Tempted

by Presley Hall

  As he caresses my breast with one hand while slowly moving down my body, sending ripples of pleasure through me, I realize what he’s doing.

  “Oh fuck,” I whisper, my breath catching.

  This time, Zhori is the one kneeling in front of me, his eyes still glowing that brilliant silver. He spreads my legs apart, his strong hands sliding up the insides of my thighs as he looks up at me.

  “It’s my turn to taste you,” he murmurs, grinning as he leans forward and presses a kiss to my inner thigh. “My turn to bring you pleasure. Gods, I’ve been dying for this, Brooke.”

  His words vibrate against my skin, and he breathes in deeply. A flush of embarrassment and lust surges through me as I realize he’s breathing in the scent of my arousal.

  His tongue drags along my inner thigh, and he groans.

  “You’re so wet I can taste it even here on your skin,” he murmurs, the fingers of his other hand moving between my legs, so close to the place I need them. “Is this for me?”

  “Yes.”

  My voice is strained, the one-word response almost more than I can manage. Every nerve in my body feels alight with pleasure, my clit throbbing with need as he slowly drags his finger upward and finally strokes my clit with one fingertip.

  My hips jerk forward as my mouth drops open. “Fuck! Zhori!”

  “Krax, yes. It’s my turn to make you come,” he murmurs.

  His tongue flicks out, delving between my folds and dragging over me in a long, slow stroke that leaves me shuddering. I’ve never felt anything so good, and he doesn’t stop, licking me again and again until I’m panting, breathless, and on the verge of begging him for more.

  “Oh god.” I tilt my head back, my toes curling against the slippery shower floor. “That feels so—oh!”

  Zhori presses his mouth tightly against me, his tongue moving in quick circles around my clit, flicking over it as he pushes me toward the edge, faster and faster.

  He devours me like a starving man at a feast, as if he loves tasting me, loves every second of having his head buried between my legs, and as I open my eyes briefly to look down at him, I can see that he does. His cock is rigid between his legs, harder than ever even though he just came in my mouth a little while ago.

  God, is this some kind of insane dream? How is the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen kneeling between my legs, going down on me as if I’m the most delicious thing he’s ever tasted?

  I blink dazedly, entranced by the sight.

  The muscles in Zhori’s arms flex as he grips my thighs, hooking one leg over his shoulder so that he can hold on to me. His tongue keeps lashing against me as he drives me toward the climax that’s building inside me. I’m almost afraid of it—the pleasure is already so intense that I can hardly stand it—but Zhori isn’t stopping. And I want everything he’s giving me and more.

  “Please…” The word comes out on a groan. “Oh fuck, please, Zhori. I’m so close. I’m gonna—”

  My words choke off as the coiling knot of pleasure in my belly unfurls in a rush, and my legs nearly give out. But Zhori doesn’t let me fall. His arm goes around me, bracing me, and I tighten my leg against his back as the orgasm hits, waves of pleasure crashing over me so fast and hard that I feel lightheaded.

  I close my eyes, vaguely aware of moans and half-formed words pouring from my lips as sensations light up every nerve-ending.

  Zhori carefully unwinds my leg from around his back before he rises. Without missing a beat, he scoops me up into his arms.

  Blinking my eyes open, I stare up at his chiseled, handsome face. His lips curve in a hungry, sexy smile as he sets me down outside the shower stall. Then be begins drying me off with a cloth that he picked up at the market a few days ago.

  I stand still, my body burning like it’s on fire, as memories of the first time he toweled me off race through my mind. That time, he was so careful to keep his touch gentle and platonic. But now, I can feel the fierce desire in every brush of his hands over my skin, even through the cloth.

  He barely bothers with drying himself off before he picks me up again. I wrap my arms around his neck, clinging to him as he carries me into the small room and deposits me on the bed. As I settle back onto the mattress, I realize that he’s hard again, his cock jutting out from his body.

