As he talked, she reached behind her slender neck, unfastened the ties, and allowed her velvet top to fall away, baring gorgeous, perfect twin breasts.
Chapter Nine
His brain stopped and his mouth followed.
Thank physics for creating the universe, Domingo for inviting him here, and her for doing that.
He feasted on the incredible sight. Memorizing it. A wonderful memento for long, cold nights. “…ah… shuttle… or something. I’m sorry, what?”
She leaned forward and her lips were on his.
They tasted soft and dreamy and incredible.
He leaned in to it. Sweet and plum. He nibbled on the lower lip he had seen her bite.
She made a dreamy whimper and parted her lips.
The night cracked open.
Heat seared through his body, concentrating in the hard, ready, pulsing thrum of his cock. Her arms wrapped around his back. Her naked breasts pressed to his chest.
Fuck.
He traced the line of her spine down to the edge of her velvet jumpsuit and skimmed his hands over the top of her ass. She was so sweet and succulent, and he wanted to lay her down on the grass and love her under the stars. She moaned and nuzzled closer. Her hands moved tentatively to his chest.
Hesitant.
He had no doubts.
That was the problem, wasn’t it?
He skimmed up her spine, enjoying her lovely shivers and moans, slid his hand up the back of her neck, and buried his fingers deep into her hair.
She whimpered again, needy, and he loved that sound.
He loved all of it.
He scraped his fingernails into her scalp, raising goose bumps on her arms and pleased gasps. Savoring it. Loving it. She kissed his lips, and he loved that too.
Then he fisted her hair.
And pulled her back.
She caught her breath in great, heaving gasps. Her eyelids half-closed and her lips plumped, deliciously red, and she reached for him with burning desire.
He kissed her fingers. “I love you.”
She tangled her hands in his hair and tried to pull him closer. “Kaolin—”
“That’s why we have to stop.”
“Stop?”
“You’re marrying Dom.”
She breathed for long moments, her desire slowly giving way to sadness. “I don’t have a choice.”
“I do.”
She stopped reaching for him. Her expression turned hurt. “You don’t want me?”
Her accusation stabbed him in the chest. “No.”
She caught the edge of her top, pulled it up to cover herself. “Oh. I—”
“No,” he corrected her misunderstanding before it fully formed, kissing the memory of her beauty farewell. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted someone in my life.”
Her distrust lifted. “Then why? You know I respect Domingo as a business partner.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
With the rich families, marriage was always business.
A million years ago, marriage was for creating heirs. But now it was for alliances, because the families of married couples couldn’t impose trade sanctions, high tariffs, or embargoes against each other.
Even in his own family, which was several tiers below Emprezia and Domingo’s, a generation ago, they too had been bound to marry for economic and political reasons. His father hadn’t loved his mother at first, but love had come soon after, and they had stayed together and had children. And now, their family had fallen even farther, and he and his siblings could live and love like ordinary people.
With Kaolin’s bad luck, this marriage would go the same as his parents’. Dom was likeable, and she was a fiery warrior, determined and gorgeous.
He sighed.
“But…” She searched for words. “But with you, it’s different. I mean, I don’t usually feel for another person, or, if I do, I force myself to ignore them. I know my duty. But with you, I can’t ignore my feelings.”
“You feel what?”
“Safe.”
Considering he had crashed her into an ocean on their first meeting, she was more than generous. He sensed her struggling and hugged her. “I’m glad.”
She returned his hug tentatively. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest.
He memorized the sensation. This would take him through a lot of long, cold nights on the tracks.
She started to loosen her grip. “Kaolin.”
He let go immediately.
“Ah.” She looked a little flustered. Her arms didn’t seem to know whether to rest on her lap or flutter in the air. “I just… maybe… I…”
He rubbed her arms. Her soft, bare arms. “Yeah?”
“The… the thing is, about you…”
The way she was acting, even though he knew better, it was starting to stir his excitement. “About me?”
“I want us to be together.” She frowned hard. “Can’t you just do what you said, and make yourself happy?”
“Sharing you would not make me happy.”
“It’s not really sharing.”
“I want you all. For only me.”
She fully stopped. “You do?”
His heart lightened. Yes. He wanted her. Now she knew the truth. He hadn’t planned to say it aloud. He’d loved her from the first moment he saw her on the landing pad.
She edged the top higher. “But I signed the engagement contract tonight. If I back out now, Dom can sue my family for breaking the engagement.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“I would,” she said fiercely. “He could take everything we’ve ever worked for. Everything.”
But what Kaolin really heard was all the reasons she would not choose him. He swallowed his bitterness. “You’ll make each other happy.”
“No.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her velvet-covered jumpsuit.
Everything became better again.
“You want me,” she said clearly. “I want you. I know what I’m asking is unfair. But it’s commonly done. Marry another and actually love you.”
He shook his head.
