Page 39 of Star Bright
“With this heavy snow on top of the regular interference, I’m not sure if we’ll get a message from the rescue team before they arrive. So I guess we can stretch this holiday out a little longer.”
“Is there anything you need to do before then?” He peered down at her, a sly glint in his gray eyes. “Other than me?”
She slapped his chest lightly even as she blushed again. “You know, you can really only open a gift once.”
“It’s already been three times,” he said with high-handed arrogance that made her want to challenge him to a fourth—and a fifth, and maybe forever…
As if he heard her, though she was very careful to not let even her expression give away such an impossible thought, he added, “The beast teaches us never to take our path for granted, to always seek the experience with senses alive. Because every wind blows anew.”
Gazing up at him, she bit her lip. She hesitated before asking, but for some reason she wanted to know. “In the handbook, it says draklings mate for life. Losing that sort of promised connection must be terrible.”
He tugged her a little closer, brushing his lips across her brow. “When the beast claims its mate, it is a pledge of the body and the heart. In the same way that I and the beast are one, our mate becomes another facet of our soul. Not just a lover and companion, but a source of joy and energy like the sun gives light that warms the very mountains and powers the winds that carry us through our lives. Even after death, the facet remains, a prize that perhaps we can no longer touch but will always treasure.” He put a little space between them to look down at her more fully. “The IDA handbook about Earthers says that you too often make such pledges but the bioelechemical connection is not necessarily so instinctual or perpetual.”
She bit her lip, remembering how Christopher informed her she was no longer invited to the destination holiday wedding—but she should pack her bags too, to move out of their apartment. “I think some of us love the idea of a love so absolute and enduring. But our version is sometimes more a hope and a prayer and maybe a legal document or two.”
“Perhaps that is even more of a gift then: to have no imperative and yet seek such a connection anyway. With no beast to hunt for you, it is all the more special when you finally find it.”
She dredged up a smile. “I suppose the Intergalactic Dating Agency has to balance a lot of factors to find compatible mates.”
“So says the handbook,” he mused. “I guess you should read the whole thing now.”
“I think I will. The friend who gave me the temporary job here is basically the chief misinformation officer for the Big Sky IDA, and she told me she’d already begun the initial vetting process to see if I might be a candidate for joining the organization.” She wrinkled her nose. “From what I can tell, the first criteria is whether you can keep your mouth shut with the unspoken corollary being do you have someone you would want to tell. And I don’t so…”
His arm tightened around her, not much, but she felt it. “That Earther male was a fool to let you get away. But his loss is the universe’s gain—and all the lonely souls you will help.”
On the one hand, she appreciated his confidence boost. On the other, he was basically reminding her that this was one night only. Which she’d known, and told herself, and been utterly fine with. And yet…
She couldn’t keep going down that path.
“After this surprise unpaid internship dealing with a certain drakling mishap, I think there’s a decent chance I could find a place here.”
“I’m not sure an endorsement from the hundred-years-late contract that crashed into their front lawn will help your case,” he said. “But you have my good word if you want.”
“Well, I’m not sure I want them to know that I givethiskind of welcome and comfort,” she said tartly as she boosted herself over him.
She’d meant her comment as a tease, but even to her own ears it sounded sharper than she intended. He gazed up at her, the rings of fire in his eyes banked at the moment, though she caught a glimpse of their spark. “Darcy,” he said softly.
Rather than hear what he had to say—in any language—she kissed him with enough perfunctory finality to let him know she wasn’t looking for more.
And just enough tongue to make him hopefully regret.
When she lifted her head, she was breathing a little bit hard and regretting her moment of vengeance, that he didn’t even deserve. “You should probably be getting back to your kids,” she said. “Not that Kong would be neglectful, but I’m not sure babysitting is part of his programming.”
Vash traced a finger over her temple, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear but didn’t try to argue, for which she told herself she was grateful. She was better as the dumpee than the dumper.
He rose and dressed, and maybe it was just her imagination that he lingered longer at the stage than in getting undressed. She did the same, anticipating that she wouldn’t want to be clutching a blanket to her still tender breasts while he walked out the door.
She hovered awkwardly halfway between the bed and the door while he sealed his tunic all the way up to his throat. Maybe she wasn’t the only one feeling a little vulnerable in the aftermath.
But he turned to her with an easy smile—which she immediately knew was fake considering that draklings didn’treally have that same expression. He was just doing it to make her feel okay, just as he’d made her come first and second and third.
If he shook her hand like this was an outgoing interview…
But he walked right up to her, his toes touching hers since his boots were still by the door. Even that nonsensical contact sent a ridiculous thrill through her. She bit her tongue, afraid of saying something too revealing, and he reached out to loop an arm at the small of her back. He reeled her closer, and when she let out a little gasp, he bent her over his arm and kissed her, hard. He kept his tongue to himself, but the scent of him—of them, together—was like another wine swirling in her head, as nameless as the one she’d had earlier, but some precious vintage she knew she should’ve savored more.
She clung to him, just for a moment, but when he stepped back, she did the same.
“Good night, Darcy,” he said.
