Page 14 of Touch the Stars (Ghara Empire #1)

Baatar.

H e grasped one handhold after another, propelling himself toward the hull door. The pressure of Kaitlyn’s arms around his neck was a steady reminder of the precious cargo clinging to his back. He passed through the freighter’s exterior door and floated into the docking tube.

“Neltai.”

As he “swam” through the cruiser’s doorway, the fresh clean scent of decontaminate invaded his senses. Then the ship’s gravity grabbed him, and he crashed, stomach first, to the deck.

“ Oof .” The air gushed from his lungs. By the stars, he must be getting older, or ship decks were getting harder. At least they had made it back alive. “Cruiser, disconnect tube. Move out of firing range of the Bajiki freighter.”

“Complying.”

Kaitlyn’s weight shifted, then she slid off his back. Sobs rent the air as she curled into a ball on her side.

“I…failed…her.” Her heartbreak spilled out with each gasped word.

“No.” It would be easier for her to breathe without her respirator. He rolled onto his side to loosen the attachments, then removed it. “No, Kaitlyn. You found the evidence we needed that she was there.”

“B-but, she’s not there anymore.”

“I knew so before we boarded.”

Her breath caught in a ragged gasp and her watery gaze flew to his. “Y-you knew ? And you fucking didn’t tell me?”

Possibly a mistake.

“Yea.” He reverted to her language. “I made a scan for humans, live and dead.”

“You…you, asshole .”

Definitely a mistake.

She slammed her palms against his chest, then sat up. “We wasted all that time—”

“Nay.” He levered himself up to sit before her as he tugged his respirator free. “No time be wasted. Learning why the freighter lacked power, I discovered.”

She opened her mouth, words of loathing certainly ready to spill from it.

“ Nay speak you yet .” He made a slashing motion with one hand.

“The freighter be attacked by a force I have never seen. All systems burned, like massive power surge. All the crew be dead by electrocution, except the one at live-cargo hold. You find your sister’s necklace.

All these be clues. Someone has her. Someone may think she be you—the heir and next Gharan empress.

As long as they so believe, she will be cared for. She will live.”

Kaitlyn blinked once, twice. “Oh. But… You really think so?”

“This be what I do if I wished to annex an empire.” Thinking as a criminal had saved his life, and the lives of his team, on more than one hunt for a perpetrator.

Would she believe it, though? New tears already filled her eyes again.

“Nay, do not cry, my Kaitlyn.”

“F-first my parents d-die in a car crash.” She stuttered the words as the tears spilled over to drip down her cheeks. “Then my sister d-disappears without a trace. My entire life is gone. G-gone. I don’t have anything.”

You have me.

He pulled her quaking body into his lap, rested his chin upon her head, then closed his eyes against the ache in his heart. Why were his feelings toward this alien female so strong?

“It s-seems like you’re the only one who g-gives a shit.” Her whispered words didn’t make much sense if taken literally. However their meaning was clear.

Truthfully, he did care. Much more than he should. Far more.

“Don’t leave me, Baatar,” she murmured against his chest. “You’re my only friend right now.”

“I am right here, my Kaitlyn.” And here he would stay, the Ancients willing. He rocked her for a few moments until she stopped trembling. “That was a successful mission, warrior.”

She sniffed and looked up at him. “It didn’t feel very successful.”

“Yet, the intelligence we gathered has broadened our understanding.” Always an earmark of accomplishment. Any information scraped from the freighter’s systems by his handheld would add to that knowledge.

The warm touch of Kaitlyn’s lips against his jawline froze him in place.

“ Chlara , Baatar.” Please, Baatar.

She had spoken in Undetan. Her brain was now processing his language with the aid of her translator. Soon they would be able to converse together without needing such devices. It might be possible to do so now at a rudimentary level.

He rose to his knees, and she slid off his lap to kneel in front of him.

He unfastened her hood and eased it over her head.

Wisps of her golden hair, the ones too short to be captured in her warrior’s knot, drifted free before settling to frame her face.

He placed her hood on the floor, then removed his and set it next to hers.

