Page 41 of Alien Engineer's Mate

His hand engulfed hers as he drew her away from the wall, the contact sending sparks racing under her skin. Without another word, he led her through the station's corridors.

She shivered, butterflies rioting in her stomach with each step. He didn’t speak, his expression tight and a tiny muscle jumping in the corner of his jaw as they walked. But each time he looked down at her, his eyes were molten gold and dark with desire. For her. When he looked at her like that, she felt like the only woman in the world… in all the worlds. For a woman with kids, whom society had all but rendered invisible, to be seen that way was heady. Irresistible.

They reached an elevator she’d barely noticed on the way down, and only noticed now because as soon as the door opened, Maax snarled, “Out, now!” at the occupants.

Three leather-clad latharians scattered in that running but not running way men had when they were trying to save face. All of them had fewer braids and beads than Maax did.

“You didn’t need to scare them like that,” she giggled as he herded her into it, almost physically, but she didn’t mind the manhandling. Not when he was somehow both rough and gentle with her at the same time. “We could have shared the elevator.”

His eyes gleamed wickedly as he backed her up against the wall. “No. We couldn’t. Unless you wanted me to kill them for seeing this?”

She blinked up at him, her thought processes stuttering. “Seeing what?”

The corner of his lips quirked, and his voice was a deep rumble of pure temptation as he lowered his head.

“This,” he murmured against her lips, and the next moment, his lips crashed down over hers.

The kiss was hard and demanding, stealing her breath from the first moment. Pressing closer, he pinned her to the wall with his larger, harder body. Heat and chills flowed over every inch of her skin and she lifted her chin, eager for more. This wasn’t how he’d kissed her before. It wasn’t soft and gentle, delicately feeling out her boundaries like last night. It wasn’t even the seductive kiss from the corridor outside the restaurant.

No, this was heat and need and dominance. It was the kiss of a man who knew what he wanted and was going to get it. The rumbled moan from the center of his chest and the way he somehow managed to cradle her protectively against him even while he pinned her to the wall made her melt against him.

She gasped, and he took advantage, parting her lips with a hard sweep of his tongue. Driving inside, he slid his tongue against hers in devastating, open-mouthed kissed that drove the arousal surging through her veins higher and higher. No, this wasn’t just the kiss of a man who knew what he wanted, it was the kiss of a man who knew what a woman wanted, whathiswoman wanted, and by the stars he was going to give it to her.

Reaching for her hands, he pulled them up over her head and held them captive as he used the other to sweep down her curves. Breaking the kiss, he looked down at her.

“You’re mine,kelarris,”he told her, the words a sinful rumble of whiskey and smoke. “And I’m going to spend all night proving that to you.”

The elevator jolted to a halt, the doors sweeping open behind them. But he didn’t move, his gaze locked with hers.

“Gods, you’re so beautiful,” he rasped, and for a moment it felt like she could see right down to his soul. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”

She didn’t get chance to reply because he stole another kiss, one that stole her breath in return, and the next moment she was airborne.

“Maax! You don’t need to carry me!” She couldn’t help the soft laugh as he strode along the corridor with her cradled against his chest, like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold on their wedding night. “Really! I’m too heavy!”

He snorted, amusement replacing the desire in his eyes for a moment. “You are not. You barely weigh anything, and this is quicker.” His voice dropped as he caught her gaze in a hard look. “And it’s imperative I get you out of the corridors as quickly as possible.”

Her heart lurched at that look and she curled her fingers around the edge of his leather uniform jacket, brushing the satin over steel skin there. “Oh? Why? Is there a problem?”

He smiled, just the softest, smallest quirk of his lips but it was so wicked that heat arrowed through her, right down to her clit. It pulsed, aching as he held her gaze.

“There will be,” he promised. “Because if I don’t get you inside somewhere, I’ll take you right up against the draanthing corridor wall, and then I’ll get arrested.”

“Is that right?” She snorted, torn between amusement and heat so intense that she thought she might come on the spot. “I’d have to visit you in prison then. Demand conjugal visits. It could be kinky with you in handcuffs.”

The darkness in his eyes blazed so intensely she thought she was going to burn up on the spot.

“Not. Helping,” he ground out and then, somehow, they were there. At least, she assumed they were when he swept through a quarters door with her still in his arms.

She got the barest glimpse of quarters that were utterly different to hers. The ceilings were much higher, the layout and furnishings different. Where her quarters had human furniture, his didn’t. It was larger, and with different lines. Wood and what looked like leather.

He marched right through into a bedroom. At least, she thought it was a bedroom. There was no bed like she was used to, with a mattress and a headboard. Instead, he stopped in front of a large platform piled with blankets and what looked like furs. Her eyes widened slightly. Had he hunted for those furs himself? She knew so little about him.

Instead of putting her down like she expected, he held rigid, his unusual eyes locked onto hers. She saw the conflict there, loud and clear.

“I’m supposed to ask if you want this,” he finally bit out, searching her eyes.

“But you don’t want to?” she guessed, biting her lip.

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