She grinned.“Thank you.I remember something about them leaving this ship?”
“Yes, those not paired.Only two remain on board.”
She stiffened, a glower forming, sparking an answering fire in his belly.“Their choice?”
His chuckle was too hoarse for his liking.“Etterians are not in the habit of forcing women to our will.”
Her cheeks flushed a deep purple.“I can imagine how persuasive you can be.”She set the empty bowl aside and took a long draw of water.The angle of her jaw led his gaze to her lips wrapped around the bottle’s mouth.“Now, let’s visit Hiossu and find out what the hell his people and the sharks are up to.”
Cylo offered her his hand.When she slipped her fingers across his palm, a frisson of heat uncoiled in his core.He enclosed her delicate grasp and guided her to her feet.“Want to stop by Qaff to mention the empathy?”
“Sure, then we can test it on Hiossu.Might be my imagination acting up.”
“You have been correct so far.”He brushed a curl off her temple—the strands cool and clinging to his fingers.
“You said fucking a woman—”
He growled, his fingers twitching to yank her against him.The vulgar word sent a tsunami of need through him.
She froze.“What’s the matter?”
Not willing to go into why he found her harsh edges appealing, he cleared his throat and asked, “What about mating a woman?”
“Well, you said you risked your void if you…matedwith a woman not your Dar Eth.Is it the physical act that’s the trigger, or is just being with me like this?”
“I suspect it is tied to physical interaction and emotional fluctuations.When I tend to my chore, it does not expand the void.If you were to—” He swallowed hard when images of her running her hand along the length of his malehood pulsed fiery lust through him.
“Chore?”Her nose twitched, then her mouth parted on a gasp.“Not what I would call an orgasm.”She threw back her head and laughed.
He found himself smiling.“When your fulfillment is by your own hand, it does become…monotonous.”
Her mirth faded, but her cheeks had darkened, and her eyes sparkled.“How is your void now?”she asked, inching closer to peer at him.
Her subtle scent tantalized him.Her question sparked his curiosity.He turned his attention inward, prodding the solid nothingness at the center of his chest.“It is as normal.”
Movement snatched his focus.She rose onto her toes, cupped his jaw, and brushed her mouth across his, stunning him.Warmth, softness, and sweetness registered.His lips tingled.He blinked while hunger, craving, and compulsion urged him to kiss her like he longed to do.Gripping her hip, he planned to do just that.
“And now?”she asked, snapping him out of his daze.
He glared, releasing her.“This is not a game—”
“Cylo, just test it.”
He sighed and did so.Again, no change.He whipped up his head, shock locking his limbs.Kissing her is safe?How… How is this possible?
Without hesitation, he looped an arm around her waist and lifted her.She gasped and clung to him.Her heartbeat thundered in his ears, and silence stretched between them as his body noted the feel of her in his arms and the heat of her hands clutching his shoulders.Her cheeks warmed when he dipped his head.He took his time to drown in her ever-changing eyes.When her focus shifted to his lips and her nostrils flared, all caution disintegrated.
He slashed his mouth across hers, thrusting his tongue between her plump lips.Her taste, though flavored by the broth, rattled his control.His breathing labored, his heart thumped against his rib cage, and everything else faded.Only Wren remained, filling every one of his senses.
Her moans, the way she dug her fingers into his hair, the stroke of a caress along his jaw, made him Fuyra hard.He’d never been this…stimulated.
Keeping a hand on her shoulder, in case she was as dizzy as he was, he broke away.
Her eyes had narrowed with a need that mimicked his own.“Test it,” she rasped.
With a struggle to rein in his thoughts, he focused on the void, then stumbled back.It had shrunk.“How did you know?”he managed, probing the dark mass that had been his constant companion since he was a damu.
She huffed hair away from her face.“I don’t react like this to any man.It must mean something.”She strode to the door.
