Page 118 of Tempting Cargo

“I didn’t choose to be here, but I am,” I said. “And I’m going to make the best of it. We don’t have to do it on our own.”

“I don’t know how to be free.” If her eyes were able to cry, they’d be filling with tears.

I traced the angles of her jaw. “We don’t have to have it all figured out before we choose something good for ourselves, sweetheart. The way I see it, we just have to get ourselves in the best place we can.”

Her headspines rippled as I stroked them, and she sank deeper into my caress.

“The best place I’ve found in the whole galaxy isn’t a place, Shohari, it’s you. I don’t care if we’re on a ship, on a space station, a planet, a moon, or in the centre of a star. I want to find my best life with you. And I’ll stay with you for as long as you want me because a life with you in it, for even a bit longer, is better than never seeing you again. You just have to ask. If you want me.” My heart tried to beat out of my chest, but the truth of those words settled into my soul, making their home in me—as I’d found my home with her.

Her eyes glittered, soulful with thought and care. “Garrison, I…” She peeled one hand off my chest to cup my face. “I kept you at arm’s length, but I fell in love with you anyway.”

I sucked in a breath and held it. My heart beat too loud in my chest, blood rushed in my ears, and the only things in existence were me and her. “Tell me again,” I whispered, not daring to believe what I’d heard.

Shohari swallowed, that little noise in her throat the sweetest sound. “I love you. And I want to be with you wherever we end up.” Her headspines writhed, as if there were words under her skin desperate to emerge. “You’re my home, Garrison, and my heart. Mytaamhia kizathi, my soulbound one.”

My heart picked up. “Do you mean…” I didn’t dare voice it.

She pressed her forehead to mine. “Yes,” she breathed. “You have me forever.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, enfolding her in a tight embrace, and let her words wash over me.She’s in my arms, and she’s mine. I’m hers.

She moaned as I dug my fingers into her skin, answering with frantic claws across my back, their sharp bite anchoring me to this moment, to her.

“I love you,” I breathed. “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you ever again.”

When we eventually pulled away, she lifted her arms, showing me the streaks of rich purple decorating her skin.

“These are part of it?” I traced them with reverent fingers. “When?”

She let out a wild giggle. “Right in the middle of speaking with Mother.”

“I wish I’d been there. Wish I’d seen you.”

“I wish that too.” She gulped, weaving our fingers together. “Maybe if I’d not been so scared, I’d have gotten it right, and it could have happened when we were together.”

My stomach dipped with regret, but I nudged it away. “It doesn’t matter, sweetheart. We’re together now.” I pressed my lips to hers, and when we broke apart, my cheeks were wet with tears.

“What are these for?” she said.

“Because you make me happy.”

She cupped my cheek. “You make me happy too,taamthi. Happier than I ever could have dreamed.”

We undressed each other with dazed reverence, hands and mouths lingering everywhere we touched as if affirming it was all real, as if we had all the time in the galaxy.

We rocked our bodies together, delighting in the closeness. We kissed and stroked, gasped and murmured, savouring everything.

She shifted her hips, my dick slid through her folds, and I found my home inside her.

God, the slick tightness of her pussy stole my breath every time.

Resting my forehead against hers, I drove into her with slow, steady strokes, our tongues tangling, hands caressing, every part of our bodies as connected as possible.

Her curl gripped my sac, and I sucked in a ragged breath.

I’d never grow tired of the thrill.

“Well,” she purred. “This is a treat.”