If he were not already on his knees, the absolute trust in her gaze would have brought him there. He cradled her face between his palms.

“You are the empress.” My empress.

“Not yet, I’m not.” She ran her pink tongue over her lips. “Right now, I’m just Kaitlyn. And don’t say anything about getting me pregnant. I’m on birth control.”

“As am I.”

Surprise flashed in her dark eyes, and was gone as quickly. “Then no one will know, except us.”

Chlara, Baatar. The words were from her heart, and she had protected herself. Why was he fighting this?

He touched his lips to her forehead.

“ Bi inih, nix Kaatlyn.” I am yours, my Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn.

Warmth expanded in her heart at his words.

The heat in his eyes was like sunshine glittering on the bluest ocean.

He was hers, and she was his, even if just for the time they were on this ship.

He lowered his head, hunching to compensate for their height difference.

The first touch of his lips on hers was gentle, but gentle was not her game plan.

She was going all in and no holds barred.

“ Bi inih , Baatar, and don’t you dare hold back.” She grasped the front of his environmental suit, the thin material bunching in her fists as she pulled him closer to claim his full lips.

She pushed her tongue forward until he opened his mouth and drew her in. His taste was all male spice. A deep growl resonated from his chest as he shifted to hold her more tightly, pulling her close and leaning her back in one move. Possessive and controlling.

Oh, yeah. Game on. She sucked his lower lip, caught it between her teeth to nibble. His whole body trembled and he drew back panting, ceding his dominating strategy. This would be a partnership of equals.

She reached for his belt, unhooked it, then let it drop to the floor. “We’re overdressed for the occasion.”

“Yea.” He flicked the catch on her belt, and it slid down her legs to join his.

“It’s ‘yes’, not yea.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck yes?” He looked so pleased with himself, how could she correct him?

“Right. Fuck yes.” She’d fully explain the nuances of word usage later.

He worked the clasps of his environmental suit. “Take care not to rip your suit in case you need it again.”

Party pooper.

She stripped off the suit, then grasped the hem of her white shirt.

“Not yet, little empress.” Baatar closed his hands around her waist, hoisted her up and…draped her over his shoulder.

“Eep!” What the hell was this caveman shit? “You know, there are more romantic ways to carry a woman.”

“You did not ask for romantic.”

Well, yeah, that was true. But with how fast he was zooming through the corridor, it’d be a waste of time to ask him to stop just to rearrange her in his arms like Romeo and Juliet—not that those two had ever gotten this far.

Besides, this whole sack-over-the-shoulder thing added to his alien barbarian charm.

“Neltai.” He carried her through the wavey wall-doorway into her room, then stopped.

“Ya gonna put me down now?”

Slowly, he dragged her down his torso and over the hard bulge in his pants.

She gripped his biceps. Oh, look…things were looking up in that department, literally.

Thank God for that, too. Especially if this ended up being the last time she had sex for the rest of her life.

Which it wasn’t. Not if she had her way.

Yet another thing she’d deal with later.

Baatar raised her back up along his hard, long ridge until she had to look down at him.

He closed his mouth over her cloth-covered nipple, drawing it between his teeth and rolling it.

Pure pleasure rocketed to her core, and she let her head loll back.

Much more of this and she’d become a weeping puddle of goo at his feet, begging for release.

“What do you want, my Kaitlyn?” He murmured against her other nipple, then sucked it into his hot mouth and held it between his teeth.

What did she want? Where were the words she needed to tell him? Because whatever she said, he would do to her. No doubt about it.

“Tell me, my empress.” Nip. Suck.

All in all, he hadn’t done a lot yet, but he didn’t need to either. The molten heat between them had her dripping. No guy had ever made her this hot and bothered. No human man had made her shake with so much need.

“You, Baatar.”

“Me, doing what?”

“Inside me. Balls-deep. Hard.”

“Is this the true definition of fuck, Kaitlyn?”

“Yesss.” Take that explanation off her to-do list. “Fuck me, Baatar.”

He bit down on her nipple a little harder.

