Page 67

EON

O range dawn broke over the horizon, streaming in through the large, uncurtained windows. It was perfectly framed between two neighboring megabuildings, like ancient stone monoliths built by people who still believed in miracles.

The long shadows it cast cut across the living room, darkness reaching for me like an old friend.

My fingers trailed through the shadows on the carpeted floor, my arm dangling off the edge of the couch as I drifted back into consciousness.

I was compressed, wrapped in warmth. A long, soft inhale behind me snapped my mind fully awake.

Cy.

His arm was draped over me, wrapped around my waist, surprisingly tight for someone asleep.

I turned my head slightly, careful not to wake him.

His face was relaxed in sleep, a stark contrast to the hardened expression he usually wore.

The early light softened his features, making him look peaceful. Vulnerable, even.

I reached out, my fingers hovering just above his cheek before I pulled them back. Touching him like that felt too intimate, too dangerous. We had already crossed a line, but this was too far.

No. Last night had just been transactional. That was a kind of sex I knew all too well. He’d helped me, helped Taos, and I’d repaid that debt. That was it. Nothing more.

But with his arm still wrapped around me, the price was starting to climb much too high.

I tried to gently lift his arm, to run away. Immediately, his muscles flexed and he pulled me tighter, pressing my face under his chin. I was surrounded by the scent of ozone and that damn sweetness from the VaPurr flavor he loved. Why did it smell so good?

He pressed his face into my hair. “Stay.” A command, but I heard the plea underneath.

“I need to check on Taos—”

He twisted, still holding me, and grabbed his Vysor off the floor. He flipped through something, then tossed it aside. “She’s still asleep. Let her rest.”

I raised a brow. “You’ve got cameras in your bedroom?”

He gave me that stupid grin. “You expect anything else from me?”

“Pervert.”

“Slut.”

He pulled me into a kiss then, and I hated how that word tasted on his lips—like it was something more than degradation. Like he said it with affection. His tongue pressed into my mouth, not caring about what I had been—only what I was right now.

I wanted to push him away, and I wanted him to devour me.

I wanted to run, and I wanted to stay beneath his body and hands until I was nothing but sensation.

What happened last night, I could blame on adrenaline, Vector, and whatever it was that resonated between our Flux.

It was purely chemical. I’d needed him to bring me down.

But now, in the light of day, I had to face the truth—and I wasn’t ready for that. My mind raced, warring with itself.

And he knew.

“Stop thinking so much,” he murmured against my ear, his lips and teeth scraping along my jaw. “Let go.”

“Cy, we shouldn’t—”

“Hey,” His voice sharpened as he pulled back, his hand catching my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze—a gaze brimming with electric heat.

“Looks like you finally caught me, huh?” I tried to defuse the moment, shake that look from his eyes. But it only deepened as he leaned in, his mouth finding the curve of my neck.

“That’s right, I’ve got you. You’re mine now. So surrender, doll. Remember…you might just enjoy yourself.”

His hand drifted down to my breast, and my resolve broke as he rolled my nipple, tugging it upward.

He chuckled before sucking the other into his mouth, his tongue and teeth mimicking his hand on the other side.

My legs wrapped around his hips instinctively, pressing us together—but I needed him closer.

I needed him. I let that thought dissolve, melted by the feel of his hand gliding over the plane of my stomach before his fingers dipped between my thighs. We both groaned as he pressed two fingers inside me.

“Damn, already so wet. I might start to think you like me, Eon.” His grin was wicked, and I wanted to slap him.

“I just like what you do to me, corpo.”

“Good enough for me.” His thumb pressed a rhythm in tandem with the fingers he curled inside me, and I was barely able to keep up the banter—my whole body magnetized to his.

“You like to fight dirty, don’t you?” I asked

“Me? Dirty?” His fingers shifted until that deep, unbearable pressure hit just right. “I’m an angel, doll.”

His thumb traced around my swollen clit, tighter and tighter, and my body arched beneath him. I felt his electric field strengthen.

“No Flux,” I snapped.

His eyes locked onto mine.

“Eon—”

I pressed my finger to his lips, shutting him up for once.

Was it the look in his eye? The way our bodies fit so well together? Maybe it was just years of loneliness—something our fucked-up partnership had eased—but I said something I shouldn’t have. It was too raw. Too dangerous.

“No Flux. No games. Just you…and me.”

