When finally their hearts stopped pounding and their breathing returned to a normal pace. Toryx slid out of her gently, then looked down at her with such tenderness that Evie felt her heart melting all over again. When Toryx reached up and brushed a loose strand of her hair back from her face, she could feel the delicious trail of heat his finger left across her cheek, and she smiled up at him.
“This wasn’t exactly how I thought things were going to go when I left Zocrone with you,” she said with a shrug.
Toryx smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t think this would happen either. Although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for it after that first kiss back on the Starburst. You’re the most intoxicating woman I’ve ever met.”
Evie grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called intoxicating before, but I’ll take it.”
Toryx raised an eyebrow at her, accenting the scars across his face in a sexy way that made Evie’s heart start pounding again. “Really?” he asked, his voice full of surprise. “No one’s ever called you intoxicating? Because I completely lost my mind when I was inside of you.”
Evie felt herself blushing. “Uh-oh. I wasn’t trying to make you lose your mind. Did you find it again? We’re going to need it if we’re going to figure out this money mess we’re in.”
Evie kept her tone light and joking. She wasn’t ready for a serious conversation about what they’d just done together. And really, was any conversation necessary? They both obviously felt a strong attraction to each other. Maybe the best thing to do was to let that attraction play out however it would. There were enough serious things going on in their lives right now. Did they really have to have a serious conversation right this moment about where things were going between them?
Evie decided she didn’t need some long, official conversation to know how she felt about Toryx, and how he felt about her. Somehow, she just knew in her heart that this thing they had was the real deal. Right now might not be the easiest time to start a relationship, but deep down she believed that if they could just save Zocrone, they would have all the freedom their hearts needed to build a life together.
That was the key. Saving Zocrone. If they couldn’t do that, then she wasn’t sure either one of them would ever be truly happy or at peace again. Zocrone was too important to both of them.
But Evie knew one thing for sure: if anything good had come out of this crisis in Zocrone, it was that she and Toryx had been brought together to fight for a common cause. There was nothing like a life-or-death battle to bring two people together. Perhaps if the crazy storms on Zocrone had never come, Evie and Toryx would never have realized how much they wanted each other.
Now that they had realized it, though, the storms could go the hell away. And they would, eventually. At least, Evie had to believe that. And she and Toryx had to find a way to make Xeywyn believe it so they could get the credit they needed. She sighed and looked up at Toryx, wishing she had even the slightest clue on how to fix their problems. But she had no ideas, and from what he’d told her before their little lovemaking session started, he didn’t have much in the way of ideas either.
But as she met Toryx’s soulful gray eyes, she saw them suddenly lighting up.
“That’s it!” he said, rushing to grab his clothes from where they were strewn about. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”
Evie looked at him in confusion as he started hopping on one foot, struggling to get his underwear back on in his excitement. “What is it? What did you think of?”
Toryx grinned at her, the worried lines disappearing from his face for the first time since they’d arrived in Mognerth. “Get dressed. I know how to save Zocrone.”
Chapter Eight
Toryx knocked nervously on the giant wooden door in front of him, shifting from one foot to another and back again so quickly that Evie poked him and told him to stop hopping around.
He nodded at her and stopped moving his feet, but he started chewing his lower lip so hard that he soon tasted blood. He forced himself to stop that, too, and to take a deep, calming breath.
Get it together, man. If you act like a nervous fool, Skoria is gonna treat you like one.
The Mognerthian Intergalactic Center for Knowledge, the main building of which Toryx and Evie were currently visiting, was one of the premier universities in the Seven Galaxies. And Skoria Eohane was one of the most famous Mognerthian professors at the university. She had risen to stardom from her lowly beginnings as a part-time professor after she’d discovered a huge asteroid heading for Mognerth in time for the Mognerthians to send plasma bombs to decimate the asteroid when it was still far, far away from the planet. No one else had noticed the asteroid, which had been quite far away from Mognerth when Skoria discovered it. But if Skoria hadn’t discovered it when she did, there might not have been adequate time to safely destroy it before it destroyed Mognerth.
These days, Skoria had a posh position as the head cosmic meteorology professor at the university. She had celebrity-like status throughout the Seven Galaxies, and it was nearly impossible to get an audience with her.
But when Toryx called up Skoria’s secretary, it had only taken a few minutes for him to get on Skoria’s calendar that afternoon. Long before Skoria had been famous, Toryx and she had had a little fling during one of his trading trips to Mognerth. Their romance hadn’t lasted, but they had agreed to remain friends, and often had dinner together when Toryx was on the planet. During one of those dinners, the restaurant they were in had been raided by a group of intergalactic terrorists. The terrorists had tried to capture Skoria during their raid, probably with intentions to rape and then kill her. Toryx was having none of that: he had risked his own life in a daring rescue of his friend.
Well over a decade had passed since that fateful night, and as Skoria’s fame rose, she and Toryx saw each other less and less, especially since he hardly ever came to Mognerth anymore. They had drifted apart, as long-distance friends often do, and Toryx hadn’t thought much about her for several years. He’d nearly forgotten about her, especially since he’d been in dozens of life-or-death type situations since the night he saved Skoria. His rescue of her no longer stuck out in his mind as out of the ordinary.
