Page 19

Sherrod

Z ephyr came at me with quick strikes of the batons in her hands. I blocked each one, spinning around to try and catch her in the back. But she surprised me and dropped to the floor, twisted and kicked my legs out from under me in a smooth motion that I was barely able to clock.

“Fuck!” I spat out, more to myself than to her.

Her laugh was light and breathy as she walked off the mat and went for a drink of water. I hid my flinch at the sound under a swipe of my shirt across my face. That laugh sometimes brought back memories it was best not to think about.

Sweat shone on her face and made dark spots on her thin t-shirt, which clung to the curves of her waist and breasts, taunting me. None of that had been half as tempting twenty years ago. But then again, she’d been a girl, not the woman she was now.

My brain wouldn’t let go of obsessing about how her body would feel in my hands. Would her skin still be feather soft? Or were there more scars to create a map of her battles? Would her mouth still taste sweet, or would there be a change there too?

I never got the chance to taster her other places, though my mind certainly whipped up plenty of imagined flavors and sensations.

There came a point when fighting myself on this matter had to take a back seat to concentrating on keeping my secret.

While I may have been able to control my dick, it was my other senses that were in over drive as I sat there on the lightly cushioned floor and let myself stare.

Zephyr’s attention was on stretching and hydrating, not on me.

After my holo call with Zelena, I’d had some feelings to work out so I’d pulled out the sparring mats I kept on the ship and pushed the furniture in the common room back.

I was just going to run through some sparring forms on my own, maybe do some weights but Zephyr saw me and asked to join.

I should’ve said no, should’ve been an asshole so she’d leave me alone but I found myself nodding instead.

I had assumed when we started sparring that I would know what to expect for the most part. But after the last hour, I realized that I knew almost nothing about the woman Daisy had grown into.

My girl had still been a hesitant combatant the last time I’d seen her, preferring distance strikes and being a sniper instead of hand to hand.

But this woman, the warrior that Daisy had grown into, was fierce, focused and methodical.

After the first ten minutes, she picked apart my tells, and was able to clock my strikes.

Mixing up my fighting style had only bought a few minutes of reprieve before she was able to match me blow for blow.

I tried to keep it chaotic, switching styles and goals but she managed to keep up every time.

I’d never been so shocked and turned on all at the same time.

“You gonna sit there all night?” she asked with a grin. “Or are you ready for another go?”

“I was just thinking.”

“About?”

How fucking sexy you are.

“How good you are at this.”

Her smile was brilliant and she inclined her head toward me as she swallowed more water.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

“How much did it hurt to say that?” I asked with a wide grin.

“So fucking much.”

We both laughed like we used to, easy, light, as if the entire universe wouldn’t crush us in its fist any damn minute. I’d been addicted to this feeling then, and I was fast becoming lost to it now too.

I’m definitely screwed. And I don’t give a damn.

I climbed to my feet and stood beside her as I also drank some water.

“Are you nervous about the match?” I asked.

“Of course. I’ve never done anything like this, only ever watched. But I know I can hold my own.”

I nodded at that, the ache in my muscles attesting to her skill.

“Let’s try it without weapons,” I said. “There’s no guarantee every match will allow weapons. Though my contact is trying to get some inside information about all of the fight brackets.”

“Who is this contact again?”

“The madam of one of the most prestigious pleasure barges in this quadrant,” I said. “She owes me a favor.”

“Oh,” she replied with a frown.

Her shoulders stiffened and her mood drooped. A sudden warmth spread through my chest and I grinned down at her.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’re still my main focus,” I said.

Zephyr rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s my worry. Come on, I intend to kick your ass a bit more before dinner.”

“Oh, you thought you were winning?”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t spend the last three matches on my ass or back.”

“Would you like to be on your back?” I asked before I could stop myself.

I played it off with a smirk but the heat in my eyes was something I couldn’t hide.

Zephyr saw it, if her widened pupils and quick intake of breath were any indication.

I couldn’t figure out if the flush that rose in her cheeks was because she was turned on or angry but I’d take either.

I was starting to become far too addicted to poking at her and getting a reaction.

