Page 84 of Shattered Silence

“This so-called manager…” Enki said quietly, his breath feathering the side of her cheek. “Where can I find him?”

“Don’t worry about that guy. He’s trash.”

“Do you want to return to Earth, Layla?”

“I…” There was that yearning again; a deep, primal tug that surprised her with its intensity. She’d never anticipated she would feel so strongly about the big old blue-and-green. “I do get homesick sometimes, but…”

“But?” Enki’s tone warned her that he would see right through any attempt to minimize her true feelings. Because really, she missed home like crazy. It had only taken a deep-space accident and horrifying alien abduction for her to realize it.

“I would like that,” she whispered at last. “I couldn’t give a shit about what people down there might think of me anymore. Really, Earth is just a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things, but it is home.”

“Hmm.” Enki kissed the tender patch of skin behind her earlobe, before gently sucking her earlobe itself. “Layla, I am willing to return to Earth, but the one thing I will never tolerate is disrespect to my mate. We will go back to Earth. I am going to handle this intolerable situation, and you are going to walk freely on your planet without fear of intrusion or violation or anything else that I deem unacceptable.”

Stars, he sounded so dangerously sure of himself. Layla almost believed he could do it, but the genie was already out of the bottle. “You can’t take back what people have already seen,” she said wistfully, “but I don’t care. Truth and reality always divorce at some point. They can try and throw all kinds of shit at me, but it ain’t gonna stick. I’m not going to let it ruin my life, especially now that I’ve found you.”

“Layla,” Enki growled, a note of irritation entering his voice, “you must believe me when I tell you that I’m going to do something. A man laid his hands on you without your consent. That is unacceptable.” Despite his arctic tone, he was actually trembling with anger. In that moment, Layla knew Enki would kill Damien if he ever laid eyes on the bastard.

Holy hell. What have I gotten myself into?

He wanted to protect her honor in the only way he knew how. Layla was incredibly moved and a just little bit apprehensive, because she knew exactly how dangerous he could be.

One of these days, she was going to have to have a serious talk with Abbey about how to temper her Kordolian’s violent tendencies, if such a thing was even possible.

She suspected not.

“I’ve seen enough blood to last me a lifetime.” She gently kicked her legs, maneuvering her body so that her back was pressed tightly against his torso. She felt the hard length of his erection, and the brilliant starfield below exploded into a million blurred points as her arousal soared to new heights. The warm water lapped around them, making her feel truly weightless. “Whatever you end up doing, you don’t need to spill any more blood on my account.”

“You know what I am, Layla.”

“Try and be creative,” she whispered. “I didn’t say I don’t want you to hurt anyone, but you can’t go around killing every single person who’s seen the Black Tapes.”

“Hm.” Enki paused, as if he were actually contemplating whether he should kill several billion humans.

“No,” Layla said softly. “Whatever you’re thinking about, don’t do it.”

“Even this?” He slipped one hand down her belly, delving beneath the waistband of her panties, which were still on. The tip of his sneaky finger came to rest against her tender clit. “You do not wish for me to do this?”

“Devil. Only you could go from thinking of bloodshed to sex so quickly.” She wanted to swim away, to make it a little harder for him to catch her, to make him work for her pleasure, but she couldn’t. She was already melting under his touch.

“No bloodshed.” He spun her around until they were face to face. “I promise.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not being entirely—”

Whoosh. He disappeared beneath the surface, and the next thing she knew, his lips were pressed against her throbbing sex.

With the warm water all around her, the brilliant stars below, and Enki submerged before her—a hot silver blur who possessed the power to turn her into a quivering mess with just a single flick of his tongue—all her fears of potential chaos on Earth fled.

There was only Enki and the stars.

And she was floating.

Her panties had disappeared. She was completely naked now, and as Enki made deliberate little circles with his tongue, teasing the exquisite bundle of nerves that was her clit, her consciousness dissolved, and she became nothing.

Nothing but the rasp of her own breathing and the rapid thud of her heartbeat in her ears. Nothing but her long hair floating around her head as she lay back in the water, her arms outstretched, her ears filling with water so that all sound was dampened, allowing her to focus on pure sensation below.

Nothing but his mouth on her, his fingers thrusting inside, slow-fucking her, stretching her until she had no choice but to grind her hips against his hand, seeking more, craving more, becoming little more than a desperate, wanton creature held hostage to his touch.

“Aaah,” she cried out, the sound echoing throughout the cavernous hall. All she could hear was her own cracked voice, because beneath the water, Enki was perfectly silent, not even a plume of bubbles rising from him as he pulled her into his undeniable vortex.

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