by Elsa Jade
He brushed his lips over hers, waiting for that near silent exhalation that marked her yielding before he followed with the touch of his tongue. Xymirans didn’t have quite the same courting rituals, but he’d obtained enough instructional materials from Evens to approve of this intimate sharing.
He needed just enough of a connection to appease his restless beast, and he needed her to stay in Sunset Falls long enough to complete Evens’ algorithm. He needed…
Her.
He cupped her nape, angling her head to deepen the kiss, and his fingers tangled in the loops of her hair bound into the sparkly fabric tie.
She reached up too, her fingers tangling with his to unfasten the tie, and her hair unfurled around them, holding the kinked memory of its confines even as it caught the faint breeze. She matched his hold with her hand around his cheek, her thumb under his jaw to open him wider to the probe of her eager tongue.
Ah, so this was why the Earthers kissed like this. The hot press of her tongue ignited nerve endings much deeper in his body. Those licking sparks were probably why kisses were contraindicated in an unmated Xymiran.
But now he knew he needed her kisses.
The rush of sensation was a pleasure and the danger of the sort he knew was forbidden for the unbonded. Before he could stop himself—would he have stopped himself?—she broke the kiss, leaning away just enough to put the cold caress of the wind between them. Her thumb brushed over his lower lip instead, a slightly rougher pressure than her soft, full lips.
And somehow more desirable because of it.
At this close distance, his rough exhalation fogged her glasses before the cold breeze cleared them again.
She chuckled again, a raspier sound this time. “Yeah, literally fogging up windows.” She looked up at him. “I need to tell you, I’m not looking for anything serious at the moment.” Her gaze shuttled back and forth across his face, her lower lip snagged between her teeth as she waited his reply.
Of course he couldn’t have anything serious with a closed-worlder either. “I’ve always been serious,” he told her. “But maybe this is a place and time for something different.” When her eyes widened again, he hastened to add, “Not that different. Your algorithm might not be ready to declare us compatible, but we’d be at least…that compatible.”
Her laughter twinkled like more bubbles in his blood. “Good to know. Maybe I should add that to the algorithm.”
Evens would be establishing a baseline of physical, biochemical, and cultural compatibility before taking on potential IDA matches. But what were the other markers of who might become soulmates? Could those ephemeral elements even be captured in an algorithm? Tyler seemed to think not.
Staring at the innocent Earther halfway into his arms, who could never truly be what he needed, he thought that for this moment, as this little planet spun through this infinitesimal fragment of spacetime, it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered but this.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Maybe we should theorize together how you might methodize such data?”
“For science,” she murmured. “Testing, testing. One, two, three…” She twisted around so she was half on his lap and kissed him.
The first kiss was impulse. The second was premeditated. The third…
This kiss was pure fire.
The spark of contact at her mouth on his raged instantly to a blazing firestorm. He had one moment to think how this desire could be a catastrophe in the making, before every coherent thought turned to ash and spiraled up on their mingled breath toward the stars.
Grabbing her hips, he lifted her to straddle him, their hips nestling perfectly together as if docked by magnet. Her lower legs were wet, but as he ran his hands over the soft curves that he’d admired through the bubbles, the slick glide only amplified his excitement, as if the water were an accelerant.
And they were surrounded by water…
She shivered at his touch, but he knew it wasn’t from cold. It was his touch that made her very atoms chime.
Power like he’d never known rushed through him with a roar that should’ve terrified him. This was why the Xymir commanders were so strict about their control, why they demanded the mating bond that would properly confine the beasts. A wild grief that his crew had been denied a chance swept through him, honing the desperate edge of his reckless need.
She nipped at his lower lip, just a tiny sting of her teeth in his flesh, but it made his hips jerk against hers.
She framed her hands around his face and stared down into his eyes. “The first rule of collaboration is you have to do your own work. No wandering off and leaving me to do all the heavy lifting.”
He ran his hands up her legs, following the fold until he rested on her hips where he sank his fingers into the muscle and padding under her non-outside pants. The feel of her heated his palms almost as much as if he were holding actual stars. “Right here, right now,” he assured her in a gruff voice. “I just… Touching you reminds me it’s almost too much.”
She wriggled her backside into his lap. “This is too much?” There was a note of warning in her voice, only half playful. “How about this?” Of course she wouldn’t be overwhelmed by all this, not she who could hold the data of thousands between her fingertips and extrapolate from that the hopes and dreams of millions more. What were his simple needs compared to all that?
“Kiss me again, he said gruffly. “However many you’ll share with me. I’m not counting anymore.”
She kissed him as if she were testing him along every metric: filling her hand with his hair, her mouth slanting hard across his, her tongue lapping him, the frantic sips of her breath capturing his groan of pleasure as she angled her hips tightly to his. His own senses instantly maxed with his perceptions of her. He’d had his share of pleasing encounters after leaving Xymir and his sampling of the delights offered by a diverse universe had gratified him even when they hadn’t offered the connection he needed. But this… Her… She was the opposite of what he needed, not a connection or lifeline, not the ball and chain that she’d mocked that was nevertheless exactly what a Xymiran needed in order to contain his beast. She was the opposite. She was a source of elemental fire, and her every touch inscribed arcane symbols across his skin and blood and bones waiting to ignite, like the incendiary gel used to blow open the seams of plasteel, except the walls were around his control.