  The sight makes my core clench so hard that my clit throbs with the force of it. I’m half dazed from the release of a few moments ago, but still so aroused that my body is screaming for more.

  What’s shimmering in the air between Zhori and me right now isn’t ordinary or everyday. There’s a need between us, an attraction, or passion, chemistry—something that I’ve never felt with another person.

  He’s still standing at the edge of the bed, a few lingering droplets of water glistening on his bronzed skin as he gazes down at me.

  “Zhori,” I whisper, my voice shaking a little as I reach for him. “Please. I need—”

  But before I can finish speaking, there’s a sudden crash from downstairs, followed by loud, angry-sounding voices. Another clattering sound floats up the stairs, and someone shouts.

  My stomach hardens into a tight ball, and my eyes fly wide as I catch Zhori’s gaze.

  Fuck. Someone’s found us.

  16

  Brooke

  Zhori’s jaw tightens, his gaze whipping toward the door as alarm fills his expression.

  I can tell he’s thinking the same thing I am—someone from the saloon must have followed us. Gir might have regained consciousness and sent someone after us, or maybe someone saw the fight and came after us of their own accord.

  The mood is broken in an instant, the heat between us smothered by the threat of danger.

  “I knew I should have killed that deshing smuggler,” Zhori growls, striding away from the bed and grabbing his loincloth from the bathroom.

  It’s almost amusing to watch him tie it on, since his erection hasn’t quite subsided yet despite the change in circumstances, but it’s clear that he isn’t thinking about that at all anymore.

  He’s all warrior in this moment. All fierce protector.

  Once his loincloth is secured, he scoops up my clothing from the floor where I left it and tosses it to me.

  “Here,” he growls, his gaze fixed on the door. “Get dressed. Hurry.”

  Crossing the room, he grabs his blade and throws on his thick coat. I tug on my own bulky clothing as fast as I can, my heart racing in my chest for an entirely different reason now. Sounds are still rising up from below us, getting closer now.

  “What do we do?” I whisper urgently, and Zhori looks around.

  “There,” he says, nodding to the large window. “We’ll go out that way.”

  “We’re three floors up!”

  “There are a series of steps built into the stone outside,” he says, his gaze never leaving the door, sword in hand. He’s tense and poised to fight, and even now, I can’t help but think that he’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. “For getting out in case of fire. These buildings are stone, but the patrons aren’t always the most careful. I expect they have a number of small fires now and then.”

  He gestures for me to follow him, then strides toward the window, grasping the latch.

  “Shouldn’t we just try to fight our way out?”

  “No.” Zhori jiggles the latch. He curses under his breath as he realizes that even with all his strength, it won’t budge. It’s rusted to the point of not being able to move, and he lets out a frustrated snarl.

  “Wait! Here.”

  Dashing across the room, I grab one of the chairs that sits by the small table. Zhori steps back as I return to the window, his eyes widening a little. Gripping two legs of the chair as tightly as I can, I swing it in a wide arc toward the glass.

  The window shatters, and I wince at the noise. But it’s too late for stealth anyway. At least now we have a way out of the room.

  Zhori shoots me an impressed look as he steps forward, quickly clearing the
few remaining shards. “Good thinking. Hurry!”

  He gestures me forward once he’s sure the window is cleared, and I scramble through it, discovering that he was right—there’s a sort of makeshift fire escape built into the back of the building. Given the state of the inn’s ramshackle exterior, I’m a little worried the stairs won’t hold our weight, but I don’t let myself think about that as Zhori climbs through the open window frame behind me.

  There’s no railing on the steps, and I cling to the side of the building as much as I can as we hurry down toward the street below, my breath coming in short gasps.

  “Where are they?”

  “There! There!”

  “Quick! Cut them off!”

  The sound of deep voices shouting from above us lets me know that Savyiek’s guards have entered our room. Two guards climb out to follow us down the fire escape, and I put on an extra burst of speed, nearly tumbling down the steps as we race down the final flight of stairs.

