He sighed before admitting, “He turned several Astra into phantoms, forcing us to murder our own.”
Ouch. “That’s tough. I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it. Losing fellow soldiers sucked, but it sucked more when you had to oversee the deed.
He bowed up, as if to accuse her of more trickery, then settled down and nodded. “Yes. It was tough.”
“You know I had nothing to do with any of that, right?” she asked, just in case he needed a reminder.
“I know. In that, you are innocent. I...” His voice trailed off, and he gulped, watching as suds sluiced between her breasts. His pupils contracted, glittering like dying stars.
Layer by layer, his calm veneer stripped away, revealing a harsher, rawer, expression. He exuded such intense heat, she trembled.
He sat up straighter, his heels remaining planted on the floor, his hands white-knuckling his knees. Had he grown even harder?
She gulped. Ribbons of thicker steam curled around him, turning him, this moment, into a midnight reverie. Had he ever looked sexier? Water darkened his hair, droplets clinging to his lashes and beard.
When he rubbed his palms together, she suspected he’d produced more stardust—and she wanted it. As his gravita, she deserved every speck. Not real? Try again, Astra.
“I want to do bad things to you.” The gruffness of his voice made everything better and worse.
She’d thought to curtail this part of their...relationship. His mid-and post-coital glow sucked. But, as she breathed him in, she couldn’t stop herself from rasping, “Yes.”
He required no other permission. He lunged for her, clamping her waist, then settling in his seat, pulling Taliyah between his legs. The firmness of his grip suggested the Big Bad Wolf had his Red Riding Hood at long last, and he wouldn’t be letting her go anytime soon. But...he did nothing else. He simply held her in place as tension thrummed from him anew.
Trying to talk himself out of this? Too bad. What he started, he finished. Commanders weren’t quitters.
Taliyah suspected she knew a way past his defenses. A risky gamble. Dangerous, even. If it backfired...
Whatever. She was going to attempt it anyway. Though Roc was Commander now, he’d once been a soldier, expected to obey the dictates of another. Hadn’t his own brother mentioned being his boss in the beginning? What if she told Roc what to do to her? Things he already wanted to do?
Had any other female dared? Probably not. Why would they? They’d held no sway over his emotions. But she did. Despite her origins.
Taliyah placed one knee outside his lap, then the other, straddling him. Slooowly she sank down, gliding her wet sex over his. He uttered no protests. No, he tightened his grip, his gaze rapt on her lucky, lucky nipple piercing.
Emboldened, she pinched his chin and forced his attention up. Again, he allowed her command of his body without protest. “I want your hands on my breasts. Touch me there.”
He searched her gaze, anger clearly rising. But still he peeled his fingers from her waist and dragged his hands to her breasts. As commanded, he cupped and kneaded her. With his thumbs, he teased the piercing.
Satisfaction beckoned, within her reach once more. This big, strong brute of a man had just acquiesced to a phantom’s command. How he must be castigating himself right now! And yet he never stopped kneading and teasing with a reverent touch.
Did he secretly want her to take control?
Such a heady thought. Something she planned to explore further.
“That feels so good,” she said, offering praise. “You’re making me ache.” She gyrated against him and cried out. The pleasure! “Don’t stop.”
“Won’t.” He kneaded her breasts with greater force. “Can’t.”
“I’ll make you feel good, too.” She grazed the tip of her nose over the tip of his, about to claim his lips in a hungry kiss. His lips were parted for her, ready. At the last second, she rerouted and pressed her cheek against his. What if she couldn’t curb her hunger? Even though Roc possessed a block, preventing her from feeding, she might try. He would absolutely know, and he would absolutely rage.
His hatred for phantoms spanned centuries. He’d known Taliyah for a matter of days. Maybe in time...
Inner shake. She drew his earlobe between her teeth. “Put your biceps to good use, baby, and turn me around.” Lifting her face, she grazed the tip of his nose again. “Your gravita has a craving.”
“Does she, then?” he asked, then growled. He popped his jaw, a telling sign. He’d realized she’d been issuing orders.
In a flash of insight, Taliyah realized he’d never hand over the reins of control without a fight. He might enjoy her leadings, but he didn’t believe he must obey—yet. If she wanted control...and she did...she would have to wrest it from him.
The thought of winning such a powerful man...did things to her.
“Turn me around,” she repeated, rubbing against him, “so you can get your fingers in nice and deep.”
He nipped at her bottom lip, roguish but fierce.
“Turn me, and I’ll let you touch me anywhere you wish.” She let her voice drop. “However you wish...”
With a snarl, he lifted and spun her. His chest seared her spine, his heartbeat suddenly thumping between her shoulder blades. Fast. Faster. He lightly gripped her throat, his arm draped over her chest. With her legs slung over his, her thighs remained parted.
Wings flattened and of no use to her at the moment, she gripped the edges of his thighs. Cool, damp air teased her aching core as he drew his knees farther apart, forcing her legs to spread wider.
“I’ll touch you anywhere I wish,” he rumbled into her ear, applying pressure to draw her head to the hollow of his shoulder.
Goose bumps only he could rouse spread over her in seconds. “Touch me, then.”
With his free hand, he palmed her breast, kneading it with more pressure than before.
A moan escaped. No stopping it. Taliyah rocked her hips, grinding her backside against the white-hot, steel-hard length cradled there. His inhalations sharpened with every brush of contact.
A snakeshifter wielding her charms, she asked, “Do you like touching me, Roc?”
He didn’t try to deny it. “Yes.” A snarl. “You know I do.”
She didn’t stop. Rocking, rocking. “You want more of me. You want me to make you come.”
“Yesss,” he hissed, sliding the hand at her throat to her breast. He trapped the nipples between his knuckles and tugged and gently twisted.
She swallowed a cry born from razor-sharp pleasure. “Put your fingers inside me,” she commanded, unable to filter out her neediness, “or I stop moving.” Could she stop? Roll. Roll... She must. Stop.