“Domingo wasn’t the one saving me tonight. He wasn’t the one spending all this time with me. It was you. You, you, you.”
She pounded her fist on her thigh to emphasize her point.
Kaolin rested his hand over her tiny fist to stop her from hurting herself. “We’ve already established how I feel.”
“And me too.” She blew her hair out of her face. “I love you. That doesn’t mean anything to you?”
He knew this was hard for her. She held herself to an impossibly high standard, and had bared herself to him in the most intimate way.
“You were raised to separate who you love from who you marry. But I can’t.”
“It’s not my choice.” She sucked in a breath. “I don’t have a choice.”
Were those tears forming in her eyes?
He pulled her close, hugging her hard and long, comforting her with all of his heart. She relaxed into his arms, fitting perfectly. Here was where she belonged, see? He never would let her go. Never. The rest of the world didn’t matter. Dom, he’d get over it. Kaolin would take her away with him right now.
But no matter how far he took her away, she’d still come back and marry Dom.
He let her go.
She looked at him sadly. “What can I do?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
“Leave tonight and marry me.”
Stars rotated.
Kaolin’s marriage proposal shocked and excited her.
“Seriously?” she asked, even though Kaolin was serious, especially about something emotional like this, and she knew his answer before he gave it.
“Yeah.”
“And my son—”
“Of course he can live with us.” He had sparked the wish in her, after all. “And someday, when we’re ready, children of our own. Yours and mine. Together.”
The sky opened up with
the glittering promise of their tomorrows.
Fantasies and dreams. Wonders beyond wonder. She could marry Kaolin right now. They could have children. She could have her son.
She could be happy.
Wait. What would she say to Domingo?
What would she say to her parents, who had maneuvered so much of their fortunes to influence this merger?
What would she say to her brother, who called her the responsible one, and what would she say to her cousins, and to her family, and to the world?
In this reality, everything she had worked for turned to sand and slipped through her fingers.
“Come with me,” he repeated. “We can leave right now.”
“I can’t.”
Her heart grieved, aching and heavy in her chest.
His smile came a little later. Tragic and brave. Noble for both of them. “You can’t, huh?”
She would do anything to remove the pain twisting his face. “My family needs this contract. Every day we go without it, lives are lost, and—”
“I know.” He put his arms around her, again, and soothed her. “It’s okay. I know. “
Finally, they packed up and headed to take her back. The silence grew heavy and awkward.
He let out a sigh. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a pretty great night. I got to spend time with a gorgeous woman, I got to drink a new flavor of tea, and I got to show her my favorite spot.”
“You saved her life earlier,” she reminded him, since he seemed prone to forget.
“Did that all happen tonight?” He yawned. “I had my first marriage proposal rejected. Yeah. I guess it had its ups and downs, now that you mention it.”
“Oh.” She tried to laugh and nearly accomplished it. “So, then, you don’t go around proposing to every woman who flashes you.”
“Nope.” He grinned up at her, easing the hurt band around her heart another notch. “Don’t tell me this happens to you every day.”
“I’ve rejected my fair share of proposals.” She had been rejected a few times too.
He raised a brow. “And the rest?”
“What? The—oh. The propositioning you?” The snort exploded, once more uncontrollable as the laugh he had previously brought forth, unintended, both times. “Of course never. Couldn’t you tell?”
“You’re a natural.”
Her body responded to his teasing as if he had run his fingers into her hair again and pulled, hard. Her pores opened and her body flushed, hot and ready.
“Forget it immediately,” she ordered.
“Did I embarrass you?”
“I didn’t do tonight well, so, you shouldn’t remember it.”
“Look at me.”
She refused.
He played with her, teasing until she couldn’t hide any longer, and then, when he held her gaze, he spoke. “You are the most incredible woman I have ever known. This was the best night of my life. Until the night you come home with me, no other night is going to come close. Not even winning the Tri-Color Line.”
The truth of his words shone in her soul.
He made her want to laugh and cry and jump on top of him and move beneath him. Nothing made sense and everything turned confused and he was the only right-side-up in an upside down world.
He stood and held out his hand. “Let’s go.”
She took it.
Back at the castle, he escorted her all the way to her rooms, for a few final moments together. It was late, so late, and the household staff had all tidied away and the halls were silent, just the two of them.
He held her hand, stroking her fingers with his thumb. She reveled in the small contact.
At her door, she turned and tugged him closer. “Come in.”
He held his place at the doorway. “Escape. Right now, with me.”
He was so solid, so comfortable in his own skin. She wanted that confidence.
She wanted the man. “Don’t leave.”
He kissed her fingers and her thumb and then her. Once. Twice. Three times.
She lived for that hot, sweet, casual brush of his lips.
He leaned back.
She stepped forward, off-balance, already craving more.
“Remember me,” he said roughly.
Releasing her hand, he turned and left.
Chapter Ten
She stayed awake all night.
