Page 35 of Escape Clause

He loomed over her, his soft, tender gaze causing her heart to hitch. “I’ve dreamed of you like this.”

“I was afraid you didn’t want me.”

“I’m so sorry I gave you that impression—”

She touched his lips with a fingertip. “No apology needed.” She trailed her finger over the silvery scales along his hairline. No longer dull, they brightened even more under her touch. “Is there a name for these?” She explored the band across his chest and watched with fascination as it took on an iridescent gleam.

“They’re called gliteri.”

“Do your gliteri have a function other than being pretty?”

He hesitated, his face turning a deeper blue, the scales gleaming brighter. “They, um, reveal intensity of emotion.”

He was pretty much lit up like a Christmas tree. She smiled, pulled his head down, and kissed him.

With a groan, he assumed command, exploring her mouth and eliciting fluttery sensations she felt clear down to her womb and her pussy. He roamed his hands everywhere, cupping her aching breasts, stroking her tummy, squeezing the rounded cheeks of her ass, and delving into her wet center to find and stroke her clit. She arched against his hand, her head falling back with abandon.

Determined to give as much as she received, she explored the hard planes of his chest, enjoying his groans of pleasure when she skipped her fingers over the gliteri on his torso.Sexually sensitive, too,she thought.

His cock fascinated her, so hard, thick, andblue. She gripped his shaft and pumped, watching as a drop of dark-blue precum pearled at the meatus, then couldn’t resist scooting down and taking him in her mouth. He held her head as she laved and sucked hiscock. If he realized it was her first blow job, well, there was no indication from his tortured exhortations.

His hips rocked, and, with a groan, he pulled her away, caressing her with frantic hands. His mouth plundered hers. His fingers dipped deep into her pussy. He nudged her thighs apart, slipped between her legs, and entered her.

She sucked in a breath at the pleasurable fullness and stretch, shifting slightly to lock her heels against his tight buttocks, urging him to move. With a plunge and swivel, he thrust inside, teasing tender tissues and the bundle of nerves at the apex. She hugged his neck, rubbed her face against his cheek, inhaling his scent, absorbing his essence. His exotic, heady musk smelled like spice and sex. Tension and heat combined, the friction creating fire. She felt like a coiled spring, tethered to him but stretching out, farther and farther, about to snap.

And then she did. With a cry, she came with great shuddering gasps, her pussy contracting around his thrusting cock. The muscles of Krogan’s face grew taut, his silvery scales glowing bright, and, with a bellow, he climaxed. His cock pumped out his essence, filling her, seeping into her being, and somehow, touching off another orgasm that sent her flying higher.

Like a feather falling from the sky, she drifted back to conscious reality, to the here and now, but it was a new reality, one in which he held her close, stroked her hair, and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. “My sweet Hope,” he murmured. “Wife of mine.”

Her heart swelled at the tenderness in his voice. “Husband of mine,” she whispered back. She fought to stay awake to savor the aftermath, but her eyelids felt so heavy, her body so replete and languid, and it was so very late. She drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Sixteen

Careful not to wake Hope, Krogan eased out of bed. He stood and watched her sleep, noting every detail—what a slight bump she made beneath the bedcovers, how gentle and slow her breasts rose in sleep and respiration, the perfect crescents her lashes formed against her smooth cheeks, how inviting her parted pink lips looked.

He still felt dazed and amazed by last night’s lovemaking. Drained by the deaths, he’d trudged home an empty shell. Her tender care and loving spirit had renewed him, enabled him to face another day.

I love her.

He longed to tell her, to shout it to the world. The only other person he’d ever uttered those words to had been his mother—just before she’d walked away and left him. When he tried to say them to Hope, his throat had locked up with fear, and he couldn’t fashion his lips and tongue around the words.

But he felt it. He meant it. And hopefully one day, he would be able to say it.

I can’t let her go.

Fortunately, it looked like he wouldn’t need to.

For the first time, he felt like he stood on solid ground with her. She would not have responded so sweetly, so passionately if she wasn’t starting to share some of his feelings. Their bond had begun to solidify in the nick of time. He’d been too shell-shocked to process the information last night, but the fact that her nemesis had been neutralized meant only the contract kept her on Caradonia.

He had a year to ensure she loved him enough to desire to stay with him forever.

A year. I have a year.What had first seemed like a life sentence, now didn’t seem long enough.

When he’d been informed of the stasis pod malfunction, his first thought had been of Hope. What if she’d been one of the women? He wouldn’t have been able to stand it. It would have killed him. He couldn’t let the men receive such devastating news through a message broadcast, so he’d taken it upon himself to contact each and every person. He’d grieved with them, imagining how he would feel if he lost his wife.

Sweet Hope. He wanted to crawl back into bed, awaken her, make love again, spend the day with her,take her to the places he’d promised, but he couldn’t. Fallout from yesterday’s tragedy awaited him.But tonight, I will come home early. I promise.

He leaned over and brushed his lips against her temple.Sleep well, my wife.

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