

She couldn’t control her hips now, their swirling and tilting.

His second thrust arched her off the bed.

She keened. It, no, he was too intense. She almost pleaded with him to stop but would kill him if he did.

He kept a steady pace, his focus on her.

Rivulets of tingling heat swept through her.

Her core tightened, a deep ache growing until she couldn’t think, could only experience.

“Nerxie,” she whimpered, on the cusp of something incredible, then stilled.

Shivers and warmth bathed her, as if he’d dipped her body in pure ecstasy. An orgasm slammed her, so hard, she forgot to breathe. She held onto him, needing his touch, yet too sensitive to it.

“Maker,” he gritted out as each thrust slowed, marked by his grunts until he collapsed on top of her, finally pinning her in place.

She hummed, wrapped her arms around his torso, and pressed her face to a pec. The scent of his skin engulfed her, his body heat almost too hot to bear, but she clung to him, not wanting him to move.

He did, falling beside her to sprawl on his back. But he kept her close, ensuring she was comfortable even as he crushed her against him. His breathing was ragged, and his expression had softened. A smile twitched his mouth when he dipped to snatch a kiss.

“You are mine, ensa .” He brushed a curl off her temple then stroked down to her jaw with the barest of caresses.

The air thickened with tension, and again those white ribbons closed in, like they wrapped around her heart. She prodded them, each poke triggering an explosion of light and color.

She swallowed and forced a chuckle, not willing to address the ‘elephant’ in her chest. “Forgiven me yet?”

“For?” His raised one eyebrow.

Without hesitation, she stroked it, admiring the silkiness and its shape. “For everything, I suppose.”

He grinned. “Would that be blinding me, calling me a kidnapper, or disobeying me?”

Listing it like that kind of looked bad. She scrunched her nose. “All were justifiable actions…at the time. But I want an O.D.I. and maybe you should teach me how to pilot one of these things.” She twirled her finger, indicating the ship.

He chuckled. “Perhaps. Yet I am wary. As is, unarmed, you are a force to be reckoned with.”

She beamed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She splayed her fingers over his right pec and snuggled closer.

He drew her tight against him, cupping her hip as he did so. She studied his handsome face: the sharp angle of his jaw, those lips that had brought her such pleasure, and the depth in his eyes that tugged at her heart.

Could she fall for him? Could she trust him not to break her heart?

She swallowed and shut her eyes to hide her thoughts.

It was too soon to think about this. Afterall, three days did not a relationship make.

Hell, it wasn’t even long enough to form a friendship.

She exhaled slowly, perhaps for the first time in her life, considering letting her control slip. They could be friends with benefits.

Her eyebrows knitted, and she rubbed her nose across his chest. This was for eternity, as he’d said. Which meant, she’d gone and tied her life to his anyway. To Lily. There was no going back from that. She clenched her teeth, wanting to slap horny-Britt for succumbing.

Shit . Since she’d gone and trapped herself, the sex better stay good. And she’d need to find something to do because boredom was a hell-no. Learning how to pilot might fill her time.

“What will happen the moment the O.D.I. signal’s strong?” She sat up to meet his gaze, needing to catch every expression.

He glanced at her breast peeking from behind the blanket.

His nostrils flared. He lunged, gripped her hips, and dragged her on top of him, nestling her ass at the juncture of his thighs.

With long caresses, he ran his fingers from her collarbone, down her cleavage, to her bellybutton, then up.

Her sex and nipples zinged with anticipation, but his touch didn’t drift to the parts aching for it.

“I will port over—”

“No.” Something akin to the insidious slither of fear gripped her. When he blinked at her, she hurried to say, “Um, send Sena or Ziot. Don’t risk…” She bit her lip. “You have Lily to think of.”

His eyes narrowed, the intensity back. “Very well, Sena and Ziot will port to Aldur and Matir’s location. I am hoping Lady Dahlia is with one of them. I do not want to search the Viqrian battleship to find her.”

Britt’s breath shuddered out of her. She pressed her forehead to Nerx’s chin, hoping to hold back tears. “I blame myself. I put Mom in danger, Lily too.”

“And yourself.” He ran his hand up and down her back, drawing her nearer with every stroke until he crushed her breasts against his chest.

“I…never think of myself. When Dad died, my mom did to. In a way. It took two years to get her out of her shell. Since the funeral, only her happiness mattered.” She leaned back to press a kiss to his chin.

Within an inch of his face, she feathered her fingers along his jaw to his hair swirling around him as he lay there.

She forced a smile. “I don’t know how to focus on me. ”

“Your mother’s life is with Aldur now. Yours is with me and Lily.

” He said it with such finality that a door shut in her mind, its reverberating bang echoing through her soul.

“Once we have them safe and on Etteria, I would like to show you my home.” A sadness flitted across his eyes.

“I have not seen it in decades. Not since I let my brother die.”

“Your brother? Is he behind your scar?” she asked, stretching across him to touch his wrist.