Every time she considered continuing with Domingo, an excruciating suffocation twisted her body, forcing her to toss and turn.
Every time she considered releasing the contract and running to Kaolin, her agony eased and she could almost drift into sleep.
The choice her body made was so obvious only an idiot would ignore it.
But there was no benefit.
How could she leave the marriage contract she had invested so much in? How could she leave her parents in the lurch, and her brother, and her family’s pilots, and destroy everything she had worked to achieve in her entire life, and settle herself on a no-name, no-chair, no-importance sub-sub-family Sarit?
She couldn’t.
And so the twisting began once more.
This was her life. Her entire life. Centuries of hard work, dangerous risks, and nasty choices as part of her thousand-year plan to expand her parents’ empire, destroy all rivals, and knock the Antiata head out of his Star Chamber chair.
She would found her own dynasty. One with her, Emprezia, in the conglomerate’s top seat.
But, her heart whispered, the purpose of the plan was so she would have something worthwhile to give to her own children—her own genetic heirs, and of course, her son—when she achieved it.
And if she never met another man worthy of her heart…if she never met a man as strong, gentle, determined, and wise as Kaolin….
If she never met another man like Kaolin, then her goals were worthless.
Still, marrying a Sarit was no lateral step. Committing to him, having genetic heirs with him, and devoting herself only to him was not a detour, not a shortcut, not even a step down. It was a step out of the race entirely.
She flipped over.
Yes, she would take her contacts. She would take everything she had built up to now, and all her parents had already accomplished. Certainly they would scrape by. If she played her spy game hard, someday, she might be invited to meet the Antiata head in person. As a friend of an invited guest. Maybe.
She would not climb into a planetary governorship, and a solar directorship, and then enter the main line and work up to the head.
Her political life would be over.
Unless she married Domingo.
She thrashed so hard she threw off the covers.
They slithered to the end of the bed and fell off.
She threw out her arms and kicked her legs, slamming her heels into the fluff-soft mattress, jamming her elbows as deep as they could go, until they met the resistance of the foam. She arched her back. She clenched her teeth on her gut-level scream.
Or she could follow Kaolin.
Abruptly, her arch gave out. She lay flat on the bed, gasping. The mattress shape returned and cooled. Sweat dried on her brow, and heat dissipated until the night felt slightly chilled.
Accept that you cannot marry Domingo, the voice commanded from deep inside her soul. Accept and this battle will be over.
Fine. She could not marry Domingo. She accepted that.
Almost immediately, she took a long, deep, calming breath.
Domingo was not the only man at this level. She would target a different man. One who did not cause her to thrash in the night—
Or she could marry Kaolin.
She stroked her fingers on the mattress. Stroking the cool fluff. So comfortable, she barely noticed it, and yet so essential, its absence would lead to an uncomfortably sleepless night.
What about the other side? What’s that cost?
The answer was crystal clear.
There was no monetary benefit to marrying Kaolin.
T
here was no political benefit.
But not chasing after him, not trying, would kill her.
Maybe not at first. Maybe she could continue on, her heart-cord cut, enacting her bloodless career plan as her life drained away.
She was strong enough to do it, resolute enough to accomplish anything.
Maybe she could reach her goal and become the head of the Antiatas, or the head of her own dynasty and conglomerate.
But that victory would taste like sand. Empty of meaning, empty of success. And she would reach it with an empty soul.
Marrying Domingo or anyone like him would kill her as surely as the hit man she had avoided.
Ahhh.
The box in her soul opened, releasing the emotions she had seriously and methodically stuffed into it until it barely held them contained. Until the man whose inattention had stranded her overnight on an ocean buoy, who made everyone smile and her heart sing, turned his gentleness upon her and helped her to realize her mistake.
Tears burned in her eyes.
She could see her son. She could have Kaolin.
The tears flowed sideways down her face, pooling against her cheeks.
She could be happy.
Dawn touched the sky, turning it a familiar copper color that she would now always associate with freedom.
Emprezia rose from her bed, wiped her face, and quickly packed. This wasn’t her first sleepless night, but the excitement accompanying her changes left her breathless and new. Imagining how she would tell Kaolin in her own words that she was changing her life and uniting with him put a lilt in her step.
There. Everything was packed.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Still wearing last night’s pajamas? Kaolin wouldn’t care. She tugged fingers through her tangled hair and headed out her door.
Domingo breakfasted in one of the lounges she crossed to reach Kaolin’s rooms.
Fantastic.
“Good morning.” He rose to greet her in his morning robes. His hand curled around a mug of coffee, and a pastry tray rested beside him. “I’m ready to discuss our wedding date.”
“I’m breaking our engagement.”
He blinked.
She looked beyond him. “Where’s Kaolin?”
“I’m sorry.” A confused smile tugged at his lips. He set down his coffee. “I thought, did you say—”
Liberation Origins: SciFi Romance (Robotics Faction - Origins Series Book 1) Page 8
