Page 16 of Jorax (Arixxia Fields #4)
Chapter Sixteen
J orax
My head is swimming, and my emotions are bouncing from shock to elation and back again. As they settle, all the distracting feelings fade away, leaving one overriding emotion. Affection.
People are pouring out of the ballroom. Many of their conversations float to my ears, most of which revolve around either my name or Icaron’s.
“Let’s get out of here.”
I grab Syrryn’s hand, barely resisting the urge to sweep her into my arms and carry her. Soon, we’re in my hover, and although I want to spill hundreds of happy, amazed words into the darkness of our private cocoon, we’re simply gazing at each other in silence.
“You were magnificent.” Her face is alight with happiness, positively glowing.
“Only because of your support. I should have said all of that to Icaron ages ago. You were the one who gave me the courage to finally take the risk.”
We bask in each other’s presence for only a moment more until she says, “Let’s go somewhere else. Anywhere.”
My pulse thrums with exhilaration as I guide the hover through the night. Beside me, Syrryn radiates contagious delight. As the glittering city slides past, I’m still struggling to process the monumental events of this evening .
I’ve never felt so seen and valued as when she clung proudly to my side while my life transformed before my disbelieving eyes. And the depth of emotion shining from her after, as we swayed and danced together in front of all those people—surely my lonely heart imagined the love shining in her eyes?
I steal a glance at her profile, unable to resist reaching across to tuck back a wind-mussed strand of her chestnut hair. She leans into my touch, eyes glowing with affection.
Clearing my throat, I rasp, “My body’s overflowing with excitement. I won’t be able to sleep for hours. Would you like to return to the falls overlook, Syrryn?”
Our special place holds such sweet memories from our first kiss under the meteor shower. I long to recreate them.
She bites her lip alluringly. “I was thinking we could go back to my place instead.”
Shock and nervous excitement spike through me. She can’t mean… can she? I clamp down on impossible hope. No matter what happens, anywhere with her will be paradise.
We soon pull up outside her cozy rental house on the outskirts of town. Syrryn’s soft grip is steady as she leads me inside, anchoring me amidst the tempest swirling within. The door has barely clicked shut behind us before she presses me back against it, desire blazing in her glittering eyes.
“Syrryn?” I rasp uncertainly even as lightning races across my skin wherever we touch.
Her response is to lift on tiptoe to capture my lips in a searing kiss that steals my breath and scatters all thought.
I clutch her hips, my senses reeling from her sweet taste and the feel of her supple body aligning with mine.
As she unbuttons my suit coat and drags her nails down my shirt-covered chest, a helpless groan escapes me.
“Make love to me, Jorax,” she whispers hotly against my jaw .
Joy and gratitude crash through me, chased swiftly by panicked uncertainty. My warped hideousness is one thing beneath concealing clothes, but bare…
Sensing my hesitation, Syrryn takes my face gently in both hands, holding my vulnerable gaze with infinite tenderness.
“You don’t have to hide any part of yourself from me, my love.” Her tone resonates with sincerity, accepting me as I am, inside and out. “I want to talk about your… accident. You can tell me as much or as little as you want so you can purge it all and never look back. But we’ll do that later.”
Although I loved being in her heated embrace, she takes a step back and spears me with a serious look.
“I want to make love to you, Jorax. But before I rip your clothes off—which I will if you dawdle—I want you to know something.”
Her tone is so serious. I’d be terrified of what she was going to say next if she hadn’t just repeated that she wants us to make love.
“I want you to know what I see when I look at you.”
She peels off the extra cogs and wheels I pasted to my face, revealing some of the ugliest parts of me. My elation fizzles in my chest under her scrutiny.
“I see a male with the best heart. A male who just admitted that he worked into the wee hours of the morning to save the lives of people with a deadly disease, people he’d never met.
A male who swallowed his pride and worked for a despicable person just so he could develop the project closest to his heart.
A male who looks at me as if I hung the moon and the stars.
A male who is the kindest person I’ve ever known.
And brilliant…” She shrugs, releasing a happy bubble of laughter.
“So freaking brilliant. That’s who I see. Oh, and I see the male I love.”
My already beastly face must look even scarier with my eyes wide in shock. My first impulse is to correct her, tell her she couldn’t possibly love me. But I bite my lips and calm my mind and let those words wash over me like a healing balm .
Love. Gods above, this beautiful woman loves me. Lightning and fireworks are exploding inside me.
“I’ve wanted to tell you for the longest time, Syrryn. I love you, too.” Sweeping her back into my arms, I hug her tenderly, hoping she can feel my love seeping into her very pores.
It’s as though I’m buzzing inside, as though pleasant jolts of electricity are arcing under my skin. I feel more alive than ever before in my life. I’m here with the woman I love and she’s hugging me back, loving me back. It’s a miracle.
“So.” She kisses where her lips land on my pec. “If you want to stay on my good side, you’ll let me see all of you, love. Please?”
My heart clenches unbearably. This wondrous woman looks upon my monstrous flesh and sees only beauty. With her, I feel handsome and cherished for the first time since that terrible explosion when I was barely twenty-two.
“Don’t make a girl beg, Jorax. It’s not kind.”
My mouth pops open in surprise. Does she really think I don’t want to kiss her, touch her, taste her, merge our bodies together?
“I’d never want to be unkind, however…” I’ve never flirted with anyone in my entire life, but I feel so free to be myself with her, the next words fly out of my mouth, “I wouldn’t mind hearing you beg, Syrryn. Maybe later.”
Her eyes pop open, then she laughs, her eyes glittering with happiness. Perhaps she understands me well enough to realize that my making such an assertion was a new and bold behavior for me. And maybe she knows she’s the reason for all my wonderful and miraculous changes.
Unable to resist the plea in her luminous eyes, I scoop her into my arms, rejoicing when she laughs breathlessly. As I carry my precious cargo upstairs, joy and gratitude swell powerfully within me.