Page 130 of Sway's Peace
“Yeah,” she mumbled nervously. “You, er… Are you going to regret it? Or maybe wish you had a chance to have that again?”
He couldn’t have missed the way she shifted her weight on his lap. Or the wavering in her tone. He lifted his head back up, giving her a searching look. He answered more slowly this time, staring at her face as he responded.
“I suppose it’s something I’ll have to live with. No sense in missing something that was never really mine to begin with.”
“Yeah, right. But, I mean, it’s okay tolongfor what you can’t have. Right? I mean. These were your people. This was your culture.”
“What are you asking me, Grace?”
“I guess, I’m just a little worried that… maybe… it won’t be… enough. For you…”
Chapter 33
Sway
His female was so uneasy on his lap. In direct contrast to how she had been just a moment ago. So warm and sweet and soft. Nuzzling into her body was an experience like no other. He could imagine just doing that for marks on end. In fact, he was going to do exactly that tonight, after he finished exhausting her body, driving her so wild with pleasure that her voice broke and she could no longer sing for him.
But then she got all nervous and uneasy. And now she wasn’t quite meeting his eyes after asking that question.
Worried thatwhatwouldn’t be enough?
He didn’t respond immediately, because he didn’t know what exactly she was asking, and the last thing he wanted was to give her the wrong answer when it was obvious that she was searching for a particular one from him in that moment.
Not enough… What couldn’t be enough?
The question must have been written clear across his face, because when she darted a quick glance at him, her cheeks turned red and she immediately looked away again before stuttering and mumbling under her breath. He didn’t quite hearwhat she was saying, but he did suddenly understand what she meant.
She wasn’t asking about his life or this ship or his crew.
She meant, specifically, herself.
She was asking if, compared to everything he’d lost today – his people, his father, his culture – if she was enough to make up for all of it.
Because this insecure little fool really believed there could be a comparison.
“Grace,” he slid his hand up the back of her head, grasping her by the strands of her long, black hair, loving the way the delicate tresses slid through and around the feathers on the back of his hand, down his wrist and arm. He forced her to look him directly in the eye. “You listen to me now. Are you listening?”
“Yes,” she mumbled softly, expression sad.
“Good. You are not ‘enough,’” he spat the word like it was a dirty curse. “You are not ‘just enough’ or ‘good enough’ or whatever other ‘enough’ you can think of. Grace. You are not ‘enough’. You areeverything.”
It seemed so obvious to him, but her breath caught, and he realized that, to her, it wasn’t. To the female who’d fled into the universe to escape the criticism of her family, to the female that was used to never meeting someone else’s impossible standards, the idea of being enough was the only goal she could possibly reach for.
But to call his female just ‘enough’?
Sway felt anger burning in his gut at the very idea that anyone would ever consider his Grace to be just ‘enough’.
“You aremyeverything,” he repeated, speaking slow and stern, making sure she heard and understood every word. “You are my only thing. I am never going to have enough of you. I am never going to be satisfied with how much of you I have. I will always want more. And without you, nothing else will ever again be enough. You are the only thing that could make anything complete. You are my heart, my song, my sweet, my peace. You are everything to me, my Grace. So, do not ever think that you are just ‘good enough’.”
Her lower lip was trembling, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. A good male would probably take this opportunity to hold her sweetly. Give her tenderness and care. To remind her that she was precious and loved in only the most kind of ways.
But he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. To squeeze her to him. To take full advantage of the vulnerability he saw shining on her face. And maybe before he would have tried the former. But that wasn’t who he was.
Using the grip he had on her hair, he brought her to him, claiming her in a long, slow, deep kiss as he very slowly opened her mouth against him and ran his tongue inside, against hers. Luxuriating in her taste, her heat, her feeling. Savoring her like the exquisite treat she was.
Because there would never be enough. And that she even thought to have the concern that maybe she wasn’t enough, that he might miss anything that didn’t include her, baffled him. He needed toshowher what he meant.
Without breaking their kiss, he adjusted his grip on her body. That was her only warning before he stood, keeping her in his arms. She squeaked, grabbing him in return. His hand still on the back of her head meant she couldn’t pull away in hersurprise. She had no choice but to take his kiss as he brought her to the chair he’d just raised so she could reach her console comfortably.