I shouldn’t have said it.

And he shouldn’t have listened.

He should’ve said something mean, something rough.

Instead, he just leaned down and kissed me.

It felt so damn good—and I knew I was done for.

He kept the rhythm with his fingers, brutal and unrelenting, until my legs were shaking.

“Cy…”

“Yes. Say my name. Look at me. Show me I’m real.”

He was panting, his breath hot against my face, his bangs falling over his forehead. I reached up and pushed them back, gripping his hair tight.

“Cy…I see you.”

I pulled him into a deep kiss, my tongue frantic for his as my whole body trembled, cresting on a wave of pleasure.

We kept our Flux buried, but I could still feel it. Our bodies, our very beings, syncing into one harmonious frequency that pulsed through me in wave after wave. I was floating in a sea of ecstasy I knew would drown me.

He drove me through my orgasm until there was nothing left, then withdrew his fingers, tracing them across my skin. But he never released the kiss. Not even when I heard the tear of a condom wrapper. Not even as he gripped beneath my thighs and lifted me, my legs wrapping around him.

I felt him walking, but I was so absorbed in the taste of him, the press of his lips, that I was caught off guard when my back hit the ice-cold window.

I gasped—but he swallowed the sound, giving me a moment's reprieve as he hiked me up and sank me back down onto him.

“Fuck.” I groaned as he stretched me, my body still overstimulated.

“I didn’t know anything could feel this good,” he whispered against my neck. He didn’t move at first, just held me there, as close as two people could be.

Then he shifted his grip, hooking one of my knees over his forearm then pressing his hand flat against the glass. He leaned his forehead against mine as he started to move, his hips pulsing faster and faster, like he couldn’t stop himself.

I knew I was visible to anyone flying by on their morning commute, my ass and back pressed against the glass. I didn’t care. I wanted more. I wanted everything.

“Look at me, doll. Please.” His voice cracked with a desperation I hadn’t heard before.

I looked into his eyes. There was no Flux there, only raw vulnerability that made me want to run.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I said between breaths.

“Like what? Like I’m going to push you past your limits and make you feel things you never even knew existed? Or is it the hunger you see—the hunger for you so deep it scares me? The way I can’t get you out of my head? Worse, you’re in my blood, my very soul.”

I’d heard a million confessions during sex. Hormones and pleasure drove people to say wild things. But this was different. This cut straight into the heart of me, and I knew I’d let it go too far. We’d gone too far. This connection between us was more dangerous than anything I’d ever felt.

But I still couldn’t stop. Not while he was this close. Not while that part of me I’d buried a long time ago clung to him like he was the only thing worth saving in this fucked-up world.

“Come for me again, Eon.”

And I did—because no matter how much I lied to myself, I could never resist him.

I dressed silently while Cy showered, my mind reeling with what had just happened between us.

Not just the physical act—thousands of transactions like that marked my past—but the moment we’d stopped using Flux, when we’d stripped away the one barrier that had always kept us safe from each other.

Without electricity arcing between us, without that perfect excuse for why our bodies responded like they did, we’d been left with something raw and vulnerable.

Something that terrified me more than any corporate threat.

I looked at the bathroom door, watching steam curl from beneath it. I couldn’t stay. Not here. Not with him. Not when I could feel my frequency already adjusting to match his, even across the rooms that separated us. I had to run, like I always did. Before it all came crashing down.

I slipped into his bedroom where Taos was stirring. Her burns looked remarkably better—the nanite gel had worked its magic overnight.

“E?” Her voice was raspy. “What’s going on?”

“We need to leave. Now.” I helped her sit up, gathering her torn clothes from the floor.

“Where’s—”

“Showering. Come on.”

Her eyes widened in understanding. “You fucked him again,” she whispered. Not a question.

I ignored her, helping her stand. The gel had worked wonders; she was already moving with only minimal stiffness. “Can you walk?”

She nodded, studying my face with an intensity that made me uncomfortable. “E, what did you—”

“Not now.” I tried to steady her when I heard the shower turn off.

Taos’ eyes went wide. “He’s the one who—”

I cut her off. “Stay here. I’ll take care of this.” As I stood up, I walked past his desk and terminal, a small metallic glint catching my eye. I grabbed it—insurance.

I walked back out into the living area just as Cy emerged from the bathroom—surprisingly—dressed. Well, at least he had shorts on.