  I can hear more shouting and banging from inside the inn as we finally reach the street level, and I realize some of the guards doubled back, probably hoping to cut us off before we can escape.

  “We can’t let them box us in. There are too many of them. I won’t be able to keep you safe.” Zhori grabs my hand just as the door to the main entrance of the inn bursts open and more guards charge out. “Run!”

  We have a head start on the guards, and he makes sure we don’t waste it. We dart through the darkened streets, his hand wrapped tightly around mine, and I sprint as fast as I possibly can to keep up with his long legs.

  I squeeze his hand, clinging to him like a lifeline as we dart down alleys and careen around corners—and I realize in a sudden rush as we flee through the streets of Tanu that I trust him completely.

  For so long, I tried to keep my walls up, but he’s managed to tear every one of them down. I don’t know when it happened, when exactly things changed. Maybe it was the fight in the alley, when he defended me from Gir. Maybe it was when he caught me singing and was so patient and kind despite my irrational freak-out.

  Maybe it was long before that, and I just wasn’t ready to admit it.

  I’m not sure, but what I do know is that I trust him more than I’ve ever trusted anyone in my life except for my grandmother. I have complete faith in him.

  It’s relieving, in a way, to be able to relax and stop fighting those feelings. To be able to let my guard down, no longer questioning him or waiting for him to prove that he actually has bad intentions. Zhori is my friend. He’s my rescuer and protector—and also my partner in this. Because he’s shown that he depends on me too, and he’s always treated me like an equal.

  Even after we leave the guards behind, their shouts receding in the distance, we don’t stop. We run until I’m gasping so hard for breath that we have no choice but to stop for a minute.

  Zhori pulls me into an alleyway, standing to the side and shielding me with his body so that no one passing by will see more than his back, shrouded in his heavy coat.

  “Are you all right?” he whispers, reaching out to cradle my cheek in one large hand, gazing down at me with worried eyes.

  “I’m fine,” I tell him softly, still struggling to catch my breath. “Really, I’m totally fine.”

  He looks slightly suspicious, his gaze still raking over me as if to find any hint that I’m not telling him the whole truth, or some hurt that I haven’t realized yet. When he finally seems satisfied that I’m whole and unharmed, he lets out a breath, glancing over his shoulder into the dark street to make certain no one is approaching.

  “What are we going to do now?” I ask, looking up at him. His eyes have returned to their normal color, blue and black speckled with silver.

  “We’ll find another place to stay.” He purses his lips, seeming to consider something. “It’s going to become more and more dangerous from now on.”

  “Why?”

  He sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. It still looks a bit damp, just like mine is.

  “More people are after us now. Every time we try and fail to leave the planet, the odds increase that someone is going to find us. It’s going to make it increasingly harder to get off Nierra.” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to frighten you, Brooke. But I also don’t want to lie to you, and I want you to understand the gravity of the situation. All things considered, our odds of survival are going down.”

  I swallow, my heart thudding in my chest, and he squeezes my hand tighter. He’s still holding it—neither one of us has thought to let go.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper, blinking back the tears that sting the backs of my eyes. “Fuck, Zhori, I’m so sorry. You came back. You weren’t even stuck here, like I was. You could have gotten off—you did get off the planet, and you would have been safe. But you came back. For me. And now you might die here.”

  I bite my lower lip hard, trying desperately to get ahold of my emotions as guilt surges through me, hot and fierce.

  Dammit, this is all my fault.

  If I hadn’t fucking hesitated, if I’d trusted the Kalixians more, we’d be on Kalix right now. No one would be worried about dying.

  But Zhori steps closer to me, closing what little distance there is between us as he reaches up to thread his fingers through my hair. When he looks down at me I see something deep and intense in his eyes, an emotion I can’t quite describe, and he shakes his head firmly as he tilts my face up toward his.