A needy cry exploded from her as she arched her back, accepting the pleasure-pain.

Then she was on the bed, blinking up at him as he stripped off his vest. It was easy to forget he was an extraterrestrial when he looked so human.

She watched as he pushed his pants down over his hips.

Human-shaped eyes, ears, nose, mouth, arms, abs—he pushed his pants down over his hips—legs…

oh, my! Yep. Even that looked human enough.

And solidly in proportion to the rest of him.

She wet her lips with her tongue as anticipation tingled through her. Then she scooted to the edge of the bed and slid off.

“My turn.” She ran her fingertips along the velvety hardness of his shaft, and he inhaled sharply. A bead of pre-cum welled at his tip.

Bi inih.

Over and over, if possible. She turned her back to him and padded a few steps away.

This time her shirt was coming off. She grabbed the hem in her hands, tugged it over her head, then cast it aside and started working the hooks of her bra.

As she tossed that to the floor with her shirt, she peeked over her shoulder and gave him a sultry smile.

His eyelids were at half-mast, and the heat of his gaze scorched a trail straight to the junction between her thighs.

Now for the fun part. She toed off her shoes, hooked her thumbs over the waistband of her pants, then wiggled her ass from side to side as she pushed them over her hips. Ah, now who was licking his lips? The way he watched her was like she was the real-life Venus de Milo rising.

She bent over…slowly…and he went rigid. The air snapped with tension, and even she was breathing hard as she stepped out of the pants, then straightened and turned to face him, her juices dripped down her legs.

“Kaitlyn.” Baatar’s deep voice rolled over her like warm thunder as his gaze seared a path down her bared body. “You are gorgeous. I plan to thoroughly taste you, later. After I give you what you asked for.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. Oh, yeah. Now that’s what she was talkin’ about. Balls-deep was the priority-of-the-minute.

“Come here, my big badass warrior.” She crooked a finger at him. “I need help getting back on the bed.”

Humor crinkled his eyes as he lifted her and tossed her back first onto the mattress. Then he lowered his body over hers, keeping most of his weight on his hands. He ground his erection against her mound. “Human female, prepared to be fucked.”

Laughter rose in her chest and bubbled out. “Oh, I am so prepared. Are you?”

“Hmm.” He lowered himself and claimed her mouth.

She met his tongue in an erotic duel as he slid his erection back and forth through her curls, teasing her clit. Which was great and all, but…

“Nomph.” She broke the kiss. “Warrior, I said ‘balls-deep’, not ‘play in the shallow trench’.”

He grinned, and a wicked glint glittered in those beautiful eyes of his. “As you command, my empress.”

He sucked her bottom lip between his as he pressed his tip against her opening.

With one hard thrust of his hips, he slid into her, filled her, invaded her.

Clearly, he wasn’t settling for anything less than complete possession.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pulled back and surged into her again; a little deeper this time as her body adjusted to accommodate his size.

This was so much better than using her imagination. Each hard stroke tightened her coil a little more until she was panting. With every grunt, his balls smacked against her ass until the tension snapped, and the universe went supernova around her.

“Baatar!” Wave after wave of ecstasy shook her with each pump of his hips. “Fuuuck!”

“Kaatlyn. Kaatlyn. Kaatlyn.” He murmured her name like a chant, slowly increasing in volume.

Then he slammed into her, burying himself deep. A long groan came from him as his release exploded inside her. “ Kaatlyn !”

“Shit, yes!” Somehow, she managed to breathe out the only words her brain seemed able to form.

Baatar rested his forehead to hers as their pants filled the space between them. Finally, he rolled to one side, taking her spent body with him.

“Beloved.” He whispered the word.

“Bi inih.” Because she was.

For the moment, at least. They’d figure it out later. After the room stopped spinning. For now, she’d just snuggle with him and bask in the aftermath of sex like she’d never experienced before. Fast, hard, and satisfying. The trifecta.

Her eyelids grew heavy, and she sighed.

There will never be another.

Where had that thought come from? Sleep crept in, and drew her under with a soft sigh.