It wasn’t that she was ashamed of him, or their relationship. It was more the fact that this thing between them was so new… so exciting… that she wanted to keep it to herself for a while. She wanted to savor it.
Awareness filled her as they walked through the corridors in silence, neither of them seeming in a hurry to fill the air with needless chatter. It was a new one for her. When nervous she had a habit of filling the air with noise and talking just to take the edge off.
Her mind flitted back to the scene at the zoo and the fear that had rolled through her when she realized he had been attacked. The panic that had clawed at her chest and throat as she’d raced across to where she'd last seen him near the tiger enclosure… even the memory threatened her breathing.
Then the sheer and utter relief when she’d seen him roll to his feet bloodied and bruised but alive. It had taken all the self-restraint she had not to scream his name and throw herself into his arms. Then she’d looked at his injuries and what he’d done to the tiger, and she’d realized the tension and fear on the soldiers around them was warranted.
He’d told her was a predator. He’d told her he was dangerous, but she had never considered he’d be able to take down a genetically modified and enhanced tiger. When he’d said he was dangerous, she thought he was dangerous in the way Cam was dangerous, not killer dinosaur on the loose kind of dangerous.
Now she did, and a thrill of fear rolled through the awareness swelling between them as she led him through the base corridors to the room he’d been assigned. She didn’t need to ask where it was. She knew the base layout and the room assignments like the back of her hand. She’d certainly watched them enough on the corridor security feeds. Not that that had gained them much intelligence.
Either the aliens were the most boring creatures out there, OCD about routine, or they were putting on a good show because they knew they were being watched. Given the conversation she’d overheard between Cade and his friend Berrick, her money was on the latter.
Right now she didn’t care about that. Or what intelligence she could get out of Cade. She knew that’s what she should do. That it was what Cam would expect, what he would do… but she couldn’t.
She had no idea how Cam managed to do undercover work. She couldn’t. Even though she knew she had a mission, all she could think about was Cade. His big, large body next to hers as they walked down the corridors. The heat of his skin as they stood side by side with others in an elevator.
Awareness swelled between them like a third person and every time she snuck a glance up at him from under her lashes, she caught him watching her with darkness and heat in his eyes.
Hard lines etched into his face gave hints to what he’d been through in the last few hours. Despite that, when she leaned in, she didn’t smell sweat or blood as she had expected, just his own storm and snow unique scent. She bit her lip, heat rolling through her veins.
They reach the corridor with his room and she frowned at the sight of a B’Kaar standing guard at his door. The big alien nodded to them as they walked past, Cade triggering the lock on his door with a thumbprint. She raised an eyebrow as they entered the room.
“A personal guard? Don’t tell me,” she said with a grin. “You’re some kind of secret alien prince. Aren’t you?”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms, turning in a heartbeat to pin her gently against the wall by the door.
“Draanth no. Can you see me as someone like Rohn?” he asked, lifting his head and raising his chin arrogantly.
His expression altered minutely, and for a moment she could actually see the pain in the ass prince, even though Cade looked nothing like him. It was startling. Then in the next instant he smiled, and he was just Cade again.
“The B’Kaar owe me a blood debt,” he murmured. He pressed harder against her, his gaze riveting to her lips hungrily, like he wanted to devour her.
She wasn’t scared, being locked in here with a dangerous predator. If anything, the lethal aura around him turned her on all the more. There was definitely something wrong in her head.
“A blood debt?” she managed.
The feel of his bigger, harder body pressed against her was playing havoc with her senses. She’d been trying like hell to remind herself that she was too old for him, that she should be trying to get more information out of him, but all she could think about was the lean solidity of his muscled frame and the thick hardness pressed up against her stomach.
“Uh huh. I saved their leader from a storm.” He nibbled along her neck with soft biting kisses that left a trail of fire in their wake. Her nails dug into his upper arm as she gasped and tilted her head to give him better access. For saying he was a virgin, he was doing a good job of reducing her to a whimpering wreck.
She blinked, trying to make his words make sense. “A storm? Are the B’Kaar scared of the rain?”
He nodded, leaning forward to nuzzle her nose gently. “Their suits rust.”
The giggle burst from her before she could stop it. “No way! That seems like a design flaw.”
“Well…” He leaned down to nip at her earlobe gently and her knees weakened. “There might have been some lightning involved. But,” he breathed as his tongue brushed her ear, “I don’t really want to talk about Risyn. Do you?”
She somehow managed to keep it together enough to shake her head, hoping and praying he kept doing what he was doing.
He pulled back, shucking the now-shredded t-shirt and dropping it unheeded to the floor. She caught her breath as his torso was revealed, her fingers itching to explore and run her hands over him. She’d just have to remember to be careful of his injuries. The last time they were alone seemed centuries ago.
“Are we okay to…” she asked, brushing her fingertips gently over the dressings on his sides. She’d sat with him as the doctor had stitched him up, and it had taken an eternity.
He caught her gaze with his. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
She gave a small, disbelieving laugh. “Cade. You were mauled by a tiger and had to be stitched back together!”
“Oh, that.” He smiled. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Another one?” she asked pointedly. She’d already kept the fact that he’d been off base the other night to herself.
“Good point.” He grinned, the expression devastating, and reached for the dressings.
“No, don’t—” she cried out, trying to warn him as he tore them off. Then her eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat. There were no wounds, no stitches… nothing.
“Fuck. I know the doctor said they were self-dissolving but… Fuck.” She lifted disbelieving eyes to his. “I didn’t think you could heal that quickly.”
“Would it help if I said they were a little sore still?” He smiled.
She raised an eyebrow. “That just sounds like you’re trying to get me to kiss it better.”
He lowered his head to nibble on her lower lip softly.
“Is that an option?”
She groaned, chasing the kiss he wouldn’t give her. “Maybe later.”
He chuckled, the sound deep in his throat, and deepened the kiss. She lost all sense of time and direction, even her own name, as heat blazed through her.