But he was sure it stuck out in Skoria’s mind. She owed him a favor, and he needed a damn favor right now. If he could convince her to tell Xeywyn that the storms in Zocrone would end, Xeywyn would listen. Xeywyn wouldn’t question the premier cosmic meteorologist in the Seven Galaxies.
At least, Toryx hoped that’s how this would all work out.
In any case, the fact that Skoria had at least agreed to an audience with him was a good first start. It meant she still remembered him and still appreciated how he’d saved her life all those years ago.
When the heavy wooden door to Skoria’s office flew open, Toryx was surprised at the sight of her. She looked quite different than the Skoria he remembered. She had gained a lot of weight, and her hair was completely different. She’d styled it in a long, poufy style that wasn’t typical of Mognerthian women, and it was also dyed neon green. She wore eccentric clothes too—frilly styles with crazy colors and a lot of glitz. For a moment, Toryx was so taken aback by the sight of her that he couldn’t help but gawk. She was a far cry from the simply sophisticated girl he’d known long ago. Apparently money and fame had brought out the crazier parts of her personality.
She laughed loudly when she saw his surprise. “Toryx, darling, don’t act so surprised to see me! I know I look a bit different but the changes are good, wouldn’t you agree?”
She grabbed his face in her hands and noisily kissed each cheek. Toryx wasn’t sure that he did agree that the changes were good, but he wasn’t about to say that to the woman who might be the key to getting the credit he and Evie needed.
“You look very happy,” he said. That was true, at least. He pointed to Evie. “This is Evie. She’s here with me from Zocrone.”
Skoria raised an eyebrow at Evie, but didn’t acknowledg
e her otherwise. “She isn’t Zocronian.”
Toryx wanted to make a sarcastic comment congratulating Skoria for stating the obvious, but again he bit his tongue. He couldn’t afford to offend her right now. “Yes, Evie is human. She and a few of her human friends moved to Zocrone a few years ago.”
Skoria raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so your Chief finally decided to allow human immigrants. I hadn’t heard.”
Toryx nodded. “Yes, we’re allowing immigrants now. But that isn’t why I’m here. Have you heard about the storms in Zocrone?”
Skoria nodded, waving her hand dismissively. “Ah yes, the storms. A mere anomaly. They will be over soon. They’re only happening because of the weird moon phases of the nearby planet Vuytis.”
Toryx felt his heart leap. He’d been prepared to beg and plead with Skoria for her to say that the storms were ending soon. He hadn’t expected her to already be so sure that they would be ending soon. But it sounded like she’d already decided on her own that this was the case. “Do you know when, exactly, the storms will end?”
Skoria shrugged. “I cannot put an exact date on it. But I would bet my reputation on it being within the next six months.”
Toryx considered this information. Zocrone would not last another six months without their water supplies being replenished. But the good news was that if Evie and he could get back with some water, that would be more than enough for the Zocronians to survive the next six months. Then, according to Skoria, the storms would be over.
“Skoria, I need your help!” Toryx quickly explained the situation, and asked if Skoria would be willing to talk to Xeywyn. Evie stood beside him without speaking. She didn’t look happy, but Toryx would have to ask her about it later. Right now, he needed to focus on convincing Skoria to help. He didn’t think it was going to be that difficult, since she owed him one and she already had come to the conclusion on her own that the storms were ending. But he had learned over the years to never be sure of something until it was, in fact, sure. And there was a strange glint in Skoria’s eyes right now that was bothering him.
Sure enough, she did not immediately say yes. Instead, she gave him a devious look and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “I’ll agree to help you on one condition.”
Toryx glanced uneasily at Evie, who looked just as worried as he did. What would Skoria’s requirements be?
“Okay…?” Toryx asked, his stomach clenching up as he waited for the answer.
“Oh, don’t look so nervous, Tor,” Skoria said. “I just want you to have dinner with me. For old time’s sake.”
She reached up and ran a finger down the side of his cheek in a decidedly flirtatious way. Toryx stiffened, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Evie’s scowl deepening. He was confused. Was Skoria actually hitting on him? They hadn’t even seen each other in years, and she’d made no attempt to contact him. It had never occurred to him that she might have any sort of feelings leftover for him. Besides, she was rich and famous. She could have just about any guy she wanted in the Seven Galaxies. What could someone like Toryx possible have to offer her?
Toryx glanced at Evie, who gave him a slight “no” shake of her head.
He felt trapped. He knew enough about women to know that Evie wasn’t going to be happy with him going on what was essentially a date with another woman. But what choice did Toryx have? If he didn’t agree to dinner, Skoria wasn’t going to agree to help them. And they needed Skoria’s help if they were going to be able to save Zocrone.
Toryx ignored Evie for the moment and looked back at Skoria. “Okay. As long as it’s just dinner. Nothing more.”
She winked at him. “Of course, darling. Nothing more.”
“And you have to talk to Xeywyn first. We need this process started right away. It can’t wait until later this evening when dinner is done.”
Skoria waved her hand again. “Of course. Whatever. I’ll go talk to Xeywyn right now, as long as you give me your word you’ll meet me at the Mognerth Orb restaurant this evening.”
