“So…” She tilted her head and a long strand of white gold hair fell over one eye. “If I decide to believe you, and if I think what you’re telling me is credible—”
“Dek.” Sno reached out, placing his warm hand over hers. His voice came low and earnest. “I really need you to trust me.”
She caught and held his gaze, slid her free hand over his. “Then we have to stop that transmission before it happens.”
“We?”
“I’m going back to the site with you, Sno.”
His eyes narrowed and he broke contact. Shaking his head, he got to his feet. “I can’t risk that.”
Dek also rose from the table. “If there’s an Alliance spy involved, you shouldn’t attempt this alone.”
He glanced at the stairs his diminutive partner had recently scampered up. “I won’t be alone.”
“Sno, trust me. It’s going to take more than Cassie to pull this off. You need me.”
He tucked his chin and gave her a direct look, his eyes going as soft as his voice. “You have no idea.”
10
Sno hadn’t meant to utter those words out loud. Normally he had a handle on locking down his private thoughts, not revealing his innermost feelings. But seeing Dekessa Garr out of uniform and away from her professional environment seemed to have all his systems short-circuiting.
She swayed slightly, shifting her weight, and measured him thoroughly and silently.
“What if I do,” she finally responded, “have an idea?”
She didn’t make a move. Didn’t transmit any signals. Just stood in her quiet kitchen, waiting.
He swallowed around the lump that rose in his throat. Tried using willpower to tame his body’s immediate response to her challenge.
Mission not accomplished.
“There could be consequences.”
“I think we both know the stakes.” The corners of her mouth ticked up and her bright emerald eyes darkened to an intense shade of aquamarine.
There was no denying her open invitation. It was as unexpected as it was compelling.
Sno crossed the floor and took her in his arms. When she didn’t drop him in his tracks, he pushed on to stage two…and kissed her.
Together, eyes closed, bodies pressed, breaths coming faster, their kisses turned heated with want. Now he understood. She needed this, craved it—maybe as much as he did—but also like him, her self-control had been in the pilot’s seat. The constraints he kept on his needs and desires shattered, and a flood of anticipation exploded through his blood.
Sno smoothed his hands over the airy silk of her dress, brushed them up over her hips and around her waist to spread on her back. When she melted into him with a breathy sigh, he moved his hands up to the back of her shoulders to press her closer.
“How much time?” she whispered against his mouth, combing his dark hair back from his face with her fingernails.
His heartbeat spiked at the tenderness in that gesture, and he couldn’t help but wonder how those nails would feel grazing his chest. “Dusk,” he managed, exhaling against her ear.
She shuddered in his arms. “Then are we going to do this right here,” she asked, “or take it to bed?”
He nuzzled closer. “Undecided.”
He lowered his mouth to her shoulder, flicked down the strap of her sundress, and let her feel the play of his tongue and soft nip of his teeth on her bare skin. She threw her head back and eased one hand down his chest and lower, lower, until it settled on its mark.
Her touch wasn’t punishing, but it also wasn’t by any measure shy. He rolled his hips, moving against her fingers, while she used her free hand to open his shirt and draw it apart.
Cool, salt-laced air danced on his exposed skin. She lowered herself to one knee and pressed feathery kisses to his bare abdomen while her free hand continued to fondle and work him. It took every vestige of his self-control to keep his knees from buckling.
He passed his hand over the shining silk of her hair and dropped his gaze to where her mouth molded against the heated skin low on his belly. Her fingers worked to free him from his sand camo trousers and he groaned in anticipation. The warm pastels of her sundress puddled on the cool terracotta tile around her, and her bare knee ground against the hard tile floor.
No way was he going to let that perfect leg get bruised.
He bent and swept her up in his arms, giving her one long look—one moment to lodge a protest—before turning for the stairs.
Her eyes sparked with green fire when she mumbled, “Good choice.”
After they’d disentangled and lay side-by-side, panting and perspiring on the twisted sheets, Sno whispered, “Dekessa.”
She loved hearing him whisper her name. Loved it even better when he cried it out loud. Loved the shape his lips took when they formed the syllables. Loved how often it happened.
She rolled to her side, laying a lazy kiss on his shoulder and stroking her fingertips over the jet-black hair at his temple. He blinked slowly, and his gaze fixed on the textured ceiling above.
What was he thinking?
She closed her eyes on that question. Did she really want to know?
Five calendars, four moons, and three days of loneliness…and then Sno Telon had poured into her life like a glowing flood of molten lava.
Half-Rathskian.
All man.
And the first lover she’d taken since his kinsmen had murdered her bondmate.
If Aroh were here to judge her, would he scold her for betraying his memory? Or would he understand that subspecies had nothing to do with the choice she’d just made?
Sno hadn’t expected to feel this way after what should’ve been a casual liaison. Something much deeper and fuller had sparked between them since the moment he’d uttered those four careless words, “You have no idea.”
Truth was, he’d been the one who was clueless. He hadn’t expected any of this. Her willingness. Her capitulation. Her skillful touch—both tender and uninhibited.
Problem was, he didn’t know how this was going to play out in the context of his mission.
Or if it had been the stupidest or smartest move he’d ever made.
Sno heard the skitter of tiny paws outside on the veranda, followed by Cassie’s happy chatter as she dashed into the bedroom and leapt up on the bed. Turning in tight circles between them, she jabbered away in clicks and trills.
“What’s she saying?” Dek murmured.
Sno’s mouth tweaked into a sheepish grin. “You don’t want to know.”
“I definitely do,” she insisted, rising on one elbow.
He sighed, finally relenting, “She’s declaring us a mated pair.”
Dek’s thoughtful gaze settled on Cassie. “As a bio-construct, does she understand the concept?”
“Oh, believe me,” Sno said, “she completely understands.” He threw a glance her way and sat up slowly to hook his arms around one knee. “She just doesn’t comprehend all the nuances for humans. Especially in our situation.”
“Don’t you mean ‘complications’?”
“Yeah, that.” He wasn’t really sure he had a handle on them either.