Page 90 of Stars in Umbra
His jaw tensed. ‘Is it now?’
‘I don’t do games, Mo. Neither do I function well with alpha energy possessiveness or ancient prophecy-level declarations about my future.’
‘I’m a straight shooter,’ he growled. ‘I say it like I see it.’
‘I bet you do, but you don’t own me, and you never will.’
His expression didn’t change; however, his eyes iced over.
‘So what was this?’ he rasped. ‘A flash-in-the-pan affair?’
She paused, unable to meet his gaze. ‘We were having fun, or so I thought. It just seems too soon to talk about owning each other.’
‘Is it too soon?’ he rasped.
She leaned closer, her face imploring him. ‘Don’t you think it is?’
His jaw worked.
‘Mo, please let go of my hand,’ she added. ‘I need to get to work.
He released her.
She backed up, took one last look at his broad frame seated at the table, half-dressed, eyes like cold steel, shoulders drawn tight, and fled.
Her heart hammered as she slipped into the next room, got ready in ten minutes flat, and came back out to find him still in the same position, cradling hiskahawa.
His eyes cast to the view outside of Eden II’s glowing air lanes and traffic dancing through the skies in sequenced grids.
‘I’ll see you around, Mo,’ she said, her voice so brittle it trembled on the final syllable. ‘Please lock up after you leave. The code is -.’
‘I’m Sable HQ’s chief of security,’ he cut her off, his gaze slicing into her with the force of a physical blow. ‘I think I know what it is.’
She froze, the words hanging between them, heavy with unspoken meaning. They both knew the cipher he referred to wasn’t for the door.
It was the one they broke the moment they dared to let their hearts get involved.
The silence throbbed, thick and painful.
She tracked to the door where she turned, her hand on the latch, and paused for a brief, agonizing moment.
He gave her a two-fingered salute dripping in irony.
‘Sayonara, Colonel,’ he rasped, his voice so dry and hard it could have cut glass.
The door hissed shut, separating her from him.
Pain scythed through her, and with an inhale, she walked away with her shoulders back, her head held high.
However, inside, her heart was not just broken; it was fractured down the center, splintering into a thousand pieces of fear and longing.
Become his and have his children?
The thought ricocheted through her mind, a terrifying and beautiful possibility.
Rina shook her head as she marched down the passageway, her soul screaming in protest.
She wasn’t ready.