Toryx grimaced as he felt Evie reach over and squeeze his arm tightly. “Fine,” he said. He knew there would be fallout from this. But surely, Evie would understand.
He’d just have to do damage control later.
As quickly as he could, he excused himself from Skoria’s office and headed toward the exit. As soon as they were out on the street again. Evie turned and looked at him with fury in her eyes.
“What was that all about?”
Toryx raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t know. She was acting weird. But we don’t have a choice other than to play along with her if we want her help.”
Evie narrowed her eyes at him. “You told me that she was just a friend. That you guys hadn’t dated for a long time and there were no romantic feelings left between the two of you.”
“That’s true,” Toryx insisted. “At least, as far as I’m concerned there are no feelings left between us. And I swear to you that whatever she might feel for me means nothing to me. I’m much more interested in you, and in a life back on Zocrone, than in anything she could offer me.”
But Evie didn’t look convinced. Her expression had turned cold, and she crossed her arms across her chest as she glared at him. “I should have known. I thought you were different, and that you might be someone who would commit to me long term. But you’re taking the first excuse to go off and have dinner with another woman.”
Toryx’s heart sank, and he felt frustration and anger boiling up inside of him. “Evie, I’m not looking for an excuse. But you know as well as I do that we need Skoria’s help! I promise nothing will happen between us except dinner. Don’t you want to save Zocrone?”
“I do. But I also want a man to care enough about me to stand up and say I mean something to him. You barely mentioned me when we were in Skoria’s office. It’s like you purposely didn’t want to clue her in that I might mean something to you romantically. Sludge it, maybe I don’t mean something to you romantically. We haven’t really talked about it, after all. Maybe I’m just someone you can bang when you need to scratch an itch, and then you can run off to have dinner with another woman and avoid commitment.”
The anger Toryx had been feeling boiled over completely. “You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to beg you to trust me. If you don’t believe a word I say then that’s your loss, not mine. This is why I never date. I’m never good enough for anyone. There’s always some reason that I’m falling short, even though I’m just trying to be a sludging good guy and do the right thing.”
“If you wanted to do the right thing, you would have told Skoria that I was your girl, and asked if I could come to dinner with you two. But I guess I’m not your girl, am I? I was a fool to think that I was just because you kissed me a few times and then slept with me.”
And with that, Evie stormed off. Toryx considered calling after her, but then he decided not to. Instead, he turned and stormed off in the other direction. He wasn’t even sure where he was going, but he knew he wasn’t going to go back to the hotel until he absolutely had to.
He could feel his heart breaking at the fact that Evie didn’t trust him, but sludge it all if he was going to feel badly for going to dinner with Skoria when he was only doing it to save Zocrone. Maybe he should have said something to Skoria, but he hadn’t remained silent about Evie to try to act like he wasn’t with her. He was just trying to give her space because she’d looked so angry, and that’s what he thought she wanted.
“Women,” he spat out angrily.
But even though he tried to act like this little disagreement was all Evie’s fault, he knew that it didn’t matter much to him whose fault it was. The fact was that all he wanted was for things to be right between Evie and him.
Unfortunately his hands were tied. He had to save Zocrone. He just hoped that Skoria wouldn’t try anything crazy tonight, and that after the dust settled that he and Evie could work out this misunderstanding between them.
He had to hope for t
hat. Because no matter how angry and confused he felt right now, he knew one thing for sure: Evie Riaz had captured his heart, and he wasn’t going to be able to just walk away from her.
He also wasn’t going to be able to let her walk away. He was going to show her that she was his, if it was the last thing he did.
When a Zocronian man decided he wanted a woman, he wasn’t going to stop until he made that woman his. And Toryx had decided that Evie was his. A simple little task like saving a planet wasn’t going to get in the way of their love.
Chapter Nine
Evie sat on the hotel’s patio, fuming. She was just as angry with herself as she was with Toryx. She understood why he had done what he did. She knew he had no choice but to agree to Skoria’s weird demand to go to dinner. Still, couldn’t he at least have said something about the fact that he and Evie were together? Sure, they hadn’t actually talked about being together, but they had made crazy hot love together. That had to have meant something to him.
Or maybe it hadn’t. Had Evie assumed too much? Did she really have any right to claim Toryx as her own? He hadn’t actually agreed to anything.
And now I’ve acted like a crazy jealous girlfriend, even though I’m not actually his girlfriend.
Evie knew she should send a message to Toryx’s e-assistant to apologize, but she wasn’t sure what to say. And every time she pictured him checking his e-assistant, she pictured Skoria sitting next to him at the restaurant. Then she turned green with envy and couldn’t manage to put together a coherent message.
This is ridiculous. Evie considered just going down to the restaurant and interrupting the dinner. She was Toryx’s business associate on this whole deal, after all. She had every right to be at a dinner with someone who was helping them with their mission to get credit.
But Evie knew that Skoria didn’t want her there. And as angry as that made her, she felt deep down that Toryx was right: they were at Skoria’s mercy. Without her help, they couldn’t get the credit they needed and they couldn’t help Zocrone.
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