And she didn’t know the danger, couldn’t know the threat, because that was exactly what he’d been hired to protect her from. This was wrong, so wrong, when she’d asked only for transparency. But he couldn’t stop her, not when her hands had eased up under his shirt, her fingertips both too cold and too hot to stand, each touch cracking him open a little farther.
The beast breathed with him, each gasp and groan straining those cracks, yearning to breathe fire out into the night beneath the stars.
Elation and desperation swept through him. Only one of those emotions was truly his—and only one could win. If only he knew which was which. He had one chance now to control the beast. He must feed it, sate its every whim and send it back to sleep, to dream, while he sealed up his walls again.
With a sound that was half him and half the beast and all hunger, he fell.
Sprawling back on the hard rock, he gave her access to every part of him, all his defenses down. With an eager noise of her own, she grasped the hem of his shirt and gave a tug. She needed his help with the maneuver, so he could still say no, but he didn’t. Instead he arched his back to let the slick fabric peel over him, like a perfectly fitted cage that had held him too long.
Abruptly, she sat up straight, and for a moment he thought he done something wrong. Or she’d seen something wrong about him.
But she stared down at him with the same avid desire that scorched through his discipline. “God, you’re gorgeous,” she murmured. “Like a fantasy I shouldn’t want.” All the while, her fingers traced over him, gently and inexorably shredding his control and even his cog
nizance of the need for it. Until a small furrow appeared between her brows. “How can you even be?”
The faintest hint of caution tried to surface in his mind, like one raindrop in a firestorm. “Am I not”—he swallowed hard—”compatible?”
Evens had assured him that initial scans of his crew had found sufficient congruence that they would qualify for the matchmating service when it was ready. But if its architect rejected him before he’d even entered his data…
“Oh, no,” she purred. “I think this could work fine.” With the palms of her hands, she molded over his chest and down his belly. “Two, four, six… Eight…” The frown appeared again. “Ten? A ten-pack. Is that a thing?”
“I thought we weren’t counting,” he reminded her.
Her eyes flashed back up to his, capturing the glint of water bubbles and burning stars and her sudden amusement. “Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know that you’re totally hot.”
“I do know,” he rasped.
“Arrogant much?”
“Burning because of you,” he countered. “Hot as your sun’s corona, hot like pixberry soup, hot as a wyvryn’s dreams.” The words slipped out of him, so twisted from the growl of his beast that his translator couldn’t convert fast enough.
She blinked again. “What…”
He fisted his hands in the hem of her coat. “Now you,” he commanded. “So we can burn together.”
“Go ahead,” she challenged. She angled her arms out wide, as if summoning the starlight, and in answer, tiny sparkles began to drift down around her. She tilted her head back and laughed. “They told us that it was going to snow.” In one lithe move, she rose to her bare feet, straddling him. She looked down at him, hands on her hips, her eyes bright. “You know what this means.”
He gazed up at her, the beast ecstatic at her wide-legged stance, powerful and centered. Ready to take him. He tried to wrestle it back enough to speak so his translator could reply. “That it’s going to be too cold so you’re ending this?”
“No way. That we have to get naked and jump in.”
The beast inside him soared.
Chapter 9
She was about to get lucky. How had she gotten so lucky?
Tyler fisted her hands in the hem of her coat and pulled everything over her head in one yank—coat, sweater, shirt, hat, glasses. Only her bra stayed stubbornly on. So much for her dramatic reveal.
But judging by the fierce gleam in Cross’s eyes—impossible to miss even with her nearsightedness—he didn’t mind and had plans to make short work of that remaining scrap.
She’d never done anything this wild. Well, she’d quit school against her parents’ wishes and all common sense to move to the Bay to join a startup, and then she’d jettisoned that all, abandoning everything from that life too. But this, this moment promised all the exhilaration with none of the consequences. This moment was just for her.
And for him, if the reckless gleam in his eyes was any indication. Seemed like he was excited about a night off from his job too. She raked her gaze down his body. Very excited…
Dayum, but he was a fine piece of work. All simmering intensity and sculpted muscle. Maybe too much muscle—she’d have to do an image search on ten-packs because that seemed unnecessary—but she wasn’t going to judge. And he had devoured that bowl of ice cream like he truly appreciated it.
Maybe he’d do the same for her. A prickle of anticipation swept across her skin, raising the tiny hairs like a fine armor against the cold air. His big hands and wide mouth would chase away any chill.
Actually, she didn’t need to wait for him. She’d put her satisfaction in other people’s hands and fast-talking mouths often enough, and how had that worked out for her? She needed to seize the day. And the night. And Cross and his hot buns.
Holding his gaze, she stripped off the rest of her clothes. She was a wild goddess, a creature of starlight and passion— Ooh wait… She rummaged through her discarded clothing for her scrunchie. Even wild starlight passion goddesses appreciated their scrunchies.
