Page 64 of The Interstellar Rake's Irresistible Kiss

At her hesitation, he hurried to fill the void. “You don’t have to answer now. I can wait.”Forever.

“Yes.” She laid her fingertip over his lips. “Yes, Captain Nor, I will be yours.” She gazed up at him, her hazel eyes as luminous as all the stars he’d ever passed. “How could I not when you challenged me, saved me, loved me like I’ve never known?”

He pressed a worshipful kiss to the thunderof her heartbeat. This was their third time together, and he suddenly suspected every time would be more precious than the last, a count he would value as he’d never minded the credits that he’d spent on a dreadnaught, a count he would keep until the end of time.

“You are my beloved,” he murmured. Unlike Blackworm, he’d never believed in love. “I didn’t know love mattered. It couldn’t fuel adreadnaught. It couldn’t be blackmailed into existence or buried on a desert planet to hide it from brigands. I’d never seen it. I couldn’t touch it. Until you.”

“You can touch me,” she said. “Always.”

His lips curved. “Now?”

She smiled back, sultry and sparkling. “Kiss me, my irresistible rake.”