It was how we’d started off as Jacen and Daisy, bickering and messing with one another.

I’d take a shot at her and she’d lob it right back.

I hadn’t realized quite how much I’d missed it until now when I was actively trying to get a rise from her.

As I watched, Zephyr’s shoulders relaxed and her mouth curled up into a smile that could only be described as lustful.

My heart jumped into my throat as she slowly walked toward me, hips swaying in a way that made me imagine how she’d move under me.

She was close enough for me to count the light freckles on her nose, to spy the small scar just above one eyebrow, the dots of sweat on her upper lip.

She dragged a fingernail down my torso, from my pecs to just above my waist band and I gulped audibly.

Every single instinct was shouting at me to put my hands on her waist and bring her closer, to claim those pouty lips and drag a confession of attraction out of her, one biting kiss at a time.

Instead, I was mesmerized by this siren before me. Her eyes traced the line her nail had made on my body, then back up to meet mine. I was starting to bend down when she head butted me.

Bright flashes robbed me of my vision for the second it took her to swipe my legs out from under me again and then straddle me, high on my chest.

She pressed her forearm ever so slightly onto my throat and bent down until our noses were almost touching.

“I prefer to be on top,” she whispered, “so I can ride my partner as slow as I want.”

“I’ll remember that,” I croaked.

She grinned.

“You do that.”

She let up on the pressure on my throat, but before she could climb off me, I rolled and took her with me until I was the one on top, cradled in the warm heat between her thighs.

“I don’t mind a bit of rough play, sweetheart,” I panted, “but next time just know that I don’t play fair, that’s a trap that only works for priests and people who can afford morals.”

“And I’m guessing that you can afford everything but morals?”

“Oh, I’m definitely the man everyone warned you about.”

“I’m sure I can handle you,” her voice had become low, those brilliant eyes locked on my mouth.

“Should we test that theory?”

“Only if you want to be more sore tomorrow than you are now.”

“So you do like it rough?” I huffed out a laugh to try and hide the way she was affecting me.

But then she shifted under me and the little minx grinned at the quickly hardening cock between my legs.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she challenged.

“Probably shouldn’t, could make this…weird.”

“Yeah, I tend to intimidate most men, best to run for the hills.”

“Then again,” I said, my mouth a hair’s breadth from hers, “I was always shit at listening to my better instincts.”

“Me too.”

Driven absolutely insane by the adrenaline and the lust that was stirred up during our sparring, there was no thought in my head other than finding out if Zephyr’s taste had changed in all the years since I’d last kiss those tempting lips.

I dove down to capture her mouth, and to my delight, Zephyr met me in the middle.

But it wasn’t a surrendering. If anything, this was a continuation of our battle.

She bit and sucked on my lips as my tongue grappled with hers.

It wasn’t just our mouths that were fighting for dominance.

Our hands clutched and scratched one another as all the boundaries were shattered.

My hand thrust under her shirt and found her breasts infuriatingly bound behind a sport bra.

When I finally slipped under and found her full breast, our mouths separated just enough to let out a mutual groan of pleasure.

I rolled her nipple between my thumb and forefinger while I ground down with my pelvis.

She met me thrust for thrust, a maddening dance of dry humping that had me on the edge in seconds.

I drank her grunts and cries down like wine, becoming intoxicated with the sudden culmination of a desire I had no idea was still alive inside of me.

There were too many nights to count that I’d spent jerking off to the thought of her, and now I was between her thighs, even though it wasn’t the Daisy of my memories.

Just thinking that name had me moaning against her throat as I made my way down to her exposed breast.

Daisy…Daisy…

The name pounded through me, echoing with the pain of losing the only woman I had ever loved.

I was so lost that it took me a second to realize that Zephyr had gone still beneath me.

“Wh-what did you call me?” she whispered, her voice full of disbelief.

My stomach dropped to my toes and came back up, suddenly my ears began to ring and my heart thumped hard in my chest. Panic was setting in as I realized that I had said her name out loud, not just in my head.

I looked up from her chest and saw her eyes wide, lips kiss bruised and trembling.

“I…It…I just…Fuck.”

“Get off. Now .”