Arms raised (which perked her boobs nicely, if she did say so herself) she twisted her hair high. She stood there a moment, letting him see, making no promises, no demands. Just this—right here, right now.
He propped himself up on one elbow, the starlight and snowflakes shimmering on his skin. But his eyes were like the hottest heart of a fire.
The strangeness of it should have alarmed her, but it too perfectly matched the raging need inside her. It wasn’t shock at his strangeness that moved her, but surprise at herself.
Giving him a last, challenging smile, she stepped backward off the rock.
The water was deeper than she expected, but the bubbles held her gently aloft, a delicious sensation on her skin, like a cocktail of anticipation and bliss, as if she were already halfway to an orgasm.
When he rose to his feet and shucked his trousers, she adjusted her estimates—she was three quarters there. She could count the number of penises with which she’d had intimate experience on one hand, and his surpassed them all—not just numerically but aesthetically. She hadn’t known this awaited her in Sunset Falls, obviously, but now that she thought about it, the universe definitely owed her for the massive screwing of the last seven years. All the heated, bubbling water in Sunset Falls couldn’t match the thrill in her blood.
He posed for a moment then gave an exaggerated full-body shiver that sent a wave through his extremities—all of them. “It’s cold out here.”
“Then get in here,” she purred.
He plunged into the water beside her with barely a splash, as if even the water wanted to cling to him. With one stroke, he was in front of her—oh, that strength and singular focus, all coming straight at her. Yes, she was going to adore this.
But with a last, melting speck of caution, she backpedaled just a little bit, putting some space between them. The water was so clear that even in the darkness, even with the ripples of their movement, she could see almost all of him—all the vital parts anyway.
He paused at arm’s length, respecting the space she’d made.
“Just to clarify a few things,” she murmured.
Clear as the water, clear as the sky between the clouds, clear as the feel of each unique snowflake melting on her skin.
“Tell me,” he said softly.
In some ways, it felt wrong to set parameters and limitations on this unexpected, wild thing between them. But it was who she was, and more than that, it was what she needed from him.
He hung there, waiting, and his patience and the way his gaze never wavered made everything feel all right.
She took a breath. “I’m on birth control, and I was tested recently after I got out of my last relationship, and I haven’t been with anyone since.” She gave him a cheeky smile. “Nothing human anyway, just B.O.B.”
“Bob?” He blinked at her. “Nothing…human? Then…who?”
“Battery-operated boyfriend,” she clarified. When his blank expression remained, she blushed. Hopefully he would think it was just the sauna temps, and not any puritan shame on her part. “Sex toys,” she said bluntly.
“Ah.” He nodded. “I too have a fertility curb and was cleared of all infections and conditions when I came here. I too enjoy the use of assistive devices when appropriate companionship cannot be otherwise procured or when appropriate companionship appreciates such devices.”
“Otherwise procured?” She choked on a laugh. “Listen to us. I gotta get this matchmating thing done ASAP so no one else has to go through this.”
He gazed at her, his hands moving gently through the water to keep him in place. “I think discussions like these will always be important.”
Where had this guy come from? No one would believe her if she tried to use him as a data point for this algorithm.
Anyway, he needed to put those hands to better use. She moved toward him, carried not by the soft churn of the water but by the currents of her own desire. Since he was already
in motion too, their bodies coming together made the water spurt up in the space between them, and their kiss tasted of minerals and bubbles.
Or maybe that was just desire, so long denied, frothing in her blood. With their arms wrapped around each other, they should’ve sunk lower in the water. Instead, they seemed to rise. Part of him was rising, for sure—the nudge of his erection against her thigh had her hotter and wetter than the whole damn lake, making every nerve ending sparkle. He hauled her up against his chest, his mouth slanting hard and sure across hers.
They kissed until every breath was a single needy gasp traded back and forth between them, and she had to break away to not pass out. She wasn’t going to miss a moment of this, not after the seven years she’d wasted.
He gazed at her, one hand still roaming across her back and down her waist to her ass, as if he couldn’t stop even upon risk of sinking. “Kiss me again?” His query was a little breathless, a little broken.
Maybe she was sinking a little too, tumbling head first… “Catch me.”
She pushed off his chest, but she floated only halfway across the pool before he grabbed her ankle and hauled her back. She let out a little shriek that turned into a moan as he reeled her in, wrapping her legs around his waist.
Then somehow, they beached on the flat stone again, him bending back against it, her arms anchored around his strong shoulders. He heaved them up, and she swore the wave they made sizzled on the rock. She landed straddling him, and the insistent prod of his cock at her belly was almost too perfectly centered.
She held herself aloft this time, staring down at him, not quite ready…
As if he heard what she didn’t say, he sat up, his hips angling away from her. Instead, he leaned forward to kiss the hollow of her throat, his tongue splashing in the beads of water clinging
there. She shuddered against him.
She imagined where else that tongue might go. He cupped her breast, his thumbs stroking across the sensitive tips. She sucked in a gasp and tightened her hands in his shoulders. With a growl of his own, he spanned his hands over her, plumping the swelling flesh higher and circling the peaks with flickers of his thumbs. She let out an even more incomprehensible sound.
