Page 28 of Crave
Clutching the bottle, Sil scrubbed his two free hands down his face with a heavy sigh. “I was so convinced,” he said, his voice muffled by his big hands. “Now we have to go back with nothing. My brother will be furious with me. Maybe alone would be better.”
She glared. “It’s not.”
“Lights together,” Roxy said.
Sil tossed back a few glugs of the yezo. At least he sputtered too, Kinsley was gratified to note.
Voice ragged with algae and regret, he said, “I will tell Mag this was my idea, my fault. He won’t hold you responsible for the unauthorized departure.”
“Together,” Kinsley repeated firmly just as Roxy said the same. Great, her criminal codefendant was a pet rock.
They drank—or absorbed—the yezo in silence. Then she rose and held her hand out to Sil. “C’mon.”
“Come where? There’s nowhere else to go, nothing else to try.”
“There’s an empty bunk. But if we go there, it won’t be empty anymore.”
His pearly eyes seemed too soft, a jewel that couldn’t withstand rough handling, scratched even by the silk string holding the strand together. “I thought you said it was a mistake.”
“Honestly, that’s never stopped me before.”
She guided him, like a particularly heavy alien balloon, to the bed they’d shared once before. Surely one more time wouldn’t count any heavier against her many mistakes and/or sins.
When she reached for the fastening on his utility kilt, he held her back, his fingers loosely manacling her wrists. “Kinsley, this isn’t necessary. According to the literature, we got that annoying all-consuming lust out of our systems already.”
“Annoying? That’s not how…” She tilted her head to look up at him. “Did you actuallyfinishany of those romances you say you’ve read?”
He shook his head. “The books said they could never be together. I wanted to pretend they would find a way, so I would stop reading right before the end.”
She let out a breath, not quite a laugh. “My guy, do I have some good news for you.”
“Oh?”
“Later. First though, you gave me an orgasm, and I want to be fair.”
“Is the universe suddenly fair?”
“Definitely not. Today being proof. But maybe this is my way to fight back.” Or maybe it was the nasty yezo burning through her like a bad idea. She’d never pretended to fight fair or for fairness, not even equitable orgasms. But for this sweet, kind, hopeful alien, she would make an exception.
Chapter 10
Sil tightened his grip on Kinsley’s wrists, his muscles quivering. Not with fear or weakness, but uncertain which way he should move her.
But maybe uncertainty was just another kind of fear and weakness.
He wanted this—wanted her. And she wanted him, for now at least.
Thatwasenough.
With his third hand, he cupped her jaw, lifting her face to his, his fourth hand circling behind to bring her closer. Her lips parted under his, her body making contact only a heartbeat behind—her legs parting too.
She reached for him. “I wish I had more hands.”
“Just you,” he murmured. “I just want you.”
“Will you take pleasure if I touch you like you touched me? Even with half the hands.”
She didn’t have his sonoscry either. But maybe she had her own version of it, some innate energy that seemed to rearrange him from the inside, making him feel bigger, stronger, ready in a way he hadn’t been before she had stowed away on the IDA transport to join the Big Sky brides.
