Coup huffed a short laugh. “In here, in Vohre, in your dusty little cottage in Fieror. Anywhere.”
Warmth unfurled through Kel, dulling the pain in her hip. She imagined Sav in her old aviary, or chasing rabbits through a paddock. “The aviary’s construction is only a month away from completion. I think the Howlers are due a trip back home.”
If Savita survives that long.
The unbidden thought made Kel choke back a sob. She tried to force her attention on Coup—on anything but her phoenix.
Coup pressed his lips to the side of her head. The warmth made her shiver. “Say we get out of all of this. We free Sav. We stop Cristo. We could go back to your farm and finish rebuilding. Weprobably have enough money by now to take a break from racing, at least for a month or two. We could just…” Coup leaned closer to her. “Be this. Us. For a little while.”
Kel leaned her head against Coup’s shoulder. The parts of her body touching his burned feverishly hot.
“I should have told you how I felt when you were injured,” she whispered.
Coup chuckled. His thumb swept lightly over her thigh. “We’re both fools who spent far too long fighting instead of doing… other things.”
He said the words as if they’d caught him by surprise. Kel’s stomach tensed.
She focused on the growing heat in her blood, helping her forget why she was here. Where she was. Why it was a bad idea to want Coup to burn, too.
Coup’s gaze lowered, just below her eyes. His brow wrinkled. “Ashes, Kel. The bags under your eyes look like bruises.”
Kel frowned. She wanted so many things from him—but none involved him pointing out how awful she looked. She needed him to distract her from sleepless nights and Savita’s future and the wrong kinds of fires.
Kel’s lips were pressed to Coup’s before she realized she’d moved. Words weren’t enough. She needed something stronger, headier, to block out the fear and the pain seizing her hip.
Coup met her kisses with his own swift hunger. In one breathless moment, they were a tangle of limbs on the floor. The fire in Kel cooled, overcome by a different kind of heat.
Coup hovered over Kel, one hand against her uninjured hip and the other propped against the ground. She pressed his weight closer to her. With one hand bunched in his hair, trapping his mouthagainst hers, she let her other hand trail down his back. His muscles rippled and tensed beneath her fingers, and Kel liked how she could make him shiver. Could make his breath hitch with the lightest touch.
His lips moved down to her neck. A soft moan slipped past her lips. Coup’s grip tightened at the sound. She slipped a hand beneath his unzipped leathers, to the hem of his shirt and then under it. He mimicked her touch, forcing her to arch into his embrace.
Memories flashed through her mind. His warmth on the top of a hill as her aviary burned. His hands against her hips as they rode over Fieror on Savita. Her bones aching to protect him from the sight of the dead mother and child. The feel of him wrapped around her in the hospital bed.
Lightning burned through her—sweet and blessedly distracting—as she danced her fingers across his back, around to his stomach. She relished his groan against her neck as she splayed her palms against his muscles.
Her entire body tightened at the sound. She wanted more. She wantedhim.
Kel moved her hand lower and wiggled her fingers across the waist of his trousers. Just an inch lower and she could feel—
“Shit—Kel, we can’t,” Coup panted.
He jerked away and ran a hand through his rumpled hair. His breath came out in short, ragged breaths.
Kel propped herself up on her elbows, wincing as she was forced back into her body. “What’s wrong?”
Coup’s eyes darkened as they ran across her. His throat bobbed and he shook his head.
“This isnothow I want to do this. Not here, of all places.”
Kel sighed. Sure—a fluorescently lit prison cell wasn’t whereshe’d imagined having sex with Coup for the first time. But she didn’t know what awaited them on the other side of that door. If this was her only chance to feel close to him in this way, she didn’t want to waste it.
When Kel opened her mouth to object, Coup pointed to the roof. She turned her head to follow his finger.
Oh, right.She’d forgotten about the damn cameras.
Coup chuckled. “You really want our first time to be watched by Cristo and his goons?”
Kel bit her lip. She didn’t particularly care. But she could see that Coup did.
