Page 98 of Bound By Stars
Her shoulders relax, and she presses her eyes shut. “I was looking all over this damn ship for you. I know you weren’t trying to steal ILSA’s specs. I should never have accused you or—”
“It’s okay,” I whisper, my lips stretching into a grin. She’s alive, and she trusts me. Warmth floods my body.
She shakes her head. “No. It’s no—”
“I forgive you.”
“I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Her lips are tight, but the grin she’s trying to hide is on full display in her eyes. “You really should hold more of a grudge. Hang it over me for a while. This kind of guilt could be serious currency.”
She’s already back to teasing me. So normal. Like my world wasn’t just crashing down around me. I let out a breathy laugh and try to match her tone. “Not my style.”
“At least let me grovel a little. I’m trying to be a better person here.”
“Kiss me and we’re even.”
Her smile unleashed, she closes the space between us. Sweeping her fingers along my jawline, she softly brushes her lips against mine.
Agony and bliss collide inside of me, binding my heart and lungs until it’s almost too much. I clench my burning eyes shut.
Her mouth is more urgent, like she can feel it, too. She runs her hand up my ribs, gripping the fabric of my shirt, drawing me even closer.
My breath hitches. I press my palm to the small of her back, deepening the kiss.
“Weslie, you are advised to approach a person experiencing shock gently. This does not seem like the optimal treatment.”
“Shut down, ILSA,” she says through a heavy breath.
My mind catches up to the moment, and I pull back. “I have to tell you, Weslie, at the pod bay—”
“I don’t care.” She crushes her lips against my mouth again, tugging on my shirt front, undoing the buttons, down until her fingers graze my stomach above my belt.
Heat builds deep inside me. I abandon thought. I yank my sleeves over my wrists before we trip onto the bed. I fall over her, one hand planted next to her on the bed. Even with my full weight against her, she isn’t close enough. My skin tingles as her hands slide up my torso.
She rises up to kiss me again, and I find the bare skin at her hip. Her back arches, and she sucks in a breath. Her oversize sweater, my favorite sweater, is a thick wall of yarn between us until she gets it over her head. The tangled sleeve gets stuck on her wrist, and she growls, tugging at it.
I pull it free, throwing it to the floor.
She presses her lips to the base of my throat and her hands run up my back.
I suck in a sharp breath and find her mouth again. Looping an arm underneath her, I haul us both farther onto the mattress. Our chests heave in unison. My heart pounds against my rib cage so hard she must feel it.
I pull back, panting. “Is this okay?”
“Yes.” She kisses the edge of my mouth, the tip of her nose grazing my cheek.
I rest my forehead against hers, the wreckage on the other side of the locked pod bay door flashing across my memory. I was so close to losing her. A jolt of pain stabs through my heart like it’s breaking under the weight of “almost.”
I brush a hand through her hair, pulling back again to see her face. “I meant it, Wes.”
“What?” She’s breathless. Placing her open hand to the center of my bare chest, she slides her fingers lightly up the side of my neck.
“I don’t want this to end when we get off the ship.”
She smiles. “Me neither.”