  “You have no reason to be sorry,” he says, his voice deep and serious.

  He’s near enough that his body is brushing against mine, his heat keeping me warm even out here in the frigid alley. It’s impossible to be this close to him without remembering how intimately we’ve touched each other—the kisses in the alley and the shower and on the bed. My mouth has been everywhere on his body, and his on mine.

  I want to go back to that so desperately. To return to those brilliant, glorious moments of pleasure when there was no danger or fear. Nothing except the friction of our bodies against each other and the aching need that consumed us.

  “I made my choice,” Zhori tells me firmly, dropping his head so that his forehead is almost touching mine, his gaze fixed on my face. “And I would make that same choice over again, were I given the chance. Without question. Without hesitation. I don’t regret it at all, no matter what happens. And I need you to know that.”

  My breath catches. My entire body feels affected by how close he is, the heat and scent and physical presence of him surrounding me.

  “I do know,” I whisper. “I believe you, Zhori.”

  “Good.”

  His voice is low, his eyes fixed on mine with that deep, intense stare, as if he’s trying to memorize everything about me. It makes my pulse leap into my throat, my heart beating hard in my chest as I hold his gaze, the plumes of our breath in the frozen air mingling together, becoming one.

  After what seems like forever, he steps back, still holding my hand in his. He leads me out of the alley without a word as he looks up and down the street, cautious and alert as always.

  Together, we set off into the night.

  17

  Zhori

  My emotions are a riot in my chest as I lead Brooke through the streets and alleys, toward a section of town closer to the outskirts of Tanu where we haven’t spent time yet. Hopefully, no one in this district will recognize us. It’s the best solution I can think of for now.

  I wasn’t exaggerating when I told Brooke that our situation has gotten markedly more dangerous. I’m no longer certain that I can get her off Nierra alive. I’m even less certain that I can get both of us out of here alive. It’s a sobering realization, made all the more so by the feelings that are tangled up in me, and complicated by what we just did in our room at the inn.

  I wanted to kiss her so badly just now in the alley, as she looked up at me with eyes that were still wide and trusting, even after I told her that we might die. The woman who once tried to kick me in th
e balls and run away has now come to trust me completely… just when I’m losing faith in my ability to complete my mission.

  It makes my heart ache to see it, to think that I might fail her.

  Even now, I want to pull her aside into one of these alleyways and kiss her. I want to press my lips to hers, to feel every inch of her body with my hands and reassure myself that she really is all right, alive and whole.

  I keep having to remind myself that this isn’t real—more often than I should.

  We’re not really mates.

  We’re pretending in order to keep her safe, and the fact that I have to remind myself of that at all is proof that I’m slipping in my duty.

  I’ve never struggled with this before. I’ve always been a good warrior because I’m focused, brave, and determined. Those are all words I’ve heard Tordax use to describe me. To be fair, he’s said immediately afterward that I can be reckless and overconfident, but those first descriptors are the ones that I know matter most.

  When there’s a mission to be completed, I get it done. There’s nothing that can stand in my way, because I have nothing to lose. I belong to the Alpha Force, first and always. I have since I was a child, and I’ve never had anything get in the way of that. My service to my people has been the sum total of my life.

  But it’s hard to stay focused around Brooke. I’m determined to save her—but my attraction to her keeps getting in the way, distracting me and making me think about things that have nothing to do with getting us out of here alive.

  I tried to do my best to keep all of that shoved away, to push aside my feelings of attraction and stay focused on the goal. I swore I wasn’t going to start anything with her, that this wasn’t about that.

  But when she dropped to her knees in the shower and took me in her mouth…

  Gods, I don’t know of a male in the universe who could have said no to that. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen with her lips around my cock, begging me to come in her mouth? I’d dare even Tycran to try to deny himself something so tempting—and based on the fact that he’s now a mated man, I guarantee he couldn’t.